"newsroom" and ms. carol costello. bionic in her own way. >> i'll take that. thank you, chris qom ma. have a great day, guys. "newsroom" starts now. a decade in captivity. now free. >> he tells her her mother doesn't care. they're going to deport her. >> kidnapped, now held hostage, now reunited with her family thanks to facebook. also, the va crisis depends. >> it is dishonorable, disgraceful and i will not tolerate it, period. >> calls foreheads to roll grow louder. >> there was no urgency. mr. president, we need urgency. we need you to roll up our sleeves and get into these hospitals. >> but so far, nothing. >> i want to see what the results of these reports are. there is going to be accountability. plus, what the hail? parts of denver buried.

>> they were struggling to push the ice and the hail off the field. >> apocalyptic-looking supercell spun tornadoes and ground the city to a halt. hundredaway groom, days after the invitations go out, rory mick elroy and caroline woz knee ak say i don't. >> quite a difficult time for caroline and myself. let's talk live in the cnn "newsroom." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good morning. i'm carol costello. thanks so much for joining me. as we get set to fire up the back yard barbecues this holiday weekend, a huge beef recall now expands nationwide. a detroit meat packing company and food safety inspectors say 1.8 million pounds of ground beef could be contaminated with e. coli. already retailers in nine states across the midwest and the south are pulling a tainted meat from store shelves.

that number could jump considerably. cnn investigations correspondent chris frates joins us with more on this. good morning, chris. >> reporter: good morning, carol. it's one of the biggest beef recalls of its kind in years. it's probably not the kind of thing you want to hear ahead of the memorial day weekend cookouts. 1.8 million pounds of ground beef tainted by e. coli is being called nationwide after cirque ening 11 people in four states. now new word from the united states department of agriculture that retailers in nine states including florida, illinois, pennsylvania and kentucky may have received the bad beef. so far government officials believe restaurants and retailers in nearly 40 states may be affected. e. coli bacteria produces a toxin that causes terrible abdominal pain, kidney damage, and in some cases even death. none of the 11 people sickened by this latest outbreak died, officials say. investigators tressed the bad meat back to wolverine packing

company in detroit. ten of the 11 people who got sick ate at a restaurant supplied by wolverine. federal officials are not naming the restaurants, and this consumer watch dog thinks that's got to change. >> this is going to make things a little more dicy in terms of consumers who may get sick and don't know what to do or are not following this issue closely enough to make the connection between their illness and where they ate. >> but a top ranking usda official said it's against regulations to disclose restaurant names. >> people who were exposed have already been exposed. so it doesn't help the public to tell them now that a certain restaurant was associated with these illnesses. our job really is to identify product that may still be available. >> reporter: goldman said federal officials disclosed the names of grocery stores and other retailers because customers could still have meat they bought sitting in their freezers. restaurants, on the other hand, aren't going to serve tainted burg gers once the meat is

recalled. the meat packing plant says it's work working with the usda. and said, quote, we encourage anyone who has any concern to be sure to cook all ground beef to a minimum temperature of 160 degrees fahrenheit. >> reporter: while that might be tough to swallow for the grill masters out there who like their burg gers medium rare, officials say that's really the only way to know for sure. >> i think it's my right to know where i ate tainted beef. >> reporter: certainly, carol. lots of people are saying, hey, shouldn't we know. the usda is saying under the regulations currently in place, they cannot name the restaurants. they feel like if they do name the restaurants, maybe in the future restaurants wouldn't be as forthcoming with details that could help trace back the beef. so at this point, they're still keeping those restaurant names secret. >> chris frates reporting live this morning. there's some really crazy weather going on in denver right now. a week after a late season

snowstorm socked the city, this time it's severe weather with lots and lots and lots of hail. you can hear it, right? baseball-sized hail fail wednesday, making the streets look like they were covered with a blanket of snow. guess what? more bad weather is on the way. indra petersons joins us with more spectacular but scary pictures to show us. >> nothing pretty about that. think about your windshield there. let me show you some video here of a stadium just outside the suburbs of denver. so much hail -- not as big in this area, they had a tournament there they had to postpone because they couldn't clear it off of the field. just take a look outside. maybe if you weren't looking down, you were looking up. funnel clouds swirling around. numerous reports of them all through out the denver area yesterday. again, that's only one part of the equation was the hail. the other part, of course, was the flooding. we're talking about plenty of

flooding across the area because you have hail. you also have heavy rain in short periods of time. lots of concerns across the denver area yesterday. let's take a look at the map and show you what it looked like in another way. see these balls right here, these are reports of large hail. look at all the storm damage reports from tornadoes yesterday. definitely a lot of activity across denver. today will be the third consecutive day in a row they have the threat for severe weather. think about all the people trying to get out ahead of memorial day and traveling. new york city, philadelphia, d.c., national, chattanooga and again denver, not just denver, extending all the way south to midland today looking for more weather like that. unbelievable. also straight-line winds will be out there, heavy rains. flooding concerns as well. morning hours not looking good. and it's only expected to get worse, carol, by the afternoon. >> oh, man, indra. >> i'm staying put. i have no plane to catch. >> me neither. indra petersons, thanks so much. ten years after being kidnapped from her california

home, a young woman is finally back with her family. police say the woman, now 25, was abducted by her mother's ex-boyfriend who physically and sexually assaulted her. the victim says she was forced to marry her kidnapper and to have a child with him. the suspect is now in custody, but he was hiding in plain sight. he and the victim often seen together in town just 20 miles from where this woman was kidnapped. cnn's sara sidner joins us live from loss ngless with more. good morning. >> reporter: a lot of questions being asked about this case, especially from the neighbors who knew this couple very well, spent a lot of time with them and said they seemed like a perfectly happy, loving couple with a gorgeous, beautiful child. however, police say that a missing persons case has been solved because the victim showed up at the police department telling them she had been kidnapped by her mother's boyfriend in 2004.

>> reporter: these photos from knbc show that 25-year-old woman found a decade after she says she was kidnapped. these photos taken derg hur alleged captivity, show her, her alleged kidnapper and her child seemingly living a normal life. breaking overnight, she tells our affiliate kabc she's so happy and god blessed to be with her family. she says all the time she cried for them. police say the girl entered a police station in bell gardens, california, with a disturbing story. she told police her mother's then live-in boyfriend, this man, isidro garcia, drugged, kidnapped her and tricked her into keeping quiet after a fight at the family home back in 2004. >> she walked in on her own. she stated that she was kidnapped about ten years ago and held against her will. >> you're talking about a 15-year-old girl that came to this country, doesn't speak english. her mother's boyfriend decides he wants to physically and

sexually abuse her. he tells her her mother doesn't care, that she can't go to the police because they're going to deport her. >> reporter: the girl reportedly telling police she ended up marrying and having a baby with her alleged kidnapper, all the while harboring the painful secret. this apartment complex is where the couple lived. police say it's about 25 miles from where the victim's mother lived. but people who live here in this very tight-knit community say they knew the couple well and they simply can't believe what they're hearing. it appeared they loved each other. >> she would go to the market like every other couple days, they would be happy, kissing, holding hands. and then she comes up with this now, why did she take so long to do it? >> reporter: was there any indication that she was in trouble, that something was wrong in this family? >> that i think of, myself, from what i seen, no. >> reporter: police say there was something terribly wrong. >> we do know on two occasions she fled.

she was caught and she was beaten for her efforts. >> reporter: now, isidro garcia, the suspect, was arrested and a bail of $1 million was set. he was booked on suspicion of kidnapping, rape, lewd acts with a minor and false imprisonment. again, the neighbors say they just don't understand how this is possible considering how they saw this couple acting for the last several years. >> the other disturbing part about this, the girl's mother did file a missing persons report with the police, and she sort of named this guy. so why couldn't police find him and her 15-year-old daughter at the time? >> reporter: that's a question that we don't have the answer to from investigators. they're still looking at this case. initially the alleged victim went into one police department who had to check because they didn't know if her story was true. they ended up checking with the santa ana police department where the missing persons report was initially filed. now that department is looking

into this case and they are the ones that have the suspect in custody, and that suspect, by the way, he will be in court this morning. we're expecting an arraignment to happen, his first court appearance. there are a lot of questions as to how this case went unsolved for so long. investigators say they've never had a case like this where ten years later, the person was found alive and able to be reunited. >> disturbingly we're hearing more and more cases like this. sara sidner reporting live from los angeles this morning. still to come, the va scandal, a new whistle-blower and more outrage echoing across the nation. michelle kosinski is at the white house. >> reporter: one month after cnn broke the story, we hear from the president. now even was own party are questioning whether the response is enough. we'll have the latest coming up. [person]you know why so many of us here sleep on a tempur-pedic

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i want to take you live to washington now. this is a meeting of the house veterans affairs committee. of course they're talking about the scandal swirling around va hospitals at the country. this is the democrat from maine making opening remarks. in a little bit, two members of the veteran affairs committee will be testifying before this committee about the va secretary eric shinseki and what went so terribly wrong at those hospitals with wait lists that were so long that some patients died waiting for care. also this morning, new

charges are coming from a medical director at the phoenix veterans affairs hospital. it's one of many va centers accused of cooking the books to hide massive delays, sometimes deadly delays in getting veterans much-needed health care. the doctor says it was going on just a few weeks ago. what's more, the victims include combat veterans wounded in iraq and afghanistan. >> we're talking about people that were injured by being blown up by ieds. we're talking about people who had a mental breakdown and have severe ptsd and are having trouble functioning. we're talking about veterans severely injured by some means while in the military, even if it wasn't in actual combat. >> it is the latest stunning claim in an investigation that casts a large shadow over the white house. michelle kosinski has more for you. >> i will not stand for it.

>> reporter: it was a time pour the president to show that he, too, is mad as hell about the va scandal using an angry tone. >> it is dishonorable. it is disgraceful and i will not tolerate it, period. >> reporter: if the president won't stand for secret waiting lists, months' long delays in veterans care, this administration as well as the one before did stand it for many years. the va itself made very clear it was an ongoing problem. what has made things more difficult to explain, saying they didn't know the extent of it until now. >> what we have to do is find out what exactly happened. i don't yet know how systemic this is. >> reporter: and have not yet explained how that is acceptable for shinseki to not know as he remains standing in his job. now even democratic lawmakers have strong words on how this was handled. >> mr. president, we need urgency, we need you to roll up our sleeves and get into these

hospitals. >> one person isn't responsible for it. one person's resignation, retirement or sacking ain't going to get the job done. we need to go all up and down the chain of command. >> reporter: from the american legi legion, if the administration has known about these issues for at least four years, why is it just now taking action? calling the decision not to fire shinseki unfortunate. the obama administration did expand care and funding for the va. it's also very clear right now did not mention to get ahead of this problem as the scandal evolved. instead, on the defense for the last week. just before the president spoke, news broke that the head of the phoenix va while under investigation and right before she was suspended was given a bonus of more than $8,000, now rescinded. the second year in a row she was awarded for what was considered good work. now, president obama announced he wants to see preliminary results at the va investigation in a week from his adviser, a full report on the problems with recommendations in a month. the president has not explained

exactly how the va secretary is being held accountable for will be held accountable right now if only because all of this happened on his watch for years. a lot is going on right now including on the hill. three top va officials are talking to the house va committee. the house just passed a bill that would make it easier for the va to fire managers. carol? >> michelle kosinski reporting live from the white house this morning. i want to talk more about this with ken fisher, the chair marn and ceo of the fisher house foundation, fisher house builds homes for families of military veterans. thanks for being with us this morning. >> thank you for having me. >> you're on the front line of veterans care. should heads roll now? i'm wondering if you think somebody should be fired right now. >> you know, there have been actions that have been taken.

there are reports that we're waiting to get a sense of what's in them. the ig report and of course the nabors report. i don't know yet -- i think secretary shinseki given his service to this nation deserves the benefit of the doubt, at least as it relates to these reports. so i'll reserve judgment pending the reports being made public. >> do you work directly with secretary shinseki? >> we have a public-private partnership with the va that actually works very well. fisher house building these homes away from homes and we gift them to the va. the va then agrees to staff and maintain and operate them in perpetuity. so we actually enjoy a good partnership with the va in that sense. >> what are you hearing from families of those who have loved ones in va hospitals?

>> i haven't had much contact with the families over the last couple of weeks. i just -- i can only imagine how they feel. you know, as we learn more about this, real reform has to come out of all of this. we're looking at at least 40 veterans that have died allegedly from this scandal. you just pray that their deaths will not be for nothing, that real and meaningful reform will come from this situation. >> we have a tendency in this country to call for first right away, right? some of those calls for firings right away are justified because this didn't exactly start today or yesterday or the day before. politico is actually calling this president obama's heck of a job brownie moment.

is it in your mind? >> you know, i feel that one of the issues that we're seeing right now is the fact that this isn't happening fast enough. this country needs answers. this country deserves answers. these are men and women who have raised their right hand, who have gone out and supported this nation, defended this nation, some with their lives. we deserve answers and we deserve them quickly. i just don't think that's happening. real reform is not one issue at a time. real reform is -- it's comprehensive. again, we need to find out just how systemic this is. we need to get moving, and, you know, the president was appropriately outraged. he's vowed that subject to the reports being made public, that actions will be taken. you just -- you hope that the appropriate actions will be taken quickly. >> i hope so.

ken fisher, thanks so much for your insight. i appreciate it. >> thank you very much. still to come in the "newsroom," gm sets a brand new record. unfortunately it's in number of recalls it's issued this year alone. it is astounding. christine romans live in new york with more. good morning. >> good morning, carol. what is really a safety crisis for gm has a very interesting twist. sales are up, not down, and some people going into the dealer for their recall to be taken care of are walking away buying a new car. i have that after the break. [announcer] play close-good and close. help keep teeth clean and breath fresh with beneful healthy smile snacks. with soft meaty centers and teeth cleaning texture,it's dental that tastes so good. beneful healthy smile food and snacks.

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gm has recalled 13.8 million vehicles in the united states alone. that is more cars than it sold in the last five years combined. christine romans is following the story. christine, where does the company go from here. >> reporter: it's going to have to pay for the recalls. they have 35,000 loner cars. they have to pay for that, pay for the repairs. they paid a $35 million fine to the government. and there will be more no question here. the company, carol, has taken saying that about $1.7 billion in costs. that's a lot of money. that wipes away the profit for the first part of the year and there will be more fines. to put in perspective, that $35 million fine from nhtsa, their revenue is $415 million a day. they have a lot of money coming through.

one interesting thing about this, darrell, when you look at the money coming through, sales are not down. in fact, people are coming in with a 2008, 2009 car for the repair, they're driving the new model loner and buying them. >> i was wondering about that this morning. apparently this hasn't heard gm as far as sales is concerned. >> if you want a corvette, thinking about a corvette for three years and coming out of the financial crisis and the recession, you're going to buy a corvette because you want to buy a corvette. if your car is not great, it's old, a 2008 model, 2007 model and you've been thinking about upgrading, traffic is up at the dealerships. and traffic on balance is good for dealers, good for car sales. >> here is the worry. i don't know if people aren't taking it seriously. i'm sure they are. they're bringing in their cars

to be repaired. but gm doesn't seem to be suffering from this. so could it happen again and more easily the next time? >> reporter: there is a new gm. that's what ceo mary barra is saying. this new gm will be a new culture of safety. that is the messaging from general motors and this ceo who has been on the job for about four months. they're being aggressive with recalls now because of all the controversy and all of the anger over the ignition switch recall earlier this year that really started all this. 2.6 million cars recalled, 13 deaths related to accidents with those cars. a lot of these recent recalls, carol, are tail lamp wiring and a clamp that's funny someplace and a mirror problem. so they're annoying and costly, but not necessarily dangerous. and gm still has a pretty high safety rating. at least for now, gm's reputation is holding up. its sales are holdtion up, i should say, even though its reputation is taking a very big

hit. >> interesting. krils teen romance reporting live for us, thank you so much. still to come in the "newsroom," mcdonald's is facing down some of its harshest critics, its own employees. hundreds gathering at company headquarters right now demanding a livable wage.

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i'm carol costello, thanks for joining me. the fight over income inequality has taken itself right to mcdomd's front door. protesters are expected to gather at the fast food giant's annual shareholders meeting at the top of the hour. yesterday as many as 2,000 people gathered outside the mcdonald's campus, chanting and shouting, demanding $15 an hour in wages and the right to june yinize. >> as workers, we went on strike, we had petition signings in our score, requested meetings with the general manager. we've done all we can. >> mcdonald's is the fastest grow e growing industry in the industry. we're here to sake we do work for you, we're not going to live in poverty while you take home billions in profit. that's what this is about. >> for employees of the restaurants like mcdonald's t fight is deeply personal. according to the white house, more than 75% of minimum wage

employees are over the age of 20. hardly the teenage summer burger flipper. more than one in five have children to support at home. it's a pretty tough task when at best your ages come in at $19,000 per year. that's below the poverty level. we're joined by cnn global economic analyst and assistive managing editor at "time" magazine, ron nah, and ron sherpa from the american heritage foundation. welcome to both of you. >> good morning. >> rona, are these protests working? >> they haven't gotten a wage hike yet, so i will have to say no. it reflects the growing trend in this country towards labor mobilization and unionization in the low end service sector. this is where six in the ten fastest growing retailers are, mcdonald's checkout people, like tourism. so these areas are really ripe

for labor mobilization. for decades in this country, we've seen unionization in the manufacturing sector fall off. it's now growing again in the service sector which is interesting. >> james, whalmart is tweaking company benefits in part because of bad publicity and protests like this. i know protests are union-backed. maybe they can publicly shame companies into better working conditions and better wages. >> if they can, more power to them. these are really -- they're made for media protests with very little actual worker support. there's only a few hundred workers participating in these protests out of over 4 million workers in the fast food sector. it's mostly a march on the media. >> isn't that effective? wouldn't you say some of the workers who are not protesting are afraid to lose their jobs. how can you discount these protests and so many americans

living below the poverty line with families to support? >> the union goal here, what they don't say in the fine print is they want to unionize without a secret vow of election. if the workers want to unionize, we should allow them to do that. >> is it that simple, rana? >> i don't think so. we've seen any number of attempted union organizations around the country. lately there was a big case in chattanooga with volkswagen that was very contentious. i spoke to workers on the ground there. they were interested in having more of an organized voice, but they were also concerned about losing their job and they were concerned about political -- political pressure around politicians saying they would pull subsidies for the factories

if workers unionized. i think unionization has been very contentious for the past several decades. we now have a bifurcated economy, plenty of jobs at the high end and the low end and not much in the middle. this is not a problem that's going away. if you've got a couple of kids, it's impossible to make it n $20,000 a year. i think we'll see these protests grow. >> james, if unionization isn't the answer and protests aren't the answer, what is the answer for these families, just to suck it up? >> most fast food workers leave and take another job within eight months. >> no, that's not true actually. that's not true. >> 150% turnover. >> no, no, no. these are workers who have families to support at home, who are not summertime workers, who are not temporary workers. these are people who are making these kinds of jobs a career because, let's face it, the economy ain't so great right now to find a good job if you don't have a college education. even if you do have a college

education. >> absolutely. >> the economy is certainly hurting. look what happened in chattanooga, a secret ballot election. the company was encouraging the workers to unionize. the company wanted them to vote for the union. we don't want to end up like chattanooga -- don't want chattanooga to end up like detroit. >> local politicians were saying we'll pull subsidies for these factories if you unionize. that was a very complex situation. what's fascinating is this german company said, yeah, we'd like to have more labor organization. the workers were interested. it was the local political community, very right leaning i might add that was against it. that was the problem in chattanooga. >> james, i'll ask you, what's the answer for these workers if they need to make a living wage and don't want to depend on food stamps to help them through the day? >> again, the answer is not to do something that will take away their jobs. if walmart -- sorry -- if

mcdonald's had this $15 an hour fast food wage, they'd have to raise prices by 25%. that doesn't just hurt their customers. when their customers stop buying as much, they'll have to lay off workers. a 25% price hike is going to meet a lot fewer jobs. that's going to lead these workers into an even worse situation. >> when i look at the profit margins at mcdonald's and the fact that the prices are already so incredibly low and profit margins at this company and many companies in america are record highs, i'm not that worried about labor taking a little more share of the pie. >> we could discuss this forever. thanks for the debate. rana foroohar, james shirk, i'll be right back. i'm m-a-r-y and i have copd.

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american troops now on the ground in chad, nigeria, helping to search for the more than 200

kidnapped school girls. the white house announced yesterday the deployment of a predator drone and additional military personnel to provide intelligence and surveillance support. it's been more than five weeks since the girls were taken by boka haram. cnn's barbara starr live at the pentagon. what can you tell us about these troops in chad? >> reporter: the pentagon is saying these troops are there to help with the search. certainly there are tantalizing hints that the search is beginning to become more focused. the 80 u.s. troops in chad will be split, half operating an unmanned, unarmed predator drone searching for the girls missing since april 14 when they were abducted by the insurgent group boka haram. the other half providing security for those troops. the predator drone may be joined by this manned surveillance

aircraft which has already been used but recently has been grounded for maintenance. cnn has learned the u.s. believes one potential scenario, some of the missing school girls are in northeastern nigeria and others may have been taken into surrounding countries. a senior u.s. official tells cnn, quote, it's possible based on some intelligence, but adds, we just don't actually know where they are. there has been no verified intelligence about their specific location. this action comes as a teenage girl who survived another boka haram attack after seeing her father and brother killed spoke to lawmakers in washington and offered her thoughts on what needs to be done to rescue the girls. >> i want the government to know how much nigeria is in our prayers, and i want them to send armies to find the girls or help

the people that lost their family. >> reporter: so the pentagon says for now everything is related to just helping search for the girls and no plans for the u.s. to participate in a search and rescue mission if a location for the girls is found. carol? >> why not, barbara? >> it's a very difficult issue, officials say. they believe right now the girls have probably been split up into small groups. so to go into all of these places, u.s. troops to go in, a lot of challenge there to figure out who is friend or foe. you're going into areas where you may not have a lot of intelligence about what's going on. and if they're in multiple locations, you have to get to those locations simultaneously. otherwise boka haram could get advanced word that you're on your way because you've gone to some but not all of the locations. it's going to be a very tough

problem. >> barbara starr, thanks so much. here at cnn we're not giving up on the girls. if you would like to help girls worldwide try to overcome barriers in education, go to our web side, cnn.com/impact. i'll be back. (mother vo) when i was pregnant ...i got lots of advice, but i needed information i could trust. unitedhealthcare's innovative, simple program helps moms stay on track with their doctors to get the right care and guidance. (anncr vo) that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. captain: and here's a tip. bellman: thanks, captain obvious. when you save money on hotel rooms, it's just like saving money on anything else that costs money. like shoes, textiles, foreign investments, spatulas, bounty hunters, javelins...

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listen up, ladies. perhaps more than ever, it's the power of the woman. both candidates and voters that could tip the balance of power in washington this election year. dana bash has more. >> reporter: carol, the big drama this election year is whether republicans can take control of the senate. and the answer to that may rest in the hands of female candidates, especially after tuesday's primaries. from kentucky -- >> i am not an empty dress. >> reporter: -- to oregon. >> i am a doctor, a mom. >> reporter: -- to georgia. >> washington's going to learn a

thing or two from our campaign. >> reporter: -- these female senate candidates will try to defeat a male incumbent or flip party control of a senate seat. add them to the list of vulnerable female senators in louisiana, north carolina and new hampshire, and it's clear that the balance of power in the senate could depend on how women candidates in both parties fare. gender is really at play in the neck-and-neck race here in kentucky. alison lundergan grimes running against senate gop leader mitch mcconnell. >> i am a strong kentucky woman who is an independent thinker. >> reporter: she's already leaning way in, using her gender to appeal to female voters who make up more than half the kentucky electorate and playing to the fact that polls show mcconnell especially unpopular with women. alison grimes is a 35-year-old woman running very much appealing to women. you have a gender gap problem. >> we'll find out in november, won't we? i mean, the point is, women in

kentucky have been treated just as badly in this environment as men have. >> reporter: but belying that bravado is mcconnell's overappeal to women, talking about his wife -- >> i'm so happy to be joined tonight by my wife. >> reporter: -- and three kentucky women he says were hurt by obamacare. democrats' other big hope for picking up a gop senate seat is in georgia with michelle nunn, daughter of sam nunn. >> reporter: monica webby is a pediatric neurosurgeon and a political outsider. >> i'm not a career politician. >> reporter: republicans are favored to pick up a democratic seat in west virginia. but even if she loses to natalie tenet, the state would elect its first female senator. there are currently 20 women senators. it's a record but still only 20% of the senate. far from representative of the country, which is more than 50% female. carol?

>> dana bash reporting. still to come in the "newsroom," one of the most high-profile couples in professional sports calling it quits. say it ain't so. over? nischelle turner has more. >> yeah, she said yes and he said -- well, i don't think so. we're going to talk all about it, carol, when we come back. [announcer] play close-good and close. help keep teeth clean and breath fresh with beneful healthy smile snacks. with soft meaty centers and teeth cleaning texture,it's dental that tastes so good. beneful healthy smile food and snacks. c'mon, you want heartburn? when your favorite food starts a fight, fight back fast, with tums. heartburn relief that neutralizes acid on contact. and goes to work in seconds. ♪ tum, tum tum tum... tums!

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no contest in the nba playoffs last night. the san antonio spurs destroyed the oklahoma city thunder by 35 points and now lead their series 2-0. the spurs went on big runs at the end of the second quarter and started the third to put the game away. the teams play again sunday night. you can watch it on our sister network, tnt. all right. let's talk about something sad. for more than two years, golf star rory mcilroy and his tennis-playing girlfriend, caroline wozniacki, enjoyed a high-profile courtship that earned the couple the nickname wozilroy. she posted this picture announcing their engagement on new year's eve. now several months later, mcilroy -- the invitations have gone out, nischelle turner -- and mcilroy says oh, i've changed my mind. that's painful, man. >> yes, it is painful.

and on the surface, it seems like the classic case of cold feet. now, we'll kind of go back because mcilroy announced wednesday he had broken off this engagement. he said that the issuing of those wedding invitations over the weekend made him realize that he wasn't prepared for, quote, all that marriage entails. they were together for three years. they got engaged new year's day, like you said. he released a statement about the break-up on wednesday. here's what he said. he said there is no right way to end a relationship that has been so important to two people. the problem is mine. the wedding invitations issued at the weekend made me realize i wasn't ready for all that marriage entails. i wish caroline all the happiness she deserves, and i thank her for the great times we've had. i will not be saying anything more about our relationship in any setting. wait a minute. on thursday, he did say something else about their relationship. he spoke to the media while he was getting ready for the bmw pga championship in england, and here's what he said. >> quite a difficult time for caroline and myself, and i think

the statement really said it all this morning. it was mutual and amicable. we both thought it was for the beth f best for both of us. time to move on, and i think i've said all that i need to say. you know, i just want to get my head into golf this week and concentrate on the tournament and try and do well. >> now, that's very nice, but i don't know how amicable it was, carol, because caroline just tweeted "it's a hard time for me right now. thanks for all the sweet messages. happy i support liverpool right now because i know will never walk alone." presumably she's referring to the football club. this could be a dig at rory because he's a supporter of manchester united which is one of their rivals. they did have to deal with the rumors of how good their relationship was and scrutiny over whether or not there were distractions for each other's

career, and all of this was magnified when they both went into a slump last year. neither one of them was winning and everybody wanted to speculate on what was going on. but here's the thing, carol. on sunday, rory mcilroy just tweeted a picture of them at dinner at nobu in monte carlo. and you know, put it out there that they were there having dinner together. then three days later, no more. >> it's a sad story, but at least it's better they don't get married, right? >> yes. >> if it's not going to work, it's not going to work. oh, yeah. nischelle turner, thanks so much. >> one day she'll thank her lucky stars. >> that's right. just too painful right now. the next hour of "cnn newsroom" starts now. happening now in the "newsroom," a decade in captivity, now free. >> he tells her that her mother doesn't care, that she can't go to the police because they're going to deport her. >> kidnapped, held hostage, now reunited with her family thanks to facebook. also, the v.a. crisis deepens.

>> it is dishonorable. it is disgraceful, and i will not tolerate it, period. >> and calls for heads to roll grow louder. >> there was no urgency. mr. president, we need urgency. we need you to roll up our sleeves and get into these hospitals! >> but so far nothing. >> i want to see what the results of these reports are, and there is going to be accountability. plus -- what the hail? parts of denver buried. >> they were struggling to push the ice and the hail off the field. >> apocalyptic-looking storms grind the city to a halt. and runaway groom. days after the invitations go out, rory mcilroy and caroline wozniacki say i don't. >> quite a difficult time for caroline and myself. >> what happened? let's talk live in the "cnn newsroom."

good morning. i'm carol costello. thank you so much for joining me. this morning, new allegations and more outrage in the scandal over the veteran administration hospitals. three senior v.a. officials gave late notice they will not attend this meeting that just wrapped up of the house veterans affairs committee. lawmakers had planned to grill them on allegations that several v.a. centers hid massive delays in providing veterans much needed medical care. and as they cooked the books, possibly dozens of vets died, awaiting the medical attention they so desperately needed. this morning on cnn's "new day," the committee chairman warned that an investigation will turn up a lot more abuses in our nation's military veterans hospitals. >> this is just the tip of the iceberg. i know there's more to come. we have received some information and some tips that will make what has already come out look like kindergarten stuff. >> pretty ominous words, drew griffin. i know you led this cnn investigation. you broke this story. and this morning you're going to

add another wrinkle to all of this. tell us about it. >> reporter: i'm here at the phoenix v.a. where the director of the post-deployment clinic, dr. katherine mitchell is now coming forward to us. she's the person who transitions current enlisted people into the vets system, the v.a. system, as they are coming out of deployment. yes, these are our most current warriors who are coming into the v.a., supposed to be first in line, carol, and they are being told to wait. dr. mitchell, i just want to make sure i understand what you're telling me. you are telling me that our troops coming back from war, now separated from active service -- >> who should have priority for scheduling do not. >> reporter: -- who are coming to the phoenix v.a. for follow-up care for war injuries. >> correct. >> reporter: are being put on a waiting list and made to wait six to ten months? >> yes, or longer.

>> reporter: you're kidding. >> no. but it's the same for everyone. everyone is made to wait. >> reporter: that's now? that's happening now? >> yeah, unless they've changed something since the oig -- >> reporter: you're there now. >> i don't -- since all this happened, people -- >> reporter: but we're talking about two or three weeks. >> right. >> reporter: can you tell me two or three weeks ago what type of person we're talking about? >> we're talking about people that were injured by being blown up by ieds. we're talking about people who had a mental breakdown and have severe ptsd and are having trouble functioning. we're talking about veterans that were severely injured by some means in the while in the military, even if it wasn't in actual combat, because we have people involved in vehicle accidents. we have people that are injured stateside. >> reporter: who have you told this to in terms of this united states government?

>> the oig knows when they spoke to me -- the oig inspectors can ask anyone that does scheduling. >> reporter: they asked you. >> they didn't ask me. i told them. >> reporter: carol, the more we hear about what has gone on here in the phoenix v.a. and getting reports around the country, the worse this scandal becomes, we did ask the phoenix v.a. about the allegations made by their own doctor. they told us they couldn't talk about it based on the investigation currently under way. but, i mean, as you can see, just more and more detail. and now we're understanding that these are young soldiers who are coming out of service, coming here for help, and guess what? you've just got to stand in line. >> it's -- it's shocking. drew, i want you to stay with us because i want to bring in joe kaplan to discuss more on this. he's a labor attorney. so good morning, joe. >> good morning, carol. >> thanks for joining me. the outrage over this story is leading many to ask why hasn't anyone been fired yet?

you say, joe, there's a reason for that. tell us what it is. >> well, the reason is that first of all, it's just too soon. we don't really know what the facts are. there are a lot of allegations out there. they are very serious allegations, but they really need to be investigated. before an employer like the v.a. or any government agency would take an action against an employee to fire them, for example, which could ruin their reputation, make it very unlikely that they could earn a livelihood, get another job, think of the impact on their family. before you take an action like that, you want to know what the facts are, so you get them right. you don't want a rush to judgment. these are very, very serious matters. they have grave implications on the employee who faces these allegations. >> but drew, we know a lot of facts. we know -- we know, for example, that people died because they were placed on these wait lists. >> reporter: absolutely. the government has known that for at least a year, if not longer. we know the wait list issue has been around for years and years

and years. we know that recommendations made by the government accountability office by the v.a.'s own office of inspector general have not been followed, have not solved these problems. i understand what this labor attorney is saying, but at some point, carol, there has to be accountability. the fact of the matter is yes, now we are waiting for these investigations, but the people behind them should have been fired -- well, it's in my opinion -- they should have been fired a long, long time ago before anybody even did die. >> carol -- >> there's something in the law -- there's something like with federal employees, they can't be fired the way, you know, private employees can be fired, perhaps. the house has passed a bill making it easier to fire federal employees. it has to go to the senate. is that necessary, joe? >> no, that's really, you know, pablum to kind of quench some of the political outrage here. you know, most federal employees do have due process rights that before they can be terminated, they're entitled to notice of

the charges against them, an opportunity to reply to those charges because the charges may be false. the person you're accusing may not be the person who was involved, may not be the person who made the decision. and then after the employee has the right to reply to that proposed removal, then the agency can make a decision. you know, what we don't want to have happen here is, you know, the wheels of this process to turn so quickly that people's rights get trampled in their haste. now, as to drew's point about, you know, how long the v.a. has known about these issues, i think there are really two separate issues here. one is a political question, and that is what has the secretary or his officials known, and why have they taken action or not taken action? but i think that's a separate question from what are the specific allegations against any specific employee and whether they engaged in wrongdoing. >> all right. i'm going to have to end it there. thanks to both of you, drew griffin, joe kaplan, many thanks.

>> you're welcome. a decade after disappearing, a young woman finally back with her family and telling a story of being beaten, forced into marriage and having a child with her kidnapper. cnn's sara seidner has more. >> carol, there are a lot of people asking why it is the victim stayed with her alleged kidnapper so long. it appeared she was brainwashed, that no one was missing her and she would be deported if she went to police because she had arrived in the united states illegally from mexico. >> reporter: these photos from knbc show that 25-year-old woman found a decade after she says she was kidnapped. these photos taken during her alleged captivity show her, her alleged kidnapper and their child seemingly living a normal life. breaking overnight, she tells our affiliate kabc that she's so happy and god blessed to be with her family. she says all the time she cried for them. police say the girl entered a

police station in bell gardens, california, with a disturbing story. she told police her mother's then live-in boyfriend, this man, garcia, drugged, kidnapped and tricked her into keeping quiet after a fight at the family home back in 2004. >> she walked in on her own. and she stated that she was kidnapped about ten years ago and held against her will. >> you're talking about a 15-year-old girl that came to this country, doesn't speak english. her mother's boyfriend decides that he wants to physically and sexual abuse her. he tells her that her mother doesn't care, that she can't go to the police because they're going to deport her. >> reporter: the girl reportedly telling police she ended up marrying and having a baby with her alleged kidnapper. all the while harboring the painful secret. this apartment complex is where the couple lived. police say it's about 25 miles from where the victim's mother lived. but people who live here in this very tight-knit community say

they knew the couple well, and they simply can't believe what they're hearing. it happened they loved each other. >> she would go to the market like every other couple. they'd be happy, kissing, holding hands. and then she comes up with this now why did she take so long to do it. >> reporter: was there any indication that she was in trouble, that something was wrong in this family? >> that i think of myself, from what i've seen, no. >> reporter: but police say there was something terribly wrong. >> we do know on one or two occasions she fled. she was caught. and she was beaten for her efforts. >> reporter: the suspect has been booked on suspicion of lewd acts with a minor, kidnapping, rape and false imprisonment. he is expected in court today here in southern california. and as for those who are questioning what happened with this victim, she has been reunited with her family. carol? >> sara sidner reporting this morning. still to come, gm facing a

major crisis, recalling more cars this year alone than it sold in the last five years combined. poppy harlow following the fallout for us. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, carol. yeah, when you look at the numbers, they're pretty staggering. general motors recalling 13.8 million vehicles here in the united states alone. it's leaving a lot of people asking, what the heck is going on with gm? we'll discuss straight ahead. [male vo] inside this bag exists

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if your denture moves, it can irritate your gums. try fixodent plus gum care. it helps stop denture movement and prevents gum irritation. fixodent. and forget it. general motors is facing a growing crisis, a federal investigation over a deadly ignition flaw. and now the automaker has recalled 13.8 million vehicles in the united states alone. that is more cars than it sold in the last five years combined.

poppy harlow has more for you. >> reporter: 11 recall announcements in the past week as general motors racks up 13.8 million u.s. recalls this year alone. >> so this has been a banner year for gm in a bad way. they've had 29 separate recalls so far this year, which is a record. this is big. >> reporter: gm has recalled more cars this year than it has sold since exiting bankruptcy in 2009, leaving just about everyone wondering, what's going on with gm? >> we've moved from a cost culture after the bankruptcy to a customer culture. >> reporter: the automaker says the surge in recalls is because it's holding itself to higher safety standards, tackling problems more quickly. they also follow newly minted ceo mary barra's congressional testimony about why it took gm a decade to report a defect that has been tied to at least 13 deaths. >> employees of general motors from engineers, investigators, all the way up through

executives were briefed on information associated with this recall. >> reporter: that violation alone cost gm the maximum $35 million civil fine and will likely cost the company significantly more in victim compensation and potential other fines. this is all on top of a criminal probe by the department of justice surrounding the ignition switch defect. >> my sincere apologies to everyone who has been affected by this recall. especially the families and friends who lost their lives or were injured. >> reporter: but barra is not new to general motors. she's been with the company for 33 years, formerly vice president of global product development, leaving lingering questions about what she knew when about product flaws in gm vehicles. >> i was not aware that there was this issue until the recall was introduced on january 31st. >> had gm acted differently, perhaps some of this tragedy might not -- might have been averted. >> reporter: gm says that's exactly what it's doing now,

hence the mountain of recalls, the last thing they want is to be accused of delaying another one. >> they're cleaning out their closets, going through, minding every issue that they've had in the past that maybe should have been a recall and making it a recall. >> reporter: so far fixing all those recalled cars will cost gm $1.7 billion this year, and the stock is down 18% year to date. but what might be surprising is that all the recalls haven't made a dent in gm's sales which were 7% higher in april than a year ago. >> what gm is doing is talking, saying that we're going to be a good corporate citizen, but they've said the same thing in the past. the proof is really in the pudding. >> okay. so let's talk about this some more with poppy harlow and automotive expert lauren fix. welcome to both of you. poppy, i think the most surprising aspect of this story is that people are going into dealerships and buying gm products. it really hasn't affected their sales.

>> reporter: they're buying a lot of them. as you just heard in the piece, 7% higher, sales were, in april, the latest numbers we have, than a year ago. i think this is playing out -- this is what we typically see. recalls don't tend to hurt automakers, interestingly. but what we're also seeing here is that gm is recalling literally everything but the kitchen sink. if they see any potential problem. that is the exact opposite of what they did with the ignition switch defect, and you saw what's happened to them since. the congressional testimony, the department of justice investigation, the civil $5 million fine. they do not want anyone to be able to point to anything that could indicate that they waited too long to recall a car. so they're even -- experts are telling us are recalling issues that maybe automakers wouldn't recall, or if they see an issue in just a few vehicles, they're going to recall thousands of them. and carol, i think that can help sales because it shows people that they are trying to be completely different and out in front here. >> it's fascinating.

and by the way, we're rolling the cars that have been recalled, just so you know, if you have a gm car. lauren, just to add on to what poppy was saying, i talked to christine romans last hour. she said people are bringing in their recalled cars to dealerships to be fixed, and they're seeing a new product that they like, and they're buying a new product. so is mary barra some kind of genius? >> well, i think she's got a long road to hoe yet, but i think she actually is smart because they're offering discounts on recalled cars. i just hope that they get repaired. remember, not all these cars will get repaired until october, so they'll have a constant stream of people coming in. and hopefully if you do know someone with these cars, please tell them because not everybody watches tv or gets on the intern internet. some people don't have any clue. i'm always concerned when there's 30 recalls in one year, yes, they're being proactive, but bottom line, i think consumers will pay more for

cars. that's what sergio marcioni said of chrysler. he said if we're going to do this much oversight, every little, teeny thing is going to create a recall, it's going to cost somebody money down the road, and it's going to be the consumer. >> interesting. so poppy, still, despite what was just said, that people are still buying general motors cars and still driving them, you have to wonder if it's -- if these cars are safe to drive. and i know you're fixing little, tiny things, but it's still concerning when there are so many recalls. >> reporter: yeah, i think that's such an important question. i mean, you have to go on everyone that really owns a gm vehicle should go on gm.com/recall or the main website to the owner page, put your v.i.n. number in. there have been 13.8 million of recalled this year. overall, most of them are safe to drive, general motors is saying, but they have but some on recall that they do not want you to drive, that they will have come picked up at your home, brought into dealerships and fixed. there was one recent recall where they said don't put

someone in the passenger seat because there was an air bag issue. bottom line, you have to figure out which cars it is and what the issue is, but they will clearly state whether or not it is safe to drive or not. i think the key for this company, carol, is transparency. we're waiting for their internal report to come out about why on earth we didn't know about the ignition switch defect switch for a decade and why there wasn't a recall. that has to come out by june 30th. now, are they just going to release it to the government agency in congress, or are they going to make that public to the american people? i think everyone is going to want to see that and frankly should see that. >> absolutely. and lauren, the last question to you, you know, the american auto business had finally started to come back and get a great reputation again, and now this has happened. what will the lasting impact be, do you think? >> i think that people that are true gm enthusiasts will always be gm. my father always bought gm, and that's what he would buy forever. nothing would stray him. but people that look around me, you know, it may be difficult to

get some of those clients that bought cars that maybe felt uncomfortable about the recalls, maybe they'll buy elsewhere. some people still call it government motors, even though they're out of the general motors business, and they'll never come back. it is helping the whole automotive industry. believe it or not, we're going to be over 16 million cars this year. so the automotive industry is growing, and gm hopes to get some of that back. their biggest market is china, and it continues to grow. >> lauren fix, poppy harlow, thanks so much. i appreciate it. still to come in the "newsroom," it's a showdown at the golden arches. mcdonald's workers bringing the fight for better pay right to the company's top executives. we'll talk about that next. avo: waves don't care what age you are. take them on the way you always have. live healthy and take one a day men's 50+. a complete multivitamin with 7 antioxidants to support cell health. age? who cares.

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happening now, hundreds of protesters are facing down mcdonald's on its home territory, taking their demands for a $15 minimum wage directly to the company's front door. as it holds its annual shareholder meeting in oakbrook, illinois. christine romans is tracking the story for us this morning. good morning, christine. >> good morning, carol. 110 people were arrested yesterday. they had basically state police with riot gear at the headquarters, and they shut it down and told employees to stay home on the advice of police simply because the tensions were running so high ahead of this shareholder meeting. and now executives are briefing shareholders about the health of the company. but what the people who are protesting there care about, the fact this company has a profit of something like $1.2 billion last year, and they feel like they can't make ends meet. and that is the bottom line here. the average fast food worker, carol, makes something like

$9.09 an hour. and they say that's just not enough. not enough to support yourself on and certainly not enough to support a family on. and they look at $15 an hour as what they would like to see, what they think is fair for an hour of their work. but what you hear from franchise owners, because mcdonald's is a franchise, right? what you hear from franchise owners is no way. we would have to really raise prices at a time when sales and revenue are falling for mcdonald's. customers are starting to enjoy other kinds of foodservice venues. and mcdonald's is having a tough slog of it here saleswise, not a good time. the franchises say to raise wage, carol. >> although it is interesting that companies like chipotle, for example, where it costs a lot more to eat, they're doing fine. >> and they'll have to raise prces. a lot of these places are going to be raising prices. i think for consumers you should expect to see fast food prices rise because beef prices are rising. cheese prices, milk prices and the like. what's happening here with mcdonald's -- and there's a lot

of union interests here, union-backed protesting here because they just feel as though it's not fair to make $9 an hour. it's not fair to be working $9 an hour at a job that many say feels like a dead-end job, except it is their job, it is their career, if you will, and have executives of those companies, by the way, making, like, 1,000 times what the average employee makes, making fast food actually among the biggest disparity between average worker and a ceo, at a time when really they feel as though even the president's $10.10 minimum wage proposal doesn't go far enough. they want $15. carol, look at that statistic on your screen. the average age of a fast food worker is 29. so this idea that it's a high school student who's just saving money for college is not true. 31% have some form of college education. so you have people there, this is not a steppingstone. this is where they are right now. and they do have a broader education. now, about one in four are

trying to support children on this salary or on this wage. and if you work full time at a fast food place at $9 an hour, that's about $19,000 a year. that's pretty tough, about one in four. the flip side is some business experts say three-quarters of people working these jobs are only supporting themselves. so is it really appropriate to raise wages? it's a debate they've been having for a decade, and it's in the streets today. >> christine romans, thanks so much. >> you're welcome. still to come in the "newsroom," president obama says he's got eric shinseki's back, but is that only temporary? could the v.a. secretary soon be out of a job? whon a certified pre-ownedan unlimitedmercedes-benz?nty what does it mean to drive as far as you want... for up to three years and be covered?

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the website politico asks a rather provocative question. is the v.a. hospital president obama's heck of a job brownie moment? the president did not heed calls to fire v.a. secretary eric shinse shinseki. instead mr. obama touted shinseki's accomplishments and then he opened the door. >> if you ask me, you know, how do i think rick shinseki has performed overall, i would say that on homelessness, on 9/11 g.i. bill, on working with us to

reduce the backlog across the board, he has put his heart and soul into this thing, and he has taken it very seriously. but i have said to rick, and i said it to him today, i want to see, you know, what the results of these reports are, and there is going to be accountability. >> so let's talk about this. anna navarro is a cnn political commentator and republican strategi strategist. welcome to you both. >> thank you, carol. >> thank you, carol. >> thanks for being here. anna, is the president out of touch on this issue? >> well, he's not showing firm leadership and a sense of urgency, and i think that's very frustrating to veterans and to the american people in general. and it's also a repetition of pattern, carol. how many times have we now heard president obama say, i'm madder than hell, and i'm going to demand action, and we're going to do an investigation, and then we're going to wait for that

investigation, and people will be held accountable. and in the meantime, more and more people are suffering or dying. we don't know how many more. we don't know how many more hospitals are involved. so it's a real problem, i think, for his leadership style and his lack of ability to govern. >> larry, president obama doesn't seem to like to fire people perhaps because there are so many calls for the president to fire so many. for example, kathleen sebelius over the obamacare website, susan rice over the benghazi talking points. the fcc chair over net neutrality. general mcchrystal over that negative "rolling stone" article and eric holder over too many things to list. still -- i know not all these people deserved firing. i'm just giving you the list of suggestions that the president has had to fire these people. but is eric shinseki different, larry? >> well, carol, you're right, first of all. i've taken a look the at this recently. and this president is

extraordinarily hesitant to fire people, compared to other presidents, at least in the post-world war ii era. i guess that's good and bad. loyalty goes two ways. but in this particular case, even though shinseki is a war hero and deserving of all praise in that sector, you know, this is a very dangerous scandal for president obama. and as i listened to his press conference, i didn't think he really got it. this is a dangerous scandal because unlike partisan scandals that simply divide democrats and rea republicans, democrats, liberals, moderates, conservatives, everybody is outraged by this and wants tough, immediate action, not just words. >> well, ana, it was interesting that shinseki was not by the president's side when he held that news conference yesterday. and i bring that up because sebelius was always there when the president defended her. do you think there's an

underlying message there? >> well, i do, carol. you know, i think that there is a very real possibility that he will get fired because it's now five, almost six years into his tenure as v.a. director. you know, it's five, six years into the term of president obama. president obama was on the veterans affairs committee in the u.s. senate. he was briefed on these problems. he knew they were happening. he promised to change them during his campaign. it was one of his big focuses. so i think it presents a real political problem to him. also, because it's happening on our soil. it's not some faraway country that we don't know where it is on the map. and it's happening by americans and for a long protracted time. it just speaks to such inefficiency and inability to get things under control. >> and just to be cynical here for a moment, larry, if republicans had really centered on this controversy instead of

benghazi, maybe it would have been, i don't know, i hate to put it this way, but smarter for them politically. >> given time, carol, i think they will focus on this. and look, heads are going to have to roll. if it isn't shinseki, then it's going to have to be a lot of these individual employees at the 1700 health care facilities. look, the v.a. is massive. people don't realize this is the second largest government bureaucracy just after the defense department. so there are a lot of heads that can roll. >> larry sabato -- >> carol, i think democrats will be calling for heads to roll as well. some of them are already speaking out on this. this, as larry said, is not a partisan issue. i think this is something that unites as americans is this knowledge that we have a special covenant with people who have served our country.

>> yes, and are willing to give their lives for us. they certainly deserve good health care. it's just -- it's shocking. larry sabato, ana navarro, thank you so much. still to come in the "newsroom," once thought to be impossible to break, hackers may have figured out a way to unlock all those stolen iphones. why this is such a big deal. next.

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not so with internet from the phone company. i would email the phone company to inquire as to why they have shortchanged these customers. but that would require wifi. switch to comcast business internet and get two wifi networks included. comcast business built for business. should your iphone ever get lost or stolen, software is supposed to make it impossible for a hacker to unlock it. well, it turns out that software may have been cracked. two hackers said they figured out a way to get into these gadgets, opening the doors to a huge black market. cnn technology analyst brett larsen joins us now. this just depresses me. >> it's really bad, carol. i feel like you and i are collectively trying to solve the

issue of stolen smartphones. and how to make them not actually fall into the hands of the bad guys. so, you know, we've got to give props to apple for building into their latest software update, ios 7, this secure way of locking up a stolen phone. you need a user name and a password for your icloud access. otherwise the phone won't work. you can't take it into a store and have it activated. what these dutch hackers discovered, after several months, is there's actually a way to fool your computer into thinking it's connected to apple's icloud service, and then it will unlock your phone, and it will make the phone work again. now, i've got to give a tip of the hat to them for at least reaching out to apple before going public with this and saying hey, here's the back door that we found. here's the problem. and here's potentially what could be done. apple didn't do anything about it. they ignored it. and now that the press has gotten ahold of it and we are, you know, going public with all of this, i guarantee you there will probably be a fix here in the next 48 to 72 hours.

>> you know, i hope so. interestingly, ebay announced it was hacked. i mean, everything's being hacked into. >> yeah. >> and these things use passwords, right? >> right. >> so why not get rid of these passwords and find some other way -- a more secure way -- to get into your sis, whatever it might be? >> you know, passwords have always been the bain of everyone's existence. they are still very critical. we are seeing some things, some advancements in biobiometrics, fingerprint scanner which works very well. samsung's new galaxy line has a fingerprint scanner on it. we need to see these sorts of technologies go into our home computers where you can sit down and log in with the swipe of your thumb or maybe a retinal scan. i know it sounds like something out of a futuristic movie, but that's really the only way we're going to get around these passwords and hopefully prevent all of our data from falling into the hands of hackers every

time they figure out a workaround to a password. >> i'm all for it. brett larson, thanks, as usual. >> thanks, carol. still to come in the "newsroom," the nba versus donald sterling. the league lays out its case for forcing the sale of the clippers. we'll talk about that. the was a truly amazing day. without angie's list, i don't know if we could have found all the services we needed for our riley. for over 18 years we've helped people take care of the things that matter most. join today at angieslist.com

with an nba hearing on donald sterling less than two weeks away, we're learning new details about charges the league is leveling against the clippers' owner. cnn's brian todd joins us from

washington. good morning, brian. >> reporter: good morning, carol. the nba is ramping up its case against sterling, saying evidence in this case was destroyed and that false and misleading evidence was provided to league investigators. we have confirmed details of an nba document on the league's allegations against sterling. the charges are powerful, and if true, could be very damaging. new allegations of cover-up and lying on the part of donald sterling and his wife, putting his attempt to keep the l.a. clippers in peril. the nba alleges sterling tried to persuade his companion, v. stiviano, to tell league investigators she had lied, had altered the audiotape with his racist remarks, and that this voice on the clip posted by tmz wasn't sterling's. >> if you want to broadcast that you're associating with black people. do you have to? >> reporter: the allegations contained in the nba's formal document trying to remove sterling as owner of the clippers are confirmed to cnn by a source familiar with the

document. according to the source, the nba's document says sterling asked stiviano to cover for him about a week after tmz first posted the audiotape. >> in the real world, people go to jail for asking a witness to change their testimony. it would add additional evidence for the league to conclude that he doesn't belong in the league and that they should throw him out. >> reporter: sterling's attorney told cnn he wouldn't comment on the document. "the l.a. times" quotes an associate of sterling's calling it a smear. v. stiviano in a new interview with dr. phil convicted sterling's claim that he didn't know he was being recorded. >> did he know he was being recorded? >> absolutely, with his permission. >> reporter: the nba's document according to our source also cast doubt on the sterlings' claims that they're estranged. the document says they're inextricably intertwined. one sports agent says this has to do with shelly's attempt to keep her share of the clippers. >> this is preemptive presumably by the nba to create a guilt by association context.

not only are they still inextricably connected but that ms. sterling somehow shares the same beliefs or was otherwise tacitly indifferent toward the known actions of her husband. >> reporter: the attorney for shelly sterling disputes the claims about her in the nba document, telling cnn they are he says staged, that they've been living apart for more than a year, and they both announced their intentions to divorce. in a statement, pierce o'donnell, the attorney, said shelly continues to be unfairly tarnished by the words and actions of her co-owner and estranged husband, carol. >> i know you've been digging deep into the story. you've got information on exactly when donald sterling's camp first knew about this original audiotape. tell us. >> that's right. according to our source, the nba document says then-clippers president andy roser received a copy of the recordings on april 9th, two weeks before tmz posted it. the document says roser told donald sterling about the record that sterling ordered the employee who provided it to delete the recording from a phone. again, we got no comment from donald sterling's attorney to

that. >> interesting. brian todd, many thanks. >> thank you. still to come in the "newsroom," it was the joyful video that sparked a social media uproar. we'll tell you about a happy turn for those young iranian dancers.

♪ because i'm happy ♪ climb along if you know what happiness is to you ♪ infectious, that "happy" song. the video those six iranians posted, the one that got them and the video's director arrested. there may be a happy ending to this story. and it might have been driven in part by the power of social media. here's more now from reza ceja. >> the good news is most of

these eiranians are out on bail with the exception of the director, but they still face charges not out of the woods yet, but there's so much irony to this story. you have this song about happiness and then these young iranians who make a music video, essentially saying we can be happy here in iran, too, but here's who wasn't happy, iranian authorities. at least six young iranian men and women have been arrested by iranian authorities and paraded in front of state tv cameras for this. shooting an amateur music video to the tune of pop singer pharrell's hit "happy." ♪ climb along if you feel like that's what you wanna do ♪ >> reporter: in the video, the young iranians are seen playfully dancing and lip-syncing. the music video received nearly 100,000 hits on youtube and closes with this written message. "happy was an excuse to be happy. we enjoyed every second of making it. hope it puts a smile on your face."

tehran's police chief wasn't smiling when he boasted on state tv that the group was arrested within six hours because they made an obscene video without a permit from authorities. other state media reports describe the music video as vulg vulgar. islamic republic forbids them from dancing with one another. the women in the video also appear without the mandatory islamic hair veil. in the arrest video aired on state tv, several of the accused performers have their backs to the camera, but they can be heard quivering as they tell a reporter they were misled by the producer. the arrests have sparked outrage on social media. pharrell williams himself posted on his facebook page, it's beyond sad that these kids were arrested for trying to spread happiness. in his first year as president, hassan rowhani has pushed for more social freedoms and sth signaled a more moderate iran

amid the current negotiations with world powers. ♪ in an apparent message of support for the young iranians, twitter account said "happiness is our people's right. we shouldn't be too hard on behaviors caused by joy." whether rowhani's tweet helped persuade authorities to release the group on bail is not clear. ♪ care baby about the way ♪ because i'm happy ♪ climb along >> reporter: we should point out that these harsh laws against public singing and dancing emerged after the 1979 islamic revolution, but it's important to point out that if you know iranian culture and history, you know that dancing, singing and poetry is steeped in iranian culture. the issue is it clashes with these conservative islamic values. we'll follow this case and we'll see where it goes. >> i'm glad we're going to do that because, you know, they're out on bail, but the director is still in custody.

and of course those dancers still face charges. we'll continue to follow this story for you. thank you for joining me today. i'm carol costello. "@this hour" with berman and michaela starts now. a young woman missing for ten years until she found the courage to free herself. why didn't she just run, and what made her finally ask for help? then, where's the action after the outrage? president obama says he will not tolerate deadly delays at v.a. hospitals, but did he already? the president's crisis management skills in question. also, almost 2 million pounds of beef recalled. we know where it was sold, but why don't or can't we know which restaurants served it? hello there, everyone. great to see you today.