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More Talks on Capitol Hill; Republicans Meet with Obama; Vets Could Soon Lose Pay; House Members to Leave D.C.; Starbucks CEO Starts Petition to Stop the Stalemate; Three Bikers Indicted In SUV Attack; Anthony Bourdain Goes To Sicily; Beltran Lifts Cardinals Past Dodgers; Third Player Contracts Serious Bacterial Infection; Cheerleaders Take Team Spirit To The Next Level; Actor Rescues Abandoned Animals; "Talks Have Hit A Brick Wall"; Ship's Crew Says Captain No Hero

Aired October 12, 2013 - 11:00   ET

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

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN ANCHOR: I am Miguel Marquez in for Fredricka Whitfield. Here are the top stories we're following in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Day 12 in the government shutdown. In the last hour on the Capitol Hill the fight shifted from the House to the Senate back to the House. We're live with the latest on this high stakes battle straight ahead.

A third New York City police officer is now being investigated in connection with the motorcycle road rage incident that ended with a violent attack of an SUV driver. And you won't believe which department he works for.

Plus, it's on track to become the strongest storm the region has ever seen. A monster cyclone is taking aim at Indian's -- India's eastern coast and it's expected to hit in about an hour.

A lot happening on Capitol Hill right now. The Senate just convened. The House started at 9:30 in the hopes of ending the government shutdown and prevent a possible debt default. But nothing is expected to happen today, because House members are planning to go back to their districts, though the GOP leadership will remain in town.

But there's not much time left. October 17th is next week. That's when we hit the debt ceiling. And the government will run out of money to pay its own bills.

Athena Jones is live on Capitol Hill for us. Athena, the talking points seem to -- seem the same. It looks like that they were making progress, but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. What's going on?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miguel.

Well, it doesn't look like it's the case right now in terms of legislative progress. Actual votes on the floor of the House or the Senate that will actually move us closer to solving this whole deal.

We spoke a few days ago about how the rhetoric had been toned down. Not so much anymore. The House Republicans just finished their conference meeting, and there was a lot of anger from that group about the fact that President Obama had rejected their proposal that would raise the debt limit until the November 22nd, in exchange for talking about -- immediately about how to reopen the government and other budgetary issues.

Let's play a clip we have I believe for you from Representative Darrell Issa about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DARRELL ISSA (R), CALIFORNIA: The President is freezing out America, and we'll do everything we can to -- to make the point that we went to negotiate and he took no offer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there a worry that you guys are being flanked? The Senate is going to pass their own bill over their own agreement with the White House?

ISSA: The President -- the President didn't accept the offer that was from the Senate, which also was for real reform. So it doesn't appear as though the President wants anything except more tax revenue, tax increases yet again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: So that's just one example of what some of the Republicans were saying coming out of this meeting. It shows that the focus is increasingly on the Senate proposal that was presented to President Obama yesterday from Senate Republicans. He did not commit to that deal either. But that clearly seems to be where the White House is focused, because at least that deal does two things the President wants -- it both reopens the government and raises the debt ceiling.

So that's what's going on right now. Of course, that bill isn't coming to the floor. We don't know how Democrats might change it. And of course we don't know what its state would be if it comes back to the House whether any conservative Republicans would support it and what would happen there. So it's gotten really complicated and it's not clear right now when it's going to be resolved.

MARQUEZ: Certainly it seems that the stakes have been raised yet again. Thank you very much, Athena Jones.

JONES: Thanks.

MARQUEZ: As lawmakers try to resolve their differences and come to an agreement, Senator Susan Collins has presented a 23-page plan to the President to end the shutdown, but the President has not endorsed it. Here is what it looks like. The plan would end the shutdown, extend government funding for six months with sequester-level spending cuts in place, repeal the tax on medical devices and raise the debt ceiling.

Senior White House correspondent Brianna Keilar is live from the White House. Brianna, will this fly? I don't think now that the House is walking out, it will but what are you hearing? BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well obviously, what was proposed in the House of Representatives isn't flying with the White House, this idea of just a six-week extension of the debt ceiling without reopening the government. Extending the debt ceiling really only until right before Thanksgiving, so we have this battle really it would look very similar to what we've gone through now all over again in six weeks, just before the holidays. It's not going to fly.

But this idea of the Senate plan is more in line with what, Miguel, the President wants. He has said he's open to a short term, but longer is better. And so when you're looking at the Senate deal, I think some of the things the White House would look favorably upon funding the government for six months. And also the extension of the debt limit into next year, into January of 2014.

This -- you know, this is something that is certainly key, I think, because it allowed a little more time. And that's what the White House has said that they -- that they have wanted.

MARQUEZ: Yes, Darrell Issa just said that the -- the White House has rejected that Senate plan. But that is not what you're hearing right now?

KEILAR: No, at this point, I think in terms of the Senate plan -- specifically the Senate plan -- what I will say is I think this is kind of a messy process. So certainly keep that in mind. But I would say the White House is now looking towards the Senate and the sort of the Senate proposal is a better vehicle for moving something forward. I think they're actually relying very much now on the Senate and actually are not too worried that House Republicans are going home.

Ultimately, the White House thinks that they kind of have more of the cards here, because you've got the schism among Republicans in the House, and quite frankly, you have Senate Republicans who are getting pretty fed-up with the House of Representatives. They feel that this whole fight is damaging their brand. Polls reflect that and they want to kind of move things along. They want to have some of these budgetary fights, but they don't want them getting all hung up in this government shutdown and on the debt ceiling at this point.

So I think the White House has kind of knowing that, keeping the pressure on Republicans. And you're starting to see some movement where Senate Republicans are you know signing on --

(CROSSTALK)

MARQUEZ: Yes.

KEILAR: -- to put forward an agreement.

MARQUEZ: And all pressure, all eyes on John Boehner. Messy process may be the understatement of the week -- Brianna Keilar at the White House. Thank you very much.

She's been standing out there in New York harbor for 12 lonely days without any visitors. Now the Statue of Liberty and other federal landmarks will be reopening, at least some of them. The state of New York says it's losing too many tourist dollars because of the shutdown. It will pay the National Park Service $61,000 a day to operate Liberty Island. Arizona has struck a similar deal with the federal government to reopen the Grand Canyon. It will pay the National Parks Service more than $650,000 to operate the park for at least a week.

In less than an hour, a monster cyclone is expected to slam into India and already it's being blamed for seven deaths. Tropical cyclone Phailin is packing winds of more than 140 miles an hour and it's just offshore of the Indian state of Odisha. 440,000 people have been evacuated. Phailin is expected to bring a storm surge as much as 23 feet and four to eight inches of rain. Forecasters are comparing the size of the storm to 2005's Hurricane Katrina.

Authorities in New Mexico are looking for the director of a ranch for troubled kids. The whereabouts of Scott Chandler's remain unclear along with at least eight teenagers from -- whom police say were abducted from the ranch. Authorities say a ninth teen has returned home and is ok. And Chandler's lawyer says all of the teens are safe, but an Amber Alert remains in effect.

A top general in charge of nuclear ballistic missiles has been fired. The Air Force says it's relieved Major General Michael Carey of his command to a lost of trust and confidence in his leadership. He's been under investigation over reports of misbehavior. The Air Force says the firing is not related to the security of the country's nuclear weapons.

Also this week, the deputy chief at U.S. Strategic Command was demoted, reportedly over gambling allegations.

President Obama had a very special guest at the White House and he invited his two daughters to the meeting.

A grand jury indicts three men accused of attacking a father as his wife and children watched. Plus, what about the police officers who were in that motorcycle gang?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUEZ: President Obama and the First Lady welcomed a special guest to the White House. They met with Malala Yousafzai yesterday. Their daughter Malia was there, too. The Pakistani teen was shot by the Taliban for saying girls have as much right for being in the same classroom as boys. She did not let that silence her. President Obama said Malala is helping the dreams of girls around the world come true by speaking out so courageously.

Day 12 and still the government is partially closed, hundreds of thousands of employees and their families are feeling the impact and for veterans and their widows who have already given so much, the clock is ticking.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ERIC K. SHINSEKI, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIR: The shutdown directly threatens s VA's ability to eliminate the backlog. We've lost ground, we thought hard to take roughly 1,400 veterans today are not receiving decisions on their disability compensation claims. If the shutdown does not end in the coming day, VA will not be able to assure delivery of 1 November checks to more than 5.18 million beneficiaries and that accounts for about $6.25 billion in payments that people are expecting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: So let's talk about it. Will Cain is a conservative CNN political commentator and columnist for "The Blaze" he's in New York and Peter Finn is Democratic strategist in Washington.

So guys, this morning, the House GOP leadership said the President would rather do business with the Senate and has rejected -- and has -- that he's rejected the latest proposal.

Will. You've seen what the GOP is doing now. They're going home, basically, for the weekend. Is -- is this sort of raising the -- trying to raise the pressure on the President to come around to their side?

WILL CAIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think -- I think you've said this and we all heard you earlier, talking about the stakes have been raised. I mean the pressure has been raised, but I don't know it's been raised on the President. Here's what's happened. The polls released later -- earlier this week at the end of the week shows that Republicans are doing very poorly in the -- with the public over this government shutdown.

So President Obama -- Obama looked at the situation. He says to himself when your opponent is drowning, do you throw them a life jacket or do you throw him an anvil? Clearly, he's thrown them an anvil. What's happened is they made a proposal to get beyond the government shutdown that actually didn't include the Obamacare. And Obamacare I'm talking about the House Republicans here and President Obama made an affirmative demand. If you want anything else like entitlement reform I want tax revenue.

So now we have a government shutdown where both sides are seeking an affirmative request. Are both sides seeking concessions? I think that's a reality we have to address at this point because most people are blaming this all on the Republicans -- hostage-taking. They want affirmative demands to get the government back up and running.

We have to be honest here. President Obama has demands because he is winning politically. He's winning in the polls. So hey, I'm going to get something out of this.

MARQUEZ: Yes. It seems that he is certainly on the upside of this. But Peter, all eyes, all pressure on John Boehner. Will he crack? Will he allow a vote at some point and allow Republicans to cast a vote? PETER FINN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I think he has to. Here's what's going to happen here. The Senate -- the reasonable, responsible Republicans in the United States Senate are now taking the ball on this. The crazy caucus in the House, the Tea Party folks, their influence has waned greatly. Both because of substance, and as Will says, because of the politics.

The problem with what Boehner put forth -- Will doesn't quite have it right here. It was six weeks, until the 22nd of November and it was a very short window. And it was only the government shutdown. It was not the government shutdown part -- it was only the debt ceiling part.

So the government would continue to be shut down. As you just heard, that is costing us dearly and not only $300 million a day, but really costing us. The American people get this.

So what I think is going to happen is I think you're going to have continued negotiations, hopefully quickly, to both open the government and take care of the debt limit for six months. Then, we can have a realistic dialogue.

But you know, having this crisis-by-crisis situation, and on November 22nd, before the Christmas holidays and all of the spending, would devastate this economy. So the President has it right. The reasonable Republicans in the Senate have it right. And I think the -- Boehner and the House is going to be forced to go along.

MARQUEZ: Will, there's a great little bit, I think, in the "Washington Post", about Boehner and GOP leadership, you know, sitting there, Chinese food, cigarettes all night, trying to figure out what their next move is. How much pressure is the Speaker feeling today?

CAIN: I think the Speaker has taken a very untenable situation. He's had a situation where there's a hard, identifiable, achievable goal to put in place and go about accomplishing that.

And now he has the President making affirmative demands. The truth is, Miguel, I don't think the pressure is on John Boehner right now. You have, I guess, a Senate plan, that apparently the President is shining a little more -- showing a little more pleasure toward, but I'm not sure the Senate plan could get the approval of Senate Republicans, much less House Republicans.

You know, right now, the President has said, "John Boehner, you're done, I'm not talking to the House, you guys are out." So if we're talking only to the Senate, let's see, can you get this passed the Senate even?

MARQUEZ: Real quickly.

FINN: You're going have to talk. You're going to have to talk to the House at the end of the day, right? Will, there's no question about it.

CAIN: Yes, but the President has said he's not. FINN: No, no, no, no. But here's the problem. This has become a boomerang. An ideological boomerang, which is what Bill McIntyre called it, when he said this was toxic for the Republicans. So what's going to happen, I think, is that Boehner is going to have to say to his -- what I would call the crazy caucus -- "Guys, we don't have the votes, we don't have it." You know, he's going to be pressured by Republicans within his own caucus to have a vote, to reach an agreement, to stop the shutdown and raise the debt limit.

(CROSSTALK)

MARQUEZ: Guys, amazing conversation. Amazing conversation and incredible stakes in this thing; it's very difficult to see where it goes right now. But we'll come back at you for more a little later. Thanks very much.

CAIN: Thank you.

FINN: Thank you.

One of the key players in the government shutdown will join us -- join our Candy Crowley on the "STATE OF THE UNION" Sunday morning. Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is the guest Sunday on "STATE OF THE UNION".

Some workers won't be getting paid soon thanks to the government shutdown. But one waitress had a tip for some furloughed soldiers, and a lot of people are saluting her for what she did.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUEZ: Breaking news out of Washington. The House Democratic leadership is speaking right now. Jim Clyburn out of South Carolina is addressing people, and they are making their voices heard given the GOP's move to go home.

REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D), SOUTH CAROLINA: -- the alternatives that the American people have made very clear they would like to see brought into play. This is what happens in the governmental process when we stymie opposition, when we cut off debate, and when we continue to teeter on disaster by manufactured crises.

It is time for us to reopen the government, let people go back to work, and have the American people once again put at ease. And with that, I'd like to yield to our chair, Mr. Becerra.

REP. XAVIER BECERRA (D), CALIFORNIA: I thank Mr. Clyburn. It's incredible what we're watching, just now in the last few minutes. House Democrats took to the floor and asked for unanimous consent to see if our colleagues would allow us, without objecting, to put on the floor a measure that would allow us to reopen the government. And even the request -- just to ask to have this measure put on the floor -- was shot down.

And so, I think the message is very clear on the part of the representatives of so many of the millions of Americans who don't understand why they can't go to work, why we can't let our economy move forward. We're simply saying let America work. Let America's representatives vote to put Americans back to work. Let our government reopen. That's the simple message.

We're here to demand that, and we will not stop until we are allowed to let America work. With that, let me yield to the vice-chairman of the Democratic Caucus Joe Crowley.

MARQUEZ: That's Xavier Becerra, who is laying out the Democrats' effort to try to force a vote in the House, an unsuccessful vote in the House. So the politicking continues and the talk continues in Washington.

But at this point, the GOP is saying that they are going home for the week -- for the weekend. At least the members are. The leadership will stay and talk. But it doesn't look like there will be any vote anytime soon in Washington.

Hard times can bring out the best in people. Sarah Hoidahl knows how hard it can be to make ends meet. She's a waitress in Concorde, New Hampshire and a single mom.

This week she overheard two National Guard soldiers discussing the menu and talking about how they won't be paid because of the federal shutdown. So she picked up their tab. She also left a note thanking them for their service.

The politically vocal CEO of Starbucks has a message for Washington -- "Get the government moving again". But Howard Schultz isn't the one doing the talking. Instead, he's offering Americans a platform to voice their frustrations by signing a petition.

Nick Valencia is at a Starbucks right now here in Atlanta. So, Nick, how many signatures do they have? And when does it go to the White House, or the Senate, or the House, or where does it go?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miguel, they're doing pretty well so far. This petition started yesterday. Already more than one million signatures collected so far here at this Ansley Mall, Starbucks where we are. We've seen a lot of people sign this petition -- over 120 people signing the tenets here. They want the government to reopen. They want a bipartisan agreement. And they want an answer to this financial crisis. They're worried that we're going to go into another one.

One of the customers that we talked to earlier this morning here is Larry Minogue. Larry you signed the petition earlier. What do you think about it? Do you that it's going to -- come on in here. What do you think? Do you think it's going to make a difference at all in the opinions of the politicians in Washington?

LARRY MINOGUE, SIGNED STARBUCKS PETITION: Well, I signed the petition myself. I think the Starbucks Corporation shows a lot of good corporate initiative. Now, as to whether or not it will do any good, I hope it will. I doubt that it will, because I think, unfortunately, the Republican Party has essentially dug its -- dug a hole in the ground and is having difficulty getting out of that hole.

VALENCIA: A lot of people are just wondering how we got to this point. How do you get to a point where the U.S. Government is partially shut down? Who do you put the blame on as an American citizen?

MINOGUE: As an American citizen and a voter, I put it right smack on the GOP. I give it to the tea-banging faction. And, I mean, eight years ago, when Mr. Obama was elected, the Republican Party expressed, that said, "We will not cooperate."

VALENCIA: Some people will push back on you, Larry. They'll say that, you know, House Republicans will say, Democrats, they aren't willing to budge either. Are they both to blame?

MINOGUE: No, sir. No, sir.

VALENCIA: Why not?

MINOGUE: Because, for example, our current crisis, the reason for its being, is the Affordable Care Act. Mr. Boehner, the House Republicans, have said that is why they are doing this. It's not -- the Affordable Care Act is a Republican initiative.

VALENCIA: There's a lot of various opinions about this, of course Miguel. We've seen people here that say that they're not going to sign the petition at all because they just don't think it's going to make much of a difference -- Miguel.

MARQUEZ: All right. Nick Valencia, thank you very much.

More indictments in that high-speed biker chase and beating of an SUV driver but it's the discovery of who else was at the scene, as all of this went down -- that is truly shocking. The details -- next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUEZ: Bottom of the hour now. Welcome back. I'm Miguel Marquez. Here are five things crossing the CNN NEWSDESK right now.

Number one, the deal to end the shutdown and raise the debt ceiling doesn't look likely today because House members are planning to leave Washington to return to their districts. But GOP leaders will remain in town to continue negotiations to raise the debt ceiling and end the government shutdown. A Republican congressman says the talks between the president and John Boehner have hit a brick wall.

Number two, the whereabouts of this man remain unclear. Scott Chandler is the director of a ranch for troubled kids. An amber alert was issued for nine teenagers whom authorities say were abducted from the ranch. Authorities say one of the teens has returned home and is OK. Chandler's lawyer says all of the teens are safe, but that amber alert remains in effect.

Number three, Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly purchased four new houses, but they're not in exotic location, they're right next door to his home in Palo Alto, California cccording to the "San Jose Mercury News." Facebook's CEO heard of a developer's plan to buy one of the properties next door, and marketed as being next to Mark Zuckerberg's house. The $29 billionaire, worth $19 billion, is reportedly planning to lease the homes back to the families that live there now.

Number four, Cadillac will release a luxury plug-in car next year. The Cadillac ELR and it has a pretty luxe price tag, as well, about $69,000 after tax credits. Cadillac says the high price tag comes from the car's greater flexibility. The ELR can flip between electric and gas, which is allows it to drive for greater distances than traditional electric cars.

No tongues, no twerking, no teddy bears, number five is just Miley Cyrus and her voice. She's singing "We Can't Stop" a cappella with late night host Jimmy Fallon. She appeared this week wearing just a white shirt and not much else. She told Fallon she's about -- more about twerking. She can also sing and act.

Join us tonight at 7:30 for a CNN special presentation on Miley Cyrus. Is the former Disney darling a brilliant businesswoman or a fallen star? Watch "The Life of Miley" tonight at 7:30 Eastern Time.

It's the video that shocked a nation. Now three bikers have been indicted in connection with the violent attack on an SUV driver in New York. Craig Wright, Reginald Chance, and Robert Sims are all accused of attacking Alexian Lien while his wife and child watch in horror.

Margaret Conley joins me from New York. Margaret, all three men have now been indicted by Manhattan grand jury. What's the latest on this investigation?

MARGARET CONLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miguel, seven bikers have now been arrested. The SUV driver's assault, it was part of a high-speed chase with motorcyclists here in New York that was captured on video and went viral. Alexian Lien, the driver of the SUV was seen for the first time in public on Friday afternoon. You can see him here in video shot by CNN affiliate, WABC, leaving his apartment building.

Lien was treated in the hospital after being attacked and beaten by bikers about two weeks ago. The incident also left one biker seriously injured after his SUV ran over him. Now on to the bikers, three of them have now been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury. They have been individually accused of either striking the SUV driver using their helmet to smash open the SUV window or stomping on the head of the driver after he was dragged out of his vehicle.

Their next court appearance will be their arraignment scheduled for October 30th. That's when the charges will be made public, and that's about two and a half weeks away. The police are still looking for four other bikers who may have attacked the SUV driver.

MARQUEZ: And what more do we know about the off-duty police officers who were on the scene?

CONLEY: Well, Miguel, one of them has been arrested and we now have photos of him. He's the one you can see there blurred out. His name is Wojciech Braszczok. He's 32 years old and worked as an undercover detective. We now know he was also involved in infiltrating organizations, including the "Occupy Wall Street" Movement, and we still don't know why it took him three days to report to his superiors that he was there.

CNN has also learned that a third officer could have been on the scene, and this one works for Internal Affairs, that the same department that's investigating this entire case. And here's more on that from CNN's legal analyst, Paul Callan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It's hugely significant. IAD officers are supposed to the guys who really enforce the law. They enforce the law even against fellow police officers, the letter of the law, and to think that an IAD officer might, in fact, be involved in this incident, I think the public will be very upset and disturbed about this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONLEY: Now the officer's lawyer told our Susan Candiotti that his client has worked with Internal Affairs for five years. He did not see any part of the assault actually take place and said the officer did not do anything wrong. Miguel, all of this continues to be investigated.

MARQUEZ: But raising a lot of concerning questions. Margaret Conley for us, thank you very much.

It's known as the largest no-kill animal sanctuary in the U.S. and it's home to hundreds of abandoned animals. We'll take you there and introduce you to the actor who started it all. That's coming up.

And you can catch an all-new "ANTHONY BOURDAIN: PARTS UNKNOWN," tomorrow night. Bourdain goes on a tasty journey to Sicily, where he learns the "language of food."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANTHONY BOURDAIN, HOST, CNN'S "PARTS UNKNOWN": So, what do we have here? Capicola?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Briscuitto.

BOURDAIN: That looks good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vachese. This is the ricotta. It's just cook it in the oven, the ricotta.

BOURDAIN: The bread?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bread is from the uncle. And they have also, salami and the sausages.

BOURDAIN: And this cheese? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

BOURDAIN: And? What do you call the dish? Beautiful. That's good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The best moment of the day.

BOURDAIN: Indeed, yes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: And the best job in the world. I'm starving. "ANTHONY BOURDAIN, PARTS UNKNOWN," airs tomorrow night at 9:00 right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUEZ: Some late-night heroics in the baseball playoffs. Andy Scholes from "Bleacher Report," and, Andy, were the Dodgers really beaten by one guy?

ANDY SCHOLES, "BLEACHER REPORT": Good morning, Miguel. What can you say about Carlos Beltran? You know, he may be the greatest postseason player of all time. Last night, in game one of the ALCS, Beltran provided all of the offense for the Cardinals. Bottom of the third with two on, Beltran doubled into right center. Both runners would come in to score. The game, it would remain tied at 2-2 until the 13th inning. Beltran comes to the plate again. And again, he delivers this time, a walk-off single. Cardinals beat the Dodgers, 3- 2.

Game two of the series will be later on this afternoon, first pitch at 4:00 eastern on TBS. Then at 8:00, the Tigers and Red Sox will hit the field for game one of the American League Championship game series.

Three Tampa Bay Buccaneers players have been diagnosed with a serious bacterial infection known as MRSA. According to the team's general manager, the Buccs are bringing in an infections control expert from Duke University to stop any further spread. MRSA is antibody- resistant bacteria that most commonly show up as a skin infection. The condition can be especially dangerous in medical facilities and locker rooms, and it can lead to life threatening infections.

Trending on bleacherreport.com., the Oregon Ducks, they are known for being trendsetters when it comes to fancy new uniforms and now, they are taking it up a notch. Tonight, the Ducks cheerleaders will be rocking these custom "o" contacts. Take a look at those, Miguel. I'm not sure if this is awesome or scary, and it might actually be both at the same time.

MARQUEZ: I'm going to wear those in the next hour. Very awesome, I think.

SCHOLES: You should.

MARQUEZ: Andy, thank you very much. SCHOLES: All right.

MARQUEZ: It's the latest film hitting the big screen with Oscar buzz. But is it fact or fiction? Coming up, we'll take a look at the new tom hanks film "Captain Phillips."

In today's "American Journey," an actor who discovered his true calling in the California desert, what he stumbled on more than three decades ago has nothing to do with acting, and everything to do with caring. Here's Tom Foreman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the hills up above Los Angeles.

LEO GRILLO, FOUNDER OF DELTA RESCUE: Hi, kids.

FOREMAN: A down to earth journey goes on.

GRILLO: A good girl.

FOREMAN: Every day Leo Grillo takes one more step down an unexpected trail.

GRILLO: These dogs are all abandoned in the wilderness. I bring them here with the promise it will never happen again. My promise to them is I'm keeping you safe.

FOREMAN: It started in 1979 when Grillo, an actor, found an abandoned dog and took him in naming him Delta and found another dog and another and another and 35 years later, DELTA Rescue now covers more than 100 acres, land filled with animals, every one of them found after being abandoned.

GRILLO: We'll have anywhere 850 to 900 dogs, cats are 600, 650, horses are about 40 and I have a hand full of goats and a pig and you never know.

FOREMAN: An $8-million budget fuelled by donations provides food, water, housing and a full-time veterinary hospital.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This guy here had some bad teeth and I'm pulling some bad molars.

FOREMAN: No animal is ever put up for adoption and in many ways Grillo helped pioneered the idea of a no kill rescue center and every animal you see.

GRILLO: They are here for life. Hi, Bentley.

FOREMAN: It much bigger, more time consuming, more exhausting than he ever imagined, but when he looks out over this mountain top home he's given to thousands of unwanted animals, he knows they have given to him, too.

GRILLO: I know I saved all their lives. They definitely changed mine. You're a good girl.

FOREMAN: Tom Foreman, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUEZ: House Republicans and the White House have so far failed to reach a deal on the budget and debt ceiling, and Wall Street is watching nervously. Investors pushed stocks higher yesterday on the hopes of a deal. The Dow surged at the end of the week.

Let's bring in CNN's Zain Asher. Zain, the markets closed on higher on Friday, but we're not out of the woods yet. By the latest news, we may be going deeper into them. What's going on?

ZAIN ASHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miguel. Yes. It does look like. But in terms of last week, the week was certainly a net positive, but it certainly was a tumultuous week on Wall Street. Literally, you could not make up this week up. There was so much uncertainty, but we did end in an black (inaudible), let me just show you. The Dow was actually up 1 percent. The S&P 500 up 0.7 percent.

But again, so much uncertainty, and the U.S. stock market is highly allergic to uncertainty. So we did see losses on Monday and Tuesday. We weren't 100 percent sure we were get a deal in time, and Wall Street was probably worried, why is it taking so long? So investors were literally on the sidelines, sort of watching the volleyball go back and forth between Democrats and Republicans, not sure what's going to happen.

But later in the week, things sort of started to look better. The sun came out for Wall Street on Wednesday. That was when Janet Yellen was nominated to head the fed. But take a look at what happened on Thursday. The Dow was actually up 323 points, the biggest one-day gain since December of 2011. Anyone that sold stocks earlier in the week would have gone home kicking themselves.

But by Friday, you know, investors sort of started to sober up and realize yes, there is a deal on the table, but it's nothing concrete just yet. I think everybody is sort of looking towards next week. Closer we get to October 17th without a deal, we are playing with fire -- Miguel.

MARQUEZ: Playing with fire, ping pong, volleyball, you can go on and on with the metaphors.

ASHER: Cricket might be the one.

MARQUEZ: Zain Asher, thank you very much.

ASHER: Of course.

MARQUEZ: Now three drivers caused deadly car accidents are asking New York's highest court to throw out their murder convictions, arguing they were too intoxicated to know they posed the threat they posed. It sounds outrageous. Can that be a legal argument? The legal guys are going to explain to me, Avery Friedman in Cleveland and Richard Herman is in Las Vegas. Hello there, guys.

How goes it. So is this possible, is it truly legal? It sounds a little outrageous, although I understand what the court is saying in all of these. These guys were so drunk, murder does involve intent, doesn't it, Richard?

RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, first degree murder, specific intent to kill. What happens is they impute depravity. If you act in such a depraved manner, that could be imputed to give you that intent level and get you a conviction for murder. The defense were so blasted, they didn't know they were acting in a depraved manner. Therefore, you can't convict them of murder, manslaughter, five to ten years or 20 to life, big difference.

MARQUEZ: Avery, I see you want to come back with something there.

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Well, you know, what's very interesting about it, obviously we have a horrific accident. We have two guys that were so drunk that they were driving on the other side of the road, Miguel. So for purposes of murder, were they able to show the issue of intent, the question was of the trial court, was that a horrific decision. The argument was made this week. We have the answers for you and more coming up.

MARQUEZ: Just an interesting case, guys. Thanks very much.

An undercover cop that witnessed this attack on an SUV driver is in New York facing charges, but one legal expert says he is getting off easy. You won't want to miss our legal panel coming up in the next hour.

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MARQUEZ: It was a riveting story, Somali pirates seize a ship with American crew. The ship's captain, heroic as he was, rises to the occasion. That story is now a movie starring Academy award winner Tom Hanks. But the crew says the film gets it all wrong. Here is CNN's Drew Griffin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As their captain was being lauded as a hero, the crew of Maersk Alabama there watched and bit their tongues, no more.

MIKE PERRY, CHIEF ENGINEER, MAERSK ALABAMA: We vowed we were going to take it to our grave, we were not going to see anything. We heard this PR stuff coming out about him giving himself up and he is still a hostage. And the whole crew is like what because everybody is in shock.

GRIFFIN: Back in 2010 interview, the Alabama's chief engineer, Mike Perry, told us he and most of the crew couldn't believe the story being painted about their captain, Captain Richard Phillips, that he had given himself up in exchange for the safety of his crew. Left out of the entire story, says Perry, is the captain's recklessness that steered the Maersk Alabama into pirate infested waters. They set a course to save money. That route would shorten the trip and according to the third engineer put the crew directly in harm's way.

JOHN CRONAN, ENGINEER, MAERSK ALABAMA: He was advised to change course by competent deck officers and he overruled them. Stay on course. Make our ETA. Stay on the same course.

GRIFFIN: In a 2010 interview, Captain Richard Phillips told us he was not used to criticism. When CNN confronted him with these e-mails and his crew's concerns, he said it was the first time his judgment had been questioned.

(on camera): The complaint is that there were specific e-mails sent to your ship stressing the need to go further out to sea.

RICHARD PHILLIPS, CAPTAIN, MAERSK ALABAMA: Yes. On something like that, we'll deal with that in the arena that they wish and that's the court, that's what this is based on.

GRIFFIN: Is it true?

PHILLIPS: There are warnings put out, I don't know what authorities he is talking about, he doesn't say.

GRIFFIN: Well, I have the e-mails.

PHILLIPS: Yes?

GRIFFIN: You have seen the e-mails. You got them.

PHILLIPS: Haven't seen them since I was on the ship.

GRIFFIN: But you were warned to go further out to sea.

PHILLIPS: Warned to stay clear of an area, yes.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): The captain is now a witness in a contentious lawsuit between some of the crew and the shipping company. In a deposition last year, Captain Phillips admitted he did in seed receive the e-mail warnings. He also admits he kept the warnings to himself. Asked by a plaintiff's attorney why he didn't move further offshore Phillips testifies I don't believe 600 miles would make you safe.

I didn't believe 1,200 miles would make you safe. Phillips told us much of the criticism is driven by human nature and by lawsuits filed by members of his crew. He also says the story itself was fuelled by a press that wanted a hero, a captain that saved his crew, a good story, and now a movie.

PHILLIPS: The media got everything wrong. I don't know how I could control this when I am in a lifeboat and the media is saying I gave myself up for it. In the book if you read it, have you read it?

GRIFFIN (on camera): I did. PHILLIPS: So you know I didn't give myself up. I was already a hostage by then.

(END VIDEOTAPE)