Tropical Storm Debby; T.S. Debby Expected To Make Landfall Tomorrow
ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN HOST: Flooding from Debby of historic proportions. The tropical storm could bring another foot of rain to Florida before it is through.</s>ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN HOST: Plus both sides spinning the Supreme Court's landmark immigration ruling. This hour, we dig into the concept of reasonable suspicion.</s>SAMBOLIN: And inside the Jerry Sandusky courtroom. One juror talking about behavior that he calls creepy. Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. We're very happy you're with us this morning. I'm Zoraida Sambolin.</s>BANFIELD: Good Tuesday morning to you. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. We're bringing you the news from A to Z. And it is right at the top of the hour, 5:00 a.m. in the East. Let's start with this -- it is nasty out there. I think we can say that pretty fairly. Tropical storm Debby just stalled over Florida's panhandle. And it is smacking that Sunshine State with high winds, heavy rain. Look at the pictures. Boats getting smashed around and it's going to get worse before it gets any better. Forecasters are saying the slow-moving storm could dump another foot of rain on Florida over the next couple of days and then it could spawn more tornadoes as well. That storm is already blamed for one death. Florida's governor has declared a statewide emergency. CNN's George Howell is live near St. Marks, Florida, where the water is high. And, look at you. You found how bad it is. Give me a rundown of how bad it is and if you're in the clear at this point.</s>GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ashleigh, good morning. OK. A lot of rain overnight. This is what people are waking up to. I mean, this is one example, the water is shallow enough here for me to walk around in, but deep enough for you to get a sense of what people are dealing with. We're right here along this coastal highway 98, and everything south of the highway is under mandatory evacuation. Now, we are here in Wakulla County. This was really one of the hardest counties hit here in the state of Florida, here in the panhandle. This area got at least 25 inches of rain over the last several days as this storm system basically parked itself over Florida. We have seen downed trees from the wind event. Keep in mind the winds associated with this storm packed a whopping 45 miles per hour at times. We still feel some of the wind. In fact, we still see some of the rain bands coming through. A lot of the rain has tapered off at this time, but clearly, you see, it's left a lot of flooding. And forecasters here expect this area could see another 10 inches of rain before it's all said and done, possibly by Thursday.</s>BANFIELD: That's a nasty storm. What are the police saying there about just how dangerous it is to stay in your homes or businesses?</s>HOWELL: Well, again, you know, so people are waking up to this sort of thing. We were driving along this coastal highway 98 and you see in different places, police officers are stationed to make sure that drivers aren't surprised when they run into this standing water -- again, water anywhere from six inches to a foot or two feet in some places. That's a big concern. Also, as we see these storm bands, the rain bands associated with the storm come through this area from time to time. There's always a concern about tornadic activity and also flash flood warnings still associated with this area, Ashleigh.</s>BANFIELD: Bad news in the Panhandle for sure. And, by the way, to remind our viewers, George, you don't know if it's an inch or if it's a foot when you're driving on a road that's covered in water.</s>HOWELL: Don't gamble. Absolutely.</s>BANFIELD: Exactly. Great advice. Thanks, George Howell, live near St. Marks. And that's also Tallahassee. Thanks very much for that this morning.</s>SAMBOLIN: Three minutes past the hour. Meteorologist Alexandra Steele is tracking the storm. She's at the weather center in Atlanta. What is the storm doing?</s>ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, you know, turn around, don't drown. That's the old mantra. So certainly stick to that. Well, here it is -- here's Debby. Now, its center of circulation is still over water in the Northeast gulf, but you can se all that convection has been and continues to be to the east of it. Here's the good news: the movement from stationary to 3 miles per hour. But now a direct easterly track, which is certainly some good news, 45-mile-per-hour sustained winds. Not expected to strengthen until we're going to see it come over land by tomorrow morning. Then, it will weaken, but then, as it gets over the Gulf Stream, it has the potential to strengthen once again. So all eyes on that. We're calling it "Drifting Debby." What happens is, in essence, it's been in a dead zone. It's between two areas of high pressure, so there's no steering currents. Here's a look at the rain we've seen south of Tallahassee. That's where we've seen 10 to 20, even in access of 20 inches of rain. Now, finally, with the movement, moving east, this is where the access of this heavy rain will be, you can see, into southeast Georgia over the next 24 hours. So, finally, we'll beginning to see some movement and that's the good news. Again, center of circulation will make its way on shore tomorrow morning and hopefully get out of here.</s>BANFIELD: All right, Alexandra, thank you. Appreciate that.</s>STEELE: Sure.</s>BANFIELD: And, by the way, here is the results of the rainfall in one area of Florida. You're not going to believe what you're about to see. This giant sinkhole here, isn't that phenomenon? This one is near Gainesville. It's about 60 feet long, 20 feet deep. You don't want to be anywhere near that. That earth just giving way because seven inches of rain fell on Sunday. While it might not sound like the highest of the storm, it's the secondest highest recorded ever for that city in a single day. I'm always marveling at this thing. I don't know what it is about a sink hole, but I always find it --</s>SAMBOLIN: Pretty impressive.</s>BANFIELD: -- shocking. Chad Myers once described why it happened, and it makes sense, but I always marvel, nonetheless. And, of course, we're going to be watching this story throughout the program today. We've got live team coverage every half hour right here on CNN. So, make sure you stay tuned.</s>SAMBOLIN: Five minutes past the hour here. First, Arizona claiming victory after the Supreme Court struck down most of its controversial and very tough immigration crackdowns. Even though most of the law shut down, all the justices upheld the part of the law that critics had the biggest problem it, the part that gave police the power to say, "Show me your papers". The man who's become synonymous with this law, the Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio telling Erin Burnett this decision changes nothing as far as his department is concerned.</s>JOE ARPAIO, MARICOPA COUNTY SHERIFF: We arrest anybody that it violates the law. We don't care where they are from. It just happens that we are close to the border and a lot of people coming in come from Mexico and they are here illegally. That's not my problem.</s>SAMBOLIN: Alina Cho joins us now with this -- what continues with the controversy, right?</s>ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know that three out of four provisions of the law were struck down, right? But this obviously is the most controversial. Both sides politically are claiming victory, a little something for everyone. But, first, we want to explain, for those who don't know what me what show me your papers means, it is the section the Arizona's controversial immigration law that was upheld. And it means that police officers essentially can ask for proof of immigration status while enforcing other laws. For example, during a traffic stop. And while the high court didn't tell Arizona and other states what they could or couldn't do when they conduct that traffic stop, for example, how long police can hold someone, whether the law is amount to racial profiling, this opinion is essentially seen as guidance going forward. How will you enforce it? And at the heart of the issue is this. What exactly is reasonable suspicion that a person is in this person illegally? Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion, quote, "There is a basic uncertainty about what the law means and how it will be enforced." Its guidance CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin says is vague.</s>JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: I think this means that as all the other states weigh whether to change their laws and then courts weigh the challenges to those laws, we're still in a bit of a mess on this. I think the guidance from the Supreme Court was less than clear here. So, the issue of what's permissible and what's not, it's a little clearer than it was this morning, but it's not totally clear by any means.</s>CHO: All right. If you're boiling it down, what Jeffrey Toobin is saying is, it's not over yet. In essence, the Supreme Court is offering a wait-and-see approach to how Arizona enforces the law, which of course, could open the door to future challenges. And Arizona, let's not forget, is the only state that would allow police to ask for proof of immigration status when making a traffic stop. Look at the map there -- Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Utah have similar laws in place. So not just Arizona, though Arizona gets the most attention.</s>BANFIELD: How much do voters care about this issue? Because everyone is watching as the Supreme Court decisions come down, how much are they going to affect the election in four months?</s>CHO: You know what's interesting, not much, according to a new Gallup poll. In fact, it was last on the list. If you're looking at the list, the number one is the federal budget deficit, followed by health care, economic growth, unemployment, gap between rich and poor, and just a 5 percent care about immigration policies. And the interesting part about this is, even if they did, as you well know, it will take a long time before legally this is worked out. Essentially, wait and see approach. They want to see how this provision of the law is enforced. Does it amount to racial profiling? Will Arizona and other states be able to move forward without problem? We just don't know that yet.</s>BANFIELD: What does it mean to be reasonable?</s>CHO: That's right.</s>SAMBOLIN: That's voters in general, right?</s>CHO: Voters in general.</s>SAMBOLIN: OK. Thank you very much, Alina. We appreciate that. And ahead this morning, Congressman Luis Gutierrez, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Immigration Task Force, joins us at 6:30 Eastern. And later on "STARTING POINT", the impact on the streets and on the election. Soledad will be joined with Carlos Gutierrez, honorary co-chair of Mitt Romney's Hispanic Steering Committee. Also, Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange, and former Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce.</s>BANFIELD: And we just heard Alina talking about the issues that voters find most important. And guess what? We've got another big one for you -- the anticipated Supreme Court decision on health care. We're supposed to find out about it on Thursday. That's when they're going to make that rule on President Obama's health care law that you probably heard about as Obamacare. A decision should have an immediate and long-term impact on all Americans on how they get medicine and health care and it could really have a big effect on the 2012 race as well. The court could decide to toss out that key provision, the individual mandate. That's the part of the law that requires almost every American to get health insurance or face paying a penalty.</s>SAMBOLIN: Two jurors in the Jerry Sandusky trial opening up about what they witnessed in the courtroom and how they reached their decision in the case. This was on "A.C. 360" last night. One of them saying it is the beginning of our time to heal and talking about the creepy expressions that convicted child molester couldn't even hide in court.</s>JOSHUA HARPER, SANDUSKY TRAIL JUROR: I didn't see anything in the victims that would lead me to think that they were not credible. But then I also took a look at Sandusky while he was watching the victims testify. And it seemed to be that he was kind of reminiscing of the victims.</s>SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN HOST, "STARTING POINT": What do you mean by that?</s>HARPER: Well, he would -- he would kind of lean in towards them and pick his chin up a little bit, and just kind of like he was thinking about the victims and his behavior with them.</s>O'BRIEN: That struck you as creepy?</s>HARPER: Yes, I would say a little creepy.</s>SAMBOLIN: The jurors convicted Sandusky, the former Penn State assistant football coach, on 45 counts related to child sexual abuse. He will likely spend the rest of his life in prison.</s>BANFIELD: This just in. Average gas price dropping to $3.40 for a gallon of unleaded. That's a plunge of nearly 1.5 cents. That's a big one overnight. And prices, by the way, have now fallen, if you're counting, 14 days in a row.</s>SAMBOLIN: Booking a bargain trip online might depend on what kind of computer you have. Coming up, what Mac users might not know about a well-known travel Web site.