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CNN Saturday Morning News

Florida May Move Up Presidential Primary; More Reported Cases of Listeria; Amanda Knox Makes Her Appeal; Does the Kindle Fire Stack Up Against iPad?; U.S. Citizen Killed in Al-Awlaki Drone Attack; Female Driver Spared 10 Lashes; Witnesses Describe Jackson's Death; Terry Francona Out as Red Sox Skipper; Son of Fallen Fan Throws First Pitch

Aired October 01, 2011 - 08:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Good Saturday morning.

Some people could be voting for president this year. Yes, the 2012 election, the voting could start at the end of this year. Several states are now jockeying to be one of the first to hold a Republican primary and one state could be holding theirs around the holidays.

Plus, more reported cases of Listeria infection and death related to that cantaloupe recall, an important warning for you this morning and that is, you could still get sick from tainted cantaloupes you ate two months ago. Stick around for that.

Also, take a look at this picture. You don't see this every day do you, a Ferris wheel with a plane stuck in it. People were trapped for hours. We'll explain.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, this is your CNN SATURDAY MORNING, 8:00 a.m. here in Atlanta, 7:00 a.m. in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Wherever you are, we are glad you're right here. I'm T.J. Holmes.

Let's start with some politics here shall we and a major change to the 2012 presidential election. Some of you out there could actually be voting this year for your 2012 candidate. Officials in New Hampshire say they may, may hold the state's presidential primary in December. Yes folks, we're talking about a few months from now.

Now that's two months sooner than they had originally planned. Why in the world would they do this? Well, you can blame Florida.

Florida has decided to push its primary up to the end of January, so now, let the dominoes fall where they may. So Iowa could possibly want to move their primary to earlier than New Hampshire since they are traditionally the first state to vote. Iowa, New Hampshire, aren't the only ones a little upset over what Florida is doing.

CNN's Shawna Shepherd joins me now from Columbia, South Carolina, the site of what is the first southern primary.

Good morning to you. Are they talking there as well about what they might do and how much they might move their primary up? SHAWNA SHEPHERD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They're absolutely talking about it, and they're going to try to make sure that they get their voice heard. They're not happy with Florida's decision and they really want to hold on to that, that title of the first primary in the south and they're going to do whatever they can to make sure that they don't lose that title.

HOLMES: We talk about what the states are going to do, but also, what are the candidates going to do now? This could cut off your campaigning time and for some people who are not in the race or haven't made up their minds yet, they better hurry up.

SHEPHERD: Absolutely. There are a number of candidates who have built a pretty significant ground campaign here. They have headquarters in the capital, Columbia, where I'm at, and if there's a compressed timeline on the primary, it's going to be a lot harder for candidates to campaign in South Carolina and then also make the other states such as Florida.

A state like South Carolina is really concerned that candidates are going to bypass South Carolina or could bypass South Carolina and focus on states where the media markets are larger, where they can get to more voters. South Carolina is really concerned about losing their voice, so to speak, and they -- like I said, they are going to be a thorn in Florida's side, just like Florida's been a thorn in their side and make sure that they don't get stomped on.

HOLMES: Shawna Shepherd there for us in South Carolina. We'll continue to check in with you throughout this political season which seems to be starting earlier and earlier.

More politics coming up with you, next hour, Herman Cain, he has found some new-found momentum. A big win in Florida is making people take notice. We'll have more on that next hour.

Well, at four minutes past the hour now, we turn to Afghanistan where another major blow has been delivered to terrorism. NATO is saying that they have captured a senior Haqqani network leader. He's been captured in a joint NATO and Afghan operation. This person is Haji Mali Khan, a Khan commander in Afghanistan. He was caught in Afghanistan's Paktia Province on Tuesday. This Haqqani network is affiliated with al Qaeda. So an important get according to the NATO folks. We'll have much more on this story and a live report from Kabul in our 10:00 hour.

Now, a warning to tell you about this morning. The FBI and Department of Homeland Security are telling local law enforcement to be prepared for a possible retaliatory attack. This is connected to the CIA drone strike that killed Anwar al-Awlaki. He was one of al Qaeda's leading voices in the Arabian peninsula. Here is the warning sent to your local police, quote, "We assess that al-Awlaki's standing as a preeminent English-language advocate of violence could trigger HVEs to take action to avenge his death."

HVEs they're speaking about there, that's the abbreviation for home- grown violent extremists. More of the warning now, quote, "While there is currently no information suggesting retaliatory U.S. based activities in response to al-Awlaki's death, we are concerned about the possibility that autonomous extremists may react violently."

They also warn about the possible use of biological or chemical agents in any kind of attack.

Killed along with al-Awlaki was Samir Khan, also considered an important person in the al Qaeda command. Just who is that, though? We'll explain coming up at the bottom of the hour. Our search for answers takes us to Charlotte, North Carolina. That's where Khan once lived.

Five past the hour now. American exchange student Amanda Knox may be spending her final weekend in an Italian prison. She's appealing her 2009 murder conviction in the death of her roommate. The verdict could come as soon as Monday.

Matthew Chance is there for us.

Good morning to you. What are we expecting to see in that courtroom on Monday?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning to you, T.J.

Amanda Knox is going to stand up in that courtroom on Monday and really make what is being described here at the speech of her life, because she's got 15 minutes to make a plea of innocence that could turn to the jury and the judges that are looking after this appeal and appeal to them to set her free, to appeal to them and say that she didn't commit this killing.

She's been saying this all along that she didn't have anything to do with the killing of her flat mate, her roommate, Meredith Kercher, the crime for which she was convicted and sentenced to 26 years here in (INAUDIBLE).

After that, (INAUDIBLE) her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito will also be making his plea of innocence to the courts as well. The jury will then retire, consider what they want to do about this and then the judge will come back and make his ruling.

It's a high-stakes game, because it could mean Amanda Knox, of course, walking out of the jail near Perugia here or it could mean her spending many, many more years, perhaps decades more behind bars.

HOLMES: Matthew, will she have any other options? Let's say they come back and she's guilty, they don't let her go. Does she have any other appeal options about that?

CHANCE: Yes, she does. There's this one further appeal that she can take and that's to the high court, the supreme court, rather in Italy and that would be, I suppose, within several months, but it would mean, of course, that she would have to stay in prison in the meantime.

It's not altogether clear, by the way, the judge, she's just looking at these two options. He could decide after hearing all the evidence from the prosecution and the defense to find Amanda Knox guilty of a lesser crime and simply slash her sentence, which would be another option for the judge to consider as he decides his ruling.

HOLMES: All right. Matthew Chance for us this morning. Thank you once again. We'll have much more of the Amanda Knox trial next hour including a look at how the differences between the U.S. and Italian law open the door for people to call Knox a she devil and make other outrageous claims.

Seven minutes past the hour now. Take a look what we're seeing on Lake Michigan. A dangerous place for joggers and bicyclists. Look at this. Wind-whipped waves crashing ashore there? Authorities closed that stretch of the lake front for the rest of the day. Wind also blamed for knocking out power to thousands of folks there, as we say good morning to Reynolds Wolf.

What's was going on there in Chicago?

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Basically, just some really strong winds and really an oppressive area of low pressure right off parts of Lake Michigan with the wrap-around winds. You had the winds of course pushing the water. The water stacked up. Even some waves out there, T.J., they were in excess of 20 to even 30 feet that lashed both sides of Lake Michigan affecting not only parts of Illinois, but of course over in into Michigan itself.

Yes, kind of a dangerous situation there. Thankfully, weather should improve here today. Things might get worse in places like Bermuda, compliments of hurricane Ophelia which is a category three hurricane. It's a major hurricane, but thankfully for the time being looks like it's going to stay away from the U.S. mainland. We'll talk about that plus, (INAUDIBLE) what you can expect weather wise for the weekend, plus a look at your holiday football (INAUDIBLE) We're going to take a look at your football forecast coming up in a few moments.

HOLMES: Reynolds, thank you buddy. We'll see you here in just a moment.

We're nine minutes past the hour now and you -- you may be part of a new food-borne bacteria outbreak and you may not even know it yet. We're talking about tainted cantaloupes that could make you sick even months from now. We'll have the CDC warning.

Also, a small plane crashed into a Ferris wheel in Australia and for an hour and a half, passengers of the plane and riders on that Ferris wheel were just dangling there in midair.

Also this morning, an emotional moment in last night's Braves/Rangers baseball game. The story behind a heartfelt hug of a young fan. Stay with me on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: Eleven minutes past the hour now. We're going to look at some of the stories making news "X-Country."

We begin in the nation's capital where engineers are giving the Washington Monument a thorough checkup following that 5.8 magnitude earthquake that rumbled through much of eastern Virginia August 23rd. It's amazing to see some of the pictures of some of these - they call them daredevil engineers, but they have been rappelling down the side of this landmark. Some of the pictures they've been taking up top are just remarkable. You see some of them in the pictures there.

Yes, that's the work they're essentially having to do from up at the top, going through and checking stone by stone a lot of cracks. A lot of things they're trying to remove that were loosened. Some of the rock, some of the stone that was loosened up, but it's amazing work. These are engineers up there doing this, but that work will continue for the next couple of weeks.

Also, police in Boca Raton, Florida, have released this dash cam video showing the rescue of a six-year-old boy. He was pinned under a car Wednesday morning when he tripped and fell. Officers and bystanders lifted the car and pulled him to safety. The boy is expected to make a full recovery.

Also, U.S. Navy Captain and NASA astronaut Mark Kelly calling it quits. Today, he retires from the military and the space agency. He commanded the Space Shuttle Endeavour's final mission this summer and of course you know he is the husband of Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who is still recovering from that gunshot wound she suffered in January. The couple is writing a memoir that's expected to be published next month.

An important alert for you here about cantaloupes. You can check the ones you might have in your home and you may need to throw them out. The CDC say if it is a cantaloupe from Jensen farms in Colorado, get rid of it. Fifteen people have died from an outbreak of Listeria linked to the tainted cantaloupes. Another 80 people have gotten sick. The CDC says you may already be infected with this bacteria but you just don't know it yet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. THOMAS FRIEDEN, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL: It can take a week to three weeks after you eat a contaminated product before you become ill and can take as much as two months to become ill. Furthermore, some people may still have the Jensen's farm cantaloupe in their refrigerators. If you have a cantaloupe that's labeled as something other than Jensen farm, then it's OK to eat, but if the label looks like this, that's what the Jensen farm label looks like, then it is not safe to eat. Throw it out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, the Listeria bacteria usually causes flu-like symptoms but it can also be deadly. Jensen farms recalled the (INAUDIBLE) brand cantaloupe more than two weeks ago. All of these tainted cantaloupes are probably off store shelves by now. Keep in mind, if you ate one weeks or even a couple of months ago, it might take a while still before you actually feel ill. Listeria fears are also behind a recall of bad lettuce from a California company. True Leaf farms are recalling tens of thousands of bags of their shredded romaine lettuce. It was shipped to 19 states and Canada. It had a use by date of September 29th.

Boy, you don't see this every day and you certainly don't want to see this. An ultra light plane crashing into a Ferris wheel. This is at a small town fair in Australia. The plane barely missed a nine-year- old boy and a 13-year-old girl. It was tangled up in a Ferris wheel and dangled there for an hour and a half. The kids were finally rescued. The pilot and passenger of the plane rescued as well. Would you believe, nobody injured in this thing.

Suffering not one but two hurricanes within a week. A double dose of misery. Plus, the Philippines. That, plus the forecast for closer to home. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right, 16 minutes past the hour.

Whether or not just one but two typhoons over just a few days? People in the Philippines who were trying to recover from Tuesday's typhoon got hit with another tropical cyclone. This time it was a little stronger. A super typhoon roared ashore earlier this morning. It's taken a similar track from its predecessor and has triggered more flooding in already saturated areas. At least 40 people have died between both of these storms.

If you'd like to help the people there in the Philippines, there is a way you can. You can click on the CNN.com/impact and you'll see how you can make a difference. A host of organizations there dedicated to helping people who need it most. Again, CNN.com/impact.

All right. Say good morning once again to Reynolds Wolf. You are keeping an eye on things. We're going to get to some tropical weather here in a second. Everybody's been telling me about this picture you're about to show me.

WOLF: It's cool. Let's show people.

HOLMES: What am I seeing here?

WOLF: What you are seeing, actually a shot from iReporter David Hatfield. Take a look at it. The waves seem to have this glowing kind of effect. This is actually shot on a beach in southern California. The blue glow you're seeing here is caused by an algae. The iReporter says the sand leaves glowing footprints when you walk up and down the beach.

Scientists say it's a weird example of bioluminescence which is one of the most spectacular displays in 20 years they've seen in southern California. This happens and can happen all over the world. It's very similar to what we have sometimes on the Gulf coast called red tide, but this is harmless. If you go out there and step in, it's not going to hurt you. I wouldn't say you should drink it, but it's kind of a neat effect. It's one of those things when nature can truly wow you. How can you miss out on that? How can you not think that's cool?

HOLMES: Nature can wow you. Nature can scare you as well. What's happening out in the Atlantic is a little scary. We might dodge a bullet here, but Bermuda might not?

(WEATHER REPORT)

HOLMES: Thank you, Reynolds, kind sir.

For you folks out there in the market, you want an iPad, you don't want to pay $500, $600, $700, $800-plus for it? Amazon is coming after your business. The new Kindle Fire, has been revealed and it's only $199.

Can you really compare these two? We'll do it next, let you know which one you need to go after. Stay with me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Twenty three minutes past the hour. This week, Amazon introduced a new tablet called the Kindle Fire. It's smaller, cheaper than Apple's iPad. It's $199. It's going to draw a lot of interest because of its price. How does it really stack up?

Our digital lifestyle expert Mario Armstrong is here with me now.

Should we even be putting these two in the same category?

MARIO ARMSTRONG, CNN DIGITAL LIFESTYLE EXPERT: That's a great question T.J.

Got an iPad here. You got things like the Barnes & Noble Nook here. I think we should be putting this in the same category. That's why I think a lot of people are getting confused. People want to match up and try to find an iPad killer. This is not an iPad killer. The way to match these two products up is on content and ecosystem.

Amazon has 17 million songs. They have a million books. They have TV show, movies, all of these things that iTunes also has and that's where the battle's going to be, the content and the ecosystem, not the devices.

HOLMES: Let go right at it, then. We can show people the difference between these two, the iPad and the tablet. You go through these for me, and the obvious one for a lot of people is the price, $199. But you're going to be missing a lot of stuff on that Kindle Fire that you would get with the iPad 2.

ARMSTRONG: You're right. You're right. You will be and that's because it's two separate markets.

I credit Amazon, because they know their customer. Again, a lot of people are complaining. I can't take pictures on this new Kindle Fire like I can on my iPad. I can't record sound and have a microphone. That stuff doesn't matter right now to Amazon. They are too smart. They know their customer, they know their spending limit and they know if they can get the customer in the door, they'll make money off of them in other areas. They have their own app store. They have like I said their own music service and TV service and all these things.

And T.J., one big thing a lot of people of missing beyond this price tag is parents can't afford to buy these things for their kids. So when I think about the prices and I think about how people can interact with these devices, this is a great opportunity to get kids into a tablet that can have information, educational and entertainment topic at a low price point.

HOLMES: Is the Wi-Fi part going to be key for a lot of people? You can only do Wi-Fi with the tablet, excuse with the Kindle Fire?

ARMSTRONG: Yes, you're right. You can only do Wi-Fi with it, not 3G. Here again that would have meant that they had to get in bed with a carrier. That would have brought in all of those problems and all of those issues and probably raised the cost a little bit.

Granted, they'll probably come out with something later on, maybe at end of this year or next year, maybe $50 or $75 more that might have that built in. Right now they're saying, look, Wi-Fi, if you want to use 3G or 4G, get one of those little Wi-Fi cards and create your Wi- Fi own spot. We're not going that. We know our customer.

HOLMES: Is it in Amazon's interests, like you said, they know their customer with this Kindle. They know exactly who they're targeting. Was it in their interests and did they try a little bit to get me and you and the rest of the country talking about Amazon, the Kindle Fire, versus the iPad 2 when they know it's not a direct competitor. Just for people to hear that and they hear the price point, say yes, let me go in that direction?

ARMSTRONG: It's funny you bring that up. I was in New York City at the press announcement, at this event. And Jeff Bezos, the CEO was on the stage and one of the images popped up with the USB connector of the iPad. So he was - and he was talking about the comparison about, this whole thing about syncing technology.

One of the cool things you'll be able to do with this Fire is when you're watching a movie, you stop watching that movie, you can then watch that movie on your television set and pick up where you left off using this whisper sync technology.

So I think right now people are underestimating this. They're treating this like the Nintendo Wii back in 2006 where their competitors were like, that's not going to blow up. And you saw what happened when Wii dominated for a couple of years. I think this is the Floyd Mayweather sucker punch of the tablets.

HOLMES: All right.

ARMSTRONG: All the Android tablets got to worry. BlackBerry came out a day after on the same day, we're going to reduce our Playbook by $200.

HOLMES: Where do you get this thing by the way, the Kindle Fire?

ARMSTRONG: Amazon.com obviously. It won't be available until November 15th. You can pre-order now and they have a $79 e-book reader. I'm telling you, they figured out their market. They know how to get you into their ecosystem. This is something to reckon with. This is something not to shy away from.

HOLMES: All right, you heard it here folks. Mario Armstrong, good stuff this weekend. It's what lot of people are talking about. You know Floyd watches the show. He's going to be after you now.

ARMSTRONG: Like he says, protect yourself at all times against these other competitors.

HOLMES: Mario, thanks, as always.

As you know, folks, you can see Mario here every Saturday morning, digital lifestyle expert Mario Armstrong, giving you the very latest in technology. Thanks to him, as always.

At 28 minutes past the hour now, there was another American, the other American killed in that drone strike in Yemen. Samir Khan, he actually used to live in Charlotte, North Carolina. We'll tell you what people who knew him are saying. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We're at the bottom of the hour now on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Welcome back to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes. Thank you for spending part of your day here with us.

I'll give you a look at the stories making headlines -- people may be infected with Listeria from tainted cantaloupes and don't even know it yet. That is because the bacteria can take up to two months to produce symptoms. The death toll from this latest outbreak is now up to 15. Another 84 people have gotten sick. The source of the Listeria has been traced to Jensen Farms in Colorado.

And some Bank of America customers are venting, on Twitter at least, but is Bank of America actually listening to them? Customers are furious that the bank is planning on charging them $5 a month to access their own money when they use debit cards, of course.

A credit researcher told CNN Money, that some of these folks who are going off and then they're going to leave the bank? Well, most won't bail, because changing banks is a hassle. He said they'll probably use credit cards instead, which may work in Bank of America's favor anyway, because you're going to end up having to pay interest fees.

Also, Troy Davis' funeral is set to begin in Savannah, Georgia in just about two and a half hours. Davis was executed last week for the 1989 murder of a police officer. A crime, many around the world believed he did not commit and he said even in his final moments that he did not commit that crime. Last night Davis' family members and friends attended a memorial celebrating his life. Cameras were not allowed inside the church. You're seeing video of people there gathering for that memorial service.

Well, police around the country are being told that terrorists could be preparing to attack in retaliation for the government's killing of one of their leaders. Anwar al Awlaki was killed yesterday in a CIA drone strike in northern Yemen.

The warning was sent by the FBI and Homeland Security to police and said al Awlaki's death caused a high level of interest on Web site, with quote, "violent extremist content." They say sympathizers here in the U.S. could be motivated to attack because of al Awlaki's popularity.

Now there was another American was killed in that drone strike. Samir Khan, he used to live in Charlotte, North Carolina, that's where he grew up. But he ended up growing up to edit al Qaeda's English language magazine as well.

Molly Grantham of our affiliate WBTV in Charlotte talked to a spokesman for Khan's family.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MOLLY GRANTHAM, WBTV (voice-over): We started off by ringing the doorbell of Samir Khan's parents' house. No answer. So we talked with Jibril Hough, he's the spokesperson for the family.

JIBRIL HOUGH, KHAN FAMILY SPOKESPERSON: As you can imagine, if it was your child, a number of emotions -- embarrassed, frustrated.

GRANTHAM: Jibril says the ideology Samir promoted and wrote about was wrong. He says Samir was dangerous but he won't take the next step.

(on camera): Was Samir a terrorist?

HOUGH: That's a good question. He definitely was a terrorist supporter.

GRANTHAM: But you wouldn't say he was a terrorist?

HOUGH: Did he actually commit an act of terror? You know, I don't think it's ever been proven that he has.

GRANTHAM: Would propaganda, would the words he used against people online, would that not be considered an act of terror?

HOUGH: I don't know because he was doing the same thing while he was here.

GRANTHAM: So what -- he had been a backyard terrorist here?

HOUGH: And -- and if he was that while he was here, I would say he should have been arrested and tried for that. GRANTHAM (voice-over): The federal government might agree with him on that one. At one point Khan was listed as the number two guy in al Qaeda when it came to propaganda.

Last year, U.S. Representative Sue Myrick said she couldn't believe we could track him down yet they couldn't.

If he was the number two guy, how did federal intelligence let him get away, moved from Charlotte, hop a plane, go to Yemen when I can find him in a parking lot?

REP. SUE MYRICK (R), NORTH CAROLINA: I know Molly, it's crazy. And that's -- that's the thing. Those are the questions I'm asking right now.

GRANTHAM: Jibril says he tried to counsel Samir years ago as did other Muslim-Americans in the Charlotte community including Samir's own father. It didn't work. Even so, Jibril says this is not a day to celebrate.

(on camera): There are some Americans that would say this is a huge day to rejoice because he was dangerous, he was a terrorist and now he's taken out along with Anwar al Awlaki.

HOUGH: Yes, but I'm not one who rejoices in the loss of human life, regardless if they had it coming or not.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Now Khan left his family in Charlotte and headed to Yemen in 2009. U.S. officials say it was only a short time later that he became editor of that al Qaeda magazine.

Well, 35 minutes past the hour now and you may take driving or at least your right to drive, the privilege of driving, take it for granted, but in Saudi Arabia, a woman was arrested for driving. Well, she got punishment for that, but she was saved by the king. We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, 37 minutes past the hour now. Say good morning once again to Nadia Bilchik for our "Morning Passport."

And people were applauding. Saudi Arabia, the king there, saying we're going to give women the right to vote. But then, people said, oh wait a minute but they still can't drive. So explain what's going on?

NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Soon you'll be able to vote within around 2015 he said last Sunday. But the ban on driving still holds.

HOLMES: Yes.

BILCHIK: And in fact only three days after he'd announced that women will eventually be able to vote and run for municipal election, a woman was sentenced to ten lashes for driving her own car. But King Abdullah quickly revoked it.

Now, as I mentioned to you earlier, there's a cynical way of looking at it and an optimistic way.

HOLMES: Yes.

BILCHIK: The cynical way is King Abdullah is looking around at the Arab Spring and saying what can we do to appease Saudi Arabian? But the far more optimistic is that he really is reforming. And when you look at King Abdullah and his history of reform, he is trying his very best against the opposition of the conservative Wahhabis within his own government.

HOLMES: How much pressure was he under to make this change in allowing women to vote and also you said he acted quickly to save this woman who has been -- who was charged with driving. Was he under pressure to -- to commute her sentence as well?

BILCHIK: Well, he was under pressure to commute her sentence from the women, but remember the more conservative Wahhabis insist that woman should not drive. And it's so interesting in a Saudi Arabia up until June this year if a Saudi Arabian woman -- there you're seeing a woman driving, and that would be really punishable by lashing. So she is rebelling against the law.

But up until June of this year, if a woman wanted to buy lingerie, she want to buy a bra and panties, she would have to buy it from a male sales person.

HOLMES: Yes.

BILCHIK: So in June of this year or July of this year, King Abdullah said at least female associates can sell in stores. So reform is certainly being made. But women will have to have a male driver and it's very ironic if you think about it. Why do you have a male driver for protection and all the other reasons, and yet most of the male drivers come from other countries and are strange men?

HOLMES: They're all strangers, yes.

BILCHIK: But I spoke to Melody Moezzi , who is the Muslim women's rights activist, and she said not allowing women to drive is very anti-Muslim, because the prophet's Mohammed's wife, Khadijah, his first wife was considered the most powerful business woman of Mecca and would definitely not survive in Saudi Arabia today.

HOLMES: All right.

Well, ok. There's a cynical look but an optimistic one as well. We'll have to wait maybe a couple of years to see which -- which view we should actually take.

BILCHIK: At least we know progress is being made.

HOLMES: Nadia Bilchik, our "Morning Passport." Thank you as always.

We're 40 minutes past the hour now.

And maybe you weren't able to watch a lot of the -- the trial of the doctor who is accused of being negligent in the death of Michael Jackson.

Well, we're going to get you caught up on everything that happened in that courtroom this week. Your recap -- coming next.

Stay with me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well it's 42 minutes past the hour now.

The ER doctor who pronounced Michael Jackson dead testified the pop superstar had quote, "signs of a dying heart" and was clinically dead on arrival.

Ted Rowlands has a recap of all the drama of week one and a look ahead to week two of Dr. Conrad Murray's involuntary manslaughter trial.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: T.J. in week one, of course, we heard a lot of testimony from prosecution witnesses that were at Michael Jackson's house or with him in the hours and days before his death, and those people that were there when Michael Jackson was unresponsive and they were trying to revive him.

On Friday we heard from those two paramedics that came to Jackson's home and unsuccessfully tried to provide CPR to Jackson. They testified to the jury that they thought Jackson was cold to the touch and almost bluish in color, meaning that he may have been in that state for some time before they arrived. But the most compelling testimony the prosecutors got out of those ambulance drivers or the paramedics was that they said they asked Dr. Murray point blank, what have you given him? What drugs are in Michael Jackson's body, and Dr. Murray, they say, never mentioned Propofol.

Well, next week we're likely to hear from the doctors at the UCLA Medical Center and they are expected to tell a very similar story. That when Jackson arrived with Murray in the ambulance, they too asked, what have you given him? And there was no mention of Propofol. That, of course, prosecutors would hope would show a sign that Murray was trying to cover up his tracks, that he was using Propofol with Michael Jackson which is highly irregular and, of course, is the reason he's on trial here because it caused Michael Jackson's death.

Next week we'll also likely hear from a couple the detectives who were assigned to this case and we may also hear from a couple of Dr. Murray's girlfriends. One of those girlfriends lives here in Los Angeles. That's where Dr. Murray had all of that Propofol shipped to, the other in Houston, Texas. She was the woman that Murray was on the phone with when he realized that Michael Jackson was in trouble -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Thanks to our Ted Rowlands.

We'll have much more on the Murray trial next hour. Criminal defense attorney and former assistant district attorney, Holly Hughes will join me to take a closer look at the prosecution's strategy in the case.

Well, up next, something I want you to stick around for. There was a great, great moment at the beginning of last night's Rangers/Rays baseball game. A little boy and his hero got to meet, but, you know what? I bet they wish it was under better circumstances.

A quick break, I'm right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We're about 13 minutes to the top of the hour now.

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: Reynolds here with me. Reynolds put his jacket on, not for the weather but for this sports story.

Folks in Boston -- what's wrong with the folks in Boston?

WOLF: A lot of people may be asking that question.

HOLMES: Well, this is what happened. You all know by now the manager Terry Francona is now out as the Red Sox manager. Now, he's losing his job after they went on this historic slide that kept them out of the playoffs.

But listen to this, folks. He was with the team for eight years. They hadn't won a championship in, I'm told, 86 years before he got there, and then he won two -- two World Series and now is out after one slip. They lost 20 of their last 27 game; played their way out of the American League wildcard. Listen to Francona.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TERRY FRANCONA, FORMER MANAGER, BOSTON RED SOX: I felt frustrated with, like I just said, my inability to reach maybe guys that I've been able to in the past, or affect the outcome a little bit differently. And that bothers me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF: Heartbreaking. That bothers me.

HOLMES: Different culture in Boston.

(CROSSTALK)

WOLF: It is. But you think how far they've come. You think about how many times the Red Sox came close and it all fell apart. You think about Ted Williams for years coming so close and they could never do it against the Cardinals. Again in '78, against the Yankees they lost the opportunity. And then you have the guy, takes you to the Promised Land not once but twice --

HOLMES: In eight years.

WOLF: -- in eight years.

HOLMES: Wow thanks for your time, Francona.

But let's turn to another story now. Playoffs started last night -- the Rays/Rangers game. And we're showing you this. You may remember this moment back in July. This is at the ballpark in Arlington, Texas. Rangers fan Shannon Stone. He's a firefighter, who was trying to catch that ball that had been tossed into the stands by outfielder Josh Hamilton.

Well, we don't show you the rest of that video, but it does show him tumbling some 20 feet down on his head -- his son was right next to him. The firefighter died. We remember this story when it happened.

Now, let me move you forward to last night. His son Cooper made his first trip back to the stadium last night, since his dad's death. Look at what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Serving the first pitch for game one of the --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: So you see what happened. They brought him out, essentially to start this year's playoff season. There he is throwing out the first pitch and he got to throw it to his favorite player, Josh Hamilton, who, of course, is the guy who tossed the ball up into the stands that his dad was going after.

You see some people in the stands there just in tears last night at this moment.

WOLF: How could they not be? I mean just --

HOLMES: Just gives you chills.

WOLF: Beautiful, touching moment. It really is. And I mean obviously, how tough for the family. How tough for the wife, the mother, the son. Josh Hamilton, as you mentioned, for the team in general. But certainly a beautiful thing to see last night.

HOLMES: Love this picture of the two; him down on his knee right next to the little guy, then the picture of the hug. You can't beat that stuff. Unfortunately the Rangers didn't have a good game last night. Got beat 9-0. But still, this moment was worth it, I'm sure, for a lot of folks.

And you mentioned earlier, look, this guy has a good form. He plays ball.

WOLF: Great form. HOLMES: Clearly.

WOLF: Man, a little (INAUDIBLE) in there too. You think about how many times you see people that seem to be great athletes when you go to the ball park --

HOLMES: Yes.

WOLF: -- it's in the dirt. It's terrible. This kid goes up there and just thunder bolt for an arm. Beautiful.

HOLMES: Great, great for him. But when you're talking baseball there, we have more baseball this weekend, but today is a football Saturday.

(CROSSTALK)

WOLF: Absolutely.

Take a look at the slate we have for you in terms of the games. This could be just remarkable.

We're starting off with Kentucky and LSU. They're playing in Baton Rouge; Baton Rouge always a dangerous place to play for visitors at night. This is going to be a day game; kickoff right after noon with temperature 76 degrees, the wind north-northeast 5 to 10. If a little bit chilly for you, have some of that gumbo. It will warm you up quickly.

Alabama -- Crimson tide of Alabama against the Florida Gators. This is going to be interesting. The Florida coach was (INAUDIBLE) Nick Saban. The Alabama coach kicks off at 8:00 p.m. in the swamp; temperature 63 degrees, clear skies, should be great.

Next game up on the docket that we have that we're covering for you weather-wise, this one clearly near and dear to your heart -- playing at the Jerry Dome, Texas A&M. The Aggies now going to be part of the SCC in an SCC match with the Arkansas Razorbacks; so Arkansas trying to rebound after the (INAUDIBLE) Alabama. Kick off at noon, temperature at 63. I know exactly where T.J. is going to be for this.

And of course, Auburn and South Carolina, boy this is going to be a tough game. Kickoff at 3:30. Temperature 55 degrees. This is a revenge game for South Carolina. They've lost the last two meetings. In fact, South Carolina has not beaten Auburn since the 1930s.

If you're Steve Spurrier or any of those guys, you're Martin (INAUDIBLE), they're great running back these days, they're out for blood. This is going to be like -- just a brutal slug match.

HOLMES: But weather's not going to be much of a factor in any of these games today?

WOLF: Should not be. Maybe a little bit breezy in the afternoon. So it comes down to a kick in the late stages of the game which Auburn is going to be that fortunate --

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: All right. Another story here that had Reynolds and I talking and being careful with our words but has gotten a lot of you all talking, we've seen your reaction. I've gotten it online this morning. But the story is, you can say "I do" but you're not saying "I do until death do us part."

Couples in Mexico City who want to get married but not forever, may be able to soon get a temporary marriage license. The lawmakers there, they're considering this proposal to allow couples to decide on the length of their commitment. They had a big issue there with divorce. So they said, hey, instead of having to go through a messy divorce, get a marriage license for two years, essentially, and test it out. Then you can renew. If you don't like it after two years you don't have to go through a messy divorce. You can just walk away from that commitment. 'S that got a lot of you all out there talking.

Well, that got a lot of you all out there talking this morning. We have read your comments and for the most part, people don't think this is a good idea. You don't think so, either?

WOLF: It's weird. It's almost like you're buying a car, a lease, with an option to buy, you know. It just seems kind of strange. But if you're one of those people that consider a wedding ring the world's tiniest handcuff, people might think --

HOLMES: Oh, Reynolds.

WOLF: There are people that think that way. If you have a good marriage, I'm very fortunate that I do. It's not an option for me, but some people might.

HOLMES: Let me show you what some tweets were saying.

WOLF: Show us. Show us.

HOLMES: Carey sent one of the tweets to us in response. "Why not? CD's are only good seven year, then you have to reinvest again."

Ok. You don't like that one.

All right. Here's another one from Bob. He said, "It sure would keep you on your toes especially if there was a penalty for early withdrawal." Right? You've got to stay on top of things. You want to hold on to that woman or man.

WOLF: I'm not saying anything.

HOLMES: Ok. That's all right.

WOLF: Go.

HOLMES: Here's another from Randolph. He said, "This is a very bad idea, T.J. It's not like," like you just said, "leasing a vehicle. It's marriage in front of God and your family and friends. It is not a test."

I don't know, though.

WOLF: No?

HOLMES: No, I'm --

WOLF: This has got you -- you're perplexed by this.

H1; Because there might be some good in this, given than people do walk into these relationships and making these commitments before God and family then they walk away in a year.

Maybe you could test it out. Walk away in a year or two and it not be so messy. Try it out. If not, ok.

WOLF: Are you saying you want to test this out?

HOLMES: I'm a year and a half in. So, I got six months left to see how this thing goes.

All right, Reynolds. Thank you.

We might have a new holiday tradition coming your way. You can head to the mall then you head to the voting booth. One state proposing a December primary; you could be voting in the 2012 presidential race this year, 2011. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Give you a check now from Christine Romans on what's coming up on "YOUR BOTTOM LINE."

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning T.J.

Do American schools need to be re-engineered to prepare our kids in Science and Math? And how about just getting them excited about it first? That's exactly what Sesame Street is doing this season. We have Elmo on the show to tell us how.

Plus, it's that old debate again: Is college worth it? Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, they don't have a college degree. Hey. Why do you need one?

And millions of students are learning Math for free from Sal Khan. What you can learn from him -- that's all coming up at 9:30 a.m. Eastern -- T.J.