Monster Wildfire Spreads In New Mexico; Reversing Paralysis In Rats
SAMBOLIN: It's 13 minutes past the hour. Welcome back to EARLY START. This is a ray of hope for people paralyzed by spinal cord injuries. Look at this folks. Scientists in Sweden report they have successfully used electrical stimulation of the brain to train paralyzed rats to walk again, even run. Ten rats all had the nerve connections to their hind legs surgically severed, but scientists stopped short of completely severing the spinal cord. They then began stimulating the motor area of the brain and the spinal cord below the injury and within three weeks the rats began regaining use of their paralyzed legs, as you are seeing there. Researchers are working on plans for a human trial.</s>BANFIELD: That is awesome. Just awesome to look at. It's 14 minutes now past 6:00. Time to get you up to date on top stories. Christine Romans now with all the details.</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Ashleigh. The threat of prison time is no longer hanging over the head of former presidential candidate John Edwards. Edwards was acquitted on one count of campaign finance fraud. But jurors were deadlocked on five others leaving the judge to declare a mistrial. Legal experts say it's not likely the federal prosecutor will retry Edwards who is accused, of course, of misusing campaign funds to cover up an affair. Nancy Reagan endorsing Mitt Romney for president, the former first lady had the Romneys over for cookies and lemonade yesterday.</s>BANFIELD: Oh, she's so sweet.</s>ROMANS: And she put out this written statement, saying her late husband, quote, "Ronnie would have liked Governor Romney's business background and his strong principles. And I have to say I do too. I look forward to seeing him elected president in November." A surprise guest on the last day of school, a 200-pound bear tracked down by animal control in Bakersfield, California, wandering outside of a school of an elementary. It also crashed a middle school graduation ceremony that was going on next door.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Girls came in running, "There's a bear" and right in front of the school.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A really big bear.</s>BANFIELD: Authorities cornered and tased the bear, inside an apartment complex. It was then released back into the wild later in the day. And the Indiana teen who was stuck in Mexico because of a visa technicality is back in the U.S. this morning. She'll be able to graduate with her class after other. Elizabeth Olivas, who was born in Mexico, was trying to obey the law when she returned to Mexico to apply for a visa 180 days before her 18th birthday. Because of a miscalculation, Elizabeth was one day late and had to stay in Mexico as a result.</s>ELIZABETH OLIVAS, BACK HOME AFTER VISA GLITCH: I just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible but I had to continue to wait, but it was worth it, because in the end, I'm good. And I can continue to pursue my dreams.</s>ROMANS: Her dreams, of course, she's speaking at her graduation, and she has some kind of ungodly good GPA and she's got a very bright future so we're glad she's back.</s>BANFIELD: Valedictorian, good to have her back. Great end to the story.</s>SAMBOLIN: It really is. Glad to be back.</s>BANFIELD: Sixteen minutes, yes. First day of June, if you're checking your calendar. Also happens to be unfortunately the first day of hurricane season, so sorry about the Debbie Downer moment. Rob Marciano joining us live. Is there any way to predict the season to look ahead and se how bad or good it's going to be?</s>ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, these forecasts come out every year and you look at the water temperatures in the Atlantic, you look at whether it's an El Nino or La Nina. This year, we're going into a neutral face. Last year was La Nina face, which typical could bring us more hurricanes and storms, and we have that last year. This year it may be average or even below average as far as storms go. So just to get you up to the Debbie Downer hurricane season you can get discounts into the hurricane zone, you want to go to Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, it's a little bit cheaper this time of year because you may have to deal with a tropical storm. Right now, all is quiet on the western front with the exception of what's going on down here. This is the favorite area of development, the Gulf of Mexico, the eastern Gulf during the month of June. So, we watch that carefully. But there's actually a little something down here but this probably won't develop into anything tropical. Just more heavy rain across the south of Florida. We've seen a ton of rain in the past four weeks and likely we'll see more in the next couple of days. Rainfall in the form of showers and thunderstorms moving across the Great Lakes, eventually up and over the Adirondacks and Appalachians. Slow-moving front will bring somewhat cooler air to the region later on, the next couple of days. Today, though, severe storms possible across the mid-Atlantic and the Carolinas. Cool temperatures across Chicago but still hot across the Desert Southwest, 62 degrees in Chicago, low levels of humidity and 94 degrees in Albuquerque. Happy hurricane season.</s>SAMBOLIN: A tweet coming from somebody saying it is really cold in Wisconsin.</s>MARCIANO: Yes, they had frost advisories, a little bit warmer today. You're going to get a little, you know, last taste of winter or at least spring.</s>SAMBOLIN: Oh my gosh. All right, Rob, thank you very much. Head to Puerto Rico and enjoy a hurricane instead. Thank you.</s>BANFIELD: Might not need your sunscreen.</s>SAMBOLIN: That's true. Eighteen minutes past the hour. The man responsible for the best political tantrum of all-time now explaining what made him lose it. First, if you haven't seen the original rant you have to. Here is Illinois State Representative Mike Bost throwing a major fit on the House floor.</s>STATE REP. MIKE BOST (R), ILLINOIS: Not the American way. These damn bills all the damned time come out here at the last second and I have to try to figure out how to vote for my people! You should be ashamed of yourselves. I'm sick of it, every year! We give power to one person. Enough! I feel like somebody trying to be released from Egypt. Let my people go!</s>SAMBOLIN: Wow! Bost explained that outburst on CNN's "OUTFRONT", telling Erin Burnett he got upset when state Democrats presented a last-minute bill to overhaul Illinois pension program.</s>BOST: It had been an extremely rough day with 200, 300-page bill that had been changed that we had been working on for a year and a half, and now all of a sudden it was time to vote and they came in 10 minutes before the meeting and decided now we would hand you a bill brand new with all of the things we had not supported. So, yes, there was a problem.</s>SAMBOLIN: Illinois Democrats have dismissed Bost's meltdown as a stunt. That's what they're calling it.</s>BANFIELD: I don't know, I thought he was genuinely mad.</s>SAMBOLIN: Genuinely mad. He was mad.</s>BANFIELD: Imagine if we did it? This script was so last minute. I can't handle it, ugh! Imagine for a minute?</s>SAMBOLIN: Great TV, Ashleigh. Great</s>TV. BANFIELD: Get to go on Piers Morgan.</s>BANFIED: OK. So it wasn't a last-minute script but this is issue number one in the race for president. It is jobs, jobs, jobs. We're hours away from getting a critical report on jobs growth in this country and Christine Romans is on it. Why might it be a downer, coming up.