here's victor blackwell. >> i just witnessed an accident on the off-ramp. over in sanford. >> 5:45 wednesday even action a blue suv, but the driving loses control. >> it looks like an explorer. the vehicle is still there, on its side. >> glass, a mirror, a floor matt still on the scene. by the time first responders arrived, they are outside much the suv safely. one of them was george zimmerman, all this happened less than a mile from where he shot trayvon martin. monday night the story of zimmerman the rescuer was met at skepticism at an n amount acp meeting. >> that's one of the most ridiculous, to do anything to validate a murderer i think is wrong. >> we've been working with the doj. >> reporter: they announced plans to put repeal of stand your ground on the ballot in 2014. >> if we lose what trayvon martin has brought us together to do, we cannot wait until february and wait just for our legislators, for our governors to possibly veto this. >> we need to do this ourselves. >> after days of protests, calling for federal civil rights charges, the sanford

i'm victor blackwell. good to have you with us. we're starting with the chaos across egypt. death toll there is rising. >> at least 30 people dead and more than 1,000 others injured. clashes broke out between supporters of mohamed morsi and the army. >> after seeing this video, what happened overnight and the past two days, give us an update what is the situation like there right now? >> reporter: things are quiet right now. supporters of mohamed morsi are still out. they are not there in big numbers. their at any time are there and plan to be back later today. this will be another chance for them. how will they come out today? in big numbers? will they come out tomorrow, the next day? some of them say we'll keep coming out -- these are pro fest testers who say this was a president fairly and democratically elected and outster by the armed forces and egyptians who dunt like him goes against the most basic principles of democracy. they want him back and they are fuming because they sense there is an aggress

. >> i'm victor blackwell.e crash of asiana flight 214 at san francisco international airport. at least two people have been killed. both of them women from china. at least 180 others were taken to hospitals and treated. five people including a child are in critical condition. now, witnesses reported seeing the tail of the plane and you can see it in this animation clip the edge of the runway then the plane spun, the belly slid across the tarmac and then burst into flames. >> and yesterday's crash was asiana airlines' third fatal accident in 30 years. one slammed into the china sea and in 1993 one of the boeing 737s went down in bad weather in an airport. 68 dieed. asiana's ceo said he doesn't believe engine failure causeded yesterday's crash. some of the first reports that anything had gone wrong came from passengers themselves through social media. >> yeah, listen to how one passenger on board the jet described the scene and you'll actually see the passenger trying to get away from the plane before the ambula

victor blackwell has that story. >> justice! now. >> reporter: student activists refuse the leave the office of florida governor, rick scott, until they meet with him. >> we would like a modification to hold people responsible to a level that humanity expects. >> reporter: they are demanding a special session of the florida legislature. governor scott responded. >> we had great people on the committee. they listened to the stand your ground laws saying we shouldn't change it and i agree with them. >> reporter: justice for trayvon rallies are being hold to urge civil rights. one of the jurors says there will be no other interviews. as for her literary agent and a rumored book deal she writes, there is not one at the time and the relationship with the agent ceased the moment i realized what had been going on in the world during the weeks of my sequestration. is six female jurors left the hotel going bowling, shopping and to the movies. seeing the lone ranger and world war z. officials estimate sequestration cost the county $33,000

victor blackwell. in atlanta keeping track of reaction across the country for us. victor, this is a little bit typical of what we've been seeing, right? how did it play out so far? >> yeah, those peaceful protests literally on both coasts. last hour we focused on san francisco and oakland, we talked about the west coast. chris and kate, this hour, let's go to the east coast, and i want to start in florida in tallahassee, the capital city of florida. listen. ♪ >> about 200 people singing on the steps of the old capitol building in tallahassee, chanting and singing there with signs. reports that some of the signs say "racism is not dead," and the question "who's next?" let's go to new york now. and a few hundred people showed up with signs and also chanting in peaceful protests in union square. now, union square is a very popular place to hold protests there, protests there on an average weekday, but last night, very passionate people. listen to one of them. >> for a person that lost his life and to not

i'm poppy harlow. >> i'm victor blackwell.umber one, the white house is warning russia against giving edward snowden, a, quote, propaganda platform. snowden leaked details and now wants temporary asylum. that is, until he can get to america. snowden has been stuck for about three weeks now. his u.s. passport has been evoshged. snowden made the statement at a meeting with a human rights activist. >>> number two, a fatal crash. a moment of silence to honor the victims, at least six people were killed when a passenger train derailed south of paris. more victims could be found today. the head of the railway says a mechanical failure is what caused the crash. >>> three, officials in newtown, connecticut, are trying to figure out how to divvy up the $7.6 million donated of the shooting rampage. families of the 20 children and six children killed would get almost $300,000 apiece. two teachers who were shot and the families of 12 other students would also receive money. and the rest, $4 million, used to help the community cope with th

let me take you straight to tallahassee, florida, our correspondent victor blackwell. he is near that capitol. victor, you've talked with demonstrators. what do they want, specifically? >> reporter: they want the governor to reconvene the state legislature, call a special session. and they want him to pass or sign what they pass eventually, the trayvon martin act. you know, that waiting area just outside the governor's office typically where business leaders and members of the legislature wait to speak with the governor has been taken over by political activists. they're members of a group calmed drecalm -- called dream defenders. most of them college students. they say they will not leave. they have some support here in tallahassee. i want you to listen first to the legislative director of the group and then a member of the state house here in florida. >> we'd like the repeal of stand your ground or some type of modification where we can hold people responsible to a level that, you know, humanity expects. where we don't have 17-year-olds getting gunned town with no jus

. >> i'm victor blackwell. it's 10:00 on the east coast, 7:00 out west.ou are in the cnn "newsroom." >> this is cnn breaking news. >>> we begin with breaking news into cnn. veteran journalist helen thomas has died. >> the legendary white house reporter was 92 years old. she was the first female member of the white house press corps. cnn's state of the union anchor candy crowley knew her well. she is on the phone with us well. candy, thank you for joining us. very sad news. she really broke so many barriers, especially for female journalists on the political beat. what can you tell us about her? >> oh, my goodness. first of all, people really should look up her bio because it's so filled with firsts, it's ridiculous. she was the first chief correspondent for a major news organization. she worked for united press international. she was the person most people might recognize in the old days when they had evening press conferences, she was the one that always said thank you, mr. brez, because she was dean of the press corps. let me just tell you a little bit

i'm victor blackwell.. here are five things you need to know this morning. >>> number one, israel says it wants to resume peace talks with the palestinians immediately, and it's laying the groundwork for that by promising to release a limited number of palestinian prisoners as a "goodwill gesture." the negotiations have stalled since 2010, but secretary of state john kerry says both sides could be in washington within the next week or so. >>> and number two -- five people have been convicted of multiple manslaughter and causing personal injury. this follows the 2012 wreck of the "costa concordia" cruise ship off the coast of italy. but according to a plea bargain, only two people may serve jail time. the lawyer for those convicted says he will appeal their sentences. 32 people died when that cruise liner struck rocks. hundreds more were injured. >>> and another tragic story in cleveland. third story here. police in the eastern part of the city discovered two more bodies linked to a suspect already in custo

i'm pamela brown. >> i'm victor blackwell. 6:00 on the east coast, 3:00 in san francisco. thanks for starting this "new day" with us. >> and we start our special coverage in san francisco, where an asiana airlines flight bounced down the runway and burst into flames. at least two people are dead and nearly 200 injured. >> some bumps and bruises, but others are critically injured, some people with spinal injuries and there's a huge range in that category. there's one child from that flight that was in critical condition, still in critical condition. miguel marquez joins us live from the san francisco international airport. miguel, good morning. what do we know? >> reporter: yeah, good morning. the ceo of asiana airlines saying it was not engine failure for this plane, leaving the obvious, that perhaps there was human error that happened here. we also know that some of those survivors were found in the water of this accident, and the flight crew on this plane actually asked some of the emergency responders for knives so they cou

victor blackwell is on the phone -- you're live. i thought you were going to follow along with the protesters, but i'm glad to see you in person, victor. >> we'll do that at 10:00 when these protesters go in and mirror what they've done for the last two days. at 10:00 they'll go in and make their appeal. i'll take you back to tuesday when the dream asked to meet the governor. they were told by the receptionist that the governor was not here. they said we'll wait and they have been waiting for 47 hours now inside that reception area and then outside in the hallway. they said that they're prepared to wait for weeks, if necessary. this is why they demand to be with the governor. they want him to reconvene the state legislature pass a trayvon martin act that includes a repeal of stand your ground. a ban on zero tolerance policies in public schools and they want to have a serious conversation about racial profiling. the governor has not responded to our requests to find out if he's going to speak with them. they say they have not heard fr

. >> i'm victor blackwell. this is "new day saturday."ors in more than 100 cities prepare for what's being called national justice for trayvon day. >> they want the justice department to bring a federal civil rights case against george zimmerman, the man acquitted a week ago today of murdering trayvon martin. joining us now from miami, our nick valencia. nick, thank you for being with us. you've been covering this. i understand tracy martin, trayvon's dad, is planning to be there today? >> reporter: yeah, that's right. he'll be one person among the dozens and dozens of people that show up here at the rally. it is expected to start at 10:00 a.m. now it's been one week to the day since george zimmerman was found not guilty. as we mentioned, poppy, trayvon martin supporters in protest of that decision have found out across the country and more than 100 cities to protest. it's a two-pronged approach nationwide. they'll be trying to get the department of justice to intervene in the george zimmerman case and here in florida, activists are tryin

i want to bring in victor blackwell, in sanford, florida, victor, what exactly happened here? one was sure george zimmerman was in the state of florida much less than a mile from where he shot and killed trayvon martin. it was wednesday night, 5:45, when there was a car crash on interstate 4. listen to one of the 911 calls. >> are they still there? >> the vehicle is still there. it is on its side. there is people on there. it's not on fire or anything. >> reporter: there were two parents in there and their two children. george zimmerman and another person helped to pull out those people. there were no injuries. actually, the attorneys for george zimmerman, he met with them after the crash and didn't mention it to them. why we are getting this now several days after the crash, no one knows.t toers. you are in sanford, it was close, the accident itself to where trayvon martin was killed. that would mean at least at that moment zimmerman was nearby. everyone thought, my gosh, this guy would get as far away from sanfo sanford, florida, as quickly as possible? >> i'm sure most peop

victor blackwell joins us from tallahassee. or, give us an update on the protests targeting the stand your ground law and the florida government by the way. >> they have now been waiting in the office of the florida governor rick scott for 50 hours, a group called dream defende defenders. this is how they're spending day three. >> justice. >> when do we want it, now? >> for a third day student activists refused to leave the office of florida governor rick scott until they meet with him. >> we would like the repeal of stand your ground or holding people responsible to a revel they expect. >> i took advice from the president. we had great people on that. they went around the state and listened about the strand your ground laws and said we shouldn't change it and i agree with them. >> justice for trayvon rallies are scheduled in 100 cities saturday to urge civil rights charges against george zimmerman. >> i think george got in a little bit too deep. >> one of the juror who is spoke exclusively with anderson cooper now says in a sta

cnn's victor blackwell is joining us with details. what do we know, victor? well, wolf, no one was sure that george zimmerman was even in florida, but this happened less than a mile from where he shot trayvon martin in february of 2012. the 911 calls from this night had just been released. i want you to listen to a portion of one of those and then we'll explain what happened after. >> i just witnessed an accident on the off ramp coming off the 417 to get on to i-4 over in sanford. >> reporter: mom, dad, and their two kids were in this blue explorer that rolled as it was trying to go on to the interstate. two people showed up to help them out. no injuries. one of those two persons, george zimmerman. he did not witness the accident. but he was in the right place at the right time, at least, for that family. now, that unlikely will come up tonight. it probably won't be the topic of conversation at the church here in sanford. the naacp here is hosting a town hall meeting to talk about how to move forward from this, especially how to urge the doj, the department o

victor blackwell explains. >> i just witnessed an accident on the off ramp coming off of 417 to get onto i-4 over in sanford. >> reporter: a blue suv is driving on to the highway but the driving loses control and rolls into this field. >> looks like an explorer. there's some people at the car now. the vehicle still there. it's on its side. >> reporter: there's glass, a mirror, a floor mat still on the scene. by the time first responders arrived the parents and two children were outside the suv safely because two people stopped to help them. one of them was george zimmerman and all this happened from less than a mile where he shot trayvon martin monday night the story was met with skepticism. >> that's one of the most ludicrous, silly stuff i've seen before in my life. to do anything to validate a murder is wrong. >> we've been working the d.o.j. >> reporter: organizers announced a plan to put a repeal of stand your ground on the ballot in 2014. >> if we lose what trayvon brought us together to do, we cannot wait until february and wait just for our legislatures, for our governor to veto

. >> and i'm victor blackwell. you're in the "cnn newsroom." >>> edward snowden's luck may be changing. >> yep, the onetime nsa analyst and current american fugitive has at least one concrete offer of asylum. if he takes it, snowden's new life will be in venezuela. he should feel right at home there because of the country's ticking off the white house. >>> first he'll have to find a way to get there from moscow's airport and he's been there for two weeks. cnn's rene marsh is covering the story. rene, we now have these firm offers from venezuela, potential offer from nicaragua. any comment from the obama administration? >> reporter: well, i will tell you, victor, pamela, so far all is quiet here in washington, d.c., no comment from the white house, and no comment so far from the state department on both venezuela and nicaragua's offer of asylum to nsa leaker edward snowden. now, the president is spending the holiday weekend at camp david but it's likely going to be a working vacation. and he's likely following these

victor blackwell is out front. >> reporter: the amity high school warriors, the banks high school braves, the high school indians. they're three of the estimated 900 sports teams in america that rally around native american mascots, but the days of the chieftains and the mohawks may soon be over, at least at public schools in oregon. last year the state superintendent found the continued use of native american mascots creates a hostile educational environment. >> it's an unhealthy, unregulated environment, and it leads to racist comments and a negative self-image for many of those people. >> reporter: 15 schools were ordered to give up their feathers and war paint by 2017 or potentially lose state funding. fast forward to this month. oregon state lawmakers overwhelmingly passed senator jeff cruz's bill to effectively reverse the ban. >> after all of these years, it's kind of a matter of history and it's a legacy. admittedly, i'm from roseburg, oregon, and we are the roseburg indians and have been for a long time. >> reporter: the vice president of the oregon indian education association.

appeared on cnn and spoke with victor blackwell and poppy harlow about the possible boycotts against stand your ground states and the realistic potential of the justice department filing charges against george zimmerman. >> i got to ask you, when you say action, you've called for possibly boycotting orange juice in florida because of the stand your ground law in florida. you said that at the naacp convention in orlando. should people also boycott georgia peaches and kentucky bushen and -- >> yeah, we may have to look at -- i think from a strategic standpoint you have to look at everything. certainly georgia has stand your ground laws. overall in all of those two dozen plus states needs to be looked at, and that is the strategy. that is not -- i haven't said let's do this. i said these are things that have to be considered. these are things that my father considered in his era. >> when you look at the president's remarks yesterday, a lot of the focus is on his personal comments about race and his experience, and the other headline, frankly, is what he said about, you know -- in terms

cnn's victor blackwell is live in tallahassee. good morning, victor. >> reporter: chris good morning. the members of this group the dream defenders are calling on state legislators to pass a trayvon martin act, this is day three now of their standoff inside the capitol rotunda and they say they're not leaving until they've talked to the governor. for a third day student activists refuse to leave the office of florida governor rick scott until they meet with him. >> we'd like the repeal of stand your ground or some type of modification to hold people responsible to a level that humanity expects. >> reporter: the group is demanding a special session of the legislation. >> i took advice from the president, we had great people on that committee, they went around the state and listened about the stand your ground laws and came back and said we shouldn't change it and i agree with them. >> reporter: justice for trayvon martin were held. >> i think george got in a little bit too deep. >> reporter: one of the jurors in the zimmerman trial

victor blackwell was in sanford this morning.e. >> reporter: carol no one was sure where george zimmerman was after the acquittal, was he in sanford? it turns out wednesday at least yes, he was in the area. the sheriff's office is not calling him a hero, but they are saying he was in the right place at the right time. >> i just witnessed an accident on the off-ramp, coming off the 417 to get on to i-4. >> 5:ha wednesday evening, a blue suv is driving onto the highway, but he rolls. >> looks -- the vehicle was still there, on its side. >> a glad action mirror, a floor mad. .parents and the two children were outside safely action because two people stopped to help. all of this happened less than a mile from where he shot trayvon martin. >> the story of zimmerman the rescuer was met with skepticism. >> that's one of the silliest stuff i have ever seen action to validate a murderer i think is wrong. >> reporter: organizers have been -- >> if we lose what trayvon has brought us together to do, we will lose -- we cannot wait until febr

joining me by phone from sanford is cnn's victor blackwell. at more do we know about this family, victor. >> reporter: we know they are two parents, two kids who were driving on to i-4 wednesday, just four days after the verdict. mark and dana will be speaking at the office of mark o'mara, the defense attorney of george zimmerman. we're told the reason they called this press conference is because they got so many calls at their home to speak they want to have a news conference once and for all to tell what they know. there is a considerable amount of skepticism here in sanford and central florida about this story, carol. this comes from one deputy on scene who says he i.d.'d george zimmerman at the scene as one of the two men. there were eight calls to 911 after this crash. not one of them was george zimmerman. we know from the trial that george zimmerman has called 911 and called police dispatchers several times but not one of the persons who called mentioned that george zimmerman was on the scene. granted, several of them were on the highway

in any event, the most surprising thing to me, victor blackwell, interview with martin luther king jrwhat is the foundation for the charges? he didn't know. and that's because there are no claims for civil rights. hate crimes act or civil rights charges, again george zimmerman. none. absolutely none. >> and earlier in this hour i spoke with attorney general alberto gonzales who didn't see the elements were there nor a civil rights charge for the just it department to explore either. while he thinks the exploration should take place he doesn't necessarily believe that it is there, that the case there, but much more from you all late other than in the next hour. thanks so much. including talking about the whitey bulger case and all that's taking place in that surprising case. also involving the witnesses and whether some might be too afraid to testify now. explain why. and katherine jackson's testimony, again, her son michael's concert promoter, aeg. all that straight ahead, after this. vo: traveling you definitely end up meeting a lot more people but a friend under water is something c

victor blackwell is live in sanford, florida. a bizarre twist. >> reporter: it is indeed.if he was still in florida. wednesday he was not only in florida but in sanford. deputies say he was in the right place and definitely at the right time. >> i just witnessed an accident on the offramp, coming off the 417 getting on to i-4 over in sanford. >> reporter: 5:45 wednesday evening, a blue suv is driving on to the highway but the driver loses control and rolls into this field. >> it looks like an explorer. there are people at the car now. the vehicle is on its side, there are peoplin side. >> reporter: by the time first responders arrived, the parents and their two children were outside of the suv safely because two people stopped to help them. one of them was george zimmerman. and all this happened less than a mile from where he shot trayvon martin. monday night in sanford the story of zimmerman the rescuer was met with skepticism at an naacp meeting. >> that's one of the most ludicrous, silliest stuff i've ever seen in my life, to do anything to validate a murderer is wrong.