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tv   CNN Newsroom  CNN  May 17, 2014 12:00pm-1:31pm PDT

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a cowboy, a curmudgeon, a biker, or a normal guy. take your pick. thank you very much. we're leaving it up to you. >> reporter: so there you go. we have a new version of the village people, and they live in idaho. >> all right. thanks, bill weir, for that perspective. all right. the next hour of the "newsroom" starts right now. hello again, earn. i am fredricka whitfield. the big stories we're following in the "cnn newsroom" -- a possible turning point. crews fighting raging fires in southern california get a major break while investigators get to find out how many fires started at the same time. marking a mel styilestone. the first lady, and the segregation of schools on this 60th anniversary of that landmark ruling. >> brown is still being decided every single day. not just in our courts and
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schools but in how we live our lives. >> plus the ncaa bends a rule to get a homeless football player off the streets. and on his way to realizing his dreams. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com first up, raging wildfires in san diego county. six burning right now. dozens of homes and businesses destroyed, many more are at terrific, and firefighters say this could be a critical day for them on the front lines. andrew petersons is live in san diego. andrew, the weather has been key today. where does this battle stand? >> reporter: exactly what we were hoping for today, fredricka, to see that marine layer return. four day, not knowing whether houses were okay. many will come home to sights
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like this one. so hard to tell where even we have the living room or bathroom, even the kitchen. i'm trying to look around and see 234ig that could be left in this home. even at this hour, just a few minutes ago firefighters were here behind us digging through what was left in his home looking for hot spots. although the humidity returned, there's concerns gusts of winds out there today to still ignite the fire lines. look at the distance behind me. i'll walk over here. something we typically see in may. most people hate it if you're from southern california. it's the marine layer. what we call may gray. it's the saving grace. what everybody in southern california has been waiting for. it means the humidity went un. the key to getting thighs fiese lines contained. keep in mind, two problems. humidity is great, helps with fire lines, you're also talking about a wind shift. what does that xbleen t?
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the fire lanes going in one direction, now going the other way. the firemen are in the line of the fire now and the ashes'slook at the hillsides here. you see all of these charred hillsides and you see that community below? these are communities that were spared. but having been here in southern california on these fire lines for years, this is an el mean meanio -- el nino year. this is what is the fear for anyone spared thus far. >> that's a lot. thank you for that perspective. appreciate it. one california homeowner did everything he could to save his house from the wildfires, even when the fire department wasn't around. his neighbors fled, but marine james harkins refused to leave his home, and there he is. a photo of him in the "l.a. times" went viral. he says he was shocked when a
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photographer actually showed up. >> and i see that the flames are coming up this way and the fire department's there doing their job, and the fire department leaves to go do something else. so i grab the hose and i just keep everything wet down and so forth. so i'm down there about 6:30, i want to say. this gentleman comes up, starts taking pictures. i said, i hope you're not going to get me in trouble taking off these pictures. i thought he was from the sheriff's department, the fire department saying you can't be here, whatever, so forth. he says, no, no, no. just taking pictures, i'm from the "l.a. times." i said, fine. i'm just going to do my job. >> his job, save his home. firefighters battling those california wildfires in fact as you heard eandra say, could geta break today. >> yes shgyes, put into perspec strong santa ana winds and the
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recipe for these incredible wildfires we've seen. one of the driest years in california we've seen pand the offshore santa ana winds blowing this compression. warm conditions. now we've seen a change. andra talked about with the wind shift, we'll shift that fire around and see a few things in terms of the temperatures. we've gone from the 90s, upper 90-degree temperatures now down to the 70s. so temperatures certainly coming in the right direction. in addition, andra talked about the marine layer. finally, dense fog advisory and certainly as she said, finally, the good news of a dense fog advisory, because it brought all the moisture in. what's the fog? the fog on the ground. what's the cloud? it's moisture. that's what we've seen. we're seeing wind gust, but really these wind barbs, the direction from which they're coming is the key. the cold pacific ocean. so bringing this moisture,
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importing it from the water here inland and bringing the moisture with it. so in a few fronts, good news. relative humidity, watch this throughout the day and watch these numbers go up. from the 30s, to the 40s. and to the 50s. so we are seeing that moisture increase as well. so, again, we are still seeing this outlook be rough. especially inland where we're having a critical fire danger, where the temperatures are still in the upper 90s to low 100s, but as an aggregate on the whole, he are seeing improves conditions. so the weather forecast is certainly favorable. why? temperatures are going down. the humidity is coming up. but the fire forecast is less so. why? because this year we are already at the five-year average, and we've doubled it. so, you know, fredricka, in terms of the short term, we're seeing improving conditions for these fires but the long term certainly doesn't look that good, because the stage has been set with the drought we've seen with the heat. so everything we have, really
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stays in place, and, of course, drought begets drought. certainly far from out of the woods yet with this fire season. >> alexandra, thank you so much. >> sure. donald sterling, apologized for making racist comments, and then days later, he threatened to sue the nba. has he damaged his image beyond repair? and later -- what the first lady had to say about an event that changed the nation 60 years ago. how did we do it last time? i don't know... i forget.
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mistake. am i entitled to one mistake? after 35 years? i made a mistake. i hope it's in their heart to forgive me for that mistake. i'm a good member who made a mistake, and i'm apologizing, and i'm asking for forgiveness. it's a terrible mistake. and i'll never do it again. >> but then in that same interview, sterling also criticized magic johnson. >> can you tell me, big, magic johnson, what has he done? >> well, he's a business bern. >> he's got aids. did he do any business? i'd like -- did he help anybody in south l.a.? >> i think he has hiv. he doesn't actually have full-blown aids. >> what kind of a guy goes to every city, has sex with every girl, then catches hiv? is that someone we want to respect and tell our kids about? >> magic johnson responded saying he feels sorry for donald sterling and that the interview was sad and disturbing.
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i'm joined now by crisis management expert mike paul who is known as the reputation doctor, and also sports agent and attorney leigh steinberg. mike, let me begin with you. can we take sterling's apology seriously? when he ends up being very critical of magic johnson in that same interview and now fighting the nba? what do you make about all that's taken place in the last week? >> he's tripping all over himself. fredricka, good to see you and my good friend lee. how are you doing? you know, one of the things that is important for any true apology is to have three components. no ifs or buts in it. it needs to be authentic, and it needs to be respentant, and he's failing with all three areas. as a result we don't believe him. he need more than words. we need to have actions, and his history also doesn't put him in a good place for us to trust him. >> and, lee, you know, sterling has threatened to sue the nba.
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if they don't take back the fine, take back the ban. how does this assist him, help him, maintain his team? >> it doesn't at all. remember that when an owner buys a franchise in professional sports, they are not buying a private business as you might think of it. they agree to a whole set of rules. he agreed to abide by those rules. the argument about due process doesn't really make any sense. commissioner silver saw the tsunami, saw the damage, saw the nba was actually threatened in terms of its tv contracts, its sponsors, its international image, and he went ahead with due diligence talking to the union and everyone else in the world, and he acted, and he has the power to go ahead and do
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that, and sterling gave him the power. so there really is not a great due process argument, and we're still having due process. any lawyer can argue anything. it doesn't mean there's any merit to it. the nba has moved with all due caution, and they're continuing to move with all due caution, and just remember this -- he agreed to a clause that said that if he violated certain sections, the nba had the right to go ahead and revoke his franchise, and if the revocation occurs that he would accept the decision and it is final and binding, and would not go to court to challenge it. so he's agreed to all of this, and, again, when he went to hire a lawyer, his first group went out, because of a conflict. evidently he tried to hire other firms in los angeles who wouldn't take the case, and, again, anyone can argue
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anything. >> so, mike, i wonder, you know, is it just, you know, sterling's reputation hathat's on the line? or is the nba's reputation on the line as well? meaning, how they handle these continued steps? >> well, you know, you just heard leigh talking about things from a contract perspective, and from the court of law perspective. you know, this thing is really being led, with all due respect flshgs the court of public opinion. the pressure that's coming from it, all the eyes on it. the accountability for the league and for mr. sterling and for the clippers and everyone involved. even magic johnson. he had his reputation thrown into it, and each of these people, by the way, not only have to be concerned about their own rep tapgs utations but all stakeholders that surround them. it's absolutely a reputation problem, a p.r. problem at the highest order and leading from that perspective, not following from that perspective. that's why it's important to understand the court law is important but the court of
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public opinion many times is even more important. >> okay. and then, gentlemen, can i ask you about something else? leigh in particular. let's talk about michael sam for a moment. he had a deal about a documentary or, you know, kind of a -- a real life tv show on the oprah network. >> docuseries, yes. >> and then it was announced after talking to the team that project has been postponed. would you have advised, you know, a rookie on the nfl to do something like that while it may be considered very bold in some corners, at the same time, he hasn't quite made the team yet and he's still trying to transition? >> it would be suicidal. you know i've represented 60 first-round draft picks in the nfl and 8 players first picked. the first thing a rookie has to do is establish himself in the eyes of the owner, the coach, and his teammates and the fans
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of the city, as someone serious and prioritizing football first. there will be enough cameras anyway, surrounding everything he does. first of all, i don't think the rams would have let him do it. second of all, he can be a compelling spokesman for the gay movement by making the team. seriously it would have undercut his relations with virtually everyone, and seriously impacted in negative ways his chance to make the team. >> i agree. >> mike, you agree. anything else to add to that? >> one of the things going on with this story is that he was not only led by his agent, but by his p.r. person. they made bg maig mistakes thin it would be approved. i agree with everything said. >> thank you both. appreciate it. a landmark supreme court decision that changed the
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nation. 60 years later, the first african-american first lady is speaking out about brown versus board of education. you'll hear what she had to say to high school graduates. that's coming up. first, here's this week's "cnn hero." >> i initially got hurt 2005. i had 46 surgeries and attempts to salvage the leg. i finally decided on amputation. a lot of people view it as loss, but i got my life back. >> whew! >> very often people are saying, okay. i survived, but now what? and we want to be that "now what?" >> good job! >> i was a world-class adventure racer, in the world championships, i hit the deck, and the doctor never going to run again.
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a decision by the u.s. supreme court 60 years ago changed the nation. in its 9-0 ruling, the court led by chief justice earl warrens in segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. first lady michelle obama delivered a high school address in topeka, kansas, the city where the case originated. let's bring in now erin mcpike at the white house. erin, the first lady had a lot to say and people around the country are taking note of her
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comments about school disparity and inequalities. >> reporter: fred, that's right. most of the reason why people are taking such note of this speech is because michelle obama really spoke in personal terms about how brown v. board impacted her own life and, of course, last night president obama was meeting with the plaintiffs in that case. listen here to michelle obama describe the change she has seen from then until now. >> those folks had to go all the way to the supreme court of the united states just to affirm the principal that black kids and white kids should be able to attend school together. and today 60 years later, that probably seems crazy to all of you in this graduating class. right? you all take the diversity you're surrounded by for granted. you probably don't even notice
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it, and that's understandable, given the country you have grown up in, with a woman governor, a latina supreme court justice, a black president. >> and she also suggested that there still needs to be some cultural change, that these students need to drag her generation and her parents' generation along with them. well, here is one suggestion she made for how they go about doing that. >> maybe that starts simply in your own family. grandpatels that off-colored joke at thanksgiving, or you got an aunt that talks about "those people." well, you can politely inform them that they're talking about your friends. >> reporter: so this speech was, of course, uniquely michelle obama. she casts herself as mom in chief. you can hear that come through in these remarks, fred. >> all right, indeed.
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erin mcpike, thanks so much. all right. we're also learning brand new information about the mers virus. a big announcement, coming up, next. ♪ [ chang ] you know what matters in today's pre-packaged, one click, mass produced, cookie cutter, insta-everything world? what matters is... human touch. ♪ [ ringing ] sam, those oysters come in? ♪ ♪
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credit karma really free credit scores. really. free. it's a nice piece. welcome back. i'm fredricka whitfield. here are the top stories crossing the cnn news desk right now. in arkansas, a halt to same-sex marriages in that state. last week a circuit court judge struck down the state's ban on same-sex marriage. more than 400 same-sex couples got marriage licenses after that ruling. but now the legality of those marriages is in limbo. cornell william brooks has been selected as the president and ceo of the ncaa. -- naacp. he will be produced to naacp
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members at their las vegas convention this summer. the pennsylvania state archives released never before seen video of president franklin dell are no roosevelt showing fdr paralyzed by polio walking. his legs supported by braces as he walks up a ramp at the 1937 major league baseball all-star game. >> after more than 60er yao e y the radio, carl castle is retiring this weekend. he started his broadcasting career when he was just 16 in north carolina. a job he dreamed of doing as a young boy. kasell spent years as the official scorekeeper on the quiz show -- wait, wait. don't tell me. he says you'll still hear him from time to time on the radio. and we've just learned a third person in the u.s. has tested positive for the mers virus according to the cdc.
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that's the middle east respiratory system. elizabeth cohen joins me we more on this. what do we know about this case? >> a little different than the first case. first, a couple who traveled from saudi arabia to the u.s. they got infected, traveled to saudi arabia brought it here. this is someone who got the virus here. the first case we know of who contracted the virus here. so it seems that this indiana case we heard about last month, that he had, he met on two occasions with this other person, on two occasions they met. and that now this other -- >> in indiana? >> it's not clear, but in the united states. so now this second person who's from illinois now has tested positive for the mers virus. >> goodness. >> what's not clear and what i'm really hoping the cdc clears up is, what were those two meetings? were they hugging? were they kissing? sitting this far away?
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did they -- >> initially it had been said there has to be some close contact? >> exactly. the way it was described initially is that you know, close and prolonged. meeting someone twice doesn't sound prolonged to me. we don't know because they're not giving out those details. the cdc in time usually does give our more details. sat next to each other at a coffeehouse for 30 seconds or hugging each other? >> you say close and prolonged. could it mean picking up a plate or glass that you were handling, or a hug? >> it can mean a lot of different things. >> sitting next to somebody. >> this is fuzzy and concerning to get fuzziness, you know, with something like this. so we're going to be asking the cdc for more detail, but so this is the first case where someone in the u.s. contracted it here. i want to say that this man is now feeling fine. it's unclear if he ever felt sick. he never went to the doctor. so he never felt sick enough to bring himself to the doctor and is feeling fine now.
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now all three patients who have tested positive with mers are all feeling fine here. that's great to know, because this is a disease that has a 30% mortality rate. right? to hear all three of these folks are doing well is a great thing. >> so is the medical community concerned? or how do they classify this? is it just, you know, awareness that it has been transferred? there is record of that? or is there any real concern that there might be other people walking around who may have been exposed and they don't know it? >> it's possible. because this gentleman was not sick enough to go to the doctor. you wonder, are there other people walking around? >> gosh. >> even if you don't feel very sick, you can still transmit it. >> the symptom. >> cough, fever -- >> like a cold? >> it starts that way and eventually gets to pneumonia. eventually people feel so sick they have no choice but to go to the hospital. >> this indiana patient was in the country two, three days.
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you have to ask the question. how many people did he come in contact with and what kind of contact before it emerged, hey, you have mers. you're staying in the hospital. the bottom line, people should absolutely not freak out. this is clear. it's not a disease that spreads like wildfire. it's not something we know you're going to get by passing someone in a hallway or waving at someone at the mall. that that kind of contact is not going to do it. there does need to be some real contact, but this case makes us definitely, it brings up question marks. what kind of contact do you need to have? >> sure. keep us posted. liz deaelizabeth cohen. thank you so much. tomorrow night, all-new anthony bourdain parts unknown. i ask . >> the inability to enjoy good food makes it very likely that you could appreciate good music.
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they're connected. they're both appealing to important senses, but i think a lot of what we're talking about investigating in mississippi is, look, this is a place much maligned by, you know, wise guys like me from the northeast who perhaps earlier in their lives had looked down or, at certain preconceptions about what mississippi was or could be. this is the place where almost everything uniquely wonderfully american, our most powerful export, which is to say, rock 'n' roll, blues, r&b, soul, funk, rap. everything distinctively awesome about our popular culture for the last century came out of mississippi. >> yeah. and how is it preserved there? did you feel like a real, you know, a veil was kind of lifted on how people are able to preserve it there? keep it as, as true and pure? as it's been for decades? >> well -- we went to -- there are still old school joints
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there were you can go out on the edge of a cotton field and see -- go to the same place that's been the same way for decades, and a lot of that has to do withant fact there's just no money coming in for the kind of capital improvements. because there's no money, there's no boutique, hotels, starbucks or minimalls that kind of ruin it all. it stayed frozen in a wonderful way. you could really get the pure, uncut stuff still in the state of mississippi. >> okay. set the table, don't miss ar parts unknown with anthony bourdain in the mississippi delta" tomorrow night, right here on cnn. woman: this is not exactly what i expected. man: definitely more murdery than the reviews said. captain obvious: this is a creepy room.
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firefighters are starting to gain the upper harnd in a serie of fires in san diego's so far out of ten wildfires, four are fully contained, two are close to being fully contained, and firefighters are making significant progress on four other blazes. calmer winds are helping out a lot. in total, the wildfires have scorched 31 square miles this week and more nan 175,000 people were told to evacuate. joining me now from san diego is
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commander mike bartlett with the san diego county sheriff's office. so, mike, your department is handling a lot of the evacuations. where's does that stand right now? are people going back home? >> we've -- yes, it is. it's good to be with you this afternoon, fredricka. we have repopulated large areas of population in san marcos and surrounding areas, in escondido, but there are still areas that are under evacuation and we're working very hard to get the debris cleared and make sure everything is safe for residents to go back in as soon as possible. >> i understand your department is also providing air support for the fire department. so what can you tell us about the latest efforts? >> we do have some fire fighting aircraft. two europe hueys that carry 400 gallons each and have made drops throughout the week on all the fires throughout the county. that's our direct fire fighting support. our main mission is protecting lives and property, evacuating the areas at risk. safeguarding those areas, and,
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of course, investigating the cause and origin of all the fires. >> how do you protect the properties of people who have been evacuated, haven't made it back to see how they are homes or properties fared or to collect any things. how do you assure thing? >> over the last few days we've had hundreds of deputies up in escondido. in addition to manning road blocks where we try to keep people out and other folks who have no business there out, we're activity patrolling neighborhoods in martinez, in undercover cars. anybody who's suspicious, we c contact them and find out what they're doing there and deal with the situation appropriately. >> people who have decided to weather the situation, stay in their homes, you know, try to use water hoses to douse their roofs, you know, et cetera. how much of a concern is it that there are some people who simply don't want to evacuate or they don't want to heed the warnings?
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they want to stay with their properties? >> well if they want to do that, that is a great risk that they're putting themself under. and the problem that we encounter with that is eventually it gets to such a point that many of them do want to leave and they need assistance in doing so. that puts law enforcement officers at risk when they have to go in and help these people in a dangerous situation and it hampers the ability of the fire service to put down the fire and really make the situation safe for everybody. >> all right. commander mike bartlett with the san die san diego county sheriff's office. thanks so much. all the best to you. and your colleagues, putting in serious hours trying to help out people there. >> thank you very much. oversea, the crisis in ukraine is escalating tensions between the u.s. and russia. why that is now posing a threat to america's space program.
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but first, the story of eric jordan. he's an opera sing here had a soaring career is with the metropolitan opera in new york. then a stroke nearly upended his career. dr. sanjay gupta has the story about how the singer fought back in this week's "human factor." ♪ >> every time i sing my soul is bared. >> reporter: when he had a stroke a year and a half ago, this opera singer's ability to bare his soul to sing was stifled. 5:30 a.m., the morning of the stroke. 18-month-old gabrielle craws into bed with his parents and everyone goes back to sleep. except erin i. thought he was trying to settle down again and get comfortable. he never stopped kind of moving around and jerking around. then i realized there's something wrong. >> reporter: then the jerking around stopped abruptly. >> i slapped him.
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he wouldn't wake up. couldn't open his eyes. >> reporter: later at the hospital a doctor revealed three large blood clots in eric's branchts i explained eric was an opera singer and urged him to do whatever it took to get the clots out of his brain especially in the speech area of his brain. >> reporter: doctors removed the clots, saving eric's life and against the odds, his ability to sing. only eight weeks after his stroke, the bass was back onstage at new york's metropolitan opera. >> this is a very magical house. >> reporter: singing again somehow came easy. speaking is still difficult. so is memory loss. ♪ you are my sunshine >> reporter: those are minor challenges, considering he's alive. it's not lost on him one reason why is gabrielle, crawling into bed with his parents that morning. >> saved my life, and --
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>> we look at him and we just are reminded of our blessings. right? >> yeah. every day. >> reporter: eric says that the incremental angle of his recovery helped him to slow down. savor is blessings. >> i can say it's better to be thankful for the little things. all these little victories add up. >> reporter: dr. sanjay gupta, cnn reporting. ♪ you are my sunshine ups is a global company, but most of our employees
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general motors told employees to avoid using words like problem and tafsafety when talking about issues with cars recalled. the information was just released as part of gm's agreement with the government which included a $35 million fine for the delayed recall. the confidential power point presentation was from 2008. and warned workers not to use words like death trap, widow-maker, rolling sarcophagus, hindenburg or titanic and powder keg. gm responded to questions about the presentation with this statement saying, quote, we encourage employees to be factual in their statements and will continue to work with nhtsa
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to improve our safety processes. for decades the u.s. and russia have put aside their differences to cooperate in space. but now the crisis in ukraine and rising tensions between the two nations could cause big problems for the u.s. space program. jim sciutto joins me from washington with more on this. jim? >> fred, this is an example of how what's happening in ukraine has impact far beyond the internal politics of eastern europe. we forget the u.s. space program relies on russia to get to the international space station and to launch some satellites. now russia is threatening in effect to ground american astronauts and satellites in retaliation over economic sanctions over ukraine, scuttling what has been cooperation in space. >> reporter: they were all smiles in the international space station this week, but could this be one of the last times that american astronauts
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and russian cosmonauts journey together through space. russian officials are taking the battle over ukraine into orbit. vowing to abandon the space station four years early in 2020. >> and liftoff. >> reporter: and banning russian-made rocket engines to launch u.s. military satellites. the deputy prime minister even suggested astronauts instead use a trampoline. >> the final liftoff of atlan s atlantis. >> reporter: this is no small problem because since nasa retired the shuttle in 2011 u.s. astronauts have no other way up or down than hitching rides on russian rockets. >> the russian announcement really means we need to rethink our reliance on them because it shows we were dependent on them in ways that might have made sense ten years ago but not now. >> reporter: the partnership has thrived for decades one of the most visible symbols of detente
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in the cold war and the new peace after the fall of the soviet union. and it was very much a win/win. the u.s. saved billions on the shuttle. russia made billions as a high-tech taxi service. >> okay, copy that. >> reporter: u.s. officials express hope the russian threat is just bluster. >> we've had a long cooperation on our space program with the russians, and we're hopeful that will continue. we still continue to cooperate on a range of issues. >> it is most likely that the u.s. will depend on private space companies such as spacex to fly american astronauts to the space station and as for the russian engines to launch the u.s. satellites the u.s. has stockpiled engines that supply good for about two years of launches. it's some coverage but many agree that nasa will need to develop a new, reliable longer-term plan to replace russia in space. fred?
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>> thank you, jim sciutto in washington. a college football recruit living out of his car is now getting some financial help. why the ncaa is allowing it to happen. will you help us find a new house for you and your brother?
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dr. sanjay gupta has a preview of "sg md" next hour. >> you hear more and more about lyme disease these days and there's a reason for that it's spreading. i'll show you where it's about to become a bigger problem, "sg md" 4:30 eastern. >> all right, thanks so much. hey, a college football player who was living out of a car is finally getting the help that he needs, all because the ncaa bent some rules. here's cnn's brian mcfaden. >> thank you, fredricka. the ncaa forbids boosters from
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giving money to student athletes, and they helped get a homeless college football player off the streets. >> get in shape. let's go. >> reporter: it's a movie in the making. >> wake up, survive. go to sleep, survive. wake up, survive. >> reporter: such is the story of incoming boise state football recruit antoine turner. turner told cnn affiliate kttb after his mother died with cancer at 4 he lived with various family members in new orleans only to be left homeless after hurricane katrina ravaged his home killing his uncle. he told the tv station he dealt drugs for gangs in new orleans but he never had a steady roof over his head. just trying to survive the only solace antoine seemed to have was escaping to the football field. he played for a junior college team in california while living in parks and in his girlfriend's car. >> had no blanket or nothing
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like this i could sit under it like this and put my head down. >> reporter: he got his big break when he was recruited by boise state as a defensive tackle but he was still homeless. boosters pledged to help but the school let them know if they assisted it could affect his eligibility. but that all changed on wednesday. the ncaa granted boise state permission to provide immediate assistance to turner. now at the age of 21, turner has a long way to go on his journey from homelessness to division i football player. >> i understand it's not over. i'm bringing all the pain, all the things that i have with me, i feel like i owe boise, and i'm hungry. >> the ncaa has taken a lot of criticism recently with the way they handle student athletes and you have to believe that played a role in the positive outcome of this case and the speed at which it was handled. fredricka, back to you. >> that is a nice story. very inspiring, thanks so much. that will do it for me, i'm
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fredricka whitfield, thanks for hanging out with me throughout the day. the next hour begins with miguel martinez, my friend in new york. >> thank you, fredricka. have a great afternoon. >> thank you. you are in the "cnn newsroom" i'm in for don lemon. on the west coast firefighters finally have advantage over aer if ferocious wildfire. that doesn't mean the fires are out, far from it. thousands of acres north of san diego are still in flames. dozens of homes and businesses are gone and this western wildfire season has just started. cnn's paul vercammen is in san marcos, california, what's the picture out there? is the weather going to get any better for firefighters? >> reporter: right now it's getting better by the moment. the humidity is up finally after being less than 10% earlier this
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week. the winds have calmed down. the temperatures are down and you can see behind me at this vast landscape here this is where the fire tore through. in talking to officials they said one thing that happened overnight these cooler temperatures really allowed them to make some headway. let's take a listen. >> we have crews still in all areas of this fire that are cleaning up areas where there's still some hot spots. we had some infrared flyovers that we're mapping out as far as the areas of greatest concern. obviously the winds can pick up at any moment and what we want to did is try to get it while the winds are calming down today. >> reporter: and so they are in that mop-up mode actively looking for hot spots. residents not allowed to return to this neighborhood yet. let's 57 ygive you a sense of te randomness of the fires as they hopscotch from one house to another, complete devastation here and down the road the
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next-door neighbor the house completely saved. this is very close to, by the way, where you saw that firnado the funnel cloud of fire that roared through here, miguel. >> how many houses total and how many businesses destroyed in this one so far, paul? >> reporter: they're saying about 20 buildings most of them in the san marcos area. this is the hardest-hit area where the university basically was threatened by fire and unfortunately today would have been a graduation ceremony, instead there's a cancellation. >> any idea when they're going to finally get completely this fire contained? >> reporter: this fire is 70% contained. they're very close to containing most of these northern san diego county fire areas in the san marcos/carlsbad area, however, we understand there are still some fires burning at camp pendleton. that's the next focus. but the good news is as far as the eye can see, and there were a couple fires burning in this area alone, we do not see any active flanks of flame and we certainly are not seeing the
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smoke that was pervasive throughout this area. earlier in the week. >> crazy and so early. we're going to pray for a very, very big june gloom this year. paul vercammen, thank you very much in san marcos, california. in a few minutes we'll speak with an arson expert why would someone set a fire knowing it could burn down homes to the ground or even kill people? that ahead. now to washington and word of upcoming changes to the obama cabinet. a government source is confirming a "new york times" report that the president plans to nominate san antonio mayor julian castro to be housing secretary, it would allow obama to make the current hud secretary shaun donovan his next budget director. and a top official at the veterans affairs department has resigned after cnn's months-long investigation into a deadly wait times for veterans seeking medical care. the va's undersecretary for health dr. roberts petzelbowed out one day after testifying in
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front of the senate armed services committee. erin mcpike is tracking the fallout from cnn's investigation. >> do you solemnly swear -- >> reporter: one day after testifying next to veterans affairs secretary eric shinseki about fixing proks, this high-ranks va official resigned. >> starting next week we're going to work our way down. >> reporter: shinseki announced the resignation and the white house put out a statement saying, quote, the president supports secretary shinseki's decision. left unsaid robert petzel the undersecretary for health care for the va already planned to retire in december. the white house has rejected calls for shinseki's resignation. sources say at least 40 veterans died while waiting for care. many kept on a secret waiting list to cover up delays. the president's chief of staff, denis mcdonough, tried damage
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control with cnn's jake tapper. >> the president as soon as he heard about this latest outrage in phoenix called rick and said, do you know what, rick, i need to know exactly what happened, i need to know exactly the accountability measures that you have and you can institute and if it's not enough, then let's change it and make sure that we hold people to account. >> reporter: schenn sec kif's own damage control? the inspector general audit he ordered. >> we're broadening the look and what we've committed to is whatever comes out of this, whatever is substantiated actions will be taken. >> secretary shinseki -- >> reporter: even for some democrats like connecticut senator richard blumenthal, that ig review isn't good enough. >> only the fbi has the resources as well as the expertise and authority to do a prompt and effective criminal investigation. >> reporter: a prospect shinseki isn't ready to consider. >> i'm counting on the ig to provide us a comprehensive review of whatever criminal
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actions may be required. >> reporter: but with the ig report not due out until august, that may not be fast enough for democrats anxious about the political fallout in november. >> certainly the system itself needs to be changed. and there needs to be a changing of the team, a changing of the guard. some folks are going to have to be shown the door. >> now, bringing in correspondent erin mcpike at the white house. what's the washington reaction to this sudden resignation? >> reporter: well, miguel, generally skepticism. lawmakers on both sides of the aisle really since this story broke have been saying that heads should roll but republicans especially aren't buying this. and i want to read to you a strongly worded statement from jeff miller, he is the republican congressman who is the chair of the house committee on veterans affairs. he said petzel's resignation is disinjennous doublespeak and
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president obama has already announced his intention to nominate his replacement. so characterizing this as a resignation just doesn't pass the smell test and i'd also point out, miguel, that in his testimony on thursday, petzel was talking about the audit over the past week and what they'll be doing over the next few weeks. >> sounds like some smell political blood. it will be interesting to see when this grows over the next few days. erin mcpike, thank you very much. ten years ago today a historic moment for same-sex couples after years of fighting for the right to legally wed, one state became the first to allow same-sex marriage. we'll have more on that. plus a huge outcry erupts over data that is the foundation of the search for malaysia airlines flight 370, just what data did malaysia get? that ahead? how did we do it last time? i don't know... i forget. feeding your lawn need not be so difficult neighbors. get a load of this bad boy. whoa. this snap spreader system from scotts is snap-crackin' simple --
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for an agent, call the number that appears on your screen. now to the hunt for malaysia airlines flight 370. a war of words is erupting over
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the most valuable clue driving the entire search operation. malaysia says it does not have the raw inmarsat satellite data used to create every single search area off the west coast of australia. for weeks heartbroken families begged malaysia over and over to release that clue. inmarsat says not so fast, malaysia. the british satellite company says it gave malaysia all relevant data and it's up to malaysia to decide to release any of it is publicly. our aviation analyst richard quest explains exactly what inmarsat give to malaysia. >> reporter: the 14 numbers, they are the time that it takes for the aircraft to make its signal up to the satellite and to the ground station and the time for it to get back again. there are seven in orbit as well. you get the 14 numbers. there are no reams of raw data. let me say that again. there are no vast tombs, there
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are no volumes, there are simply two sets of logs. those relating to mh-370 and those relating to the various specimen flights that they used to make the comparisons. those logs are -- or what is the raw data by which everybody has then gone on to do their analysis. my understanding quite clear -- >> yeah. >> -- is that that data has been provided to the malaysians. >> now, richard also says that malaysia cannot release the data according to an international treaty that guides plane crash investigations. now, not everybody agrees with richard. a vigorous debate broke out last night on erin burnett's "out front." >> you are just wrong. i say go back and read a little closer because you are missing the point. >> hold on. >> listen very careful flil, arthur -- >> i am. >> i am. >> positively inhumane.
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where is the humanity of inmarsat and the malaysians. release the data. >> now, coming up next hour we'll show you the whole back-and-forth vigorous debate on what inmarsat gave malaysia and whether all data should be released publicly. ten years ago today massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage and since then 16 states and the district of columbia have followed suit allowing thousands of same-sex couples to wed. but opposition to same-sex rights continues with legal battles still being fought in courts across the country. alexandra field joins me. today represents a significant day for couples. >> and this anniversary also marks another victory, gay rights advocates are celebrating the fact in arkansas a judge has struck down a same-sex marriage ban. but the reality of the situation is that gay rights advocates are still fighting for a large share of the country even though
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they've had a string of successes recently. frankly in 30 states there are still legal battles where same-sex couples are working to get marriage equality rights. a lot of those couples, of course, inspired by couples in massachusetts. >> when the supreme court voted to allow gay couples to get married and we're, like, we want to do it. we should do this. we should do this. you know, make this our relationship legal. we'd been together for 14 years already. >> well, we've come a long way in ten years since that breakthrough win in massachusetts and couples began marrying and now, of course, 40% of the american people live in a state where gay people share in the freedom to marry. >> and, miguel, one thing is interesting while we noted 30 states where litigation continues to try and settle the issue or fight for same-sex marriage there are just three states right now where there's no litigation pending. interesting numbers when you have the 17 states that have legalized in the last ten years
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and 30 states where the fight is raging on and the three states that are not very active. >> it is amazing to look across the landscape and see how history is moving in that direction but it is moving in sort of fits and starts and i assume it will get there eventually. >> sure. i spoke to one of the gay rights advocates who opened up his office ten years ago when this fight was brewing in massachusetts. the office has now celebrated its ten-year anniversary, of course, and the advocate told me at that anniversary party they said we hope to shut down this office before the 15-year anniversary. >> maybe they'll close down doors very soon. thank you very much. a wildfire can reduce whole neighborhoods to ash and ruin, so why would someone ever unleash a force they can't control and that can cause so much misery and heartache for so many? we'll talk to an arson expert ahead.
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culprits out in >> calle driving the wildfires, why would somebody set deadly fires? dr. kenneth fineman a psychologist who treats juvenile and adult arsonist explains why someone would start a fire. what are the drivers here, doctor? >> well, it's very difficult to deal with these people, and in my view this particular profile, the one that i would call the wild land fire setter, is extremely dangerous. and i think they're dangerous because there's three components probably more, but three in my view that contribute. the first is a vandalistic quality and what i mean by that is these folks seem to not care if they kill people, kill animals, destroy huge amounts of land and property. it's a power play. in other words, they lack in my view empathy.
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and they are aroused or turned on or reinforced by the fact they now have power over the rest of us. another quality which we don't always see in fire setters is a quality that i'd call excitement. meaning they almost get an adrenaline rush frequently when they see fire and especially if it's a fire that they actually set. and lastly, in this particular triad, i believe there's an issue of what i call revenge, meaning these folks often feel put-upon. they feel life, society has not been just to them and i think there's an element of getting back at the rest of us through the fire. >> and you think that there is a difference between those who set fires to homes or structures versus wildland fires because of the size of these fires? what is it about wildland fires that's different? >> well, i think it is the size certainly. in other words, there are fire
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setters who as an example will set small fires and they know they are small vegetation fires. they are wanting to set gigantic fires and wanting to destroy. i think that's the issue here. it's not that they don't want help, not calling for help per se, they're not usually mentally retarded as an example, though that's a possibility, there's a lot of factors. though in my view it's a matter of power because of the size of the fire, control because they're making huge dents in the resources of california, and the various departments that have to put out the fires, and they also seem to be reinforced, again, as i said before by the fact that they are now getting back at us because they feel we've somehow or society has been unjust. >> and is it a tougher deterrent that's going to make the difference or some sort of therapeutic help? >> well, it's a combination. i'm not -- i certainly will not say that people who set these
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kind of fires don't need to be punished. but most can be help eed therapeutically, they are the toughest i believe to help, but generally when we deal with juvenile fire setters or young adult fire setters especially if the fire setting was episodic and opportunitinisty nimotivate can seem to help them. >> dr. kenneth fineman, thank you very much. >> thank you. how long would it take a hacker to break into your phone? when folks in the lower 48 think about what they get from alaska, they think salmon and energy. but the energy bp produces up here creates something else as well: jobs all over america. thousands of people here in alaska are working to safely produce more energy. but that's just the start.
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donald sterling's recent problems with his basketball team point to one troubling sign, the end of privacy as you know it. you could ask jay-z and beyonce
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and her sister solange how they feel. what does it mean for the rest us? we asked a group of real hackers how all of us can better protect ourselves. >> reporter: we're here in miami at a hacking conference. it's called infiltratecon and a lot of folks here are talking about how nothing we do is secure. here's one that's eye opening. not even traffic lights are secure. >> just press this button. i just start sending fake data. here you can see in the detections column there's a number increasing. that's the amount of cars they are supposed to be detecting. >> reporter: so essentially you can make a traffic light believe that there are more people on the ground and potentially change no one color or another. >> right, they would think
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there's more traffic going one direction and keep it green for longer. >> reporter: pretty eye opening. i sat down to two hackers and i put down my iphone and one of them said i could hack that in eight minutes. i brought them in to tell me what i could do better and tell everybody what they could do to have a very secure iphone. >> most people by default have a four digit numeric-only pass code protecting this, this is what tommy was referring to, he could break it in under eight minutes there's only 10,000 combinations possible. going into the general settings under pass code and you just enter your current password and you change it from simple pass code to a more complex pass code. if you go into the advertising features, you can limit the ad tracking. and that's -- well, it doesn't stop it from sending out information but it does tell the advertiser that you don't want to be tracked.
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>> if you just make these very, very few basic things to make it a bit more secure like configuration changes, you're all good. >> reporter: as you can imagine i changed my iphone settings after that. and i hate to leave you with this, but imagine if someone could look at your mobile activity and it could piece together a very personalized profile of you using very sensitive data? well, i hate to be the bearer of bad news but it's happening it's an app called stalker. in ten minutes you can create almost a digital profile of personal information i unknowingly shared using my phone? >> exactly right. and i think people don't necessarily realize all the stuff that goes on all the little bits and pieces of it and the reason that we're able to do this is because you and i are sharing the same network. we got your profile photo. >> reporter: okay. >> we can see you are sally jones, sally stick figure. we also got your name as sally jones. we're able to tell that you are a 24-year-old female. we're able to grab the address
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that you're at. we're able to see some of the different applications that you're using. we can see you're using pandora and instagram, there's an amazon one in there. >> thanks for frightening us. if you want to know the full story of how your privacy could be at risk and how to protect yourself check out cnnmoney.com and don't miss the special tonight "the end of privacy" 7:30 eastern right here on cnn. l.a. clippers owner donald sterling is fighting back against the nba in a letter to the nba this week sterling said he won't pay the $2.5 million fine and he's rejecting the lifetime ban. he also said he plans to sue the nba back if it doesn't back down. that punishment was handed down after a recording was released of sterling making racist comments. "cnn newsroom" continues at the top of the hour. want to learn a new skill? what if i told you it could be done in just about 20 hours?
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right now keep it here for "sanjay gupta, m.d." hi there, i'm brooke baldwin, sanjay will be here in just a couple of minutes. first, a major update on a story we've been following for you for years. tim josephs joined the army when he was just 18. fresh faced. idealistic and he says they made him into a human guinea pig. he says it made him sick, and ever since he's been running into a brick wall trying to get some kind of help. sanjay tells us how his whole story started. >> reporter: tim josephs was just 18 years old when he joined the u.s. army. it was the height of the vietnam war. >> most of my friends were drafted. and i felt a duty to serve. >> reporter: but shortly after enlisting josephs washo