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Ambushed Cop Waved Off Help; Tracking A Killer's Hate; Diner Hit By Bus In Tornado Reopens; Grenada Wins Its First Medal Ever; Felix Sanchez Wins 400 Meter Hurdles; Loughner Expected To Enter New Plea; Second Fire Destroys Missouri Mosque; Gas Prices Up 14 Cents In A Week; Tropical Storm Ernesto Could Become Hurricane; Volcano Erupts For First Time In 115 Years; Pressure On Obama To Get Tough On Guns; Mayors Against Illegal Guns; New Video from Mars; Bin Laden Movie Trailer Released; Eagle Scout Returns His Medal

Aired August 07, 2012 - 10:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Just ahead in the NEWSROOM, he was shot nine times outside of a Wisconsin temple, but Lieutenant Brian Murphy, he wanted to make sure other victims were helped first. Hear more about this amazing police officer.

The massacres in Aurora, Colorado, Oak Creek, Wisconsin after these deadly shootings a call for President Obama and presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, to do something and one mayor is helping to lead the charge.

It takes years for a boy to reach the pinnacle in scouting. Now more Eagle Scouts are protesting the organization they spent years working with. They are quitting and they are giving back their Eagle Scout medals.

And you would think the rover landing on Mars would not be upstaged, but one NASA engineer may have done just that, stealing the show with his Mohawk. NEWSROOM begins right now.

Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. We begin with new details of heroism emerging this morning from the deadly shooting rampage near Milwaukee.

Satwant Singh Kaleka was the president of the Sikh temple and he died trying to protect his fellow worshipers. He was armed only with a butter knife. Police say he saved lives by delaying the killer just long enough for others to escape.

This is Lieutenant Brian Murphy, the first police officer to arrive on the scene. The gunman was waiting as Murphy attended to a victim, the killer walked up and opened fire and even critically wounded, Murphy's concern was for other victims. Here is CNN's Randi Kaye.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCH: Squad, I'm taking report of an altercation Sikh Temple, 7512 South Howell. There's a lot of noise. I'm unable to get much info, but there's a fight and now it's --

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Minutes after the suspect opened fire, Oak Creek Police Lieutenant Brian Murphy was on the scene, the first officer to arrive. He immediately began tending to one of the victims on the ground in the parking lot. But before he knew it, the suspected shooter ambushed him.

CHIEF JOHN EDWARDS, OAK CREEK POLICE: The individual walked around either the front of the squadron in that area and was just on top of him. He was kind of down, in a fashion, down, and he took rounds from a person standing up.

KAYE: Oak Creek Police Chief John Edwards says Lieutenant Murphy was shot eight or nine times. He was wearing a bulletproof vest, but a bullet hit him near the neck and throat. Luckily, most of the bullets passed through him, hitting only flesh, no critical arteries.

(on camera): While Officer Murphy lay bleeding, the other officers tried to secure the scene, unaware one of their own had been shot. At one point, the officers tried to reach Lieutenant Murphy on the radio, telling him they heard gun shots asking him to confirm. They heard nothing back.

(voice-over): In his 21 years on the force, Lieutenant Murphy had never been shot before. The 51-year-old officer was recently married and has two stepchildren. He also has a daughter who lives in Korea so it took some time to notify her about what happened.

With the suspect still firing but in sight, other officers pulled out their rifles and took the fight to him. Just as the chief says they're trained to do. The suspect shot out a patrol car windshield, but after that was shot and killed by one of the officers.

(on camera): The officer who took the suspect down is also a family man with a daughter. He's a trained marksman similar to a sniper in the military. He's a 31-year veteran of the force who teaches his sniper skills at both the U.S. State Department and the FBI.

(voice-over): The suspect was dead, but where was Lieutenant Murphy? His fellow officers weren't sure. So they did what they call a par check. Calling out individual badge numbers over the radio to make sure each officer is OK.

EDWARDS: In this case, they went through everybody and they got responses. When they didn't get a response from Lieutenant Murphy who's badge number 62 they called for him. Said 62 par check and they called numerous times. An officer said, we don't have one from 62. We need to find him.

UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: Ambulance up, subject's down! Officer is down! Bring the ambulance!

UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCH: Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: We have one officer shot. UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCH: Franklin Dispatch. Off (inaudible) 7512 South Powell Avenue, subject with a gun, white t-shirt, officer down.

KAYE (on camera): When they did find Lieutenant Murphy, he waved them off. The chief says Murphy was able to speak and told the others, quote, "leave me alone." He wanted the other officers to hurry up inside to save the other victims.

MAYOR STEPHEN SCAFFIDI, OAK CREEK, WISCONSIN: There's no doubt in my mind that the heroic actions of our police officers prevented an even greater tragedy.

KAYE: Randi Kaye, CNN, Oak Creek, Wisconsin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Let's head to Oak Creek right now. David Mattingly is there. How is officer, Lieutenant Murphy this morning?

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the last word we heard from the hospital was that he and the two other wounded in this that were being treated at the hospital, all three are in critical condition.

We know that he underwent two surgeries and was said to be resting comfortably that came from his boss, the police chief. We are waiting today to see if what his and the others conditions might be upgraded, but the most serious wound that he has was the one two his neck.

That's the one they were most concerned about and that is the one that was causing the most trouble. So at this point, it's wait and see, but, at this point, everyone is still listed in critical condition.

COSTELLO: David Mattingly reporting live for us this morning.

Now a closer look at the gunman who killed the six people. Wade Michael Page made no secret of his involvement at the white supremacy movement and that did draw the attention of one civil rights organization.

The Southern Poverty Law Center said they considered Page dangerous enough that they tracked him for about 12 years. The feds also followed Page and his white power punk band "End Apathy."

The "L.A. Times" reports law enforcement officials took notice, but felt there wasn't enough evidence to open a full investigation. Here is a sampling of one of page's Rage-filled songs.

Page's former stepmother says his hatred must have boiled up in the decade since she lost touch with him, but an army buddy who knew Page before his 1998 discharge says even then Page talked of a racial holy war that was coming.

A sign of healing in a small Indiana town devastated by a deadly tornado. One of the most memorable images from the twister in Henryville last march was a school bus that slammed into Budroes Cafe.

No one injured when the winds packing up more than 200 miles an hour tossed the empty bus into the empty diner. Five months later, crowd came out to celebrate the re-opening of the diner that has been renamed by owner Herman Sykes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HERMAN SYKES, OWNER, BUDROE'S BUS STOP: Budroe Bus Stop because the bus rolled in here and stopped!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: There you have it. And the terrifying moments before the tornado struck, Sykes had taken all of his workers and customers to the safety of the basement.

There's no work. Just play in Grenada this afternoon. The government has declared a holiday to honor the island's very first Olympic medal winner. The 19-year-old Kirani James took gold in the men's 400-meter race last night.

Zain Verjee is in London. Wow! That is exciting for Grenada!

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, exciting. First medal ever for Grenada. He comes from a small fishing town and everyone is going nuts. It's a national holiday.

In fact, one official put it this way. His winning was more important than Christopher Columbus landing, Carol, OK. So that is the significance of this event has in Grenada, but it's pretty amazing.

What was Kirani James has done is end a long string of U.S. victories in the 400 meters. He was really an accidental winner here, many people are saying, but he's so talented, only 19 years old. He is a student.

He also showed a lot of class in the semifinals. I was in the stadium when this happened and when the South African athlete Oscar Pistorius ran and he lost in the semifinals and what Kirani James did was take off his name tag and exchange it with him.

It was just a real class act. A lot of people still talking about that, but well done, Grenada!

COSTELLO: That's right. So James is the youngest Olympian to win the 400 meters, but there's another winner who is the oldest. So I'm curious.

VERJEE: He is 34 years old, the 400-meter hurdles and his name is Felix Sanchez. Everyone was moved watching him get moved. It was really incredible. Just take a look at this video, Carol. He was so emotional.

He got the gold. He got it eight years ago. You know, his grandma died when he was competing in the Olympics at the time. And he said that he really wanted to run this race for his grandma and even put her name at the bottom of his tag.

He just -- he won and so uncontrollable and sobbing away on the number one spot. And everyone in the stadium even though he beat a British athlete and everyone was disappointed about that.

But just the more emotional he got, the more everyone kept cheering him, you know? So it's tough. Nobody thought he could do it, 34 years old, the oldest to win this for the second time.

COSTELLO: I'm sure grandma was watching. Way up from above. That's awesome. Zain Verjee, thanks.

A hot button issue, gun control. As Wisconsin tries to cope with the tragedy of Sunday's shooting, the debate heats up again.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It's 13 minutes past the hour. Checking our top stories now. We're just hours away from knowing if Jared Loughner might change his plea to guilty. He is the man accused of killing six people and injuring 13 others in Tucson last year. A judge must still decide if Loughner is competent to stand trial.

Authorities were investigating the cause of a fire that destroyed a mosque in Joplin, Missouri. The FBI was already investigating a fire last month that damaged the roof. Security cameras were destroyed in this latest fire.

Gas prices taking a big jump. The news report says the national average of a price of regular unleaded is nearly $3.65 a gallon. That's an increase of 14 cents from a week ago.

In weather news, Tropical Storm Ernesto is heading for Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and it could become a Category One hurricane by the time it reaches land sometime after midnight tomorrow. Rain could fall as part south as Belize.

Some new video that's really quite fascinating. This is a cloud of ash from a volcano in New Zealand that is rumbling to life. It erupted yesterday for the first time in 115 years.

Those aren't snow drifts dotting the mountain side either. That is ash. It's still spewing out today. No injuries are reported, but one hut was crushed by falling debris. That hut was more than a mile away from this thing.

As authorities try to figure out why a gunman opened fire in a Wisconsin temple, gun control advocates aren't waiting. They're talking openly and loudly about the need for gun control and they are again pressuring the White House. Here is Dan Lothian.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Faced with another tragic act of violence, this time in Wisconsin, President Obama is under pressure to do something.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I think all of us recognize that these kinds of terrible tragic events are happening with too much regularity for us not to do some soul searching and to examine additional ways that we can reduce violence.

LOTHIAN: But he has delivered similar remarks before. Most recently at the National Urban League Convention in New Orleans in the wake of the Colorado massacre.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: We should leave no stone unturned and recognize that we have no greater mission as a country than keeping our young people safe.

LOTHIAN: Stopping gun violence has been an elusive target, but Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a loud voice on the issue, says there has been a deafening silence from the president and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney on gun control.

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK CITY: The two presidential candidates cannot continue to avoid an issue that is one of the most serious threats we face as a nation and for our security.

LOTHIAN: Press repeatedly on the president's plans, White House Spokesman Jay Carney blamed Congress for not doing enough to keep some weapons out of the hands of those who shouldn't have them.

Repeated the president would support any new ban on assault weapons while safeguarding second amendment rights to keep in bearing arms.

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The question as the president discussed in New Orleans was not one of a specific high profile incident alone. The unfortunate reality is that while these terrible incidents get a lot of headlines, there is violence in America every day.

LOTHIAN: But Bloomberg and the group "Mayors Against Illegal Guns" are calling for details. Not only from the president, but Mitt Romney.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our leaders gave us a moment of silence then.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But they haven't given us a plan.

LOTHIAN: The group released this new TV ad featuring survivors of the Tucson shootings.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We demand a plan.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because 48,000 Americans will be murdered with guns during the next president's term.

LOTHIAN (on camera): Have you seen this ad and your reaction to it? CARNEY: I haven't.

LOTHIAN (voice-over): As the White House, Congress, and other politicians debate the issue, some argue the public's attention is focused in the wrong direction.

DICK ARMEY, FREEDOMWORKS CHAIRMAN AND FORMER HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: My own view is let's get tough on criminals, have tough penalties for the illegal use of weaponry or any other illegal activity that an assailment against another person.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Dan Lothian is in Washington. So Dan, let's talk reality. How likely is it that either candidate will actually talk guns in America on the campaign trail?

LOTHIAN: Well, look. It's always possible, but this is something that could come up on the campaign trail most likely though, it would come after someone in the audience if there's a town hall or a reporter will ask a question.

Because the focus on the campaign on both sides so far has been on the economy and particularly on taxes. Each side accusing the other of being better in terms of having the best policy when it comes to taxes for middle class Americans.

So, again, it could potentially come up, but most likely would be from a question asked. Now as for the president, he wants to put together some kind of group at some point made up of law enforcement officials, faith leaders, elected officials to try to make some progress on this issue.

But, again, it's unclear whether this is something that would happen in the next few weeks or months -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Dan Lothian reporting for us from Washington.

And as you heard from Dan, the group "Mayors Against Illegal Guns" is leading the way in the push for tighter gun control laws. One of those mayors is Elizabeth Tisdahl, the mayor of Evanston, Illinois. Welcome, Mayor.

MAYOR ELIZABETH TISDAHL, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS: Thank you for having me.

COSTELLO: Every time one of these tragedies happen, the latest in Wisconsin, we talk about gun control and people say you're using this for political purposes and then nothing really changes.

TISDAHL: Well, something has to change because not only have there been the incidents, the high profile ones in Tucson and in the movie theatre and in a house of worship, but already incidents every single day in America.

There were people who were firing guns outside St. Francis Hospital at 5:40 in the afternoon on Sunday and they had been in the hospital to be treated for an allergic reaction to medication.

A kid got into an argument with another, we think, gang member and when they left the hospital, they were shooting at one another. That is absolutely unacceptable. Kids should not have guns. They should argue the way children always have, but not with guns.

COSTELLO: Well, the difficulty comes in is what do you do about the guns? For example, the suspect in the Wisconsin shooting, he purchased the gun legally. There was a 48-hour waiting period in Wisconsin. He waited. He bought the gun. It was legal. How do you stop something like that?

TISDAHL: I would ban guns. I'm radical on the issue. But I understand that hunters want to hunt, but you don't need a handgun and you don't need an assault rifle to hunt Bambi.

COSTELLO: But, see, those who are for gun rights, when they hear you say I'm radical, I want to ban guns. That probably means they don't trust anything else you would say on this issue.

TISDAHL: As mayor of Evanston, the first homicide that occurred while I was mayor, I knew what to do. I panicked completely. Then I thought what would I want if I lived on that block?

And I thought I'd want the mayor to come. So I went and I knocked on doors to talk with neighbors about what would make their neighborhood safer.

And the first door I knocked on, they opened the door just half an inch and when I said I was the mayor, they opened it open sesame and told me what the impact was of foreclosed homes and drug dealers dealing drugs out of those empty homes and violence coming into their neighborhood.

And I visited every single block where a homicide occurred ever since and learned a great deal. And in one house, I was talking with a couple about safety and as I was leaving, I said to their son, I'm your mayor too.

I think he was 8 years old. I said, is there anything you want to tell me? And he said, yes. I'm afraid to play outside in the home of the free, where raising children, who are afraid to play outside of their own home.

COSTELLO: I think, you know, most people can empathize with that story, but there are so many guns in the United States right now and so many people own guns and so many criminals have guns. That some feel the only answer is to arm yourselves.

And then you see stuff like this. This is a video from a convenient store in Garden Grove, California, actually it was a jewelry store in Garden Grove, California.

The store owner started shooting at a group of gunmen who intended to rob her. She had a gun though and watched these guys run. You know people are thinking, my goodness.

If she didn't have a gun, what would have happened in this store? So how do you answer them and say -- that banning guns is the right answer?

TISDAHL: If she didn't have a gun and if the people trying to rob her didn't have a gun that would have removed guns from the equation.

I agree with you, we have a long way to go in this country before we will have guns in the hands of people who responsibly use them and use them to hunt.

My son, one of my sons hunts and he certainly does it responsibly and he has never used a gun in any manner except to hunt, but I think that we can get guns out of the hands of people who absolutely are not qualified to have them and we have to start somewhere. We need a plan.

COSTELLO: Yes. Someone needs to come up with a plan, right? Mayor Tisdahl, thank you so much. We're glad you joined us this morning.

TISDAHL: Thank you.

COSTELLO: We will be back.

(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, what can be done about Islamaphobia in America?

No one knows why Wade Michael Page allegedly chose the Oak Creek Sikh temple. Maybe as horrible as it sounds, it was convenient?

Maybe it was because worshipers there had brown skin or maybe because they wore turbans or maybe as so many have speculated the gunman thought Sikhs were Muslim!

Many of us say we get it now. After all, Page had that 91 tattoo on his arm. Who knows? But again, a religious group felt compelled to tell the nation they were peaceful and not militant Muslims.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KANWARDEEP SINGH KALEKA, TEMPLE MEMBER: Ignorantly takes it out on a community that he thinks are responsible, which is ludicrous in every way. I mean, not only are we Sikh, we're not Muslim. But Muslims themselves aren't responsible as a group for that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Many observers say Sikhs have been unfairly targeted ever since 9/11, but that implies Muslims can be fairly targeted. They are targeted. A mosque was destroyed by fire in Missouri. The FBI suspects arson. In Tennessee, neighbors are still trying to keep a mosque from opening in Murphysboro.

And in Washington, prominent politicians and extremist Muslims are influencing our government despite dubious evidence, but as a society, how can we stem anti-Muslim violence?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK POTOK, SENIOR FELLOW, SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER: I think in the longer run, in the matter of months and even years, yes, we are looking at the real possibility of more domestic terrorism along these lines. You know, we have seen it in Europe, as well as here. I think this is accelerating, not decelerating.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So the talk back question today, what can be done about Islamophobia in America? Facebook.com/carolcnn. Your responses later this hour.

Almost a day and it has since "Curiosity" rover landed on the surface of the red planet. Well, more pictures to show you when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Thirty-one minutes past the hour. It's time to check our "Top Stories".

Mourners will gather for a third straight night of vigils for the six people killed in a shooting rampage at a Wisconsin Sikh temple. Police say Army veteran Wade Michael Page was the only gunman. He was shot to death by police responding to the attacks.

Police in Florida have arrested a man with a stash of fake military and law enforcement uniforms, badges and even a NASA flight suit. Authorities are asking the public about Roy Antigua to determine if he is a threat or is just living fantasy lives. Port Richie's police chief met Antigua when he was dressed as a Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander three months ago.

And Syria's opposition say at least 115 people have been killed across the country today. The U.N. has pulled 24 monitors out of the city of Aleppo due to the worsening security situation. There are fears Syria's military is on the brink of a major assault on Aleppo.

The NASA rover "Curiosity" has been on Mars for only a day but is already sending back unbelievable images from the Red Planet. We're getting a new look at the landing that "Curiosity" had to go through. This video made by still images shot from "Curiosity" and this is just the beginning of the amazing sights that you can now see.

John Zarrella is on the phone from Pasadena. So John, you're going to take us through these pictures, I know that and the video. And also, engineers will have another -- another briefing. What will they say?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Right. Well, I -- we assume that what they're going to do is give us an indication of the first checkouts of "Curiosity". The science team wanted to go through and make sure that all of the systems are working and that's going to take quite a while. They don't really expect to start out doing a lot of science for a couple of weeks until every system is checked out but they're going to continue to give us these terrific pictures.

And those pictures that you've been showing, Carol, the ones we're seeing now, the descent image camera. Interesting story there. Mike Maylin, the Maylin space scientist, a San Diego company made the image and we kind of call him the Mars photographer. Because he's had (inaudible) many cameras on Mars missions.

Interesting story here. A few years ago when NASA was in the process of trying to save money for this mission, they cut the camera out of the mission and we would never have had these pictures, except Maylin decided to go ahead and finish the project on his own, so that all of us down here on earth would have the opportunity to -- to go to Mars with him.

So that's kind of a unique story around these images that are so spectacular of the -- the rover "Curiosity" landing on the surface -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So tell us about this silver disk that we're seeing in this particular picture.

ZARRELLA: Right there -- what you're seeing there in that picture was taken from the Mars reconnaissance orbiter. Now they've done this before. There was a lander called "Phoenix" that they were able to do the same thing, an image with MRO, the reconnaissance orbiter which is flying overhead of Mars but to do that required a tremendous amount of very specific demands sent up to the MRO to get it in the right position. And what we're seeing there is the "Curiosity" at the end of that giant parachute plunging through the atmosphere.

Now, the parachute is already deployed, so that means "Curiosity" is being slowed right there to about 200 miles an hour. At which point, then the parachute would have been jettisoned. But that picture taken from MRO as "Curiosity" is plunging through the atmosphere.

Just spectacular that you can get that kind of imagery from an orbiting satellite, you know literally, 154 million miles away.

COSTELLO: Wow.

ZARRELLA: And there are some of the first color images that we are seeing literally from "Curiosity" and that's from that camera, one of the cameras there on the front of "Curiosity" and it appears that what we're starting to make out in the distance there is that Mount Sharp. Some of the first images that we saw were Mount Sharp and NASA hopes that they are going to be able to get "Curiosity" over the course of the next two years up to the mountain because I believe that that mountain has all of this layered material that goes back billions of years, a sedimentary rock.

And by looking back in time -- and that's what you do when you look at these layers of rock -- they will be able to determine, you know, perhaps what went wrong on Mars. You know? Mars was a much wetter planet and much more earth-like back then and they are hoping to be able to see that period in Mars' history through those rocks and get an idea of, you know, what went wrong on Mars, why did it turn out the way it is now and why are we the way we are now?

One of the main, of course, the big question they hope to ask in that gale crater site (ph) where they are, you know, is to try and find out the building blocks of life, looking for water, looking for carbon material.

COSTELLO: Right.

ZARRELLA: And trying to determine if life was ever possible on Mars. We're talking microbial life or if perhaps somewhere on Mars, that it still exists in that form -- Carol.

COSTELLO: It's just fascinating. What -- what might be a close second to these pictures, John is a Mohawk. I don't know if you've heard. One of the NASA engineers has become famous for his Mohawk. His name is Bobak --

(CROSSTALK)

ZARRELLA: I talked to him.

COSTELLO: Go ahead.

ZARRELLA: I talked with him yesterday. Yes. I talked with him yesterday.

COSTELLO: Well, let me show -- before you get there, let me show you a picture of this engineer. Because he was in that room as the Mars rover landed. You see him there with this Mohawk. And he's become this Internet sensation. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOBAK FERDOWSI, NASA FLIGHT DIRECTOR: You know I'm getting some extra e-mails that I wasn't expecting and some text from my friends. And then once we had landed and I looked at my phone for real, actually. All of a sudden I see these links to pictures of me on the Internet. It said like you know funny captions and whatever.

And yes this morning, I woke up and it's just kind of mind blowing you know like this kind of Internet celebrity. I had a different kind of color and cut for -- for launch and this one is for landing. And it's a good way of having fun and I think kind of celebrating what an accomplishment this is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So he had 120 Twitter followers, John. Now he has 33,000. So maybe NASA has found the secret to inspiring young engineers?

ZARRELLA: Yes now he's -- I talked with him. That sound there is from the interview I did with him yesterday. And you know, he was just totally aghast. He said he had absolutely no idea that it was going to go -- his hair was going to go viral like that.

So I ask him and I said what about your family, what do they think? Oh, they are traveling. I don't think they know yet. Many in his family haven't seen his do and he says if they have any spectacular discoveries down the road with this -- with this spacecraft he fully intends to -- to come up with some other color schemes for -- for the Mohawk for those events. And I'm sure the way this mission is likely to go, we're going to see a lot more of Bobak's hair in the next couple of years -- Carol.

COSTELLO: We hope so. John Zarrella, thanks so much.

We're going to take a quick break and be back with more.

ZARRELLA: Sure.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: The manhunt for Osama bin Laden is coming to a theater near you. Sony Pictures just released a trailer for "Zero Dark Thirty". Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God. Is that what I think it is?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When was the last time you saw Bin Laden?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: I don't get much of a hint there. This movie has inspired a lot of controversy. Showbiz correspondent Nischelle Turner joins us from Los Angeles. I can't wait to see it, actually.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN SHOWBIZ CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, you and me both because the movie has been talked about so much, Carol. You know? So now that we're starting to get a little bit of a sneak peek, the people's interest really will be piqued again. But you talked about that it's controversial and that's because people there are people that are accusing the film of being a propaganda tool for the Obama administration during an election year.

Now some critics, including Republican Congressman Peter King, claimed the director Katherine Bigelow and her writing partner got inappropriate access to confidential information while she was working on the script.

Now Bigelow and her screenwriter Mark Boal are declining comment when they are asked about their sources for the script. Mind you though, the attacks were being made before production had even started on this film. And the movie's original release date was October but it has been pushed to December which means it will not have any impact on the election.

Now according to an interview in "Entertainment Weekly," the filmmakers insist the movie isn't political and that you don't even see the President on screen. Bigelow and Boal were the creative forces behind the Oscar winning "Hurt Locker" remember that.

So the expectations for this movie yet another contender for the Oscar race.

COSTELLO: But that trailer is out too. And some politicos might object to even that. Because that trailer is going to run in November, right? See?

TURNER: Yes. And you know, you know that now that they released the trailer the talk of this movie is going to be ramp back up and both sides will be going at it.

COSTELLO: As is usual. Nischelle Turner thanks so much.

TURNER: Yes.

COSTELLO: Watch "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT", 11:00 Eastern on HLN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: 46 minutes past the hour. Checking our top stories.

John Edwards' former aide Andrew Young will not face contempt charges. Young was accused of providing investigators secret material in Edwards' federal corruption investigation. Edwards' former mistress Rielle Hunter had filed a lawsuit trying to reclaim those sensitive materials.

The Chicago library really wants its overdue library books back. For the first time in history, the library is going to offer an amnesty program. Return those overdue books by September 7 and fines will be waived. Those missing items are worth $2 million.

In sports the NFL about to make history. Thursday night in a pre-season game between the Green Bay Packers and the San Diego Chargers, the first female referee will take the field. Shannon Easton is a college and high school referee. She is part of a group of replacement refs. The NFL and its regular officials are in the middle of a contract dispute. The Boy Scouts of America are used to giving away medals to scouts, not receiving them. We will talk to one Eagle Scout who returned his.

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COSTELLO: It is the highest achievement a boy scout can earn. It's the Eagle Scout medal and badge and it's not easy to get one, earn one -- I should say. Only two percent of scouts attain Eagle Scout status. And now dozens of Eagles, as they are called, are returning their medals to the Boy Scouts; it's all to protest the organization's reaffirmation on the organization's ban on gays.

Martin Cizmar is one of those Eagle Scouts. Good morning and welcome.

MARTIN CIZMAR, EAGLE SCOUT: Good morning. Thanks.

COSTELLO: Why did you decide to return your medal?

CIZMAR: They had a secret review and they just decided without really even allowing their board to vote on it that they were going to continue be in on gay scouts. And I just didn't want to have my Eagle badge as long as they were doing that.

COSTELLO: What did your Eagle Scout status mean? I mean, tell me how special this was for you as a boy scout.

CIZMAR: I joined scouts after I turned 11 and got my Eagle when I turned 18 and it was the biggest day of my life to that point. I mean it was something I was really proud of. I moved around the country. I always brought my badge with me everywhere I moved because it's something that I really treasured.

COSTELLO: I think the motto is once an Eagle, always an Eagle, though, right?

CIZMAR: I think that's the motto, but I'm no longer an Eagle. I turned my badge in and I have said that I'm not (inaudible) to the organization any more so long they continue a policy of discrimination.

COSTELLO: What did they say when you turned your medal in?

CIZMAR: You know, I haven't heard back. I sent a letter and I posted it to Facebook and a lot of people shared it around and a lot of other Eagles had been doing that before and have done it since. I haven't heard back yet. The spokesman just keeps kind of sending off the same press release to everybody who asks him about it so I'm not sure what they think.

COSTELLO: Were you really surprised that the Boy Scouts reaffirmed their policy? Religion has always entered into this organization.

CIZMAR: Well, religion, yes, but there are a lot of religions that don't believe it's ok to discriminate against gay people. The Episcopal Church, for example. There are a lot of troops that meet in Episcopal churches where there might be a gay priest and yet a gay boy can't be in the troop and tying knots with the other scouts.

I was surprised that they did it especially in the way they did after having just a secret review and then handing this down rather than actually discussing it and allowing it to be an issue that they took seriously.

COSTELLO: I understand that the President of the United States is the honorary president of the Boy Scouts. That is the tradition along all of our presidents. Do you think President Obama ought to remain the honorary president of the Boy Scouts?

CIZMAR: I think he should to look at it after November and think about. I think that there are bigger issues for the country to address right now than that. But I think it's something that he and other politicians who accept awards from the Boy Scouts should think very seriously about.

COSTELLO: Do you think many Eagle Scouts are following your lead?

CIZMAR: I have seen about a hundred online so far. So I think that there are some. I mean Eagle Scouts tend to be great people and all of the Eagles I've met everywhere I've gone, I've met so many great people and they are principled people and I think that, yes, there will be more that will continue to do this.

COSTELLO: Martin Cizmar, thanks so much for joining us this morning.

CIZMAR: Thanks.

COSTELLO: What could be done about Islamophobia in American? That's what we are asking you today. Your responses next.

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COSTELLO: Nothing says summer like grilling. But some studies found eating food cooked over an open flame may cause cancer. In today's "Daily Dose", the Cooking Channel's Ellie Krieger shows us ways to significantly reduce those risks.

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ELLIE KRIEGER, REGISTERED DIETITIAN: One of the season's big culinary highlights is food cooked on the grill. But when meat is cooked on high heat like that, some of its fat forms a compound which has been shown to be linked with cancer and heart disease.

Luckily, there is a way around it by mixing your meat and serving it with spices and herbs. So it's great, taste-wise and health-wise. A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that you can reduce these compounds by about 70 percent simply by mixing your burger meat, for example, with delicious spices and herbs like oregano, rosemary and paprika and garlic.

So next time you cook up a burger or make a steak rub your steak with these wonderful spices or mix your burger meat with them and you'll have it a much healthier way.

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COSTELLO: We asked you to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. The question this morning, "What can be done about Islamophobia in America?"

This from Helen. "It's a novel idea, education. Teach about the religions of American citizens in Social Studies classes starting in grade school.

This from Jerry. "Nothing can be done as long as there are people who teach their children to hate others who are not Anglo-Saxon Christians."

This from Kez. "Muslims do not hide radicals. I don't know anyone in my community who would knowingly hide a radical. Why? Because radicals have no regard for human life, including mine or my children's. As Muslims, we are to preserve life."

And this from Jim. "The perception is that Muslim terrorism is not just about a few radicals. Muslim nations like Iran, Syria and Yemen are perceived as actually sponsoring terrorism and others including Saudi Arabia are seen as financing terrorism."

Keep the conversation going. Facebook.com/CarolCNN. And Thank you for joining me today.

"CNN NEWSROOM" continues right now with Kate Bolduan.