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Texas Tornado Victims Pick Up Pieces; Powerball Jackpot: $600 Million; Double Murder Rattles Medical School; Figuring Out How Commuter Trains Crashed; Possible Tornadoes from Nebraska to Texas & Flooding in Alabama; Arias Fate Hangs in Balance; State Sued Over State Sex Surgery; One on One with Wendy Williams

Aired May 18, 2013 - 17:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. A very news day today. So, stay tuned. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Don Lemon. Here is what we are working on today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OFFICER ANTHONY ESPADA, CLEVELAND POLICE: It's very overwhelming. I mean, it took everything to hold myself together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: The first responders share their emotional stories for the moments they stormed the home of Ariel Castro, rescuing the women held captive inside.

Two commuter trains collide, dozens are injured and authorities still don't know how this happened. It's lotto mania as the power ball creeps closer to becoming the largest payout in history. Too bad for you, I've got the winning ticket by the way.

Plus, one robber's escape plan goes horribly wrong.

Severe weather all over the place. It's going to be one of those weekends, everyone. A big part of the Northern Alabama looks like this right now. A tornado touched down their late yesterday. Nobody was hurt that we know of. But trees are down. Power lines are down. And today, was no fun for a lot of people cleaning up the mess. The big picture here, it is nasty today.

Just look at that from the middle of the country all the way eastward. We'll going to be very heavy on the weather situation today on CNN. So, let's get right to it now.

Alexandra Steele is here. Alexandra, you know, we are talking about enormous parts of the country here that are getting hit. All weekend, people are really getting hammered this weekend.

ALEXANDRA STEELE, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And, you know, as they should certainly be well aware of what's happening. Twenty million people in this weekend being impacted. Let me show you what's happening. Of course, we just saw the big picture. What's happening in the southeast Alabama. Flooding was the biggest concern. Now the threat shifts farther westward. And what you are seeing here, this is where the concern is now. This is where the tornado watches are posted.

Now, there have been no tornado warnings that far. Meaning, we haven't seen any spotted around the ground or witnessed by radar. Tornado watch meaning that conditions are right for tornadoes to develop. And here is the threat from Nebraska, down to Dodge City into Kansas, down to Western Oklahoma and down into Texas. Now, the threat today with this, tornadoes, hail two and a half inches in diameter and 70 mile per hour wind gusts.

So, that's the threat today. But really, the big show looks like it's going to be tomorrow. Let me show you what's coming together. Here is everything we need. It has been on the whole, a very benign severe weather season. April and May are biggest months for severe weather. But atmospherically although, we have had tornadoes, it hasn't come together for really a great event in terms of numerous tornadoes. But it looks like this weekend it will be. But let me show you the ingredients we need.

One thing we need is the jet stream dip advancing east. Check. We've got that. Well defined funnel system. The cold front, the warm front, the dry line where these convergence of these winds and that's where that rotation occurs. And these warm moist gulf air. So, we've got it all. Let me show you the days. So, here's today. Hail the winds as well from really Nebraska south. But tomorrow that shifts eastward.

Getting in toward 20 million people from Kansas City to Joplin, Oklahoma City. Tomorrow it's I-35, I-44, all of that east ward. So, here it is delineated by days. Saturday, Nebraska. Today, tomorrow. The big show. You can see the swath of that. And then down even into Monday the severe weather threat. So, it ramps up tonight. And then tomorrow afternoon again, what we really could see. Incredible amounts of tornadoes. Really thus far the biggest of the season potentially.

LEMON: Oh, my goodness, Alexandra. And we're going to have heavy focus on the weather because a big part of the country is getting hit.

STEELE: Absolutely.

LEMON: We'll go live to the tornadoes in the Northern Alabama just a little bit here on CNN. And we'll get back to you as well. Thank you, Alexander Steele. I'm meteorologist here.

Meantime, Texas took a stunning blow before Alabama in the small town of Granbury, families are still trying to get into their neighborhoods to see the damage caused by one of 16 tornadoes that hit the state. But amid the heartbreak, there is also some relief to tell you about. This storm victim had been searching for his dog. He found him at a shelter. And now they are back together.

With more on the storm recovery, here's CNN Nick Valencia. NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, we spent the morning outside here at the Church of Christ where Ranchos Brazos residences are trying to get permits to reenter into their devastative community. All that's left to the Ranchos Brazos neighborhood is inside here, were volunteers and charity organizations are working with the survivors and trying to get them back on their feet. We have heard a lot of haunting stories of survival. None more haunting than that of 17-year-old Dillon Whitehead. Dylan said, he was literally picked up 20 feet in the air by the tornado. And he thought he was taking his last breath.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DILLON WHITEHEAD, TORNADO SURVIVOR: I was in the air. And I opened my eyes and I was about 20, 30 feet up in the air.

VALENCIA: The tornado picked you up.

WHITEHEAD: Yes. And I saw the debris flying around me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: Dillon said, he was outside at the time the tornado hit. He saw the cloud formations and then that twister formed. He said he just didn't have enough time to get out of the way. He was momentarily knocked unconscious after being hit with a piece of wood back in the head. He said, he's lucky to be alive. A lot of these residents say the same thing and this community is banding together and hopes that putting their lives back together in hoping that they can return to somewhat of a normal life -- Don.

LEMON: Let's hope so. Thank you very much for that, Nick.

Let's just be realistic right now. You have a much better chance of being struck by lightning but that hasn't stopped lottery fever from spreading across the U.S. The power ball jackpot is at $600 million. And the drawing is tonight.

Lisa Desjardins live in Falls Church, Virginia. At the beginning of the show Lisa, I said, you know, I had the winning power ball ticket. I don't of course. The drawing is later tonight. Two questions though that everyone wants to know Lisa. How much money could a jackpot winner really get and what are our chances of winning?

LISA DESJARDINS, CNN CAPITOL HILL CORRESPONDENT: OK. Let's cover the money first. You said, the big number, $600 million. Of course that's not what you would really take home. You would take home maybe $200 million after taxes if you take the lump sum. Still lots of money. That's why people are coming to this station here in Virginia to buy tickets. Been here all day.

But you're right, the other question is about the odds. They are not so good, Don. One in 175 million chance of winning the jackpot tonight. We want to give you some perspective on that. So, we'll going to do something a little strange. We'll going to from here to Russia. Check out this video. A lot of folks remember this meteor that exploded over Russia a few months ago. A lot of folks are remarking what are the chances of a meteor striking the earth.

Well, now, let's go to a graphic that will bring us back to the lottery. As I told you, the chance of the winning tonight's jackpot are one in 175 million. Well, the chances of a large as steroid passing through earth's atmosphere on the same day as the meteor hits, that is one in 100 million. So, there is more of a chance that we can have a large asteroid come close and the meteor hit on the same day than you could actually win the lottery. Not a really great chance.

LEMON: Not good chances. We don't want to be, you know, spoilers here, party poppers here. But I do have to ask this because we just played the lottery among our team just a couple of weeks ago. And it seem it is jackpots and they say, it's just getting bigger and bigger. Why is that? Is it just that more people are buying tickets?

DESJARDINS: Well, it's one way of looking at it. But it's not just that more people are buying. The fact is more states are involved in these lotteries. Powerball and mega millions used to be sort of competing lotteries. But now many states have both. And actually, I was going to talk to our friend here. Can I ask you really quick, how busy has it been with this lottery?

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Oh, very busy, ma'am. We have had long lines for this evening. I sold a lot. Everyone trying to see it and buy it. It's $100, $20, $10 ticket.

DESJARDINS: Wow! People buy all kinds of lottery tickets. So more states and more people buying in larger quantities, Don. Back to you.

LEMON: All right, Lisa. Thank you very much. We'll get back to you as well. You know, with the odds of winning tonight's power ball drawing, set at 1 in 175 million as we told you, why do people still play? Why? Why? In 15 minutes right here on CNN, we'll going to talk with human behavior expert Wendy Walsh about the psychology of lotto players.

Now to that incredible rescue of the three women held captive in Cleveland. It has stirred emotions in people all across this country. So, imagine being one of the first police officers to recognize Amanda Berry, the first to enter that house and to come face to face with Gina DeJesus and with Michelle Knight. Now for the first time one of those police officers is telling his powerful story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ESPADA: She called our car, you know, Two Adam 23 for a code one. I responded. You know, go ahead. Then she began to state that we got a female on the line stating that she's Amanda Berry.

AMANDA BERRY, 10 YEARS MISSING: Help me. I'm Amanda Berry.

DISPATCHER: Do you need police, fire or ambulance?

BERRY: I need police.

DISPATCHER: OK. And what's going on there?

BERRY: I have been kidnapped. I have been missing for ten years. And I'm here. I'm free now.

ESPADA: As soon as we pull up my partner was driving so she came to the driver's side. And he looked at me and he's like, it's her. Just the emotion from that point of him confirming it was Amanda, it was overwhelming. My partner immediately asked her, you know, is there anybody else inside. And she said, yes, Gina DeJesus and another girl. And it was like another bombshell just with overwhelming force just hitting me. As we were going up the steps it was so quiet. Peaceful.

Almost as if, you know, I started thinking, OK, all we're going to do is clear this top floor. Nobody is going to be there and just leave. And then you hear this scuffling, you know, something going on in this room. And you know, I'm looking that way, just waiting to see, you know, what's going to happen. And it was Michelle. She kind of popped out into the doorway and paused there for a second. Within moments she came charging at me. She jumped onto me. She's like, you saved us, you saved us. And I'm holding onto her still tight.

And then within a few seconds, I see another girl come out of the bedroom. I just look at her. You can immediately tell who it is. Just thinner. And, again, I just needed confirmation. I asked her, what's your name? She said, my name is Georgina DeJesus. It's very overwhelming. I mean, it took everything to hold myself together. You know, I have Michelle in my arms and then you've got Gina coming out. And it was like one bombshell after another. That's when I broadcast it. Two Adam 23. We found them. We found them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Very emotional time for the rescuers. We have a developing story to tell you about the story were monitoring. It is out of Damascus, Virginia. Police tell us, a car drove into a crowd during a parade. At least 50 people have been injured. We'll going to bring you more on the story as soon as we get it here on CNN.

And just ahead, a university professor and his wife found murdered. Police believe it may be the work of a serial killer. Plus, if you decide to rob someone, well, you may want a better escape plan than this one.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: So, let me tell you this next story, not for the faint of heart. I want you to watch this man as he approaches a woman at a Bogotoch (ph) Columbia bus station apparently steal her cell phone. OK? So, watch. They struggle and look what happens next. When the thief runs off he's hit by a bus. And believe it or not, the woman he targeted helped him get out from under the bus and he is OK. In trouble -- wow, but he is OK.

A shocking double murder. A mystery has people on edge at the Creighton University Medical School in Nebraska. Dr. Roger Brumback was weeks away from retiring and moving away to enjoy his golden years. Well, movers showed up Tuesday and found him and his wife Mary dead in their home. Flashback five years. The son and house keeper of the professor in the same department at the medical school were found dead at home. This is certainly a murder mystery and very intriguing here.

So, our Stephanie Elam went to the Medical School graduation today to find out what's going on. Stephanie, what was the tone there?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's really interesting, Don. Obviously this is a huge accomplishment for these students. These people are happy. They have earned these degrees. Their families are thrilled to see them graduate. But for the subset of people within the Medical School who did study under Dr. Brumback who knew him, obviously, this was a very bitter sweet week for them as they were preparing to graduate. We actually caught up with two graduates to find out how this week has been for them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DUSTIN SITZMANN, MEDICAL SCHOOL GRADUATE: You could tell he just loved to teach students. Booming voice. And just really taught us a lot in the few classes we had with him. And you could just tell he really loved his profession and giving back to the community.

MARK ETTOL, MEDICAL SCHOOL GRADUATE: It's even pretty somber. It kind of cast a pall over graduation almost. I mean, we all celebrate, we all very happy, our families are happy, but at the same time there is kind of this cloud over everything that's happening.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: Now, the school has said that they have stepped up their security measures around campus. The Police Department though not giving out a lot of details surrounding their murder investigation here. They want to make sure that they don't leak too much out and then that would hurt their investigation -- Don.

LEMON: So, Steph, tell us about the 2008 double murder. Do police believe it may be linked to the Brumback killings?

ELAM: Right. Well, the thing that happened here, the reason why they are interested in that is that in 2008, another faculty member from the pathology department, Dr. William Hunter, his 11-year- old son and the family's house keeper were found murdered in the family's home. That murder is still a cold case. It's never been solved. But the pathology department at Creighton University is only about 12 people.

It's a very small community that you are talking about. A subset of a community basically. And so, because of that, they just want to make sure that there aren't any connections. And so, that's why they are looking to see if they can find any other parallels in those cases -- Don. LEMON: All right. Stephanie, we appreciate your reporting on that. You know, it's one of the biggest lotto jackpots in history. But the odds of you or me winning really slim to none. So, why do so many people spend so much money on it? We'll ask an expert.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Time now to meet our CNN hero of the week who is serving up second chances with a dash of hope to young offenders in San Francisco.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I used to get into trouble, I was selling drugs.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: There was domestic violence in my home. I didn't see a future for myself.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Once I had a record, I felt I wasn't going to be able to get a job. I'll just go back to doing what I used to do.

TERESA GOINES, COMMUNITY CRUSADER: You guys are the once that know better than anybody, you're the ones that have the change.

I worked as a juvenile corrections officer, often young people would get out ready to start a new life, we put them back in the exact same environment and they would come back to jail. Witnessing that over and over I could not do something about it.

I'm Teresa Goines, I started the Old Skool Cafe run by -- youth, it gives them the skills and the opportunity to change their lives.

Everybody needs to paying attention.

Our program provides four months of hands on training.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: This is where you say, all right, excuse my reach.

GOINES: Our motto here is jump in and learn. If they complete that successfully, they get a chance to apply for an employee position. We're excited to have you on the team and really proud of you.

You do the hiring, you do firing. We do reviews. You know what it means to have sense of urgency. You're a team player.

I want them to keep rising up in leadership and management. The theme of the restaurant is '20s, '40s, Harlem renaissance. I see my role as being support staff.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: All I used to make is top ramen and grilled cheese and now I'm cooking everything on the menu.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: A lot of opportunity. I know this will help me stay out of trouble.

GOINES: The core of it is giving them hope.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I'm going to be my own boss.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I'm going to be an entrepreneur.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: I'm going to be successful.

GOINES: Once that light goes on, whatever they do, they're on their way to fly.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Six numbers. Six numbers that can change your life forever to the tune of about $600 million. You won't get all of that but you'll get a lot of money. But we've all heard the stats on this. You are more likely to die from a bee sting, or be struck by lightning than win this jackpot but I would rather win the jackpot. I'm sure most of you would as well.

Human behavior expert Wendy Walsh joins me now. Wendy, you would rather win the jackpot than be stung by I'm sure a bee or struck by lightning.

WENDY WALSH, HUMAN BEHAVIOR EXPERT: Yes. But, you know, Don, the statistics weren't enough for me to stop at a convenience store on my way in. So, I have no lottery ticket to show you, I'm not playing.

LEMON: I am. After the show, I'm to go buy. Why not?

WALSH: Well, nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd. You know, the psychology of that lottery, jackpots tend to grow exponentially right near the end because of the behavior gets copied by people for sure.

LEMON: Yes. So the chances are pretty slim, correct?

WALSH: The chances are slim. And what's disturbing to me is that people don't want to think about what it means to, you know, maybe get eaten by a shark or struck by lightning because that's a negative thing. But plenty of Americans report that buying lottery tickets is pension fund investment to them. And that's a little bit disturbing. This really should be just fun.

LEMON: Why do we do it then if the odds are so poor here?

WALSH: Because every one of us, Don -- you, too, and me, too, have buried deep in us a Cinderella complex. We want prince charming to show up and take us away. So, we have a rescue fantasy. And it gets ignited. I mean, obviously, it's healthy in small doses, lying low. But it gets really ignited during these times when there is a potential that, wow, lottery could actually change things.

LEMON: So the so-called lottery fever, how does it play into this? Is that a crowd drawing a crowd? What exactly is lottery fever?

WALSH: It's definitely a crowd drawing a crowd. It's our rescue fantasy being ignited. But I really want to caution people, you know, I was raised in a family where my dad always, you know, we were socialized never to buy lottery tickets. Because he always felt that it was the government's way of taxing the poor. Because the truth is that the people who buy the most lottery tickets tend to have lower income and of course, they have real reason for needing this rescue fantasy, so it's a little bit of a ruse.

LEMON: It's interesting because most of the time you see, oh my gosh, I won, I won. And then you wait five years, 10 years, maybe 15 years, and then all of the sudden you'll hear about this person who won the lottery, lost everything and almost lost their mind as well. I mean, the reality is most people burn through their winnings pretty quickly.

WALSH: Yes. Burn through their winnings and have a lot of problems with their personal relationships, Don. Because people come out of the woodwork. It's like an athlete who comes from a lower socioeconomic family who suddenly wins a great contract. So, what happens is you get everybody coming out of the woodwork. And I would tell you that people who make less money actually are more charitable. They give percentage wise of their income way more than wealthy people.

So they are filled with compassion and they want to give this money away to all these sob stories that come their way. They also haven't bit acculturated necessarily to manage such large funds. So, obviously if you win the lottery, the best advice I can give you is get a great financial planner and lawyer up right away.

LEMON: I wish we had -- it's interesting to me. Because you always say, money doesn't buy happiness. And when someone doesn't have money they'll say, it's easy for you to say that. You have money.

WALSH: Well, it's all relative, isn't it Don? The happiness studies are very clear. Money only contributes to happiness if it takes you from poverty to sort of a middle class. In fact, they're saying about $75,000 a year is, you know, growing from, you know, zero up to $75,000 increases happiness along the way.

LEMON: Yes.

WALSH: After that, money doesn't have a darn thing to do with happiness. It's what we choose to feel -- Don.

LEMON: It's the whole thing that we always say. Everything in moderation. So, it's like drinking too much. You have one glass or two glasses of wine, it's perfect. But if you drink the whole bottle, it's way too much and you don't know how to handle it. You can't handle it.

WALSH: Exactly.

LEMON: Thank you, Wendy. We really appreciate it.

OK. Moving on now, a Boeing 737 catches fire and passengers scramble to the wings to escape. We'll going to show you how this played out, that's straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Man, everybody's worst nightmare. A plane's landing gear burst into flames over Russia today. The pilot managed to safely land the Boeing 737 at an airport near Moscow. Sky News is reporting that no one was hurt. That's certainly very lucky that no one was hurt. Look at this. Passengers escaped the plane by jumping off the wing.

Disaster crews in Connecticut still trying to figure out how two crowded commuter trains crashed into each other during rush hour yesterday. It happened on the busy New York-to-New Haven corridor. 70 people went to hospital. Some are hurt badly.

Susan Candiotti near the scene in Bridgeport for us.

Susan, officials released new information. What are they saying?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The National Transportation Safety Board, just wrapping up its news conference, said it absolutely has not decided, it's so early, what could have possibly caused the crash. They did indicate they are focusing on one possibility. That is, they found a small fracture in one of the rails involving the eastbound train. That's the one headed from New York to New Haven, and is the one that initially derailed and crashed with another commuter train 6:15 Friday night. So they will take a closer look at that.

They are taking charge of the black boxes, called event recorders, and sending those to the lab in Washington, D.C., to analyze those for additional information. And they are looking at a lot of possibilities here. Nothing has been ruled out.

Governor Malloy, from the state of Connecticut, was here earlier and talked about what he saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. DAN MALLOY (D), CONNECTICUT: What happened is a train derailed and is literally plowing through tons of gravel as well as tearing up metal, so it slows the point of impact.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: As you indicated, Don, 70 people initially were treated at local hospitals. At last check, nine people remain hospitalized, two of them in critical condition.

We spoke with some of the passengers about what they went through.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED RAIL PASSENGER: All of the sudden we just hear, boom. Then we saw, like, smoke everywhere. I was just focused on my kids, just hugging them, embracing them.

UNIDENTIFIED RAIL PASSENGER: I seen people flew over places. I almost flew over the seat, but I held on. And I'm OK. There were people hurt though.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: They said that point of impact was simply terrifying.

Now, how long will this rail line be out of service? At least they are saying days, but we really don't know how long that investigation will take place.

This is a very important and popular line between New York and Boston. Right now, there is no more direct service until this investigation is complete. For the time being, eventually, people can get as far as going from New York to Bridgeport, Connecticut, where we are now, about 60 miles outside of New York, and then take buses around here and continue on to Boston as an example of one alternate route -- Don?

LEMON: Yes. That is a busy route and inconvenient now.

Thank you very much, Susan Candiotti.

Much of the country bracing for severe weather this weekend, including possible tornadoes and flooding. We'll tell you where next.

But first, here is CNN's Christine Romans with this week's "Smart is the New Rich."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After this --

(CHEERING)

ROMANS: -- you may think you are done with this. But the homework has only begun.

The good news is the economy is recovering. Stock markets are on a tear. Companies are flush with cash. The bad news is they are still not hiring robustly. One-third of recent grads said they were making no more than $25,000 a year.

With tens of thousands of dollars in debt to pay off and a still sluggish jobs market, was it worth it?

DAVID GARTSIDE, MANAGING DIRECTOR, ASSENTURE: The long term data says investing in a degree is the right thing to do. You have to treat it seriously like an investment. Really show interest and passion about the area you want to work in. Start networking early. The last thing, take every opportunity.

ROMANS: Every opportunity, because your dream job may not be attainable at first. And it's going to change with time.

AUSTAN GOOLSBEE, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO BOOTH SCHOOL OF BUSINESS: People that have more skills and more education are doing better and surviving better in this comeback than are people who do not.

ROMANS: The data show is nearly two-thirds of recent college grads say they need more training in order to get that dream job. Fewer than half say they got it in their first job after graduation, meaning plan your next two or three career moves now. Figure how your first job out of college can help with those moves. Finally, start planning for retirement now. Does your company offer a 401K match? Take it. Start saving now. And pay off your debt as soon as possible.

Christine Romans, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: As we promised, we'll keep an eye on severe weather all over the U.S. this weekend. Conditions are good for tornadoes from Nebraska to Texas. By good we mean it could happen. That's not good news. The conditions are right for them. And look at this. It's northern Alabama today. We've got storm damage. We've got flooding there. People in several communities have a lot of cleaning up now.

I want to go to Scott Packard, with me now, from Oxford, Alabama. He's with our Birmingham affiliate in the area, station WIAT.

Scott, where are you exactly, and how high is the water?

SCOTT PACKARD, REPORTER, WIAT: We are in Talladega County. It's been a frustrating day for people who live here. Highway 21 right now is closed by the Alabama Department of Transportation for good reason. The water on a bridge just about a half mile down that way is covering that bridge. It's Salt Creek. It overflowed banks sometime in the overnight hours knocking down a fence, causing a headache for a guy who owns cattle down there. He had to round them up and move them to a temporary location until he gets that fence repaired.

Water in this area hasn't made its way inside of any homes. It's close for a lot of folks but mostly it's just frustrating because people can't get home. The roads are closed. The state troopers are turning people around. So, Don, if there is more rain over the next several hours the headache this area is filling will only grow bigger.

LEMON: All right, Scott, thank you very much. Appreciate your reporting. The fate of Jodi Arias is just days away. But before the jury decides, she has one more message she'd like to deliver. We'll talk about it next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Jodi Arias, the trial resumes Monday, still in the sentencing phase. This comes after the Arizona jury found she was exceptionally cruel when she murdered Travis Alexander in 2008. Jodi Arias could be sentenced to life in prison or death.

Criminal defense attorney, Holly Hughes, is here.

Holly, first, the defendant spent 18 days on the stand during the trial. Do you think she'll speak to jurors again?

HOLLY HUGHES, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY & FORMER PROSECUTOR: She is. Her attorney said in his open to this portion of the trial that Ms. Arias will come up and she will talk to you. What will be fascinating, Don, is if she repeats what she told the reporter after she was convicted, which is I want the death penalty.

LEMON: It will be a tough spot. They are trying to save her life but she herself has said she would rather face death.

HUGHES: Right. And said it on national TV. There is something called impeachment in a courtroom, if you can be proven to be lying. If she says "spare me," guess what the prosecutor is going to do. He's going to impeach by playing the tape that says I want the death penalty.

LEMON: What does that mean?

HUGHES: It means the jury will be confused. It is hard to put somebody to death even if you think they deserve it.

LEMON: OK. I want to turn now to a difficult story. It is an unusual one. It's in South Carolina. It's a lawsuit that's being called the first of its kind. The adoptive parents of a child born with male and female organs say the state mutilated their son by having his male genitalia surgically removed. The surgery took place when the child was just 16 month and a ward of the state.

I want everyone, including Holly, to take a listen to the child's adoptive mother.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAM CRAWFORD, ADOPTIVE MOTHER: They determined, with no idea of how our son would self-identify, what gender he would be, by performing a medically unnecessary and mutilating sex-assignment surgery.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Before you comment on whether or not they have a case here, I want to say that CNN did reach out to the South Carolina Department of Social Services. They declined to comment on pending litigation.

So do you think this couple has a decent case?

HUGHES: I think they have a difficult case, Don. At the time that the surgery was performed on this little girl, she was 16 months old, but was the ward of the state. So the state had the ability to make medical decisions. They conferred with the doctors. The doctors said, based on how the anatomy is forming, we think it is best to assign female gender to this child as opposed to male. It will be a hard case for the parents to make that this was mutilating. It was done obviously medically correct.

What I think we are going to see from this is legislation saying, you know, you have to wait until the child can self-identify. I think we'll see the legislature having to step up and address a question that they haven't had to address before. If you are a ward of the state, at what age does the surgery have to be performed, and is it medically safe not to perform it at all until the child can decide for themselves?

LEMON: That was my next question. You know children are cruel. You want to know about your body and all of that.

HUGHES: That's exactly right. And that was -- one of the doctors came out and made a statement and said, you know, right now there have been no studies done, there haven't been children allowed to grow up with both. So it would be an experiment at this point. Is that more emotionally cruel to do to a child than to do the assignment surgery?

LEMON: 16 months old.

HUGHES: Yes.

LEMON: How much rights does a 16-month-old have?

HUGHES: Think of it like this. If any 16-month-old needed a quick surgery for an appendectomy or got hit by a car and needed surgery, who signs off on the surgery? The legal parent or guardian. So at this point, whoever is the guardian of that child, they are responsible for making the medical and legal decisions.

LEMON: That was the state at that point.

HUGHES: Because the baby was a ward of the state. So the state made the decision they thought was in the best interest of the child.

And now we are all sort of looking back saying, was it? Because now this little girl is 8 but identifies as a boy and dresses as a boy and describes himself as a boy.

LEMON: Wow. Difficult.

HUGHES: Yeah. Very, very difficult decisions. And the law needs to catch up with the reality, Don.

LEMON: Thank you.

HUGHES: Thanks.

LEMON: Appreciate it.

Coming up, this man saved nearly 700 children from the Nazis in World War II. Hear his incredible, nearly forgotten story, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: When Hitler began his crusade across Europe and ruthless persecution of anyone of Jewish dissent, most of the world looked the other way. But one British humanitarian took action. In 1939, Nicholas Winton organized a rescue of 669 Jewish children from Nazi- occupied Czechoslovakia. It was a move that saved their lives, and is now known as Operation Kindertransport.

We caught up with Winton, who turns 104 this weekend, and one of the men he saved, to hear firsthand how this mission came to be.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: As war appeared imminent, refugees streamed into Germany --

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Deep shadows of another world war spread over the universe.

ADOLPH HITLER, GERMAN CHANCELLOR: Heil.

(SHOUTING)

HITLER: Heil.

(SHOUTING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOE SCHLESINGER, RESCUED BY WINTON: I remember his voice roaring on the radio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HITLER: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHLESINGER: The Germans just got closer and closer and closer. First, he was in Germany, then he was in Austria, then he was on the border of Czechoslovakia, then he was in my hometown.

My name is Joe Schlesinger. Nicky Winton saved my life. NICHOLAS WINTON, RESCUED JEWISH CHILDREN IN OPERATION KINDERTRANSPORT: When the crisis with Hitler arose, we knew in a way much more of what was happening in Germany, even with the government, because we were taking in relatives of ours who were refugees from Germany. They were the Jews and they were the ones who were in danger.

SCHLESINGER: Nobody expected anything quite as final as the final solution, as the Holocaust, but we knew things were going to be tough. Then one day I heard my mother say to a friend we're going to send our boys to England just 'til things blow over.

WINTON: We've got these children who are in danger and we're looking for a home to send them to safety. The number of children I could help depended entirely on the number of guarantors I could get. Somebody said they wanted to take a child, we just sent them some photos and asked them to choose one. All they had to do was to say yes and they had one.

SCHLESINGER: The train was late that night from Prague. They herded us into the toilets. So the last time I saw my father, he spent the night in a pig swine in Nazi Germany. I never saw my parents again.

(MUSIC)

SCHLESINGER: When I was sent to this school for Czech refugees in Wales, some of the children at the refugee school were also on the transports. We were each other's family. We didn't have parents but we had each other.

None of us knew anything about Nicky, about his role until the late '80s. All of a sudden this scrapbook surfaced. Nicky's wife found this suitcase when she was cleaning the attic, opened it up, there were these names of children and letters from parents asking Nicky to take their children to England. At the time, he wasn't aware he was saving lives but, of course, he did save lives. We would have all been dead. In fact, the last transport that he organized, 250 children, was for September 1st, the day the war started. So the train never left. And just about all those children died in the Holocaust.

SCHLESINGER: It is very gratifying to know that what I did was successful, but, I mean, if other countries had participated, we could have saved many more.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: "Nicky's Family" is an award-winning documentary that tells a nearly forgotten story of Nicholas Winton and Operation Kindertransport. It's playing in theaters around the country.

Coming up, she is the radio and TV superstar that many are calling the next Oprah. My interview with Wendy Williams right after this. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Ever pass a communal television set and Wendy Williams is on, you will see women and men of all ages and ethnicities sitting around watching, transfixed. She's a new phenomenon now. Some people call her the next Oprah. And her show is a phenom as well. I caught up with her just last week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WENDY WILLIAMS, HOST, THE WENDY WILLIAMS SHOW: It is not a black or white thing. It's a thing thing that just happens to be ring mastered by a nutty black woman from New Jersey. And what I see when I look at my audience is the way my life has always been. It is the way I have been raised and that's just that. It is everybody else, some of everybody else, who is shocked at, oh, my goodness, goodness, did I see a woman in a burka and three friends next to her? Yes, you did. It is "The Wendy Williams Show." Come one, come all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: She's the new break-out talk show host. My full interview with Wendy Williams, coming up tonight at 7:00 p.m. eastern here on CNN. You don't want to miss that.

I am Don Lemon. I'll see you back here an hour from now. In the meantime, "The Situation Room" with Wolf Blitzer begins in a couple seconds here on CNN.