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Mystery Disease Killing Kids in Cambodia; ACLU: Ten Percent of Puerto Rico's Police Are Thugs; Record Heat, Storms Expected in East; Malware Could Cause Loss of Internet for Some in U.S.; "Green" Thieves Target Cooking Oil; Amateur Golfer Steals Spotlight at U.S. Open
Aired July 07, 2012 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone. I'm Don Lemon. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Lots of news tonight so we're going to get you up to speed.
Something is killing children, dozens of them. Some kind of bug, some kind of illness, and doctors are scrambling to find out what it exactly is. So far it's killed more than 60, all of them in Cambodia, and as it stands right now there's nothing to stop it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PIETER JIM VAN MAAREN, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: It is very difficult to assess how dangerous and how rapidly spreading it will be if we don't know what we are dealing with.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: We stay right there. We have a crew in Cambodia full of details in one minute for you here on CNN.
It's a free election four decades overdue. The first real live democratic exercise in Libya since the Moammar Gadhafi era. Nearly three million Libyans picked parliament members today waiting in long lines to vote at polling stations all across the country. We've heard a few disruptions but overall international election observers are pleased.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEXANDER GRAF LAMBSDORFF: Here in the west of the country, everything has been going rather smoothly. We hear reports from the east where it's been more difficult but even there, the vast majority of citizens could cast their votes peacefully.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: To Southern Russia now. Flash flooding has killed more than 100 people. Rising waters swept through many houses as people slept unaware and vulnerable. Some had to be rescued from roof tops and trees. The Russian water ripped out traffic lights and stranded vehicles. One resort town got two months' worth of rain in 24 hours.
A small town in Ohio rocked by the fatal shooting of four people. Police say, they are fairly confident those deaths are linked to a man who drove to the cemetery and committed suicide after a brief standoff. Police found a mother, a father, and juvenile shot in the home, shot dead, and the home is in Newton Falls. Another child was able to escape. Police say, a woman believed to be the gunman's girlfriend was found dead in his house.
Serena Williams is back. The 30-year-old American won her fifth Wimbledon title today beating Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in three sets. It was the 14th major championship for Williams and her first since she battled serious health problems after winning Wimbledon in 2010. Roger Federer plays Andy Murray in the men's final tomorrow.
It's our top story on CNN, a medical emergency that is so much worse because this deadly disease has no name, no treatment, and no doctor has ever seen it before. It's some kind of neurological disease that has so far killed more than 60 children. So far the outbreak is happening only in one country, tiny Cambodia. But diseases don't recognize. Borders and doctors are furiously -- are feverishly trying to identify this thing and trying to keep it contained.
CNN's Sara Sidner is in Cambodia right now with the latest. Sara.
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We visited the main hospital where many parents are bringing their children and where many of these children have died due to this mystery syndrome. The World Health Organization says, 56 of the 57 children who have gotten this particular illness have died. So, we're talking about a very high mortality rate. When we went down to the hospital there are lines of people standing outside but many of them were there for other reasons such as the dengue fever or children for example had some respiratory problems.
They were not for the most part aware of this new syndrome that seems to be out there that is particularly deadly. And that's concerning to those health organizations who are trying to get the word out that if your child has for example fever, that if your child has difficulty breathing or some neurological problems, drowsiness, unable to respond, that that child is brought to the hospital immediately.
The difficulty here is the World Health Organization and the ministries of health here in Cambodia just do not know exactly what they're dealing with. They have determined that this is not SARS and this is not bird flu, but this is some sort of deadly syndrome that is going around and they're trying to figure out exactly how dangerous it is and how it spreads.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAAREN: It is very difficult to assess how dangerous and how rapidly spreading it will be if we don't know what we are dealing with. And this is the focus of our investigation at the moment. Get to know what we are dealing with and then we will be able to take the appropriate measures.
(END VIDEO CLIP) SIDNER: So, you hear there again that the World Health Organization and the ministries of health here just they don't know exactly what this is. This might be for example a combination of different illnesses that has proven to be quite deadly. What they're doing is trying to disseminate information through television, radio, any way they can, first to the health providers, which has been relatively easy, but then also to the people. Of the people that we spoke with standing in line outside the hospital, they -- a lot of them just had never heard of this.
There were a few that had whose children had fever and that's why they had brought them to the hospital. But this is just a very serious situation, one that a lot of parents would be concerned about as you might imagine especially those parents that have children who are under the age of three. Because those are the groups of people that are dying from this disease and dying very rapidly. Sara Sidner, CNN, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
LEMON: All right. Sara, thank you very much.
Reports say, almost 50 people have died in new violence in Syria today just as the United Nations acknowledges that its mission to Syria has failed. The admission comes in a U.N. report obtained by CNN that recommends one of three new actions -- withdrawing the 300 person U.N. team from Syria, increasing the team's size and giving members armed protection, or retooling the current team's overall mission.
Meantime, reports from Lebanon say, shells fired during clashes in Syria landed in a Lebanese town killing at least one person, that's according to the Lebanese army and the Red Cross. Another source says, two people were killed and anywhere from two to four others were injured. Lebanon says, it is beefing up its military presence in the area.
The United States has a new ally. In a surprise visit to Kabul today, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced Afghanistan is now a major non-NATO ally. So, what does that mean? Among other things it makes Afghanistan eligible to receive military trainings and assistance. It also means Afghanistan can buy and lease military equipment long after NATO troops leave.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: But please know that the United States will be your friend and your partner. We are not even imagining abandoning Afghanistan. Quite the opposite. We are building a partnership with Afghanistan that will endure far into the future. Thank you so much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Afghan President Hamid Karzai now head to Tokyo. There they are expected to pick up nearly $4 billion in reconstruction aid.
To say things got out of hand during a political debate in Jordan is putting it mildly. I want you to check this out.
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
LEMON: Look at that. A Jordanian member of parliament threw a shoe and then pulled out his pistol when a discussion with a former politician got heated on live TV. It seems he was accused of buying his way into Jordan's parliament. The host stepped in to break up the fight. Aside from some bruised egos there were no injuries. Luckily there.
To Puerto Rico now. An alarming ACLU report. It says, 10 percent of the island's police force are essentially thugs accused of everything from assault, drug trafficking, and even murder.
Here's CNN's Nick Valencia.
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, a new, scathing report issued by the American Civil Liberties Union against the Puerto Rican Police Department found that corruption and abuse among the ranks of the police force that should have been stamped out is still very much prevalent. At issue here is the excessive and unreasonable force used by police officers against residents of the U.S. Commonwealth especially during peaceful demonstrations.
Now, the report by the ACLU follows a separate investigation from the U.S. Department of Justice that found, quote, "prolonged and long standing abuse within the 17,000 member Police Department. That report found that between 2005 and 2010, 10 percent of Puerto Rico's police department was arrested on charges ranging from drug trafficking to murder.
CNN spoke to the U.S. DOJ about the situation in Puerto Rico and they told us, quote, "We are currently in settlement discussions with Puerto Rico concerning a durable remedy to address our findings. Discussions have been productive and we hope to resolve our concerns without the need for litigation." In a recent interview with CNN, the island's lieutenant governor acknowledged that there is a problem within the police force.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KENNETH MCCLINTOCK, LT. GOV. SECRETARY OF STATE: We are being a lot stronger in dealing with internal police discipline and that is something that is noteworthy and should be taken account of as a result of this report.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VALENCIA: In March, a new police superintendent was appointed to the force but public trust is still low. Just one month after his appointment in April, a police officer was accused of using excessive force in a traffic stop where he unloaded 14 rounds of his gun into two suspects. One who he struck fatally -- Don.
LEMON: All right. Nick Valencia, thank you very much. California is one step closer to having the nation's first high speed railroad. The state Senate has approved funding for the initial segment to be built. A line that will eventually link Los Angeles to San Francisco.
Supporters including California Governor Jerry Brown say, it will create jobs and modernize state transportation but critics say the estimated $68 billion price tag comes at a bad time.
Out of control. A semi with no brakes crashes into a gas station that is unbelievable video. And a warning for computer users. Why you may not be able to get on the internet come next week.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Just another normal day at the pumps. Not so much. I really want you to look at this. Keep an eye on that street at the top right of your screen. OK? See the tractor trailer? There it is. Wow. Boom. Right into that gas station. There it goes right to the gas pumps. It happened Thursday at a gas station. This is Akron, Ohio by the way. The driver of the truck says his brakes failed. Obviously.
Look at that. No one was injured. And workers were quick to shut off those gas pumps. Man.
The Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes divorce has been making major headlines, you've seen it everywhere and so has Cruise's controversial and secretive church, the Church of Scientology.
CNN's Alison Kosik takes a look behind the veil and breaks down the church's big business.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Church of Scientology is known for its celebrity fire power. But beyond that, is a sprawling empire that began more than 60 years ago. Dollar figures are hard to come by. It's a nonprofit organization granted tax-exempt status by the IRS in 1993. And its structure is complicated.
The Church of Scientology International Headquartered in Los Angeles oversees all religious activity but there are other corporations including the Religious Technology Center and the Church of Spiritual Technology. They own and oversee the trademarks and copyrights of Scientology and Dianetics, the bestselling book written by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.
Its publishing houses can turn out 67 million copies a year. They go for 20 bucks a paperback on the Scientology website. No doubt you've seen pictures of the celebrity center in Hollywood, that's just one of the church's vast real estate holdings. It says it has acquired more than 70 new buildings since 2004 and that its total assets and properties internationally have more than doubled in the last seven years.
The Church of Scientology says, 4.4 million people sign up every year but scholars say the membership numbers are much lower, likely in the hundreds of thousands. So where is the money coming from? Mostly it's members. The church is primarily funded by contributions, usually in exchange for church services like spiritual counseling and training. According to the St. Petersburg Times, Scientology's spiritual headquarters in Clearwater, Florida brings in $100 million a year.
But the church's sometimes hefty fees have raised eyebrows. Some former members have alleged the church coerces its flock into making donations and buying Scientology materials. And it sells a lot of materials -- everything from online courses to DVDs with most of the proceeds going back to the church. The church strongly denies coercion. In New York, I'm Alison Kosik.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Thank you, Alison.
You know all those business e-mails and calls that you make after work? It really does add up and you won't believe how much time that you're working and you're doing it for free. What's wrong with you? That's next.
Don't forget you can stay connected. You can watch CNN live on your computer, you can do it from work. Just go to CNN.com/TV.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: That work you do at home after hours, on weekends, unpaid. It adds up to more than a month of overtime every year. A security firm asked Americans how much they bring work home. Nearly 70 percent check work e-mails before 8:00 a.m. Almost half check even after 10:00 p.m. Most can't even go to bed without checking e-mail.
Dr. Wendy, what is wrong with us? Is this -- you're looking now at the e-mail I sent you though, right?
DR. WENDY WALSH, HUMAN BEHAVIOR EXPERT: That's right. You just sent me a very exciting e-mail and I got a dopamine rush. I'll explain that in a minute. But what was your question?
LEMON: I said, does this surprise you that so many -- because I do it. In this business you never really are off. The iPhone or blackberry is always on. Does this surprise you?
WALSH: It doesn't surprise me. And that's one reason why so many companies are so glad to give you a free smart phone or an iPad because it is an electronic leash. And they know that you'll use it and you'll become addicted to it.
LEMON: Yes. You know what I do though on my days off? Because I've work weekends and I have Mondays and Tuesdays off. And people usually don't respect that. I just don't return -- they're like what happened? Why didn't you return -- it's my Saturday and Sunday. I'm not going to get back to you.
WALSH: OK.
LEMON: But it seems like this isn't necessary, a necessary work demand. It shouldn't be.
WALSH: It's not a necessary work demand and in fact if -- I don't think it's put in any employment contract and if it was there would be labor law issues probably. The truth is we're motivated by two factors to constantly be checking. One is fear, fear that there is going to be a competitor. Another employee who's going to be answering quicker, get the better gig, et cetera.
But the other thing, Don, is that these smart phones are a random interval reward system not unlike a slot machine in Vegas. In other words, you get a lot of boring texts but every once in a while there is an exciting one that gives you a little dopamine rush like I get one from you and that makes you want to keep checking.
LEMON: Yes.
WALSH: So, whether that e-mail is from your boss or a romantic interest or something that excites you. Now remember, if you sat at a slot machine and just pulled and every fifth time got $1, you'd be bored and you'd leave. But the fact that the payment, the payoff comes in a random way and a different size reward each time, it's no different than this.
LEMON: So, is that dopamine thing why -- is that why people in the survey said, here's what they said, they wanted to stay organized or felt pressured to stay connected but the third just said, they just can't switch off. Is that because of the dopamine or what is that?
WALSH: Yes.
LEMON: OK. All right.
WALSH: That's the dopamine addiction. But the main thing is, when they talk about staying connected, I want to remind you that you're connected to something outside of the people in the room where you're with. And tech addiction can hurt families so much.
LEMON: Yes.
WALSH: So, it's really important that we put boundaries on ourselves and teach our kids healthy tech use habits.
LEMON: Yes. And relationships. Because I'll be at dinner and I'll go, you know what? I should just put this -- yes. Put the phone -- you should check it like at the coat check.
But not a lot of people in the survey said that their families complained though when you said it, it really ruins families, complained about the interruptions.
WALSH: I'm surprised by that because I got a call once when my daughter was in third grade from a teacher saying, you know, your daughter wrote a really bad essay about you. She says, you're always on your computer and always on your phone.
(LAUGHTER)
So my kid complained in a very public way and I took heed and put very clear tech rules on myself and the family. We have no tech during meals. All tech goes off at 8:00 at night. And we read, oh, books those old fashioned things. And you know what? People should be using those auto responders.
LEMON: Yes.
WALSH: That's how you train your work life. It says, sorry I'm off or I'm out of the office and then, you know, they got a response from you but it was automatic and you'll get back to them when you get back in work mode.
LEMON: That is very smart. I'm going to start doing that. Imagine a book that is not glowing, doesn't have a light.
WALSH: That's right.
(LAUGHTER)
I have to buy a book light for mine.
LEMON: People need their down time. So, give us a way to break the pattern. You said, they can put the out of office on, but then you also have to do it within yourself, you have to break yourself of the habit.
WALSH: And you have to train all those people that are now used to getting instant responses from you. Remember when they don't get an instant response from you they're going to want you more. So, it's very important that we remain a little bit mysterious sometime and let people chase.
Now, when it comes to being your boss, this is something you want to bring up in a job interview. Will I be asked to keep my iPhone on on my days off? So, once that person verbally has said no and they'd have to pay you, I think you if you actually had too. And then you have a little more control. But make it clear to people ahead of time. These are the times and days I have it on.
And don't be afraid to hit that button at the top. The power button. Oh, gosh. It's going off. It's going off. So, next week I'm going on a tech free holiday to Canada and my iPhone will be off, Don.
LEMON: I love it. I do it and people are like where were you? I said, I was off and I took the blackberry and I put it in a drawer. I hid it. I didn't even know where it was. I had to find it when it was time for me to go back to work. But there's another thing, too, where you said it's OK for people to miss you. We need to talk about that because many people don't want to take vacations, right, especially with this job market?
But sometimes it's great for the employer to miss you. And I find in this business, a lot of people don't want to take time off. It is great for the viewer to miss you as well because they realize, hey, you know, I like that guy. I like that lady.
WALSH: You know, absence makes the heart grow fonder. And we are the second worst country in the world under this Japan for taking too little vacation. Americans don't even use the paid vacation that's allotted to them. That's terrible, it's a tragedy.
LEMON: That's crazy. Well, you enjoy your vacation next week. And it's always fun.
WALSH: Thank you.
LEMON: Thank you. I'll see you. I'm going to check in with you. I'm going to e-mail and tweet you and see if you respond.
WALSH: If I get a dopamine rush?
LEMON: Thanks, Dr. Wendy. Be safe. Have fun.
WALSH: Take care. Bye.
LEMON: Storms that hit over a week ago left behind a financial mess for small businesses. The worst hit? Grocery stores where no power meant ruined products, no customers, and no money to pay employees. That story is straight ahead.
But first this, as a police officer Zach Hudson frequently encountered seniors vulnerable to crime, abuse, and neglect. And rather than wait for his neighbors to fall victim, he organized hundreds of local volunteers to help protect them. He is this week's CNN hero.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZACH HUDSON, CNN HERO: I've been a police officer now for a little over 10 years. We see people at their worst. And the one thing that I've seen over and over again is victimization of the elderly. They are the forgotten portion of our society that nobody really thinks about. They are alone, and yet they don't ask for help.
Hey, buddy, you got a flat tire going there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know, but I don't have the money to fix it.
HUDSON: That's not good.
They're that much easier to victimize. It's extremely sad. If I can help with you that tire, why don't you give me a call?
I realized something had to be done. I'd had enough.
I'm Officer Zach Hudson, and I was raised by my grandparents, my great grandmother. And now I'm bringing this community together to help keep seniors safe.
Hey, Mr. Anderson.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on in.
HUDSON: How are you?
Cops and fire fighters come across seniors that have various problems, are able to call us. And seniors reach out directly to us. How is your floor looking?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Soft.
HUDSON: Not so hot. Soft.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My floor is getting mushy. I was scared to death that I would go right down through it.
HUDSON: We contact the not-for-profits, faith-based organizations and businesses, and we get it taken care of for free.
If we get that tile down, that wheelchair won't take its toll on the floor like it did. There is no job is too small.
We've got 25 yards to do.
It takes commitment from the community.
Nice and solid
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love it.
HUDSON: Elderly people rescued me in a lot, a lot of ways.
So, what do you think, Mr. Anderson?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't want to leave my bathroom.
(LAUGHTER)
HUDSON: This is a simple opportunity for me to give back to them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Half past the hour. Let's get you up to speed on the headlines right now. Something is killing children, dozens of them. Some kind of bug, some kind of illness. And doctors are scrambling to find out what it is. So far it's killed more than 60 kids all of them in Cambodia and as it stands right now, there's nothing to stop it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAAREN: It is be very difficult to assess how dangerous and how rapidly spreading it will be if we don't know what we are dealing with.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Health officials are also worried about this thing spreading to other countries especially through air travel. They're telling airports to be aware of passengers arriving from Cambodia who look like they might be sick. It is a free election four decades overdue. The first real live democratic exercise in Libya since the Moammar Gadhafi era. Nearly three million Libyans picked parliament members today waiting in long lines to vote at polling stations all across the country. We've heard of a few disruptions but overall international election observers are pleased.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAMBSDORFF: Here in the west of the country, everything has been going rather smoothly. We hear reports from the east where it's been more difficult but even there, the vast majority of citizens could cast their votes peacefully.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Serena Williams is back. The 30-year-old American won her fifth Wimbledon title today, beating the player from Poland in three sets. It was the 14th major championship for Williams and her first since she battled serious health problems after winning Wimbledon in 2010. Roger Federer plays Andy Murray in the men's finals tomorrow.
Cooler temperatures may finally be on the way. That is good news for people suffering through an entire week of triple-digit temperatures with no air conditioning.
CNN's Emily Schmidt joins us now from Virginia.
My goodness, Emily, what a week of weather, past couple weeks of weather we've been having. The entire D.C. area was hit extremely hard by these storms. I see a giant tree down behind you. How are people dealing with this?
EMILY SCHMIDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Don. It's been a long week for this entire region. One reason that is still top of mind is what you're talking about. You see the mess that remains. This tree, the root system, about twice as tall as I am, extends all the way across the front yard into someone's front door. Then there is the fact that thousands of people have now spent more than a week without power. Even when it returns people and businesses are just beginning to get an idea of how much they lost.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCHMIDT (voice-over): Though it only takes an instant for the lights to go out in a storm but things can get darker for days.
A Chevy Chase supermarket just outside Washington, disaster hit three days after losing power. A refrigerated trailer compressor blew up and, with it, the family owned supermarket's back-up plan.
KEVIN KIRSCH, CHEVY CHASE SUPERMARKET: Lost everything in the trailer. Then we lost everything in the frozen food case here. So basically, we've lost everything in the entire store.
SCHMIDT: It meant no customers, no paychecks for 60 employees, and no buying new food.
KIRSCH: I've got vendors who are smaller than me that count on me for my purchases for their own business, and I'm not purchasing from them so it kind of steam rolls all the way around.
GUS PAPPAS, VENDOR, PAPPAS & SONS, INC.: We're busting at the seams here with nowhere to go.
SCHMIDT: When markets weren't buying for days, it stuck vendor, Gus Pappas, with a warehouse full of food. Some can be donated. Most, including 2,000 boxes of strawberries, must be tossed.
PAPPAS: Most of what's in this cooler is probably going to be thrown out if we can't move it.
SCHMIDT: Pappas estimates he is out hundreds of thousands of dollars. The irony, his business never lost power, so insurance won't help.
SCOTT BERNHARDT, PLANALYTICS, INC.: This is going to be an event that is remembered.
SCHMIDT: Scott Bernhardt's company tracks how weather affects business and says it will take at least a month to know how much the 600-mile storm path cost the economy.
BERNHARDT: It ranks in the realms of hurricanes, snowmageddons types of events. These are significant events, and has a significant economic effect.
SCHMIDT (on camera): Tell me the minute that power came on. What time was it the power came on?
KIRSCH: I think about 11:30.
SCHMIDT (voice-over): 10 delivery-packed hours later, on Thursday morning, the store reopened. The power restored along with something just as critical.
KIRSCH: More importantly everybody is back. That's the most important part.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHMIDT: People who track these kind of weather events say what happened behind me was a one-two punch. First, obviously, the winds and then all of the heat that we've had in the past recent days.
Heat is being blamed for a metro car derailment of three cars that happened yesterday during rush hour outside of Washington, D.C. Nobody hurt there. But in Maryland, the heat also being blamed now for at least nine deaths since just July 2nd -- Don?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Goodness. Listen, Emily. I'll ask you, people need their air conditioning right now, so they need power. What's the latest on getting that power back?
SCHMIDT: You know, people in this neighborhood feel relatively fortunate because they can say they've had power since July 3rd or July 4th. That was enduring three or four nights of the hotter temperature without air conditioning. In parts of Maryland, there are a few people remaining, a few hundred people where the utility company there says they are expecting 11:00 tomorrow night. That would mark about 10 nights without air conditioning.
And people here watching the weather, hoping that another storm doesn't roll through and put us in this situation again -- Don.
LEMON: My goodness.
Emily, thank you very much. We appreciate that.
Alexandra Steele now here in the CNN Severe Weather Center.
Alexandra, we take those things for granted, the air conditioning. We walk in our houses every day.
ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's right.
LEMON: You said 107 it got --
(CROSSTALK)
STEELE: Where Emily was, the heat index, 107. You know, she makes a really salient point. There is the potential today for Washington, Virginia, Maryland to see storms.
Some of the numbers are in. How hot did it get? 106. All records today. Indianapolis hit 105. You get the picture. Cinci at 103. All records for the day but where do we stand now? These were the highs today. Really St. Louis coming in is quite a winner with 106. But the heat is on.
There is what we'll see in terms of relief. The cold front will drop south. Cooler air behind it. Mind you, it's still in the 80s and 90s but Chicago tomorrow, 82, from 100 degrees yesterday. So certainly some relief. 95 still tomorrow in St. Louis. 99 in D.C. Then we watch it sweep further south. Monday into Tuesday everyone gets into the 80s so that is the good news.
But what we're going to see, this heat relief is coming at a little bit of a price. That is the showers and storms that are firing off today. You can see these two boxes, severe thunderstorm watch boxes. They're posted until 7:00 tonight. 70-mile-per-hour wind gusts. Maybe one to two-inch hail. You can see all that's the lightning. New York included in that. Pittsburgh as well. A lot of central Pennsylvania. So keeping an eye on that.
And through the day today, here's kind of the breadth and depth of where the severe weather may be, from Pittsburgh to New York. You can see Washington, even including Boston and Philadelphia, Hartford. So a lot of this part of the country again with the relief. This is what we'll see, that lifting mechanism, the front that cools you off, creating, and with all that unstable air, look for some severe storms.
LEMON: Yesterday, I got in the car. It said 102. You said --
(CROSSTALK)
STEELE: I had 112 two days ago. You have to get a towel and put it down because it hurts your legs if you're in bare legs.
LEMON: No more black cars in the south.
STEELE: That's right.
(LAUGHTER)
STEELE: No more short skirts. So then we're good.
LEMON: Thank you very much, Alexandra.
ALEXANDER: Sure.
LEMON: Strangers from around the world offered real-life support to a couple they never even met. The Harpers lost power in their West Virginia home following the widespread power outage, but Gary Harper is on a ventilator, and the couple were running out of cash to buy gasoline for the backup generators. People got wind of their story and the money started flowing in, some as far away as Italy. And even better news to tell you about. The Harpers got their power turned back on just last night.
It's a similar story for a Michigan woman, whose life depends on the power coming back on, literally. Courtney Montgomery has a mechanical heart powered by a battery. The apartment complex she lives in has been without power since Wednesday and she can't charge her battery.
For now, her sister is charging the battery that holds just 14 hours of power. She is hoping electricity will be back up by tomorrow. We hope so as well. As soon as possible, get it back up.
A California man attacks a priest and a jury finds him not guilty. Was justice served?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Vindication or justice? A Santa Clara jury has found a man not guilty of assaulting a retired priest two years ago. William Lynch told jurors Gerald Lidner raped him and his brother when they were young boys. Lynch testified he went to demand the priest sign a confession and punched the priest because of an irrational fear triggered by memories of the abuse.
The jury, Thursday, failed to reach a verdict on a misdemeanor assault charge and the Santa Clara district attorney voiced his disappointment with that verdict.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JEFF ROSE, SANTA CLARA DISTRICT ATTORNEY: This case is about Mr. Lynch and revenge outside of the law. Mr. Lynch drove 50 miles. He used a fake name. He put on gloves and beat up and bloodied an elderly man.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Holly Hughes, a criminal defense attorney.
Holly, Lynch admitted to the crime. How can you go about defending someone like that?
HOLLY HUGHES, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY & FORMER PROSECUTOR: Well, you make it about the larger issue, and the larger issue is, why did he do this? And you basically argue he had to do this because the criminal justice system didn't do its job in the first place. If I was his attorney, I'd argue to that jury, how dare the prosecutor try and convict my client when they couldn't convict the rapist who assaulted him when he was a little boy.
LEMON: So if Lynch had committed a murder rather than an assault, do you think the jury would have come to the same conclusion?
HUGHES: I don't think so.
LEMON: Really.
HUGHES: I don't. It's something we call jury nullification. Essentially, they look at all the facts and, technically speaking, the prosecutor did make out a case for this is an assault. He admitted he assaulted the man. They look at it and say, despite all that we still think justice, the right conclusion, is to acquit him on these charges.
But if you had a murder, Don, much more serious, then the prosecutor can argue, hey, we do not want vigilante justice in our streets. Is this the kind of chaos you want? Because, god forbid, somebody else get hurt when he's out there committing a killing. God forbid, he get the wrong man.
LEMON: That's what the jury -- would a judge ever overturn a verdict like this?
HUGHES: They have the power to. The side of the law can file a motion --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Judges don't like to do that, right?
HUGHES: No. The side of the law can file a motion and say, Judge, you need to turn over this verdict because it's against the weight of the evidence. You're asking for the judge to change it. But judges are elected officials, Don. And are they really going to put -- it's political suicide.
LEMON: Right. HUGHES: Your constituents are the folks sitting in the box, the ones that vote for you. If they say it's not a crime, you don't want to take a chance.
LEMON: As I was reading this, it reads like a "Law and Order" episode. Haven't I seen this before on television?
HUGHES: That's right. You will. You know "Law and Order" uses real cases.
LEMON: "Law and Order" is done right?
HUGHES: There's like five episodes, five different franchises of "Law and Order."
(LAUGHTER)
HUGHES: They'll show up on SVU.
LEMON: It'll show up somewhere.
HUGHES: Yes, it is a sex crime. See that? That's where it's going to be.
LEMON: I worked for NBC and always used to mess up and call it "Law and Order SUV."
HUGHES: For a long time. Right.
LEMON: It's SVU. Oh, yes, SVU.
HUGHES: Oh, yes. No, we'll see it.
LEMON: All right. Thank you.
HUGHES: OK.
LEMON: Coming up at 10:00 p.m. eastern, was William Lynch's act vigilante justice? And will he ever really receive the justice he says he deserves for being assaulted as a child? Make sure you join us because he'll join me live with his story tonight at 10:00 p.m. eastern right here on CNN.
Next, I have a warning for computer users, why you may not be able to get on the Internet next week. What?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Imagine this, hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. could lose access to the Internet on Monday because of the left over computer server linked to a virus that infected millions of computers worldwide that are going to be shut down.
CNN's Tom Foreman has advice on how you can make sure your computer is clean.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is what you need to watch out for this weekend. The FBI went after this virus called the DNS Changer. It's a thing called Operation Ghost Click. Why did they call it that? Because this virus targeted about four million computers worldwide, a half million in the U.S.
What it did was, if you clicked on a web site, something you wanted to go to, it simply took you to another site. Sometimes it looked a lot like it. For example, you went to iTunes and wanted to buy music or a movie, and you found yourself on a site that looked kind of like it, where they might steal directly from you. They were also stealing ad space. The bottom line is they ripped off about $14 million this way. These were some eastern European criminals according to the FBI. They were picked up. But the virus is still out there. So that's the real danger. The big problem comes on Monday when, if this is inside your computer, there is a very good chance you will find you simply cannot get on to the Internet at all.
So what can you do about it? Well, some of the biggest names out in the Internet have already been trying to help. Facebook has been sending notices to people who sign on, whose computers act like they might be infected. You might have seen one of these. Same thing from Apple. Same thing from Google. Letting people know maybe there is a problem.
What you do if you think you have a problem is simply, many ways, just go to www.dns-ok.us. It was set up with the FBI. That web site will automatically show you a green indicator here or a red indicator. Green means you're clean. Generally, it's not a guarantee. But that says your computer doesn't seem to have a problem.
If it comes up red though, you need to act quickly. In any event, check out all of your spyware, malware indications, your protections on the computer. Get the updates this weekend. Make sure your security system is working as well as possible to help flush this out of your computer, and take a little bit of time. Go to that web site and just make sure, because you don't want to find that it's Monday and the ghost got you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Thank you, Mr. Foreman.
In case you missed it, here is that web site again, www.DNS-ok.us. Check it out. It could save you a lot of headaches on Monday. This is serious stuff.
It seems as if anything that's not locked down is subject to being stolen. Well, wait until you hear what this thief was targeting and the money he likely made from his theft.
Don't forget that you can watch CNN live on your computer while you are at work or even on your Smartphone or you're sitting out by the pool today if you don't have electricity, you can still get it. You can still get on 3G or 4G or the Internet. Go to CNN.com/TV. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: You know, it's amazing, the schemes that crooks come up with. Case in point, in the D.C. area, thieves with head lamps and bolt cutters have targeted pubs and restaurants, eight of them, over an eight-day stretch this month, not for their cash, but for their used cooking oil.
CNN's Susan Candiotti explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's 3:00 a.m., and a man emerges from a professional-looking truck behind the Red Rooster Restaurant in Damascus, Maryland. He wears a seemingly official vest, but instead of unlocking some padlocks, he snaps them off. What's he after? Believe it or not, cooking oil.
PAT MILLER, OWNER, RED ROOSTER RESTAURANT: For somebody to just come up and do that sort of thing, I don't know why anybody would ever want to mess with that nasty stuff.
(LAUGHTER)
CANDIOTTI: This alleged thief messed with them before. The restaurant's surveillance camera caught the action.
MILLER: The worst thing is they even cut the locks off. I mean, come on.
CANDIOTTI: The cooking oil rip-off came right before the Red Rooster's monthly grease pickup.
MILLER: Anything we cook on the flat grill goes into a little drawer and we dump it in a bucket. The same with the chicken fryer and the barbecue.
CANDIOTTI: That goop is then used by refiners to make biodiesel fuel for powering cars and trucks.
KEVIN MILLER, OWNER, RED ROOSTER RESTAURANT: They cut us a check for $160 every time we fill it up.
CANDIOTTI: A great deal for honest businesses, but the thieves are also cashing in, ripping off the used oil and selling it on the black oil for $500 a pickup.
The refining industry says it's a nationwide profit.
TOM COOK, PRESIDENT & CEO, NATIONAL RENDERERS ASSOCIATION: It's 100 percent profit for them if they steal it and sell it.
CANDIOTTI: It's a similar situation for recycled cardboard.
RON BERGAMINI, CEO, ACTION ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP: We use approximately $100,000 a week due to cardboard theft. CANDIOTTI: Often it's hard to tell legitimate recyclers from thieves, since the cardboard left on sidewalks for pickup seems up for grabs.
BERGAMINI: Law enforcement, for somewhat obvious reasons, doesn't make it a high priority, so the risk of getting caught is low and then the penalties are low.
CANDIOTTI: Ron Bergamini is looking to change that.
BERGAMINI: It is a serious problem. We're here to help.
CANDIOTTI: He's petitioning New York City Council to stiffen those penalties. After all, thieves can make hundreds of dollars a night with just a truck and a late-night hunt for cardboard, and easily pay any fines if caught.
BERGAMINI: It's a bad economy, so people are out there looking to hustle and make themselves some money.
CANDIOTTI: Illegal Greens siphoned from the green economy.
Susan Candiotti, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: "THE SITUATION ROOM" is straight ahead.
Wolf Blitzer, what do you have for us?
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN's "THE SITUATION ROOM": Don, thanks very much.
Got lots coming up, including more reaction to those pretty weak jobs numbers that came out Friday. We'll talk about that. We're going out on the campaign trail, watching what the Romney campaign is doing, what the Obama campaign is doing. Stand by, much more on that coming up.
Also, investigations into two disasters, the "Costa Concordia" disaster, that cruise ship off the coast of Italy. What exactly happened that brutal night? And that Air France disaster, the crash in the Atlantic Ocean. We have new information on that as well.
All that coming up right here in "The Situation Room."
Don, back to you.
LEMON: Wolf, we'll be watching. Thank you so much, sir.
He was the unexpected star of golf's U.S. Open championship and he's only 17. Next, we're going to introduce you to Beau Hossler, who went from average teen to national sports star in one week.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Just a few weeks ago, he was a teenager with a strong golf game, good enough to earn a college scholarship. Today, he is the toast of amateur golf, the kid who stole the spotlight at the U.S. Open.
Here's CNN's Lisa Sylvester.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BO HUSTLER, AMATEUR GOLFER: I got off to a good start the first round and shot even. The second round, I played all right. Shot three over and made the cut.
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's an old hand when it comes to golf. But look closer and you see a mere teenager who just had his braces taken off.
Ask 17-year-old Beau Hossler who was more nerve-wracking, the U.S. Open or taking his driver's license test.
HOSSLER: The license test, yes. It took me three tries. I got screwed on the first one, then messed up on the second one, and the third one, if you mass up, you got to wait for a while, so I was pretty nervous.
SYLVESTER: Hossler became a fan favorite after he wowed the sports world with a great showing at the U.S. Open last month. He's the first high schooler to qualify for consecutive U.S. Opens in 61 years, up against the likes of Tiger Woods and Phil Michelson.
HOSSLER: It's kind of weird. You know, people ask to get their picture taken at the airport, which is a little bit weird. I feel like, you know, I'm obviously, the same kid, and these guys are, you know, looking up to me. So it's really cool.
SYLVESTER: He started playing he was around 7. But believe it or not, golf was not the first sport he fell in love with.
AMY BALSZ, MOTHER OF HOSSLER: You know, he played baseball for a long time. He loved baseball. That's what he did, every day -- baseball, baseball, baseball. And then he transitioned into golf. So you just never know what's going to be your -- what's going to be -- what's going to click.
His mom, Amy Balsz, travels around the country with her son when she can, while keeping him rooted when he's home.
BALSZ: He's still a teenager, he has to do homework, he has to put his laundry in the hamper. He has to pick up his room. He hates it, but he has to do it. He still has to do the things every other kid has to do and that keeps you grounded.
SYLVESTER (on camera): His favorite food?
BALSZ: I would say sushi is his favorite right now. He's on a sushi kick.
SYLVESTER: His favorite music?
BALSZ: LL Cool J? I don't know. A lot of rap-type stuff, I think.
SYLVESTER: And his favorite sports teams?
HOSSLER: I actually really like to watch the USC Trojans and the San Diego Charges play football. Now, obviously, the Texas Longhorns as well.
SYLVESTER: The Texas Longhorns because that is where he'll head for college. But before he gets there, he'll spend his summer enjoying a few more rounds.
Lisa Sylvester, CNN, Bethesda, Maryland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: All right. Lisa, thanks.
And thank you for watching. See you back here in an hour.
