Return to Transcripts main page
Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Witness No. 1 "Ready to Go"; L.A. Kings Win Stanley Cup; Sandusky Trial Enters Second Day; Hearing On Workplace Discrimination
Aired June 12, 2012 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN HOST: Happening right now, the suspect in a deadly shooting spree near Auburn University is still holed up inside a house. Police are set up outside. This story is going to be developing all morning long. And we are all over it for you.
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN HOST: Plus, a massive wildfire burning completely out of control in Colorado, one person dead so far, and more than 100 structures now destroyed. We've got the latest track of the burn, straight ahead.
SAMBOLIN: And new developments overnight in the case involving Secretary of Commerce John Bryson and his two car crashes. He went back to work yesterday but not today. Find out why, coming up in this hour of CNN.
Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. Thanks for being with us this morning. I'm Zoraida Sambolin.
BANFIELD: Good morning. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. We're bringing you the news from A to Z. It is 5:00 on the dot in the East.
Let's start with this, shall we? Victim number one ready to take the stand today in Jerry Sandusky child abuse sex trial. According to grand jury reports, today's witness was just 11 or 12 years old when he first met the Penn State assistant football coach. It was his accusations that triggered this criminal investigation leading to Jerry Sandusky's arrest.
Susan Candiotti is live in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania this morning, and she's been covering this case. Just unbelievable stories coming out in court. I don't know if it can get any worse. But his story is set to come out in court today.
Susan, what exactly is the story of victim number one following yesterday's story of victim number four?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is going to be quite a day two for the jurors, isn't it, after hearing so much graphic detail.
But here's what we know about alleged victim number one, according to what he has told a grand jury. He said he was sexually assaulted, including being raped and molested by Jerry Sandusky at least 20 times. And that many of these assaults took place, both at Jerry Sandusky's home and at his own high school.
We also know that he said that he was forced to transfer from his high school after the allegations became known, because he was getting fallout and flack not only from students but also from some parents who are supporters of Jerry Sandusky. And this young man, now only 18 years old, just graduated from high school last week, from a new high school, and he is already receiving track scholarship offers from a few colleges, Ashleigh.
BANFIELD: Susan, in opening statements, the defense attorney has his work cut out for him in this. Sometimes there is strength in numbers. There are a lot of numbers, 10 victims, eight expected to testify. Eight smiling faces of young boys put up as photographs in the front of that courtroom. That is powerful stuff.
What exactly is the defense saying is going to be their strongest argument in trying to combat story after story after story of filth?
CANDIOTTI: Well, it's really going to be a tough road ahead. They acknowledged in court yesterday that there is a tidal wave of accusations in front of this grand jury. What they have been trying to do is to raise the specter, possibility that all of these accusers are liars. They are also trying to point out that Jerry Sandusky and hinting that you might even hear from him in his own words say I didn't do it, that he's always proclaimed his innocence.
And perhaps they could be referring to by hearing him in his own words some of those -- a couple of interviews he did in "The New York Times," possibly on NBC News, in which he says I was attracted to boys but not sexually -- Ashleigh.
BANFIELD: Yes, those are the kinds of words that do come back to haunt you in a court case, regardless of if you take the stand or not.
Susan Candiotti, live for us this morning -- thank you.
Also, I want to let you know that the trial kicks off at 9:00 Eastern, and we're going to bring you live updates on this trial throughout the day right here on CNN.
SAMBOLIN: And happening now in Colorado, hundreds of firefighters are battling a deadly wildfire that's burning out of control. The High Park Fire near Ft. Collins is growing exponentially, in just a few days wiping out more than 41,000 acres.
It is blame for at least one death. More than 100 structures have been destroyed as well. And thousands have been forced to leave their homes. Officials say the hope for containment right now is tenuous.
Alexandra Steele is in for Rob Marciano.
What can you tell us about this?
ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, the hope for containment right now is zero unfortunately. But let's talk about what's happened and what we think will happen and how the weather will either exacerbate or assist in this.
What we do this morning, though, believe it or not, lightning struck and ignited this fire early on Saturday morning. As Zoraida said, it's claimed over 41,000 acres.
Now, also yesterday, a wind shift and kind of with this rugged terrain, there are a lot of shifts in the wind. A wind shift pushed this fire in unto itself which was good, as opposed for allowing more ground yesterday.
And also, it's moving quite rapidly, 20 to 40 feet per minute, which is fast for a growing fire.
So, containment weather, what we need, what we need are cooler temperatures, calmer winds and higher humidity.
Now, are we going to get that? Well, unfortunately, we're not going to get that.
Yesterday the temperatures were kind of the lowest they're going to be, in the upper 60s. A cold front pass, dropped the temperatures. Now, we're going to watch those temperatures warm up. In terms of the winds, we're going to see kind of constant winds between five and 15 miles per hour.
But gusts could be higher than that. Today's highs will be in the low 80s. But, unfortunately, very low relative humidity.
The problem, guys, will be as we heads toward tomorrow, temperatures once again rebound to 91 degrees. The average high is 83. So, warmer than average tomorrow and the winds still once again will be a factor.
BANFIELD: All right, Alexandra Steele, thanks very much for that.
And this just in, we have just learned that the police who were in Montgomery, Alabama, surrounding that house where they believed Desmonte Leonard was holed up have decided to leave that location. It's not clear why they would have pulled out from that standoff, it seemed.
Leonard is the suspect in a deadly shooting spree near Auburn University. He's accused of killing three people, two of them former Auburn football players at an off campus party over the weekend. Leonard has been the target of an all-out manhunt. Two other men were arrested for hindering that investigation.
SAMBOLIN: New this morning, the Obama administration announcing Secretary of Commerce John Bryson will take a medical leave of absence as he undergoes tests and evaluations. Bryson is under investigation for possible felony hit and run. He was found unconscious by police in San Gabriel, California, on Saturday. Officers say he hit two cars.
The White House says Bryson was alone. He had a seizure but it's not clear when.
BANFIELD: The battle for Gabrielle Giffords House seat is to be decided today in a special election in Arizona. Giffords former aide Ron Barber is facing a tough challenge from Republican Jesse Kelly. Kelly is a former Marine and an Iraq war vet. And he's backed by the Tea Party.
Barber was wounded in the 2011 shooting rampage that critically injured Giffords and killed six other people.
SAMBOLIN: And this just in: gas prices rising for the first time in 26 days. The national average is now $3.54. For a gallon of unleaded, that's up two-tenths of a cent.
BANFIELD: Coming up next, they are hockey royalty, through and through, not just in name. The L.A. Kings, oh, yes, savoring their first ever Stanley Cup victory finishing off New Jersey Devils in wicked bloody style. We are going to take you live to Los Angeles to the morning after celebration.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAMBOLIN: Eleven minutes past the hour. Welcome back to EARLY START.
It was a long time coming but this morning, the Kings of Los Angeles are kings of the National Hockey League. They routed the New Jersey Devils 6-1 to win the NHL Stanley Cup in six games. It is the Kings first Stanley Cup in their 45-year history -- the victory setting of a wild celebration which actually may still be going on.
CNN's Paul Vercammen is live in Los Angeles for us.
Not just the first time NHL champions but the first eighth seed playoff team to win the league title as well. Did the people there just absolutely lose their minds?
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they did, Zoraida. And right now are because the celebration continues. After all, it is closing time here in Los Angeles.
So, all these Kings fans raising their glasses to a team that was indeed a Cinderella. The players had grown out those beards that hockey players like to grow during the Stanley Cup playoffs. Part of superstition, you grow the beard, you don't shave it until you lose. A lot of Kings fans growing out beards.
I had one wife confessed to me she can't wait until her husband shaves off his hockey beard. And we talked to another long-suffering Kings fan. He had been working on his hockey Stanley Cup beard for quite a while.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I grew this beard for the last two years. And now I get to finally shave it off because we won it, baby. It's the best. It's the best city for hockey, best city for hockey!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what we live for. This is our generation. This is what we live for!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VERCAMMEN: And these kings fans so euphoric, they're often overshadowed by the Lakers and all that purple and gold. But if you go to the Staples Center right now, they share the building with the Lakers and Clippers ,all you will see is black. Black is the new black here in L.A. and a lot of the fans are wearing the Kings black Zoraida.
SAMBOLIN: There were no expectations of this team. Where did the magic come from and will it continue?
VERCAMMEN: Well, I think part of the magic was just this absolutely calm coach, Mr. Sutter, who comes from a hockey family. The team has everybody under contract. So, it's very likely that the Kings could have some future celebrations in the year to come.
SAMBOLIN: All right. Paul Vercammen, live for us in Los Angeles -- thank you so much. We appreciate it.
BANFIELD: It's now 13 minutes past 5:00 on the East Coast.
And victim number one is set to take the stand this morning in the Jerry Sandusky trial. According to grand jury reports, it was his accusations that first triggered a criminal investigation into the former Penn State football coach. Yesterday, a 28-year-old man known as victim number four kicked off the testimony in this case and told the court that Sandusky began showering him with after-exercise sessions when he was about 13 years old and inappropriate touching, he says, began soon after that.
SAMBOLIN: We want to warn you, the next video you're about to see is graphic. Surveillance video of a woman doused in gas and set on fire. It happened at a 7-Eleven in Boynton Beach, Florida.
Police say the suspect poured gasoline on the mother of his 4- year-old son after pulling her out of a convenience store. She tried to run away but he chased her with a knife and then ignited her. The suspect is behind bars this morning, facing attempted first degree murder charges. The woman is expected to survive.
BANFIELD: Surveillance video absolutely dramatic this morning. This happened in a Kentucky courtroom as an inmate tried to escape custody, rushing a guard, but ended up pushing himself and the deputy into a live courtroom. He only made it about 20 feet before he was tackled. That suspect is now facing attempted escape and assault charges, too.
SAMBOLIN: The KKK wants to adopt a highway in Georgia. The white supremacist group applying to the state transportation department to clean a one mile stretch of road in the Appalachian Mountains near the North Carolina border. Officials are said to be consulting with the state attorney general on this request.
A similar request in Missouri set off a legal battle that went all the way to the Supreme Court. The Missouri Department of Transportation eventually kicked the KKK out of the program because members were not picking up the trash as agreed.
The Justice Department is moving ahead with plans to sue the state of Florida to stop officials there from purging the voter roles. Florida's Republican governor, Rick Scott, wants all non-eligible residents barred from the voting booths. The Justice Department is conceding that the state can legally do that. It can remove the non- eligible voters but they're arguing that Florida's program is failing to follow the proper legal standards to do so.
And Florida's governor, Rick Scott, says up to 100,000 names need to be purged from his state's rolls. We're going to ask him about that and, of course, the time. Sometimes, timing is everything. He's going to join us live in the 8:00 hour of "STARTING POINT."
SAMBOLIN: Forty years after the Watergate scandal, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the reporters who broke the story, and former White House counsel John Dean, all coming together last night at an event sponsored by "The Washington Post." You'll remember five men broke into Democratic offices at the Watergate Hotel and Office Building and were caught. The scandal brought down President Nixon and Woodward said to this day he's convinced Nixon never understood what the presidency was really about.
BANFIELD: Tough words this many years later, too.
Seventeen minutes now past 5:00 on the East Coast. We're getting an early read at the local news making national headlines.
This is a weird one. A West Virginia man traveling the country to write a book about kindness in America. You know what happens? He gets shot.
Kindness in America, he gets shot by a random attacker. It's the "Billings Gazette" reporting this story. Apparently, the author of this book was hitchhiking in Montana, approached a pickup truck, thinking the driver was offering him a ride. Again, the book is about kindness.
Instead, the driver pulled out a gun, shot him in the arm. This does have somewhat of a happy ending. They found the guy, arrested the suspect -- 52-year-old Lloyd Danielson is his name. They do believe that he was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs --
SAMBOLIN: Wow.
BANFIELD: -- at the time of shooting the kindness the author.
SAMBOLIN: l All right. Ninety percent of teachers in Chicago voting to authorize the first strike in 25 years of their union if the city cannot reach a deal on a contract this summer. "The Chicago Tribune" is reporting this.
The Chicago teachers union is pushing for a 30 percent raise over two years because the district is adding 90 minutes to the school day. The district says it cannot afford a 30 percent wage increase. It's offering a 2 percent raise over two years and merit pay in later years. This is an ongoing battle.
BANFIELD: OK. Keep it clean or pay the price. That's the word from a town in Massachusetts, because they're about to vote to fine people who curse in public.
SAMBOLIN: Yes.
BANFIELD: "Boston Globe" saying the swearing will cost you 20 bucks in Middleboro, Massachusetts. That is one big swear jar.
Officials there are also approving fines for other thing, too, like littering and shoveling snow into the street. Imagine that.
First Amendment?
SAMBOLIN: Yes, you'd be broke?
(LAUGHTER)
SAMBOLIN: I would. Maybe it would stop me from, you know, occasionally cursing.
BANFIELD: I love the people who do say we have a First Amendment right to free speech. That keeps you out of jail. That doesn't keep you from consequences of like doing nasty things.
SAMBOLIN: Yes, we say consequences.
BANFIELD: Yes, exactly.
By the way, for an expanded look at all of our top stories, you can head on our blog, CNN.com/EarlyStart. It's official.
You may be the same person you have always been but chances are you may not be worth what you once were. This is a bit of a bummer, folks, coming up from an eye-opening news about the impact on our recession on you and every other Joe out there who calls America home.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAMBOLIN: We are minding your business this morning.
Right now, U.S. stock futures indicating markets will start the day with a bounce this morning. All that euphoria in the markets yesterday rapidly fizzled at the end of trading.
BANFIELD: The Dow, NASDAQ, S&P 500 all down more than 1 percent, the Dow dropping 145 points.
Alison Kosik is in for Christine Romans today.
I hate seeing those triple red arrows pointing down. It was a bit of a weird one.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It was. You know, the Dow started off strong, right in the opening bell, rang up 96, 100 points. And then throughout the day, you saw stocks fall into the red. You know what happens.
Spain went ahead and accepted a bailout deal, a rescue package, if you want to call it, for its banks. And at first, Wall Street said great, we'll get this out of the way.
But then, you know what, they had time to process it, investors had time to process it and said you know what, we've got bigger fish to fry. We're worried more about what's going to happen over weekend.
On Sunday, Greece is going to be holding its elections. That is really what Wall Street is focused on. Also the Fed is meeting next week.
So, you know, the way Wall Street sees it, as far as Spain goes, there's no growth plan or structural reform. This is just one little narrow solution and we're going to move on.
That's why you saw stocks fall.
BANFIELD: I feel like a broken record when I say, oh, Greece and Spain causing all sorts of problems. But there's a reason why day-to-day, this very long story that doesn't change a whole lot affects us.
KOSIK: You're seeing each market move on news out of Europe. And even more than that, not a lot of people are trading these days. We're in the summer months as well. Also, there's a lot of uncertainty. So, a lot of investors are kind of sitting back, you know, not getting into the game, meaning not trading. And when you have fewer people trading, that causes more volatility.
That's why literally, the last half hour of trading yesterday, you saw stocks drop almost 100 points in that half hour.
BANFIELD: It's just those aggressive people making shifts.
KOSIK: Yes.
BANFIELD: Fewer people can make a bigger swing in the market.
KOSIK: Yes, exactly.
BANFIELD: That makes more sense.
SAMBOLIN: And you're also going to talk about recession and your money. For the average American, kind of bad news, huh?
KOSIK: Yes. You know, we all know the recession was bad. We don't need a report to tell us, though. But you look at these numbers and they're stunning because the typical American family last almost 40 percent of its wealth between 2007 and 2010, that was during the great recession.
That's almost half of what they're worth. What they wound up doing is putting their media net worth, when we talk about median net worth, we're talking about assets minus liabilities, that put that back to a level that we haven't seen since the 1990s. Meaning the recession wiped away all of those years of savings and investments for these families.
This report says that media net worth, the point that's smack dab right in the middle of those richer and who are poorer fell to $77,300 in 2010 from 126,000 in 2007. Why did this happen? Because the housing market collapsed. You saw the value of your home drop. Massive layoffs took away your income.
If you did have a job, your income also dropped. This affected everybody, young and old, if you're educated, not educated, if you have kids, if you didn't have kids.
So, on a brighter note, though, we're seeing the data show Americans' net worth has gone back up since 2010. That people are finding work again. Housing values are slowly coming back.
But you know what? It still hurts. It's still going to take a while to get back up to where you were pre pre-recession.
BANFIELD: Yes. And for younger people, that's paper loss. But for older people they need to realize those gains by the way, and they can't. And that's really -- that's tough.
Alison, thank you. See you in a bit.
By the way, President Obama will not be outdone. He is picking up the pace in the race for campaign cash. Wait until you hear the ground that he is covering today.
Whew! Marathon of money, let's just say. That's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: Jerry Sandusky accused of molesting several boys in his care faces victim number one today in court after victim number four yesterday. We're going to go live to Pennsylvania, straight ahead.
SAMBOLIN: Plus, years of scientific research destroyed at Harvard after a freezer goes on the fritz, damaging a fragile collection of human brains used to study autism.
BANFIELD: And how one woman helped a young terminally ill man realize his dying wish from thousands of miles away.
Good morning, everyone, and welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Ashleigh Banfield.
SAMBOLIN: And I'm Zoraida Sambolin. We're very happy you're with us this morning. It's 30 minutes past the hour here, so let's get you started.
In just a few hours, a man known as victim number one will take the stand in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse trial.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAMBOLIN (voice-over): According to grand jury reports, it was victim number one's accusations that convinced police to investigate the former Penn State football coach. Yesterday, a 28-year-old man known as victim number four testified Sandusky began showering with him after exercise sessions when he was just 13 years old and inappropriate touching began soon after that.
BANFIELD (voice-over): Happening right now, police in Alabama are leaving a house in Montgomery that they've been surrounding since yesterday afternoon. Auburn shooting suspect, Desmonte Leonard (ph), was thought to be hiding inside that house. It is not exactly clear why law enforcement have decided to leave that location.
The 22-year-old Leonard is wanted for allegedly killing three people and wounding three others at a party near the Auburn campus over the weekend. Two of those killed were former Auburn football players. Two other men have been arrested on charges that they hindered the investigation.
SAMBOLIN: A shocking story out of Texas raising some serious legal questions. People in the small town of Shiner are voicing their support for a father who police say beat a man to death after allegedly catching him molesting his four-year-old daughter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF MICAH HARMON, LAVACE COUNTY, TEXAS: In the defense of her, trying to get her away from him, he struck the individual in the head several times.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think he should be arrested for it. I don't think any charges should be filed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If somebody abused my grandchild, like he did, I think he deserved everything he got.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Especially four years old. That's terrible.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
SAMBOLIN: The sheriff says the little girl suffered mental trauma but is physically OK. The father has not been arrested. The sheriff says a grand jury will decide if the father will be charged in this case.
BANFIELD: A huge blow to autism researchers. A freezer malfunctioning at Harvard affiliated hospital damaged a third of the world's largest collection of brain samples used to study autism. Officials say the freezer's temperatures rose too high. And the alarms that were supposed to go off did not do so.
The researchers say those damaged brain samples were a, quote, "priceless collection." Investigators say foul play cannot be ruled out.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAMBOLIN (on-camera): Thirty-three minutes past the hour.
President Obama and Mitt Romney are hitting the trail this morning. The money trail. It is all about infusing the campaigns with fresh cash today. The president is scheduled to attend six different fundraisers in Baltimore and Philadelphia, while Romney's traveling to private fundraisers in Orlando, Florida, and Franklin, Tennessee.
The kaching, the kaching, CNN political editor, Paul Steinhauser, is live in Washington this morning. Did you hear all that, Paul? That was just --
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: I like the sound effects and the visual. You guys are very classy here.
SAMBOLIN: Yes, we are, all for you. So, how much money is the president expected to raise today, because what was it, the RNC 76.8 million in May, the DNC, 60 million. You've got a little catching up to do.
STEINHAUSER: He sure does. Take a look at that because we just made a graphic of that. Well, not as classy as yours, but here are the main numbers and this maybe explains why the president is really, it seems to -- really stepping up on the fundraising. Look at that, we Knew Mitt Romney was going to start raising a lot of money once the primaries are over.
The Obama campaign knew it was well, but by more than 16 million more than Obama and the DNC in May, and that's one of the reasons why you're seeing the president step up the fundraising, and this campaign is kind of putting out a warning sign, hey, Mitt Romney is raising money, and they're trying to get their supporters now to kind of step it up here.
And Zoraida, why does all this matter? Remember, the president, he broke all records when he was Senator Obama four years ago. He raised around $750 million, broke all records and outraised and outspent John McCain by about three to one. It's going to be a very different story line this time around.
You can see right there with those figures in May. And remember, part of this is also the outside money from those Super PACs. And right now, the Republican Super PACs are raising and spending a lot more money. So, we're going to have a much more even campaign cash battle this time around, and that's important for ads and get out to vote effort, Zoraida.
SAMBOLIN: It is so much money it makes to your head spin.
STEINHAUSER: Yes.
SAMBOLIN: Let's switch gears here. Special election in Arizona today for congresswoman Gabby Giffords. Do the Republicans have a shot at picking up the seat?
STEINHAUSER: They very much do so. This is Arizona aide. It's in the southeastern part of the state. It includes parts of the city of Tucson, and it's a district that kind of leans slightly towards the Republicans. Remember, Giffords, she stepped down in January one year after surviving that assassination attempt.
So, who's running for her seat? That's the man on the right who's doing it, Ron Barber. He was a former aide of hers. He was also injured in that shooting. He is facing off against a former marine, Jesse Kelly, who just two years ago, narrowly lost to Giffords in the 2010 midterm elections. Republicans, Democrats, both sides pouring it a lot of cash here.
Republicans would like to win back this district. Democrats want to keep it in party hands. Remember, Democrats need 25 seats, Zoraida, in November. They have to pick up 25 seats from Republicans if they want to win back control of the House of Representatives.
SAMBOLIN: I know you're going to keep an eye on us for that. There's one more thing I want to talk about, because this is always interesting. Secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, will she or won't she in 2016?
(LAUGHTER)
STEINHAUSER: She told the Wellesley College gals, be open to opportunities. What does that mean?
STEINHAUSER: Yes. A lot of people are reading into the tea leaves here. She was Wellesley, of course, that's where she graduated from many years ago. And people are wondering, is she going to run, isn't she going to run in 2016?
Remember, just in the last two or three weeks, three very high profile people, Nancy Pelosi, the former governor of Pennsylvania, Ed Rendell, and her husband, himself, Bill Clinton have said, you know what, well, they're not 100 percent writing it off. She is pretty much said I will never run again for public office.
But they're saying maybe after retiring at the end of this year from the secretary of state office, maybe in 2016, she will once again considering it. Stay tune. That's something we talk about all the time. We'll be talking about it again for a long time.
SAMBOLIN: It says here that Clinton shook her head multiple times, but as the cheers grew, hey, you never know. That was the gesture that supposedly she had. So, you never know. STEINHAUSER: Everybody buzzes about this story line.
SAMBOLIN: I know. We love it. All right. Paul Steinhauser live for us in Washington. Thank you.
STEINHAUSER: Thank you.
SAMBOLIN: Jesse Ventura joins us live in the eight o'clock hour at "Starting Point." The former Minnesota governor wants to do away with political parties and says the people who run them are nothing more than thugs in Brooks Brothers Suits. You're not going to want to miss that.
And Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks joins us at 8:30 eastern. He's on a mission to create American jobs, and we'll ask him about President Obama's comment that the private sector is doing fine.
BANFIELD: An online community is banding together to help a terminally-illed 23-year-old Canadian man realize his dying wish. (INAUDIBLE) wrote about his kidney cancer diagnosis on the social media site, Reddit.
He said he hoped to go on one last trip before he died. An inspired Reddit user decided to open up a bank account for donations and within 24 hours, guess how much money poured in? $30,000. Villanueva says he hopes to visit some of his supporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were like offers for, you know, come drive my Lamborghini in Switzerland or something like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: He also says he plans to use the donations for a trip to New York, that his traveled plans are set to be determined by his health, of course, because he only has one kidney, and he takes daily chemotherapy treatments. Wish him the best. That's amazing to see that much money pouring in literally overnight. Wow. Unbelievable.
SAMBOLIN: Thirty-eight minutes past the hour. They're two tech giants on a collision course, Apple and Google. Who launched the first shot and who is going to win war? That's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: Good morning, San Francisco. If you squint, you can just see the bridge. That's KGO's shot for us this morning. It's 50 degrees currently in that fine city, but you're headed up to 74. Ah, perfect weather for a big conference, right?
Well, the big news out of Apple's Annual Developer's Conference this week has nothing to do with really laptops or iPhones or the iPads. Instead, the tech giant is mapping out war plans kind of because of all those products. It's mafia (ph) war plans against Google, getting into the driver's seat, too. My next guest calls this the start of a truly thermonuclear war. We're talking about this not just because of the coolness factor, but a recent survey found that 55 million homes, that's a majority of the households in America, by the way, have at least one Apple product. And about a third have two or more Apple products. Holy-Moly!
Jay Yarow is a senior editor at "Business Insider," and he joins us live. So, a thermonuclear war, you call it.
JAY YAROW, SENIOR EDITOR, BUSINESS INSIDER: Well, actually, that's Steve Jobs' words for. That's what he told his biographer. That's what he told his biographer. He was going to do the Google, because they stole Android, he said. So, he said we can go on at thermonuclear war against Google.
BANFIELD: And is this all about trying to bury Google completely or just chip into some of the market share?
YAROW: It's not about market share. They don't have as much, but it's about more varying. It is about trying to change the way we use Google.
BANFIELD: How? What exactly did the developments that were released yesterday? What are they going to do to try to put Google in our rearview mirror?
YAROW: OK. So, the way we used the web until now, you go online, you go through your browser, and usually, a starting point is search bar.
BANFIELD: Sure.
YAROW: You go and you search Google and you get to your websites. And now, Apple I kind of changing that. If you look at the things they're doing, they've implemented new maps on their mobile stuff, which is iPad and iPhone. And in maps, you're going to have yelp integration. So, instead of going to Google and searching for a local restaurant, you search on the map.
You have the yelp listings come up. You get all kinds of photos for a restaurant. All kinds of information. See, that's one last thing you're going to do (ph) at Google. Then there's Siri, which we all about, actually about asking questions and getting answers. What is Google? You ask questions, you get answers. Siri is still early --
BANFIELD: No need for Google.
YAROW: Right.
BANFIELD: And yesterday, there were some announcements on improvements to Siri, right?
YAROW: Right. You're going to be able to ask for sports scores. You're going to be able to make reservations for restaurant, local restaurants. BANFIELD: I thought you already could.
YAROW: I think it's a little better. They've upgraded and tried to improved it.
BANFIELD: Also, the language recognition is better?
YAROW: I think that's -- it's a beta product, as I say, but it is about -- they have to have people talking to it and that's how it's going to improve. So, yes, it's getting a little better.
BANFIELD: So, it's not so much that Apple wants to wipe out searching, because that's just never going to happen. They just want you to search in their way, right?
YAROW: Correct. They want to de-emphasize the web. They want it to be about applications that sit on the phone and the iPad. So, you're going to the maps application. Instead, you're going the web to find information. You go into the Siri application or find information. You're just using these native apps and de-emphasizing the web, which is where Google really lives.
BANFIELD: And then, there's also a big partnership that was announced between Facebook and Apple as well?
YAROW: Right. That's going to be integrated. Everything on Facebook is going to be a lot tighter integration in there. And you can kind of post website, then post different things, which is bad for Google because it's not exactly on speaking terms with Facebook.
BANFIELD: So, -- but tell me, if I'm a Facebook user and I'm not a Facebook fanatic, how am I going to see changes? What's going to be different for me?
YAROW: If you're not a fanatic, it won't be huge for you, but you'll be able to share a lot of stuff more easily on Facebook. It will just be easier to share updates, websites, status, those kind of things.
BANFIELD: So, I still want to -- yes, here I am, perhaps, asking too much, because I tend to think since we've got the iPhone and the iPad and all these things seem to roll out very quickly, where's my next big gadget like Apple TV? Why aren't you delivering something every two years to me?
YAROW: Exactly. Well, look, if you're patient, you might get this Apple television. It's supposedly coming maybe at the end of the year or maybe early next year. We don't know, but again, this company --
BANFIELD: Be patient.
YAROW: Yes. It just came out with the iPad in 2010, and it's awesome. So, you see them everywhere.
BANFIELD: Yes. I need you to repeat that. I need you to repeat they just came out with the iPad in --
YAROW: 2010.
BANFIELD: And it feels like it's been part of our life forever.
YAROW: It really does. It's amazing. And if you look at some of the stats and the brand (ph) of that thing, it's just incredible how much the adoption and just how quickly it's taken off.
BANFIELD: And so, maybe Apple TV will be the next big thing and we're (INAUDIBLE) quickly. Well, it's good to see you. Thanks for bringing that to us. See you at the next conference. Jay Yarow, thanks a lot.
YAROW: Thanks a lot.
SAMBOLIN: All right. Take care.
BANFIELD: Zoraida, back to you.
SAMBOLIN: It's 46 minutes past the hour. Let's get you up to date.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAMBOLIN (voice-over): Victim number one will be taking the witness stand this morning, coming face-to-face with Jerry Sandusky. This is the witness whose allegation triggered a criminal investigation into the former Penn State football coach.
Yesterday, witness number four testified Sandusky lured him into the shower when he was just 13 years old and began touching him inappropriately.
Police in Ohio say a woman who was found stabbed to death over the weekend was killed by her ex-husband. Candice Roberts (ph), a mother of three, was picking up two of her children at her former husband's home on Sunday. She never made it out alive. Jeremy Roberts (ph) confessing to the crime in his 911 call to cops.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you do?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's covered in a blanket, you guys will see.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Do you have any weapons there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The only one is outside with her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a knife.
(END VIDEO CLIP) SAMBOLIN: Candice Roberts leaves behind a 16-year-old daughter and two sons, ages 13 and four.
BANFIELD (voice-over): More than 30 years later, a coroner has finally ruled that a dingo really did hate Baby Azaria in a famous case out of Australia. Officials now confirming that two-month old Azaria Chamberlin (ph) was taken and killed by a dingo, a native dog, in Australia during a family camping trip.
Prosecutors at first blamed Azaria's mother, Lindy Chamberlin (ph), and she was convicted of murder. That conviction was later overturned, and the family says they are relieved by this final ruling.
SAMBOLIN: A Senate hearing on discrimination in the workplace against gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans gets underway this morning. They'll be debating the Employment Nondiscrimination Act, a bill that would advance workplace equality for gay and transgender employees while giving religious organizations an exemption that would allow them to take sexual orientation into account when hiring.
BANFIELD: Well, we've all heard it, not getting enough sleep is bad for your health. Now, according to a new study, if you get fewer than six hours of sleep every night, you could be increasing your risk for stroke, even if you're otherwise healthy.
The researchers at the University of Alabama have found that early symptoms of stroke like numbness down one side of the body, vision loss, dizziness, or that inability to express one's self could be associated with -- with -- I don't know -- what is it? Yes, sleep deprived.
SAMBOLIN: Wow!
BANFIELD: Being sleep deprived.
SAMBOLIN: Yes. We all know that one. Anybody who's up at this hour, right?
And quite a story of survival here. Listen to this, two American students were stranded by a snowstorm for nine days in the New Zealand wilderness. Erica Clintworth (ph) and Alec Brown, both 21, survived by rationing supplies of trail mix and warming themselves in hot springs. And they're apparently no worse for wear.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEC BROWN, STUDENT STRANDED FOR NINE DAYS IN NEW ZEALAND WILDERNESS: You might think it was a big ordeal, but really we kind of -- we didn't have that much trouble. We could have maybe lasted another week laying in those hot pools, slowly starving, but we made it out. We're OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: Lasted another week in the hot pools slowly starving. The two students are in a foreign study program in New Zealand.
BANFIELD: I'll tell you what, if there's a country to be lost in, it would be New Zealand. It's so beautiful.
SAMBOLIN: I've not traveled there, but it's on my list.
BANFIELD: You know what, anybody watching, put it on your bucket list. New Zealand is -- and turkey. Another great place to travel. Spectacular.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BANFIELD: All right. Forty-nine minutes now past 5:00. He is not even on the team, but Bill Murray hit it out of the park at a minor league ball game. We're going to show you.
SAMBOLIN (on-camera): This is great.
(LAUGHTER)
BANFIELD: -- the video coming up.
SAMBOLIN: And if you're leaving the house right now, you can watch us anytime on your desktop or on your mobile phone. Just go to CNN.com/TV.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAMBOLIN: Welcome back. Taking a look at what is trending on the web. The controversy over a so-called soda ban in New York catching buzz all the way in London. London's mayor stopped by "The Daily Show" last night. He blasted Mayor Bloomberg's proposed ban on large sugary drinks and offered New Yorkers a place of refuge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Refugees from the soda tyranny in New York will have sanctuary in London. You can come -
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: if you do --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: Go to the pubs. Jon Stewart joked London is the Amsterdam of soda, making a subtle (ph) jab at Bloomberg's support of a proposal to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana.
BANFIELD: Refugees. I love it. But a pint of (INAUDIBLE) is still fair. Even here, folks, so, just so you know.
A "Star Wars" fan is raising some money to save Luke Skywalker's home. This is not a word of a lie. You remember those igloo-type dwellings from the original "Star Wars" film where Luke lived at his aunt and uncle? That set was never removed. Still standing in the deserts in Tunisia 35 years later. However, they may be still standing, but they've taken a few pop marks, too, deteriorating.
A British fan, a "Star Wars" fan, named Mark Cox (ph) decided it's time to fix these things up, preserve the site. So, he set up a Facebook page, solicited donations to try to improve these things and more than $11,000 has been raised. It's kind of a pilgrimage thing. I think he might have gotten married there. I think that's the old story about him. A lot of people heading to the - but things slowed down --
SAMBOLIN: I want to go and see.
BANFIELD: Well, things got a little tough in terms of Arab spring getting into Tunisia. So, if you're thinking of doing the pilgrimage, you might want to check with the state department first.
SAMBOLIN: All right. And legendary funny man, Bill Murray, entertaining baseball fans in Charleston after rain delayed the start of the game.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN (voice-over): Here he is. He's slip sliding into home plate.
(LAUGHTER)
BANFIELD (voice-over): Look at that.
SAMBOLIN: It's a minor league game. Why is he doing this? Why is he there?
BANFIELD: He's Bill Murray.
SAMBOLIN: No, he's part owner of that franchise. The crowd gave him a standing ovation for that right there.
BANFIELD: Oh!
SAMBOLIN: And listen to this, this is not the first time Murray has brought his funny to the field. Look, look, look. I remember this. He slid into home plate at Wrigley Field earlier this year before throwing the first pitch for the Cubs.
BANFIELD: That video before was like the best slip and slide ever.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN (on-camera): All right. It's man versus fire. And so far, fire is winning. Coming up, will the weather help the fight on the front lines in Colorado? Boy, we hope so. Homes and lives could depend on it. You're watching EARLY START.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
