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Breaking News On Santa Monica Shooting Spree; South Africans Pray For A Hospitalized Nelson Mandela; Missing Teacher From New Orleans Might Be Found; President Obama, Chinese President Meet; Blackhawks Advance To Stanley Cup Finals; NBA Finals Game Two Tonight; Extra Innings Galore At The Ballpark; Economy Adds 175,000 Jobs In May; Mortgages Will Cost You More; The Risk Of Taking A Trip to Mexico; Tony Awards Preview

Aired June 9, 2013 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. These are the top stories we're following this hour in the NEWSROOM.

We have breaking news out of California from that terrifying shooting spree in Santa Monica. Details ahead.

And South Africans pray as Nelson Mandela remains in the hospital with a recurring lung infection.

And police in New Orleans say they think the body found in a car is that of missing teacher Terrilynn Monette. In a few minutes, why her family is both saddened and outraged.

We start with breaking news out of Santa Monica. We just learned that a fifth victim has died after that shooting rampage on Friday. Twenty-six-year-old Marcela Franco was with her father, Carlos Franco, driving to campus to buy textbooks. They were both shot. Her father died on Friday. She has lost her fight to live in the hospital today.

Kyung Lah is live for us now in Santa Monica with the latest on the details. Kyung?

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, this is bringing a little more grief and sadness to the people here in this beach community, this iconic beach community. This young woman who was, as you said, with her father, just trying to pick up textbooks at the school, she has lost her fight in trying to stay alive after this rampage.

Police now say that they are continuing their investigation. They're not expecting to do any sort of news conference today, but they're focusing on where this young, disturbed man was able to get so many guns and bullets.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The armed gunman dead at the end of his rampage, had one intent, say police. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He heavily armed himself and was ready for battle.

LAH: Police displayed his jaw-dropping arsenal. In the black bag the gunman carried, the upper receiver to a .223 semiautomatic rifle, a .44 caliber handgun and hundreds of rounds loaded into two dozen magazine clips. He had an additional 1,300 rounds he could have fired.

This is just some of his weaponry. Police also showed pictures of additional magazines, and the gunman dressed in all black wearing knee pads and a vest where you see him carrying the semiautomatic rifle he used in the bloody rampage across the normally idyllic beach town.

CHIEF JACQUELINE SEABROOKS, SANTA MONICA POLICE DEPT.: Anytime someone puts on a vest of some sort, comes out with a bag full of loaded magazines, has an extra receiver, has a handgun, and has a semiautomatic rifle, car jacks folks, goes to a college, kills more people and has to be neutralized at the hands of the police, I would say that's premeditated.

LAH: But why? Police say in 2006, they were called to this house the gunman set on fire where they believe he killed two of his relatives. At the time, the gunman was a juvenile, so police would not elaborate. Police don't know why he chose to shoot his way to Santa Monica College, but police reveal he was a student at the community college in 2010. Likely familiar with the library, where police say students hid in a safe room, miraculously dodging bullets the gunman fires through the walls.

Officers say he probably didn't know any of his victims outside of his relatives, choosing people at random. Victims like the father and daughter inside this red SUV. Shot in the head and killed, Santa Monica College groundskeeper Carlos Navarro Franco. He was driving his daughter, a student at the college, to pick up textbooks when they came across the gunman.

ALFRED CREOLLO, RELATIVE OF VICTIM: Why it happened to them, to go out and just shoot randomly at other people, that he don't know or hadn't had contact with, I just don't understand why a person would do that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAH: And the family and the Santa Monica College now identifying that young woman who lost her fight, 26-year-old Marcela Franco. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Kyung Lah there in Santa Monica.

South Africans are praying today for their beloved leader, Nelson Mandela's recovery. There's been no official update on his condition after he was rushed to the hospital yesterday for a recurring lung infection. Our Nkepile Mabuse is live for us now from Pretoria, South Africa. Nkepile, any news on his condition today?

NKEPILE MABUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Unfortunately, Fredricka, many South Africans were hoping today that they would be updated on Mr. Mandela's health, but we have had no news from the presidency, who basically in this country control and communicate information around Mr. Mandela's health. I know in a country like the United States, for example, where you have a high-profile hospitalization like this one, you would most probably have a hospital representative or a family spokesperson updating people on a regular basis about the patient's health.

But not in Africa. Typically, in Africa, the health status of elder statesmen is really treated with utmost confidentiality, and I would go as far as saying secrecy, Fredricka, and more so in the case of Nelson Mandela. So what we have is what we had yesterday, that he is suffering from pneumonia. He is serious but stable and he's breathing on his own, which the presidency has said is a very good sign. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: And what about family members? Have you seen or noticed whether he has received a number of visitors?

MABUSE: You know, Fredricka, we know, for example, that his wife, Graca Machel, accompanied him when he was rushed to this hospital at 1:30 in the morning on Saturday. We also know that she has been by his side ever since.

We have also seen Mr. Mandela, one of Mr. Mandela's daughters Makaziwe Mandela, coming to visit her father. And also two of Mr. Mandela's grandchildren. But they have not been saying much publicly. Keeping to themselves, obviously, the family going through a hard time themselves. But coming here, have been seen here, and we're hoping that at some point today, or maybe early tomorrow, we'll get an update on what exactly is going on with Mr. Mandela. Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Nkepile, thank you so much from Pretoria, South Africa.

All right. Back here in the States, in Florida, the George Zimmerman murder trial begins tomorrow with jury selection. Martin Savidge is at the courthouse in Sanford, Florida. So Martin, a, how complicated is it going to be to select a jury who hasn't heard or read or know something about this case there?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Fredricka. Hello to you. It's going to be a difficult process. I guess we'll find out how difficult in less than 24 hours when it begins. Five hundred jury summons notices have been sent out. The first 200 perspective jurors are expected to show up at the courthouse here tomorrow morning, and that's when the process will really begin.

The attorneys will be asking them questions. The first thing, though, those perspective jurors will have to do is fill out questionnaires, all of this designed to find out how much they know about the case, how much they've heard about the case, how much they may have been influenced by all of the news accounts that have come as a result of this case.

Keep in mind because it's second-degree murder, they have to choose only six jurors, not the usual number, say, of 12, but they will also have to choose two to four alternates. If it cannot be done, if Mark O'Mara - that is the defense attorney -- determines he just simply find the right people, they can't agree, he could still ask for a change of venue, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Wouldn't be too late. OK. Meantime, while the trial begins tomorrow with jury selection, what we saw throughout the weekend was a kind of pretrial motion, trying to determine whether expert analysis of the recording on a 911 call could be admissible. The judge did not render a decision. That still could happen, even in the midst of jury selection, or at whatever other stage of trial may be in?

SAVIDGE: Right, she said that it will come some time later in the trial. It might, say, come right after they finish jury selection. And then they could prick -- pick up, rather, a number of motions that had not been resolved, but the most key being this audio.

It's really the analysis of the audio. The prosecution has a number of experts they've got ready to testify that say they can identify the voice screaming for help and then that voice, that person is 17-year- old Trayvon Martin. If that would be true, of course, the jury would say, wait a minute, here, that's a real problem for the defense here because George Zimmerman is claiming he was the one under attack. It's a self-defense motive that they're putting forward. So that's why the defense has been fighting to prevent these experts from testifying, Fredricka, but no ruling yet.

WHITFIELD: All right, Martin Savidge, thanks so much in Sanford. Our coverage officially beginning tomorrow. Martin Savidge, you there in place, and our George Howell as well. Thanks so much.

All right, much more fallout today on the NSA's surveillance of Americans' phone and e-mail records. Lawmakers are demanding answers.

Lisa Desjardins joining us now from Washington. So, now much push- back are we talking about the White House getting from Capitol Hill over the NSA surveillance program?

LISA DESJARDINS, CNN RADIO CORRESPONDENT: Quite a bit, Fred. You know, a lot of people like to think that nothing happens in Washington over the weekend. You know that Friday news dump that things stop around 2:00 p.m. on Fridays? Well, it's not the case with this story. We have seen some very important calls for action just this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DESJARDINS: When a secret program becomes public, it generally becomes sharp public debate. But in the bright light of Sunday morning, the NSA's secret access to Americans' phone records, e-mail, and even online shopping, that went past debate to calls for action, starting with a revote on the law that created the programs.

SEN. MARK UDALL (D), COLORADO: That's why I'm calling for reopening the Patriot Act, that's why I'm calling for a fulsome debate all over the country. Maybe Americans think this is okay, but I think the line has been drawn too far towards that we're going to invade your privacy verses we're going to respect your privacy. DESJARDINS: Mark Udall on the Senate Intelligence committee said he's wanted this debate for years. Meanwhile, Kentucky's Rand Paul, who has been having this kind of debate for years, says he is going to court.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: It invades our privacy, and I'm going to be seeing if I can challenge this at the Supreme Court level. I'm going to be asking all the Internet providers and all of the phone companies, ask your customers to join me in a class action lawsuit.

DESJARDINS: Meantime, the classified halls of the NSA are also acting.

BEN RHODES, DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: What we're focused on doing right now, and you see this in the DNI statement, is frankly doing an assessment of the damage that being done to U.S. national security by the revelation of this information.

DESJARDINS: And "The Guardian" reporter who uncovered this is pushing back.

GLENN GREENWALD, "THE GUARDIAN": Every terrorist on the planet already knows and have known for a long time that the United States is trying to surveil their communications, eavesdrop on their telephone calls, read their e-mails.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DESJARDINS: And Fred, this is just the beginning. Congress gets back starting tomorrow, so expect to hear a lot more on this. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much. Lisa Desjardins there in Washington.

Police in New Orleans say they think the body found in a car is that of a missing school teacher, Terrilynn Monette. The school teacher disappeared in March after a night of celebrating. She had just received a nomination for a teacher of the year award. Nick Valencia has more on the investigation and the reaction from family and friends.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ninety-eight days. 98 days. That's how long it took to find the car of missing New Orleans teacher Terrilynn Monette. The 26-year-old was last seen more than three months ago leaving Parlay's Bar in the Lakeview area of New Orleans. Now, friends and family spoke to our local affiliate yesterday and asked why it took so long for search teams to find her car.

ZINA SCOTT, FAMILY FRIEND: How long has the car been there? If they searched this area, this areas had been searched before and it's really mind boggling to me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We never would have imagined this would have happened. How do we move on? VALENCIA: The area of Bayou St. John where Monette's car was found was an area that had been combed over before. But this time, it took a volunteer, an independent search-and-rescue diver to find her vehicle. He told the media there were also human remains inside the car. Now, an autopsy will be conducted to officially determine whether or not those remains are of Terrilynn Monette. But yesterday when I spoke to her best friend and family, they said they're operating under the assumption that Terrilynn is gone and that she drove herself into the bayou. Fred?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Nick Valencia.

All right. Marathon meetings between President Obama and China's president are over. But both leaders say it's just the beginning of a new era in relations between the two countries. We'll tell you why coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: President Obama returning to the White House after a two- day summit with China's president. A lot on the agenda. Everything from cyberattacks to North Korea to climate change.

So how much was accomplished? Here is CNN's chief White House correspondent Jessica Yellin in Palm Springs, California.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Obama and Chinese president Xi wrapped up their Sunnylands summit with a late-morning stroll in the California desert. President Obama declared the visit --

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Terrific.

YELLIN: Over two days, the leaders met for a total of eight hours.

OBAMA: I'm very much looking forward to this being a strong foundation for the kind of new model of cooperation that we can establish for years to come.

YELLIN: The summit held just four months after Xi took office, meant to launch a close new relationship with the Chinese leader.

XI JINPING, PRESIDENT OF CHINA (via translator): And at present, the China-U.S. relationship has reached a new, historical standpoint.

YELLIN: The backdrop was unusual, and not just because temperatures soared above 110 degrees. They met at Sunnylands, a private estate of the Annenberg family, better known for hosting Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack, and Ronald Reagan for New Year's Eve 18 times. Aides say it offered them a quiet space to work through a range of issues. Among them, North Korea. The leaders agreed to keep up pressure to reign in its nuclear ambitions. TOM DONILON, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: I think we have quite a bit of alignment on the Korean issue, the North Korean issue, and absolute agreement that we would continue to work together.

YELLIN: Cyber attacks. According to the White House, the Chinese acknowledged they're a problem, agreed to investigate, and work out rules of the road.

OBAMA: I believe we can work together on this rather than at cross purposes.

YELLIN: And climate change. For the first time, China agreed to work with the U.S. to limit the production of greenhouse gases. President Obama gave the Chinese leader a parting gift, this bench made of California wood.

RHODES: The bench was made out of a redwood. The two leaders were able to take a walk and were able to sit on what became the bench that the Chinese will be taking with them.

YELLIN: Throughout the summit, the president and his aides were peppered with questions about new revelations involving government surveillance programs. White House officials had strong words about the consequences of these leaks.

RHODES: It's frankly doing an assessment of the damage being done to U.S. national security by the revelation of this information, which is necessarily secret because United States needs to be able to conduct intelligence activities without those methods being revealed to the world.

YELLIN: During the summit, President Xi publicly invited President Obama to visit China. White House officials say the president agreed to come, and now they're looking at holding a similar informal summit outside of Beijing in the not too distant future.

Jessica Yellin, CNN, traveling with the president in Palm Springs, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Prayers offered around the world today for former South African leader Nelson Mandela. We'll update you on his condition and hear about his powerful legacy from another civil rights icon who knows him, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: South Africans and people around the world are praying for Nelson Mandela today. The former South African president is in the hospital with a recurring lung infection. The 94-year-old has already been hospitalized several times in the last year. Officials said yesterday he is in serious but stable condition.

Someone who knows Mandela, a former U.N. ambassador, Andrew Young, joining us today from Washington. Mandela, along with former president Bill Clinton, appointed Reverend Young as chairman of the Southern Africa Enterprise Development Fund back in 1995.

Good to see you, Reverend Young, Mr. Ambassador. So much to talk to you about. Mandela's health resonates globally. His family may want privacy, but his health and welfare is of interest to South Africa and beyond. What is it, in your view, about his legacy that tumps so many?

ANDREW YOUNG, FORMER U.N. AMBASSADOR: The thing about Nelson Mandela was that his legacy is a legacy that he healed a nation and a region that everybody thought was ready for a bloodbath. And they didn't understand that peace and reconciliation was possible between blacks and whites, especially after the years of persecution and humiliation of apartheid. But Mandela rose above that.

And I think you saw a splendid example of that in the film "Invictus." I happened to be in South Africa when that occasion took place, and by dealing with blacks who didn't like rugby and whites who were uncomfortable with soccer and forcing them to come together around this sports occasion, it was at the same time that they were putting together a new flag and a new national anthem.

And because of his aggressive support, he wore the spring (INAUDIBLE) jersey into Soweto, and South African women painted this new South African flag on their cheeks and on their thighs and everywhere else that was available. And the fact that South Africa won the World Cup in rugby was largely the will of Nelson Mandela being forced upon the people. That you're going to get together.

Then, when he was sworn in as president, he insisted that his jailers be seated with his family. And that was a symbol of forgiveness and reconciliation that reached out to all of the white people of the world, frankly. And if it's possible in South Africa for people to come together with a background in history of hatred and violence, it's possible anywhere. And that's the legacy that Nelson Mandela leaves us.

WHITFIELD: Now, with him being ill, his health has been deteriorating, it's kind of been back and forth in the hospital over the past year or so, and now this seemingly so much more serious, do you believe that his health is -- becomes kind of a symbol, even, of the health of that nation of South Africa?

YOUNG: No, no, no, no.

WHITFIELD: You don't?

YOUNG: Not at all, because he has secured the health of South Africa. And the press, the ANC, and everybody loves him. I think all it says -- and I said this about Martin Luther King when I stood over his body. I said, you can kill the body, but you set free the spirit. And Mandela's spirit will be set free, and he will be powerful. We will be hearing the stories of Nelson Mandela for centuries to come.

But in the next few months, I think whenever he passes, it will be an occasion to revive and rephrase and to understand just how he helped to save the world by taking on one of the most difficult conflicts on the African continent.

WHITFIELD: And there's great hope that that would happen. While I have you --

YOUNG: It has happened.

WHITFIELD: Yeah. Well, I guess I ask that because there has been so much renewed tension and strife in South Africa. And it seems as though there has been so much consternation about all that was accomplished, particularly under his leadership as president. And now in his failing health, if he is really -- and he is, a symbol of healing in that nation, if that nation and beyond is having trouble right now --

YOUNG: Well, no, I don't think they're having any more trouble than we're having. They're having economic problems just as we are. And South Africa is a country divided between haves and have nots, more greatly divided than we are.

Now, working with the South African Enterprise Development Fund on the verge of economic chaos, we were able to take $100 million and by and large, stimulate just the hope of economic freedom and activity. We took a nation that had never had access to capital, that didn't believe in democracy, and they have had three, four fair elections without any conflict. They have a free press. You have a growing group of South African millionaires and billionaires.

And we funded people at the bottom that built hospitals and that raised ostriches and with ostrich farmers in Namibia. They have really accepted the fact that they are going to be a Judeo-Christian, democratic, free enterprise society. And I think no matter who wins any election, those things will not change. And there's a record of tolerance and agreeing to differ without -- disagree without being disagreeable that not only is Mandela. But this was a broad base of the South African culture.

Rank-and-file people were much closer, and Mandela was an expression of a South African spirit. He didn't just drop in there with all of these new Ghandian and Martin Luther King ideas. Gandhi was in the process of -- he was part of the South African process. And we are all part of that process that we can have peace on earth and live together and appreciate our differences.

WHITFIELD: You wear so many hats: as a civil rights foot soldier, as a former U.N. ambassador, former mayor of the city of Atlanta, and really a consummate diplomat. You know, there are so many different things going on right now, whether it be the president meeting with the Chinese leader, and you seeing real parallels as to why these two leaders might be able to have a very promising relationship. But why in your view do you see that this will be a different kind of relationship between the presidents of these nations, America and China?

YOUNG: The difference is -- and let me say that I grew up in a black and white neighborhood. I was very comfortable with Irish and Italian and German and Polish citizens in my neighborhood. The first time I found myself in Chinatown in San Francisco, I panicked. And I think that that -- I have seen leaders get into a room with a people of a different style, a different culture, and they can't function. President Obama grew up in a Chinese household. Hawaii is a culture, you can't be in Hawaii without being sensitive to Asian culture, then he spent his childhood in Indonesia, and I think he has two Chinese half-sisters. He's probably more Asian that he has African, but don't tell him I said that.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: So you see with that kind of common denominator though, this would be a promising relationship between the two?

YOUNG: I think he was made president for just such a time as this.

WHITFIELD: All right.

YOUNG: That his sensitivity to the subtleties of Asian culture made this a historic meeting. It's almost like Roosevelt meeting with the Dutch and he was closer to the Dutch than he was to the British. When I meet with Africans, even though I'm an African-American and have been in every African country, there's still a little tension there because they see me as an American.

And I have to earn my African sensitivities and convictions. I don't think that was true between these two gentlemen. Chinese president has spent time in the United States, lived with an American family, and I remember being at the United Nations when the Chinese foreign minister said, where you find good Georgia food? And we said, only at our house. So we had him over and we had fried chicken and, you know, black eyed pea s and we had an American dinner and I never had a Chinese veto after that.

WHITFIELD: Well, Reverend Young, as I said, the consummate diplomat. Thanks so much, Ambassador Young, for joining us today. Appreciate your insight and your thoughts about Nelson Mandela, as we continue to watch his health.

Meantime, straight ahead, the job picture in this country. Guess what, it might be getting better. Some areas are doing much better than others. We'll explain how and why next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, after a thrilling double overtime win, the Chicago Blackhawks are going to the Stanley Cup Finals. Andy Scholes joins us with this "Bleacher Report."

ANDY SCHOLES, "BLEACHER REPORT": Hi, Fredricka. The Blackhawks are going to meet the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup Finals. This is a pretty cool matchup. The first time since 1979 that two of the NHL's original six franchises will play for the championship. Now, the Blackhawks secured their spot in the finals last night in thrilling fashion, they gave up a goal to the Kings' Mike Richards in the closing seconds of the third period. That sent the game into overtime. In double O.T., Patrick Kane would come through with a series clinching goal. Kane had a hat trick in the game and the Blackhawks won 4-3. The Puck drops for game one of the Stanley Cup Finals Wednesday night in Chicago.

The NBA finals will continue tonight in Miami with the spurs looking to take a 2-0 series lead, but that won't be easy. The Heat hasn't lost two straight games since early January and they haven't lost back-to-back games at home this entire season. In game one, Lebron had a triple double, but was still criticized for only scoring 18 points. In spite the criticism, the reigning MVP said he's not going to change what he's doing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEBRON JAMES, MIAMI HEAT: I want to win just as bad as anyone. You know, and I'm going to put my team in a position to win. I have to try to make the plays, but I can't worry about people saying you should have done more, been more aggressive because you got a loss. You know, winning and losing is part of the game.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: I hope you like baseball because yesterday we saw plenty of it. The Blue Jays and Rangers game took 5 hours and 28 minutes to complete. Finally, it ended when Raji Davis hit this down the third base line in the 18th inning to give the Jays the walk-off win. But that wasn't even the longest game of the day. The Mets and Marlins game lasted 20 innings. It was the longest home game for the Mets since 1974.

Truvariah knocked in the winning run for Miami, and get this, only the second time in Major League Baseball history that two games in the same day went 18 innings or more. And Fredricka, props to all the fans who had hung out there and stayed for an entire six hours of baseball.

WHITFIELD: That was a doozy. All right, thanks so much, Andy.

All right, coming up next, your money, why you might be paying more for your mortgage and on the job front, find out which industries are seeing a jump in hiring.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The May jobs report didn't offer too many surprises, but the good news is more opportunities were created in May than in April, but as Christine Romans explains, this is still an economy trying to find its footing.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: The 175,000 jobs created, net new jobs in the economy in May, and the unemployment rate ticked up to 7.6 percent. It's a little stronger than economists have forecasts, but not strong enough to signal aggressive new hiring by companies. This shows us the layoffs have slowed, but the real aggressive hiring from companies hasn't been there. You could still say the companies are cautious in their hiring plan.

Let's look at the trend here. You want to see more than 200,000, 250,000 jobs created each month to really start to bring down the unemployment rate meaningfully, coming in here under 200,000, except for earlier this year in February. We saw some big gains there overall.

Let's look where we're seeing the jobs created because the labor market is a very diverse, diverse and dynamic place, especially in the United States. Leisure and hospitality, 43,000 jobs created there likely showing some, you know, some consumer strength. Also retail jobs added there.

We also saw health care jobs. We see this for years, several years. We have seen health care jobs that have been added. Professional business services, 57,000 jobs created there. Those tend to be the higher paying jobs. And we also look very closely at manufacturing, for what it says about America's export machine and its factory base, 8,000 jobs lost there. Those tend to be higher paying jobs.

There are another number of people like to look at, the underemployment rate, 13.8 percent. This is all the people who are unemployed and these are all of the people marginally attached to the labor force, people who are working part time, but would like to be working full time.

They call this a real unemployment rate. That number still too high. What you're seeing, cautious hiring. Not the mass layoffs, but you still need to see some more strength in the labor market for the fed to change its support that it's been giving to the markets. Christine Romans, CNN, New York.

WHITFIELD: All right, more people are going back to work and we're also seeing more folks are buying homes, but Alison Kosik explains the news on mortgage rates isn't so good.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. If you haven't yet taken advantage of mortgage rates at once in a lifetime lows, you may have missed the boat. The average rate on a 30-year fixed climbed back above 4 percent this week. Mortgage rates have risen for four straight weeks after hovering near record lows for months. Rates have stayed exceptionally low, mostly because of the Federal Reserve, the rate the fed charges banks has been at a record low target rate of zero percent to 0.25 percent since late 2008.

And the fed has pushed rates even lower by buying up to $85 billion a month in treasury funds and mortgage-related financial products. The low rates are meant to help get banks and consumers to borrow money and it's worked especially in the housing market, but there's talk of the fed slowing down that activity, talk that has been giving Wall Street fits for weeks and taking its toll on mortgage rates, too.

So the 3 percent mortgage may be gone for good, but the 4 percent mortgage could stick around for a while, and that's still pretty good. During the housing boom in 2006, rates were closer to 7 percent, historically, the rate on a 30-year fixed has averaged about 5.5 percent. Still rising mortgage rates could slow down the housing recovery. The mortgage refinance business is already seeing the effects.

Refinancing applications drop by 15 percent just last week as higher rates make refinancing less attractive. Here's the real silver lining. This was bound to happen eventually, and the fact it is happening could mean the economy is getting healthier, able to stand on its own without the Federal Reserve propping it up -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Alison. So many of you are making vacation plans this summer to Mexico, but not all of the tourist hot spots there are safe. Where the U.S. State Department says you should not go, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: After a series of recent kidnappings in Mexico, just how safe is it for American vacationers? Here's Chris Lawrence.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Americans flock to Mexico for its beaches and bars, but bloody murders have stained the image of all that sun and sand. And some Americans have seen their trips turn terrifying. This Arizona mom was recently released after a week in jail after Mexican authorities accused her of smuggling drugs.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm innocent.

LAWRENCE: For weeks, authorities have been searching for this young Marine, kidnapped while visiting his father. And so-called express kidnappings are on the rise.

DUNCAN WOOD, WOODROW WILSON CENTER: You'll be picked up maybe in a pirate taxi, taken off to an ATM, they would drain your account as best they could, and then at midnight, they go back to the same ATM using your card and take more money out and then let you go.

LAWRENCE: Take away terrorist attacks at trips at war, in the last decade, more Americans have been murdered in Mexico than any other country in the world. And that number jumped from 35 in 2007 to 113 two years ago.

WOOD: There are certain places in Mexico that you would not want to go on vacation.

LAWRENCE: The State Department warns against just about anywhere in these red zones, including Tijuana and Acapulco. The areas in green like Puerto Vallarta and Cancun are considered safe spots.

ROBERT REID, REIDONTRAVEL.COM: We're not seeing these things happening if you're in Cabo San Lucas or Cancun, which has a safer record than Orlando has, actually.

LAWRENCE: Travel writer, Robert Reid, says you heard right. As recently as a year ago, the murder rate was actually higher in the city considered Disneyworld's front door.

REID: So it doesn't necessarily mean that anyone should consider cancelling their trips because of this.

LAWRENCE: American tourists show no signs of doing that. In fact, part of the reason so many U.S. citizens are killed in Mexico is that so many of us go there. This year, 20 million Americans will go to Mexico. That's the entire population of New York, L.A., Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, and Phoenix. Chris Lawrence, CNN, The Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And Broadway's best turn out tonight for the Tony Awards. Find out why despite tough economic times Americans are also flocking to the great white way.

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WHITFIELD: All right, the Tony Awards are tonight, and a Broadway show with a star cast has several Tony nominations. This is also helping the show "Kinky Boots" rake in millions at the Box Office. Our Felicia Taylor has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Producers of the Broadway musical "Kinky Boots" have good reason to shout yehey. The show has the most Tony Award nominations this season and is making more than a million a week at the Box Office. A little star power may be going a long way. The show was written by pop sensation Cyndi Lauper. Other Broadway shows believe it's all about the casting.

TERRY ALLEN KRAMER, PRODUCER, "KINKY BOOTS": You can have a star read the phone book and you would sell out. So sometimes the content of the play doesn't matter because they're going to see the celebrity.

TAYLOR: Broadway is brimming with Hollywood heavyweights.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My wife can recite all of the stops on the long island railroad in a conductor's voice?

JAMES L. NEDERLANDER, BROADWAY THEATER OWNER: You have people like Bette Midler and Tom Hanks who star in a limited engagement of a play. That brings them in all from over the world.

TAYLOR: For the stars, it's a new challenge.

BROOKE SHIELDS, ACTRESS: There's a sense of legitimacy to Broadway, and a sense of truly if you can handle a Broadway schedule, Broadway critics, Broadway audiences, and the -- there is a sense of longevity I think that it provides you.

TAYLOR: Longevity for the great white way as well.

MICHAEL RIEDEL, THEATER COLUMNIST, "NEW YORK POST": There was a period of time where Broadway was considered kind of the backwater of the entertainment business, movies and television and rock music and Broadway was the thing that New York did. But because of the popularity of shows like the "Lion King," of shows like "Mama Mia" and TV shows like "Glee," I would argue that Broadway has been now lodged in the mainstream of American popular culture.

TAYLOR: Jane Lynch, a star from the TV show "Glee" recently debuted in the revival of the musical "Annie," another traditional show getting a boost from the latest star on screen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jane Lynch is here, and our daughters love her from "Glee."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If she wasn't in it, you wouldn't go see it?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: No, she's the best.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm 23, and I love "Glee" so I came to see her especially.

JANE LYNCH, GLEE: You can't even walk down the streets. It's so crowded with people from all over the world coming to see musicals and the great white way, Broadway, and I think it's just that thing that's in ourselves. We want to watch people break into song in the middle of a scene.

TAYLOR: Over the past few years, Broadway has been raking in billions, with some shows literally packing the house, and several musicals taking in about a million dollars a week. And that has one of the greatest streets in the world alive and well in tough economic times. Felicia Taylor, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, fun stuff there. Simon Cowell, not so fun stuff here, has egg on his face, literally, if you want to see why, you need to stick around. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: OK, so after Simon Cowell tweeted that he hates eggs hours before the finale of "Britain's Got Talent," he got egged by a woman during the show. Look, right there. Was she part of the singing act, too? The woman, well, she was scrambled offstage. She later apologized and called her actions silly. As for Simon, he apologized to viewers. He said he had no idea what that was all about.

Stories you don't want to miss this afternoon on the CNN NEWSROOM, George Zimmerman's murder trial getting under way tomorrow. Hear why jury selection could be especially complicated.

And Miami Heat star Lebron James talking to CNN about his strategy at the NBA finals. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. See you in the NEWSROOM an hour from now. We'll be right back.