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Intense Fire Fight Battle Raging In The Northwest; Recovery Efforts For Indonesia Plane Crash Suspended Overnight; Donald Trump Declares He Knows What Path To Take In Iraq; Archaeologists Believe They Are Close To Unearthing Mary Magdalene's Home. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired August 16, 2015 - 15:00   ET

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


[15:00:00] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Talking legacy and he is so young. You talked about his poise and feeling very relaxed. And I remember those same words describing him when he won the masters, that he just seemed so nonchalant, like hey, no big deal.

DON RIDDELL, CNN ANCHOR, WORLD SPORTS: Well, he is nonchalant. He is no big deal. But he knows he has to go out and earn it today. And he's going to start two strokes behind Australia's Jason day. This is a guy who's been in contention so many times for majors in the last few years. He's had nine top tens, having six top fours. This is the third consecutive event where he's been either the leader or tied for the leader after three rounds. So he is just desperate to get it done. He is also very confident and very relaxed. There's a handful of good names right behind them so I think we're in for a really exciting day.

WHITFIELD: All right. Nice stuff. All right, bring us all the excitement a little later as well.

Don Riddell, thanks so much.

All right. We've got so much more in the NEWSROOM, and it all starts right now.

Hello again, everyone, thanks for joining me. I'm Frederica Whitfield.

An intense battle is raging in the northwest has firefighters try to beat back a series of wildfires in three states now. Residents in Idaho, Washington state and California have been forced to evacuate and at least 50 homes in Idaho alone have now been destroyed.

CNN's Nick Valencia is following all of it. Scary stuff.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Scary stuff. Those folks in the northwest could use a major break. Dozens of wildfires raging all across the United States. Fredricka was talking about it. Nowhere harder hit than in the northwest. We are talking Washington, Oregon and Idaho. This weekend, hundreds of firefighters working around the clock to protect people and property from these fast-moving flames.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA (voice-over): Against a majestic mountainous backdrop, the flames rage, forcing evacuations in Chelan County, Washington.

MATTHEW ANDERSON, RESIDENT: I was literally outrunning flames at 60 miles an hour.

This whole ridge was on fire. That whole hillside there. This whole hillside was on fire last night. It was nuts.

VALENCIA: Local resident Matthew Anderson watched as dozens of fires swallowed the hillside.

ANDERSON: It's crazy.

VALENCIA: At least 100 structures have burned. Power is knocked out for most of the 9,000 residents in the area.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's I don't know how many hundreds of people affected here, the other side.

VALENCIA: Just to the south, in Canyon Creek, Oregon, a lightning fire has left more than 20 homes burned, with at least 34,000 acres lost, and still limited containment.

Resident Dean Fox says the fight to save what's left has been exhausting.

DEAN FOX, RESIDENT: We would have to keep hosing our self-down because it was so hot.

VALENCIA: This fire season has been devastating, especially in the west, where already more than 6.5 million acres have burned. That's about the size of New Hampshire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is just devastation for these people.

VALENCIA: Idaho has been among the hardest hit. This ranch outside of Boise charred and caked with ash from the soda fire, which has burned more than 265,000 acres. Containment is just at 25 percent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just ripping up this hillside.

VALENCIA: In drought-stricken California, the fires are out of control, fueled by high heat and wind, the cabin fire has devoured 1400 acres in Angeles national forest. Hundreds of firefighters have worked for days to stop it. Ten of them have been injured in the process.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: And if it feels that we're talking a lot this year about fires, it's because we are. According to our meteorologists, this fire season more than two million acres above average burned. It seems that there's no end in sight -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: It does feel that way. OK, thanks so much.

All right. Well, I'm joined now on the phone with Hillary Fitzpatrick. She was actually on vacation near Chelan, Washington.

So Hillary, tell me about what happened. What did you experience?

HILLARY FITZPATRICK, VACATIONING IN CHELAN, WASHINGTON (on the phone): Hi, good afternoon. We are vacationing in Lake Chelan. We got in Thursday night. My husband went fishing Friday morning. We were staying at Campbell's resort there right in downtown Chelan. And he was out at the Starbucks and looked up and saw the lightning hit the side of the hill. And they obviously delayed to go out fishing that day until the storm passed.

But yes, so 8:00 or 9:00 in the morning, the hillside was, you know, started on fire and kind of crept down. And there's some video that we posted where the planes came in and were kind of scooping water and putting it out.

Later that afternoon we moved up toward willow point park, which is just north of downtown Chelan and that's where we're staying this week. And directly across is where some of the real bad fires are where the entire hillsides are just engulfed in flame.

[15:05:09] WHITFIELD: So these are extraordinary images, video and still that you did take there, capturing the smoke, you know, and the scooping of the water as you just described. So give me an idea, because it looks like it is very hazy. What has breathing been like while there?

FITZPATRICK: Yes, so Friday night it was pretty bad. I had my sisters and nephews and nieces, it got so bad they ended up leaving at about 6:00 in the morning to head home. We also had friends that were trying to get in on Friday night and they had the roads blocked and you couldn't get in but you could get out.

So today we've gone to Wenatchee, which is probably about, I don't know, 45 minutes from Chelan just to get out, just to get better breathing. But it looks like on the hillside where we're at, they're doing a really great job putting out a lot of those fires on the hillside. So it's not as smoky as it was yesterday, definitely improving.

WHITFIELD: Extraordinary. And then since so many have been evacuated, what about you and others where you're staying?

FITZPATRICK: We've been really lucky. We're right on the other side of where those fires are, right across on the lake. You know, we are -- we have been watching, there's a lot of ash and embers that have been, you know, coming across the lake when the wind changes direction, so we've been really aware of kind of what's been going on. But the fire department and authorities have let us know that, you know, if we do need -- if fire does start on this side, they'll come and let us know. But we're safe where we're at right now.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, all the best, continued safety.

Hillary Fitzpatrick, thank you so much.

FITZPATRICK: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: All right. Meantime, recovery efforts now for a passenger plane that crashed into the mountains over Indonesia on Sunday have been suspended for the night. Transportation officials found the wreckage on the side of a mountain in the Octabe district of Papua province. Confirmation that the plane was found came shortly after villagers reported seeing the aircraft crash into the mountain. The search for the plane has been suspended until tomorrow because of thunderstorms in the area and because it is night fall.

CNN's Kathy Novak joining me now.

So Kathy, what more are we learning about how they're conducting this search and are they able to confirm the sightings of some of the villagers?

KATHY NOVAK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a very difficult region that they are trying to get into. This plane was traveling from the coastal city, the capital of Papua province, inland south where this region is very mountainous. We're talking about mountains about 10,000 feet or more. And this is an area that often only small planes can go into. The runways are very small. It's a very difficult area for passenger planes, cargo planes to navigate. So this is the sort of thing that search and rescue crews were trying to deal with when they lost contact with this plane just a few minutes before it was scheduled to land. They had their own search mission out, but had to suspend it because it was getting dark and also because the weather was too bad. So they are not able to start again until about two hours from now when the sun comes up. But the question will be will the weather be good enough for them to continue this search mission. Because of course with these reports coming from villagers that they say they saw the plane crash into the mountains, they say they saw the wreckage, the big rush will be to see if they can find any survivors if these reports are indeed true that this plane came down in the mountains.

WHITFIELD: All right. Kathy Novak, keep us posted. Thank you so much.

All right, next, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says he knows what to do in Iraq, but the source of his military advice is raising some eyebrows. That story next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:12:30] WHITFIELD: All right. Where does Donald Trump get his policy information on military affairs? Well, the presidential candidate gave a surprising answer today during a TV interview with NBC's "Meet the Press."

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is joining us now from Washington with more on what he said and perhaps what he didn't say -- Sunlen.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Fred. Well, this came during a broader conversation he was having about how he formulates his foreign policy and what foreign policy vision he would have in a potential Trump administration. And it was somewhat of a revealing answer when he was asked by Chuck Todd who he speaks to regularly as he formulates his foreign policy views.

Here's his exchange today on "Meet the Press."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHUCK TODD, NBC HOST, MEET THE PRESS: Who do you talk to for military advice right now?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I watch the shows. I mean, I really see a lot of great, you know, when you watch your show and all of the other shows and you have the generals and you have certain people that you like.

TODD: But is there somebody, is there a go-to for you?

TRUMP: Probably, there are two or three.

TODD: Every presidential candidate has a go-to.

TRUMP: Probably there are two or three. I mean, I like Bolton, I think her is, you know, a tough cookie, knows what he's talking about.

TODD: You mean ambassador Bolton?

TRUMP: Yes.

TODD: You mean, Colonel Jack Jacobs.

TRUMP: Yes. Colonel Jack Jacobs is a good guy and I see him on occasion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: And that exchange really did stand out because it was a pretty simple question, one Fred that could be asked of nearly any other presidential candidate running how they formulate their views, who they're speaking to personally on a weekly, daily basis as they start to formulate their foreign policy vision and what it would look like in their administration -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. And then Sunlen, you know, Trump also inveigled this immigration policy plan. He promised that it would be details that no one had heard before and it was in the form of six pages, right?

SERFATY: That's right, 1800 words, Fred, six pages long. And we did learn some new details from Donald Trump's campaign about his immigration policy.

First, for the first time he revealed how he would get Mexico to pay for that wall that he wants to see along the U.S./Mexico border. He says until Mexico does, he would impound all remittance payments from illegal wages, increase fees on visas issued by Mexican CEOs and fees on border crossing cards. But also more broadly as part of this proposal, he proposes to end U.S. law oath U.S. law of birth right citizenship. He also calls for the number of ICE officers to be tripled along the border and for funding to be cut off at sanctuary cities.

But one big part of his immigration position is still very unclear at this point. He in the past had broadly called for all undocumented immigrants to be deported, but in this policy document, he really doesn't give the specific. He calls for criminal undocumented immigrants to be deported, but doesn't really mention that broader policy.

But the DNC wasting no time to jump in and respond to these policy positions saying quote in a statement "Trump has reignited the GOP's long-standing obsession with mass deportation."

And we have had ask the Trump campaign, Fred, for clarification on what exactly his policy is on mass deportations -- Fred.

[15:15:39] WHITFIELD: All right. Sunlen Serfaty, thanks so much in Washington. Appreciate that.

All right. Let's talk more about this. Joining us now from Des Moines, Iowa, our CNN politics reporters Eric Bradner and Jeremy Diamond, where the crowds are still very much there at the Iowa state fair.

All right. So Jeremy, Trump seems to be well tapped into the angry with Washington crowd, but is he listening to the average Joe? Do you get the sense that he is, as he's shaking hands, that he's listening to what people's grievances are and that he's following up with a plan?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Yes, absolutely. I mean, listen, when he was at the state fair yesterday, he was shaking hands with a lot of fair goers. A lot of potential voters and caucus goers. And so, for sure he's listening to what people are saying and it seems like his message is resonating with people. The way that he talks about things, he talks about them in a kind of every man common sense way, and that seems to be working.

Now, at the same time, it seems like he and his campaign advisers have realized that to continue to keep that alive, that momentum alive, he needs to in fact release some policy specifics and he's done that today.

WHITFIELD: And so, Eric, how does he keep that alive besides the specifics today and, you know, that moment right there, with the, you know, helicopter and getting a lot of supporters and people excited about his arrival and his presence. But what more should be expected or what more is being promised from him or his campaign?

ERIC BRADNER, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Right. Trump has been sort of brushing off requests for policy details for weeks now. He's been sort of running on the force of his own personality, suggesting that he's been able to get great deals done in the past and he'll continue to be able to do that as president. He knows that what you promise on the campaign trail rarely works out. In 2008 here in Iowa, President Obama was promising to oppose an individual mandate on health care, for example.

So Trump has a challenge in Iowa, but it's not necessarily just about policy, it's about organization. There are a lot of people who are drawn to politics because of his personality, but haven't participated in the Iowa caucuses before, he has to find a way to get them out.

WHITFIELD: OK. And so Trump is promising to spend possibly a billion dollars on his campaign and his money, because he says he doesn't want to have to answer to any of the donors, Jeremy.

At the same time, you know, does there seem to be any real obstacle for him to connect with the average person, so to speak? Because while there's been this anti-politician sentiment, we have also seen in recent years there's kind of, you know, the anti-one percent, you know, sentiment. How is Donald Trump able to still appeal to people or how is it that supporters are overlooking some of those things for him?

DIAMOND: Yes. Well, he's able to do it by putting it in your face basically. You know, unlike Mitt Romney, who last time around kind of shied away from his wealth, you know, tried to downplay how wealthy he was, that completely back fired. Trump is doing the complete opposite. His wealth, his business acumen are selling points for him when he's talking for voters. And it seems like a lot of voters appreciate that because, you know, a lot of folks talk about how, you know, this is a country built on success and, you know, upward mobility. And to be able to say, look, I built a great company, I've accumulated billions of dollars in wealth, some people say, hey, that's pretty good, you know, credentials to be president of the United States.

BRADNER: Fredricka, Trump is really breaking a lot of the rules of politics here. He flew in on a helicopter. You don't do that at the Iowa state fair. He's talking about his wealth. You don't do that if you're a wealthy candidate. He's ignoring policy. You don't do that if you're a serious candidate and it's working for him. He's doubling his rivals in the polls.

WHITFIELD: All right, Eric Bradner and Jeremy Diamond. Thanks so much, gentlemen. Have fun at the fair. What's on the menu for you today?

DIAMOND: Well, we just had some ribs. Pretty tasty.

BRADNER: Absolutely. You've got deep fried cherry pies, bacon brisket something or other.

DIAMOND: And everything is on a stick, so it's wonderful.

WHITFIELD: Oh, that sounds so good. OK, definitely do not be on dietary restrictions while being out there.

All right, thanks so much, Eric and Jeremy, appreciate it.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:23:46] WHITFIELD: All right. They are the final protection against terror in the air. Armed federal air marshals are trained to react at a moment's notice to fight off any attempts on an airliner in flight. But a CNN investigation has uncovered evidence the federal air marshal sitting on your next flight may be sleep deprived, medicated, under the influence of alcohol, or worse, suicidal.

Here's senior investigative correspondent, Drew Griffin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On July 31, 2013, a federal air marshal stepped outside this Syracuse, New York, hotel, put his service pistol to his head and pulled the trigger. It was suicide committed within hours of the armed air marshal's next scheduled mission, to fly on a commercial U.S. air flight from Syracuse, New York, to Washington, D.C.

Since 2002, CNN has learned ten federal air marshals have committed suicide. Several more have died in questionable accidents. And some armed federal air marshals, sleep deprived and mentally exhausted from grueling flight schedules are breaking down on assignments, turning to medications and alcohol.

Would I, sitting on a plane, want a stressed-out federal air marshal, potentially suicidal air marshal, on that plane with me?

[15:25:08] SONYA HIGHTOWER, RETIRED FEDERAL AIR MARSHAL: You would not.

GRIFFIN: Sonya Hightower, a recently retired federal air marshal says the threat of a suicidal air marshal is just the beginning. On board an aircraft, the armed federal air marshal must respond at a moment's notice to any threat. Right now, she says, some air marshals are falling apart.

HIGHTOWER: They're exhausted, they're having memory loss. They're being forgetful. They can't move, they can't respond fast to things. And the agency was not prepared for someone to document that as well as Harvard did in their study.

GRIFFIN: This is that study. It's from 2012. TSA commissioned it, got the results and had it classified as sensitive security information. CNN obtained a copy of the report and the results are disturbing.

Seventy five percent of air marshals flying on domestic missions were sleep deficient. On international runs, the figure rose to more than 84 percent. In a job where it's critical to be alert and accurate at a moment's notice, the study finds the acute and chronic lack of sleep substantially degrades a federal air marshal's ability to react and think quickly. And it gets even worse. The study conducted by the division of sleep medicine, Brigham and

Women's hospital and Harvard medical school found half of federal air marshals take some medication or supplement to get to sleep. Others commented they turn to alcohol.

Federal air marshals responded to survey questions saying most of the sleep patterns I have are broken. This is not healthy. I need to take sleep aids. Alcoholic drinks mixed with sleeping pills. One air marshal in response to a question asking if he consumed five or six drinks a week responded saying give us a break, Harvard, eight to 12 overnight on an overnighter and the same to sleep at home.

The study says it is likely a significant proportion of FAMs air marshals suffer from undiagnosed sleep disorders and puts them at increased risk of self-injury. Higher rates of fatigue related motor vehicle accidents and greater incidence of serious errors.

We wanted to speak to the federal air marshal service about the suicides but our interview request was turned down. Instead the TSA issued this statement saying it is committed to providing air marshals with the resources and support they need to carry out their mission and any loss of life is unacceptable. The statement goes on to say that the air marshal service maintains a robust system of both medical, including mandatory physicals, and psychological assistance programs which are readily available to the workforce and their families.

Drew Griffin, CNN, Orlando.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And in a recent hearing, the director of the federal air marshals said that his officers helped with onboard medical emergencies and unruly passengers but nothing about so stopping a terrorist. The air marshals say the idea of putting cops on planes was a knee-jerk reaction after 9/11 and has proven to be a poor use of their time and Americans' tax dollars. The Senate homeland security committee is doing a review of the entire program now.

All right, parts of a plane that went missing in Indonesia have been found, but the recovery search has been suspended. We'll explain why, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:31:43] WHITFIELD: Recovery efforts for a passenger plane that crashed into the mountains over Indonesia on Sunday have been suspended for the night. Transportation officials found the wreckage on the side of a mountain in the Octabe district of Papua province. Confirmation that the plane was found came shortly after villagers reported seeing the airplane crash. The search has suspended until tomorrow because of thunderstorms in the area and because it is night fall.

All right. Let's bring in CNN's aviation correspondent, Richard Quest, and also CNN aviation analyst and experienced 777 pilot Les Abend.

All right, good to see both of you.

So Les, as an experienced pilot, give us an idea of the types of things that could happen that would suddenly have a plane, you know, crash into the mountains there.

LES ABEND, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Yes, absolutely, Fredricka. You know, this is something that's still a developing story, as we all know. We can't jump to any conclusions, especially with witness reports. We know witness reports very often are inaccurate so let's wait until the morning, of course, and see what we see.

What could have happened is it could have been some sort of mechanical issue. If it was related to weather, perhaps there was a possibility with a thunderstorm, breaking up in flight. It might have had a conflict with terrain, might have struck terrain. It is hard to say. I looked at a Google maps picture of the airport itself, it seemed fairly up to date.

Looking at the runways and the airline pilot, I would note at the very most unless it's nonstandard markings, it's a non-precision approach, which means there's n glide slope, which would mean the weather would have to be pretty good to shoot this approach. It may very well have been just what we call a VFR approach, which Visual Flight Rule approach. So the weather may have deteriorated, worse than forecast, and that might have got them to the point of possibly striking terrain, it's really, really hard to say at this point.

WHITFIELD: And Richard, we don't have enough clues to know precisely what might have happened but earlier you talked about the fact that this Trigana airline service doesn't have a great track record. How much will that be considered as they try to investigate what happened?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: The issue here, as Les puts it so well, is the set of circumstances and the ability of the crew flying that day to meet those circumstances. This was a short flight, only 55 minutes or so, takeoff to landing, so it's not going to get very high in terms of altitude. It's going to be in the descent before you know it. And there were mountains in the regions, some up to 13,000 feet, and there was bad weather.

Now, in that environment it is -- these pilots fly those routes frequently, but they are challenging conditions. Especially if, as Les says, there was no landing guidance systems available to them. If you look at Trigana as an airline, as I said previously, it's got about 14 previous incidents. Some are serious, some not so serious since 1992. Which is quite a number, frankly. It's quite a number. Of that 14, one, two, three, four, five of them have fatalities. The airline only has -- I think it has fewer than 22 aircraft now as I've been looking at it. I think it may actually have you have a couple of dozen -- sorry, just a dozen or so aircraft now. So it's ratio of accidents to planes is high. And certainly when you analyze and look at the list and start to see the sort of things that has happened, there are issues of competence involved. [15:35:33] WHITFIELD: And, Richard, I know I asked you this earlier

but I'd like to also get your point of view on this, Les, so with that kind of track record, why would this airline be allowed to continue flying or what would be the policing agent to address that kind of track record?

ABEND: Well, the Indonesian -- their version of the Indonesian FAA would allow it to continue flying. Apparently it meets their standards, I suppose. But to add a little bit to what Richard was saying with reference to the background of the airline, in addition to a very small amount of -- small fleet, the fleet is very varied. They have everything from twin otters, which is a small turbo prop 19- passenger airplane all the way up to a 737. So they may make their pilots qualify on all of these airplanes, it's hard to say. I don't know what their standards are over there in Indonesia. But, you know, that kind of contributes to part of it too.

QUEST: And, Fred, it's an old fleet. Now, the average age is something like 22 years old. I think the plane involved here was 26, 27 years old. Now that per see means nothing. A well maintained aircraft can go much longer than that. Look at some of the 747s and the 767s that are in the air today. So an old fleet is not a -- look, what we have here are a number of warning signs. None of which is conclusive in its own right. Collectively, they start to make you concerned.

WHITFIELD: All right. Richard Quest, Les Abend, thanks so much for both of you gentlemen. Appreciate it.

All right. Coming up, a marriage showdown in Kentucky where a court clerk is refusing to give out any marriage licenses because she does not believe in same-sex marriage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[15:41:11] RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For Lidell Henry, director of Beat the Streets (ph) Baltimore, wrestling is much more than just a hobby.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I grew up in (INAUDIBLE) community where the riots in Baltimore occurred. During the time when I could have been outside, you know, selling drugs, I was in wrestling. Wrestling teaches a person to overcome, to be mentally tough and to persevere and that carries over to other areas.

NOBLES: Beat the Streets mixes wrestling with STEM for kids with academic challenges.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A ship spilled owl all behind them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: STEM wrestling camp is a hook to engage students in STEM the opportunities that minority students are not getting in STEM, it becomes very, very crucial for us to get kids at a younger age engaged and involved. NOBLES: Counselors teach kids that wrestling can build more than just

physical strength.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I really like wrestling because it helped me become a man definitely through hard work, through commitment, being a man of my word. And once I'm able to shift that to almost anything, I was able to be a bit more successful.

NOBLES: The kids don't need much convincing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to become better. I want to win state championships and do something big and I'm going to just keep coming.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, on to Kentucky now. The battle over issuing a same-sex marriage license is now spilling over to anyone who wants to get married. One clerk is turning it into a showdown, refusing to issue any marriage licenses because she says issuing a same-sex marriage license violates her first amendment rights.

CNN Ryan Nobles joins us now live to explain -- Ryan.

NOBLES: Yes, Fred. Same-sex marriage is legal in almost every part of the United States. In fact the Supreme Court said it's a constitutional right. But there are still pockets of resistance throughout the country that are leading to court battles that could determine the way that Supreme Court decision is implemented in the future.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NOBLES (voice-over): When the Supreme Court declared marriage a constitutional right regardless of sexual orientation, thousands of same-sex couples rushed to their local clerks' offices in court houses to get married.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's wrong and these people are cruel to do this to us.

NOBLES: But that isn't the case for everyone. In Kentucky, David Moore and David Ermald are still waiting to be wed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Currently this morning we're still in litigation and we're still not issuing marriage licenses at this time.

NOBLES: Moore and Ermald were turned away from the (INAUDIBLE) county clerk's office run by Kim Davis. After ignoring direct orders from Kentucky's governor and a federal judge to issue licenses to same-sex couples, Davis stopped issuing marriage licenses to anyone, gay or straight, and is suing the governor, claiming her religious rights are being denied.

KIM DAVIS, COUNTY CLARK'S OFFICE: This is a bigger battle than just one small county or two small counties. NOBLES: Davis isn't alone. Thirteen of Alabama's 67 counties have

stopped issuing marriage licenses altogether, which means the next stage of this battle is the courtroom. Across the country, same-sex couples have filed lawsuits designed to enforce their right to marry or to sue for damages because they believe their rights were denied.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to be the first people in Hood County to get married.

NOBLES: In Granbury, Texas, Jim Cato and Joe Stapleton were initially denied a license by Hood County clerk Kathy Lang. Lang eventually allowed a deputy to issue the license but Cato and Stapleton still sued for damages. That lawsuit is pending.

And while obtaining a marriage license for the vast majority of gay couples is not a problem, these few lingering battles sprinkled throughout the country could have a lasting impact.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBLES: And there are legislative battles ahead as well. In fact, there is one state senator in Alabama whose proposed legislation that would take the state out of the marriage business for everyone -- Fred.

[15:45:07] WHITFIELD: And so, Ryan, what about across the country, are there other jurisdictions that might be, you know, challenging people the same way?

NOBLES: Yes. There's a lot of different battles in this, battle over same-sex marriage across the country and many court battles as well, Fred. In fact many of the litigants who fought for the right to ban -- or fought against the bans against same-sex marriage across the country are now suing to have their legal fees taken care of by the state. In fact one judge in South Carolina ordered that the attorney general there would have to pay more than $100,000 to a couple who had battled to end the ban on same-sex marriage in that state.

WHITFIELD: All right. Ryan Nobles, thank you so much.

All right, still ahead, a major discovery is unearthed in an ancient biblical town. Archaeologists think it could reveal the very roots of Christianity.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:50:09] WHITFIELD: Archaeologists think they are close to unearthing the home of Mary Magdalene. In the bible, she is the first recorded person to witness the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

CNN's Erin McLaughlin went to the ancient town of Magdela to find more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dawn on the Sea of Galilee. Before an early morning dig to discover the roots of Christianity, volunteers pray. Here, in the ruins of the ancient down of Magdela, each swing of the thick ax, an effort to uncover what life was like some 2,000 years ago.

Historian believe Jesus may have once walked these cobbled streets. This may have been home to one of the most important figures in the bible, Mary Magdalene, the first recorded witness of the resurrection.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a holy site. I'm sure of that. Here, we have only the preparation --

MCLAUGHLIN: Six years ago, the father (INAUDIBLE) purchased the land to build a Christian retreat. Israeli law required him to excavate. And completely by chance, he discovered a first century synagogue.

Scriptures say Jesus preached in the synagogues of Galilee. Well, this is the only synagogue to have been discovered in this area from that time period, so it's possible that Jesus preached here. It's considered ornate with mosaic flooring and (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not for me. This is for millions of people that will come, will see these, will enjoy these as I did. And hopefully, they will be able to discover our common roots.

MCLAUGHLIN: At the center, the altar or Bema (ph), what is known as the Magdala stone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the first time ever that (INAUDIBLE) it is found out of Jerusalem.

MCLAUGHLIN: Magdela may be one of the most important finds discovered in Israel in the last 50 years.

Archaeologists uncovered this bowl some 2,000 years old they say Jesus may have used to wash his hands before entering the synagogue to pray.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Take out the soil.

MCLAUGHLIN: Archaeologist Dr. Marcela Zapanta (ph) shows us the town's purification baths. Remarkably the baths still work to this day. They also found coins and are working to restore pottery.

DR. MARCELA ZAPANTA, ARCHEOLOGIST: It's a story about the common life, about the cooking, about the materials.

MCLAUGHLIN: And about the intersection of Judaism and Christianity.

Erin McLaughlin, CNN, Magdela, Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All Right. Let's dig a little deeper into what these discoveries could mean. Mark Goodacre joins me now via Skype. He's also a New Testament and Christian origins professor at Duke University. Good to see you. He is also a consultant on the CNN series "Finding Jesus." All right. So Mark, you know, do you agree, do you believe that this

synagogues, this ancient synagogue is the real thing and that it could actually be a place where Jesus once preached and walks?

MARK GOODACRE, RELIGIOUS STUDIES PROFESSOR, DUKE UNIVERSITY: Yes, it's certainly important. It's not one of these crazy discoveries, you know, that you sometimes hear about. This is legitimate archaeology. So that is really good news. And it probably is something that is a place that Jesus is highly likely to have been to if the gospels are right that he went around Galilee preaching in the synagogues. It's right there on the edge of this Sea of Galilee where lots of Jesus activities took place. So it could be the real deal.

WHITFIELD: To see the pottery which looks like it's in amazing condition, and those, you know, frescos, do you feel that this is particularly encouraging to filling in the blanks of the stories?

GOODACRE: It's hugely encouraging because one of the things that -- to put this in context, we're not falling over ourselves finding first century synagogues in Galilee. That there are very small handful. (INAUDIBLE). Because what happens is, synagogues were often build on top of early synagogues, just the same way that churches are often built on top of other churches. So when you actually find something like this that appears to be a genuine first century synagogue with that sort Roman pottery era pottery, it's very, very exciting. So yes, absolutely. It could fill in some important cultural context for us about Jesus.

WHITFIELD: And what's you are feeling about Magdalene and whether, you know, this is he nickname or some reference to Mary's hometown?

GOODACRE: This is a tougher one. I mean, it's a nice idea that this is Mary Magdalene's hometown, and it might be. It's not impossible. I mean, we have this name Mary Magdalene in the gospels. And our best guess is Magdalene means she comes from Magdano (INAUDIBLE). But there one to other possibilities for possible location that could be that Magdela that this one is a pretty good contender. So I think all in all, it's pretty exciting. It is just we have to be, you know, wary about being overexcited. But it's good stuff.

[15:55:09] WHITFIELD: What's you are feeling about the relationship between Magdalene and Jesus?

GOODACRE: Well, you mean -- Mary Magdalene, well, I'm sure that she wasn't his wife, you know. But I would say that she's definitely Jesus' closest female disciple. And one of the things that we find out about her from the New Testament is that she is the apostle to the apostles. The first person to get commission to tell the news that Jesus is resurrection. So she is certainly a really (INAUDIBLE). And that's what this discovery about little (INAUDIBLE).

WHITFIELD: All right, Duke University professor Mark Goodacre, thank you so much.

GOODACRE: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. We got so much more straight ahead in the NEWSROOM right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:59:21] WHITFIELD: All right. Happening right now in the NEWSROOM, an Indonesian airliner gone missing now believed to have crashed into a mountain side.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: Mountains in this area top out well above 10,000, even 13,000 feet.

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WHITFIELD: Rescuers hoping to resume their search after bad weather forced them to quit.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I felt like Pierce Brosnan. I was literally outrunning planes at 60 miles per hour.

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WHITFIELD: Wildfires ravaging the west. Thousands of people forced to evacuate as firefighters try to beat back the flames.

And North Korea threatening the U.S. with quote "tremendous muscle" if tomorrow's military exercises with South Korea are not cancelled.

NEWSROOM starts now.

All right. Hello again. And thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.