delivered by tomorrow. that's all for us tonight. anderson cooper starts right now. we'll have to leave it there for just one moment. our viewers in the united states are joining us at cnn snarl for breaking news out of cairo where it appears that the security forces are certainly making their move to clear out the pro-morsi sit-in camp in place for six weeks now. >> over to vicki anderson. thanks, guys, this is becky anderson. i'd like to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world to what is our breaking news coverage of the violence unfolding in egypt. now, the situation in cairo is fluid. this is what we know. in the past few hours, security

forces have moved in on two large camps set up by protesters in the city. witnesses say authorities bulldozed tents and fired tear gas. now, the demonstrators were there to show support for former president mohamed morsi. he was removed from power last month. his muslim brotherhood party says 200 people have been killed and 8,000 are injured. the deputy head of egypt's emergency services said on state tv that six pro-morsi protesters are considered dead and 26 injured. conflicts reports. as you can imagine this is an ongoing situation. they say security forces did not use live ammunition and attacked by what it's calling terrorist elements inside the camp. the interior ministry reports two interior ministry officials have been killed and nine others

injured. and they've suspended rail service to cairo. and they say it's an in attempt to stop more pro-morsi protesters to coming to the city. it's 2 minutes past 10:00 in the morning. this all started at around 6:00 a.m. local time. i want to give you a clear idea of where this is all taking place. this is cairo's tahrir square, the site of mr. protests. the raids are taking place in two main campus, the northeast in the mosque in eastern cairo. the scene there has been described as a full-on assault with wounded people streaming out. and in the southwest is nader square camp. demonstrators have been fortifying themselves within the two camps for the past six weeks. at about 8:45 local time interior ministry officials tell

us that the back camp was actually cleared. the views of the united states will now return to regular programming, for everybody else, we'll have much more on this developing story for you. reza sayah is in cairo's nadha square with more. reza, describe what you're hearing on the ground. all right. we are going to try and get back to reza. he's been describing quite -- we have breaking news on two fronts. a hostage situation playing out in a bank in louisiana. bring you the latest on that in a few minutes. first, though, late new word on the intercepted al qaeda messages that sparked the closings of 19 embassies around the world. a source telling cnn's barbara starr that u.s. code breakers recognized a number of specific words that he believe signaled the potentially imminent attack.

three intercepts got their attention. the first was from nasir al wuhayshi. the leader of the al qaeda in the arabian peninsula group. the second said to be a response from al qaeda leader ayman al zawahiri. a u.s. official declined to discuss specific code words, but told cnn "there was a sense of imminence, a sense of the overall area at risk and the known actors." there was this, officials said, of great concern. we also now know in addition to the embassy closings, u.s. drones launched a series of attacks on al qaeda, including one over the weekend in yemen, which abc news is reporting killed four suspected al qaeda operatives associated with the embassy closings. u.s. officials are not commenting on that. fran townsend joins us now. fran serves on the cia and homeland security external

advisory boards. also is peter bergen and on the phone, former fbi official philip mudd. fran, what are you hearing? >> look, more than a decade since 9/11, we have come to understand the sorts of words, code words, that they use. you learn them from people who you captured, from surveillance and foreign intelligence services and we've gotten much better. we listen for that. you know, you load surveillance systems to trigger the system to alert analysts when they capture those sorts of words. and this is an indication that we've matured in terms of our intelligence capability to identify the threat and to act on it. >> phil, you say picking up this type of intelligence is standard operating procedure, but the information should have never been leaked to the public, correct? >> i don't think it should have been. i think there's a big difference between what we know and telling the american citizens that there's cause for concern across the middle east. there's a difference when you're playing a cat and mouse game against terrorists. telling them how we know it.

i think it's perfectly legitimate to tell americans we have access to al qaeda officials, but to tell them we're intercepting messages basically tells them how to hide. >> fran, does it surprise you how much has leaked out about this? there was that earlier daily beast report termed a conference call. >> yeah, look, it's very damaging, because as we develop capability to intercept their communications, what you don't know want them to know is we are able to intercept what they believe is secret communications. as phil mudd says, when you signal that to them, you also signal it's time to change the way they talk to each other. >> this is not the first time that al qaeda used codes. didn't they use elaborate coded messages before 9/11? >> before 9/11, they had a very elaborate code. they kind of communicated about the targets. they talked about the trade center being the faculty of town planning. they talked about four exams for

four tarts, and they talked about the exams happening in three weeks. we've also seen much lesser elaborate codes like the word wedding for a potential attack. so al qaeda has certainly used these terms in the past. >> and, fran, u.s. embassies have reopened, but these folks aren't going away unless they're eliminated? >> no, that's right. we've seen this extraordinary number increase of drone strikes in yemen, presumably at targets. we don't know this for your, prubl presumably at targets related to the threat. we had heard from officials that there was an influx of what they believed were operational types into yemen, around the time they closed the embassies. they're taking overt and covert action. that we only see -- you know, you see the results of the drone strikes, but they're not saying, and they won't confirm who's been hit. >> phil, now that the code of message has been enter

septembered, does al qaeda now shift its m.o.? are they operationally nimble enough to shift gears? >> look, they've shifted in the past, and i could tell you, having watched them for years, they have american citizens in their midst. they will read newspapers. they read the internet. the problem they face, though, communication between people like zawahiri and subordinates are difficult because they're so isolated and pressure is so high. so they're going to be reading news reports tonight, but it's not like they can call him up and say let's change code words tomorrow. communication is very difficult. >> peter, we talked about this a little bit, but it bears repeating. how do you see this now that we have some distance on this alleged terror threat, do you see it as al qaeda resurgent or as a sign of the difficulties they have trying to launch an operation now? >> well, if this show was about an attack that had happened on a u.s. embassy, we'd be having a very different kind of show.

we're having a show about embassies that closed because the messages were intercepted. so as fran says, it shows the fact that we've been pretty successful, the u.s. government has. so we can celebrate the fact that this threat seems to be washing out. we've had threats similar in the past in the fall of 2010, the state department released a europe-wide alert for an al qaeda attack. it was based on real intelligence. there was a lot of criticism about the vagueness of this warning, similar to what happened here where it was unspecific. and in the end, the threat washed out. so this may be the case now, or we may find something down the road. but it's hard to tell. >> peter bergen, phillip mudd, good to have you on. fran townsend, as well. the week-long search for hannah anderson, it ended with james dimaggio, hannah's kidnapper and killer of her mother and brother shot dead by law enforcement and snipers. it involved the work of hundreds of people, civilians and law

enforcement alike, including steve german, who told a story. to san diego affiliate kgtv. >> we had been working the case for nearly a week, and it's interesting to point out that this was -- that the sheriff that called in the tip about the idaho woods and seeing them, that was our 200th tip when the sheriff called in this tip, it was -- we were trying to determine how valid it was. when the car turned up in idaho, obviously it became a central area of focus. once we were able to determine that the car was there, it became -- it was really the needle in the hay stack we had been searching for. we went to the lake where she was last seen by the horseback rider, it's called morehead lake. and it's a small lake. a tiny little mountain lake. it's probably no larger than an olympic-size pool.

we circled a few more times and focussed in on that area and we were able to see that it was a blue tent. the horseback riders reported they saw a blue tent at honeymoon lake which was only about three miles away from morehead lake. they reported that they saw her and a cat and dimaggio up at morehead lake. so when we saw the blue tent, we definitely knew that we would have to research further. and then we were actually able to verify that it was a male and a female with blonde hair and a small animal. so at that point, we knew we had something extremely valuable. it appears they were going about their normal activity. they gathered firewood and walked around and it didn't appear like they were doing anything out of the ordinary. but they were the only ones in this -- in that area. we searched the area and there was no one else within several miles.

10:00 we launched and we had them located at 10:45. it was extremely quick. there was a lot of speculation, they could be there, they could have made it out of the area and made it up to canada. there's always a lot of speculation in these types of things, but it's always best to start where were they last seen and work a spiral out from that. when we got confirmation that she was okay, it was like a weight lifted off of everybody's shoulders, and a job well done. it's a very rewarding feeling. it's the type of feeling that we get on a lot of cases. but in a high profile case like this where you realize how imminent danger was for her, and you realize what you did, it's a good feeling. it makes my job worthwhile. >> let us know what you think on twitter. @andersoncooper. just ahead, the latest in the bank hostage situation that's happening right now in

louisiana. you're looking at the scene there. also tonight, the cost to boycott the winter olympics in russia over russia's new anti-gay law and harsh anti-gay climate. olympic superstar greg louganis joins us just ahead. 4a nw(fe

in a moment, the debate over boycotting the winter olympics in russia because of russia's stance on gay rights. first, what's at stake with or without the winter games. this may, a young man's body was

found. skull was crushed, he'd been raped with beer bottles. killed according to one suspect because he was gay. something his family denies. such is the stigma. it's a dangerous time to be gay in russia or to speak out for gay rights. protesters across the country are routinely beaten, sometimes by anti-gay thugs as police stand back and watch. sometimes the police themselves do the beating. and now in addition to the physical danger, there's a legal dimension. russian president putin recently signing legislation amending the country's child protection laws outlawing "the propagandizing of nontraditional sexual relationships among minors." they say they're only protecting children from information about gays. the law prompting calls for a boycott of the olympics, or some kind of protest by athletes attending the olympics, something the international olympic committee said they would penalize and russian authorities said they would punish under the law. others, though, including one of

russia's leading news anchors wants to go farther. >> translator: i believe it is not enough to impose fines on gays for engaging in the propaganda of homosexuality. on adolescents. we need to ban them from donating blood or sperm. if they die in car accidents we need to bury them in the ground. >> that anchor said he was just talking about organ transplants. you can judge for yourself. phil black is in moscow and joins us now. phil, we've seen the images and heard horror stories how gay people are treated in russia. is there much outrage within russia itself? >> reporter: no, anderson, there isn't. this has long been a socially conservative society, one with little tolerance of open homosexuality. so there's always been violence against gay people. that is disputed by some politicians here. difficult to draw a link between recent violence and this law. by gay people here strongly believe it sends a message, reinforces a message that there is an impunity when it comes to

violence or retaliation against them. >> we're seeing this video, one or two protesters who put up a rainbow flag, being hauled off by police, beaten by crowds or even beaten by police. phil, how likely is it, that gay athletes, or athletes that show any support for equal rights or gay and lesbians could actually be prosecuted? >> it is difficult to say, because the law itself doesn't specifically define what gay propaganda is. but it could include simply carrying a rainbow flag, displays of affection, anywhere these things take place publicly and could possibly be seen by children, that is a theory, we believe, a breach of the law. so if that happens during the games with athletes or visitors showing support for russia's gay community, it comes down to the russian authorities to determine what to do under those circumstances. and it's a challenge for them because they want their laws to be respected, they want their sovereignty to be respected but they also want separately, want the olympic games to be

considered a success. >> is there any reason, phil, to believe that russian officials will in any way ratchet down these anti-gay laws? >> not really, no. the law does have tremendous support in this country. one of the theories is, its key purpose was to secure the support of the country's conservative majority. there's been a lot of pressure on the russian government. but the russian government doesn't respond well from pressure, particularly from the outside, doesn't like to back down. little reason to believe it does in this case. >> phil black reporting from moscow, thanks. greg louganis, perhaps the greatest diver america has ever produced. one of the youngest medalists in 1976. he's also a legend, he's also gay, and has some ideas how he would protest if he were in russia. we spoke earlier tonight. greg, obviously you're an olympic gold medalist, you're also gay. what are your thoughts about what's happening in russia right now, particularly the talk of boycotting the olympics? >> well, i'm not in favor of

boycotting. i mean, i lived through two boycotts. few athletes have that opportunity. there's a short window of opportunity for young kids who trained their entire lives for this, whether they be gay or straight. you know, i was in competitions where i was called faggot and there was the whole fag buster campaign. it was very difficult sometimes when we would travel internationally, because nobody wanted to room with the fag. so i usually ended up rooming with one of the coaches. it's a very small team, small community. >> no one on your own team wanted to room with you? >> yeah. usually i would find one person on the team that was, you know, secure enough in their own sexuality that they knew it wasn't an issue. >> there have been a number of columnists here in the states who suggested that the athletes,

you know, on the u.s. team carry rainbow flags or other athletes carry rainbow flags. do you think that's a good idea, though? i think it's against ioc rules. >> yeah, it's a really tough call, and you know, unfortunately the ioc is not following their own charter. in thin charter, principle 6, is anti-discrimination, you know, against -- the entire olympic movement is about not discrimina discriminating. and here they're being very select in what they're enforcing. and they have come forward to say that they would take action toward those athletes who do demonstrate. it's really unfortunate that the ioc is not living up to -- they're talking the talk but not walking the walk. >> so you wouldn't wear a

rainbow flag or wave a rainbow flag or make some kind of a statement while competing? >> oh, i probably would. and get a rainbow speedo. >> a rainbow speedo. i'm not sure that they make those, but you could probably have one made. greg, it's great to have you on the program. thank you. i appreciate it. richard served as white house senior advisory during the clinton administration dealing with gay and lesbian civil rights issues. what do you make, "a," of what's happening in russia right now and the idea of a boycott? >> well, i think it's a big story. it will probably be the biggest international gay rights story we've ever seen, and we have to keep all the options on the table. principally now, the focus should be in trying to get the ioc to move the olympics somewhere else. i know that's a dramatic step. >> is that even possible? >> anything is possible.

we have to -- they'll take a strong stand that any country that violates human rights like this, targeting mistreatment or killings, any country that treats a population like this can't be allowed to host an international sporting event where the idea is welcome to everybody. >> do you think in the future, regardless of what happens in russia, in the futch they are the olympic committee should take into account a country's treatment of minorities? >> i mean, i think they have to. i think it's part of their charter, and in this instance they seem to be asleep at the switch for not doing so. >> their charter does not talk about being against discrimination of sexual -- based on sexual orientation. do you think that should be rewritten? >> it should be added, but their charter covers it in spirit. now, it talks broadly about nondiscrimination, about sports. this notion that they would now punish athletes or anybody for protesting, even if we go there, is ridiculous. i don't think they're going

to -- you know, if the olympics are actually held in sochi and the russians don't change this law, there will be massive protests. the russians will have to decide whether they're going to arrest these protesters. it is going to be a huge mess and big story. >> and if it is in russia, do you think athletes should carry a rainbow flag or do something? >> i think if it's in russia, i think they must protest this mistreatment of a class of people and this violence that is being perpetrated by this country. >> do you think if russia had passed laws, outlawing the propagandizing jewish faith or black culture, there would be more outcry than there is about gays and lesbians? >> well, you know, remarkably, i think, obviously, yes, now, there would be, if they were targeting women with mistreatment or a racial minority, they are targeting other communities. there's the story in "the new

york times" today about the targeting of the immigrant community. remarkably, this is what we saw in 1936 with the olympics in berlin and with germany when hitler said that he would suspend the anti-jewish laws during the 1936 olympics. and, of course, you know, he suspended the laws. they took down the anti-jewish signs. they cleaned things up for a little while. then of course, most people participated in those olympics and we know what happened after that. >> a lot more to come on this, no doubt. six months before the olympics. richard, appreciate it. thanks for being on. coming up, breaking news tonight. that hostage situation happening right now in a bank in northeastern louisiana. a gunman has been holding three people hostage for more than six hours. i'll speak to the head of the louisiana state police coming up next. also tonight, what changed dr. sanjay gupta's mind about medical marijuana? there's been a tremendous response to his documentary. i'll speak with him coming up.

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welcome back. i'm susan hendricks with breaking news from northeastern louisiana, where a gunman is holding hostages inside of a bank in st. joseph. the suspect has been holding the hostages, who are bank employees, for about ten hours now. just a short time ago, state police announced that negotiations are continuing. but that one of the three hostages has been released. listen here. >> one of the females had a chance just a few minutes ago to

talk to the family. they were notified. they know of it. we're in the process right now. with a team from fbi and state police interviewing that lady to get as much information as possible. i want you to remember, it's a fluid, active scene. we still have two hostages in there. we have a hostage taker. they've been in there since 12:30. we have every tactical element that we need at the scene right now. >> as you just heard, it's a fluid, active scene. joining me by phone right now is homeland security personnel jane metterville. this is an ongoing situation. i'm sure you don't want to speculate, but what can you tell us about the negotiation process? one person has been released as the suspect is armed. but what is he saying to authorities? >> you're getting the same information that we're getting. no other news to report other than one hostage has been released and we can all be very thankful for that. we still have two hostages being

held and it's our main concern right now to get these two hostages out safe and back home with their family members. we're just asking everybody to remain calm and to pray and to dispel any rumors, not spread any rumors and that's where we are right now. >> jane, it's a long process. what do you know about the hostage taker? i heard that he was born in southern california, he's new to louisiana. is it true that his family owns a store in the area? do you have any clue if he may know the people that he's holding hostage? >> if he's from tensas parish, he would know the people that he's holding hostage. the only thing i can confirm is he family does own a convenience store and he was an employee at a convenience store here in tensas parish. >> in terms of his motive, just share what you can right now. do you know if this is a robbery

that went wrong, or was there something else that he was looking for going into that bank? >> i can't speculate on that. i have no clue what the motive may have been. >> what about his family, are they involved? are they helping out? >> from my understanding, the authorities were trying to contact family members of the suspect in order to get them involved in the negotiations. that's as much as i can tell you. >> jane, as you said, the safety of the two hostages who are still in there is, of course, your number one priority. could this last through the night, depending on how the negotiations go? >> yes, it could last through the night. the situation could be ongoing for quite some time. people just need to remain calm, stay abreast of the situation and continue to remember these folks in their prayers. we all know who they are and we're all concerned about their family that they have at home and their safety where they are

now. so we need to keep them in our prayers and hope that this situation can be resolved without anybody getting hurt, and that's the only thing that i can say to the hostage taker himself, if he's listening, i hope he is listening, that he needs to let these people go. >> jane, we're so thankful that you were able to get that message out. we're hoping that too, as well. thanks so much. good talking to you. >> yes, ma'am. now to a "360" news and business bulletin. an update on the saga surrounding baby veronica and the arrest of her biological father for defying a court order for refusing to return her to her adoptive parents. dustin brown turned himself in to authorities yesterday. the adoptive parents live in south carolina and that state wanted to extradite him. but today, oklahoma's governor mary fallin said she won't do

anything about the extradition request until after the court hearing next month. a juror in the whitey bulger trial is speaking out after the boston mobster was found guilty of 31 counts of racketeering and 11 murders. juror janet mueller says corruption in the fbi during whitey bulger's heyday left her disgusted. she admits there was tension during deliberations. >> i'm not sure a jury in the history of the united states has ever faced anything like this. we had 30 years of crime, we had many criminals before us. so many situations. and we had corruption in the government to top it all off. it was huge. two friends of boston marathon bombing suspect dzhokhar tsarnaev have pleaded not guilty to obstruction of justice charges. they are accused of taking items from tsarnaev's dorm room to keep them from investigators. paula deen no longer faces racial discrimination claims after a judge tossed out that part of the lawsuit against her but the financial damage is

already done from her admitted use of racial slurs in the past. according to celebritynetworth.com, she's lost several million a year in income due to this scandal. but she has a net worth of about $10 million. take a look at america's newest millionaires, meet ocean 16 as they're called. the 16 workers from ocean county, new jersey a's vehicle maintenance authority, who won a third of last week's $448 million powerball jackpot. after taxes, each gets $3.8 million. we'll be right back. we do? i took the trash out. 0 i know. and thank you so much for that. i think we should get a medicare supplement insurance plan. right now? [ male announcer ] whether you're new to medicare or not, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. it's up to you to pay the difference. so think about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company.

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a cnn documentary that premiered two nights ago got tremendous viewership and a lot of reaction. it's called "weed." and a lot of people are still talking about it. chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta spent a year digging into medical marijuana and what he found made him do a 180 in his thinking. before we talk to sanjay about that and the response to the documentary, we want to play a clip for you. s

sanjay met a number of people whose lives have been changed for the better by medical marijuana. one is a little girl named charlotte. take a look. >> it was january 2012. afghanistan. about 7,000 miles away from his family in colorado, matt received this video from his wife, paige. >> it's horrible seeing these videos when i'm deployed. >> it was his 5-year-old daughter charlotte seizing. diagnosed with a severe form of epilepsy, she was having 300 seizures a week, each attack so severe, it had the potential to kill her. they had already tried dozens of high-powered drugs. >> we needed to try something else, and at that point in time, marijuana was that natural course of action to try. >> at home in colorado, paige searched for marijuana high in cbd. that's the ingredient some scientists think helps seizure and also low in thc. remember, she didn't want to get her daughter stoned. she found a small amount in a

denver dispensary. the owner was surprised that anyone wanted it. >> the general consensus is nobody wanted it. it didn't have any effect. >> page paid $800 for a small bag and took it home. >> i had a friend starting a business making medicine and i said can you help me extract the medicine from this bag of marijuana. i measured it with a syringe and squirted it under her tongue. it was exciting and nerve-racking. >> holding charlotte in her arms, she waited. an hour ticked by. then another. and then another. >> she didn't have a seizure that day, then didn't have one that night. >> did you sit there and look at your watch? >> yeah, right. i thought this is crazy. then she didn't have one the next day, and then the next day. i thought, she would have had 100 by now. and i just -- i know, i thought this is insane. >> then paige heard about the stanleys.

the six brothers and their green house of marijuana that is high in cbd. >> i said oh, my goodness. he says, i don't know what to do with it, we're trying new things with it, but no one wants it, it's not sellable. i said, just don't touch that, because we need that plant. >> people have called us the robin hoods of marijuana. they say we sell pot so that we can take care of the kids. and the truly less fortunate. >> charlotte was the first of those kids. late spring, 2012. she tried the stanley special marijuana, and again, it worked. >> i can't tell you what that means to us. gets you, doesn't it, a little bit? >> if it doesn't get you, something is wrong with you. she lived her life in a catatonic state. now her parents get to meet her for the first time. what a revelation. >> this child, who had had 300 seizures a week, was now down to

just one every seven days. >> and it's kind of her example that was part of the reason you really have done a 180 on your opinion on this. >> yeah, i mean, charlotte, certainly, just watching that story is unbelievable. but she's emblematic of a lot more patients. if you just look at the literature in the united states on medicinal marijuana, the vast majority of studies are designed to look at the harm. that's what i realized. if you look at it globally, it doesn't look impressive. but then you realize they're looking for harm. a very small percentage, about 6% to look for benefit. once you look outside the united states, in other countries and smaller labs and listening to the legitimate chorus of patients who marijuana works for them when nothing else did, then you start to really dive into this and that's what really tempered my --

>> the u.s. government still classifies marijuana in the same category as lsd and heroin. and those are defined as drugs with, quote, no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. do you think that is not true? >> that is not true. >> there's not a high potential for abuse? >> cocaine is a schedule two substance. it has a higher potential for abuse. you are more than likely to become addicted to it. there are many substances out there that are legal that you're more likely to abuse than marijuana. it's not even close to being the truth with regard to use. with regard to medical applications, you saw, again, an example of that. but i don't want you to think this is anecdotal. that's been part of the problem with this debate. people rely on conjecture, hyperbole and anecdotal stories. there is real science here. charlotte is one girl that represents lots of patients that marijuana has worked for them. let me just share with you, the united states government, through its department of health and human services, holds a

patent on marijuana as a protectant for the brain. something to protect the brain after head injuries. >> how is it possible, that the u.s. government holds a patent? >> the u.s. government holds a patent on one hand, and on the other hand, the same government says it has no medical applications. i think i've said this before. journalists are trained to hate hypocrisy. this is hypocrisy, i've never seen it quite like this. >> you interviewed the director of the national institute on drug abuse. they told "usa today" something. she said that if she was concerned that if the drug became universally legal, adolescents would have more access to the drug. that's something you hear from a lot of parents and people who work in the drug field that say it's a gateway drug. >> i don't think it's a gateway drug. to the extent that that implies that your body changes and you now crave other drugs as a result of marijuana, i don't

think that's true. the science doesn't back that up. people that get marijuana illicitly are exposed to other drugs possibly and that may explain in part why they go on to heroin or cocaine or something like that. i think anybody would be worried about kids taking this stuff. i don't want anybody's brain that hasn't fully developed which is usually the mid-20s taking this stuff. that's not about this. but the tradeoff should be, we will deny people therapy, that may be the only thing that works for them. i don't think that's the tradeoff. >> it's fascinating. you have gotten a huge response from this. >> it was a bit surprising. >> you apologized. you said i'm sorry that i was wrong about this. >> yeah. i mean, that's a tough thing to do i think fob anybody. when i hit "send" on that, it's tough.

but it's the right thing to do, because i didn't look deep enough at the evidence and the research that's going on there, and i think that we have been in this country misled. i said that. i think we have been misled systematically, it's been terribly misleading over the last 70 years, and i wanted to apologize for my own role in that. but now it's important to look forward and say there is legitimate uses for marijuana and people who needlessly suffered during this period of demonization of marijuana should feel like they can maybe have some options in terms of treating their disease. that's the right thing to do. >> sanjay, good to have you on. fascinating documentary. if you missed it, i urge you to watch it. you can catch sanjay's documentary "weed" this friday on cnn. just ahead, the security guard that's being called a hero for his quick thinking when that sinkhole opened up in florida. and david mattingly takes us inside one of these sinkholes. it's an up close look at the a

phenomenon as olds as the ice age.

we'll take you inside the so-called devil's den, one of florida's nearly 20,000 known sinkholes, ahead on "360." uhh, it's my geico insurance id card, sir. it's digital, uh, pretty cool right? maybe. you know why i pulled you over today? because i'm a pig driving a convertible? tail light's out.. fix it. digital insurance id cards. just a click away with the geico mobile app.

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wide, 15 feet deep. an engineering firm hired by the resort said that preliminary tests have not turned up any further cause for alarm. as we reported, three dozen people just minutes to get out of that villa. the amazing thing is no one was hurt and the security guard, richard shanley is being described as a hero. he realized the building was coming apart. >> i went door to door beating on the doors, making sure they were safe. i went floor to floor, dot everybody out and at the time i got done, i really didn't think about it, i just got them out and got out myself. >> the resort says some guest also be able to retrieve their belongings from the collapsed villa. it can be hard to wrap your mind around a sinkhole why and how they happen and what they look like from inside. our david mattingly found out first hand. >> reporter: it's just a few short steps down to an incredible underground site. >> this was the original cavity that eventually collapsed in. >> reporter: a massive sinkhole,

carved out of solid limestone by drops of water. so this is what a sinkhole looks like from the inside? >> from the inside, yes, before you fill it up with sand and dirt. >> reporter: if someone were living on top of this, they would be at risk? >> yes. >> reporter: geologist jerry black says sunshine state homeowners might be be surprised to find out just how common these are. what are the chances of someone having a house in central florida and living on top of something like this? >> very good. not probably as close to the surface as this, but you definitely have cavities of this size all over the state of florida. >> reporter: fossils found in this sinkhole show it's been around since the ice age. but no different, black says, than the sinkholes we see opening up today. these are just a few of his pictures. the one thing they all have in common is water. >> rainwater is going to turn into groundwater, and that's what's naturally acidic. that's the device that dissolves the limestone and creates these cavities. >> reporter: what is unusual

about this sinkhole, it's easy to get inside. called the devil's den, it's open to tourists for viewing and diving. and dive instructioner prince johnson takes me under for a look. i find that this seemingly placid pool of water is anything but. >> the water has gone down considerably because of the aquifer, but it's also risen when we've had hurricanes and tropical storms, it's risen another 45 feet. >> reporter: 45 feet? >> 45 feet. >> reporter: down here it's easy to see how fluctuating ground water has wreaked havoc. i pass by limestone boulders as big as cars sitting on the bottom. and these same forces are still at work, compounded by the demand for fresh water. >> it is progressively dropping yearly. that's basically over the whole state of florida. the aquifer is getting lower and lower.

>> reporter: perhaps most striking to me is how appearances for the sinkhole are so misleading. a single people of sunlight reveals the cavern is even bigger below the water line, with passageways carved deep into the darkness. but most disturbing could be the view from up top. the round opening is deceptively small. little indication of the cavern that's just beneath my feet. until a hole like this opens up, there's really no warning, is there? >> correct. it is that random and that sudden. and it could happen obviously overnight or at any time. >> reporter: it can, and it does. with thousands of sinkholes opening up in florida every year. david massingly, cnn, williston, florida. >> it's incredible to see how big some of these sinkholes are and now widespread they are. coming up next, the "ridicu-list," find out who's on it tonight. çñ

time now for the "ridicu-list." tonight, a thank you to my fellow journalists who brave the elements to bring us the news. take, for instance, the case of

a recent case in the reporter in philadelphia live on the air talking about a string of robberies when all of a sudden -- >> and despite the recent rush of car thefts, the captain that we spoke to said that car break-ins are down 28% this year, but he's urging people to keep their doors locked and they continue to communicate. maury flemming -- i'm sorry, something was going on behind him. >> behind him indeed. do you know how distracting it is when a full moon breaks out? that reporter handled it like a pro. he is part of a crack team of journalists. you know what's even more distracting than someone mooning your live shot -- just add a hurricane. >> people have been coming out. we're talking about dozens of people who have walked by me and i'm speechless. >> when you think about it, live news reporters are like the post office, delivering the news deterred by neither rain, nor heat or drunken idiots going

full frontal, nor snow. >> we've been out a couple hours. >> it's cold out here. >> some people are just out of their minds. what are you going to do? it's nuts. >> i met that guy last time i was in cleveland. he was wearing clothes at the time. very nice guy, i think he works for a radio station. any way, the circle back around was more than enough to seal his place in "ridicu-list" history. but if you're going to strip down in a snowstorm, you commit to staying in the picture. make it worth your while. >> how long have you been out and what are you doing to stay warm? >> oh, well, staying warm is a good question. >> i'm sorry, that's a good question. thanks for being out here. >> guys, we're going to turn it back to you. reporting live from a very crazy downtown cleveland. action news. >> we're going to turn it back to you. >> that is why they call it action news. sometimes the action is behind you. to all the reporters out there in the field right now, we salute you and to anyone thinking of pulling down your pants live behind a reporter, just remember, it's been done before. it's been done bigger and better, it's been done in hurricanes and snowstorms.

so take a deep breath, take a minute and just butt out. because, frankly, we're getting kind of tired of blurring your junk on the "ridicu-list." "early start" begins right now. breaking news this morning, an intense 12-hour hostage standoff is finally over. and police shoot and kill the gunman after he opened fire on his captives. we're live at the scene. also breaking overnight, egypt's military forces moved in to clear protests. we have reports of beatings, arrests and deaths. at this hour, police continue firing tear gas and bulldozing tents. this situation is unraveling by the minute. and we are live in cairo with the latest. and new details on rescued kidnapped victim hannah anderson. we hear from her for the very first time since her traumatic ordeal. find out why she did not