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CNN Saturday Morning News

Historic Elections Held in Myanmar; Wall Street Best Week in A Decade; Who Won the Mega Millions?; NAACP Holds March Seeking Justice For Trayvon; Republican Party Going to Bat For Romeny

Aired March 31, 2012 - 09:00   ET

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

RANDI KAYE, ANCHOR: Let's check some top stories now.

Hillary Clinton is reassuring Gulf Arab states that they have Washington's rock-solid commitment in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, today. The secretary of state said Iran continues to threaten its neighbors and undermine regional security, and she said the international community will look at how to stop the Syrian regime from killing its own people.

And history being made in Myanmar this weekend, where for the first time, elections featuring alternatives to the country's ruling party will take place. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi says that while the elections are not, in her words, "free and fair," the campaign has help boost political awareness.

Wall Street didn't just have a good week, it had a great first three months of the year, the best in more than a decade. The Dow is up 8.1 percent since New Year's Day, that's thanks in part to improving consumer confidence and spending. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are also up by double digits.

And now back to our main story. Three winning tickets for the Mega Millions, they just keep climbing here. We have Redbud, Illinois. We have a winner there. Kansas, and Baltimore County, Maryland, we are keeping track of all the winners.

Let's get to Athena Jones. She is in Baltimore County. One of those winning Mega Millions tickets, Athena, was sold at that 7-Eleven. What do we know about this store?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we can tell you we're right outside the city of Baltimore, just outside the city limits. That's why we're in Baltimore County. We know that the ticket was sold last night here at 7:15 pm.

It was a Quick Pick ticket, which means it was picked by this machine right here, and the winner just spent a dollar, and here he's going to have this huge pot of money to split with those two other winners. You know, over $200 million. it's a record jackpot. The last record was $390 million, back in 2007. So this is a big chunk more than that.

This store here is going to get $100,000 just for having sold that ticket. That's in addition to the five cents on the dollar they get in ticket sales. We spoke with a lottery director here in Maryland who said that the state sold $11 million just about in Mega Millions tickets just yesterday.

And so we don't have the numbers for the past three days, but $11 million in one day is quite a lot of money. And we also know that Americans nationwide spent about $1.5 billion playing this game. And as the lottery --

KAYE: Oh, all right. We lost Athena Jones there, but she was telling us, she's there at that 7-Eleven where that winning ticket was sold, and the store apparently gets about $100,000, as she said. So three winners we know of in Kansas, Illinois and Maryland.

Meanwhile, marchers are on the move in Sanford, Florida, taking part in a protest aimed at the city's police department, which is facing some very sharp criticism for its handling of the killing of Trayvon Martin.

In an open letter to the special prosecutor, the NAACP, which is participating in today's march, slams the police, saying, in part, that their work on this case shows, quote, "evidence of racial bias and investigative mishaps."

George Howell was on the scene in Sanford with the head of the NAACP, Ben Jealous. Good morning, George.

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Randi, good morning. Obviously, the march is starting already. People are already lining up to march. The rally will end here at Sanford police department. And Ben Jealous, the head of the NAACP, joining me now, really overseeing.

Yes, thank you for joining us.

BEN JEALOUS, NAACP: Sure.

HOWELL: Talk to me about the march and rally. What is the message from the NAACP? What message do you want to make today?

JEALOUS: Yes, the march from us and from all the groups here is that Mr. Zimmerman needs to be locked up, and this station needs to be investigated. There's a deep well of concern in this community, both about this case and about many other cases that have happened across the years.

So top of mind today is this case, but folks are saying, let's go further and make sure that we also understand that -- what it will take for justice to really work here in Sanford.

HOWELL: Now, Ben, we are hearing from other groups, the National Action Network, the Reverend Al Sharpton, possibly having a different message, saying that it may be time to take it to the next level, possible economic sanctions. Does your group see it the same way?

JEALOUS: Yes, I spoke with Al this morning. I saw this in reports. Unfortunately, that was a media rumor, that, I mean, caught folks here off guard. But the reality is, that we and NAN and all the groups are very clear that we're not talking about sanctions against Sanford or against Florida, or against Seminole County.

In these struggles, sometimes there come a time for direct action, for civil disobedience. If it happens, it will be in the best Kenyan (ph) tradition and it will be something that all of the groups have discussed and are agreed upon. But as far as sanctions against Seminole County or Sanford, I can tell you that, you know, all of us, we think that would just be a bad idea. It really doesn't fit this case.

HOWELL: Now obviously a big day to rally here, we're also seeing a candlelight vigil later today in Miami, and a rally in Washington, D.C. I mean, what does it mean for your group, people coming together to see so many people joining in to this particular cause?

JEALOUS: This is one of those moments. I mean, this is like when Ms. Till spoke up for her young son in 1954, and said, look at what the -- look at -- look at what they did to my son. It's like Rodney King for our generation, when people sort of took notice and said, you know what, there's a problem that we need to talk about nationally.

What this means is our country is finally having a real conversation about racial profiling, some 10 years, frankly, after we stopped talking about it.

HOWELL: Ben, thank you for joining us.

Back to you, Randi.

KAYE: George, Ben, thank you both very much.

Our Soledad O'Brien leads a special town hall event about how the Trayvon Martin tragedy became a nationwide story and what it says about racial tension in our country. You have another chance to watch "Beyond Trayvon: Race and Justice in America." That's at 2:00 pm Eastern right here on CNN.

Hackers setting their sights on credit and debit cards. And now a security firm says 10 million people could be at risk. Global Payments, the company at center of the breach, says it notified credit card issuers as soon as it discovered the problem. It did not say how many accounts or which companies were affected.

But Visa has released a statement saying, quote, "accounts from all major brands could be affected." So how can you protect yourself? Well, earlier I spoke with finance expert Clyde Anderson. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLYDE ANDERSON, FINANCIAL EXPERT: It's hard to really protect yourself on the front end. That's why laws have been put in place to actually make sure you're that only responsible for a small amount.

So $50 generally what you're responsible for and a lot of credit card companies will waive that. And so really, you have to go in and report it as soon as possible. So it's up to you to go in and make sure the information on your report, the information on your credit card statements is accurate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: And Clyde says, keep a close eye on your statements, look through every charge and, of course, pull your credit report.

The Republican Party seems to be lining up behind front-runner Mitt Romney with a number of big names endorsing him this week, just ahead of the Wisconsin primary. Let's get straight to CNN editor, Paul Steinhauser. Good morning, Paul. So tell me about these endorsements and do they matter?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, we always say, Randi, especially in this cycle, endorsements really don't matter. But I think the story line has changed a little bit.

Ever since Mitt Romney won that Illinois primary a week and a half ago, and won pretty convincingly over Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul, we've seen a wave of these really big-name endorsements, as you said. Just yesterday you had Paul Ryan, that Congressman from Wisconsin, who's the House Budget Chairman; Marco Rubio, just a few days earlier, the very popular conservative senator from Florida; Jeb Bush last week, the former popular governor of Florida; and this week an elder statesman in the party, George Herbert Walker Bush, the former president.

You know what it kind of does? It gives an air of inevitability almost to Romney, that he's going to win this nomination. The story line almost strengthens because all of these people are now starting to back him. The establishment is starting to back him, but also, Randi, some of these endorsements help as well because these are some conservative people.

Like Ryan and Rubio, people who are really well-liked among Tea Party activists, that's a group Romney needs help with when it comes to getting backing.

KAYE: Yes, he certainly does. Let's talk about Wisconsin. We're going to have that primary coming up this week. Is this must-win for Santorum? And if not, what happens to him?

STEINHAUSER: I really think it's got to be a must-win, right? I mean, three states on Tuesday, Wisconsin the only one where he really has a shot. Maryland and District of Columbia are pretty much Romney territory.

Take a look at this poll, though. This is the most recent poll out of there. This is from yesterday. NBC/Marist, and you can see right here, Santorum has got his work cut out for him. He is seven points down, according to this NBC/Marist poll among people likely to vote in the primary there.

If he doesn't win in Wisconsin, there's another three weeks, Randi, three weeks until the next contest. How does he survive? That's tough. But he doesn't feel that way. Take a listen to what he told our John King last night. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FORMER SEN. RICK SANTORUM, R-PA., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My epitaph has been written many times throughout the course of this campaign. So I'm just going to take it a day at a time, and we're going to keep working very, very hard and go out there and articulate the principles that I think will win this election in the fall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEINHAUSER: Pretty optimistic there, but let's be honest. If he doesn't win in Wisconsin, the odds just get tougher and tougher and tougher for Rick Santorum. And the momentum builds even stronger for Mitt Romney.

KAYE: Yes, and the Republicans are saying, at least many of them saying they don't want this floor fight at a brokered convention. So something has got to give, right?

STEINHAUSER: Exactly. They said it only helps Barack Obama come November. You got it.

KAYE: Yes. All right. Paul Steinhauser, nice to see you. Thank you very much.

As we've been talking about all morning, we now know we've able to confirm three winners of the Mega Millions jackpot. Kansas, one in Kansas, one in Illinois and one in Maryland. They're each going to get about $200,000 unless more come through.

We're going to speak to the Illinois lottery superintendent Michael Jones coming up right after this break. We'll get some more information from him, I'm sure, so keep it here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back. We're talking Mega Millions. There's another lucky ticket out there besides the winning tickets sold in Maryland and Kansas. This was one was purchased in Illinois.

Joining me on the phone is the Illinois Lottery Superintendent Michael Jones. Good morning to you, Michael. Can you tell us where the ticket in Redbud, Illinois, was purchased?

MICHAEL JONES, ILLINOIS LOTTERY SUPERINTENDENT: Yes. It was purchased at a convenience store, and Redbud is a tiny town down near St. Louis. So it just shows you how random lottery winnings are, That all the places in all the United States, Redbud has a winner.

KAYE: And how was the lottery notified that Redbud had a winner and have you been able to speak to the store owner there? This convenience store?

JONES: We were notified by the national association that controls Mega Millions that we had a winner and had identified the retailer that sold the ticket.

And we have reached out to the store and we've also asked the store if they know who it is, to have them contact us, because it's very important now for whoever has that winning ticket to obviously sign the back of the ticket, put it in a safe place, reach out to us so we can begin the process of awarding the person the prize, and it's quite exciting. Isn't it?

KAYE: It sure is. We know there was a winner in Maryland, and we understand from Maryland they don't have to come forward and go public. What about in Illinois? Does the winner have to go public to claim the prize?

JONES: Well, they have a period of time to, you know, get a hold of us so we can begin the winning, you know, the processing of the winners. But, indeed, we do publicize who the person is. We will actually discuss with them anonymity.

But the idea behind it, it comes from the 19th century when lotteries went out of business because they collected all the money and didn't award prizes, that we do have some duty to the public who played, to prove that we actually awarded the prize to someone.

But if there's a reason that they want to remain anonymous, or claim the prize through a -- you know, some sort of model to save on taxes, we will work with them on that. But, ultimately a reporter like you could find out who it is, because we have to prove that we awarded it.

KAYE: Right. Do we know if this was -- if they chose these numbers, or if this was a Quick Pick of some type?

JONES: I don't know that yet. But it will be the largest lottery prize winner in the history of the Illinois lottery, $213 million.

KAYE: And the store gets a little something, too? Don't they?

JONES: They do. They get 1 percent of the value of ticket. So they'll get in the neighborhood of $213,000 as a bonus.

KAYE: Nice. Pretty nice deal for them. Are you planning any type of news conference? Or is there anything going to happen later today?

JONES: Well, I think we, you know, we'll -- we may not have a news conference today, but we would certainly want to reach out to the person to make sure that we begin the process and make sure the ticket is safe, and we know who the person is, and then discuss with them how they want to publicize it.

I know that a number of media people have reached out to me to comment on the prize. I think I'm sitting here in anticipation of finding out who won the prize.

KAYE: Well, we know it wasn't you, Michael. Right? You'd tell us.

JONES: I can't play, but if I could have played, I'm sure I would have won. KAYE: All right. That's right. You can't play. Well, Michael, thank you very much. We appreciate your time. Michael Jones, the superintendent there of the Illinois lottery with new information, apparently bought at a convenience store, the winning ticket there in Redbud, Illinois. Who knew?

Coming up, this woman is the CEO of tech giant IBM. But thanks to an 80-year-old men-only policy, she's barred from being a member of the famed Augusta golf course. So will the Masters get a bit of a makeover? That's ahead in sports.

And also once again, here's a look at the winning Mega Millions numbers. One of the winning tickets bought in Illinois, as we told you.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

KAYE: I want to you meet a man who uses toys to save lives. It's part of Dr. Sanjay Gupta's "The Next List," which airs Sundays at 2:00 pm Eastern.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSE GOMEZ-MARQUEZ, MIT PROFESSOR: I want to create the equivalent of what Lego is today for toys. I want to have not just the medicates (ph) but the movement of democratized innovation in health care. I want to do that for medical technologies.

My name is Jose Gomez-Marquez, And I use toys to make affordable medical devices.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Take a good look at those winning numbers. Maybe you have a ticket that matches those. Welcome back to CNN SATURDAY MORNING, everyone. There is a look. One more look from last night's Mega Millions jackpot. We know of three winning tickets so far sold in Kansas, Illinois and Maryland.

A huge sports weekend, especially if you're a fan of college basketball. Sports guru Joe Carter joining me now. You can't win either, right? That's why you're here?

JOE CARTER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I am very much not a winner. Yes.

KAYE: I'm sorry. But let's talk sports. Let's talk about the Final Four, a couple games today?

CARTER: Yes, we've gone from 68 teams now down to four. We've boiled it all down. We got two games today. Really that Kansas-Ohio State game is being billed as the more competitive, better basketball matchups. The teams are more evenly matched up.

But the Louisville-Kentucky game has got all the pageantry, it's got the glitter because of these long-standing intense rivalry between the two schools. There's about 65 miles that separate the two schools. And any comparison I can give you between -- or to compare how intense the rivalry is, I would say, you could look at Auburn-Alabama on the football field. That's the Louisville-Kentucky rivalry on the hardwood.

These guys play each other once during the season, but this is the very first time these two schools will be playing each other in the Final Four. So it's a huge deal.

Someone said, this is the basketball version of the Civil War in that state of Kentucky, but I know a lot of people said this game may end up being a blowout. Kentucky's on paper, at least a much better team. Vegas has them as a nine-point favorite, which is a lot for a semifinal game.

And then the nightcap, you got Ohio State-Kansas, like I said before, this is a game between two evenly matched teams, this is going to be a better all-around basketball game. Back in December, these two teams played. But Kansas won by 11 points. But back in December, Ohio State was without its star player, Jared Sullinger.

So it's like being without Peyton Manning if you're playing the Colts. So you're missing that key guy. Ohio State's favored by two points with Jared Sullinger back in the lineup. So two games tonight. Final's on Monday.

KAYE: Do you have a pick? How's your bracket?

CARTER: My bracket's totally busted. But I think it's going to be Ohio State and Kentucky in the finals, and Kentucky's going to win the whole thing.

KAYE: Yes. Let's talk about the Masters. A little bit of a controversy in the golf world. Nothing to do with Tiger Woods.

CARTER: No. I mean, actually Tiger is probably sitting back, thinking, gosh, this is great. They're talking about something other than me, because he's obviously the odds-on favorite heading into the Masters next week. I want to be clear about this to start the story off.

Augusta National has been opened since 1933. This is a very tradition-rich golf club, and female members -- excuse me, females are allowed to golf on this golf course. They're just not allowed to be members of the club. It's been -- that rule's been in place since 1933, and there really appears to be nothing that's going to change it.

But there's something -- there's a debate that's been revived, let's just say, because of IBM. Now, IBM has a new CEO. That CEO happens to be a female. And what IBM is to the Masters is a huge corporate sponsor. And in years past, Augusta National gives its corporate sponsor CEOs automatic memberships to the club, but these CEOs have always been men in the past. So now it sort of raises the debate of will Augusta National change its policy, or will IBM pull its sponsorship to support its CEO? Augusta National has not commented. IBM has not commented.

But I can tell you, based on a lot of things that have happened with that golf club in the past, they don't do anything on anybody's clock except for theirs. So if they decide to change the rule, I think they'll wait until the tournament end and then they'll make changes later on.

KAYE: And they're also very secretive about their memberships.

(CROSSTALK)

CARTER: Yes, they never discuss anything about a membership. It's a private club and everything is internal.

KAYE: All right. Joe Carter, nice to see you.

CARTER: You, too.

KAYE: Thank you.

A march for justice in Florida. Supporters of Trayvon Martin are heading for police headquarters. We'll have more details for you just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Checking top stories for you. A massive rally under way right now in Sanford, Florida, where Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by a neighborhood watchman, George Zimmerman. Protesters are marching to Sanford's police headquarters calling for, quote, "justice" for Trayvon. The rally is being led by Reverend Al Sharpton and Reverend Jesse Jackson.

And we now know at least three Mega Millions tickets had these winning numbers. Kansas, Maryland and Illinois, 2-4-23-28-46, Mega Ball 23. Check those tickets, everyone, because there could be more winners out there.

I'll be back at the top of the hour with more on our top stories plus some interesting news in the news world. Keith Olbermann's exit from Current TV. But right now, it's time for "YOUR BOTTOM LINE" with Christine Romans.