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Colorado Fire Grows Larger and Deadlier; Zimmerman Back in Court; What's in the New Health Care Law; Attorney General Holder in Contempt; Zimmerman in Court, Seeks 2nd Bond; Investors Cheer E.U. Deal; Olsen Twins in Fur Fight with PETA; Caught on Cam: Step Trips up Commuters
Aired June 29, 2012 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: That's what it will feel like in most of the country, 107 degrees in Nashville, 108 degrees in Paducah, and we're just getting started.
George Zimmerman back in court and telling the court it was just a big misunderstanding. We're live in Florida where a judge will decide whether to grant him bond a second time.
Grandma in the water. Not just any granny, but Penny Palfrey, she's swimming with the sharks to break a long distance record.
Plus this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You think of it, you know, as when you're a child. You know, you play -- you play house, you play, you know, mommy. And so it's something that I want a lot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: She desperately wanted a child so she entered a contest to win free fertility treatments. A doctor got to choose the winner. Good medicine or playing god?
NEWSROOM starts right now.
And good morning to you. Happy Friday. I'm Carol Costello.
We begin this hour with two stories sharing a common theme. The inescapable and unrelenting force of nature. On the left, the wildfire gnawing at the outer edges of Colorado Springs. Today, the fire is growing bigger and deadlier. On the right, a record-setting heat wave that will have millions of Americans sweltering today.
Wait until you see this. Intense heat will blanket most of the country. Take a look at all those 90s and 100s. That's drawing dire health warnings especially for the very young and the very old.
Our affiliates in Kansas City, Missouri, say the intense heat wave may be to blame for two deaths there. So be very careful today. Nowhere is the heat more a factor, though, than in Colorado. The heat coupled with raging wildfires have made it an inferno. This morning, the state is awakening to a bittersweet designation of federal disaster area. Today, fire crews will canvass the charred ruins of subdivisions and neighborhoods to search for bodies.
One victim was found last night. Nearly 350 homes confirmed lost. Another 20,000 homes are in danger. And amid the terror and heartbreak, tales of kindness.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAITH CSIKESZ, DISPLACED BY FIRE: By the grace of God, we were -- in the middle of the night -- welcomed into the home of perfect strangers who acted like we were their family. Clearly said, what's ours is yours. Anything. They gave us their beds, their food. They cooked for us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I ran across them and I heard their story, there wasn't any, you know, thinking about it. It was you're absolutely coming to our house. You're staying at our house. We're taking care of you guys.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: That warms your heart. Joining us now is the mayor of Colorado Springs, Steve Bach.
Welcome, Mayor.
MAYOR STEVE BACH, COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO: Good morning.
COSTELLO: President Obama plans to join the scene of the fires today. Will you meet with him at all?
BACH: Yes, I'll be meeting the president when he arrives here, and then we will give him a tour of the damaged area.
COSTELLO: Will you be asking him for any federal help?
BACH: Yes, I will be, to whatever extent that's possible. We have a real disaster here and very much appreciate the president coming to see us.
COSTELLO: What do you need?
BACH: Well, we're going to need, if he can, some financial resources to rebuild. We've lost a lot of infrastructure here. And of course a lot of homes.
COSTELLO: One firefighter said it might be mid-July before they put these fires out. Have you heard that?
BACH: Yes. And that would be typical for Colorado wildfires. It's just -- it's very hard to get these out in very rugged -- terrain. Our city is right up against the mountains here. And so there's still a lot of work to do. COSTELLO: We see fires out west often. Tell us why this fire is different.
BACH: This fire started in a national forest. And we've had very high winds, high heat, and very low humidity. And that's just a perfect storm of conditions to create wildfire. And the wind keeps shifting. It will go one direction and then 20 minutes later it's going a different direction. So it's very difficult for firefighters to get a handle on it.
COSTELLO: What is your biggest fear?
BACH: Well, certainly a fear of a loss of life. We know we have one fatality. We have a number of other people missing. We have 32,000 people who have been evacuated, and, you know, that's difficult for him. So our important task today is to try to keep our community focused on getting this fire out and helping those that need help. And we will move forward. We're a close-knit community here and we will get through this.
COSTELLO: We'll pray. Mayor Bach, thank you so much for joining us this morning.
Let's go now to one of the hubs of the firefighting effort. CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano is live in Colorado Springs. Tell us about the efforts and the victims in this thing.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, there's a lot as the mayor pointed to. This is the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history because of the number of homes destroyed, the number of people affected, 346 homes, possibly more, destroyed by this fire. One fatality. And they still have to do a second round of searches through those damaged and destroyed homes to confirm that the folks that are unaccounted for will be found somewhere else.
So a devastating blow to the Colorado area and specifically Colorado Springs. The victims themselves that have been evacuated now for days are spread out through a few shelters, yes, but mostly friends and family have taken these people in. Hotels in the area are booked. There's victims in our hotel. As a matter of fact, the chef who runs the kitchen in our hotel had to evacuate and has been living in the hotel and working at the same time along with his wife, living and working in the hotel. And he describes for us what it was like to have to evacuate and the frustrations of having to wait.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER AIELLO, COLORADO SPRINGS CHEF: The not knowing is probably the biggest frustration right now because it could -- it could all be there, or it could all be in ashes. Just don't know.
The whole mountainside looking up from my house was on fire. And a lot of homes, families that in my neighborhood and people that, you know, are my neighbors, their houses were engulfed in flames.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MARCIANO: Last night for the first time residents who had to evacuate were allowed some access at least to information. And many were informed whether or not their homes survived.
I'm happy to tell you that Peter and his wife, their home miraculously survived. Their street was virtually untouched. Meanwhile, the street next to them in their subdivision completely gone. So that's the kind of story that we're looking at here. Some of the victims will be allowed back into the areas to assess the damage. But a lot of the areas that have been damaged are still very, very close to the fire line, Carol.
So that's the -- they're going to have to wait even longer. We are at -- on the Air Force Academy airfield right now. And behind me are air assets that will be taken off shortly to continue to fight the fire.
Fifteen percent containment. They have made some strides in that part of the story and hopefully they'll continue to do that today. It's a little bit cooler today, and hopefully there won't be erratic winds from thunderstorms -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I hope not. Rob Marciano, reporting live for us this morning.
Also this morning Army investigators say they're trying to find out why a soldier started shooting people during a safety briefing at Fort Bragg. The suspect killed his battalion leader, that's according to NBC News, then officials say he wounded one other person before shooting himself. He is alive and in custody, but people are having a hard time making sense of it all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's really a sad situation because the soldiers are really -- the soldiers are really here to help us. Why would someone do something like that? So maybe they need evaluations or something is going on. But it's really sad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Investigators at Fort Bragg in North Carolina don't have a motive yet. That safety briefing was about how to stay safe during the Fourth of July weekend.
Just minutes from now, George Zimmerman gets another chance at freedom. Earlier this month a judge ordered him back to jail saying he hid $150,000 in donations when he appeared in his first bond hearing. Zimmerman is charged with second degree murder in the February shooting of Trayvon Martin.
CNN's John Zarrella is outside the courthouse in Sanford, Florida.
Set the scene for us, John. JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol. Well, you know what, they're going to go into court today and they're going to argue that Zimmerman is apologetic, that he accepts responsibility for misleading the court back before his -- during his original bond hearing.
What happened was that on June 1st, when his bond was revoked, prosecutors produced jailhouse recordings where Zimmerman and his wife were talking in code about money that was in a defense fund, moving that money to a personal account. Based on that and based on the fact that he had two passports and didn't acknowledge that he had a second passport, the judge went ahead and revoked his bond.
So Zimmerman is in court again today. And his attorney is going to argue -- Mark O'Mara -- that look, we accept responsibility, he accepts responsibility for what happened, and that he has done everything that the court has asked him to do, and that he should be allowed out on a reasonable bond -- Carol.
COSTELLO: OK. So the hearing is set to start in about an hour. We'll get back to you. Thank you so much, John Zarrella.
ZARRELLA: Yes.
COSTELLO: On this morning after the Supreme Court upheld President Obama's health care law, politicians are still battling over its future. Well, we want to sidestep the politics for now and take a deep breath and break down what you need to know about the changes in your health care right now.
Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here with a checklist, three things that people need to know. Go for it.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. Here's the three biggies.
All right, the first biggie is that you have to have insurance. Now for some of us who already have insurance, this doesn't make a difference. But if you don't, you've got to get some. And secondly, you may qualify for subsidies if you're buying insurance on your own, not from your employer. You may qualify for subsidies. Family of four can make as much as $90,000 and still get subsidies.
COSTELLO: Well, going back to the insurance part. You have to get insurance, and if you don't get insurance, you'll pay a penalty. What is that penalty?
COHEN: That's right. Well, the penalty which we're now calling a tax because that's what the Supreme Court is calling it, it's based on a -- it's based on a per person fee or a percentage of your income, to make it sort of easy here. The first year, 2014, if you don't get insurance, that tax is going to be quite small. It may just be a couple of hundred dollars.
By 2016, the size of that tax is going to be about as much as insurance would cost you. So then of course you think, well, why would I want to pay this tax and get nothing? I might as well buy the insurance and actually get insurance.
COSTELLO: OK. On to the subsidies.
COHEN: OK. On to the third one, free preventive care. This health care reform allows people to get free preventive care. A long list of what that involves. You can go to CNN.com to find out.
COSTELLO: So you can get things like cancer screenings and things like that. That's what you're talking about when it comes to free preventative care.
COHEN: Right. Let's go over a list of them. For example, all screenings. You mentioned cancer. So colonoscopies would be offered for free in addition to things like screening for sexually transmitted diseases, screening for autism for children. All that would be free. Contraception would be free. Contraception is considered preventive care. That can save women about $600 a year. And also vaccines. That would be considered preventive care.
If you go to CNN.ccom/empoweredpatient, we've got the entire list of all the -- all the free stuff.
COSTELLO: OK. And I also understand some people will get rebate checks. What is that about?
COHEN: Yes. This hasn't gotten a lot of attention. So this is mostly people who buy insurance on their own. Not people who get -- who get it from their employers. And so we're talking about 12.8 million people will be getting these checks. It will be about $150 per household. And this will be happening no later than August 1st. So soon, like within the next, you know, month or so, people should be seeing these checks.
COSTELLO: Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much.
Coaches are supposed to be role models for kids, but watch this hockey coach as he trips players on the opposing team. It's not fun and games. One kid was seriously hurt.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Fourteen minutes past the hour. We want to take you live to Cape Canaveral, Florida. This is the Kennedy Space Center. You're looking at a Delta IV rocket. It is about to -- actually, was supposed to launch at 6:13 Eastern Time but they had a little technical glitch. But it should take off at any time. And if you're wondering what's on board -- I'm going to tell you -- let's listen for a second before I tell you what's on board.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eight, seven, six, five, four, three. And the RS 68A engines roar to life. And liftoff! Of the United Launch Alliance Delta IV carrying the NROL-15 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office. NROL systems continue to ensure vigilance from above.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The chamber pressure and holding. 20 seconds in.
COSTELLO: So you heard that. National reconnaissance. You heard that term there. Because onboard this rocket is a classified spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office. This is the second to launch into space in as many weeks and pretty cool. So there will be eyes up there keeping track of stuff probably we'll never know about. Cool pictures, though.
On to other news now. Attorney General Eric Holder is facing a potential criminal case where he will be the defendant. Yesterday, the House of Representatives voted to hold him in contempt of Congress for refusing to hand over more documents related to the botched Fast and Furious gun sting. That sting resulted in the death of a border patrol agent.
More than 100 Democrats boycotted the vote. They walked out of the house chamber in protest.
Joe Johns is in Washington -- and you witnessed this walkout. But let's talk about what happens to Eric Holder next, because probably not much will happen.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. There's a criminal referral that's supposed to go to the United States attorney's office for the District of Columbia. He is the top prosecutor in the federal system here in town, and he is also an employee of the Justice Department, and Eric Holder. So he has discretion on whether to seek indictments and whether to bring up those charges.
And, you know, in all likelihood, it's just not going to happen. It hasn't happened before in similar situations. So that's probably an avenue that's cut off in all likelihood.
The other way they could go is a civil contempt. And there was authorization voted last night on the floor of the House for the House Oversight Committee to go into court and sue essentially to get the information they say they need from the Justice Department. That, of course, is something that could take months, if not years.
So the guess is, if the Congress is ever going to get this information, they are going to have to negotiate with the Department of Justice to try to figure it out, Carol.
COSTELLO: So likely, House Republicans don't want what they say they really want, these documents, because doesn't this make the whole thing come to a screeching halt?
JOHNS: Yes. It makes it come to a screeching halt. But this is sort of a kabuki dance that goes on in Washington over stuff like this. And they use going to court as leverage. And they don't really know which way a judge is going to go, but they know one side doesn't want to lose because it could affect the rights and privileges in the courts going forward.
So it's always better to try to negotiate some type of a solution. And it's been done before, so it's not outside the realm of possibility.
COSTELLO: OK. I know you'll keep an eye on it. Joe Johns reporting live for us from Washington.
They tried everything they can think of to have a baby, and now this couple is praying for a miracle. But first, they've got to get past one more obstacle -- a competition on Facebook.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. The question for you this morning -- Obamacare: Should we move on or fight anew?
It's all over. Fat chance. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the health care law, and instantly, the opponents of Obama care went off.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
REP. PHIL GINGREY (R), GEORGIA: I'm angry, mad at Chief Justice John Roberts.
REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R), MINNESOTA: This is clearly unconstitutional. This is a turning point in American history. We will never be the same again with this denial of liberty interest.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: "Politico" reports that Republican Congressman Mike Pence compared the Supreme Court's decision to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He later apologized.
House Republicans have already scheduled a vote to repeal the law. Mitt Romney, who's also vowed to repeal, says the court should have overturned the entire law.
Oh, really, said Democrat Nancy Pelosi, who could not resist this zinger.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), MINORITY: I don't know. Maybe he's going to pay for it out of his own pocket, but he's cover the pre- existing condition's costs of people who have children with pre- existing conditions. You cannot have it both ways.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Seriously. We fought about health care bitterly for months and months. It widened the partisan divide that was already there.
Do we really want to go there again? I mean, secretly, don't you wish Mitt Romney would help us understand his signature accomplishment as Massachusetts governor, health care complete with a mandate and everything? And don't you wish President Obama would really explain the plan's impact on our economy?
He seemed to start doing that yesterday. But if we're going to go back to those angry town halls and talk of death panels, it's going to be a long hot summer.
So, the talk back question -- Obama care: Should we move on or fight anew? Facebook.com/CarolCNN, Facebook.com/CarolCNN, I'll read your responses later on this hour.
A couple in Las Vegas, they tried everything to have a baby but nothing has worked. They have even entered a contest for free fertility treatments and have one more obstacle to be a competition on Facebook.
CNN's Miguel Marquez has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Emily and Jim Heaton have tried for years to have kids.
EMILY HEATON, CONTESTANT: You think of it, you know, as when you're a child, you know, you play house, you play, you know, mommy. And so it's something that I want a lot.
MARQUEZ: Emily has suffered seven miscarriages since their marriage five years ago. They have even picked out names. If it's a girl, Grace or Elizabeth. If it's a boy, Liam James. James for Emily's grandfather who died in 2008.
E. HEATON: My grandfather was a very big part of my life.
MARQUEZ: Jim, an active duty marine, has been deployed four times in 10 years. News of one miscarriage via satellite in Afghanistan.
JIM HEATON, CONTESTANT: I was sitting on the hood on an MRAP on the Radeon (ph) phone when I got the news. I think the hardest part about it is not being able to be there to comfort her.
MARQUEZ: They have tried everything from holistic medicine to fertility treatments.
E. HEATON: I have already scar tissue built up on one side of my butt because of all the injections we have to do.
MARQUEZ: In May, they had a chance the something they could never afford, advanced IVF treatment costing up to $20,000 at the Sher Institute in Las Vegas. They gambled, joining a contest, making a 4 1/2 minute video describing why they should win -- deeply personal stuff posted online for the world to see.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no one in our nursery yet. We are very hopeful still.
MARQUEZ: Forty-four other couples also made videos. Their stories equally heartbreaking.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just want to be a happy family.
MARQUEZ: An independent pane panel narrowed them down to six. They were posted on Facebook where the public could vote on what was supposed to be one winner.
DR. GEOFFREY SHER, SHER FERTILITY INSTITUTE: We started off offering it to one couple. It was because of me that we went to three because I just -- I said give them all. Give those three. These are the top three. Give it to them.
I wish I could give it to everybody. But if we did, we wouldn't be here talking to you.
MARQUEZ: Dr. Geoffrey Sher admits the contest is as much a publicity ploy as it is designed to help the needy. He also says if anyone can help Emily Heaton, he can.
SHER: You have to use certain gymnastics in the laboratory, fancy foot work to fertilize the egg. You have to have a good seed, embryo, which is not always available, and you have to have to identify it, and you have to have a receptive soil, the neutron lining, to allow that seed to grow.
MARQUEZ: Emily was diagnosed unexplained infertility. She believes her thyroid and immune system are at fault. When pregnant, they launch an attack on her fertilized eggs as though they are a virus.
Leslie Carlisle from Las Vegas had a similar problem with her second child. She and her husband, Ray, won a previous contest offered by the Sher Institute.
LESLIE CARLISLE, MOTHER: They took 15 eggs. Of the 15, eight fertilized. Only one embryo made it. They put him back, you know, put that embryo in, and nine months later, here's Braden (ph).
MARQUEZ: No one is more thrilled --
KENDRA CARLISLE: Smile!
MARQUEZ: -- than Braden's 6-year-old sister, Kendra. The Heatons have their first consultation with Dr. Sher this week and hope to be pregnant by October.
They feel this may be their last best chance.
E. HEATON: I don't want to go through it all again. But --
J. HEATON: We'll cross that bridge when it comes.
E. HEATON: Yes. I'll risk it if it does work. It's worth the risk to find out if it will work.
MARQUEZ: Faith has gotten them this far. Now they're hoping for a miracle.
Miguel Marquez, CNN, Las Vegas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: In just a few minutes, we should see George Zimmerman back in court. His attorney said he should get bond a second time even though Zimmerman deceived the court to get bond the first time.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: OK. A bit of breaking news to share with you now. You can see him right there. George Zimmerman, the man accused of murdering Trayvon Martin. He is back in court. He is seeking a second bond.
The judge revoked his first bond after learning he had lied about his finances, and the judge released phone calls where it appears Zimmerman was talking to his wife in code about the money that --
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GEORGE ZIMMERMAN: If the bond is 50, pay the 50. If it's more than 50, just pay 10 percent to the bondsman.
SHELLIE ZIMMERMAN: You don't want me to pay $100?
GEORGE ZIMMERMAN: I don't know.
SHELLIE ZIMMERMAN: All right. Well, just think about it.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
COSTELLO: All right. Let's head back with a live look inside the Sanford, Florida, courtroom. Zimmerman's attorney says his client has now taken responsibility for misleading the court.
Let's listen a bit to the judge.
JUDGE KENNETH R. LESTER, JR: The motion is up first. I think it's probably the best way as --
MARK O'MARA, ZIMMERMAN'S ATTORNEY: It makes sense.
LESTER: Mr. O'Mara, you may proceed.
O'MARA: You have my motion and reconsideration. I would be glad to simply go over everything I said in the motion. But presuming you had an opportunity to read it and I know you know the case law better than I do as to witness nine, I just think that the absolute lack of any value of that, yet the incendiary potential is certainly prejudicial nature of it should suggest to the court now that you have reviewed it in camera it's not a necessary document to be disclosed.
And there's two sides to that argument. Everything has been --
COSTELLO: OK, they are going through media motions right now. And by the way, judge's name is Judge Lester.
We want to bring in our legal analyst Paul Callan to just, you know, walk us through what's happening today. So, Paul, take it away.
PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, there are two things going on today. What we're watching now is an argument over the public release of various documents, discovery documents, in the criminal case.
Now, he is referring to witness number nine. Obviously, this is a witness who has said something that O'Mara feels would be prejudicial to his client, if that version was released. And Florida unlike a lot of states has a very open discovery process, where the lawyers get the documents, about what witnesses have said about the crime, and the press gets it. It's a state that's really very friendly to press coverage and the First Amendment.
So this is an argument about whether that document should be released to the press. A motion has been made by a media representative to force disclosure of this sealed document.
COSTELLO: Which is interesting because this attorney released videotape taken inside the police department with Zimmerman's interrogation, and many people thought he released that because it would perhaps be helpful to his client.
CALLAN: Yes. O'Mara has a lot of people think waged a fairly sophisticated press and media strategy. He was a television commentator himself down in Florida before he took this case on. And, yes, he releases whatever helps his client. And he tries to keep out of the public eye whatever he thinks will hurt his client.
And, you know, ultimately it's up to the judge. And I think, you know, in Florida, in the end, probably it's all going to be made public in advance of trial. It's just a question of when.
COSTELLO: OK. So after they get done with this phase of the trial, they go on to the actual bond hearing. And, I mean, will he put witnesses on the stand? What will happen?
CALLAN: Well, this is the big moment. Will he put witnesses on the stand is the key question. And that -- the key witness, of course, would be Mr. Zimmerman himself.
You know, Zimmerman's bail was revoked because he lied to the judge. And his wife lied to the judge. And I don't think there's any dispute about that, that they both told a lie about how much money they had in the bank and the judge was angry about it and he revoked bail.
Now, there's a huge risk, though, if you put Zimmerman on the stand to apologize to the court and to explain why he told this lie. On the one hand, maybe he'll give a persuasive explanation, and the judge will have mercy and grant bail again.
But on the other hand, from what I've seen, Carol, Zimmerman's kind of a disaster every time he opens his mouth. I mean, I -- you know, I listened to him at the initial court appearance where he made a couple of errors about the age of Trayvon Martin and contradicted his 911 call. He was only on the stand for a minute or so. And he sounds sort of in those recounting of what happened that night with the police kind of arrogant and a little bit of bragging going on.
And I'd be very hesitant to put him on the stand if I were his defense attorney. This is a murder case. And I would not put him on the stand personally. But we'll have to see what O'Mara does.
COSTELLO: We'll be watching. And you're going to stick around. And if Zimmerman takes the stand, we're going to dip back into that court. Actually, we'll dip back throughout the next hour and a half or so and you'll stick around.
CALLAN: OK, nice to be with you as always.
COSTELLO: Paul Callan, thank you.
It's looking like a good day for your 401(k). Opening bell rang minutes ago. Stocks are already up more than 150 points. This comes after international markets closed way up after a major announcement on the European financial crisis.
Felicia Taylor is at the New York Stock Exchange to sort it all out for us.
Hi, Felicia.
FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol. If you have money invested in the market, this definitely matters to you. And investors are very excited about the latest development out of Europe.
European leaders have reached a deal to help struggling banks, and basically there's now going to be what is known as kind of a banking union, with one authority that will actually oversee banks in the eurozone. This banking union will now be able to directly inject money into banks when it's needed. But, you know, look, we have seen these kinds of deals struck before, so we'll see if the enthusiasm lasts.
Right now, we are up almost 190 points on the Dow. That's a gain of 1.5 percent. And we reached a 2 percent gain on the NASDAQ. So, there's clearly a lot of enthusiasm out there. The question is, how long? There have been a lot of European meetings.
Right. We have talked about this. They result in short-term fixes. But ultimately, you know, the debt problems keep coming back. So we'll see.
COSTELLO: OK. Well, I'll keep my fingers and my toes and everything else crossed. Felicia Taylor --
TAYLOR: Me too.
COSTELLO: Thanks so much.
It's 35 minutes past the hour. Other stories we're watching right now, army investigators looking into why a soldier opened fire during a safety briefing at Ft. Bragg in North Carolina. NBC news is reporting that the suspect killed his battalion commander and then slightly wounded another soldier before turning the gun on himself.
Now this man, the soldier, is alive and is now in custody.
In just a few hours, President Obama will get a close look at a deadly wildfire that is still threatening Colorado Springs. The fire has destroyed nearly 350 homes. Flames have already chased 36,000 other people out of their homes.
A grandmother hoping to break her own world swimming record is now trying to swim from Cuba to Florida. Penny Palfrey is 49 years old. She dove into Havana's Hemingway marina a short time ago, and she is doing it without a shark cage in shark infested waters. She is hoping to finish the 103-mile swim in 40 to 50 hours. Wow.
Do you have a foul mouth? Then you better stay away from this building. Swearing could land you a night in the slammer.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: This morning, Mitt Romney is counting his cash after his campaign raised about $3.2 million in the hours after the big health care ruling. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of the law. Chief Justice John Roberts said the most controversial part, the individual mandate, is valid as a tax, even though it's not valid under the Commerce Clause.
The ruling became a rallying cry for both political parties. Democrats praising the president and Republicans vowing to repeal the law. And no matter how you feel about the health care law, there's no escaping it. Even in a Mancos, Colorado, a town so quaint, it feels like it's out of the Wild West.
Martin Savidge went there to get reaction to the Supreme Court's decision.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): News that the Supreme Court's decision arrived about the time that folks sat down for their (INAUDIBLE).
This rural southwestern Colorado town, population 1,300, dates back to the days of the old west.
Jean Archambeault is the editor of "The Mancos Times" first published in 1883.
JEAN ARCHAMBEAULT, EDITOR, MANCOS TIMES: We have snow birds, people who come for the summer and leave for the winter. We have people who have retired here. And we have people who have lived here all their lives.
SAVIDGE: A bit about the area politically. It voted 59 percent for John McCain in 2008. Folks say the conservatives were born here. The liberals mostly moved here.
Veronica Egan came from New Mexico.
VERONICA EGAN, RESIDENT: I think it's wonderful. I think there are problems with the law as it was originally written, but it's about time that the United States of America started taking care of its own citizens.
SAVIDGE: Jeff McElwain is as close to a permanent doctor as the town gets.
The physician's assistant runs Mancos' only medical facility in the town. Sixty percent to 70 percent of his patients rely on some type of publicly funded health care program, something he finds ironic given the criticism he often hears of Obamacare.
JEFF MCELWAIN, MANCOS VALLEY HEALTH CENTER: Well, it's certainly always an interesting conversation for people that are either on Medicare or receive some type of federal assistance to complain about having government health care.
SAVIDGE: Patient Betty Romero has health care insurance, but knows many who don't. She is an Obamacare fan.
BETTY ROMERO, PATIENT: There are people out there dying of cancer because they don't have health care. They are dying of other things because they can't walk into a doctor's office and get the help they need.
SAVIDGE (on camera): It may surprise you, but unlike the rest of the country, the big news here in town isn't the Supreme Court's ruling on health care. Instead, it's that -- wildfires that continue to threaten from just down the road.
(voice-over): Still, it's easy to get people here talking about health care, which I did, with Will Stone, who makes wagons for a living.
WILL B. STONE, WAGON MAKER: He doesn't need any health insurance.
SAVIDGE: He is against Obamacare mainly because of the individual mandate.
STONE: That's the biggest burr under my saddle is the mandate. I just don't care for it. I don't like to be told to do anything.
SAVIDGE: Matt Lauer owns and runs Fahrenheit Coffee Roasters. Like Will, hHe too is against Obamacare, not because he is against national health care, he just thinks the president's plan is the wrong one.
MATT LAUER, OWNER, FAHRENHEIT COFFEE ROASTER: This is a gift to the insurance companies. It won't do anything to assure health care to all in this country. And I think that's the bottom line.
SAVIDGE: Mancos may seem like a long way from anywhere, but I found it to really be a microcosm of America, from the mountainous to main street, almost equally divided on the issue of health care.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Martin Savidge reporting.
We asked to you talk about on this question. The question of the day, the talk back question, Obamacare: Should we move on or fight anew? We have lots of responses and I'll read some of them after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It's 45 minutes past the hour.
Checking our "Top Stories" now. Consider cooling off at a pool or at the beach today if you can because it's going to be a scorcher for many of us. Record triple digit temperatures possible across much of the eastern half of country. People are being advised to do anything to avoided the heat, drink plenty of fluids and, of course, check on the elderly.
A Delta 4 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral just about 30 minutes ago. The National Reconnaissance Office says the classified halo (ph) will make a critical addition to its spy satellite fleet that includes gathering intelligence on the battlefield and homeland threats, helping in the war on drugs and surveying damage from natural disasters.
In money news, the IRS seeing a big jump in potential fraud. A possible 72 percent jump last year compared to the year before. About two million tax returns are suspect. One million of them part of a scheme dubbed "Operation Mass Mail". They involve tax cheats submitting fraudulent returns that were automatically voided before being processed.
And you better watch your language at this government building in Oklahoma. Swearing could land you in jail or a $100 fine. The century-old law made it illegal to curse in public or around women and children. One attorney says the law could be violating the First Amendment, but the government agency says, hey, the law may be old, but treating people with respect is never outdated.
I've been training for a triathlon along with Dr. Sanjay Gupta's FitNation team. Our athletic director, April Gellatly checked out the way I ran. She found a few things I was doing wrong, and explained why those things might be causing, you know, those annoying stitches in my side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
APRIL GELLATLY, CNN FITNATION ATHLETIC DIRECTOR: All right, give me that sprint.
Now for the upper body critique.
COSTELLO: Yes.
GELLATLY: There's a little bit too much side-to-side movement. All of your movements should be going forward. Pretend there's a string running through the center of your body and you're kind of pulling yourself up from that string. So go ahead and pretend -- pulling yourself up by that center string. With the arms in general, you want most of your movement to be behind you. As if you were trying to elbow somebody. Here, here, here.
COSTELLO: A big problem that I have when I run is a get a stitch in my side. And I do this, and I squeeze my muscle. And it hurts. So what can I do to get rid of it?
GELLATLY: Some of that might be caused from that movement that --
COSTELLO: That washing machine motion?
GELLATLY: Washing machine motion. When you find yourself with that cramp, ask yourself am I rotating side-to-side? Am I using the stomach muscles improperly and kind of causing that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: I yearn to have April's arms, but I don't think it'll happen.
Check out my tips with April every Thursday morning, all part of the 2012 FitNation Triathlon Challenge with Dr. Sanjay Gupta. You can see it here, right here at 9:00 Eastern on Thursdays.
Want to buy one of the latest items from the Olsen Twins? Even if you have $17,000 one group says don't do it. It's cruel to the animals.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: We asked you to "Talk Back" on one of the big stories of the day. The question for you this morning. "Obamacare: should we move on or fight anew?"
This from James, "Back up relax and regroup. We now know that the November election is the most important in my lifetime. Progressivism must be stopped."
This from Bernard, "Romney invented Obamacare. So let's all say thanks and move on."
This from Nic, "We need to move on. To repeal the bill would be an insult to the Supreme Court and our founding fathers. Checks and balances is a fundamental part of our government."
And this from John, "Fight anew. Do people not realize that there is a reason our country is over a trillion dollars in debt? Before, healthcare wasn't part of that equation but now it is."
Keep the comments coming Facebook.com/CarolCNN, I'll read more in the next hour of the NEWSROOM.
PETA -- PETA is bashing Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen over $17,000 backpack. "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT's" A.J. Hammer joins me from New York to explain why anyone would actually pay $17,000 for a backpack?
A.J. HAMMER, HLN HOST, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": Well, you know apparently because it's made of fur and the Olsen Twins made it, Carol. The fur is definitely flying in this case. It sparks really yet another battle in a long-running war between PETA and the Olsen Twins.
The former child stars are big wigs in the fashion industry these days. And People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals are very upset about one of their creations, it is this fur backpack and it's being sold for $17,000.
Now if you think that sounds like a crazy price. Well last fall, the Olsen's fashion line called "The Row" reportedly sold out a $39,000 alligator backpack.
Now PETA is not a fan of the fashionista sisters at all for years. They've been calling them the Trollsen Twins. And years ago PETA had a whole video that attacked the Olsen's fashion line called "Full House of Horrors" -- a reference to their old TV show "Full House".
I want to read to you the statement that PETA released to "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" about all of this. They said, "If it looks like a troll and acts like a troll, it's probably a Trollsen Twin, or someone wearing one of their new $16,000 totes which are made from the fur and skins of innocent animals. What the Olsens lack in creativity, they try to make up for in shock value. Sadly, it's the foxes, calves and alligators, who often have the fur ripped off them while they are still conscious and able to feel pain, who pay the dearest price."
Now not everybody is mad at the twins Carol, celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe actually put the bag on her Web site and called it "Perfect for pre-fall". So I'm thinking that PETA may have words for her next.
COSTELLO: Yes, I think you're right. She did? $17,000. I guess -- I just can't even fathom that.
HAMMER: I mean really? Really?
COSTELLO: I know. Really? A.J. Hammer, thanks so much. A.J. will be back with us in the next hour with more "Showbiz Headlines" including more proof The Boss is the boss. A big honor for the Grammy winner.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Now to sports.
We all knew Anthony Davis was going to be picked first in the NBA draft by the New Orleans Hornets. But then history was made when a fellow Kentucky Wildcat Michael Kid Gilchrist went second to Charlotte. It's the first time one school has had the first two draft picks.
Unheralded Lukas Rosol (ph) scored a huge second round upset at Wimbledon. The world's 100th-ranked player ousted Rafael Nadal in five sets. It is the earliest Nadal had exited a grand slam even in seven years.
And there won't be bending it like Beckham at the upcoming Olympics. Soccer superstar and underwear model, David Beckham was not selected for the British team. Beckham played a role in helping London land this year's summer games.
That's a quick look at sports.
One pesky subway step trips up countless people and it's all caught on camera. Here is CNN's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's hard not to stare when everyone is tripping on the subway stairs or more precisely, on one particular step.
(on camera): Everybody loves to watch people trip though.
DEAN PETERSON, FILMMAKER: It's true, as long as it's not you.
MOOS (voice-over): But it was him. This is filmmaker Dean Peterson's subway stop in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. He videoed all of these other people tripping because he kept tripping on that one step that was slightly higher than the others.
PETERSON: And I know that it is there but that doesn't stop me from tripping.
MOOS: And it definitely didn't stop him from editing together and putting to music a montage of trippers. 17 of them, shot over a total of about an hour. There's even a guy carrying a kid.
PETERSON: I felt bad videotaping some of the people and luckily nobody got hurt.
MOOS: But they did get famous after Dean posted his montage.
(on camera): The next thing you know, the video was on a trip of its own around the world on the Internet.
(voice-over): "Let's all laugh at people tripping on stairs" was the headline out of Australia.
But you know who wasn't laughing? The Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The day after the video went viral, repair guys were pacing the steps. Least this guy didn't trip. Neither did this one. Commuters were happy to see them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Almost bust my entire behind on that step.
MOOS: This can't be what the MTA means when they say "have a nice trip".
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
