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NASA Briefing on Mars Rover; Sikh Temple Gunman Killed Himself; Fears Rise of Hate Group Retaliation; Tucson Survivors Push For Gun Law; Voters Divided in Key Swing States; Heat Kills Fish in Midwest; Solution for Invasive Species, Eat Them; Money on Allyson Felix to Win 200 Meter; Ethanol Contributing to High Gas Prices; NYC Mayor Announces New Data Gathering Technology

Aired August 08, 2012 - 13:00   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. Don Lemon here, Suzanne is off today. This hour in the CNN NEWSROOM, we are going to focus on exciting new pictures coming back from Mars and new details into the investigation into the Wisconsin shooter. Police now say he killed himself. Let's get right to the news right now.

A couple of grainy pictures have the space guys all fired up at NASA, and they should be fired up. These are the first color images beamed back to Earth from the Mars rover called Curiosity, the latest Earth visitor to Mars. NASA says it is in great shape and working perfectly so far.

John Zarrella at the jet propulsion laboratory in California right now. John, I have been watching you for days now. I stayed up and watched the -- when it finally landed. I talked to you this weekend, it was exciting then, it's exciting now, what's the level like there today?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's really spectacular. We've got some real treats today for the viewer. You can see the room here I'm in, it's actually kind of yellow, because that's -- they are duplicating exactly what the conditions are like on Mars. And what you will see there behind me, that is the engineering model of Curiosity. It is an exact duplicate of Curiosity. Everything that Curiosity is doing on Mars, this rover is shadowing here on Earth. And you can see that the mast is actually up there, that's because they have just, in the last several hours, raised that mast on Curiosity on Mars so that they'll be getting some of the high fidelity pictures from the mast cams. They have started a news conference out at the jet propulsion laboratory, and we're going to take you there now. And can I promise you there will be images, new pictures.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- instrument is.

JENNIFER TROSPER, MISSION MANAGER, NASA: Oh, OK. The rims instrument is the weather instrument that we have on the rover, so that's the instrument that we had an anomaly with yesterday. And so, that instrument is now healthy. We got the data down to show it's completely healthy and we'll be operating that, not on Sol 3 but Sol 4. So, all good news. As far as the other systems on the rover, the power system very healthy. The Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator, RTG, that's generating power for us, it's a higher power, about 115 watts, and we've been using a conservative 105 watt predict. So, we have more power than we expected and that's going to -- that's going to be fantastic for begin able to keep the rover awake longer. We also -- we also have some thermal data indicating that it's a little bit warmer than what our predicts say. And we're still looking at why that is.

In general, it could be that the environmental models are a little bit different for Gail (ph). It could be that our actual models of the rover are a little bit different, so we're investigating that. There is actually not a significant issue with that except for, potentially, we would have different constraints on time of day when we would operate the instruments. An actual huge advantage of that is that in warming up actuators to do things like drive and move the arm will have less energy that we have to use to do that. So, we're looking at the thermal situation.

As far as the plans for the next sol. So, we're planning Sol 3 right now. There's a lot of folks over there getting the plans and sequences together for the next sol. And very exciting, now that the mast is deployed, we're going to do the mass cam 360 full-color panorama, and I see the folks who have been working on that for several months smiling back there and excited that it's that it's going to run on Sol 3 just like we planned. So, there are going to be some amazing images from that.

The other thing that we're doing on Sol 3 is we're getting ready for the flight software transition. So, there have been a couple of folks who have been working for over a year on how we transition from the R9 flight software to the R10 flight software. They have generated hundreds of files with thousands of commands that we have to -- we have to execute over the four sols of flight software transition. And we're going to uplink those on the high-gain antenna the morning of Sol 3 so that they're all on board and ready to go for the Sol 5 to 9 flight software transition. So, that is very exciting. We wanted to get this thing started on sol 5 to make sure we got to the new software.

One of the other just issues, not a significant issue that we are looking at, but you can see where the high-gain antenna is here, and as the Earth sets, there is a little bit of an occlusion between the high-gain pointing through the low-gain antenna at Earth. And so, we don't actually have horizon-to-horizon coverage of the high-gain antenna. So, today, we're going to operate the high-gain antenna all the way through Earth set so we can characterize what the real occlusion is with the low-gain antenna so that our future high-gain antenna windows can be consistent with what we believe the capability of that to be.

So, with that, I'd like to introduce my colleague to the left. We were just talking, we've been working together for 16 years. We were both very young and not that smart on Mars pathfinder, and, you know, you can make an assessment of where we have come. But Justin Mackey actually built and is operating the --

ZARRELLA: So, what we're going to do now is -- we know we'll get some images coming out of the press briefing in just a little while. Mike Malin is there and he is -- we like to call him the Mars cameraman, because he is the guy who developed dozens of cameras. He has flown dozens and brought back hundreds of thousands of pictures of Mars from his orbiters. And I know he told me yesterday, they might have some high-resolution pictures finally from that descent camera, and you also heard them talking about the mast cam, and I believe you know we are seeing some images from NASA as well right now. You heard them talk about the Earth rise and what they're going -- what they want to do is they want to be able to use -- when they're sending back data -- actually when the Earth rises, that entire time the Earth rises -- to the time it rises and the time it sets, they can communicate directly with the rover. After that, they can't because Earth is below the horizon. So, they are working with the high-gain antenna to do that. But the good news, all of the systems, Don, appear to be working just fine.

LEMON: I wonder what happens when we see like little green men step in front of the camera? What do we do then, John Zarrella? What do we do then? Thank you, sir. Thank you.

ZARRELLA: You know what?

LEMON: All right, thank you. We'll get back.

Here is what else we are working for you in this hour.

(voice-over): The shooter in the Wisconsin temple tragedy allegedly tried to join the KKK. Why his ex-boss said he had to fire Wade Michael Page.

Then, she was considered a hero for pulling ammunition away from Jared Loughner, the accused Arizona shooter, and now Patricia Mace is calling for a bill on gun control. I'll talk to her.

And 10s of thousands of fish wash up dead in Iowa. Hear from the scientist investigating what he calls the state's biggest fish kill ever.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We have some new information for you this hour about the massacre at the Sikh temple in Wisconsin. The FBI says the shooter, Wade Michael Page, killed himself. A news conference just aired a short time ago here on CNN. An FBI agent said, Page was wounded by a police officer, but that wasn't the fatal shot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TERESA CARLSON, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, FBI MILWAUKEE DIVISION: The evidence indicates that the second responding officer who shot Page in the stomach thereby neutralizing the threat, and, by the way, I have seen the video, and it is an amazing shot, and thank goodness. Subsequent to that wound, it appears that Page died from a self- inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: And another new update to tell you about today, the president called India's prime minister to express his condolences over the shooting. And for the third night in a row, the community held a vigil to honor those who died. People came together to share their grief, to pray for the wounded and to search for answers. But the motive behind the shooting may have died with the gunman.

Here is CNN's Ted Rowlands who traces the gunman's actions leading up to the massacre.

(BEGI VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the days and weeks before the temple shooting, wade Page began to withdraw from the world, starting, according to neighbors, by moving out of the upstairs apartment behind this house he shared with his girlfriend and her son. Neighbors say, he left with a few boxes but didn't seem upset.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLY TEMPLIN: I never did see a big breakup or anything. I rarely saw him around.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: Two weeks before the shooting, Page stopped showing up for his job as a machine operator at this manufacturing facility. Then on July 28th, a week before the shooting, he walked into this gun store and bought a nine millimeter semiautomatic handgun like this one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC GRABOWSKI: The purchase was done legally. The -- he had filled out the state and federal paperwork. He passed the background check.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: Six days later, authorities say he used that gun to shoot nine people, six of whom died. What still isn't clear to investigators is why. Page's girlfriend was questioned the day of the shootings, but investigators say she offered no insight on Page's motives. Neighbors say she told them that she hadn't talked to Page since he moved out, and he had even shutdown his e-mail account. There were no people inside, but no answer when we went to Page's girlfriend's apartment.

We are learning more about Page's past and the apparent association with white supremacists. The owner off this Harley-Davidson shop in Fayetteville, North Carolina says he found an application belonging to Page to join the Klu Klux Klan after he fired Page in 2004 for yelling at female employees. He also says Page became angry when he came back later to get the application and was told it was destroyed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN TEW, MANAGER, HARLEY-DAVIDSON: We escorted him to the car, you know, on his final day. And I guess there was some paperwork that he thought he had left on his desk, and he did, it was an application for the KKK. And I got that application and destroyed it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: Page grew up and went to high school in Littleton, Colorado. His grandmother and stepmother still live in Denver.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURIE PAGE: What has changed him? I have no idea. And, obviously, we're ever going to know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: Ted Rowlands, CNN, Oak Creek Wisconsin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Another sad new development in all of this. Investigators are concerned now about the safety of the police officer who shot the gunman at the Sikh temple. But a revelation that Wade Michael Page actually died from a self-inflicted wound may ease some of those worries. The concern is that the officer may be targeted by white supremacists for other extremist groups looking for retaliation. CNN's Brian Todd reports now that he and his photographer were stopped and questioned after they went to the officer's house to try to interview him. The Southern Poverty Law Center, those track safe groups, says there is reason to be concerned.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEIDI BEIRICH, SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER: Law enforcement, in general, are targets of these groups. In fact, Wade Page's band had a record cover that shows an altercation between a skin head and a police car. So, it's not unreasonable for law enforcement to be concerned about this. And they have literally been the targets of extremist groups. Just in the last few years, there have been a couple of militias that wanted to kill cops specifically.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, the police chief in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, says there has been no specific threat against the officer.

She is considered a hero for pulling ammunition away from Jared Loughner, the accused Arizona shooter. Now Patricia Maisch is calling for a bill on gun control. There she is. I'll talk to her after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The fate of another mass shooter has been decided. Tucson massacre gunman Jared Lee Loughner has plead guilty to 19 criminal charges. That allows him to avoid the death penalty. He'll be sentenced to life in prison in November with no chance of parole. Loughner killed six people and wounded 13 others, including then Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. That's when he opened fire outside a Tucson supermarket in January of 2011. Patricia Maisch was at that supermarket when Loughner opened fire. She helped stop him from reloading his gun. And she joins us now from Tucson.

Thank you. You doing OK?

PATRICIA MAISCH, SURVIVOR OF LOUGHNER SHOOTING: I am, thank you.

LEMON: Good.

What are your thoughts now about the plea deal? Do you agree that Loughner should be spared the death penalty?

MAISCH: I am satisfied. I believe justice has been served. I'm not a proponent of the death penalty, so I'm satisfied that that will save a lot of heartache and pain going through a trial and save a lot of money also.

LEMON: You're not a proponent of the death penalty, but you've been very outspoken about gun control issue, about gun control. This is a gun control issue, especially when you consider the other recent mass shootings, the movie theater attack in Colorado that left 12 people dead, 14 -- 48, excuse me, wounded. The temple shooting in Wisconsin that left six people dead, four wounded in that. What do you think? What are you doing in light of that? Because you're being very outspoken about this.

MAISCH: Well, ever since the January 8th incident, I've become active as a result of not being injured. It's my personal responsibility to take some action. So I've joined with 14 other survivors of the Tucson shooting. Some physically wounded. Some not physically wounded. We're all emotionally wounded. But we've joined together and have been helped by Mayors Against Illegal Guns. And we want to make a difference. We are well founded in doing this. And we like to call it crime control instead of gun control. We have a new plan called "Demand A Plan" that we'd like to see what President Obama and Mr. Romney can tell us what their thoughts are on stopping the carnage. People can go to demand a plan and check it out and sign up if they'd like.

LEMON: Can I -- can I ask you something? You mentioned you want to call it crime control instead of gun control. You believe -- and answer -- you know, correct me if I'm wrong, that those words "gun control," they're hot button words and people just go to both their polarized sides when you say "gun control." Do you think by renaming it, rebranding it, so to speak, it may be more palatable and people can actually talk about it without their -- without getting so hostile about it?

MAISCH: I think it helps. But I think if you looked at some of the latest polls, one done by a Republican pollster that shows even a majority of the NRA members want to have sensible gun reform. That they believe that there should be a background check on every gun sale. Forty percent of the guns sold in this country have no background check. And in this day, there's no reason why somebody can't pick up their smartphone and immediately get a background check.

Then the next aspect is to make sure that all of the people that have been adjudicated not to have a gun are on the national criminal investigation list so that that background check can find those who shouldn't have it.

LEMON: Yes.

Patricia Maisch, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

And we should say, she wrestled, not the gun, but the extra clip from Jared Loughner to keep -- prevent him from possibly shooting other people. And you don't think that you're a hero. You told me in the break that everyone would have done the same thing. But I think many people would call you a hero.

Thank you very much.

MAISCH: Thank you, Mr. Lemon.

Ninety days and counting until the presidential election. And the race is tight as ever, especially in the key swing states. Here is what a new poll is showing, that President Barack Obama is ahead of Mitt Romney 49 to 45 percent in Virginia. Quinnipiac University/CBS/"New York Times," that's a lot of people on that one poll. Also shows the president with an edge in Wisconsin. But Romney is up by five points in Colorado. And that's where the president is campaigning today. Yet, Dan Lothian is at the White House.

Come on, Dan, we need you on the plane with the president. He joins us live now.

These polls, who are -- have been created by a lot of people, a lot of different news organizations, they show that -- just how close the race is. And it's just 90 days out. How important will independent voters be come November?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, I think these independent voters are very important, not only for the president, but for Mitt Romney. Remember what we're talking about here. It's a very small slice of the electorate, because as we look back over history, independent voters, the bulk of them, usually lean one way or the other, to the right or to the left. So a small group of people that both sides are really going after. And clearly they believe that many of them are those middle-class voters that you've heard the president talk so much about when he's laying out his tax policies, making that contrast with Mitt Romney. So they're spending a lot of time in the battleground states and a lot of money on television ads targeting those independent voters that they believe to could be key to their campaigns come November.

LEMON: OK. All right. Now let's move on to Romney, and the Romney campaign. He was on the campaign trail in Iowa today, Dan, and he basically doubled down on his claim that President Obama is gutting welfare reform. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It was an extraordinary success. Back at this time, then Senator Obama was opposed to putting work together with welfare. Now he's president. And just a few days ago, he put that original intent in place. With a very careful executive action, he removed the requirement of work from welfare. It is wrong to make any change that would make America more of a nation of government dependency. We must restore and I will restore work into welfare.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: OK. So, how's the other side responding to this continued line of attack?

LOTHIAN: They're pushing back hard. Not only just the Obama re- election campaign, but also the White House. Jay Carney yesterday in his briefing and then in a gaggle today, on the way out to Colorado, saying that these charges and this welfare ad are, quote, "categorically false," "blatantly dishonest." And the Obama re- election campaign releasing its own ad, a web ad, fighting back. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, POLITICAL AD (voice-over): Seen this ad? Mitt Romney claiming the president would end welfare's work requirements. NBC Calls it "dubious." And they're right, it's false. "The Washington Post" says the Obama administration is not removing the bill's work requirements at all. States have to increase the number of people moving from welfare to work. In fact, Romney asked for even more flexibility when he was governor. Romney, flexible on welfare and the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LOTHIAN: So there you are, Don, the welfare wars. What is interesting here is that the White House oftentimes will not respond directly to any of the campaign ads out there. Any time you will ask these questions at a briefing they'll say, talk to the campaign. But in this case, the White House Spokesman Jay Carney said that this is something involving the president's policy that he believes is false. He says what the president has done and his administration has only strengthened the welfare reform and that anything other than that is simply not the truth.

We've also seen former President Bill Clinton weigh in on this as well in a statement calling these charges disappointing.

Don.

LEMON: After a while, the music, it all starts to sound the same, and then you just -- it's like white noise after a while.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Appreciate it, Dan Lothian.

Check this out. We're getting unbelievable new pictures now from the Mars rover Curiosity. Look at that. I wish it was something that we could put there, like a nickel or a quarter, just to show you the dimension, like how big that actually is. But, you know, it's been up there a couple of days. It arrived very early in the wee hours on Monday morning and still up there delivering some fantastic pictures. Of course, the folks at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena excited about this. Really the world is excited about this. It's not the end of the world as we know it, but definitely the future is now and this will be forever changing our world, I'm sure. As we get more information, we will progress along to find out exactly what happens in space, and if we're the only ones here. Chances are we're not, so get ready.

OK, it's hot. It's really hot. In fact, July was the hottest month since record keeping began back in 1895. And the hot weather isn't just taking its toll on our crops. Fish are dying by the tens of thousands.

This is a section of the Des Moines River. It's in southeast Iowa. Look at that. Fifty-eight thousand fish have washed up on the shores of a 42-mile stretch of this river. Joined now by fisheries biologist Mark Flammang and he's going to tell us about this.

Mark, so explain what's actually causing this unprecedented river fish kill in Iowa. And could there be long-term effects here?

MARK FLAMMANG, FISHERIES BIOLOGIST: The cause essentially coming down to this essentially unprecedented heat that we're having. It's definitely been going on for a long time. In addition, we're in the midst of this severe drought. So flows in terms of water flows down the rivers are very low. So fish are reacting and they're not reacting well.

And in terms of whether or not the impacts will be long lasting, it's certainly a risk (ph) -- something that we're concerned about and we need to continue to monitor.

LEMON: And it's -- you know, you're at home and you're thinking, oh, my gosh, well a fish kill, what's the big deal. I think what's interesting is that they found, over a prolonged period of time, temperatures -- the water temperature was like 97 degrees. And these are fish -- these are very expensive fish and it's like $10 million so far and counting when you talk about trade and how much money is made off of these particular fish, the selling and the eating and what have you.

FLAMMANG: Shovelnose sturgeon are very interesting. As you know, they're kind of a living fossil. They've been around for millions of years. But, you're right. I mean in terms of -- of what they provide, the impacts that -- there's a commercial market for them in the Midwest here. In other words, there are people who make a living going out and then they catch these fish and they sell them at market, either for -- as smoked sturgeon or as caviar. And it could potentially impact some of those markets. LEMON: Yes. And you said it was the prolonged heat. Ninety-seven degree water temperature, am I correct, for an extended period of time. I mean that's not -- that's unprecedented.

FLAMMANG: Certainly. Yes, in terms of my experience and our records, we have nothing that really matches that. And, you know, it wasn't just in one spot. It was up and down the entire river for a very, very long stretch.

LEMON: What do we do from here then? Is there anything we can do to correct this?

FLAMMANG: It comes down to us really trying to come up with the real issue of what is driving all of this. We certainly need to identify what the exact problems are. And you know, in all likelihood, fish populations are going to rebound and it is going to take a while. What we need to do is to identify what the exact problems are, and, as biologists and users of the resources, try to figure out how to solve the problems of the future. That, and hope for rain, too.

LEMON: We hope it works itself out, but if it continues, it is a bigger problem.

Thank you, Mark Flammang.

FLAMMANG: Very good. Thanks, Don.

LEMON: All right.

More pictures now from "Curiosity." This thing is sending back pictures right and left here. Don't know what they are, but this is looking like when it was landing, I would imagine a couple of days ago and color pictures, too, they are excited about. It is interesting, too, because this is offering a perspective on just how big a surface it is. Look at that. Look at the horizon. When did you ever -- and I know that there are other rovers that have landed and other pictures, but look at how clear this is. Would you have thought in your lifetime you would be looking at the horizon in mars beyond "Lost in Space" or some other television program that created it? "Star Trek"? Here we go. Everything, everything evolves and we move on.

All right. So they invade our waters, our land. Invasive species like the water lion come from overseas and mess up our environment. CNN's Eatocracy editor has a solution. She says eat them, as in new recipes.

Don't forget you can watch CNN while you are at work on your computer. Go to CNN.com/tv.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: You should know that there is a battle raging out there for the top of the food chain. And, yes, we are on top of it now. But there is some weird fish and funky weeds out there that will eat everything unless we eat them first. Scary, right? We are talking about invasive species of plants and animals not where they should be, and causing troubles.

Sarah Letrent is here from New York, the editor of CNN's Eatocracy blog, an interesting blog that I look at all of the time.

I never thought I would say funky weeds on television.

(LAUGHTER)

Why is this interesting to you? Are you saying that we should start eating all of the bizarre creatures to get rid of them?

SARAH LETRENT, CNN EDITOR, EATOCRACY: Not all of them, but the ones that you can eat. It is interesting, because it combines the local movement where people are eating for conservation methods. It's an interesting concept because it is delicious and it is saving ecosystems as well.

LEMON: You are talking about -- tell me what you are talking about invasive species. What re they, where are they and how do they get here?

LETRENT: Well, so invasive species are basically non-native species that can damage an ecosystem. They can be animals or plants or microorganisms and they are brought in for a variety of reasons. And the common denominator is that they are usually brought in by humans. They can be brought in -- for example, Kudzu, which is a vine that has been nicknamed "the vine that ate the south" was originally brought in to control erosion and it took over from there. Nutria, a water-borne rodent, was originally brought in for the fur, but a couple of them escaped and the population skyrocketed from there. So there's a couple that were brought in just to kind of help humans, but at the same time, it ended up backfiring. And lion fish, for example, is another one that has been a problem. It was brought in for pets. It was originally kind of an aquarium trade and it got released and has since been a problem.

LEMON: Those things are a problem. Did you see that nutria? Did you see how big that thing is? That is giant. It looked like a cat.

So listen, I have to ask you, what harm is there to leave the plants and animals alone? There are many say that nature will just balance itself out.

LETRENT: Well, it is going to be tough. Because they are non-native, they don't have natural predators, so the really -- the only way they can control these is by human consumption, or not human consumption. You can use herbicides and pesticides, but there's the argument, we have perfectly good food sources that we are not tapping into, because we have an "ick" factor. If you say you want a water-borne rodent, nobody wants to eat it.

(LAUGHTER)

But if you talk to chefs, they say it tastes like rabbit. It's a problem with marketing too. We are not used to seeing these proteins on our tables, so it is weird to us. LEMON: Good luck selling nutria on a menu. I'm just saying.

(LAUGHTER)

I don't think it is going to happen soon, but you never know. People eat snails.

Thank you, Sarah Letrent. We appreciate it.

LETRENT: You're welcome.

LEMON: She owns a pair of silver medals, and now Allyson Felix is favored to wind up one step up on the podium, but she has stiff competition in the 100-meter gold.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Time to aim for some gold right now. It is 200-meter showdown time at the Olympics, and the money is on American Allyson Felix. In fact, according to some betting sites, she is a bigger favor to win than Usain Bolt is to win the men's 200. Interesting.

Becky Anderson joins me from London.

So, Becky, with the U.S. team hoping to erase the sting of collecting silvers in the previous two Olympics, there is a lot of pressure on Felix and the Americans. How do you feel she will do against the Jamaican powerhouses?

(LAUGHTER)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is. The one thing I can tell you is she won't run as quickly as Bolt would.

(LAUGHTER)

But I reckon she will do it. None of them qualified under 22 seconds in the qualifying rounds. 21.34 is the world and Olympic record held by Flo Jo still in 1998. Remarkable. And Allyson Felix has a personal best of 21.69. She should do it tonight. She has Carmelita Jeter running against her, and she has Sanya Richards Roth (ph), and the two Jamaicans. It's all up for grabs. This is the one she wants. Don't forget she got the silver in Athens, the silver in Beijing. She wants to step up to that extra, extra step on the podium tonight and get that gold.

LEMON: Good luck to her. I like to watch when they cross the finish line, Becky, and they are out of breath, and then there is that moment when they look up and see the times, and a big smile and then another big exhale.

(LAUGHTER)

ANDERSON: Exactly.

(CROSSTALK) ANDERSON: We have seen it a number of times here. Yes.

LEMON: And moving on to beach volleyball, women's beach volleyball. And for the first time in history, it is an all-American showdown in women's beach volleyball. Tell us about that.

ANDERSON: That's right. Yes, you have a really good final shaping up. The Brazilians expected to do well as well, but they have been knocked out by one of your duos. So the two-time champions, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, going against Jen Kessly (ph) and April Ross, the two lesser-known duo, as it were, but remarkably well placed to do well in this. This is in a temporary stadium. This is going to be taking place in between 10 Downing Street. The prime minister can look down on the Horse Guards Parade where it is being held. And up from Buckingham Palace and we are told that there will be a right royal audience there tonight in Prince Harry, showing up to watch this. Surprise, surprise. And it is going to be a really good showdown, something that the Brits who have been supportive of every event here whether we have done well or not, and we have done well quite often. But the Brits have been supportive of every event here. It is not something that we do particularly well.

LEMON: Yes.

ANDERSON: A real centerpiece of action, and real entertainment around this event.

LEMON: It is.

ANDERSON: Looking forward to it.

LEMON: It is. I want to quickly get this in before we run out of time. I want to talk about the men's 200 meter semi finals with Usain Bolt and Johan Blake. Both are expected to advance. Do you think anybody have a chance against Bolt, Becky?

ANDERSON: No, I don't. He wants to be -- he wants to leave here being what he says is a living legend. And I just talked to Linford Christies, Olympic medal holder, who said he already is a living legend. But he wants the 100 and the 200. We have not seen this posturing that we have seen from Usain Bolt in the past. Certainly, not before the 100. I think he was slightly nervous before that, but he has won it, beaten out Johan Blake, and he wants the 200. A lot of people are telling me that they believe it is a bit of a stroll in the park for him. I'm not sure about that. But watch out for a really good race, and that is Thursday.

LEMON: Of course, we will be watching.

Thank you, Becky. Appreciate it.

Did you know when you fill up your car with gas, you are not pumping just gas, but corn as well. Why some are saying that should no longer be required.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: Well, you can blame some of the high costs of gas on the drought. AAA says that the gas prices have increased 16 cents in the past 10 days, including another two pennies today to an average of $3.65.

Maribelle Aber of the New York Stock Exchange.

We were enjoying relatively low prices so far for so long. What gives? What is going on?

MARIBELLE ABER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Don. We have been hearing from a lot of the analysts and they are all pretty much saying that it has been essentially a perfect storm of circumstances. Part of it is done to refinery pro problems across the country, and there is a pipeline in the Midwest that ha to be shutdown in the end of July and problems at B.P. and other refineries in the region and that, and plus a big fire at the Chevron plant in California a couple of days ago, and then crude prices. Crude is the biggest component of gas. Crude prices are rising for six weeks on the worries about the Middle East. So AAA, as you have been saying, earlier here an average for a gallon of gas is currently, $3.65. And Tom Kloza (ph) says that he expects the prices to tick higher in the next couple of weeks but not too close to $4. And underscore that, not too close to that. And the prices should decline Labor Day to more comfortable levels -- Don?

LEMON: With the rising prices, the people are calling for the government to scrap the ethanol mandate, Maribelle, and explain what that means?

ABER: Well, corn is a key ingredient in ethanol. And current rules say that corn must make up 10 percent of the gas we fill up with, that small fraction of gas can fill up with. Critics are saying that getting rid of the mandate would lower demand and help bring corn prices down, which would bring down prices for other foods that would rely on corn, just like cereal and beef.

LEMON: All right, Mirabelle Aber, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

We're going to get a quick check on the stock market.

Can we put the numbers up?

The Dow is up three points, three points. 13,172, that's where it's trading. A full check later on.

There's a loophole in the health care law that doesn't sit right with parents. Hear why some pregnant women won't get coverage under the law.

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LEMON: We're now live to New York City where the mayor and police commissioner are announcing its latest in crime prevention tools. It's the most extensive, people say, as far as data gathering and what it will do. Here's what it's going to be called. They are announcing it as the Domain Awareness System.

Let's listen in to Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (I), MAYOR OF NEW YORK: -- technology when it can be used to help solve crimes and save more New Yorker's lives. And that is what this system really is all about.

It is also, I think, a great example of what the public and private sectors can do to improve people's lives when we work together.

As I mentioned, Microsoft provided the technical and engineering muscle but NYPD personnel were the architects of this new system. Our offices committed countless hours working with Microsoft engineers, step by step, on developing and refining this new technology.

I'd like to invite the man who led that process, Commissioner Ray Kelly, to tell us more about their work -- Ray?

RAY KELLY, COMMISSIONER, NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT: Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

I want to first point out Jessica Tish (ph), who is here. Jessica will give you a demonstration in a few moments. But Jessica was an integral part of development of this project. Richard Dedario (ph), our deputy commissioner of counterterrorism, an important person in this project as well. We have Chief Waters and Chief Debace (ph). Chief Debace (ph) is in charge of this facility here. And Katie Lamere (ph), my counsel, who very much was involved in so much of the negotiations.

When I came back to the police department in 2002, I found out that the department was still a very big user of white out and carbon paper. In other words, the technical revolution had, to a certain extent, bypassed the department. Mayor Bloomberg helped us change --

LEMON: As the police commissioner, Ray Kelly, gives some of the details, going really into it, I'll just tell you, this is going to allow police in New York to tie in with the anti-terrorism and crime- fighting technologies they have. It's going to look at license plates and other things and give police officers more intelligence about the people who travel into their city and the people who live in their city. Also some civil liberties unions are concerned, calling it an invasion of privacy. We'll update you. Stay tuned here on CNN.

Coming up, these prosthetic legs are part of a lost-and-found collection that's been around for centuries. There they are right there. We'll share more candid moments from around the world, next.

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LEMON: Several stories caught our attention today, and photos. Take a look quickly.

In the Philippines, a group of men, women and their kids cram under a bridge to escape heavy rain and flooding. Just inches away from the flood. More than 800,000 people left their homes to stay in emergency shelters.

And a woman paints an idol for a Hindu god, Krishna. Statues like these, blue ones, will be used across India in a festival this Friday to celebrate his birth.

Take you to Paris now. These prosthetic legs and old medical supplies are part of one of the biggest lost-and-found collections in the world. It's been around for two hundred years.

I'm Don Lemon. Thanks for watching. The NEWSROOM continues now with Alina Cho.

Hi, Alina.

ALINA CHO, CNN: Hey there, Don, nice to see you.