skinner's. >> so, skinner got a break from the u.s.tices ruled that he had the basic civil rights to press for dna testing. and i know you're fighting that battle now in federal court as well as pursuing relief in the state courts. so how do you feel about your chances here of success? >> well, i think that if you look at this case, it's just common sense that you want to do dna testing. this is a case where there are serious reasons to question whether mr. skinner had the physical capacity to commit a triple murder. as your listeners may know, he had consumed tremendous quantities of alcohol and codeine on the night of the crime. and a witness who saw him about 90 minutes before the murders took place say he was essentially comatose. he was dead to the world. they couldn't even rouse him from the sofa. on top of that, mr. skinner had a hand injury at the time that would have made it impossible for him to inflict the injuries that twyla becauuzzby suffered. so there were already a lot of questions about whether or not he could have com

skinner had the physical capacity to commit a triple murder. as your listeners may know, he had consumed tremendous quantities of alcohol and codeine on the night of the crime. a witness who saw him about 90 minutes before the murders took place said he was essentially comatose, and dead to the world. they could not rouse him from the sofa. so on top of that, mr. skinner had a hand injury at the time that would have made it impossible for him to inflict the strangulation injuries that twila busby suffered. >> 120,000 people have signed a petition calling for rick perry to put the execution on hold for the dna testing. the victim's family believes skinner is guilty, but want the testing done to end the legal challenges. >>> now deciding the fate of conrad murray. >> a verdict could be reached at any moment. >> verdict watch. this is it. >> i think they are serious at what they are doing. >> they must be unanimous. all 12 people must agree on if verdict. >> they have to understand causation, and criminal negligence is conceded by the defense and

skinner's attorney says his client couldn't have pulled off the murders. >> he had consumed tremendouslcohol and codeine on the night of the crime. a witness who saw him about 90 minutes before the murders took place said he was essentially comatose, dead to the world. they couldn't rouse him from the sofa. on top of that mr. skinner had a hand injury at the time that would have made it impact for him to inflict the strangulation injuries. >> last year, the supreme court stopped skinner's execution so he could press for dna testing. that request was denied. he's laying his hopes on the texas court of criminal appeals. >>> still ahead, it's game on. retailers are promising to be much more aggressive this holiday season. we'll have all the details in 60 seconds. whwho need imagine... one scooter or power chair that could improve your mobility and your life. one medicare benefit that, with private insurance, may entitle you to pay little to nothing to own it. one company that can make it all happen ... your power chair will be paid in full. the scooter store. hi i'm doug harrison. we're e

could clear or finally prove hank skinner skillz we can continue to follow the case and we'll have more for you on tomorrow's show. now efforts to fix our broken justice system supreme court has agreed to hear a pair of cases involving teenagers who have been convicted of murder and have been sentenced to life in prison without parole and the objective here is to determine if juma a juvenile criminal cases that are currently edges will for life in prison without parole are unconstitutional the eighth amendment states excessive bail shall not be required nor excessive fines imposed nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted and up until now the concept of on usual punishment has been the legal reasoning behind the nation's highest court moving away from severe sentences for juveniles last year and supreme court decided that life sentences are unconstitutional for juveniles convicted of a crime less severe than murder and that decision affected one hundred thirty prisoners and the majority opinion written by justice anthony kennedy says the teenagers deserve more lenient treatment than a

we're still here is nancy skinner who told us caltrans did consult him about the project months ago. >> i'm not going to be an advocate but issue isn't cost. if you're going to do a major project have you to assess impact. >> i've seen them close down lanes and do repairs. i was told that that section is in bad shape. they have put it off as long as they can. >> i'm hoping it's just, you know, a staff member who just wasn't paying attention. that is what i'm hoping. >> according to assembly woman skinner quote nothing will happen until everyone is on the same page. we received a ball from the district director of caltrans. he told us that this is just a blown out of proportion and said they hadn't planned on anything yet and plan to do more outreach no, work will be done at all and this is until everyone agrows it's the right process. >> thank you. >> and as we continue, the governor of kansas is apologizing to a tweeting teenager. >> first another distraction for herman cain's presidential campaign. >> i'm more worried this is going to hurt my wife and family. >> cai launching a pre

skinner. here is mr. trump. >> he is absolutely right.hest taxed company in the nation. he's absolutely right and even more right probably about cutting spending. our politicians don't have the brain power or something else is wrong where they get away with it. it's hard to believe they can get away with it. >> steve: poof. back to live. >> brian: i made a good choice on my tie, am i right? seeing it on television. >> steve: what are the other things that mr. skinner said in that interview, he said that a lot of his core audience, blue collar folks, they need clarity on core issues like health care and stuff like that. his quote is, until all that is defined and we are certain we're going to continue to have a fragile environment for consumer confidence. so until we know what the future holds for us economically, people aren't going to be spending. >> gretchen: let's change gears because the occupy wall street protests and all across the country, i think they're entering week six now and continuing on. they continue to be -- there it cont

jokinen to skinner and caroline wins it 4-2. >>> toledo and northern illinois certainly put on a show. combining for 123 points. that's a conference record. game comes down to the final 30 seconds, harnish to ashford. huskies win a barn burner, 63-60. >>> to hockey where celebration got a little punchy in sweden after henrik ericsson scores, he's so happy he has to hug someone, anyone. so he grabs the closest guy, one problem, he was on the other team and punched him right in the head. not even that could wipe the smile off his face. that's your look at sports on "early today." i'm mario solis. >> only in hockey. >>> an apologize from the woman at the center of the divorce the entire country is talking about. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. >>> for unexpected northeast winter storm was a danger. for others an inconvenience. we'll introduce to you one couple who wouldn't let the storm ruin their fairytale. you're watching "early today." >>> welcome back. everyone is dry for the morning commute. no need for the umbrella. coming home, slight chance of showe

also, convicted murder hank skinner was scheduled to be executed in texas tomorrow.hat's next. two of the most important are energy security and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands. this resource has the ability to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. at our kearl project in canada, we'll be able to produce these oil sands with the same emissions as many other oils and that's a huge breakthrough. that's good for our country's energy security and our economy. fortunately... there's senokot-s® tablets. senokot-s®. for occasional constipation associated with certain medications. now you can save big on senokot-s® tablets! go to senokot-s.com. colace® capsules stool softener helps ease straining to make going easier. try colace® capsules for effective, comfortable relief from occasional constipation. now you can save big on colace® capsules! go to colacecapsules.com. but when they come home, they don't want a parade; they want a job. the postal service employs more veterans than any

jokinen to skinner and carolina wins it 4-2. >>> toledo and northern illinois certainly put on a showor 123 points. that's a conference record. game comes down to the final 30 seconds, harnish to ashford. huskies win a barn burner, 63-60. >>> to hockey where celebration got a little punchy in sweden after henrik ericsson scores, he's so happy he has to hug someone, anyone. so he grabs the closest guy, one problem, he was on the other team and punched him right in the head. not even that could wipe the smile off his face. that's your first look at sports. i'm mario solis. >> i love that. now for another look at the weather, here's bill karins. i do that to my husband sometimes. just goes in for the hug and like -- >> give him the old stiff arm? >> not now, yeah. sglupdab . >>> a lot of people still waiting for their power to come on, about that's how bad the storm was. temperatures are cold. notice the difference, central park, the snow all gone. where three still 6 to 10 inches on the ground, it's 28 degrees. so that's the difference it makes. this afternoon we'll melt more of the sno

. >> a texas court granting a stay of execution to henry hank skinner to allow new dna testing.r of his girlfriend and her two sons. skinner claims dna on untested evidence will clear him. >>> amanda knox's former co-defendant is now officially her ex-boyfriend. the daily mirror reported that he still has great affection for knox, but nothing else. he compared their love to a little seed that was brutally stomped on. >>> warren buffett taking advantage of the worst quarter since the start of the financial crisis. he went bargain hunting picking up $7 billion in stocks between july and september. he also bought chemical company lubrizol and a large stake in bank of america. the total of the shopping spree is near $20 billion. >>> and bernie madoff may be sitting in prison, but his story could soon get the hollywood treatment. robert de niro who has made a career playing a variety of criminals, is set to star as the ponzi schemer in a biopic. but the project is still in the early stages. >> hmm. >> i'm sure the first of many movies about madoff. >>> john lennon's rotten molar sell

let me have sam skinner next. >> thank you, norma. i'm glad you mentioned dr. larson who is no longer with us. is the one person if he is in this room would be really contributing when i did not know him until i was identified critical he was identified to others. it took several phone calls cannot as many as president bush made to hank paulson but a few bird we should recognize is aphorist and what he did. -- we should recognize his efforts and what he did. hollen like to say something about norm when i introduce him. i will say something about rodney in a minute. but i think what we have here is interesting. i am one of the people that went back outside the beltway and stayed outside the beltway. i can give you my perspective from outside the beltway and a number of you can see that as well. jim got into it -- the american people have lost confidence in the ability of government to do big things. to manage spending in what is a simple -- a sensible way. in order for us to sell our programs and the fact that we effectively to projects in many cases on budget a

associate editor of the nation is going to be on the show discuss this week's developments in the hank skinner case it's a fan of you want to show follow ups on facebook on twitter watch everything in fact a lot of fail and coming up thank you. more news today violence has once again flared up the phone these are the images the world seeing from the streets of canada. showing hope for asians are the day. the sun. downplayed the official t.m.t. cation jong phone called touch for me i'll choose ops to. shall see light on the. video among all keys minefields comes an r.s.s. feeds now in the palm of your. question on the. wealthy british. times the tireless. markets.

carol skinner. we will announce next winner tomorrow at 5:00.ck. >>> the "dancing with the stars" results are on in prime time tonight. ♪ >> we worked really hard. we work well as a team and i am so proud of us. >> great music. >> that was their halloween makeup by the way. nancy grace finished in the last place. it is at 9:00. >> is your baby shampoo toxic? >> more than two months at the that east coast earthquake thousands of people are still dealing with one specific problem that is dangerous and costly. russian spies caught in the act. we have the newly released a video of an espionage on camera. >>> after dozens of witnesses and weeks of testimony the jurors and the trial of michael jackson's doctor are about to have their say. conrad murray did not take the stand. he is accused of involuntary manslaughter. closing arguments are set to begin on thursday morning. >>> the ring of russian spies were crafty and tech savvy. >> we are seeing how they shared information. rebecca cooper is in our newsroom with the video. >> they spent a decade trac

arriving right now it's being there for a bicyclist that are blocking the tracks some of the truck skinner. oh yes the two asian down by four. thirty today were sprawling. which are groups they created their own independent actions throughout the day overall very very peaceful very well managed their work up. there though it was all in all of a very. very short amount of time that organizers it didn't get right with the longshoreman's union can't is not participating explicitly in the strike in fact i think they may be forbidden from doing so by federal law but this is an action this is a citizens action to try and shut down the ports a lot of people heading out there what he thinks going to happen. well i think that if there's going to be any confrontations with police i would expect it to be down here and this is a great gift previous computer equipment that is paid. there are a number of people to wave that are coming back to try to shut it down and i think that this is going to be you know where where the action is yeah well other occupations around the country be following suit by cal

hank skinner is to be put to death wednesday for the death of his live-in girlfriend and two adult sonsen asking for dna analysis on untested crime scene evidence that he says will prove his innocence. >>> oklahoma is experiencing the worst earthquake in its history. more than a dozen aftershocks have shaken the people there. the epicenter was near the town of sparks and the second quake within 24 hours. the first had a magnitude of 4.7. >>> the nba owners have i.v. g ten players association until wednesday to accept the new collective bargaining agreement. both sides met for eight hours saturday and eight days a of the talks broke off last month. the two sides are divided over who gets the bulk of league revenue. those are the headlines. i'm don lemon, keeping you informed. cnn, the most trusted name in news. >>> bill gates has given billions of dollars to help fix education. performers like him have put enormous energy into the school reform movement. but their ideas do have critics. >> the gates foundation does have extraordinary power. when bill gates decides on a policy, people sta

a state appeals court grated henry skinner's wish to pursue dna testing.ys it will prove his innocence. he was convicted in the murders of his girlfriend and her two sons in 1993. he admits to being there but was too full of booze and codeine to have killed anyone. >>> attorney general eric holder will testify before a senate panel today. in released excerpts, he says the operation allowing illegal guns to be smuggled into mexico should have never happened. guns traced to the were found at the murder scene of a federal agent. some republicans called for holder to resign. >>> another senate hearing today will detail a new report that warns shocking numbers of bogus electronic parts are turning up in u.s. military systems. senators karl leaf et and john mccain say it puts a safety risk to the american troops and most come from china. the study sifted through hundreds of suspected cases discovering about a million bogus components. billionaire investor warren buffett goes on a stock buying spree. hear how much he spends. as he puts it, it's like buying someth

they talked about people like young as being land skinners, despoilers, slob hunters. fantastiction, they're conservationists. i grew up in ohio, my mother and father went to college at clarion state, hunting and fishing country. real people that want to take care of america. what young wants to do is line his pockets. it's a flak for the oil industry. he's failed. he's been in congress since the '70s. anwar is one of our crown jewel national sites. young i think is on his way out. the letters i'm getting from people in alaska are sick of him. even people that want to drill in alaska care about the alaska wilderness. at one point he was saying don't camp. camping is elitist. i've gotten letters from the boy scouts of america, church groups that are angry at young, telling young people that camping is america. i think it's cracking. in some ways it's sad because he's a man only barely there in reality. he seems to be operating on a very -- on a platform that's about to collapse on him at any minute. >> the congressman from alaska continued to attack you at the hearing.

but secretary skinner said it's all local. isn't this the way you connect members to the local dimension in a way that actually delivers action which we haven't seen without them. can you talk about -- would you have delivered iced tea without a negotiating coin that ear marks undoubtedly provided to you as chairman at that time? >> ear marks were large. when we were secretary, there was no discretionary fund. i remember the r.n.d. piece of safety, they authorized 125% ear marks, 125% of the authorized amount. and then they said, mineta, you choose which ones to fund. and i said the hell with it. i didn't go over the 100%. you guys did. you picked them. jeff, you remember the wrestling we went through, and finally the congress did narrow their wish list down. to do some of that work on that one, but again, where you get 125% of what's authorized in ear marks, i mean, -- >> 6,000 ear marks represented what 68% of the overall? almost 10%. that's 10% of $287 billion. i'm not suggesting that's not real money. >> several said this

during the super bowl and he has a view that i think very few people have. >> thank you secretary skinnersecretary mineta and mr. burnley and it all who have gathered. it is a pleasure to be here as a part of this gathering. let me note the presence of another individual who just walked into the room and was not so much a part of my work of the merger partners in every sense of the word. that is the case with more taste secretary pena and secretary just before the clinton administration and i just want to acknowledge his presence. and actually what i want to say speaks to the points that have been made but they relate to the good work that's mort did as the deputy secretary and the ceo of department of transportation and. let me start by when we came into office, we felt we had a good piece of legislation. i underscore the fact it is important to have good legislation in. important to have the money. we had considerable dollars but wonderful legislation. that was crafted in many respects by norm who was identified as having it on the house side and with the secretary's post and the people

denny skinner. >> if we're all in it together, why is it that these announced further restrictions onay for working people and their families while the bankers who caused the recession are taking home salaries of up to four and a half million pounds? is it because the people there are millionaires and looking after their friends in the banking system while kicking the workers in the teeth? >> well, i think the honorable gentleman will find the answer in the last labour cabinet. [laughter] if he's so passionate about this issue, why didn't he press the government he supported for 13