Los Angeles Elects Hispanic Mayor
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And John Negroponte is already on the job. Now the formal swearing-in ceremony. President Bush will take part in that today. Negroponte is the nation's first director of national intelligence. The position was created at the urging of the 9/11 Commission. Keeping you informed, CNN the most trusted name in news. They made history, so what happens now? That's the question residents of Los Angeles are waking up to after electing city councilman Antonio Villaraigosa as mayor. It makes him the first Hispanic to lead the city in over 100 years. Eric Spillman of our affiliate KTLA joins us with more. Eric, good morning.</s>ERIC SPILLMAN, KTLA REPORTER: Good morning, Daryn. Yes, and you pronounced his name right. A lot of people can't do that. Good for you.</s>KAGAN: I'm an Angelino.</s>SPILLMAN: There you go. People may not be able to pronounce his name or spell it properly, but he won by a big margin here yesterday, Villaraigosa defeating the incumbent L.A. mayor Jim Hahn overwhelmingly. And Hahn had been accused of corruption in his administration. People had said things that you needed to contribute to his campaign in order to get influence at city hall. That hurt him with voters yesterday. Villaraigosa was able to put together a coalition of Hispanic voters, African-American votes, in south Los Angeles and suburban white voters in the San Fernando Valley. That carried him to victory. Not a whole lot of people turned out to vote here yesterday, maybe 30 percent. Politics is not as big in Los Angeles as it is in other cities. But the people who did vote voted for Villaraigosa.</s>KAGAN: All right, Eric. OK. I thought maybe we were going to have a sound byte there. A question about how L.A. city government is set up. It's really much more of a strong city council and the mayor's office isn't as strong as in some other cities.</s>SPILLMAN: That's right. And the thing about that for Villaraigosa makes his job so much more difficult, because people have this expectation that he's going to come in, he's this new guy, he's going to solve our traffic problems, which are huge. He's going to fix our schools, which are really suffering. He doesn't even have control. Unlike in other cities, the mayor here has no control over the school system. So it's going to be a real challenge for him. .</s>KAGAN: And is this a man who has ambitions for a larger office than just the mayor of Los Angeles?</s>SPILLMAN: Well, it's possible. He certainly becomes kind of a national symbol of growing Latino political power. His story is very inspiring. He was born on the east side of Los Angeles, born in a barrio neighborhood, came from a broken family, dropped out of high school, went to law school, became a successful state politician. You know, at one point in his life he had a tattoo that said, "Born to Raise Hell." He's gotten rid of that tattoo and he's going to be the next mayor of Los Angeles.</s>KAGAN: Well, maybe there are some people here hoping that he still goes after that and makes some changes in the City of Angels. Eric Spillman, thank you.</s>SPILLMAN: OK.</s>KAGAN: Michael Jackson's teenage cousin will be back on the witness stand today, pointing fingers at Jackson's accuser. On Tuesday -- the singer's child molestation trial -- the girl said she saw the accuser and his younger brother steal wine from the kitchen at the Neverland Ranch. Jurors also heard from a social worker who claims that she met with the accuser and the family at the same time they claim they were held captive at Jackson's ranch. Police in Idaho have identified what they're calling a person of interest in their search for two children missing from a home where three people were killed. Investigators say Robert Roy Lutner's vehicle was seen at the home during the time the killings took place. An alert has been issued for the missing children. Here they are. 9- year-old Dylan Groene and his 8-year-old sister Shasta. The case has shocked the community of Coeur d'Alene.</s>SHERIFF ROCKY WATSON, KOOTENAI COUNTY, IDAHO: It is a small community, and there's great concerns, because this touches every corner of a community. This is very unusual for us. We don't deal with this type of thing.</s>KAGAN: The mother and brother of the missing children were among the three people killed. There's a bill to impose tighter restrictions on sex offenders. It's going to be introduced in Washington this hour. It would require sex offenders to register with authorities before they're released from prison. And it would force two-time offenders to wear electronic tracking devices for the rest of their life. The measure would also make the use of the Internet for sex crimes a federal offense. To New Jersey now, where a township is establishing a pedophile- free zone. The Hamilton Township ordinance bars convicted child sex offenders from living near school, parks and playgrounds. That law is sure to face a court challenge. Hamilton Township began -- actually, was home to Megan Kanka (ph). That girl's murder in 1994 led police to create sex offender registries nationwide. And now here's a look at what's making news overseas this morning. The late Terri Schiavo's family is at the Vatican today, thanking officials for their support. They met briefly with Pope Benedict XVI after his Wednesday audience. The church condemned the removal of the brain-damaged women's feeding tube. Terri Schiavo died on March 31st. Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson is in Mexico this morning for a sit-down with President Vicente Fox. Here, he is with the Mexican foreign minister. Fox angered African-Americans when he said Mexicans are taking U.S. jobs that even blacks don't want. Fox has already issued a formal public apology through his spokeswoman. And the piano man may be a French street musician named Steven Masson. Media reports identified him through an acquaintance. The man was found soaking wet in formal attire on an English beach six weeks ago. He hasn't spoken a single word, but calms himself by masterfully playing the piano. Authorities are investigating different leads in the case. Faith and the American soldier. How they coexist, especially during the war. How long are people willing to stand in line to see the last "Star Wars" movie? Some are already waiting, if you can believe that. We're going to talk to a few of them, coming up.