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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Tropical Storm Debby; "Show Me Your Papers" Lives; T.S. Debby Expected To Make Landfall Tomorrow
Aired June 26, 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: Flooding from Debby of historic proportions. The tropical storm could bring another foot of rain to Florida before it is through.
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN HOST: Plus both sides spinning the Supreme Court's landmark immigration ruling. This hour, we dig into the concept of reasonable suspicion.
SAMBOLIN: And inside the Jerry Sandusky courtroom. One juror talking about behavior that he calls creepy.
Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. We're very happy you're with us this morning. I'm Zoraida Sambolin.
BANFIELD: Good Tuesday morning to you. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. We're bringing you the news from A to Z.
And it is right at the top of the hour, 5:00 a.m. in the East.
Let's start with this -- it is nasty out there. I think we can say that pretty fairly. Tropical storm Debby just stalled over Florida's panhandle. And it is smacking that Sunshine State with high winds, heavy rain.
Look at the pictures. Boats getting smashed around and it's going to get worse before it gets any better. Forecasters are saying the slow-moving storm could dump another foot of rain on Florida over the next couple of days and then it could spawn more tornadoes as well.
That storm is already blamed for one death. Florida's governor has declared a statewide emergency.
CNN's George Howell is live near St. Marks, Florida, where the water is high.
And, look at you. You found how bad it is.
Give me a rundown of how bad it is and if you're in the clear at this point.
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ashleigh, good morning.
OK. A lot of rain overnight. This is what people are waking up to. I mean, this is one example, the water is shallow enough here for me to walk around in, but deep enough for you to get a sense of what people are dealing with.
We're right here along this coastal highway 98, and everything south of the highway is under mandatory evacuation. Now, we are here in Wakulla County. This was really one of the hardest counties hit here in the state of Florida, here in the panhandle.
This area got at least 25 inches of rain over the last several days as this storm system basically parked itself over Florida.
We have seen downed trees from the wind event. Keep in mind the winds associated with this storm packed a whopping 45 miles per hour at times. We still feel some of the wind. In fact, we still see some of the rain bands coming through. A lot of the rain has tapered off at this time, but clearly, you see, it's left a lot of flooding. And forecasters here expect this area could see another 10 inches of rain before it's all said and done, possibly by Thursday.
BANFIELD: That's a nasty storm. What are the police saying there about just how dangerous it is to stay in your homes or businesses?
HOWELL: Well, again, you know, so people are waking up to this sort of thing. We were driving along this coastal highway 98 and you see in different places, police officers are stationed to make sure that drivers aren't surprised when they run into this standing water -- again, water anywhere from six inches to a foot or two feet in some places. That's a big concern.
Also, as we see these storm bands, the rain bands associated with the storm come through this area from time to time. There's always a concern about tornadic activity and also flash flood warnings still associated with this area, Ashleigh.
BANFIELD: Bad news in the Panhandle for sure. And, by the way, to remind our viewers, George, you don't know if it's an inch or if it's a foot when you're driving on a road that's covered in water.
HOWELL: Don't gamble. Absolutely.
BANFIELD: Exactly. Great advice. Thanks, George Howell, live near St. Marks. And that's also Tallahassee. Thanks very much for that this morning.
SAMBOLIN: Three minutes past the hour.
Meteorologist Alexandra Steele is tracking the storm. She's at the weather center in Atlanta.
What is the storm doing?
ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, you know, turn around, don't drown. That's the old mantra. So certainly stick to that.
Well, here it is -- here's Debby. Now, its center of circulation is still over water in the Northeast gulf, but you can se all that convection has been and continues to be to the east of it.
Here's the good news: the movement from stationary to 3 miles per hour. But now a direct easterly track, which is certainly some good news, 45-mile-per-hour sustained winds. Not expected to strengthen until we're going to see it come over land by tomorrow morning. Then, it will weaken, but then, as it gets over the Gulf Stream, it has the potential to strengthen once again. So all eyes on that.
We're calling it "Drifting Debby." What happens is, in essence, it's been in a dead zone. It's between two areas of high pressure, so there's no steering currents.
Here's a look at the rain we've seen south of Tallahassee. That's where we've seen 10 to 20, even in access of 20 inches of rain. Now, finally, with the movement, moving east, this is where the access of this heavy rain will be, you can see, into southeast Georgia over the next 24 hours.
So, finally, we'll beginning to see some movement and that's the good news. Again, center of circulation will make its way on shore tomorrow morning and hopefully get out of here.
BANFIELD: All right, Alexandra, thank you. Appreciate that.
STEELE: Sure.
BANFIELD: And, by the way, here is the results of the rainfall in one area of Florida. You're not going to believe what you're about to see. This giant sinkhole here, isn't that phenomenon?
This one is near Gainesville. It's about 60 feet long, 20 feet deep. You don't want to be anywhere near that. That earth just giving way because seven inches of rain fell on Sunday. While it might not sound like the highest of the storm, it's the secondest highest recorded ever for that city in a single day.
I'm always marveling at this thing. I don't know what it is about a sink hole, but I always find it --
SAMBOLIN: Pretty impressive.
BANFIELD: -- shocking.
Chad Myers once described why it happened, and it makes sense, but I always marvel, nonetheless. And, of course, we're going to be watching this story throughout the program today. We've got live team coverage every half hour right here on CNN. So, make sure you stay tuned.
SAMBOLIN: Five minutes past the hour here.
First, Arizona claiming victory after the Supreme Court struck down most of its controversial and very tough immigration crackdowns. Even though most of the law shut down, all the justices upheld the part of the law that critics had the biggest problem it, the part that gave police the power to say, "Show me your papers".
The man who's become synonymous with this law, the Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio telling Erin Burnett this decision changes nothing as far as his department is concerned.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE ARPAIO, MARICOPA COUNTY SHERIFF: We arrest anybody that it violates the law. We don't care where they are from. It just happens that we are close to the border and a lot of people coming in come from Mexico and they are here illegally. That's not my problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: Alina Cho joins us now with this -- what continues with the controversy, right?
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know that three out of four provisions of the law were struck down, right? But this obviously is the most controversial. Both sides politically are claiming victory, a little something for everyone.
But, first, we want to explain, for those who don't know what me what show me your papers means, it is the section the Arizona's controversial immigration law that was upheld. And it means that police officers essentially can ask for proof of immigration status while enforcing other laws. For example, during a traffic stop.
And while the high court didn't tell Arizona and other states what they could or couldn't do when they conduct that traffic stop, for example, how long police can hold someone, whether the law is amount to racial profiling, this opinion is essentially seen as guidance going forward. How will you enforce it?
And at the heart of the issue is this. What exactly is reasonable suspicion that a person is in this person illegally?
Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion, quote, "There is a basic uncertainty about what the law means and how it will be enforced."
Its guidance CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin says is vague.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: I think this means that as all the other states weigh whether to change their laws and then courts weigh the challenges to those laws, we're still in a bit of a mess on this. I think the guidance from the Supreme Court was less than clear here.
So, the issue of what's permissible and what's not, it's a little clearer than it was this morning, but it's not totally clear by any means.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: All right. If you're boiling it down, what Jeffrey Toobin is saying is, it's not over yet. In essence, the Supreme Court is offering a wait-and-see approach to how Arizona enforces the law, which of course, could open the door to future challenges.
And Arizona, let's not forget, is the only state that would allow police to ask for proof of immigration status when making a traffic stop. Look at the map there -- Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Utah have similar laws in place.
So not just Arizona, though Arizona gets the most attention.
BANFIELD: How much do voters care about this issue? Because everyone is watching as the Supreme Court decisions come down, how much are they going to affect the election in four months?
CHO: You know what's interesting, not much, according to a new Gallup poll. In fact, it was last on the list. If you're looking at the list, the number one is the federal budget deficit, followed by health care, economic growth, unemployment, gap between rich and poor, and just a 5 percent care about immigration policies.
And the interesting part about this is, even if they did, as you well know, it will take a long time before legally this is worked out. Essentially, wait and see approach. They want to see how this provision of the law is enforced.
Does it amount to racial profiling? Will Arizona and other states be able to move forward without problem? We just don't know that yet.
BANFIELD: What does it mean to be reasonable?
CHO: That's right.
SAMBOLIN: That's voters in general, right?
CHO: Voters in general.
SAMBOLIN: OK. Thank you very much, Alina. We appreciate that.
And ahead this morning, Congressman Luis Gutierrez, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Immigration Task Force, joins us at 6:30 Eastern.
And later on "STARTING POINT", the impact on the streets and on the election. Soledad will be joined with Carlos Gutierrez, honorary co-chair of Mitt Romney's Hispanic Steering Committee. Also, Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange, and former Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce.
BANFIELD: And we just heard Alina talking about the issues that voters find most important. And guess what? We've got another big one for you -- the anticipated Supreme Court decision on health care. We're supposed to find out about it on Thursday.
That's when they're going to make that rule on President Obama's health care law that you probably heard about as Obamacare. A decision should have an immediate and long-term impact on all Americans on how they get medicine and health care and it could really have a big effect on the 2012 race as well.
The court could decide to toss out that key provision, the individual mandate. That's the part of the law that requires almost every American to get health insurance or face paying a penalty.
SAMBOLIN: Two jurors in the Jerry Sandusky trial opening up about what they witnessed in the courtroom and how they reached their decision in the case. This was on "A.C. 360" last night. One of them saying it is the beginning of our time to heal and talking about the creepy expressions that convicted child molester couldn't even hide in court.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSHUA HARPER, SANDUSKY TRAIL JUROR: I didn't see anything in the victims that would lead me to think that they were not credible. But then I also took a look at Sandusky while he was watching the victims testify. And it seemed to be that he was kind of reminiscing of the victims.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN HOST, "STARTING POINT": What do you mean by that?
HARPER: Well, he would -- he would kind of lean in towards them and pick his chin up a little bit, and just kind of like he was thinking about the victims and his behavior with them.
O'BRIEN: That struck you as creepy?
HARPER: Yes, I would say a little creepy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: The jurors convicted Sandusky, the former Penn State assistant football coach, on 45 counts related to child sexual abuse. He will likely spend the rest of his life in prison.
BANFIELD: This just in. Average gas price dropping to $3.40 for a gallon of unleaded. That's a plunge of nearly 1.5 cents. That's a big one overnight. And prices, by the way, have now fallen, if you're counting, 14 days in a row.
SAMBOLIN: Booking a bargain trip online might depend on what kind of computer you have. Coming up, what Mac users might not know about a well-known travel Web site.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAMBOLIN: Welcome back. Fifteen minutes past the hour.
A desperate and dangerous situation right now in Colorado, an out of control wildfire near some of the state's most-visited tourist sites. It's expanding overnight and threatening more homes now. There are roughly 6,000 people who are still evacuated from their homes.
CNN's Jim Spellman is live in Colorado Springs.
Jim, I was counting five fires this morning. But somebody told me it's seven major fires burning. Is that right?
JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Seven active fires here in Colorado and more in New Mexico. You thought it's been such an intense year for fires out here in the West and we're only in the middle of June.
They got some good news here on this fire, the Waldo Canyon fire outside of Colorado Springs yesterday, 5 percent containment. They were able to create a small amount of fire line to get the very first toehold really against this fire.
The bad news is they expect this fire could potentially double in size and it could be three weeks before they have it fully contained.
Today, they are going to be out there again trying to create more of that fire line, to try to get some more containment. They expect what they call red flag warning conditions again today. That means high winds, high temperature, and extremely low humidity. That's what make s it so hard for these firefighters to get -- to advance on the fire and what makes the potential for more fires to break out.
Just yesterday, several small fires broke out in various places in the state, but were able to knock all those down and get full containment on those right away. But these kinds of conditions and it's just so dry in these forests, they know that at any moment, new fires could break out, adding to the huge efforts already.
There's over 2,000 firefighters at another fire north of here. There are 600 firefighters on this one, all trying to get control of these blazes, Zoraida.
SAMBOLIN: You have to feel for those firefighters in those tough conditions.
Jim Spellman, live in Colorado Springs, thank you for that.
BANFIELD: It's now 17 minutes past 5:00 on the East Coast. Let's get you up to date with the top stories of the day.
Christine Romans is doing that for us this morning.
Good morning.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Ashleigh.
Still following tropical storm Debby and she's a rainmaker, sitting off Florida's Gulf Coast. It's already drenched the state and another foot of rain is expected over the next few days. The storm has also spawned tornadoes, which are blamed for one death.
Florida's governor has declared a statewide emergency.
Rescuers forced to suspend work at a scene of a mall roof collapse in northern Ontario. Canadian emergency officials say there's a high probability the interior of the shopping mall could come down. This comes hours after workers heard what they believe to be sounds of breathing in the rubble. At least one person is feared dead in the collapse.
A horrifying story out of Texas this morning. Police in Waco say 22-year-old Michael Daniel was high on the drug K2 when he began beating, choking, and biting the family dog. Officers found Daniel sitting on the front porch with the dead dog in his lap and a piece of flesh and fur all over him.
Ten postal workers are on a hunger strike outside the Capitol. They are protesting massive cuts at the U.S. Postal Service that will close 229 plants and eliminate 28,000 jobs.
The workers say that eliminating the congressionally-mandated payments for future retiree health care costs will solve the Postal Services' financial problems right now -- Zoraida.
SAMBOLIN: All right. Thank you very much.
It's 18 minutes past the hour.
We're getting an early read on local news that's making national headlines.
Actor Dylan McDermott helped solve the mystery of his mother's tragic death 45 years ago. McDermott asked police in Connecticut to reopen the investigation last year. "The Republican American" newspaper says police discovered evidence that shows that Diane McDermott was murdered by a now deceased gangster boyfriend and that she did not commit suicide. The actor was just 5 years old at the time.
BANFIELD: And this one is being called by police as gut- wrenching and disheartening. A California teacher is facing criminal charges after being accused of tasing high school students. This one is from "The L.A. Times."
And the report says 27-year-old Emmanuel De La Rosa, a teacher at Fontana High School directed four students to enforce the hazing in order to limit behavior problems in the classroom. The students have also been arrested and one of them has been charged with assault and attempted sodomy. Police say at least one of the victims suffered injuries in those assaults.
And it pays to be a P.C. if using Orbitz. The travel Web site admitting it steers Mac users to more expensive rooms. That's because the search results are tailored to predict customer shopping habits. And guess what? Data shows Mac users spend more.
"The Wall Street Journal" says Mac users spend as much as 30 percent more a night on hotels.
Orbitz responding to the report, saying, quote, "We make recommendations about hotels along a number of variables, traveling with or without children, just as Mac users are willing to pay more for higher and computers. At Orbitz, we have seen that Mac users are 40 percent more likely to book four or five star hotels as compared to Windows users."
BANFIELD: Dang. That's an admission. Flat out and straight up. Holy-moly.
SAMBOLIN: There's a distinction between the four or five star hotel, right?
BANFIELD: I'm always suspicious of search sites and what they know about me from the cookies they drop on me. And now, I'm even more suspicious. Rats.
Go back to the old way, the encyclopedia.
For expanded look at all of our top stories, just head to our blog, CNN.com/EarlyStart.
SAMBOLIN: Twenty minutes past the hour.
It's the first for Facebook. The board room move that breaks up the boys' club. That's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: Welcome back. It is 23 minutes now past 5:00.
We're minding your business this morning. U.S. stock futures are trading higher after markets closed lower yesterday.
The Dow lost a little over 1 percent. The NASDAQ almost 2 percent. And the S&P down about a percent and a half.
Christine Romans is here to talk about a few Facebook stories on the news.
ROMANS: I know.
SAMBOLIN: You predicted this. You thought it would happen. And there you go.
ROMANS: The COO, Sheryl Sandberg, has been named to the board of Facebook, the board of directors, which until now has been a boys club of the top advisors to Mark Zuckerberg. Sheryl Sandberg, as you know, is sort of becoming legendary woman in business and woman in tech.
She has been right there partnering with Mark Sandberg, running this company --
BANFIELD: Mark Zuckerberg --
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: Mark Zuckerberg -- Sheryl Sandberg and Mark Zuckerberg, and so she will be on the board.
Here's who else is on the board, Mark Zuckerberg is on the board. Marc Andreessen, who is also an old hand, actually a young old hand in tech. Andreessen Horowitz, Erskine Bowles, James Breyer, Donald Graham, Reed Hastings and Peter Thiel from the Founders Fund. Some of these people are original investors and advisors to the company.
Also in Facebook news, Facebook you may not have noticed this, but it is forcing users to take on a new e-mail address. So, your name@Facebook.com. You should go to your profile to see if it's happened.
What's happening for some weeks now, they are going to provide you at Facebook.com, e e-mail address and it becomes the default address on your account unless you go in and change it.
This is just sort of the latest thing people are complaining about. The new home page newsfeed, people are complaining about that. That happened to them without them doing anything about it, the timeline. Some people are putting off adopting the timeline until the last minute. My producer included. Facial recognition for photos, and now, the @facebook.com e-mails.
So, these are all -- go in and change it if you don't want it on there.
BANFIELD: That's a bit of a nuisance, you know?
ROMANS: It doesn't bother me. It really doesn't. But there are other people who are freaking out.
BANFIELD: Let me ask you something about Rupert Murdoch, to change gears completely, Rupert Murdoch has been making tons of news lately because of the phone-hacking scandal. But now, if you look at the "Wall Street Journal," "New York Times," big stories. Not related at all.
ROMANS: So, Murdoch -- well, I don't know. I mean, Rupert Murdoch is in the news, but not for the phone hacking scandal, for this idea of putting his splitting his company into two different parts, something that's been talked about for years. He has resisted this.
"Wall Street Journal", "The New York Times" and others are reporting it this morning that they would put the entertainment, this is the strongest, most profitable part of the company, that's 20th Century FOX, FOX Broadcast Network, FOX News Channel, that will be in one part of the business. And then publishing would be separate. That's like Harper Collins, "Wall Street Journal," "Times of London", "New York Post" newspapers and others and its publishing, leading into, we've got calls into, I've got calls into News Corp, haven't heard back from them yet, to confirm this.
This is something that investors have wanted. In fact, the stock is up pretty big overnight. So, we'll watch it very closely to see if that's going to be a big driver. I'm sure it will be on the stock exchange here in the United States. We open in four hours.
BANFIELD: Thank you, Christine. Good to see you.
It is 26 minutes now past 5:00.
Tropical storm Debby, the Coast Guard is coming to the rescue of a family amid-storm waters and its video you've got to see to believe.
SAMBOLIN: And if you're leaving the House right now, you can watch us any time. Take us with you. We're on your desk top or we're on your mobile phone. Just go to CNN.com/TV.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: State of emergency in Florida. Wind and rain from tropical storm, Debby, still pounding the state.
SAMBOLIN: Primary showdown. New York's Charlie Rangel facing the most serious challenge of his 42-year congressional career today.
BANFIELD: And early exit for Venus Williams. Caught on the (INAUDIBLE) so to say. Five-time champ ousted at Wimbledon. We'll talk about it in a moment.
Welcome back, everybody, to very EARLY START. I'm Ashleigh Banfield.
SAMBOLIN: And I'm Zoraida Sambolin. Thirty minutes past the hour here. Up first, right now, tropical storm, Debby, is stalled over Florida's panhandle smacking the sunshine state with high winds and very heavy rains, and it's going to get worse before it gets better. Forecasters say the slow-moving storm could dump another foot of rain on Florida over the next couple of days, and it could spawn more tornadoes as well.
The storm is blamed for one death, so far. Florida's governor declaring a statewide emergency. CNNs George Howell is live in St. Marks, Florida or near St. Marks, Florida. They said this was going to be a primarily a rain event. You were standing it in earlier. Is it raining now?
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Zoraida, good morning. The rain has tapered off this morning, which is good news. I want to show you this, though. The owner of this convenience store put out these sandbags, because the owner here had an idea of what was to come. Take a look at the lot this. That lot here, this convenient store, covered in at least a foot of water.
And you can still see here the impact of the strong winds. The win strong enough to knock over a couple of trash cans here. And this is really what we're seeing here in Wakulla County in isolated spots in these low-lying areas. You can see where the water is up to a foot in some places, two feet in some places. In fact, we see police officers here on this coastal highway 98.
Just making sure that people are aware as they drive down the road that standing water is present. And again, this county got at least 25 inches of rain here in the last few days. Forecasters are saying that even though the rain has tapered off now, we are still seeing those rain bands from time to time. Still feeling the winds at times. And, we could see another 10 inches of rain before all is said and done, possibly by Thursday, Zoraida.
SAMBOLIN: All right. George Howell live in Florida for us. Thank you.
BANFIELD: And meteorologist, Alexandra Steele, is tracking the storm for us. She's at the weather center in Atlanta. So, I'm looking at these models. You do this way better than I do, but what I can say for the laid person (ph), Alexandria, is that this is a big, fat, ugly, swirling thing that's blob-like and won't move fast enough to give these people relief.
ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's the meteorological blob.
BANFIELD: I knew it.
STEELE: God, you're good! Well, you're really right on the money with this. I mean, I was calling it kind of drifting Debby. Yesterday, really stationary. Didn't have any movement. It was kind of stuck in this dead zone with no pushing mechanism. The good news today, now, it's moving east at three miles per hour, and where George was, in Wakulla County, really the hardest hit.
Twenty-one inches there in St. Marks. And you know, the worst really is over for them in terms of the downpours of rain because now it's got a little momentum its movement. So, maximum sustained winds now 45 miles per hour. And we're not going to see any strengthening today and that was expected.
Here's the good news. Tomorrow morning, we are going to see the center of circulation make landfall, and then, we will see it weaken. Then though, as it gets in the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic, we could see it regenerate into a tropical storm again, but then it will move out. So, in the dead zone, the wind shear really took a toll with this. The dry air worked its way in.
In the end game, as we talked about yesterday, flooding will certainly be the calling card of this. So, here are some of the totals we've seen. Over 20 inches in Saint Marks, and you can see again Wakulla County really the hardest hit. And again, this is where the south of Tallahassee, the access of this heavy rain now will move east toward, and we'll talk about who today will see that heavy rain and how much more is expected. Back to you.
BANFIELD: So, Alexandria, just really quickly, we're talking about 25 inches of rain in that -- in some areas of that state before the storm is done battering them. I don't know. I just never heard really about 25 inches of rain in a matter of few days. Is that, at all, normal for Florida?
STEELE: Oh, absolutely not. Unheard of, record-breaking, certainly unprecedented. So that coupled, of course, with the storm surge, which is the water rise above the tide levels to right along the coast. So, certainly, this is an incredible maker. I mean, in terms of the movement of this, or the lack thereof, that was the biggest part.
BANFIELD: Yes.
STEELE: It just dumped rain. It didn't dump rain and moved, it stayed over the same areas.
BANFIELD: The blob that won't move.
STEELE: Yes. The meteorological blob.
(LAUGHTER)
BANFIELD: Alexandra Steele, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
STEELE: Sure.
SAMBOLIN: Thirty-four minutes past the hour. You know what they say in the Coast Guard, the difficult we do immediately, the impossible takes a little time. Check out this dramatic video of the coast guard swooping in to rescue a family of nine and two dogs and then to air lift them to safety.
They were stranded in a vacation home on Dog Island, Florida. Flooding rain had surrounded the home, and the family was unable to evacuate to higher ground. Amazing pictures. And of course, we'll be following this story throughout the show today. Live team coverage every half hour here on CNN.
BANFIELD: So, get used to hearing the term "show me your papers," not because someone's going to ask you that necessarily, but because it's going to be in the news a lot. The Supreme Court has ruled that major portions of Arizona's very tough immigration crackdown violate the constitution, but, the part that was angering a lot of people, the "show me your papers, please."
Some critics called it racist, and that one's still on the books this morning. To break it all down because it is pretty complexes are Alina Cho who's been up all night breaking it all down. ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ashleigh, good morning. And you what's so interesting about this is there was a lot of disagreement on the high court about the other parts of Arizona's hotly-debated immigration law, but the high court was unanimous in its decision to uphold that most controversial part, "show me your papers", which critics call racial profiling.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHO (voice-over): The Supreme Court struck down three out of four key parts of Arizona's controversial illegal immigration law known as SB-1070, but politically, both sides are claiming victory.
GOV. JAN BREWER (R) ARIZONA: The court unanimously upheld the portion of that section and that is a victory. It's a victory for the rule of law and it is a victory for the people of Arizona and for America and for the Tenth Amendment.
CHO: In a statement, President Obama applauded the court's decision, saying he was pleased the justices struck down key portions of the law. The only provision upheld by the court is also the most controversial. The so called "show me your papers" section, allowing police to check immigration status while enforcing other laws.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It probably means that person is going to be Hispanic because that's the whole target of this particular law. It's going to be ethnic profiling on a grand scale.
CHO: Arizona sheriff, Joe Arpaio, a big proponent of the law, insists his officers don't use racial profiling, saying those arrested are merely victims of proximity.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We arrest anybody that violates the law. We don't care where there from. It just happens we're close to the border, and a lot of the people come from Mexico, and they are here illegally. That's not my problem.
CHO: The president expressed concern over possible racial profiling saying, no American should ever live under a cloud of suspicion just because of what they look like. He then went one step further, canceling arguments that allowed some Arizona police departments to enforce federal immigration laws.
Instead, the justice department said its setting up a telephone hotline and e-mail address for the public to report civil rights concerns, and that prompted an angry response from Arizona's Republican governor, Jan Brewer.
BREWER: And they arbitrarily single out Arizona and send a bomb. I guess, what he's telling us is that Arizona, you're on your own. Take it or leave it, you know? I guess he doesn't think we're part of the country anymore.
CHO: The "Show me your papers" part of the law could face even more legal challenges. JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: As all the other states weigh whether to change their laws and then courts weigh the challenges to those laws, we're still in a bit of a mess on this.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO (on-camera): So, what Jeff Toobin is saying essentially is, it's not over yet. It's all about enforcement. How will Arizona and other states carry out the "show me your papers" provision? Zoraida, what is reasonable suspicion and will it amount to racial profiling? What's interesting about this is that even though the news is now, and we're talking about it now, it could be at least another year before all of this is sorted out, Zoraida.
SAMBOLIN: Yes. And to see how it's interpreted as well. Thank you so much, Alina Cho, reporting for us.
And even with all of the attention on Arizona's immigration crackdown, more Latinos may be focused on the Supreme Court decision that's expected on Thursday. A new Gallup survey shows that immigration is not issue number one for Hispanics. Look where it falls. Only 12 percent of Hispanic voters rated immigration as their top policy concern while 21 percent rated healthcare as their top concern.
That was number one on the list. And much more on the fallout from the high court's immigration decision. Ahead this morning, Congressman Luis Gutierrez, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Immigration Task Force is going to join us at 6:30 eastern.
And later on "STARTING POINT", the impact on the streets and on the election. Soledad will be joined by Carlos Gutierrez, honorary co-chair of Mitt Romney's Hispanic Steering Committee. Also, Alabama attorney general, Luther Strange, and former Arizona state senator, Russell Pearce.
BANFIELD: It is 40 minute now past 5:00 on the east coast.
Two sisters severely sunburned. Their mom is mad, red mad. Coming up, why she's blaming a rule at the school for her daughters' injuries.
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BANFIELD: It's beautiful shot, isn't it? Beautiful Manhattan. It's about 61 degrees right now, which is terrific considering what it was last week at this time, around 80. It's going to go up 75 degrees. It's a great place to visit. Come see it.
All right. So, he's held his job for as long as many of you have probably been alive, Congressman Charlie Rangel. He may be about to lose an election, though, for the first time in 42 years. And the barbarians at the gate aren't even the Republican challengers yet. It's Democrats. Democrats who are trying to win the nomination, and that goes down today. Charlie Rangel was once one of the most powerful Democrats in the House, but he's been weakened by scandal. You probably remember some of the stories that we told you back in 2010. He was censored on the House floor for ethics violations, those including accepting several rent-stabilized apartments for campaign offices, at prices that were well below the New York market value.
Also, for failing to pay some taxes on a beach front villa in the Dominican Republic, and then from misusing his office in the House to raise money for an education center being built in his honor. For his part, Charlie Rangel says none of those accusations are true. Nonetheless, the facts speak for themselves and that censor did happen.
And now, Rangel's main opponent claimed that the congressman is too old and too tainted and too out of touch to deserve a, ready for it, a 22nd term. You heard right. 22nd term. So, where does that leave us?
Joining me now is one of Rangel's rivals, Clyde Williams. It's nice to have you, Mr. Williams. Thanks for coming in. You are no secret to politics. You've been in the Democratic Party for a long time. You've worked for presidents here. You've been with the Democratic National Committee.
But for a lot of people, I think, they might say, this seems mean. I mean, it seems almost as though you could be considered -- you and your other fellow challengers, could be considered like vultures over top of a guy in a hospital bed that's got hospital sheet (ph) tainted by ethics.
CLYDE WILLIAMS, (D) CANDIDATE FOR U.S. CONGRESS IN NEW YORK: Well, I don't see it that way. And this election to me is not about me, it's not about Charlie Rangel. It's really about the future of our community and who has the best ideas to move our community forward, and that's what I focus on. I never bring up the congressman's ethics issues or anything as it relates to him.
BANFIELD: Never?
WILLIAMS: Never. From day one, I never thought that was the way to run a campaign. I believe people want people to talk about what is the best way to improve their lives and how are you going to do something to make the lives better for them, their children, and their grandchildren.
BANFIELD: But did you jump into the race because of the ethics scandals in the last two years?
WILLIAMS: I jumped into the race because, again, I thought I had the best ideas. I'm the only person who's running against Congressman Rangel who's actually taken a poll. I know the poll number showed that more than 70 percent of the people in the Congressional district want new leadership. And based on that, I decided to mount a real campaign. BANFIELD: So, let's talk a little bit about the Congressional district, because things have really shifted a lot in his 42 years. And I still can't believe I talk about someone who's held a job for 42 years. But things have really changed. It used to be a predominantly African-American district.
And now, Hispanics are the majority in this district. And 27 -- there's been a 27 percent increase as well in same-sex couples. Does that work against you given that one of the main challengers here also up against is a prominent Hispanic?
WILLIAMS: I don't see it as anything that's a challenge. The district has been at least 46 percent Latino for awhile under Congressman Rangel. Again, I think the most important thing people want you to articulate is a real vision and understanding of how you're going to address their problems.
And I think I've been able to do that. I've got the endorsement of "The New York Times," and it was a real endorsement. I got an endorsement of "The Daily News." Again, it was a very real endorsement. And so --
BANFIELD: You have President Clinton's endorsement? You used to work for him.
WILLIAMS: Well, I used to work for President Clinton and President Obama.
BANFIELD: Do you have either of their endorsement?
WILLIAMS: Well, I'll tell you what I do have. President Clinton came out and said he would not endorse Charlie Rangel because I was involve in this race. President Obama has not endorsed a Democratic incumbent which is typically the norm for a president who's sitting in office. And so, they have not endorsed me, but they have not endorsed him either.
BANFIELD: Yes. Well, but I will say that for his part, Charlie Rangel has some pretty good endorsements in his column. He's got the governor of the state, and he's got the mayor of this city, which is, you know, it's a big deal. But there is that lack of the endorsement check mark from the president.
Let me ask you this. He's a huge personality. I mean, he's famous for those who've never even been to New York. He's been in Congress, and he's the third-longest serving congressman. Is there any part of that that you think is an uphill battle, because when people get to the ballot box, sometimes, they might just feel guilty?
WILLIAMS: Look, I like the congressman. I know him for awhile. He's a great guy. But again, this race is not about him. People want someone to solve the decade-old problems that exist in our Congressional district. When you look at the unemployment rate in our Congressional district, it's more than twice the national average and again has been that way for decades. When you look at the healthcare disparities in our Congressional district, again, they're large and they have been for a very prolonged period of time. The same thing we look at educational achievement gaps among African-American, Latinos kids. These are decade-old problems that have gone unresolved for far too long.
And I am the best person, I believe, to actually do something about solving those problems in this Congressional district.
BANFIELD: The polls open in about, what, 10 minutes?
WILLIAMS: Yes.
BANFIELD: Are you going to vote, what, in an hour or so?
WILLIAMS: I will be voting. Absolutely.
BANFIELD: Good luck to you. I hope you'll report back to us and let us know how things go. Come back and visit us.
WILLIAMS: Thank you very much for having me this morning. I appreciate it.
BANFIELD: Nice meeting you. Take care.
WILLIAMS: Likewise.
BANFIELD: All right. Zoraida, back to you.
SAMBOLIN: All right. Thank you very much. It is 48 minutes past the hour.
You know what here, let me give you some more information here. Congressman Luis Gutierrez is going to join us a little bit later in the program. And Charlie Rangel will join Soledad live, as well, during "Starting Point."
It is 49 minutes past the hour. It's time to get you up to date. Christine Romans with this morning's top stories.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Zoraida.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS (voice-over): Tropical storm, Debby, is pummeling Florida's coastline right now with heavy rain. Nearly a foot in a 24- hour period with another foot of rain expected over the next couple of days. Some 35,000 homes and businesses are without power. The storm is expected to make landfall tomorrow.
Fifteen employees at a golf course in Connecticut are expected to survive a lightning strike. The workers were on the green, the Lake of Isles, in North Stonington when thunderstorms rolled in. The workers ran for cover inside a nearby building, but the impact of the strike knocked several of them over. A health setback for Illinois congressman, Jesse Jackson Jr. His office says he's been treated for exhaustion since June 10th. Jackson first elected in 1995, represents the state's second Congressional district, which includes part of Chicago downside and (INAUDIBLE) County suburb.
Two sisters in Decoma, Washington came home from field day so severely sunburned they had to be taken to the hospital. They were (ph) playing games outside for five hours. The girls' mother said she didn't understand why the school staff didn't apply sunscreen on her daughters.
The school district says the state law requires students to bring a doctor's note if they need to apply sunscreen. The state is looking into reversing the measure.
A major milestone for the Georgia victim of a flesh-eating bacteria. Aimee Copeland's (ph) condition has been upgraded to good from serious. Doctors say her vital signs are now stable and in the normal range. Copeland's father says she was even able to leave her hospital bed in a wheelchair to get out for some fresh air.
Copeland became infected with that tissue destroying bacteria in May after a home-made zip lining accident. She has since lost her left leg, her right foot, and both of her hands.
And five-time Wimbledon champ, Venus Williams, is out of this year's tournament. Venus losing in straight set to unseated (ph) Russian, Elena Vesnina the opening day of the all-England Tennis Club. It's Venus' earliest exit at Wimbledon since her first appearance there, ladies, 15 years ago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Fifteen years of Venus at Wimbledon. Wow.
BANFIELD: Fifteen years of Venus. Oh, man. I love her. I'm a big Williams sisters fan.
ROMANS: They are really determined young ladies.
SAMBOLIN: Oh, my gosh!
BANFIELD: Yes. I interviewed them before the Olympics in Sydney. And I'll tell you what, they were like rock stars. The Olympians are always a rock star for the Olympics, but then, there's something that they transcend that even beyond that. Like Mick Jaggfer walking around.
SAMBOLIN: And all in the same family.
BANFIELD: I know.
SAMBOLIN: Kind of cool.
BANFIELD: All right. So, we have this picture, Christine. Man, this is such a bummer, but at the same time, it makes for a very good story. Picture perfect wedding. Look at them. They're so happy. Oh, look how happy. You know what's going to happen, though.
SAMBOLIN: Yes.
BANFIELD: You just know what's going to happen. You're going to see it after the break.
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BANFIELD: Fifty-four minutes now past 5:00. Time to take a look at what's trending on the interwebs, and how about taking the plunge before you actually take the plunge? Feast your eyes. Terrible.
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BANFIELD: They are laughing and that is the best part of this story, folks. Bride, groom, entire wedding party all dumping themselves into Gun Lake. The dock gave way during the photo shoot. Oh man. Look at this, the bride barely could even keep her footing. She almost went right under, believe it or not.
The wedding party, luckily, luckily, are you ready for this, they decided to do the photos after the dinner. Thank God. Yes. They had their dinner and they went out for the night pictures, you know? And that's the picture they'll have. And, they made the national news. So, there's that.
SAMBOLIN: The plunge before the plunge. So, I thought they had not gotten married yet. So, the good news is (INAUDIBLE).
Fifty-five minutes past the hour. So, you're wondering how much water it takes to make a hamburger, right?
BANFIELD: No.
SAMBOLIN: Well, we're going to tell you, anyway. New campaign by the European Commission counts the number of water balloons that can be filled with the water required to fuse a hamburger. The answer? Thousands. In fact, it apparently takes 2,393 liters of water or about 700 gallons, seriously, to make a single juicy burger.
And over 4,000 gallons to make a steak. Apparently, rearing cattle requires more water than any other animal. It's all part of a conservation effort encouraging people to eat alternatives foods like a veggie burger in this case.
BANFIELD: I wonder what that picture was look like if they did the same thing for a round of golf, because I'll tell you what, it's a lot more water balloons than that.
Ready for this one? To infinity and beyond. This is great. The Voyager One Space Probe has become the first manmade object to reach the edge of our solar system. And it isn't even stopping here. Think way back, folks, way back to 1977, because that's when they launched this thing. The original mission was just, you know, study Jupiter and Saturn and send us back results. Well, forget about that. The work wasn't done there. It traveled for 35 years. It's covered more than 11 billion miles. It's still transmitting signals, and here's the best part. It's about to reach the interstellar space area. How about that? Interstellar space.
Slow but strong. Tropical storm, Debby, not letting up on Florida this morning. A live report from the flood zone coming right at you next.
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