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Romney To Release 2011 Tax Return; Apple Gets Flak For Maps Feature; iPhone 5 Unleashed; Boy Locked Away For 1,460 Days; Teen: I Was Locked Away For 1,460 Days; Woman Clings To Speeding SUV; Ex- Inmate Signs To Play Football; Pittsburgh Hostage Situation Ends; Congress Leaves Town; Vote For Your CNN Hero; Iran Developing Its Own Internet; Endeavour's Final Flight

Aired September 21, 2012 - 14:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Continues right now with Brooke Baldwin.

Take it away, Brooke.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Don Lemon, thank you so much.

And good to see all of you here on this Friday. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

I want to begin there with really where Don left off. We are now learning from the Mitt Romney camp that at 3:00 online, 3:00 Eastern Time, we will be getting a release -- Mitt Romney will be releasing his 2011 tax returns. So I want to talk about the significance of this as far as the numbers, as far as why now and all the other questions perhaps you have as well. So, for that, let's go to Christine Romans. She has been handed some nuggets, if you will, from what will be released at 3:00.

So give us a quick preview. What are we learning?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: We are learning that the Romneys made an awful lot of money last year. $13.9 million is what they have told the IRS they earned last year and they paid about $1.9 million in taxes on that. That's an effective tax rate, Brooke, of 14.1 percent. This is according to the campaign. We haven't seen -- I have not seen this tax release myself, the tax return myself. It's going to be filed, we're going to be able to see it at 3:00. But the campaign is giving us some of the headlines ahead of that.

The Romneys donated, Brooke, $4 million last year, amounting to nearly 30 percent of their income. Something that's interesting in here. There's been a lot of criticism, of course, that the Romneys are very, very rich and he came up through Bain Capital over all those years. There have been calls to show exactly how much money he paid and how many -- how much he paid in taxes over those past 20 years. PricewaterhouseCoopers, we are told from the campaign, has written a letter, has seen all of those 20 years, and has said that over the entire 20-year period, the average annual effective tax rate for the Romneys was 20 percent. They are not releasing those 20 years of documents --

BALDWIN: Yes, that's --

ROMANS: They're only --

BALDWIN: That's an important point to make.

ROMANS: They're only releasing a letter from an accountant who has seen them and is verifying that that's what the rate was of the lowest annual effective federal tax rate they say for that period was 13.66 percent. There had been some rumors and grumbling among congressives (ph) who said that they thought that there were years that the Romneys didn't pay taxes. This accounting firm says, no, they paid and owed taxes every year of those 20 years.

Another little side note is that --

BALDWIN: Let me jump in, Christine. Let me just jump in. I know you have a lot to tackle. But I just want to underscore and italicize the point you just made, because a lot of Americans, you know, and we've see the polls, many Americans would like to see, you know, those numbers from the Romneys, from prior to 2010. And so to your point, not only will we see some numbers from 2011, but as part of this PricewaterhouseCoopers letter, there's sort of some tidbits from the 20 years before 2010. But that's it, correct?

ROMANS: Right. I do not admit -- I do not think there will be 20 years of tax returns at 3:00 on this document dump. It will be the 2011 and a letter from PricewaterhouseCoopers who has seen those 20 years of returns. So, 14.1 percent was the effective tax rate, last year, 2011. PricewaterhouseCoopers is saying that the effective tax rate for, on average for those last 20 years, was 20 percent.

BALDWIN: Yes.

ROMANS: Also, the campaign is saying they will be filing a couple of other little pieces of paper, Brooke, at 3:00. It will be physician letters for both Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan making public the current state of their health in case you were wondering.

BALDWIN: OK. So we get 2011 tax returns and current state of both Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. So we will watch for that, certainly.

And I just want to let all our viewers know, obviously we have folks here within CNN who will be looking for the news, the tax returns, I believe, looking down here at some of the information we have that a 2011 tax return will appear as four separate documents. And again, Christine, for our viewers, I mean anyone can go online and check it out. Where can they find it?

ROMANS: You can find those at www.mittromney.com/disclosure. And I can assure you how we will all be spending our Friday afternoon and evening. It will be pouring over the 2011 documents from Mitt Romney. Just knowing -- having looked at the 2010 documents, it's going to be complicated. There will probably be four different ones that will be filed. They have a foundation or -- they have a foundation. They also have a blind trust, a family trust. So it will be one, two, three -- I think there will probably four different tax returns that will land right at 3:00.

BALDWIN: OK. Christine Romans, we thank you. You have some reading to do at the top of the hour, I'm sure. We'll check back in with you then.

And also we'll check in with Jim Acosta, who, as you know, has been extensively covering Mitt Romney and his election campaign. So an obvious question is, why now? So we'll ask that and we'll try to get some of the back story here from Jim Acosta once these officially are released online just about 55 minutes from now.

And with that, we have a lot more for you here on this Friday, including this.

I've got a story today that will make your blood boil. It's about this teenager who says his parents kept him locked up in a room for 1,460 days. He is sick. He is slim. But thanks to an astute police officer, he's OK. We can do better.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

In cities across Pakistan, scenes like these playing out -- embassies closed and open anger after Friday prayers. We'll take you there.

And next, we've seen this before, long lines for the iPhone. But many of these fans won't be happy with at least one new feature.

Plus, if you live in Los Angeles, keep your TV on but take a peek outside. Space shuttle Endeavour is headed to its final home. We'll take you there live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Love sharing moments like this with you. Here you go. Story time in kindergarten class turned into reality for one very lucky five-year-old.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, I missed you, baby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Oh, the book of the day was "Hero Dad" and then, like magic, in walks Specialist Daniel Riendeau to surprise his little daughter after being in Afghanistan for nearly a year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPEC. DANIEL RIENDEAU, U.S. ARMY: It was a great feeling, though, knowing that I get to see my -- my Jillian (ph). It's easy to do everything that I do. It's, you know, it's a job. But being away from her makes it -- makes it really hard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Dad and daughter got to talk on Skype while he was away, but he says nothing beats, of course, getting to hold her.

And now this. So many of you talking about it. The latest igadget has, you know, all kinds of people lining up outside Apple stores worldwide today just to get their hot little hands on the iPhone 5. The very first iPhone 5 was sold in an Apple store in Sydney, Australia. Get this. The guy there says he stood in line for 70 hours to get a phone, OK? In Japan, hundreds sat in the rain. One Japanese store says it's already run out of iPhone 5s. And in New York, some companies reportedly sponsored people to camp outside the Apple stores to wear branded company t-shirts. Think about it. Think about all the cameras that are out there, right? So this is free advertising for them. Other New Yorkers figured out the mobs and media cameras would be focused on iPhone lines, so they used the opportunity to market themselves, like these singers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): Now take that iPhone off the shelf. I rather have it all by myself.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): The other phones ain't got the new HD.

UNIDENTIFIED MALES (singing): Now everybody come (ph) sing with me. I want that iPhone 5 today. I want that iPhone 5 today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): I want that iPhone 5 today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALES (singing): I want that iPhone 5 today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Wow. Economy's tough. Maybe people are just getting creative. Maybe they just got discovered. Who knows.

Apple took 2 million pre-orders for the iPhone 5 the first day they were available last week. Some analysts say Apple may sell more than 10 million iPhone 5s by Monday.

Apple is getting some flak for its new maps feature on iPhones and iPads. Some users are saying they get lost just trying to use Apple's mobile maps. Remember, Apple dumped Google Maps software, replaced it with its very own mapping feature. Apple reportedly says be patient, it's working on it, they say.

Let's bring in our map wizard, Chad Myers, with a little show and tell on what is not working so well.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, Google took some time, had some growing pains too. You know, they had places in the wrong things or old buildings and that's what Apple's experiencing now. They're experiencing restaurants that have been closed for 12 years still showing up on the maps. Nobody knows how that happens, but it's happening.

But if you take a look and you just kind of step back and take a look at this graphic and you will see how cool it is. Think about our technology about, I don't know, 10 years ago. You had nothing like this. I can zoom all the way in. Here's downtown Manhattan. Right. All the way through -- right through the financial district. I can get you right to the new tower there. The World Trade Center. And then right into the old historic districts and all that kind of stuff. So it's very, very neat.

BALDWIN: OK.

MYERS: But there are some things that could get you into a little bit of hot water.

BALDWIN: So is this the kind of picture that I can see if I had an iPhone 5?

MYERS: Yes.

BALDWIN: OK.

MYERS: And the IO (ph) 6 operating system, so if you could put that back on your 4 or your 4s or your iPad as well.

So here's what it looks like. Here's a great little shot. But here's what it looks like if you think you want to drive around Hoover Dam. So here's Hoover Dam. I was just there about three weeks ago. The water's here. There's a brand-new bridge. Well, the bridge doesn't plummet into the canyon and back up the other side. It actually goes across. So that would be quite the ride down into the canyon and out the other side.

And then if you want to take the Brooklyn Bridge over to Queens, all of a sudden there's a slight problem there as the Brooklyn Bridge kind of goes along the ground. That's kind of -- I don't know --

BALDWIN: Yes, that would be frightening if that was actual reality.

MYERS: That's a mess. Right. Also, Alphabet City and things like that. Everything else is kind of cool. But there are just some problems, the growing pain problems, like we said before. And this is what we're going to see across all of the platforms. We're finding things in England. If you find something that's cool, you can blog about it. And that's what the thing is. Everybody's blogging about, oh, you can't -- I can't believe that KFC is not even there anymore and so Google worked on it for five years, Apple's going to work on it and they'll get it right.

BALDWIN: OK, Chad Myers, I guess some people having fun with it. I just don't want to get lost. That is like half the reason why I bought this bad boy to begin with.

MYERS: I know.

BALDWIN: Thank you very much.

MYERS: You're welcome.

BALDWIN: Tech geeks, let's bring in our favorite tech expert, Katie Linendoll in New York, with more on the iPhone 5.

And, ah-hah, I see you have --

KATIE LINENDOLL, TECH EXPERT: Yes.

BALDWIN: Let me guess, one is an old, one is a new. Tell me about them.

LINENDOLL: Yes. So I think the first thing that I noticed in picking this up is lighter, thinner, faster. Obviously the first time we're seeing 4G LTE capabilities. Two times faster in terms of searching, in terms of downloading, uploading. And, you know, we noticed some of those differences, too. Let's talk about that eight pin connecter.

BALDWIN: I can't stop talking about this. This is frustrating.

LINENDOLL: Right. So typically in the past we had a 30 pin. That's a lot smaller right now. But I think, you know, I've spent the last few days talking to accessory manufacturers. Very interesting on this front because accessories generate $20 billion plus annually. And, you know, we think it's frustrating that we're going to have to pick up a $30 adapter. A lot of these accessories manufacturers, they were saying, we're just like the consumers. We're waiting out there in that line as well to get this specific, exact specs so we can go and start producing molds to accommodate the new designs.

But in terms of the actual phone, you'll see here, you can notice the obvious differences. It definitely is thinner, lighter, faster and obviously the best iPhone to date.

BALDWIN: What's your favorite feature?

LINENDOLL: The light -- 18 percent thinner and 20 percent lighter and it's super obvious. Like as soon as I picked it up, boom.

BALDWIN: OK. Then beyond the folks who are making accessories, who else makes money off of this?

LINENDOLL: Yes, so we have some interesting people cashing in. Gazelle.com, per the usual, is one of the leading sites for trade-ins. Interesting enough, they have bought 30 iPhones per minute the day the iPhone 5 was released. So they are breaking records. And it's kind of telltale as we head into the weekend as to what they expect.

As you noted, nearly 10 million iPhones are expected to be sold just over the weekend. And Gazelle also shared with me, they've seen -- they've presented more than 1.3 million offers since announcement day. A 700 percent increase compared to the 4s last year.

But also another one I love is taskrabbit.com. this is a site where you can post -- this is for people that don't have a lot of time. You can post jobs and people can bid on them. They are actually selling increments of time, four-hour time slots for $55. They sold over 250 of those today and counting across San Francisco and New York. So people don't want to wait in line for the iPhone 5. And they can get people to do it for them. So everyone kind of cashes in on this from accessories manufacturers, consumers obviously waiting in line and then really unique companies.

BALDWIN: Yes, TaskRabbit is great. It's great for people who want to make a little extra cash as well, Katie Linendoll.

LINENDOLL: Yes.

BALDWIN: Hey, thank you very much.

LINENDOLL: Thanks.

BALDWIN: Enjoy your new phone.

The tax returns, they are out. We have Jim Acosta standing by here from the Romney camp stop in Vegas right now. We're going to ask him why the release today. Why now. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Want to pick back up with this breaking political story today out of the Romney campaign. News just minutes ago here learning that the Romneys filed their 2011 tax returns with the IRS. So it is out there for the very first time. It will be out there online for everyone to see in about 40 minutes from now. Also being posted by the Romneys, a summary -- again, a summary of the tax rates they paid during the 20-year period between 1990 and 2009.

So let's go to Jim Acosta. He's been covering Mitt Romney and his campaign so, so closely for quite a while.

And, Jim, and I have the paperwork and the numbers in front of me as well. So what really stands out as far as 2011, the 14.1 percent. Run down more of the numbers for me and also tell me why. Why now?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure. Well, as for why now, we asked the Romney campaign on our charter that just landed here in Las Vegas a few moments ago and the spokesman, Kevin Madden, for the campaign said, because they're ready. Now, there might be some other political reasons as to why they're being released now, but let's first go through these numbers, Brooke.

You mentioned just a few moments ago that the Romneys in 2011 basically paid an effective tax rate of 14 percent. That's going to be according to this tax return for 2011 that's going to be released at 3:00. But they've given us some details from those numbers that they're going to be putting out at 3:00.

So the Romneys in 2011, forgive me for looking down at my smartphone here, paid $1.9 million in taxes on $14 million roughly in investment income. That means their effective tax rate was 14 percent. The Romneys, according to this release, donated $4 million to charity, amounting to 20 -- or, excuse me, 30 percent of their income.

And then as you just mentioned, Brooke, what's very interesting about all this, if you scroll down in this release, you're right, yes, the Romney campaign is also putting out what they're calling a 20-year summary that was put together by the people over at PricewaterhouseCoopers and interesting to note that 20 year summary is --

BALDWIN: What does that mean, a summary, Jim?

ACOSTA: Well, they're not putting out all 20 years of tax returns. What they did was they went to PricewaterhouseCoopers and said, OK, instead of putting out 20 years of tax returns, why don't you give us a summary and put your name -- your stamp of approval on this saying what exactly the Romneys have paid over these last 20 years. And it shows an effective tax rate, according to the campaign, of 20 percent.

And interesting to note, they underline part of this here. It says, "in each year during the entire 20-year period, the Romneys owed both state and federal income taxes," That is crucial to note, broke, because you remember, last couple of weeks, Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader from all places here in Nevada, was going out on the Senate floor and making this claim that the Romneys at some point, according to a source that told him, he said, had paid no income taxes. And so this release from the Romney campaign appears to go to that accusation.

Now, as to the timing of all of this, keep in mind the Romney campaign was planning on ramping up its schedule over the next week with this bus tour across Ohio on Wednesday. And then the first presidential debate comes in the week following. So obviously it makes sense to put the tax return information out now, instead of next week after a splashy bus tour or the following week, which would even be worse timing, around a very high profile presidential debate, Brooke.

BALDWIN: I'm going to throw a question at you, and you may not have the answer but I'm going to ask you any way.

ACOSTA: Sure.

BALDWIN: As far as those previous, you know, 20 years from, you know, what was it -- we mentioned 1990 to 2009, have they yet given a reason why they won't give out specifics?

ACOSTA: Well, Mitt Romney has said repeatedly that if he puts out individual tax returns going back five, six, seven years, that that's just going to be ammunition for the Democratic Party. So I would imagine if we were to ask him that question again, or the campaign again, they would return to that response. But they're trying to sort of meet this in the middle here and address some of the accusations that were come from Harry Reid and then also just from liberal activists who have been saying, what's Mitt Romney hiding? Why is he not putting out more than just two years of tax returns? Because at the end of today, at the end of the day after today, it will basically be the same number of tax returns coming from this campaign. Two years of tax returns for 2010 and 2011. That's what they've been saying all along. That's all they're going to be providing in terms of an extract return and that's all we're going to be getting today, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Right. That is what they had promised and they are delivering on that. Jim Acosta for us in Las Vegas. Jim, thank you. We'll talk once again when they're out at the top of the hour. Now to this just absolutely horrific case of child abuse and neglect just ahead. This is a case, I read about it this morning, it made me so -- it made me sad, but it made me angry. It's about this malnourished teenager, really a prisoner in his own home, for four years. How could this happen and who failed this young man? We can do better, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: If you watch this show enough, you know I care greatly about children and how we treat them. And there is a case today that I just have to share with you. It involves a teenager found disoriented, all alone, walking around this bus station in downtown Los Angeles. His name is Mitch Comer. He is from Dallas, Georgia, just northwest of Atlanta. Mitch is just 18 years old, but he is 5'3", weighs about 97 pounds, and, according to someone who saw him, his skin was nearly translucent. And what Mitch told investigators about how he'd been live and how he ended up alone in that bus station just absolutely -- it breaks my heart and it makes my blood boil.

And I want to bring in a leader of the investigation here to help us share as much as we can about Mitch's story. Paulding County District Attorney Dick Donovan on the phone with me from Dallas, Georgia.

And, Mr. Donovan, welcome.

Let's just back up and explain to me how this young man wound up in California. He's from Georgia.

DICK DONOVAN, PAULDING COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY (via telephone): Well, the information we have is that on his 18th birthday, after he had been kept in his home here in Dallas for several years, in a room by himself, such that the neighbors didn't even know there was a boy living in the home, on his 18th birthday, his adopted father put him in a van and drove him to Mississippi, where he put him on a Greyhound bus, gave him $200 and a list of homeless shelters in Los Angeles, and turned around and came back to Paulding County.

BALDWIN: So there he was, alone. I'm going to get back into his back story a little bit more with you, as you mentioned. But to this bus station. There was a -- from what I understand, and I'm going to call him astute -- a very astute, retired L.A. Police officer saw this young man, thought he was 12, 13 based upon, I imagine, just how young, how emaciated he appeared. Can you tell me a little bit more about his condition and also what he says his parents did to him.

DONOVAN: Well, first of all, what I understand is that LAPD has these retired officers and the bus stations have these retired officers looking for children who look out of place, runaways, young people who might have come to Los Angeles trying to go to Hollywood. And this particular off duty officer spotted Mitch and realized that he -- well, he looks 12. He's very small -- and knew that he was out of place and had approached him. And Mitch was apparently able to give him his name and tell him that he thought he was from Paulding County. The off duty or retired police officer called active duty LAPD personnel who then called a deputy here in Paulding County. And after some further investigation, warrants were obtained and a search warrant was obtained leading to the arrest of the adopted father and the natural mother.

BALDWIN: So, from what I understand, according to Mitch's account, he was essentially kept locked up in either this basement in Paulding County or a blacked out room for four years. Was he fed?

DONOVAN: That's my understanding of his statement. We -- I went by the house last night just to look in the neighborhood, and I believe the houses are built on a slap. So it would be more likely that he was kept in a blacked out room in that house for, according to his statement, about four years.

BALDWIN: And, neighbors, I mean, did they -- were they aware of this young man? Had they seen him before? Was anything fishy?

DONOVAN: The neighbors who were interviewed last night on local television broadcast said that they had no idea there was a boy there.

BALDWIN: Wow. And from what I understand, there were two younger sisters as well in this home. We're showing pictures of this home. Where are they?

DONOVAN: They are in the custody of the Department of Family and Children Services right now.

BALDWIN: And where is Mitch?

DONOVAN: Mitch is in a private home in Paulding County.

BALDWIN: How is he?

DONOVAN: According to my investigator, whom I sent to L.A. to pick him up and bring him home, he's a very sweet, very polite young man, who loves to read, and who said that his greatest desire is to just live a normal life.

He's obviously malnourished. I'm sure there is going to be some post traumatic stress disorder from what he's been through, even if only the last couple of weeks.

But certainly if, you know, the last four years turn out to be accurate and what we know now is that appears to be accurate. He's going to need, you know, considerable amount of counseling, but he's actually doing very well, all things considered.

BALDWIN: My final question to you is, and, you know, on this show we do a number of these stories where we try to reminder to all of us that we need to pay attention.

There is a neighbor you haven't seen in a while. If you see something or someone that just looks a little bit out of place, you need to stop, and you need to ask. Would you agree with me, sir?

DONOVAN: I would agree with you. The problem with the country as we have it now is if you make some sort of allegation or some sort of statement about someone, they're likely to respond in a very hostile manner.

I think the reaction of the people about whom we have been talking would be to pick up and move. They allegedly moved more than 20 times in the last 12 years.

BALDWIN: That is incredibly sad and we wish this 18-year-old well. Dick Donovan, District Attorney there in Paulding County, Georgia. Thank you, sir. Good luck.

DONOVAN: You're quite welcome. Thank you for calling.

BALDWIN: Ten miles of terror on an interstate highway and a woman who is alive today because of four total strangers banded together to save her.

Drivers were stunned to see an SUV barrel up a ramp and on to Interstate 85 just north of Atlanta with a woman clinging to the hood of a car. One man who was in such disbelief grabbed his cell phone, snapped a picture and then called 911.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via telephone): I see her beating on the windshield, crying as I get closer, begging him to pull over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Begging him to pull over. Can you imagine if you saw this, you were going down the highway? Other drivers joined in, pacing with this SUV. This is the highway we're showing you here. They finally forced it to stop, 10 miles up the interstate. Listen to how they did it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via telephone): We start motioning at each other, like can you believe this? One guy is taking pictures. I'm on the phone. We went from 70 to 55 and then to 30, to 25, and we finally got him to pull over right at the Mall of Georgia exit headed toward Lawrenceville.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Police arrested the SUV's driver, 29-year-old Jonathan Salas. He is the woman's boyfriend and the highway dash was the result of an argument. Salas is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

A former California high school football star who was wrongly convicted of rape is now getting a chance to play pro football. Brian Banks served more than five years in prison before this alleged victim recanted her claim and offered to help him clear his name.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN BANKS, FOOTBALL PLAYER: Whatever your dream is in life, whatever your truth is in life, you stand by it, we all get to be true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The 26-year-old linebacker signed with the Las Vegas team in the United Football League, The Locomotives. He hopes to eventually land in the NFL.

Members of Congress, they are getting out of town, headed home without taking care of business. Coming up next, we have reaction for you from the left, from the right, on the long list of items that will have to wait until after the election.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Up until a couple of minutes ago, take a look at this picture. This Pittsburgh scene, this was the site of a bizarre standoff, imagine a hostage and a gunman and conversation taking place over Facebook.

Because of a tactical error, a mess up, SWAT team has released the name of the suspect to local media and what did the media do? They reported it. We don't do that for obvious reasons.

But when word got out, people started friending this hostage taker on Facebook, the messages started pouring in, here's one, quote, "just stop and pray. You have family that loves you, your mom is on TV crying, if you need to talk, just call me. It's not worth it."

All from Facebook today, there are dozens more just like that, but police always want to follow hostage procedures so they asked everyone to stop.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF NATE HARPER, PITTSBURGH POLICE: Once again, we hope that his friends would stop communication on Facebook, let us, you know, our trained negotiators deal with this matter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: As we reported, it is over now. Everyone is safe. The standoff is over. The suspect is now in police custody.

To Washington we go, Congress has wrapped up work and they didn't exactly break productivity records this session. Lawmakers passed 173 laws as of last month. The original do nothing Congress back in 1948 passed more than 900 laws, just to give you a little perspective.

This year is the earliest Congress quit date before an election in more than 50 years. Our senior congressional correspondent, there she is, beautiful blue skies there in Washington.

There she is outside Capitol Hill, and, Dana, what's the deal? I know they're leaving early. We have been reporting on this over and over, work is not done what do they say about that? DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first, before I answer that question, let me give you the visual of what it is like on Capitol Hill right now, you can see, it is pretty empty.

No real cars in the parking lot, not like it was before. You see some tourists over there. No members of Congress to be found. We have some video I want to show you, probably about 2-1/2 hours ago.

What happened when the last vote was taken in the House of Representatives, a mass exodus, members of Congress streaming down the steps of the capital to get out of town and leave for good through the election in order to campaign, Democrats and Republicans.

I want to give you at least some of what is on the very, very long list of Congress' unfinished business. Let's start with the farm bill. Five-year farm bill, this is incredibly important to dictate farm policy.

And also give some drought relief to people who need it very badly and also it gives money to people on food stamps. That was not passed and it expires, Brooke, at the end of the month.

Extending the violence against women act, that's a noncontroversial piece of legislation usually, but it is tied up over partisan gridlock, cyber security, postal reform, and, of course, that fiscal cliff.

And by that, we're talking about the fact that by the end of the year, the Bush era tax cuts are going to expire, about $100 billion in mandatory spending cuts will go through unless Congress works out a deal to avert that.

None of that was done and before they left, maybe a little bit of a window into why Congress has such a low approval rating, both sides playing the blame game. Listen to a clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPRESENTATIVE STENY HOYER (D), MINORITY WHIP: Farmers across the country are facing the worst drought in decades and Republicans refused to act. This is simply irresponsible and Republicans ought to come back and finish their work, not cut and run and walk away from the American people. Shame on them, shame on them for abandoning our farmers, our economy, and families who need us to act.

REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: They haven't passed a budget in more than three years. They have no plan to save Medicare, no plan to stop all the tax hikes, and no plan to replace the sequestering. They have threatened to do nothing and drive this off the fiscal cliff, which the Congressional Budget Office has said will lead to a very deep recession. This isn't leadership. It is negligence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now, I mentioned that the House is pretty much gone. But down there, that's the United States Senate, they are still in session and the reason is because they are wrangling, they're tied up over what Congress is promising to do, which is really important, Brooke.

That is fund the government for the next six months to make sure the government doesn't shut down. I want to also, before I go back to you, give you -- I know you love interesting statistics.

BALDWIN: Of course, I do.

BASH: Our friend, Jamie Dupre, sits across the hall from us back there in our little booth up there, from Cox Radio, he crunched the numbers and he found out that if you include one vote in the House today, the House has only voted on 9 Fridays, 9 Fridays, this entire year, all of 2012.

They've only voted nine days and the Senate, two days, only two Fridays of the entire year of 2012. I would like to have Fridays like that, wouldn't you?

BALDWIN: I like that gig, I suppose, Dana Bash, but they have work to get done. You know very well about that fiscal cliff. I want to say thank you for now. Enjoy the silence. Enjoy the silence there on the Hill.

I just want to remind all of you, we'll be talking to Senator Olympia Snowe, Republican out of Maine, and this is her last year, and part of the reason why she says she's leaving is because of the sniping, the partisanship in Washington.

We're going to talk to her about some pretty candid comments she made yesterday on the Senate floor basically calling the fiscal cliff a manufactured crisis.

We'll get her to expound upon that and also get her take on her party's nominee, Mitt Romney. That's coming up next hour.

And now to people just like you doing extraordinary things. They are our "CNN Heroes." Coming up next, make your vote count, help us choose the "CNN Hero of 2012."

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BALDWIN: Each year on "CNN Heroes," we bring you the stories of these just absolutely extraordinary individuals working every day to find solutions to major problems.

Now the "Top Ten Heroes" for 2012 have been revealed and you can help to decide who will get to be the "Hero of the Year." Anderson Cooper shows you how.

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ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Anderson Cooper. All year we've been introducing you to everyday people who are changing the world. We call them "CNN HEROES." Now we announce the top ten "CNN Heroes" for 2012. The honorees are in random order. Connie Siskowski is helping for children caring for ill or aging loved ones to stay in school and hold onto their childhood.

Pushpa Basnet saves innocent children from growing behind bars with their incarcerated parents. Thulani Madondo organizes his community to educate hundreds of their next generation.

Mary Cortani enlists man's best friend to give fellow veterans a way to move beyond PTSD and into life again. Malya Villard-Appolon has turned personal trauma into a fight for justice for thousands of rape survivors in Haiti.

After using sports to fight his own addiction, Scott Strode now helps former addicts to stay fit and sober. Wanda Butts brings water safety and swimming lessons to those most vulnerable, black and Latino children.

Catalina Escobar ensures healthy deliveries and solid futures for Columbian teens already facing mother hood. Leo McCarthy's tragic loss of his daughter sparked his mission to end the culture of underage drinking.

And where terrorists stop at nothing to keep girls from being educated, Razia Jan fearlessly opened her school each and every day.

Congratulations. The top ten "CNN Heroes" of 2012. Tell us who inspired you the most. Go to cnnheroes.com online or on your mobile device to vote for your "CNN Hero of The Year."

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BALDWIN: I love getting tweets from you after we showed you how you can vote yesterday. You can continue voting. Meet the top ten, vote for the one who inspires you the most. Again, the web site is cnnheroes.com.

Coming up, Iran looking to beef up security following cyber attacks. So what is a country to do? Answer, build its own internet. The closer look at how they're doing precisely that next.

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BALDWIN: Following cyber attacks aimed at its nuclear program, Iran has stepped up a plan to create its very own internet. Yes, it's a concept, a self-contained network. It's been tossed around for almost a decade. Experts say it is actually one step closer to completion. Here is CNN's Brian Todd.

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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Iran claims its nuclear program is under cyber siege, saying in recent days that power lines for an enrichment facility were sabotaged.

The virus blamed on the U.S. and Israel had already set Iran's nuclear program back at least a year. How is Tehran countering all of it, with its own internet.

A top Iranian official recently bragged that Iran will develop a separate military internet of its own. A national intelligence network, he said, where the precious intelligence of the country won't be accessible to these powers.

COLONEL CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RETIRED), FORMER NSA DEPUTY TRAINING DIRECTOR: What they're planning to do is basically have a central server in Tehran, which then connects to each and every one of their nuclear facilities as well as all their military installations, some of which are all the way down here in the south eastern part of the country.

TODD: And CNN has now learned Iran has already developed a civilian version of that. Colin Anderson, an independent researcher, is publishing a report on it in the coming weeks.

Anderson, who didn't want to go on camera, tells CNN he recently discovered unusual activity in blocks of computer addresses in Iran, separate from the world wide web.

He says they were sending content across the country. Anderson believes the Iranians want to be able to disconnect from the standard internet when they're under attack, maybe even permanently, and function on their own in cyberspace.

(on camera): And here's how they're already doing it. This is the logon page for web mail site called mail.iran.ir. Here's where you sign into it. Colin Anderson says this is Iran's alternative, a competitor really to Gmail.

It's already publicly available in Iran. People can send e-mails on this. It is not completely separate from the internet right now. But Anderson says in Iran the government can disconnect from the worldwide internet service, and users would still have access to this service.

(voice-over): Anderson says right now Iran's internal internet can also connect people with businesses and government ministries. I asked Cedric Leighton, former official at the National Security Agency, who's monitored Iran's cyber efforts, about the Iranians' claim that they're building their own internet for their own protection.

(on camera): Is that the only reason they're doing it?

LEIGHTON: They're doing this as a way to control the population. They're doing it in a way that is very, very ubiquitous. It is going to cover all of the different aspects of Iran's social connection to the internet.

TODD (voice-over): And Colin Anderson says on that mail.iran.ir service, the government can read any correspondence going out or coming in. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: A groundbreaking announcement from the largest cancer center in the world. Researchers are finally in a position to radically reduce the death rate from several colon cancers. Dr. Sanjay Gupta has the details coming up.

Plus live pictures, final flight for the space shuttle "Endeavour." We have the front row seat for you, if you aren't in California and watching this and tweeting me about it. I'm very jealous, by the way, of this historic flight. We're back in a moment.

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BALDWIN: The final flight for the space shuttle "Endeavour," check it out, flying over the Golden Gate Bridge, this is too cool. San Francisco just a short time ago and now the shuttle flying piggyback on that modified jumbo 747.

On its way to retirement in Los Angeles museum, the California Science Center, expected within the hour, right, Chad Myers, within the hour at LAX.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Right over Santa Monica right now.

BALDWIN: I have someone texting me now from the roof of LAX. I've got people tweeting me, you know, where they are down California. This is wonderful.

MYERS: Yes, people over Monterey, see the two escort planes, not because they're chasing it. They're escorting, taking beautiful pictures of it there. Look how small the planes are.

I just saw a turn. I thought it was like Hollywood Hills, maybe -- I couldn't tell what hill was in the background. It is smoggy, foggy, can't see too much in the background. But certainly just over Santa Monica about 4 or 5 minutes ago so can't go too far.

BALDWIN: So earlier today, let's go back to that Golden Gate picture, guys, Golden Gate, couple of -- Sacramento area, Berkeley, I know people were tweeting me from there. And just -- this is the whole purpose of this is just, what, out of respect, so people can see the shuttle for the final time in the sky.

MYERS: You know, they put out a list of best places to see it by the Seven Sisters and all that. They also put Golden Gate Bridge. I have no idea it was going to fly that close.

BALDWIN: Can you imagine being on the Golden Gate Bridge today, out for a stroll or driving to Sausalito and you see this.

MYERS: That would have been amazing. And through -- turned left at the Presidio and back around again and it made a number of flights around so that more than just San Francisco could see it, the east bay could see it as well.

Then down to Monterey, all the way down the coast, took the PCH all the way down the coast and then right over, turned left, Santa Barbara and into Santa Monica right now and flying over the L.A. basin for the next -- probably another 30 minutes before they touch down, could be 40.

They're on time today. Yesterday, they were running way behind. Today, they're really doing a good job.

BALDWIN: I like that they time it for us to land during the hour. We just sort of keeping an eye on this for one more minute. So once it lands at LAX. Where does it go before that final sort of parade through Los Angeles on October 12th --