Gunman Kills Pastor Delivering Sermon; Dreams for Sale: One Man's Loss, Another's Gain
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, a pastor gunned down in the pulpit, right in front of worshippers.</s>LEMON: One person's loss, well, it's another person's gain. We're at an auction where foreclosed homes are up for grabs. Plus...</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you pay the price you can get what you want, and I can get it for you.</s>LEMON: Children being bought and sold for sex right in your own neighborhood. We shed light on a dark world and a growing problem. And a warning to Rihanna from Oprah: He's going to hit you again. Plus...</s>LEMON: He sings, he dances and, oh, yes, he leads the country. President Barack Obama in concert. What's the occasion? We'll tell you. The news starts right now. Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live here at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. When the markets open tomorrow, the optimists insist that there has never been a better time for bargains. But millions of people have seen their savings evaporate in this brutal downturn. And now the one question on everyone's mind, when will this economy finally turn around? We have an unemployment rate now topping 8 percent, and millions of people aren't focused on saving or investing. They, quite simply, just want a job. In an interview with "The New York Times" this weekend, President Barack Obama says he knows times are tough, but he urges Americans to see the glass half full.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What I don't think people should do is to settle and stuff money in their mattresses and pull back completely from spending. I don't think that people should be fearful about our future.</s>LEMON: Well, we need a little more optimism this week as we await the latest economic reports. Investors are on their own until Thursday when the February retail sales report comes out. Sales are expected to have fallen about 0.50 percent. Also, Thursday we find out how many Americans filed new claims of unemployment benefits. And on Friday, University of Michigan releases its widely read consumer sentiment index. Minutes from now, we'll cover all of those issues and more with two of the best in the business, our very own political analyst -- senior political analyst Bill Schneider and "Chicago Sun-Times" Washington bureau chief Lynn Sweet. We break it all down for you. Meantime, more news to cover here. A tearful memorial service tonight for a minister gunned down in the pulpit. Fred Winters was delivering the sermon this morning at the first Baptist church in Maryville, Illinois, which is near St. Louis. Police explain what happened next.</s>LARRY TRENT, DIRECTOR, ILLINOIS STATE POLICE: But right now, the only thing we know is that the suspect said something to the pastor and the pastor said something back to him. We don't know what that was. It was almost as if pastor may have recognized him, but we're not sure about that at all. There was something spoken, but people that were closest to them at the time couldn't say what that was. Suspect raised his hand, fired the first shot, hit the pastor's bible. When it did, it hit the very top of the bible and exploded top of the bible into what many in the congregation thought was confetti.</s>LEMON: Well, the gunman was wrestled to the floor and seriously wounded by knife. He had pulled out after his gun jammed. Two parishioners were slightly hurt in that incident. Tonight, a crowd gathered at the church in nearby Edwardsville to mourn that tragedy. A pastor who worked with Winters described the killings as, quote, "An attack from the forces of hell." No word on the motive right now. We turn now to the weather. It's been a very busy weather day around the country today, especially when it comes to tornadoes. Our Jacqui Jeras on top of it. Jacqui?</s>JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Don. 19 of them overall so far reported for today. They just raked through the Midwest, chewing up houses, and leaving thousands without power. We'll start you out in Indiana at this hour where they're trying to clean up the debris from a likely tornado that moved through the Lawrence County area. There you can see the video in the top right hand part of your screen. The bus there got thrown into a destroyed house. One person injured there. No fatalities to report. There were 19 homes damaged overall in Indiana, and several tornadoes reported throughout that area. Into Illinois now and Kankakee. These were strong, straight line winds caused many trees to be uprooted, barns were damaged, and a few houses destroyed, as well. Power lines were down in the city of Kankakee, and three quarters of an inch hail was reported. In Chicago, the problem there was the flooding. Check out the flooded streets into town. Record rainfall of 1.66 inches in O'Hare, but many areas around Chicago saw upwards of three to four inches of rainfall. The severe weather threat still ongoing here tonight. Severe thunderstorm watch remains in effect across eastern parts of Kentucky. We think this will be winding down tonight and into tomorrow. But as the storm moves into the northeast, your travel plans tomorrow morning certainly will become problematic. Delays over an hour expected in Boston, New York City, D.C. Metros, and Philadelphia, problems with wind. And also wind problems from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. We don't expect the weather to be severe in the northeast tomorrow, but a new system moves into the plains. Dallas all the way up to Kansas City may see more tornados and severe weather.</s>LEMON: All right, Jacqui, thank you very much for that. Thousands of U.S. troops will soon leave Iraq. The U.S. military announced that 12,000 troops will be redeployed over the next six months and will not be replaced. President Obama's plan is to withdraw most U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of August 2010. And this is believed to be the first official reduction announcement since he revealed that plan. Right now, there are 142,000 troops in Iraq, 4,000 British troops will also be transferred from that country. Separating science from politics. That's what the White House says President Barack Obama is doing by lifting the Bush administration order that limits federal funding for stem cell research. Proponents say the embryos typically from fertility clinic leftovers that are destined to be thrown away could help find cures for diseases. Opponents argue destroying human embryos ends a life. You can watch a live coverage of the president's announcement tomorrow morning right here on CNN. We'll bring that to you 11:45 Eastern. School teachers become space cadets. The seven-person crew for Wednesday's scheduled launch of Space Shuttle "Discovery" will have not one, but two teachers. A historical first. Crew members arriving just a short while ago at Florida' Kennedy Space Center. Their mission installing more solar panels at the international space station. A lot of you are weighing in on our coverage tonight. Here's what one person says. GoldieTaylor (ph) says, "In this market, one has to make their own recovery and not wait on government, though much needed to do the work." Make sure you logon to Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, or iReport.com. We will get your comments on the air. You can be part of our community. Getting down to business at the White House as the president and the nation wait for the first stimulus plan to kick in. Could there be a second stimulus bill in our future?</s>LEMON: Hopes and dreams up for sale. More and more foreclosed homes on the auction block. Plus, trying to shut down the child sex trade. We're not talking about overseas, we're talking about right here in Atlanta. And a warning to Rihanna from Oprah: He's going to hit you again.