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Yahoo Live Concert for Free; Interview with Jon Goldwater; Migrant Children; DEA Investigates NFL

Aired July 15, 2014 - 09:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Happening right now, we're going to take you out to Arizona. Protesters are beginning to line the street in Oracle, Arizona. They do not want undocumented immigrants in their town. They're planning to block buses in about an hour. They believe these buses will be carrying between 40 and 60 migrant children to a boy's ranch called Sycamore Canyon Academy and Sycamore Canyon Academy has already agreed to take those children in. But as you can see, these protesters do not want the children to arrive at that academy. Word got out from the local sheriff via FaceBook that the children would be going there, but federal officials are being mum citing security concerns. Counter protests are also expected. We'll keep an eye on the situation and bring you events as they warrant.

Iowa's Republican governor also jumping into this hot-bunt issue over what to do with migrant children from Central America. Governor Terry Branstad says he doesn't want them dropped off in his state either.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TERRY BRANSTAD (R), IOWA: Well, I'm not aware of any. And there's been no contact from the federal government to the state of Iowa about housing children here. I do have empathy for these kids, and I want to make -- but I also don't want to send the signal that, send your kids to America illegally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: My next guest says House Republicans need to get their act together to help resolve this crisis. Clarissa Martinez-De-Castro is with the National Council of La Raza, where she oversees work on immigration and efforts to expand Latino engagements in civic life and public policy debates.

Welcome.

CLARISSA MARTINEZ-DE-CASTRO, NATIONAL COUNCIL OF LA RAZA: Hi, Carol.

COSTELLO: Hi. Glad you're here. It's not just Republicans. Colorado's Democratic governor says his state can't afford to deal with any more problems. Shouldn't most of these kids be sent home?

MARTINEZ-DE-CASTRO: Well, here's the - well you - you just covered in CNN the fact that people are starting to be sent home. So what I find fascinating is that we have members of Congress who have blocked every step of the way fixing our immigration system and when the problem festers, they rail against it. Now they are using this situation, the reason of which are different, to bring more of that agenda.

What we have here is a constant talk about people pouring over the border, but they are not. People are being apprehended. And the government is following the law by housing these children until they go through the process that we are required by law to follow. So these packs of angry people yelling at scared kids, frankly, I think has many Americans appalled. We need to make sure that the process is followed. And those who have a credible fear or have been trafficked, that we follow standards not only our country has but internationally. And --

COSTELLO: You said -- you said there are underlying reasons these people are doing it, these politicians are doing this. What is that underlying reason?

MARTINEZ-DE-CASTRO: Well, there's a couple of things happening. And we're looking at the situation in Honduras, where most people are coming from. I think the United Nations has said this is the murder capital of the world. Other countries are experiencing this. This is not a phenomenon of people just coming to the United States. It's a phenomenon of people trying to flee a very violent environment. It doesn't necessarily mean that we can take everybody, but that's why there's a law on the books that allows people to go through a process.

Unfortunately, and you mentioned Mr. Cornyn, who seems to never have found a reason to vote against an immigration solution, is now jumping in the fray with legislation that I think mostly will deal with bringing more enforcement to the border, even though, as the border chief has said, people are being apprehended. They are not breaking through, they are being apprehended.

COSTELLO: Well, I think the idea here -- and there is -- there's this bipartisan plan that lawmakers are supposed to introduce in either the House or the Senate today, we don't know exactly, but I'll ask the congressman in the next hour of NEWSROOM, but it's supposed to speed up the process. So if these kids need a hearing, they'll get that hearing in three days. Of course that takes money, it takes more judges. Do you think that's a good idea? Is it possible?

MARTINEZ-DE-CASTRO: One of the reasons why our immigration courts are so backlogged is because we haven't devoted any resources to improve that part of the system or, frankly, to improve legal immigration, which is what's created an incredible opportunity for smugglers. Unfortunately, I have to see all the details of this legislation, but I'm not sure that it actually provides the resources need to do that. And what we are concerned about is, you saw it today, people are going through the process. Some people are already being sent back. So the notion that you need to take away a law that allowed Americans to catch up with the rest of the world on how we treat children, that we need to take that away in order to deal with the situation, concerns me, frankly.

Senator Feinstein, who was very evolved (ph) in that legislation, said that changing the law is not necessary. And we're seeing the proof of that. People are going through the process and some of them were flown back just, as you covered, this morning.

COSTELLO: Clarissa Martinez-De-Castro, thank you so much for your insight. I appreciate it.

MARTINEZ-DE-CASTRO: Thank you very much.

COSTELLO: I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Keep players on the field at all costs and keep the money flowing in. The NFL coming under new scrutiny for how teams treat injuries. A source says the DEA is now looking into claims that trainers and doctors illegally handed out powerful painkillers without telling players of the risks. Former NFL player J.D. Hill, and CNN Sports -- sports star, Andy Scholes, joins me now.

Andy, I want to start with you. Welcome, J.D., I'm glad you're here. I'm going to start with Andy so he can explain exactly what the DEA is investigating.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS: Well, this is coming on the heels of the - of a class action lawsuit that was filed by about 1,300 former NFL players where they say they were just given painkillers left and right, left and right, weren't informed about any of the risks, just to keep them playing on the field. You know, a member of the '85 Bears, the famous Super Bowl team, Richard Dent, he said he played half a season with a broken foot because of painkillers and now he has nerve damage with that foot. Jim McMahon, the quarterback from that team, he said he got hooked on painkillers, was taking 100 Percocets a month at one point. That's just incredible to think about.

And that's what the DEA wants to see. They want to look into these teams, see how they were getting all of these prescription drugs and whether or not they were being legally distributed to all the players.

COSTELLO: OK. So you mentioned that lawsuit. J.D. Hill is also part of that suit. And, J.D., you told me before that you were given many, many painkillers. Did you ever -- who did - who gave you these painkillers? Were they doctors? Were they trainers?

J.D. HILL, FORMER NFL PLAYER: Well, Carol and Andy, we would get injured and we would get painkillers from doctors, we would get painkillers from the trainers. You would just go in and you would say you have -- you're in pain, there's an injury that you had sustained and so they would give you painkillers, not even telling you the side effects or what it was. There was no prescription that was given to you. And so being an athlete, trusting the trainers, trusting the doctors, they recommended something and we would take it.

COSTELLO: How many pills do you think you - or pain killers did you taken over the course of your career?

HILL: You know, I have never actually counted them, but I know that I had painkillers the - I had painkillers the night before the game. I had pain killers the day of the game. I had painkillers at halftime. I had painkillers after the game.

And here's the thing, is that, you know, they didn't tell us about the side effects or even taking one drug with another drug. Some drugs you can't even take together. And then -- we didn't even know that. Some guys, if you drink beer or drink alcohol, there was never anybody that tells us that, hey, you just played this game, you're going to fly back from New York to California or from Buffalo to New York to New York City and you're on the plane after a game, you're drinking beer, you're drinking alcohol then you get - I mean drinking beer, taking pills. You get in the car and you drive. No one ever told us that -- about these side effects and not to do these things. So -- and that all created this drug culture that we are talking about.

COSTELLO: And it affected you after you left the game of football as well, right?

HILL: And after the game, once you're released, you're put out of the good old boys club, you no longer can go back in the training room, you know, you can't go in and get that attention that you was receiving, so what happened? Some athletes go to the street to get these drugs, because they are going to kill that pain. And so what happens, that leads to other problems that we know about.

COSTELLO: Are you glad the DEA is now investigating?

HILL: We are very pleased. Our attorneys were very pleased to know that DEA is investigating because that means that they are taking our allegations serious about what has happened with us and that's good thing. Because it's going to -- not only show that they have a concern for the former NFL players, but it's going to also ensure that the NFL operates with integrity as well.

COSTELLO: JD Hill, many thanks to you.

And Andy, before you go, is the NFL saying anything about this?

SCHOLES: No, we reached out to them to see if they had any comments on this lawsuit or the DEA investigation, they said, no, we do not at this time.

COSTELLO: All right. Andy Scholes, JD Hill, thanks so much.

I'm back in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Do you love live music but hate sky-high ticket prices? Problem solved. Yahoo! and Live Nation are teaming up to bring the concert experience to you for free and guess what, you won't even have to leave your house.

Let's bring in CNN's business correspondent Alison Kosik.

What gives? ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, this is all

going to be ad supported, this is why it's going to be free. Everybody loves free and it's the next best thing to being there. So this is actually kicking off tonight, Carol. You are going to be able to stream these live concerts right on your computer or your phone, even on your TV if you have Roku or Apple TV. And once again it won't cost you a dime.

Now Yahoo! and Live Nation are teaming up to do this. They are going to be offering a different concert every day for an entire year. So tonight, it's the Dave Matthews Band from Jacksonville, Florida, and the names get even bigger than that afterwards. KISS, Justin Timberlake, Usher, John Legend.

By the way, Justin Timberlake -- just to give you some perspective here -- is the most expensive ticket this summer. A ticket to his show is selling for an average of $320 in the secondary market. But hey, it's free. Live Nation and Yahoo! channel. So what you can do is you go to this tab on the Yahoo! screen, on Yahoo! homepage called Screen, and you click on that tab, and there, you're all set to go from your couch.

Now some people don't realize that Screen is actually a YouTube like service which obviously is a directly competitor to YouTube. Personally I didn't know that even Screen existed, but clearly Yahoo! is trying to let everybody know, hey, here's Screen and we're coming out big with these big concerts for a year -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Sounds good. Alison Kosik, reporting live. Thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM. Say it ain't so. The end of an era for comic book fans as Archie Andrews says good-bye to Riverdale Forever. Up next we'll talk to the CEO of Archie Comics about the character's dramatic death.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: For nearly 75 years, Archie Andrews and the Riverdale gang have been entertaining us with their high school adventures. If you're like me, you remember Archie this way.

Well, it turns out there are several Archie universes. There's that Archie universe and then there's the comic book universe of Archie and Riverdale, and tomorrow in that universe readers will -- will bid farewell to Archie, the famous freckle faced comic book icon.

In a dramatic and political twist, Archie is shot dead during an assassination attempt on his gay best friend.

This is "The Life with Archie" cover that will hit stands tomorrow. The publisher and CEO of Archie Comics Jon Goldwater says even though it's hard to say good-bye, Archie dies as he lived, a hero, representing the best in all of us.

I spoke with Goldwater about the dramatic ending. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: You know, when I was a kid, I remember Archie as going to high school and hanging out with Veronica. I don't remember him being remotely political. When did that happen?

JON GOLDWATER, CEO, ARCHIE COMICS: Well, look, Archie isn't really political. Teenage Archie still exists. He still goes to high school, he's still choosing between Betty and Veronica. But there is an alternate universe in a magazine called "Life with Archie." And Archie is a little bit older, he's in his mid 20s.

And in that magazine, in that universe, he deals with more real-life situations. He deals with job issues and relationship issues. And in one universe he's married to Betty and in the other universe he's married to Veronica. And really what's his life like in those universes. And that magazine gave us an opportunity to explore things a little bit more in depth than we did in the traditional Archie comic books, that you're so familiar with.

COSTELLO: This is serious stuff, though. I mean, you're dealing with issues like gun control and gay rights, and now we hear that Archie is going to die in a heroic way protecting a gay friend.

GOLDWATER: Right. Well, this really sort of all kicked up for us in "Life with Archie" number 16 where we had Kevin Keller who was the first gay character in Archie Comics. He married his partner Clay Walker. And that was a really watershed moment for the series. And it brought us a lot of attention and the feedback we got was that people really enjoyed the fact that we took this to a deeper level in the Archie book.

And we explored some issues that people felt very passionate about and that really gave us the courage and also a lot of insight into being able to move forward in these -- I guess you could call them hot button topics. But Archie is really not political. I mean, Riverdale is an all encompassing place, it's a welcoming place, it's a place where everyone is included, so when Archie takes the bullet for Kevin, which is what he does, he's really showing really what's the best of Riverdale and what's the best of America.

I mean, he would take the bullet for Betty, he'd take the bullet for Veronica, but he takes the bullet for Kevin, and so metaphorically it's the new Riverdale being born which really is epitomized in Kevin.

COSTELLO: But won't you miss Archie? I mean, won't there be a lot of fans who are devastated that Archie dies?

GOLDWATER: Well, he's dying in this one universe. He's still around. And he's going to be around for generations. I mean, next year we celebrate our 75th anniversary. So I'm very proud of that fact. And teenage Archie exists. You can still buy him in your supermarket and your newsstands. But in "Life with Archie," this one series does wrap up, and then we'll move forward with some other series. But Archie as you know him, he's still around. He's just -- he's just dying in this "Life with Archie" magazine right now. COSTELLO: So with this Archie dying.

GOLDWATER: Yes.

COSTELLO: What message do you want to send ultimately?

GOLDWATER: Really that people should be accepted for who they are, for what they are. I don't want to spoil exactly who the shooter is, but it's someone who doesn't agree with not only Kevin's lifestyle but his political views and really the message we're sending here is that whoever you are, wherever you live, you should be welcomed, you should be accepted as Archie is in Riverdale, as the whole gang is in Riverdale, and as they welcomed Kevin when he first came to Riverdale, that's really the message. Acceptance for all.

COSTELLO: Jon Goldwater, thank you so much for sharing your insight. We appreciate it.

GOLDWATER: Thank you so much, Carol. It's a pleasure being on your show.

COSTELLO: The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.