hey. you haven't left yet. no. i'm boarding now... what's up? um...would you mind doing it again? last time. [ engine turns over ] oooohhhh...sweet. [ male announcer ] the chevy cruze with the my chevrolet app. the remote control car is finally here. well, now she's just playing with us. oh. [ horn honks ] hey, there, everybody. good morning to you. i'm t.j. holmes. welcome to this "cnn saturday morning." glad you are right here and right now, boy, a lot of attention being focused on the mississippi and so many cities that are sitting on it. we have an agonizing wait going on right now in louisiana. they are literally just waiting on the water to come. and they're also waiting on a major flood gate, which is

expected to be open in maybe just the next few hours, leaving residents in low-lying areas preparing for the worst. we have a live report coming your way in just a second. also, can i tell you about some surprising discoveries at osama bin laden's compound and the intensifying diplomatic fallout. then a little later, so happy to share with you a candid conversation with baseball legend hank aaron. the home run king. some say still the home run king talking about what it was like breaking babe ruth's record. why it wasn't necessarily the career highlight that it should have been. we do need to start with what's happening to a lot of folks in the south. louisiana, so many cities sitting on the banks of the mississippi river. happening right now, the road over the morganza spillway north of baton rouge is closing in just a few hours from now, the u.s. corps of engineers will open the flood gates, literally open the flood gates. the plan is to divert the flood

waters away from baton rouge and new orleans. this spillway, what they're trying to do opening these gates, this is something that has not been done in some 40 years. so, in saving baton rouge, in saving new orleans, what happens? that water has to go somewhere, folks. and it's going to go in some of those other lower lying areas in south central louisiana. there's reason to worry. areas in yellow that you're seeing here, places could get, folks, some 20 feet of water. the green areas you're seeing, we're talking about some 15 feet of water. we'll have live coverage of the corps of engineers. they're expected to have a briefing around 2:00 eastern time. we'll see what comes of that. i do want to go to our ed lavandera who has been standing by at that morganza spillway. you were giving us the heads up that this could come in the next few hours. is that still what you're hearing? >> we still anticipate that that will happen and really what they're monitoring right now, t.j., is the water pressure

throughout the mississippi river as it heads into baton rouge and new orleans and there's a number you need to keep in mind here. 1.5 million cubic feet of water per second. that amount of pressure on the levee system between baton rouge and new orleans will trigger the opening of this morganza spillway gate. i don't know if you can see, way off in the distance, halfway down the bridge, you see two giant cranes on top of the spillway here. this spillway is almost 5,000 feet long and has 125 flood gates and those cranes have already been put into position here in the coming hours. they will drop down and start to lift up one of those gates and the process of opening up these flood gates will be very slow. all of this water that you see here wasn't here about a week ago. this is kind of a holding reservoir for the mississippi river and all of this is the water that will begin rushing out through those floods gates. where will it go here? follow me over this way.

this truck will get in our way, we'll work our way up the hill here, t.j. you can see the wide open dry space here. this space is off towards the west a little bit and then curve around towards the south and then start heading 100 miles over the next few days and those are the communities that have been spending this past week getting ready and bracing for these flood waters that will be diverted their way. so, this is, the bridge, this bridge will be closed to passersby. in fact, we see state police already starting to close off the roadway here. so, a lot of people, a lot of movement here this afternoon starting to pick up a little bit. in fact, right here state police helicopter flying over and doing checks underneath the bridge, as well. it will be a dramatic scene here. this has not happened since 1973. t.j.? >> that is fascinating. we can see so much activity is going on around you. one thing, ed, if you can describe for me, people hear it

and they say, open the flood gates. just a saying we all have. will it literally take place like that? it doesn't necessarily look like everything is opened and all the water is allowed to rush in. what exactly is that process for letting that water not necessarily start to seep, but not necessarily gush fully? >> sure, sure. you know, as i mentioned earlier, there are 125 of these gates along the length of this thing. they will open one at a time. they want to slowly flood this area so that wildlife has a chance to kind of scatter and get used to the new reality here of all the water that will be displaced here over the coming weeks. it takes, i'm told, about 15 minutes to open up each one of these flood gates. it will be a slow process. >> ed, we appreciate you this morning, really. gives people a better idea, literally seeing that water in one place and knowing it will be some place else in just a little while. ed, good stuff this morning. we do appreciate you, as always. the state of mississippi dealing with the worst flooding

in decades. swamped low-lying areas around tunica. you're seeing the pictures oout of tunica. hundreds of homes evacuated and prime farmland is under water right now. it's an economic life blood there. the casinos i was just telling you about, all of those are shut down, damaged, flooded. now, a new warning from the mississippi state health department. telling people to be careful with fish or crawfish from the flood waters. the water could contain bacteria, plus oil, gas, diesel and fertilizers. checking in with reynolds wolf in just a bit. he'll tell us exactly where these flood waters are going and what we can expect. also, we're getting news out of south florida this morning. imans are charged with providing support to the taliban in pakistan. the fbi is identifying them, another one of them under arrest in los angeles. but three people in pakistan right now, including the daughter and grandson are being

sought. they're all in connection to the folks who arrested here in the u.s. and they all conspired to provide material support in a conspiracy to kill, injure and kidnap people abroad. more on that, more details as we get that for you. also out of pakistan, the parliament there has condemned the u.s. raid on osama bin laden's compound. lawmakers are warning the u.s. not to conduct any more unilateral operations in pakistan. that includes drone strikes otherwise, they say, they might cut access to a key facility that nato is using to move troops into afghanistan. also learning more about what was found by the navy s.e.a.l.s inside bin laden's compound. one item is an unreleased audiotape from the former al qaeda leader and he talked about the recent uprisings in egypt and not known if it belonged to osama bin laden or someone else in that compound. since that raid, relations between the u.s. and pakistan have been a bit strained to put

that mildly. let's bring in stan grant for us in islamabad. stan, hello to you. if things were strained before, we ain't seen nothing yet. >> yeah, indeed. it just seems to get worse. this relationship between pakistan and the united states really brought t.j. a sharp focus into the killing of osama bin laden. one thing to really understand up front with this. this is not a relationship built on trust. is the trust breaking down? i don't know if the trust was ever there. this was a relationship built on strategy. if you go back over history, there have been times when the relationship has been good and other times it has been bad. the united states actually withdrawn aid to pakistan. all of that changed after 9/11. pakistan signed on in the war on terror and since then a lot of pakistanies have been saying what are we actually getting out of it. on the one hand, billions of dollars that have been flooding in from the u.s., but that's not finding its way to ordinary people here in pakistan who

still struggle in poverty and also struggling with the war on terror because they can point to thousands of lives that have been lost as a result of the pakistan military going after the militants. now, with the killing of osama bin laden being asked about the u.s. saying, how come the u.s. carried out this operation unilaterally without going through the authorities here in pakistan invading pakistan air space and invading pakistan's sovereignty or not showing enough respect to pakistan's sovereignty. we're seeing this debate about the u.s. role and how pakistan should perceive that. a joint seating of parliament here and after that they called for another investigation into what happened and a warning that if these unilateral angctions, you say, including drone strikes, there will be consequences and that will damage this relationship even further. t.j.? >> stan grant for us in islamabad today. stan, we appreciate you, as always. to our viewers at nine minutes past the hour now. hank aaron in major league

baseball celebrated breakthrough accomplishments this weekend. the annual civil rights game. got a chance to sit down with the former home run king and what he thinks of the current crop of home run hitters. you need to hear what he had to say and what he wouldn't say about current players. also, give you a live look outside centennial olympic park here in atlanta. one spot where the festivities are kicking off for a major weekend. the civil rights game, not just about baseball, though, folks. we'll tell you more about it. what's this option? that's new.

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12 minutes past the hour now. this weekend marks the fifth anniversary of the major league baseball civil rights game. it's happening this time in atlanta. hang sunday afternoon. braves playing the phillies. the game just a small part of the story this weekend. the weekend is devoted to remembering and honoring those who played a big part in breaking down walls. the jackie robinsons, willy mays and also the hank aarons of the world. hank aaron certainly a legend. the home run king who some say is still a home run king. got to sit down and talk to him about going for babe ruth's record and why it was not the joyous time in his career that it should have been. >> that was probably the hardest part because i was, i was not able to really enjoy my

teammates. i wasn't really able to enjoy my kids who were in school because they had to be escorted back and forth from high school, from school, home. i had to be escorted from ballparks to the hotel and i was not able to stay with my teammates. so, all of these things, you know, i think about and i say, you know, that was a part of my life that really didn't exist, that's what i was concerned. >> after the fact, do you ever look back and hearing that answer a little bit there, do you ever look back and think, you know what, i could have done without it? without the record? >> no. i never did. no, i felt like it was my responsibility. god had given me the ability and to play baseball. >> is it only a matter of time before we see a-rod's name and then albert pujols' name at the top of the home run list? >> yes. and i would say legitimately, i think albert pujols' name deserved to be there. >> are you saying a-rod's does

not deserve to be there? >> no, i'm just saying, i didn't say that. >> you said it now. >> i said albert pujols' name will be there. i didn't say anything about a-rod. >> last thing here, what would you say to those fans who say hank aaron is the home run king, he will always be my home run king and they refuse to acknowledge anybody at this point that's above your name. would you say to them, say, hey, let it go, folks. the guy above me has more home runs. he's your home run king or would you say -- >> i would tell them, i would say thank you. i would thank them first of all. if they think, you know, here, again, and we are talking about barry bonds. and, you know, barry bonds hit more home runs than i did. and he should be justifiably, should be the home run king. that's the way i look at it. i look at it as saying that he's done everything he wanted to do.

everything he was supposed to do in baseball. now, people say, well, you know, he was on this, he was on that. i don't know what he was on. you know, i have no idea, i'm not god. i don't have any idea. the only thing i know is that barry bonds was a terrific ballplayer. i hit 755 home runs and no matter how you look at it, i am not going to hit another home run. not in this era. i may do it somewhere else, but not here. he hit more home runs than i did on earth, so he should be classified as the home run king. >> you don't believe he was on anything? >> i didn't say i didn't believe he was on -- i just said no matter what it is, i don't know, i don't know what he was on. i have no idea. as i said before, i'm not god. i don't make those kind of rules. >> you are the same guy, once we get up to 50, 60 home runs, but 73. >> i think it's something funny. i think. and there's a difference when you say you think. i didn't say i know, i said i

think something's different. >> you are a scholar and a gentleman. i love it, i love it, i love it. we still have more to come from hank aaron just ahead telling me how baseball is reaching out to the african-american community and what and be done to grow the game in inner cities. let's turn now to politics. the republican presidential field getting bigger. find out who just declared their candidacies and who might enter the race next. i can't get rid of these weeds, or these nasal allergies.

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presidential candidate newt gingrich gearing up for a week-long swing through iowa. the first caucus state but already campaigning in his home state of georgia. here's what he said last night at georgia's gop convention. >> i believe the gap between where the people in this room and the vast majority of the people of georgia would take america and where president obama would take america is so enormous that this will be the most consequenceal election since 1860. >> now, gingrich hopes that

message will resonate with conservative voters, but cnn joe johns reports the georgia republican's personal baggage might get in the way. >> i'm announcing my candidacy for president of the united states. >> newt gingrich's private life has been messy. third marriage, two divorces, he's also had affairs. he admits one of those affairs was going on right around the time he, as speaker of the house, was helping impeach then president bill clinton for lying about cheating on his wife with monica lewinsky. at the time ging wch and others accused clinton of trying to hide the truth. >> the most obstruction of justice cover up in effort to avoid the truth we have ever seen in american history. >> reporter: now, the former speaker wants clinton's old job and gingrich is seemingly an open book. he's confessed his cheating, endured a series of excruciating interviews about his private life and spent long hours

talking to conservatives, especially in places like iowa about how and when he's a different man. he's talked about it on the christian broadcasting network. >> no question at times in my life, partially driven by how passionately i felt about this country that i worked far too hard and that things happen in my life that were not appropriate. >> reporter: he even brags now about how great this third marriage is with his current wife, who he has been married to for about a decade. he even became a catholic for her. conservatives like richard land say the skeletons in gingrich's closet have not been cleared out. >> there's an implacable wall of opposition among evangelical women. a large percentage of the men are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, okay, he's changed. we believe in forgiveness and redemption. and the women say, well, we may forgive him and believe in redemption, but we don't trust

him. >> rich guyland said the challenge would come in a place like south carolina, one of the very first primary states where committed evangelicals and other social conservatives have seen plenty of political scandal and don't like it a bit. >> if he wins or loses an important state like, let's say, south carolina, by a very little bit, then i think you can say, well, if it hadn't been for that, he would have won. he needs to give a big speech to put the issue to rest. >> he has to imagine the person that he's talking to is an evangelical woman sitting across from him and he has to convince her that he's truly sorry. >> reporter: tough crowd, tough hill to climb for a former speaker of the house with a messy record in marriage. joe johns, cnn, washington. >> let me bring in our deputy political reporter paul. it seems as soon as someone says

he has baggage the first thing they point to the personal baggage with the marriages and the affair that he admitted to, but what else is there? he does have a pretty big record people can go after. >> he has a long record. pluses and minuses here. he is known as a great thinker and he's known as anni ideas ma that's good. some other strengths can be weaknesses, t.j. he has done a lot of things. that's good. a lot of experience, but, again, maybe that's not so good. maybe he's yesterday's news. newt gingrich is not a fresh face. he has a lot of name i.d. people know newt gingrich. maybe it's not a good thing, when you look at those numbers, those unfavorable numbers are pretty high. people know him and may not like him. stay tuned on newt gingrich. >> if people are looking for a fresh face, they got one yesterday. this new, young guy declared yesterday that he also is getting into the race. this texas guy from ron paul, is that the name? >> young guy. 75 years old. this would be his third bid for

the white house for ron paul. he did it as a libertarian candidate in 1998 and four years he ran for the republican nomination. he has some pluses. his followers very energetic and i've seen them on the campaign trail and they love this man and he also can raise a lot of money on a dime, t.j. remember the money bombs in the last campaign, he did it a few weeks ago. he could raise money. the down sides, maybe his policies are out of line with most main stream republicans. take a listen to him yesterday when he announced. >> one thing the american people want and i agree with them, they want a strong president. there is no doubt about that. but the question you should ask, where should those strengths be directed? should the strength of a president be directed toward building the tsa and homeland security and police? no, the strength and the character of the individual should be directed towards

standing up for liberty and restraining government. that's where the strength should be. >> a lot of support among the tea party. his ideas in limited government and keeping the u.s. out of organizations like the u.n. and not a big fan of the fed and those policies may not jive with a lot of republicans, t.j. >> one more entering the race, announcing it on his tv show, slow down, folks. i'm not talking about donald trump here. >> this is somebody you know. you used to cover him in arkansas when he was the governor there. mike huckabee, who ran last time around for the republican presidential nomination. he said he will announce tonight on his show on the fox news channel. a lot of points against him running. he made no moves to run and he hasn't raised the money and made the viz toots the other states, but he's high in the polls, t.j. >> high in the polls. but he is not going to run, but, still, trying to make us all tune in tonight. so, we shall see. paul, talk to you again soon, buddy. thanks so much. >> thanks. well, thousands of potential

immigrants thought they won the chance to legally live and work in the united states. but they won't be getting their green cards after all. the state department says it will have to redo those selections because of a computer glitch. a computer randomly picks potential candidates who then undergo interviews and background checks. a new drawing will have to take place now in july. well, do you want to see the video of osama bin laden when he met his death? do you want to see those pictures that were talked about? a conservative watchdog group thinks you should be able to see it. up next, how it hopes to get all of those photos released. somewhere in america, a city comes to life. it moves effortlessly, breathes easily.

it flows with clean water. it makes its skyline greener and its population healthier. all to become the kind of city people want to live and work in. somewhere in america, we've already answered some of the nation's toughest questions. and the over sixty thousand people of siemens are ready to do it again. siemens. answers. ♪ flash, aah-ah l about blackberry playbook? that's right. it runs flash. so unlike some tablets we could mention, you get the best of the internet - not just part of it. ♪ flash, aah-ah ♪ flash, aah-ah with heart-related chest pain or a heart attack known as acs, you may not want to face the fact

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these may be signs of ttp, a rare but potentially life-threatening condition, reported sometimes less than two weeks after starting plavix. some of the stories making headlines now. pakistan's parliament passed a resolution today condemning the u.s. raid that killed osama bin laden. also demanded an independent investigation and ordered the immediate end to ulateral drone strikes in pakistan. conservative watchdog group filed the first lawsuit seeking the release of video and pictures of the raid on the bin laden compound. judicial watch is the name and it is now asking the defense department to comply with its freedom of information requests. also an imam from hawaii and four family members are charged with providing support to the taliban in pakistan.

fbi agents say they are all under arrest and three others being sought in pakistan, including his daughter and grandson. an indictment alleges they all conspired to provide material support in a conspiracy to kill, injure and kidnap people abroad. also just a few hours from now, the mississippi river's flood waters are expected to be pouring through the morganza spillway in louisiana. this would be the first time that's happened in some 40 years. u.s. army corps of engineers expected to open those flood gates to protect baton rouge and new orleans, but other areas in southeastern louisiana will have to get that water. reynolds, water has got to go somewhere and what they're trying to do here, divert that water, save baton rouge and new orleans, but trying to ease the pressure on those levees. >> right, exactly. what's weird about that is by sparing some people, you're putting other people in harm's way. that's just the nasty fact about this. you have the mississippi river right here. this area that i shaded in white

passing baton rouge heading down towards new orleans. meanwhile, you have this area surrounded by this blue line. the blue lines happen to represent the levees that we have. when you have flood gates when they open, we expect the water to flood through here and not a quick process, slow moving. but by the time things are done, you could have water in excess of 20 feet in some locations. so, 20 feet high. now, when you have this area that is home to some 25,000 people with structures that number around 11,000, you're going to have a lot of damage. all this water falling down towards morgan city. however, you have the levees which should protect areas like new iberia and other small communities around. the thing is, will those levees hold? that is the big question. very important one, at that. give you an idea what levees happen to be. let me show you what happens along the river when you have a flooding situation without levees. the rising waters and the waters fan out and then you have water moving miles and miles inland away from the main river bed, the main channel. when that happens, widespread

damage and widespread flooding. in a situation where you have levees, the artificial structure is built on both sides of the river bed and the water can rise, but, in theory, it's not expected to go over the side of the levee that you have. the structure. almost like a fortification, if you will. the game plan is, hopefully, those waters will not top the levees. one thing we need is the cooperation of mother nature. in other words, we don't need any precipitation. right now the forecast is going to keep the rain far to the north, also to the east and more of a developing farther out towards the west and thankfully away from parts of louisiana and certainly the mid-mississippi valley. however, it is really treacherous, no question about it for that area that will be, again, having this flood water coursing through. especially over the next several hours, days and weeks, t.j. >> reynolds, we appreciate you, as always, this morning. also coming up, an alabama woman is trying to help other folks out by returning family treasures that were lost in those powerful tornadoes. how she's using social media to get this done.

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last month destroyed thousands of answers and blew away precious memorabilia. one alabama woman found several pictures in her yard, but it was one in particular that really touched her. she decided to start a facebook page that would connect lost storm items with their owners.

her name is patty and i talked to her earlier this morning and asked her about that one photo, in particular, that got this all started. >> we were very fortunate in our home, the way it went over, but we didn't have any damage. but when i went outside, there was an ultrasound picture laying in the yard and my children and my husband and i got out and we found six or seven pictures laying in our yard and we just couldn't imagine holding on to that precious ultrasound picture and not finding a way to get it back to its owner. >> now, were you able to get that one back to its owner? >> we have possibly made an identification on it. of course, right now a lot of the storm survivors don't have permanent homes. they're spotty getting on the internet. so, i have had a lady contact say it may be hers but she hasn't written back yet. there was a prom picture, actually, a friend of mine returned that one. the first one posted on the facebook page that i didn't personally post, but, like i said, she is a friend of mine

that lives right down the road from us and that has a strange twist. my uncle actually found a child's workbook page that was a writing about a hat that ended up belonging to the same little girl. she's a sophomore in college now but had done this page when she was in third grade. >> how many tiitems? do you have an estimate of how many you were able to return? >> we are estimating around the 1,000 mark. it is amazing how fast these items are being claimed. i posted a picture the other night and it was claimed within 60 seconds. people are on there looking and they are wanting just a little bit of their history back. these are memories that can't be replaced and when they're finding out about it, they're just searching it. i had people tell me they're on there two or three times a day looking for new pictures that might be theirs. >> what is the name of the site? what is the actual name of it and how can they find it? >> it is just simply named

picturesanddocume picturesanddocumentfound after the 2011 tornadoes. >> how many items? how far away? you described one from a church a little ways away, how many items are you finding that were not just from up the street or across town but way away somewhere? >> the majority of items that are being claimed are from over 100 miles away. i actually had one lady post the other day that she claimed a picture from a little over 300 miles away. well, we turn now to graduation season. you know it is and many college graduates are graduating and making their way back home. i talked with financial and business consultant erica this morning and asked if parents should feel obligated to let their grown children move back in until they can get back on their feet in this tough economy. >> it's a personal decision between you and your child. but anything that we talk about

today can be great for your kid. if you give them an opportunity to save extra money and pay off debt and student loans, it's wonderful for them long term. >> let's talk about how much money they could possibly save because a kid in the house not essentially paying rent and you're not paying for the electricity and all this stuff. a kid graduates $25,000 a year after they graduate. now, how much are they going to actually save? how much can they save if they go back into the house with mom and dad? >> that's a great question. let's take that example. let's say a kid makes $25,000 after tax they're going to make 20 grand a year, which is $1,600 a month. if you're living on your own. let's say you get an apartment for $750 bucks a month and expenses for $250 bucks and 600 for expenses. if you're living at home, you have the ability to take that $1,600 a month and put it directly towards, you know, student loans, emergency fund. put it towards saving.

this is the benefit of living at home and this is a great thing to do if your parents can let you do it. teach your kids the basics of budgeting. it's important to learn how to budget, to create a budget and also to implement a budget as you go throughout your life. a lot of times they don't teach this in college and people learn the hard way. to stay out of debt, very important and stay away from the credit cards and try to pay cash as much as you can. also, just teach them to make good, life decisions. this will also help them financially and emotionally and great things you can do. all right, baseball legends do not get much bigger than hank aaron. he is going to be taking part as many others will this weekend in major league baseball's civil rights weekend being held in atlanta, georgia. we shared part of the interview a little earlier and i talked a little bit about baseball and that winning his records and the records that maybe some of these little ones will be breaking later in life. but you're also going to hear him talking about how baseball

is doing a disservice to those very people you're seeing in this picture who are down at centennial olympic park taking part in this weekend's fessieveties. ours with her checking her heart rate, administering her medication, and just making her comfortable. one night britta told me about a tradition in denmark, "when a person dies," she said, "someone must open the window so the soul can depart." i smiled and squeezed her hand. "not tonight, britta. not tonight." ♪

this weekend marks the fiflth anniversary of the civil rights baseball game happening here in atlanta, georgia, sunday

afternoon. but the game just a small part of the weekend and the fessieveties here. the whole weekend is dedicated to remembering those in breaking down racial barriers. people like jackie robinson and, hank aaron. i got to sit down and talk to about the change in this country from his day to today. the election of a black president in this country compare that, if you can, if you will, to jackie robinson breaking into major league baseball, also what you did in major league baseball as far as your chasing history. in comparing those things, what i mean, how do they compare when it comes to those types of events being catalysts for change in this country? we might not know until later exactly what the election of barack obama did for the country, but as far as catalysts for change, how would you compare the two? >> well, it's a whole lot different than what president

obama is up against now. you know, you know, the change, in fact him being president of the united states, i don't know, i don't know how i could compare that to anything other than to say that if dr. king was living today, he would say, well done, son. you know, we've made a tremendous change. we've moved in the right direction. >> you said riding on the shoulders of these giants, of dr. king, of jackie robrobinson. a lot of people wouldn't seprigse separate you guys. a lot of people would put you in that same, but you sound like there's a separation. like you still hold those guys to a higher esteem. why don't you put yourself in that same -- >> i do, i hold them much higher than i do. they were great in more ways than one. not only because of what they stood for, but what they stood for to bring to the civil rights table for other blacks to chew

on and ride on. you know. >> what is the state of baseball? these days. how is it doing today? is its popularity waning at all? >> it could be better. a lot better. >> how so? >> we don't have as many african-americans playing baseball now as we used to have. any time we have an economic struggle in this country, we, and i mean we, the blacks are going to feel the pinch a lot quicker than anybody. and baseball is a very expensive game. >> kids can turn on tv and see that immediate, that instant fame or what not from basketball or football. >> i just don't believe baseball has sold itself as much in the black area as it should have. you know, really, i think that somehow i think football has done a terrific job and i think basketball has done another terrific job of selling its sports in the areas. you look at it deep enough, is that that young kid who is 7, 10, 12 years old playing

baseball, growing up, wants to play baseball and by the time he gets to 18, where he can get to college, then here come the football coach. the football coach is saying we have a four-year scholarship and he's looking somewhere else because we have not made the kind of progress in baseball that we needed to make where that black kid can look up and say, oh, hank aaron is part owner of a ball club. this and that. we haven't done that. basketball has done that. basketball has owners. and this black kid and the black mother, father, can look out and see that that kid, if he makes it, he got a chance to go on to greater things. >> in terms of those numbers, african-americans in baseball right now, it's about 8.5% number of african-americans who are competing in major league baseball. this year, that's down from 10% last year and down from numbers like 16, 17, 18% in the '90s. hank aaron says certainly more

work needs to be done to make sure young african-american boys are introduced to the game at an earlier age. our coverage will continue this weekend and certainly on "cnn sunday morning" tomorrow morning starting at 6:00. after i get off the air with you here this afternoon, i'm heading over to speak with chicago cubs legend, ernie banks and morgan freeman and also grammy award winning artist carlos santana. all three of them are picking up awards as part of this weekend's civil rights weekend celebrations. well, at ten minutes until the top of the hour now, court is in session in the casey anthony case. up next, why the judge has called everyone in on the weekend. [ male announcer ] montgomery and abigail haggins

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yes, it's the weekend. but prospective jurors are back in court today in clearwater, florida. lawyers trying still to seat a jury to hear the murder case against casey anthony, the florida mother accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter nearly three years ago. she has pleaded not guilty. lawyers are looking for 12 jurors, eight alternates. so far, eight jurors have been selected. and my goodness, what a joy it

is right now to see fredricka whitfield. >> he's always so happy at the end of his morning. it's here. i'm the cue. >> been an interesting morning. >> it's been fascinating. >> how's the tweeting been going? >> i'm doing okay. still baby steps, training wheels. it's taken me a while to go without the training wheels. >> take your time. >> i'm not in a hurry. >> she's @fwhitfield. you can find her. >> every time you say that, i get a couple of more friends. can you say that on tweet? >> no. that's facebook. >> what is it on twitter? >> your followers. we look like a couple of tweeps right now. >> that would be twirps. >> what do you have for us? >> miami heat's chris bosh in the middle of an interesting lawsuit that he has pursued. he's saying the chick who's

on -- he didn't say chick, i did. i say it all the time s. that a bad thing? >> i don't know. >> the young lady who is not his wife, but the mother of his child, he is suing to say she shouldn't be on the show professing my business, my personal business, our family life, et cetera. so our legal guys are going to weigh in on that one. and this time of year means a lot to graduations, high school, college. is it always difficult trying to figure out what kind of gift do i get that new graduate? >> money. >> money is good. but you know what? our financial gurus say instead of money, they have suggestions on other things. i know it's not heavy duty like investments. but it's interesting stuff. a lot of it will cost someone some cash. >> okay. >> and then, we're going to the movies this weekend. did you ever see "hangover"? >> did i see "hangover"?

i have two copies of it. >> this is the female version of "hangover" say some. it's "bridesmaids". >> we'll see fredricka in five minutes and nine seconds. she is @fwhitfield. >> and we're not twirps but tweeps. >> tweeps. see you in a second. >> or something. it is a massive convention that will draw 35,000 visitors who will spend hundreds of millions of dollars? we'll tell you what the event is and what u.s. city will benefit big-time. ♪ goodbye [ flushing ] ♪ [ both ] ♪ na, na... [ woman ] ♪ na, na-na, na [ men ] ♪ hey, hey, hey ♪ good-bye [ male announcer ] with kohler's powerful, high-efficiency toilets.

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she is on twitt twitter @fwhitfield, oka okay, @fwhitfield. i'm going to get you there, fredricka. meanwhile, the democratic convention, more than a year away. but the host city, charlotte, north carolina, already preparing for the big event and building up its economy in the process. here now our tom foreman.

>> reporter: charlotte's team is in the hockey finals. but the coming event is the democratic convention. all over town, new places are opening, old ones are polishing up and from his office high above it all -- >> this is a stage unlike any other one -- >> reporter: mayor anthony fox hears opportunity knocking. >> it's a pretty aggressive move to go after a convention in the middle of a recession. that doesn't happen -- >> reporter: you think it sends a signal to all sorts of businesses? >> yes. they're saying charlotte's growing, charlotte's getting ready to be bigger and better than it already is. >> reporter: they say the convention will draw 35,000 visitors who will spend up to $200 million on restaurants, hotels and attractions. but local leaders believe the real value goes far beyond that, beyond politics. >> part of what we're going to be able to show is not only how well we do in the hospitality aspect, but also how well we function as a community. >> reporter: so the city is touting improvements to