Return to Transcripts main page

Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Governor Scott Walker Wins in Wisconsin; Sandusky Child Rape Trial; Palin: "Obama's Goose Is Cooked; Shuttle Enterprise Final Journey

Aired June 06, 2012 - 05:00   ET

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

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: A big slap in the face for the runner- up in the Wisconsin recall election for governor. Literally, a woman slaps Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett across the cheek. What happened next? Straight ahead.

ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, we'll break down the actual election results for you. Also talk about the historical significance of Governor Scott Walker's win and what it means in the race for the White House.

BANFIELD: And some stunning pictures from NASA of the planet Venus crossing in front of the sun. The last time we'll see this happen in all of our lifetimes.

Wow. That is something to behold.

Good morning, everyone. Good to have you with us. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Ashleigh Banfield.

SAMBOLIN: Thanks for being with us. I'm Zoraida Sambolin. We are bringing you the news from A to Z.

Five a.m. here on the East, so let's get started.

Up first, it is a failed recall. Delivering a wake-up call to the White House this morning. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker keeps his job, becoming the first governor in U.S. history to survive a recall election.

A real slap in the face for Democrats, literally. Take a look at a female supporter slapping runner-up Tom Barrett, Milwaukee's Democratic mayor, for conceding the race too soon last night.

She didn't have to, you know? Walker, the Tea Party-backed Republican, who broke his state's public unions, registered a comfortable seven-point victory over Barrett. And he was quick to put a national spin on his big, local win.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. SCOTT WALKER (R), WISCONSIN: Tonight, tonight, we tell Wisconsin, we tell our country, and we tell people all across the globe that voters really do want leaders to stand up and make the tough decisions. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SAMBOLIN: Ted Rowlands is live in Madison this morning.

And I got to tell you, we were shocked to see that video of Mayor Barrett being slapped in the face. What do you know about that?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we know is that this was a very emotional election, Zoraida. And that slap, apparently from this woman who was upset that he conceded too early, we were in Madison at the time. And we had a lot of people that were very upset with the fact that the media had called this. They thought it was too early.

I think the reason was is those exit polls and the initial indication was that this was going to be a very long night. People just didn't believe it. They had put their heart into this thing.

I don't know what that woman was thinking. But it would make sense talking to other people out here outside the state capitol in Madison, there was just raw emotion. People were absolutely in disbelief that not only was the election called so early, that Walker could have won by so much after what they thought was going to be a very close race and one that they thought in the end they could win.

SAMBOLIN: Now, I know you said that the emotions were running high. Did you talk to anybody? What did they have to say?

ROWLANDS: Yes. We talked to a number of people outside the capitol here in Madison as this was coming down. Take a listen to one gentleman that we talked to who got very emotional about the fact that Walker kept his job.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE, MAYOR BARRETT SUPPORTER: Every single one of you out there in the nation, if you're watching, democracy died tonight.

ROWLANDS: You're very emotional.

MIKE: I'm very emotional because we all had a lot invested in this. This was it. If we didn't win tonight, the end of the USA as we know it just happened. That's it.

We just got outspent $34 million to $4 million. And we don't have any other resource left but the people you see here behind me. And if the people you see here behind me can't get it done tonight, it's done. Democracy is dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: Zoraida, people here believe that because walker had so much money, a lot of it comes from out of state, that despite their efforts, it was just an insurmountable task to try to beat him. That's what they were upset about. Clearly, you know, the bottom line here is, for the last 16 months people have been split down the middle in this state and around the country on this issue. And you saw those emotions pouring out tonight.

The loser -- the losing side very, very upset.

SAMBOLIN: No doubt, emotions running really high there. Thank you for that. Ted Rowlands live in Wisconsin for us. We appreciate it.

BANFIELD: Four minutes now past 5:00 on the East Coast, and more politics for you. Five more primary wins, did you know, for Mitt Romney? Even though the race for the Republican nomination is certainly long over.

Mr. Romney spent yesterday campaigning in Texas. Hammering away at President Obama's economic policies at a Latino-owned office supply company in Ft. Worth. Nearly 300 delegates were at stake in California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota. And Romney took them all easily. By the way, voter turnout -- not surprisingly, very light.

A U.S. drone strike taking out another top terrorist in Pakistan. The White House now confirming that Abu Yahya al-Libi, the number two man in al Qaeda and the most public face of the terror group, is dead. He was seen as a rock star in jihadist circles because of his viral videos and was a key recruiter for al Qaeda.

Al-Libi was captured in 2002 and locked up at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, but escaped in 2005, and then bragged about it on the web.

BANFIELD: California's legal fight over same-sex marriage may be headed to the Supreme Court. A federal appeals court yesterday decided not to reconsider a ruling back in February that declared proposition 8 unconstitutional. That's the voter approved Prop 8. It bans same-sex marriage in that state. The parties in the case now have 90 days to appeal to the Supreme Court.

And until the high court decides to hear this case or if it even does, that ruling is going to be on hold. So that means the ban on gay marriage in California remains in effect.

SAMBOLIN: Americans are more comfortable than ever with same-sex relationships. According to a brand-new CNN poll, 54 percent say marriages between gay and lesbian couples should be recognized as valid by law. And for the first time ever, a majority of Americans, 60 percent, say they have a close friend or family member who is gay. That's up 10 percent from just two years ago.

BANFIELD: Here is a picture that will last a lifetime -- because it has to. The rare sight of Venus in transit passing between the earth and the sun. This is not going to be visible from here for another 105 years. Planet Venus, second rock from the sun, appears as a little black spot as it crosses the face of the mother ship. The process takes about seven hours which is just fine for all the sky watchers out there. A lot of them gathering at the air and space museum in the nation's capital for a watching party. Notice the protective eye wear. Good job.

Next hour, we're going to talk to Bill Nye, the science guy, about this very rare planetary spectacle.

SAMBOLIN: I'm looking forward to that.

LeBron James and the Miami Heat on the brink of being bounced from the playoffs. Boston Celtics beat the Heat, 94-90, and took 3-2 lead. Do you hear the applause in the background? This is the Eastern Conference finals. This was last night.

The Celtics can clinch another trip to the NBA finals tomorrow night on their home court.

BANFIELD: OK. So, that's basketball. I don't know much about basketball.

But you know a lot about this. Look at this. No one expected that they'd be one win away from the cup. The L.A. Kings going for the sweep tonight against the New Jersey devils. They're going to try to win their first Stanley Cup in team history.

SAMBOLIN: Wow.

BANFIELD: The Kings barely even made the playoffs. They were the lowest seed in the western conference going into these playoffs.

Can I just say that Wayne Gretzky can barely speak? He is literally, like, in tears every night.

SAMBOLIN: I love this. I love this. This is fantastic. I love the underdog.

Coming ahead. All right. A brand-new debate over the so-called morning after pill. A new report claims the pills don't work the way many people believe they do. Wait until we explain this to you. That is coming up.

BANFIELD: And the space shuttle Enterprise at sunrise. A live look from New Jersey.

SAMBOLIN: That's beautiful.

BANFIELD: As we get ready to take a peek. Behold.

There's a final voyage today, one you do not want to miss. Yes, starships do fly.

You're watching EARLY START. We'll keep you posted all the way through this.

SAMBOLIN: Looks like the weather is going to cooperate today, too, so they'll make it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAMBOLIN: It is 11 minutes past the hour. Welcome back to EARLY START.

As jury selection resumes in the Jerry Sandusky child rape trial, we're learning about some potentially explosive evidence in this case. ABC News is reporting the Sandusky wrote love letters to one of his victims. Sandusky allegedly showered the victim who is now 28 years old with gifts as well.

The former Penn State football coach is accused of sexually abusing 10 boys, this over a 15-year period. Nine of the 16 jurors and alternates needed were chosen on day one.

CNN's Susan Candiotti is following all of these developments. She's live in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania.

And, Susan, what can you tell us about those nine jury members that have been selected so far?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, quite a mix. So far, the nine who have been chosen, five men and four women. Now, included among them, for example, a mom who works at Wal-Mart and she told the judge that she knows very little about the case. She was accepted.

And then you have other people that illustrate how closely Penn State permeates this entire community. An example, we have a woman whose husband worked with the father of a key prosecution witness in this case, Mike McQueary. Father is a doctor. This woman's husband works in the very same medical practice.

Now, there's also a Penn state alumnus, as well as a Penn state student, as well as a retired Penn State professor.

So this is what we're hearing time and again. It's important to illustrate how difficult it's going to be to seat a jury with someone that doesn't have a tie or indirect tie to Jerry Sandusky or to Penn State.

SAMBOLIN: Susan, it makes you wonder how objective these folks can be, right? I would imagine this is a very difficult and daunting progress. We're also founding out ABC is reporting Sandusky wrote love letters to victim number one.

Do we know if those letters are going to be introduced into trial? Do we know what they say?

CANDIOTTI: It's expected that they would be introduced at trial. That's what our source tells us. Our source tells us about these letters allegedly written by Jerry Sandusky to accuser number four.

Now, ABC is describing them as love letters. Our source also tells us that gifts allegedly given by Jerry Sandusky to alleged victim number four, gifts including football jerseys, golf clubs, could also possibly be introduced during trial.

SAMBOLIN: And, Susan, I guess seven more jurors and alternates are needed for this trial. What can we expect in court today?

CANDIOTTI: Well, there will be more questioning. It's a very intricate process and dance that's going on. As both prosecutors and defense attorneys in this case try to decide who they can accept, who they can reject, and they still have a couple of objections they can raise between them, people that they can strike.

And so, each juror will be brought in and given specific questions about their background to see whether they are acceptable to both sides.

And again, as you pointed out, despite the fact that people may have opinions or have ties to Penn State, the key question the judge is asking is, can you put these feelings aside and impartially make a decision.

SAMBOLIN: Boy, that's a tough one. Susan Candiotti live for us in Pennsylvania, thank you very much.

Ashleigh, back to you.

BANFIELD: Fifteen minutes now past 5:00 on the East Coast. Christine Romans is here to get us up to date.

Hi, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Ashleigh.

After months of bitter fighting and millions of dollars spent, nothing has changed in Wisconsin. Governor Scott Walker is still Governor Scott Walker, easily winning a recall vote last night over Democratic Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. The union-breaking, budget-cutting, Tea Party-favorite says his victory means voters really do want leaders who stand up and make tough decisions.

A California vote to raise the tax on cigarettes to fund cancer research is just too close to call yet this morning. Nearly 2.5 million ballots were cast Tuesday on an initiative that would impose a $1 additional tax on tobacco products. Cycling champ and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong is putting $1.5 million against the ballot measure. The tobacco industry put upmost of the $41 million aimed at stopping it.

Mitt Romney's campaign confirms it's investigating whether its candidate had a private e-mail account hacked. There are reports an anonymous hacker signed into Romney's old Hotmail account after guessing the answer to a security question about one of his pets.

Whitney Houston's mom says she wants to, quote, set the record straight. Cissy Houston is writing a book about her daughter's life, including her struggle with drugs and marriage to singer Bobby Brown. Harper Collins says it plans to publish this book in February -- Zoraida. SAMBOLIN: Thank you very much, Christine. Welcome back.

Sixteen minutes past the hour. We're getting an "Early Read" on news making national headlines.

OK. You know the morning after pill, right? Very controversial. It's taken to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex. Well, "The New York Times" is reporting the pill doesn't work the way many people think it does.

Science experts say the bill delays ovulation. But labels on the boxes say it blocks fertilized eggs from implanting in a woman's uterus, descriptions that had led to some religious groups, conservative politics and others to claim that the pills cause abortion.

BANFIELD: If you want to advertise on any Disney program, quit junk food ads aimed at kids. "Los Angeles Times" is saying that starting in 2015, Disney is going to require food and beverage advertisers to meet specific guidelines regarding serving sizes, calories, fat and sugar content.

First Lady Michelle Obama praised the initiative calling it a game changer for the health of all of our children.

And for an expanded look at all of our top stories, you can head to our blog CNN.com/EarlyStart.

SAMBOLIN: Seventeen minutes past the hour.

Right now, it seems like everyone is on Facebook. But think about this. Ten years ago, it seemed like everyone was on AOL. Coming up, predicting the future of Facebook.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: It is 21 minutes past 5:00 a.m. So get up. You're going to be late.

Minding your business now. U.S. stock markets poised to open higher this morning as of now. And the markets closed higher across the board yesterday, too.

SAMBOLIN: The Dow gained about a quarter of a percent, the NASDAQ and S&P 500 more than half a percent.

Christine Romans is back. She's going to talk about one company not doing so well.

We mention them daily now, Facebook.

ROMANS: I can't believe I'm still talking about the Facebook IPO every single day. The stock is down 38 percent now since it first started trading. I mean, think about it -- $38 a share was the IPO price. It dropped another almost 4 percent Tuesday. It's now under $26 a share. Couple of things in the Facebook file for you this morning. NASDAQ, numerous reports that today's the day. Today it will announce how and how much it will compensate brokerages that lost money during the IPO because of delays in stock trading on that morning.

Remember that chaotic morning, May 18th? Still talking about that. That was the technical side of things.

But then there's also this fundamental part of the Facebook file. Big problems about whether the company can make real money, especially when it comes to ads. One in three people polled by "Reuters" IPSOS are bored by Facebook. Four out of five users say they never buy anything from the ads.

Four out of five never buy anything, how are you going to make money, if four out of five never buy anything? Thirty-four percent of users are spending less time on Facebook now than they did six months ago. Only 20 percent are spending more time.

One out of three users are bored. Are you bored with Facebook? I got a little bored with using Facebook.

BANFIELD: I'm exhausted by it.

SAMBOLIN: I love it.

ROMANS: Our executive producer says I'm bored.

SAMBOLIN: I like it. I link it to Twitter. You know?

ROMANS: The question is how are they going to make money from us? Privacy was only the third concern.

BANFIELD: I don't necessarily buy everything I drive by on a billboard.

ROMANS: True.

BANFIELD: How fair is it to say if you don't actually click the link they're never going to make a penny. Just the eyeballs alone, right?

ROMANS: A lot of people are asking what's the next step for Facebook and what's the next step for social media, right?

It was this guy on "Squawk on the Street" on CNBC. It's a business show. Stock show.

BANFIELD: Never heard of it. I don't even know if it exists. You know we're a morning show, right?

ROMANS: I know. But he said he didn't think this company was going to be around in five to eight years.

BANFIELD: That's amazing.

ROMANS: That's an extreme prediction. SAMBOLIN: If they figure out how to make money they will be around.

BANFIELD: I would have said that about MySpace. I would have said it's extreme to suggest people will fly off of MySpace and go to some new thing called Facebook.

ROMANS: There are two extremes on Facebook. One guy on CNBC was saying it's not going to exist in five days. Some people are saying some day we're going to be voting for president through Facebook.

It's either going to be how we live our life and pay our bills and control everything or not going to be there. That's the story behind Facebook. That we keep talking about every day even as it goes down in the market.

BANFIELD: There's a CNBC? Kidding.

ROMANS: Stop, stop, stop.

BANFIELD: Christine Romans, nice to see you.

Twenty-four minutes past 5:00. An emotional night in Wisconsin. It was capped off by this. Get a look at that. Incredible.

Milwaukee's mayor slapped by a supporter, right after conceding the race. What? More on the recall election and the big difference maker in the race, coming up.

SAMBOLIN: And if you're leaving the house right now, you can watch us any time on your desktop. (AUDIO GAP). Go to CNN.com/TV.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAMBOLIN: A big win in Wisconsin for Governor Scott Walker. Also big controversy for the runner-up, Milwaukee's Democratic Mayor Tom Barrett. He got a big slap in the face. Look at this.

Literally, a woman smacked him across the face. The story behind that video, straight ahead.

BANFIELD: Plus, some kids at a graduation rehearsal forced to take an alcohol breathalyzer test. We'll show you why, coming up.

SAMBOLIN: First, it flew into New York City on the back of a huge airplane. Now the space shuttle Enterprise is going to float on a barge on the Hudson River around the island of Manhattan today.

We have live pictures, a live report from right next to the shuttle. And that's this hour on CNN.

Alina Cho is standing by for us. We're really looking forward to that.

Welcome back to EARLY START. Thanks for being with us this morning. I'm Zoraida Sambolin.

BANFIELD: Good morning. I'm Ashleigh Banfield.

Twenty-eight minutes now past 5:00 on the East Coast.

Back to business this morning for the governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker. He became the first governor last night in this country's history to survive a recall election that broke spending records and captured the nation's attention.

And it was a real slap in the face for Democrats. Literally. Look. Look at your video. Slap. A female supporter slapping that runner- up, Tom Barrett. He's the Milwaukee Democratic mayor conceding this race. He actually conceded it and then this happened.

After his victory last night, he delivered a message not only to Wisconsin, but also to the nation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Tonight -- tonight, we tell Wisconsin, we tell our country, and we tell people all across the globe, that voters really do want leaders who stand up and make the tough decisions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Victory speech.

CNN's political editor Paul Steinhauser is standing by live.

Paul, let me start with this what looked like an assault. A woman in the crowd who did not look to be threatening but became rather threatening and slapped Mayor Barrett across the face. What do we know about this? Is she being charged?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: I don't know, unfortunately. I wish I could tell you, but I guess it's symbolic of the evening for Barrett and for the Democrats in this contest. And Ashleigh, you know, I guess, the big question here is what does Wisconsin mean for all of us across the country? What does it mean for the November general election, the battle for the White House?

You just played that little clip of sound there from Governor Walker. And Republicans across the country are, I guess, crowing right now. They're very excited about this victory. Here's what Mitt Romney said in a statement that he put out after Walker's victory.

He goes on to say, "Governor Walker has demonstrated over the past year what sound fiscal policies can do to turn the economy around, and I believe that in November voters across the country will demonstrate that they want the same in Washington, D.C." He goes on to say tonight's results will echo beyond the borders of Wisconsin.

And that is the message from Romney and from the Republicans today. What happened in Wisconsin is going to happen across the country and that Walker's fiscal conservatism was applauded by the voters, and we'll see that across country. Ashleigh, as you can imagine, Democrats feel very differently. They say, listen, we were outspent in Wisconsin. It is not a great test case for the rest of the nation. It's not a great dry run. And they also point towards the exit polls, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Well, let's talk a little about the general election and what those exit polls say for Wisconsin because that's a swing state.

STEINHAUSER: Well, it kind of is a mixed message. Take a look at this. Independent voters were so crucial in Wisconsin. They're crucial across the country. How did they vote last night? Look at this, 54 percent for Walker, 45 percent for Barrett. Obviously, Democrats went overwhelmingly for Barrett who's the Democratic candidate.

Walker got the Republican vote overwhelmingly, but independents did swing for the Republican candidate. That is interesting. We'll see if that plays out in November because independents can be crucial. But take a look at this. This is the horse race. We asked people -- the exit polls asked people voting in Wisconsin who they would vote for in November.

And you can see here the president has an advantage, a seven-point advantage over Mitt Romney, according to the exit polls. Wisconsin one of the states, as you know, Ashleigh, a battleground state. Is it leaning slightly towards the president or is it basically a toss-up right now? That is the big question.

BANFIELD: When you look at those two sets of numbers next to each other and a win next to the general election exit polling, does that give some credence to this argument that this was a money fight and maybe a money fight only?

That's what the Democrats are saying (ph) -- they're saying this was like eight to 10 to one in terms of outspending, the you know, the incumbent outspending the Democrat just by a massive margin, and perhaps, that's what lead to the win?

STEINHAUSER: Exactly. It's one of the Democratic arguments. They got outspent dramatically on television when it comes to TV ads and also get out the vote efforts. Final thing here, I guess, momentum. At least for now, Ashleigh, the Republicans will have momentum.

The Tea Party groups, the fiscal conservative groups will have a lot of momentum coming out of this. And the unions and the progressive groups definitely have a lack of momentum now. And they feel pretty much let down.

BANFIELD: When did the people in Wisconsin make up their minds, like, were they in the ballot box thinking, ho hum, OK, this one I'm used to him, I know who he is or were they really set going in?

STEINHAUSER: You know, this is a great question. The exit polls indicate that about 85 percent of the people decided before May 1st. So, that is a while ago. That's before all these ads were all over the TV. So, millions and millions spent over the last month. And guess what? The vast majority of Wisconsin voters, according to the exit polls, had already made up their minds.

And that's understandable, because remember, this was a rematch from two years ago. So, they knew these two candidates. They definitely knew the issues, no doubt about that. And a lot of voters, the vast majority, made up their minds before May 1st.

BANFIELD: So, Paul, do you think that the Washington Democrats who, you know, reportedly were in this personal battle with the Wisconsin Democrats saying this is not a good idea to do this before the election. And obviously, President Obama stayed away, did not campaign for Mayor Barrett.

Do you think they're sort of, you know, wiping their brows saying, whew, skirted on this one. Good thing we didn't jump into that, you know, that local political fray or do you think they're mad that now it's grabbing all these headlines?

STEINHAUSER: I think they're probably a little of both, but, you know, whether they did or did not play in there, the president will get blamed, because, well, he didn't go there. He didn't help out. So, I guess, he will get blamed to a degree. They didn't want this fight. Now, it's over. And they're going to move on and try to forget about it and move on to the general election.

BANFIELD: It's almost like it's the "I told you so" that you can't say out loud, you know? That's what it looks like, anyway, if the end fighting is all accurate. Paul, good to see you. Thank you.

STEINHAUSER: Thank you.

ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN ANCHOR: Thirty-four minutes past the hour. Sarah Palin offering her analysis of the Wisconsin election on Fox News last night and mocking President Obama's no show in that state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH PALIN, (R) FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: I think that the Democrats there understand that the president's no-show represents the fact that Obama's goose is cooked as more and more Americans realize that what Wisconsin has just manifested via this vote, embracing austerity and fiscal responsibility, is the complete opposite of what President Obama and the White House represents today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAMBOLIN: Palin predicting that what happened in Wisconsin will not stay in Wisconsin. Also saying the general consensus is President Obama has us on the wrong track.

BANFIELD: Things are getting ugly and a little childish on the road to the White House, as if you didn't know that already. President Obama's chief strategist, David Axelrod, is accusing Mitt Romney of using paid staffers to be hecklers at Democratic events like the one he hosted in Boston earlier this month.

That might seem a little hard to believe. But it turns out that Romney has pretty much admitted to it last week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Many of the events that I go to, there are large groups of, if you will, Obama supporters there heckling me. And at some point, you say, you know what, sash for the goose is sash for the gander. If they're going to be heckling us, we're not going to sit back and play by very different rules.

If the president's going to have his people coming to my rallies and heckling, we'll show them that, you know, we, conservatives, have the same kind of capacity he does.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Well, it turns out they're both laughing off the sauce (ph) because Romney staffers pointed to an incident at a New York City fire house last month where they claim the Obama campaign sent hecklers to former New York City mayor, Rudy Giuliani, who was holding a press conference there.

SAMBOLIN: The first nine jurors have been chosen for the Jerry Sandusky child rape trial. And prosecutors may have found a smoking gun. An ABC News report says the former Penn State football coach wrote love letters to one of his alleged victims who is now 28 years old. The letters have been described as creepy.

They're expected to be introduced as evidence as well as gifts that Sandusky allegedly gave him. He's accused of sexually abusing ten boys over a 15-year period.

BANFIELD: Designer, Tommy Hilfiger, is lending a helping hand to fight autism and saying that the disease has personally affected him. He's revealing that both of his teenage daughter and teenage step-son have autism, and he's appealing in a PSA, Public Service Announcement, for the group, Autism Speaks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOICE OF TOMMY HILFIGER, DESIGNER: The odds of finding someone to invest in his vision? One in 4.5 million. The odds of him achieving his dream in the fashion industry? One in 23 million. The odds of having a child diagnosed with autism? One in 110. I am Tommy Hilfiger, and my family is affected by autism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Well, his family is affected. He's now saying his family's getting the help and care that they need, but he does wish that more people cared about autism.

SAMBOLIN: And could get the help that they need.

Some parents in Minnesota are considering suing their kids' school after students were forced to take a breathalyzer at graduation rehearsal. Teachers at St. Charles High say they smelled alcohol on 20 or more seniors. So, they tested the entire class. Angry parents say the test was a violation of their children's rights.

But officials say they feared some kids might drive home under the influence. The number of kids who tested positive for alcohol was in the double digits.

BANFIELD: A very proud mother has been arrested in South Carolina. And her crime, apparently, cheering at her daughter's high school graduation. Cheering. Shannon Cooper and all the of the other parents were warned not to cheer the graduates at the Florence High School ceremony. But then, Cooper's daughter crossed the stage, and she said she just had to cheer, anyway.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHANNON COOPER, ARRESTED FOR CHEERING AT GRADUATION: I got up and I said, yey, my baby made it! Yes! Don't scream. Don't cheer. I'm thinking in my mind, you know, I'm going to cheer because, you know, I went through too much to get her to this point. I can't show my excitement?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Now, cooper was charged with disorderly conduct for that, and she was thrown in jail for several hours before she was able to post a $225 bond.

SAMBOLIN: Wow!

BANFIELD: That's a tough one.

SAMBOLIN: OK.

BANFIELD: That is a tough one. I don't know that I could hold back either.

SAMBOLIN: Yes.

BANFIELD: You know? That's your baby.

SAMBOLIN: Yes. And it's a major achievement for her.

BANFIELD: And for some people, it is a massive achievement.

SAMBOLIN: Yes. Absolutely.

BANFIELD: Maybe more so than others, you know?

SAMBOLIN: All right. Thirty-eight minutes past the hour here. A proud ship's final journey is now just hours away. Take a look at this. Coming up, we are live with space shuttle "Enterprise" as she prepares for the last leg of her long voyage home.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAMBOLIN: Shuttle "Enterprise" will be making its final journey this morning by sea. The shuttle on the back of a barge will be moved to its final resting place at the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum on the west side of Manhattan after weather delayed that trip yesterday. Alina Cho is live in Jersey City, New Jersey, this morning with this rather plum assignment -- Alina.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Zoraida. Good morning. I am here in Jersey City at Weeks Marine, and you can see this glorious sight behind me. Absolutely amazing. 57,000 pounds of shuttle we're talking about, "Enterprise," sitting atop a barge. I think it's safe to say that this shuttle has now been where no other shuttle has been before. New Jersey.

(LAUGHTER)

CHO: Now, let me tell you a little bit about what's going to happen later today. In just about five hours' time, a little bit less, the shuttle will leave Weeks Marine, be pulled by tug boat, will travel along the water north. It'll pass the Statue of Liberty at about 10:50 a.m. eastern, and then, it will head north even farther up past the World Trade Center site at 11:40 a.m.

And then, will finally arrive at the intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum on the west side of Manhattan at 12:30 p.m. eastern time, a little more than two hours after it leaves Weeks Marine. From there, it will actually be hoisted on to the flight deck by crane. That process will take about three hours. It will remain on the flight deck.

Eventually, a protective cover will be placed on top of it to shelter it from the weather elements. But it will be then opened to the public starting July 19th. Now, if you've been following the shuttle "Enterprise," you know that back in late April, it landed at JFK Airport in dramatic fashion atop a 747 jet.

And it remained there until this past Sunday when it traveled here atop a barge to Jersey City. This is the halfway point, I think, it's safe to say. Yesterday, as you mentioned, it was supposed to leave Weeks Marine for the intrepid, but that was delayed due to the weather. We should also mention, Zoraida, that the "Enterprise," though it has now traveled by air and by sea, has actually never been to space.

I did not know this until I read the research. You know, it served as a prototype for future shuttle missions. It went on a series of test flights but never actually went to space.

SAMBOLIN: And you know what, Alina, we're also hearing that it suffered a little bit of damage as it's been moving around. Can you tell us about that?

CHO: Yes. It did. The first pictures came out yesterday. It was quite amazing, actually. It looks worse than it actually is. When it was traveling up here to Jersey City, it actually hit the wooden pilings of a railroad bridge, suffered some foam damage to the wind, but we've been told the repairs have already been done, even the painting. And now, the shuttle "Enterprise" is as good as new. SAMBOLIN: I got to tell you, that is quite a sight to behold, all of the images, from the time it was piggy backing on that big airplane to now. I can't wait to see it float down. That's fantastic. Thank you, Alina. We appreciate it.

So, the shuttle is scheduled to shove off at 10:15 eastern. We'll have live coverage right here on CNN.

And coming up at 6:45 eastern, we'll talk to Bill Nye, the science guy, about the shuttle's retirement to the intrepid museum. He's got lots to say about that.

BANFIELD: It is now 45 minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. Let's get you up to date on all the top stories with Christine Romans this morning. Hello.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, you two.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS (voice-over): Wisconsin governor, Scott Walker, is still Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. The union breaking budget cutting Tea Party darling won last night's recall election by seven points over Milwaukee's Democratic mayor, Tom Barrett. Mitt Romney weighing in saying, quote, "tonight's results will echo beyond the borders of Wisconsin."

New and potentially explosive evidence in the Jerry Sandusky child rape trial. An ABC News report says the former Penn State football coach wrote love letters to one of his ten alleged victims and showered him with gifts. Nine jurors have been seated, so far. Opening statements are expected to begin Monday.

Mysterious packages containing human body parts were mailed to two schools in Canada yesterday. Police say a hand was sent to an elementary school in Vancouver. A foot was delivered to an all boy's school. The police have not linked either package to the Luka Magnotta case.

That man is accused of killing and dismembering a student and mailing his body parts to Canadian politician. Pretty grim story there.

A matter of life and death. A woman leaping out of a third-storey window during an intense apartment fire in Massachusetts. Firefighters told her to jump after they couldn't reach her with a ladder. She suffered serious injuries, but she is expected to survive. Six others were taken to a hospital for minor injuries.

The building was destroyed. Investigators still trying to determine what sparked that three alarm blaze.

The Los Angeles Dodgers' legend, Tommy Lasorda, expected to recover after suffering what was described as a mild heart attack. The former skipper was hospitalized in New York last night. The Dodgers confirmed that the 84-year-old had a stent inserted to clear a blocked artery and Lasorda adding that the doctors also confirmed that he does, indeed, bleed Dodger blue.

(LAUGHTER)

ROMANS: A Colorado ballot measure on legalizing marijuana could have an impact on the race between President Obama and Mitt Romney in November. Colorado is a key battleground state, as you all know. The president and Romney have the same position on legalization. They're both against it. Both may want to consider that issue more seriously if their race remains close.

And the secret to a long life? It is all in the attitude. According to a brand-new study, a positive attitude and a sense of humor could lead to a longer, healthier life. Researchers studied seniors ages 95 to 107 all from similar genetic backgrounds.

They said the participants were optimistic, easy going, and extraverted, and they expressed emotions. They did not bottle them up. I'm not sure they all played baseball, but that's good stuff.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD: I wonder how they would have voted on that legalizing marijuana balloting?

(LAUGHTER)

SAMBOLIN: Is that the secret, too?

ROMANS (on-camera): I don't know. I mean, being optimistic and don't bottle it up. There you go.

SAMBOLIN: There you have it. Thank you so much --

BANFIELD: But the extraverted thing I find surprising. I would have thought there's little calm, quiet, keep to themselves, low stress. And that, I think, is pretty interesting. We're going to ask Sanjay Gupta about this.

ROMANS: Good idea.

BANFIELD: Thank you, Christine.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

SAMBOLIN: Forty-eight minutes past the hour. The thing about Twitter is you can't take it back, right? Gwyneth Paltrow probably wishes that she could. More on what she tweeted and the uproar it has caused, coming up.

BANFIELD: And if you happen to be leaving the house right now, you can take us with you. You can watch any time on your mobile phone and even your desktop once you get to work, too. Just go to CNN.com/TV.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: It's now 52 minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. Time to take a look at what's trending on the interwebs.

Actress, Gwyneth Paltrow, telling everybody, chill out. Everyone's going overboard after one of her tweets got a lot of people outraged on the web. She was at a Jay-Z and Kanye concert in Paris when she commented on a photo from the show and sent out a tweet that referred to the "N" word, shall we say. The way her tweet was worded is this way. Take a look at your screen.

"N-I asterisk, asterisk, A-S in Paris for real." Now, that's exactly how she wrote it. She wrote the asterisk in there. It also happens to be the same name as the rapper's hit song. Again, we need to comment that she did not write the word out. She wrote the asterisks.

And it is the name of the song. Her supporters are saying this is all a big case of manufactured outrage. "N" words in Paris, actually, that title hit. And, we'll see how this one ends up.

SAMBOLIN: She's not actually outraged by the response.

BANFIELD: She's not outraged. She says this is a little cooky. My words. But, she feels as though she's using the same name that the rappers themselves use and didn't actually write the "N" word out at all. But, we'll see. We'll just see how the people who support her -- who am I to say?

SAMBOLIN: Here's another one that could cause some controversy, will be that one. Is it a baby babble or is it a B word. The mother of a little girl in Texas says a doll she bought at a Toys R Us as a Christmas present has a potty mouth. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROSE PICKENS, BOUGHT DOLL FOR HER DAUGHTER: I just never paid attention to what the dolls say. They coo, they cry, say ma, da-da. And this particular day, I hear, you crazy (EXPLETIVE DELETED), and I turn. And I'm like, wow!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAMBOLIN: I heard it on the third time, because I was really listening for it. The doll is part of the "you and me interactive triplet dolls set." Toys R Us says they wouldn't sell a doll that says profanity, and that people are actually confusing something that is just supposed to be baby gibberish.

BANFIELD: You know what that sounded like to me?

SAMBOLIN: What?

BANFIELD: It sounded like a doll's battery is dying.

(LAUGHTER)

SAMBOLIN: Yes. Well, maybe.

BANFIELD: OK. So, the nominee for mom of the year is? A woman who, according to police, strapped the gas can into the baby seat, but left the kid, see to the left?

SAMBOLIN: This is remarkable, folks. Take a look at your TV screens. This is crazy.

BANFIELD: It's insane. The baby's in a diaper unrestrained sitting right next to the gas can that's strapped in and restrained. Photo taken during a traffic stop for a seatbelt violation in Aurora, Colorado. At least the gas can was safe, huh? The driver's name at this point, not being released. Poor kid.

SAMBOLIN: I'm amazed when I'm amazed by these things, but that's outrageous.

BANFIELD: That's a good line, though. I'm amazed when I'm amazed.

SAMBOLIN: Yes.

BANFIELD: You know?

SAMBOLIN: All right. It is the flap heard around the nation. Look what a woman does to the loser in last night's recall election in Wisconsin. Democrats getting smacked in more ways than one. Headed your way, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)