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Rover "Curiosity" Headed For Mars; 60 Buildings Burned in Oklahoma; Two Planes Too Close at Detroit Airport; Fighting Intensifies in Aleppo; Drought Hurts Mighty Mississippi River; Peterson Murder Trial Resumes Tuesday; Doctors Trying to Contain Ebola Virus; Romney Builds Up War Chest; Ohio a Major Focus In 2012

Aired August 04, 2012 - 12:00   ET

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

ROB MARCIANO, CNN ANCHOR: Seven minutes of terror. Seven minutes of terror. That's the petrifying ride from the top of the atmosphere to the surface of Mars in NASA's rover, "Curiosity," is about to take that unprecedented trip in the search for the building blocks of life.

CNN's John Zarrella is live at the jet propulsion lab in Pasadena, California. John, exciting times. You know what? I got to admit. I've seen the video. It is probably the best produced NASA video I've ever seen. They're calling "7 minutes of terror." Why?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, they've never attempted this kind of a landing before on Mars. Up until now the rovers -- you can see one there behind me that is the mock-up of "Curiosity."

In the past, they were small enough that they could put them in air bags and cushion them with air bags and land it on the surface. That was the tried and true method the last few times.

But this rover is the size of a small car, 2,000 pounds. It's too big to do it any other way than what they're going to attempt in about 36 hours. Never before happen. And what they will do is hit the atmosphere at 13,200 miles an hour.

They'll begin to slowdown. They'll be maneuvering through the atmosphere and then at some point will deploy a parachute, which will further slow the vehicle, but not enough to get it on the ground safely.

At that point they will fire some rockets on the spacecraft and it will begin to line itself up with the Martian surface and then they'll use what they call a sky crane where the rover will actually descend from the bottom of the landing vehicle and the two will descend to the surface together.

Then they will fire off the other part of the vehicle that they no longer need. So that will all take place in a matter of 7 minutes, from the time they hit the top of the atmosphere to the time "Curiosity" lands in the gale crater on Mars, 7 minutes, 7 minutes of terror. If one thing goes wrong, Rob, the whole thing is over.

MARCIANO: I don't think other than a manned mission, obviously, I don't think I've ever seen something so complicated, so sci-fi other than the here is challenges of this. Why is NASA calling this the most important mission of this decade?

ZARRELLA: Yes, no question about it. For a couple reasons, one is that the science that they'll be able to do on this mission. For the first time ever they'll have the capability to not detect life itself on Mars, but they have the ability to look for the building blocks of life.

As always, it's follow the water with Mars. They're going to do. But they're also going to be looking for things like carbon. Those are building blocks of life as we know it.

They have the ability to actually use a hammer drill and pulverize rocks and put them into on onboard chemistry lab and analyze all of the rocks over a two-year period of the mission.

So from that standpoint, they may get closer than ever before to answering that basic question -- did life of some sort once exist on Mars? And is it possible that somewhere in the subsurface that life still exists on Mars?

And the other part of that equation, Rob, is this is the last of the great exploration missions on the books right now for NASA. If it goes right, it could jump-start NASA's ability to get more missions on the books, to spend more money. If it goes wrong, this could be the end for quite some time of Mars exploration -- Rob.

MARCIANO: Well, there's a science explanation. In behalf of our viewers, John, when is this going to happen? Visually, what are we going to be able to see if anything at all?

ZARRELLA: Sunday morning -- it will be 1:30 in the morning Monday morning, Pacific Time it's 10:30 p.m. Sunday night. And you'll watch it right here on CNN. We will be carrying it live across all of our platforms so you will be able to see it anywhere in the world that you live, tune in to CNN and we will show you this landing.

And Rob, if we're lucking, there is another satellite called the "Mars recognizance orbiter." It may get some images that will be fed down a little later actually of "Curiosity" coming through the atmosphere and landing at that gale crater site.

That is going to be phenomenal. So it's going to be a terrific time out here and particularly, if they get it right, which is the key. And Olympic analogy, Rob, they have to stick the landing.

MARCIANO: Perfect. I like it. John Zarrella, watching it all live for us from Pasadena, California. He'll be there all weekend for that landing. All right, thanks, John.

Well, one of the nation's worst wildfire seasons on record so far. It is now Oklahoma's turn. Today, its governor is set to tour areas hit by the flames. Wildfires in more than a dozen counties are prime to get worse from low humidity, high winds and you know about the 110 plus degree heat. So far flames have eaten through 60 plus buildings and forced evacuations. What's worse? Investigators believe one of the wildfires is arson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATY BLAKEY, KOCO REPORTER: Initially they were looking for a man in a pickup truck because someone called and reported seeing that man throwing wands of paper already lit out into pasture. So they are still working to determine maybe who that man is.

What those witnesses exactly saw. That is so unsettling for so many people here in Oklahoma. We already knew the conditions were bad. The governor issued a statewide burn ban and then you have something like that take place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO: The wildfires are happening as Oklahoma is shriveling up under severe drought conditions that are hitting nearly half of the country.

If we could only get some of the moisture from these tropical systems that are now brewing, first, let's talk about Tropical Storm Ernesto. That is one that may very well threaten the U.S. There it is in the Central Caribbean.

There is winds of 50 miles an hour. It's about 290 miles south of the Dominican Republic moving west northwest, pretty good clip at 18 miles an hour.

Slow development is expected in the forecast from the National Hurricane Center. There you see the track, driving west and then northwest potentially towards the Yucatan and potentially into the Gulf of Mexico.

A hurricane strength is possible and now Florence, which is way out there and no threat to land if at all at this time, certainly not for at least a week, 45 mile-per-hour winds there. We'll watch Florence as well as we start to ramp up hurricane season.

Well, for the second time in a week, a close call for air traffic control. Two planes flew too close to each other last night as they were landing in Detroit. The rules say they should have at least 3 miles between them.

But Delta plane and a regional jet came within 2 miles of each other. This happened just a day after the FAA revealed three planes didn't have enough separation among them at Reagan National due to the air traffic control miscommunication there.

In Syria, fighting is intensifying in Aleppo, the country's commercial hub. Our sister network was able to enter an area under fire and captured this video.

Today, the rebels stormed into a state run TV and radio station took partial control of the building, but eventually had to retreat because of heavy shelling.

A rebel commander told CNN earlier today that more government troops are headed to the city. Meanwhile, the Syrian regime is feeling the impact of international economic sanctions and is now asking Russia for financial aid.

The mighty Mississippi has lost some of its might this year. We'll tell you how a massive drought has some parts of the river looking more like a beach.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARCIANO: America's drought is a natural disaster in slow motion. A government economist says it's the most severe and expensive drought in 25 years. Right now, more than half of the country or the counties across the U.S. considered disaster areas because of the drought especially in the agriculture zones.

Crop losses could reach $20 billion and, of course, you could feel that in your wallet. Not only that, the drought hurting farmers, of course. But now the waterways, take a look at the Mississippi River.

In some places it's 50 feet lower than last year's peak flood levels. In fact, the river had to be closed in two different spots because barges ran aground. The river bone dry in some spots. The shore line up down in Mississippi is looking more like a beach.

All right, let's go over what we were talking about as far as the drought is concerned. We got this thing locked up. I'll tell you this, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, the bread basket of the U.S.

We're talking about areas that have seen significant lack of rainfall and now the heat on top of that in Oklahoma obviously, the heat has -- and the drought caused some of those wildfires. The Mississippi now last year we were in record floods.

Now we're nearing record droughts. Some of the river captains along the Mississippi saying that this is the worst they've ever seen it. Now a typical tug gets 15 barges pushed. They've had to decrease that amount and lighten some of the load on these barges.

Just to do that, just to raise the barge one inch, you have to unload 17 tons of stuff. They had to unload some of these barges 12 inches. So that's over 200 tons of merchandise. So that's going to cost certainly you money at the pump.

The floods last year as well, it caused a lot of debris and silt that they are now having to drudge. So that's the deal with the Mississippi not just the farmers that we talked in depth about the past several weeks.

Prices at the grocery stores not so much this year, but as we get towards next year anywhere from 3 percent to 5 percent increases in your grocery bills.

All right, let's talk Olympics. I got to profile an amazing athlete a couple weeks ago and she'll be competing this week. That story coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARCIANO: Nothing like the regal anthem to alert you we're talking about the Olympics. Today, they're calling it super Saturday at the Olympics with 25 medals on the line.

American Serena Williams now owns one of them. She beat Russian Maria Sharapova for the women's single title and she hardly broke a sweat, 6-0, 6-1.

Michael Phelps wins for his last race later today the 4x100 meter relay. If he wins it, it would be his fourth gold medal of these games.

And the U.S. won gold medals in the women's five meter rifle marksmanship. An Olympic sport that doesn't get a lot of attention is called sprint kayaking. It takes strength and incredible degree of balance to master it.

I can tell you from experience after meeting the American woman who hopes to medal in that sport.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARCIANO (voice-over): Carrie Johnson starts graduate school this fall to become a veterinarian. But before she hits the books, she's hitting the water.

Sprint kayaking in her third and final Olympics, she'll race in both 200 and the 500 meter sprints. Johnson has yet to earn a medal, but she's determined to finish strongly.

CARRIE JOHNSON, U.S. WOMEN'S SPRINT KAYAK: Every athlete is lining up on that start line, you know, with the goal and the dream of winning an Olympic gold medal. I think if can you paddle away and say I did absolutely everything that I could do then you have to be satisfied with that.

MARCIANO: Johnson won gold in 2011 Pan-Am games. But her success hasn't come without struggle. She has Crohn's disease, an incurable intestinal ailment that also causes fatigue.

JOHNSON: When I have the harder days, I have a real appreciation for just being able to train.

MARCIANO: While it kept her out of the water for a little while, Johnson views her disease as extra motivation pushing her through nearly six hours of training a day.

(on camera): What's going through your mind technically? You know, how long do you want that paddle in there? How strong is the stroke? How are you balancing? There's got to be a lot of things to think about.

JOHNSON: Using your legs is actually a really an important part of paddling which people don't realize. That really starts the rotation that brings the, you know, boat forward.

MARCIANO: All this without falling in?

JOHNSON: Yes.

MARCIANO: Because the boat that you're on is pretty skinny.

JOHNSON: It is the widest part is just pretty much wide enough to get your hips in. So it is very unstable if you're not used to it.

MARCIANO: And if you're just some reporter getting in there, what are the odds of me staying afloat?

JOHNSON: We've never had anybody get into the boat for a first time and stay up, even the Olympic rowers.

MARCIANO: So I'm going in?

JOHNSON: You're going in?

MARCIANO: Grab the cockpit and step in with one foot. Step behind and sit down. Grab the paddle where the grips are.

MARCIANO: Yes. There's no way. There's no way I'm staying up. How in the world do you balance on this thing?

JOHNSON: Don't hit your head on the dock.

MARCIANO: Yes, OK. No way. You're right. One second. That's impossible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARCIANO: I've never felt such instability. The amount of balance and obviously strength that these athletes have to have in order to do this is incredible. She qualified for the Olympics by winning two gold medals at last year's Pan American games. I think she is scheduled to compete on Tuesday.

Well, it's been a rocky start for the murder trial of Drew Peterson. He's a former cop accused of killing his third wife, some missteps from the prosecution almost led to a mistrial.

Our legal folks are standing by to talk about that and other interesting cases. Avery? Holly? We'll see you in just a bit. Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARCIANO: The Drew Peterson murder trial will resume on Tuesday. It stopped early yesterday after a juror got sick. Peterson, a former cop, is charged with the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio.

She was found drowned in her bathtub back in 2004. Her death was ruled an accident at the time. The case was reopened in 2007 after Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy vanished. Peterson is now facing charges in that case.

Let' bring our legal folks Avery Freidman, a civil rights attorney and law professor in Los Angeles and criminal defense attorney Holly Hughes joins us live from Atlanta.

Well, Drew Peterson trial got off to quite an interesting start there. The prosecutors claim that Peterson murdered his third wife, as you know. But later on in the trial, or later on there was something that happened that thought was interesting.

There's not a lot of evidence, guys. So Holly, we start with you. What kind of challenges other than with so little evidence does the prosecution have?

HOLLY HUGHES, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: This case is like walking through a land mine because it is all circumstantial evidence and there's nothing direct. They have to be very careful about not going too far into the character of this man.

We had a motion for a mistrial this week, Rob, because the defense stood up and said you all are just character assassinating him. You're trying to get people to say he was threatening and they were intimidated.

You can't bring that type of evidence in unless and until the defense opens the door. So in addition to those challenges, you know, having no physical evidence, they also have to be very careful not to push the character button.

MARCIANO: Avery, what would you do?

AVERY FRIEDMAN, LAW PROFESSOR: Yes. Yes, I don't know because the character button with a guy like Drew Peterson, this guy has got more wives than Chick-Fil-A has gay protesters.

In this case, we're dealing with wife number three, Kathleen Savio. The difficulty is that even in the opening statement, Rob, what we heard from the defense is, well, Kathleen was bunkers. What the heck does that have to do with drowning in a bathtub?

It's absolutely nothing. You look at that and all of a sudden you see the prosecution take off on issues that are absolutely irrelevant, cannot be proven. And the judge who is overseeing this case is ready to pull his hair out in frustration of both sides.

Now the only goodness for the prosecution is they did put Kathleen's sister on who came up with testimony from the grave that Kathleen said that she thought drew was going to kill him.

That's all we have at this point. This case ultimately boils down to, I think, expert forensic testimony. That's where the case is going.

MARCIANO: Holly, it's been one week. How do you think it's going? How long is this going to take? What do you think the end result is going to be? HUGHES: What we're seeing right now is all the lay witnesses, Rob, the people going to come in and say, yes, she told me she was threatened by him. We'll see all those played out.

Then we're going to get into the experts that Avery was just mentioning. I think we're probably going to see another two to three weeks of testimony.

And they have to be very, very careful because even the forensics, remember, this was initially ruled an accident. They buried this woman. She was in the ground for three years.

And not until his fourth wife, Stacy went missing, did the state then disinters wife number three, bring her back up, for a second autopsy.

It's looking like sour grapes. You know, I'm not on Drew Peterson's side. I think he's a creep. But you can't lock somebody up for being a creep. We wouldn't be able to house them all.

MARCIANO: We certainly had a -- heard a lot from him over the years from the jail cell and over the media. Yes, it's been quite a character.

Let's switch gears, guys, let's talk about the Snyderman case. This is mind boggling as well when you talk about two people that are having an affair, one in dire straits financially.

They come up with this plan to basically kill the woman's husband who has a bunch of money saved and $2 million insurance policy. The guy who shot the husband, he's been in jail for a while.

But now they want to indict Andrea. So I guess silly question, is you know, what's the motive? They have one, don't they, Avery?

FRIEDMAN: Sure they have a motive. They have $2 million worth of a motive. Look, Andrea was in serious financial trouble so was her boyfriend. Her boyfriend, ironically, not only was convicted of murder, but the jury also found that he was mentally ill.

And for some reason the defense lawyers in that case, in the appeal, think that because Andrea, the girlfriend, was indicted, somehow that's going to help them in the appeal.

What's coming up very shortly is the defense team is also going to move for a change in venue, Rob. The fact is with technology today, I don't know where, what jury pool they're going to select that motion is going to be denied. But man, man what a dramatic trial this is going to be.

MARCIANO: I should point out that my legal ease is not up to snuff. All the things that I said prior to my question was alleged.

FRIEDMAN: Alleged.

MARCIANO: That's right. You have to use that more often. Holly, how do you think the trial is going to go down in the next few days and weeks?

HUGHES: You know, unless we see some really startling evidence, when Hemmy Newman, who is the actual shooter convicted here in Georgia, when he was convicted, he has always maintained she didn't have anything to do with it. She didn't put me up to it.

She's innocent of the charges. Well, he was found guilty but mentally ill. So now that he's been incarcerated, if he received counseling and medication, Rob, I'll be really curious to see if they have gotten him to finally come forward and say, yes, she was a part of it.

Because otherwise it's another one of those circumstantial indications, there's no physical evidence. Bear in mind, with his appeal pending, he's not really going to want to come out and talk about this.

So I think the state is going to be stuck again with circumstantial evidence. They're going to try to get a jury to kind of follow the money trail. This is what happened. Like Avery was mentioning, she was running out of money.

She wanted the insurance money. She didn't want to go through a divorce. She wanted custody of those children. And you know what? Sadly enough, Rob, like happens in a lot of these cases. Now the children have neither parent because she's been arrested on this new indictment.

MARCIANO: These are two certainly sad stories that we forget that there are so many twists and turns. It's a sad, sad case on both instances. Avery, Holly, stay right there. We'll talk to you in 20 minutes.

We'll have lighter stories and more fun with these, I suppose. But certainly for the people involved, there are some issues. Former California high school student got upset over getting a C plus in chemistry. Now he is suing the teacher and the school district. That's one of the stories coming up.

Well, people in Uganda are terrified after the deadly Ebola virus surfaced in that country. We're going to show you what precautions doctors are taking to contain the virus. Our exclusive report is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARCIANO: Doctors in Uganda are monitoring 30 people suspected of being infected with the deadly Ebola virus. At least 16 people have died since the initial outbreak.

Doctors are worried because the virus spreads so easily. In this exclusive report, CNN'S David McKenzie in full protective gear visits the hospital where doctors are trying to contain the virus.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the epicenter of an Ebola outbreak. We've been given exclusive access and the first thing we found out is that our safety protection isn't enough.

(on camera): The reason this isn't acceptable is because it's cotton like material. Obviously, you know, fluids, which are key risk in contracting Ebola can get soaked into the material. Let's keep going.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we've got is a kit. Within here is various bits.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): The virus is so deadly, you need extreme protection.

(on camera): Inside the restricted area, no matter what you do, you have to wear something like this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): Plastic overalls, apron, hoods and a face masks. Not a single inch of skin can be exposed. Touching fluids, a patient or even an object can put you at risk.

We're inside the hospital. The first case was confirmed in late July. Rest of the patients fled and health workers are some of the first to die.

(on camera): Early on in the epidemic, they're often in contact with patients. And then if they don't know it's Ebola, they may catch it themselves and then transmit that to the community. If you can't do that, can you rip it.

(voice-over): Within 24 hours of the first case, doctors without borders were on the ground. There is no cure for Ebola. Up to 90 percent of the people who catch it will die. So managing the fear factor is key.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We use a lot of chlorinated water.

MCKENZIE: This woman is in charge of the response. She says it's important to stay calm when entering the high risk zone. This is the inner most exclusion zone. Eighty suspected cases of Ebola, two confirmed.

The sickest too dangerous for us to get close enough to film. There is no treatment. All the doctors can do is give care. The patients can do is hope. Doctors wear protection for themselves and to contain the outbreak.

OLIMPIA DE LA ROSA, MSF EBOLA EMERGENCY COORDINATOR: When one of the outbreaks lasts, it's to contain the spread. We cannot treat the patient. We cannot give a vaccine or any prevention. So we must contain the spread of the disease.

MCKENZIE: We're allowed only a few minutes inside and have to leave. It's front line of the fight against the Ebola outbreak. So no risk is worth taking. The goal is to stop the spread in Uganda and even beyond. David McKenzie, CNN, Uganda.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARCIANO: Back in the states, a man loses his hand to an alligator. If that's not bad enough, he's charged with a crime.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He got his arm taken off. What more do you want for that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO: Our legal folks are standing by, Avery and Holly, and going to weigh in on that case and another one. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARCIANO: In Florida, it's an air boat tour one family will never forget and their captain, that's for sure, won't forget it either. The captain lost his hand after a nine foot gator bit it off.

Now he faces charges for reportedly feeding it. Our legal folks are back. Avery Friedman in Los Angeles, Holly Hughes in Atlanta. I mean talk about insult to injury, guys.

The 63-year-old Ed (inaudible) doing this a while. He's feeding an alligator. The reptile then bites off his hand. Now they're charging this guy with a crime. Avery, what is the legal punishment for giving your hand to an alligator?

FRIEDMAN: Well, that isn't what it is, Rob. I mean -- the law is enticing an alligator, which is unique to the everglades. He worked for Captain Doug. His name is Wallace. They're going to give him a nickname. It won't be lefty.

I mean, the difficulty here is that not only did he suffer the loss of his hand. He's going to be facing 60 days in jail, $500 fine because he enticed an alligator.

So whether you work for Captain Doug or Captain Hook, I think the good idea is not to entice alligators because this is what happens. He's facing a crime even though he suffered this terrible, terrible injury.

MARCIANO: Holly? Is this fair? I suspect there's a big problem with this in Florida, people feeding gators. Is this a fair law? Why wouldn't the judge give him a break?

HUGHES: Well, it is fair. The judge might give him a break. You heard the expression, you know, be careful what you do. It may come back to bite you. Well, this case is a visual aid for that, Rob.

And it's what we call public policy law. The law is on the books to protect people, to keep people from trying to feed alligators and things like this happening, losing their hands.

It's also to protect the wildlife and the animals. If they get too used to humans feeding them, they lose their fear of humans. And you do have these terrible incidences happening. The reason that laws are on the book is to protect the public and to keep other people -- it's a deterrent law.

It's a public policy. Keep other people from doing it. Now even though what Avery talked about is true, he is facing up to 60 days in jail. The judge could just say to him, I'll give you probation.

The judge can do anything within that range and given what this man has already suffered, I don't think the judge is going to throw the book at him.

MARCIANO: So Holly, if you were the prosecutor, would you press charges in this case?

HUGHES: I would press the charges, but I would give him probation.

MARCIANO: And Avery, what would you do, drop the hammer?

FRIEDMAN: No. I would press charges, make him pay a fine. He suffered enough.

MARCIANO: OK, the claim against his employer, how does that evolve? Avery?

FRIEDMAN: Not a chance.

MARCIANO: No?

FRIEDMAN: Not a chance unless the employer had forced him to do it, which I don't think he would. But if he did, maybe there is a worker's comp case.

MARCIANO: And I suppose if you're one of the guys you want to give your passengers, you know, a bit of a thrill. This one certainly goes down in the history books. Let's switch gears.

HUGHES: Or nightmares, Rob.

MARCIANO: Yes. For sure, if there were small children on the boat, they certainly have an image that may be burned in their minds forever.

Speaking of children, or at least students, let's switch gears. There's a student seemingly a star student. I mean, we're talking about stellar track record here, never -- allegedly never missed a class.

Now he has a C plus because he missed a class being a hearing, an adoption hearing, basically family court and he missed school that day so the teacher's penalize him.

So he and his parents are now suing the teacher and the school system, I would think. Avery, what do you have to say about this case?

FRIEDMAN: You know something, Rob. You have a better chance of winning a gold medal in kayaking than this kid has in federal district court. MARCIANO: That's a low blow.

FRIEDMAN: Sorry about that, pal. We saw what happened to you. But the bottom line is for some reason the lawyer brought it in federal district court claiming a civil rights case under the due process laws.

It does not exist. Unfortunately, I think this young man suffered injustice. We all had teachers like. This it belongs in the state court. My prediction, the federal court will dismiss it. It will be in superior court a little north of here and the matter will resolve.

MARCIANO: What do you think, Holly?

HUGHES: Yes, I'm with Avery on this. I think the matter will resolve only because it's getting so much press. And the difference here is they promised this young man that he would be able to make up the test that he missed.

And that's what caused his grade to plummet so drastically. So there was a promise. There was sort of this oral contract where they said to him, you know, look, if you go to the adoption hearing, don't worry. We're going to let you make it up.

So I think that eventually he may get something out of this. When you talk about lawsuits, you talk about are there damages? And here you're talking about what kind of college he gets into, future earnings.

We see it in catastrophic injuries cases where they bring on forensic accountant to say you are no longer able to earn this much and this is the damage. So we might see something worked out quietly by the school district saying we understand it could affect you.

What kind of job you get and how much money you'll be able to make. I don't think it is going to sustain in federal court.

MARCIANO: Avery, you want to jump in I saw?

FRIEDMAN: Yes. No provisions for damage in the statute, but I think the school district is smart. Get it worked out. You want to help kids. You want to move them on their way. He was a junior when this happened. Bottom line, let's see him go into UCLA and go Bruins.

MARCIANO: All right, guys, I want to point out that we reached out to the attorney for the school and we have not heard from him as of this newscast. Guys, thanks very much.

HUGHES: Thanks, Rob.

FRIEDMAN: All the best. Take care. Stay out of the kayak.

MARCIANO: Yes, that's for sure. Our legal guys are here every Saturday at this time to give us their take on the most intriguing legal cases of the day.

Well, a key question that could decide the presidential race coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARCIANO: Politics now, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is building up his campaign war chest. In a few hours, he'll attend a fundraiser in Indiana.

He raised more than $2 million at a fundraiser last night in Sun Valley, Idaho. Romney also picked up a big name endorsement at that event, actor Clint Eastwood. Eastwood joked with reporters as he headed into last night's fundraiser.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just kind of curious why you decided to endorse the governor.

CLINT EASTWOOD, ACTOR AND DIRECTOR: I didn't endorse the governor. Yes, no, I'm just kidding because I think the country needs a boost somewhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO: Eastwood told the crowd that Romney was going to restore a, quote, "a decent tax system." Romney and President Obama are spending a lot of time in key battleground states including Ohio where both candidates face challenges. CNN's John King has that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the morning rush and demand has never been higher. The workload at the Akron Canton Food Bank tells you a lot about battleground Ohio.

DANIEL FLOWERS, PRESIDENT AND CEO, AKRON CANTON REGIONAL FOOD BANK: The process of coming to the realization that you can't feed your family and you need to ask for help is really just a crippling emotional blow for a lot of people to suffer.

KING: Demand spiked dramatically in 2008 and 2009. CEO Daniel Flowers says it is still rising now.

(on camera): The demand is going up, but not at the rate.

FLOWERS: Not at the rate it was a couple years ago. So it's almost a sad fact that it feels like a win. It's been so bad.

KING (voice-over): Not so bad, but still the numbers are numbing. More than 2 million people in Ohio, 18 percent of the state population go hungry or eat less than they should because they can't afford more food. Akron is in Summit County, a battleground within the battleground.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If there were an election for U.S. president today, would you vote for Mitt Romney or Barack Obama? KING: Republicans acknowledge Mitt Romney is a few points behind in Ohio and they acknowledge it is virtually impossible for him to win the White House without winning here.

Now Republicans don't expect to carry Summit County. But John McCain barely cracks 40 percent here. Romney won't have a prayer state wide if he can't make it closer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In '08 that enthusiasm wasn't there as much as it could have been. I get calls all the time from people who say, what can I do to help Romney win?

KING: The unemployment rate in Summit County was 9.3 percent when the president took office and is 7 percent now. In Hamilton County, another key to winning state wide, it is 7.2 percent now down from 8.1 percent.

The Hamilton Democratic Chairman Tim Burke says Republicans can make the case Ohio is worse off.

TIM BURKE, CHAIRMAN, HAMILTON COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY: Just take automobiles and how that has seen a resurgence in the state of Ohio. We have three quarters of a million jobs that are automobile related here in Ohio. We're seeing the benefits of that for President Obama.

KING: Some though have a different test than the unemployment rate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put this in the bag.

KING: George Camilletti is at the Akron Food Bank four days a week for five years now helping the Good Neighbors charity and along the way watching the face of hunger change.

GEORGE CAMILLETTI, MANAGER, GOOD NEIGHBORS, INC: I'd say we are going into the middle of the middle class now. We are reaching up to the suburban people, to people who used to have a nice home, a nice car. It is worse than it was three years ago.

KING: Better or worse, the defining question in what could be the defining battleground. John King, CNN, Akron, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARCIANO: Next door in Pennsylvania, Joe Paterno's family plans to appeal the NCAA sanctions against Penn State. The school was hit with a $60 million fine along with a loss of 14 seasons worth of wins under Paterno.

The NCAA action came after the child sex scandal on campus, but there's a problem for the family. The NCAA says its sanctions are not subject to appeal.

Well, I probably know what you think, where's Fred? Fredricka Whitfield is usually sitting right here every Saturday and Sunday, well, she is not only a CNN anchor. She's the daughter of an Olympian. Not just an Olympian, special treatment for this gold medalist from 1948, see what Fred's father has to say. She's out there with her family side by side. That's coming up.

If you have to go out today, just reminder, you can continue watching CNN from your mobile phone and also watch it on CNN live from your laptop. Just go to CNN.com/tv.

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MARCIANO: The woman who usually sits in this chair has an excellent excuse not to be here. Fred is in London by the side of her father would won gold in London during the first Olympic games after World War II.

As Fred shows us, it may be a new century since his win but once an Olympian, always an Olympian.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What's it like traveling to London with a man known as marvelous Matt? Sixty four years after he won two gold and a bronze here in the 800 meter, 4x400 relay and 400 meter races, see for yourself.

Doors open for Olympians like dad, Mal Whitfield, invitations pour in, lots of autographs, pictures and hands to shake.

(on camera): And meeting up with other fellow '48 Olympians from the historic games following World War II and the games of others and the games that followed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He won three medals, two gold and one bronze.

WHITFIELD (voice-over): The 90-year-old bronze long jumper Herb Douglas.

HERB DOUGLAS, 1948 OLYMPIAN: It was gracious. It was a marvelous beginning and here we are 64 years later.

WHITFIELD: Stand out triple jumper Ira Davis from the 1956, '60 and '64 games.

IRA DAVIS, 1956, 1960 AND 1964 OLYMPIAN: I'm a little younger than them. I'm only 75. I looked up to them. They were special in my life and to share this moment with them, can't imagine how I feel.

WHITFIELD: And 1988 Olympic race walker Gary Morgan.

GARY MORGAN, 1988 OLYMPIAN: It's always great to reconnect with your fellow Olympians to see what they've done and where we've all kind of went, what we're still doing.

WHITFIELD: At 87, dad is in a wheelchair. His legs took a real beating from a career of hard training and competing using less than sophisticated equipment by today's measure. His words are few in frail state. Instead, his eyes and smile say everything. My brother and I feel privileged to witness firsthand these moments.

Dad told us he feels right at home here, six decades after setting an Olympic record at Wembly Stadium. Together again in their golden years, their memories far from tarnished, their Olympic flame not to be extinguished. Fredricka Whitfield, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARCIANO: I never get tired of looking at those old pictures. Congratulations to Fred's dad and his fellow Olympians. Fred should be back here next week.

It's the size of an SUV, weighs nearly a ton and will soon be barreling towards Mars at 13,000 miles an hour. A preview of the unprecedented rover mission to Mars.

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MARCIANO: Checking top stories, Oklahoma's governor toured areas of her state ravaged by wildfires. She tweeted these pictures of her briefing with Emergency Management officials there.

At least 65 buildings, many of them homes, destroyed, evacuations under way. All of this as the state is cracking under severe drought and heat wave.

The high expected to day in Oklahoma City, 113 an all time record. And Governor Mary Fallin will be with us at the 2:00 Eastern hour right here on CNN.

Just about 36 hours, NASA will attempt one of the most difficult missions to date, landing its "Curiosity" rover on the surface of Mars. If "Curiosity" makes it through the powering dissent and landing, it will begin to hunt for the building blocks of life. Now you can watch the landing live right here on CNN Monday morning early, 1:30 a.m. Eastern Time.

Coming up at 2:00 pm Eastern, CNN's John Zarrella tours the Mars rover "Curiosity" with a NASA scientists and also 2012 London games are being called the social media Olympics.

We're going to check out some of the cool messages being sent around by the athletes. That's at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time. "YOUR MONEY" starts right now.