many. >> osama, boom, you're fired. >> reporter: jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> thanks jeanne. join us weekdays from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. eastern, every saturday at 6:00 p.m. eastern right here on cnn. and at this time every weekend on cnn international. the news continues next on cnn. i'm don lemon. so glad you could join us. we are following breaking news here right now on cnn. the legendary mississippi river is rewriting history tonight. for the first time in nearly 40 years, the morganza spillway was opened just hours ago to divert the swollen river into the atchafalaya basin. the huge spillway was built just for this purpose. look at that water gushing out of there. it is a pressure valve for the flooding river to protect baton rouge and new orleans, the two

biggest cities in louisiana. but it means tiny communities could soon be under many feet of water. this is what it looked like in 1973. the one and only time the morganza spillway had to be opened. there's no guarantee it will even work. the mississippi river is already dangerously high in new orleans. the army corps of engineers is hoping that by diverting water through two spillways will lower the river level and spare the city. so far, the corps says opening the morganza spillway appears to be having the desired effect. the biggest test is still days away, the highest water, hundreds of miles up river. this is greenville, mississippi, that you're looking at right now. a live report from there, and it is being inundated, straight ahead on cnn. let's get right to ed lavandera who was there when the morganza spillway was opened just about three hours ago. ed, tell us about it.

ed lavandera is joining us on the phone. ed, can you hear us? >> reporter: just a while ago, this is the area that was all dry several hours ago, but since they opened up the first floodgates of the morganza spillway, this is what has been drowned out. as we've mentioned, this will be a long, slow path to the gulf of mexico west of the mississippi river, all of this done of course because the water pressure has dangerous levels along the mississippi river, that was putting the levee system between baton rouge and new orleans in serious jeopardy. more than 1.5 million cubic feet of -- per second of water pressure and that's just too much for that system to handle, so they had to continue and tie vert the water off the top of the mississippi river out toward this way. now the problem is they will have to watch this closely over the next few days and they've urged people to evacuate and get

people out of the way. so now they're continuing to do that as this water makes its way toward morgan city and communities along this floodway. so they've urged people to evacuate. they've done that and continue to do that and will continue to make sure people are not in harm's way here, don. so very dangerous situation, they will continue to open more of these floodgates in the coming days, but they wanted to do this in a slow process. if you look back out over here, since they opened these gates, we've seen fish jumping, we've seen rabbits trying to get out of the way, birds moving to drier ground, so there's concern for the wildlife in these initial moments and this water will continue to flow. this is something they'll have to deal with for several weeks. it will take almost a month for all of this water to make its way to the gulf of mexico and for these floodwaters to recede. >> ed, stay with me for a little bit, my mom is watching in baton rouge, not only our live coverage but the local stations in louisiana. she's saying they're building walls around certain plants, they're worried about the

chemical plants, and then these areas are going to be impacted. i know you're trying to get out in front of the water to get to these communities. what about areas like that? take our viewers inside. apparently ed is having a little bit of trouble hearing, so we'll get back to ed lavandera. ed, are you there? >> reporter: yeah, i can hear you. >> okay. i'm asking about the other areas to be impacted like butte larose is a and chemical plants there, they're building walls around some plants because they're concerned about the impact. take our viewers inside of what people are dealing with right now as we speak. >> reporter: well, we spent a lot of time, we've noticed a community with about 800 homes in it, and it's kind of a weekend place for a lot of people. there are a good number of people, but that town is directly in the path of the floodwaters as they will be flowing there.

i'm told it will take about a day and a half for the water to reach that area. but everybody has left. they were told a few days ago to expect 15 feet of water in their community. so as we were there a few days ago, don, we saw people literally packing up every last piece of belonging they could get out of their house, even taking air-conditioning units, refrigerators, everything they could pick off the ground, heading for drier ground. >> ed lavandera, thank you very much, we'll have much more in just a little bit at the half hour here on cnn. we're going to take you inside that town. in the meantime, jennifer delgado has more information from the army corps of engineers about how opening the morganza spillway will affect the atchafalaya basin. >> we have breaking news, and some good news coming in. because they opened up the morganza spillway, it's already had an effect on the mississippi river at new orleans. i want to point this out to you. if you could look at the level, 16.89, flood stage is 17 feet.

in fact, it actually should be 17 feet. so by opening this up, this is going to be really good news for new orleans. now, keep in mind, earlier they thought it was going to get closer, higher up and the wall is built about 20 feet and they thought it was going to be, as i said, higher, but this right now showing you potentially we could see the river cresting and staying this way for several days and that is good news. now, as we go over to this graphic right here, this is going to give you an idea of when the water is actually going to be moving down towards the south. again, that's the morganza floodgate. that released some of the pressure off the mississippi river. as we go one day, 24 hours, we're going to see the water getting closer to interstate 10. we talked about that, because that's that busy stretch that goes from lafayette to baton rouge. as we go down farther along, and we take you, say, about three days out, getting close to morgan city. now, earlier we said that morgan city has very good levee system, and it looks like if the levee holds out, that's going to be good news for morgan city. however, over towards the west

of morgan city, there was still some question about whether or not we might see a bit of rise across that region. now as i go over to our next graphic here, i'm going to get this out of the way for you, and we want to talk a little bit more about the flood levels and where we're really going to be seeing it peaking and really being at the major flood stage over the next several days and really weeks ahead. notice for vicksburg we're expecting that to be 14.5 feet above flood stage. that's may 19th. as we jump ahead to baton rouge, i want to point this out to you. major flood stage, may 16. this is actually going to crest sooner than upstream for areas, including the red river landing, as well as natchez and vicksburg. and then for new orleans, potentially it's going to be at minor flood stage as we go through may 14th, and that is certainly a relief for residents in new orleans. now, we've been talking about the morganza spillway and how it was opened up today. of course we saw that rushing water. we really feel for the residents

there that are dealing with the flooding and that are going to be dealing with the flooding -- >> sometimes the best way is to simply explain it. >> we're going to go bill nye on this. >> right about here is where the mississippi river is about here, and this is where it is right now. >> right now we're at 17 feet and the wall is built to 20 feet. so we'll visualize this as 20 feet. because they opened up the bonnet carre, remember that earlier this week, this one actually is about 250 cubic square feet or feet per second. now, that one is one-third of a cup. >> if you take that off it doesn't do that much. >> doesn't do that much, right? >> i need to do both of them. >> i guess this is not a recipe. but again, if you fill this up for the morganza, this is, as you can see, 600,000 cubic feet per second and that has already had an effect on the mississippi river in new orleans and now we're seeing it at 17 feet and that's at minor flood stage. so we're hoping to keep it there. but again we have to keep our thoughts on the residents who are dealing with that flooding that are going to be for the next couple days. >> and my producer from new

orleans says and this is louisiana rice. >> that is louisiana rice. a little dirty rice. >> just so you know. >> all right. thanks, don. >> we appreciate it. we're going to have much more on the swollen mississippi river straight ahead on cnn. >> it's worse than we thought. it's really worse than we thought. we thought maybe we might have water in our yard and stuff. this is going to come into our homes. it's going to take everything. everything that we've got. >> that is raw emotion from a resident in louisiana. this town will soon be swallowed by water from the mississippi river now that the morganza spillway has been opened and we're talking to resident who's are trying to pack up their lives and get out of the way of that water. also a lot of focus on louisiana these past few days as we've awaited the opening of that spillway, but up river, other cities and towns are on the brink of being inundated by floodwaters. we'll take you live to greenville, mississippi, ahead this hour. but we're following another big developing story this hour, it's from florida. two leaders of the muslim faith

under arrest, charged with aiding terrorists. we'll have a live report coming up. and many of you have been sending in and asking for information on social media. you can reach out to us on twitter, on facebook, cnn.com/don, and on foursquare.com/donlemoncnn. a lot of times, things are right underneath our feet, and all we need to do is change the way we're thinking about them. a couple decades ago, we didn't even realize just how much natural gas was trapped in rocks thousands of feet below us. technology has made it possible to safely unlock this cleanly burning natural gas.

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candiotti is tracking the story for us. susan? >> reporter: hi, don. miami fbi agents swooped in right after morning prayers to arrest an imam at his mosque. they say that this imam spearheaded a conspiracy to support terrorists in pakistan. he's 76 years old, hafiz mohammed khan, religious leader of the flag letter mosque, accused of sending $53,000 to the pakistani taliban. also arrested, two of his sons, including a young imam at a mosque in margate. three more are charged in pakistan, two of them are khan's relatives. the fbi and prosecutors say some of the money was buying guns for the taliban and funding an islamic school that the elder imam founded in pakistan. it was allegedly used as a shelter for terrorists and to teach children to join the movement. >> $50,000 is just a tip of the

iceberg. we will show as the case proceeds that they transferred a lot more than $50,000 to pakistan for this specific purpose, that it reaches the pakistani taliban. >> susan, i have to ask this question, then. do we know how the fbi made its case? >> reporter: well, agents won't say exactly, nor will they say who the donors are. but what they do tell cnn is that the fbi was tracking suspicious money transfers from miami to pakistan and the case started more than three years ago. agents say they have wiretaps that recorded discussions about how to conceal the transfers from law enforcement. don? >> any reaction, susan, from either -- from either mosque here? >> reporter: we are getting a brief statement from leaders of the mosque, they say they're surprised about the arrest and that they're fully cooperating with the fbi and that they condemn all acts of terrorism. they're disavowing all of this. >> susan candiotti in new york, thank you, susan.

it was a performance that was under fire before he even took the stage. >> even through the unseen i know that god watches from one king's dream, he was able to barack us. one king's dream, he was able to barack us. >> rapper, common, at the white house poetry reading this week, and we'll look at what's really behind the conservative uproar over his invitation. but first, george lucas created "star wars," now he has set his sights on the problems in education. cnn's education contributor steve perry explains in tonight's "perry's principles." >> reporter: george lucas conquered the empire with the power of the force. now he's conquering education with the power of the internet. >> education is the single most important job that the human

race has. >> reporter: a free, nonprofit site that highlights what works in schools with blogs, articles and videos. >> we're looking at ways for students to deepen their knowledge and work with their own knowledge so that they can become the authors of their own learning. >> so often you find is that people know that their education system could be better, but they're not always sure exactly in what way. so what we've tried to do is to shine a spotlight on innovation and show people with the power of video what it looks like. and how it's taking place. >> reporter: one of the biggest challenges that i see in education is that when a school is successful, people begin to say that can't be replicated. >> we try in our coverage to show tips and strategies that can be adapted, that can be extended to other environments. >> reporter: like in southern california, where michelle smith lives. >> my son's dyslexic and there were a lot of challenges he was facing in a traditional school setting. so i started self-educating

myself on the charter schools. >> reporter: using clips, smith produced a video illustrating the vision she had for a new charter school and won over the school board. >> this is our school site. this is context middle school 2011. >> so often with education it's about what's wrong, the problems in education. yet there's this force of people out there on the front lines. >> reporter: steve perry, san francisco. [ male announcer ] to the 5:00 a.m. scholar. the two trains and a bus rider. the "i'll sleep when it's done" academic. for 80 years, we've been inspired by you. and we've been honored to walk with you to help you get where you want to be.

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burn a bush 'cause for peace he no bush no button, killing over oil and grease no weapons of destruction. >> hip hop star common in a 2007 performance on hbo's "deaf poetry jam." that line about burning a bush is about one of the reasons conservatives are up in arms after the white house invited common to perform at a poetry reading just this week. much of the criticism came from fox news. >> yeah, let's invite a misogynist to the white house, the guy's called for violence against police officers and called for killing the former president. >> when we roll together with a strap gun, we're going to be rocking them to sleep. that sounds like killing cops to me. that sounds like killing cops to

me. >> i'm not anti-rap, in fact like brett bare i know the lyrics to rappers delight too. >> why would they invite this man to the white house? they do not understand the sensibilities of many americans. >> okay. so over on "the daily show" jon stewart defended common. >> are we really doing this again? for this guy? common? the guy from the gap ads? the guy from the queen latifah rom com? elmo's friend? that's the guy? >> so the argument about common is far from over. it's still heating up. stewart has accepted an invitation from bill o'reilly to debate the issue. so was the white house wrong? or do conservatives have a fundamental fear or misunderstanding of rap and hip hop? joining me now to talk about

this, tim wise, author of "color blind," and author of "the big bayback, the history of the business of hip hop" and robert watson, producer and grammy voter as well, all of them have been on the show before. when you hear sarah palin made that dated reference to -- does it seem like they're out of -- what is it? >> they're pulling bullets. i mean, they have nothing to go on. this is the cleanest rapper we have in the game. common sense is, i mean, he makes conscious raps. he speaks to the people. he's anti-violence and anti-everything. if he's bad, there's nothing left in rap. i mean, he's the best we've got as far as clean. >> robert, if you're in the industry, right, you're in the industry, this would probably be understandable if the white house had invited a gangster rapper, but common, far from it.

>> most def, a couple guys, that's it. >> i've been hearing this, and i've been hearing this, i think african-americans, the ones i know, won't say it, but white americans are saying to me, don, there's some racial undertones here. do you see that? i want you -- but i want to play this clip from bill maher last night and then we'll talk about it. >> and, of course, this, to them, has nothing to do with the fact that he's black. you have to feel bad for people like karl rove and matt drudge and andrew bright bart, it's so hard to live in a color blind society when all the bad people are black. it's just hard for them. >> so, listen, i know that, you know, fox will play this and say, look what cnn did, they invited these people on and what have you, just asking the questions. is there some racial undertones here? >> well, there's a racial disparity in the way that a lot of white folks view hip hop as opposed to country music where you have artists for years, i live in nashville, tennessee, there are folks that made their living, johnny cash, some of the

earlier work porter wagner did when he talked about killing his ex-wife and burying her in the forest, no one said, oh, my god, we can't talk about porter wagner or johnny cash. there's a definite racial disparity in the treatment of different types of music. i think the reason is for a lot of white americans they believe that when black people talk about violence it's auto buy grav cal and they're getting ready to go kill somebody and they realize when white folks do it, oh, they're just talking. except -- and bill o'reilly, he said the white house doesn't understand a lot of america. i think the bigger issue is that these critics don't understand is that there's millions of americans whose understanding and experience of this country is not the lee greenwood, thank god i'm free, proud to be an american version, it's a version of the folks who live in the south bronx, who live on pine ridge reservation, brown skin folks in arizona right now who don't feel free, and when they write about it either in a rhyme or in a poem, i think that's what scares these conservative white folks. they don't accept the fact there are millions of people for whom the experience of america is

different than theirs and they certainly don't want to have to confront that. >> are these pundits trying to get traction because the president is black and hip hop is primarily a black art form but who buys the most rap? >> white americans. >> are they trying to gain traction on this? >> yeah. are you asking me? >> yeah, tim. >> yeah. yeah, yeah. absolutely. look, this is one of those ways you can push a button with people. the same way you can by questioning the president's academic credentials. that's a very clear button of racial anxiety and resentment. and when it comes to rap, back in 1992, i remember during the republican convention, that was right after ice t.'s song cop killer came out. that wasn't even a rap song, but they turned it into an attack on rap. oh, ice t. wants to kill cops at the very same time they were in bed politically with the nra

that was lobbying for cop killer teflon-coated bullets and didn't mind that. they don't want stories about cop killing, they want bullets that actually kill cops. it's fascinating to me. >> i want to bring dan in, this is your expertise. are they trying to gain because it's primarily an african-american platform, but don't most whites buy hip hop and rap? they buy the bulk of it. >> absolutely. absolutely. and you just have to remember, this is all strategy. you know, in my book, i actually tell the cop side of that 1992 cop killer controversy. and ron delore, he knew consciously this is something the cops needed to do after the cops beat down rodney king and the ensuing riots. the police had egg on their face, and that this is something that republicans and police needed to do to sort of turn cops into victims. when in actuality it's people

like rodney king and you know folks brutalized by police that are, you know, much more the victims of this kind of thing. >> okay. listen, just i have a few seconds here buffer the song they're actually concerned, talking about killing cops? i thought in the end that it's sort of a redemption song that, you shouldn't be doing what i'm talking about. >> absolutely. the song ends clean. it's a story, and the story ends with do not do this. do the right thing. you know? >> all right. dan, tim, thanks so much all of you. i appreciate it. >> rapper's delight. hip hop, hip it to the hip etty hip hop. next, it's something that would embarrass even the shameless leader of al qaeda. a dirty little secret from the intelligence seized at bin laden's compound. every patient's past. and because the whole hospital's working together, there's a family who can breathe easy, right now.

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it's now being reported a relatively extensive collection of porn was found at bin laden's compound. that's got to be tough, guys. hiding your porn from four different wives? >> jay leno cracking a joke over one of the more embarrassing details to come out of the raid on osama bin laden's compound. this is more private than the discovery of his ver rilty syrup. we know his hideout had an extensive stash of porn. let's bring in maureen o'connor, maureen, good infoto see you.

it's not clear whether the porn was his or whether he watched it but it's not something an islamic extremist with four wives should have anywhere around him, should it? >> no. well, it's like an episode of "room raiders." we're hearing about his medicine cabinet and on his hard drive. there was pornographic videos among the computer documents they confiscated. it's not clear how that got there. there was no internet connection at osama bin laden's compound. they didn't even have a land line for a telephone for like a dial-up connection. when he sent e-mail he would put his e-mail messages on to a usb drive and send one of his touriers to an internet cafe to send the e-mails, download new information and bring it back, so maybe the porn got there through that, it's hard to say. >> yeah. okay. let's switch some gears here, we're going to change gears dramatically here. even the guys have been covering this extensively, you guys,

we've got a lot to talk about when it comes to "two and a half men" because everybody thought it would collapse after charlie sheen sort of blew up, but now producers think they have a solution, don't they? >> they've got ashton kutcher and they just announced, ashton confirmed it. he's the sort of big a-list star they need to pull the show together. what will be interesting is they haven't said what type of character ashton is going to play. we know charlie sheen's character was sort of a softer version of him, a womanizer who loved to go out boozing and meeting ladies, so it's not clear if ashton is going to play somebody based on himself, if he's going to play another lecherous man or how they'll deal with that switch. >> it would be funny if he came in and he's all of a sudden charlie. >> oh, i got a hair cut. >> all of a sudden it's charlie on the show and have someone go, you look different, what did you do? oh, i got a hair cut.

here's what charlie sheen is saying. he's saying ashton kutcher is a sweetheart and brilliant comedic performer, oh, wait, so am i. enjoy the show, america. enjoy seeing 2.0 in the demo every monday, wb. enjoy planet he can chuck, ashton, there's no air, laughter, loyalty, or love there. what did that mean? do you no he what that meant? >> he is all scorched earth when it comes to the "two and a half men" crew. recently after blowing up all of his contacts there he started saying, they want me back and the crew kept saying, no, we really don't want him back. so now it's real, charlie is long gone. >> it's interesting. if he came back i'm sure the ratings would be through the roof. you did break the story, bristol palin and her surgery. she admitted she did have facial surgery and that was after -- was that after you guys broke it? >> it was. so bristol palin's face looked noticeably different and it turns out it's all part of her new hollywood career.

she's moving to l.a., she's going to have a reality show, and she got, quote, corrective surgery that improved her appearance, according to her. >> maureen o'connor from gawker.com. appreciate it. have a great saturday night. thanks again. >> thanks, don. we're continuing our breaking news, following breaking news, the morganza spillway now open in louisiana as the army corps of engineers tries to save new orleans and baton rouge from record floodwaters. >> i'm telling you, depth of water from right here, 15 feet. >> and that warning to residents now in the path of the floodwaters, their homes, their memories, about to be washed away. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 absolutely, i mean, these financial services companies tdd# 1-800-345-2550 are still talking about retirement tdd# 1-800-345-2550 like it's some kind of dream.

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our top story this hour and it's breaking news, for the first time in 38 years the morganza spillway in louisiana has been opened. historic flooding along the mississippi river made the move necessary to prevent the river from overwhelming the levees in in baton rouge and new orleans. the last time the morganza spillway was open was 1973. thousands of people must evacuate ahead of the rising water. and you know, for weeks now, we have been watching the mississippi river flood as it has threatened one community and region after another. greenville, mississippi, is feeling the brunt of the slow-motion disaster right now. our martin savage is there with the latest. so, martin, have we seen any problems with the levees in

greenville? >> reporter: well, there is a report now of a breach of a levee, but we should point out this is an abandoned and very old levee and it is not part of the mainstay of the levee system that is protecting most of the communities along the mississippi river here. this was in lake providence, it was an old levee that predated the 1927 flood. so that's how old this levee was. it had been abandoned, and it started overtopping there on thursday, and then it collapsed actually yesterday, and as a result of that, about 12,000 acres of farmland has now been flooded with water. but again, it is not a serious breach, and certainly no breach of the mainstay of the levee system here. so as to the levees, in the state of mississippi, i had a conversation a short while ago with the mississippi levee board, so far, so good, but there are signs of strain. here's what they said. >> it's been such a fast rise. the levees have held up really

well. we were already at 60 feet at greenville, which is three feet above what we had been in 2008. so that fast rise actually helped us. we were able to get preparations done, but now that the levee has gotten saturated we're seeing underseepage we've never seen before, so it's going to be a long battle. >> reporter: and that's the concern you see there, don, because the fact that this flood water, even as the crest goes by, is going to hang around for a long, long time. so those lev vees are going to stressed for a long time, and they are seeing occasions of potential weaknesses starting to appear in the levee system. let me show you some of the flooding that's been occurring outside of the levee protection system here in greenville and this is mainly a residential area on lower lake ferguson drive. it would be a beautiful drive on any normal day, but it's covered in 15 feet of water now of the only way to make that drive is by boat. it is a stretch of housing that goes for three to five miles and

there are about 100 homes out there. these are not just lake houses or cottages, these are full-time residential houses people live in all the time. only they're not there now. they've all managed to make it out but the flooding was really significant. over the rooftops in many cases and in other cases right up to the very front door. but those houses where the water came to the front door are on stilts, up 15 feet in the air. it's quite a remarkable thing to see. as waters diverted into the atchafalaya basin it will inundate small communities, ed lavandera visited with some heartbroken residents as they got the bad news they had to evacuate. >> reporter: tucked away in the shade of louisiana cypress trees and backwater creeks you'll have a hard time finding butte larose. but it's his dance floor. >> i put that sign up two months ago, and i've always wanted to name the camp last dance.

>> reporter: the music has stopped and pierre. >> i don't know why i'm locking it. >> reporter: is packing it all up before the floodwaters wash over. >> i had a big table in here, i had a futon over here. this was cabinets. 70% of the people have packed up and gone already. >> reporter: it's going to be a ghost town pretty soon. >> yes. yes. >> reporter: for generations, it has been home to an eclectic mix of cajuns, a place to hide away, where homes are called camps and they come with funny names. but this won't be a summer of fun. what's it like to be around here knowing what's coming down the river? >> it's just a somber mood, you know? everybody's just doing what they've got to do. >> reporter: his bayou community will soon be flooded. >> i'm going to get three feet of water in it. three to four foot. >> reporter: but pierre is about to learn that the floodwaters will likely be worse than anything he imagined.

pierre and hundreds of residents pack into the town's firehouse to hear flood level predictions from the army corps of engineers. >> i'm telling you, depth of water from right here, 15 feet. okay? >> we understand. >> this is probably up to the roof of this building. >> he said there's going to be 15 foot of water. it's over with. it's over with. >> reporter: it's over for butte larose, the words too painful for people to hear. >> who's going to answer the questions? >> where's the microphone? >> it's going to be a strong current. >> reporter: as pain turns to anger. >> everybody, please listen! >> reporter: colonel ed flemming offers a little comfort. >> in 22 years, i've moved 14 times. might have a box, might have important documents, might have some pictures, some keepsake things, because those are things we're going to put in the car when that moving truck drives away and you're standing in your driveway with your family and a

couple suitcases and a box. but that's when you find out what's important to you. >> reporter: and the sadness of the moment brings kelly trim to tears. >> it's worse than we thought. it's really worse than we thought. we thought maybe we might have water in our yard and stuff. this is going to come into our homes. it's going to take everything. everything that we've got. >> reporter: pierre knows it's time to pack up the dance floor and put butte larose in his rearview mirror but he'll be back. >> it's not going to be the last dance. >> reporter: it's not going to be? >> no. no. we'll dance again around here. >> reporter: and the sign will be the last thing he grabs on the way out of town. ed lavandera, cnn, butte larose, louisiana. >> coming up, a high school honors student banned from his prom, a school says a connecticut teenager went too far when he asked his date to go with him to the big event. but now there's a big update to tell you about.

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♪ you love money ♪ well, you know i love it too ♪ ♪ i work so hard at my job ♪ and then i bring it home to you ♪ ♪ i love money in my pocket show us how you two would have danced if you would have been able to attend the prom. >> oh, my gosh! >> oh, this is sweet. [ applause ] ♪ >> well, no wonder. i think this is probably better. >> i love jimmy kimmel. his show is hilarious. jimmy kimmel rooting for, i should say late night host,

rooting for the connecticut kid who could not go to his prom. but today the ban was lifted for james tate. our affiliate wfsb reports the head master and the 18-year-old honors student can go now. tate got into trouble for this prom proposal, taping block letters to the side of his school so the connecticut high school banned him. then came the tv appearances and a let james tate go to prom facebook page with nearly 200,000 followers. wow. this afternoon, the head master announced she changed her mind and some say she bowed to the pressure from online. regardless, we're glad he's going to his prom. up next on cnn, they are the best of the best. the u.s. navy s.e.a.l.s that killed bin laden, how much training do you think it takes to become one? the answer right after the break. i know what works differently than many other allergy medications. omnaris. omnaris, to the nose! did you know nasal symptoms like congestion

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the many faces of osama bin laden seen here on tapes seized in the raid in his compound on pakistan in which the world's most wanted terrorists was found. s.e.a.l. team 6 carried out the spectacular special ops mission.

it led a lot of people to wonder what it takes to become a navy s.e.a.l. it's training so intense few survive. >> the heart and soul of a navy s.e.a.l. is someone committed to their country and teammates. >> howard wasden was a navy s.e.a.l. for years. >> it's somebody who really wants to do something special. that's the s.e.a.l. motto. someone special. want to be special? prove it. >> reporter: proving it means surviving a training program so long and so tough that most don't make it. they call it buds. >> basic under water demolition s.e.a.l. school. it starts there. my class started around 126, 130. we graduated 22 to 25. [ chanting ]

>> reporter: every day begins with physical training, miles of swimming, running, hundreds of sit-ups, push-ups, all before the day's real work begins. even more important they are preparing the body is preparing the mind. case in point, an exercise called drown proofing. >> candidates' hands are tied behind their back, feet tied together and you are thrown in the pool. you better not panic. control your breathing, your heart rate. they tell you day one at b.u.d.s., mental toughness, not physical toughness. what's between your ears keeps the body going. >> reporter: and then comes hell week. six days, little sleep, subme e submerged in frigid water or running hundreds of miles. >> the important thing to

remember about the 200 miles is you run it with a boat on your head. you have to paddle out in the boats, dump the boats over and right them, paddle back in. do tons of paddling, tons of swimming. >> reporter: even the toughest are pushed to their limit. >> i always get asked, did you ever think about quitting? i never spoke to anybody in the teams who said at one point they didn't at least think about it. the difference is control your fear. you don't quit. >> you can learn much more about how navy s.e.a.l.s operate in "inside the mission:getting bin laden" at the top of the hour. our thanks to chris lawrence, of course. who is baseball's homerun kings? purists say it's hank aaron, but what does he have to say about that? >> we were talking about barry bonds. he's hit more homeruns than i did. >> do you agree with him?

well, hank aaron opens up about the man who took his record to t.j. holmes next. it flows with clean water. it makes its skyline greener and its population healthier. all to become the kind of city people want to live and work in. somewhere in america, we've already answered some of the nation's toughest questions. and the over sixty thousand people of siemens are ready to do it again. siemens. answers. hey, dad, think i could drive? i'll tell you what -- when we stop to fill it up. ♪ ♪ [ son ] you realize, it's gotta run out sometime. ♪

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major league baseball is celebrating its history and pioneers this weekend in atlanta. the annual civil rights game is being held at turner field on sunday, but the game is just part of a wider celebration. today saw a youth summit at century tenle yell park along

with games on a temporary field. the beacon awards are tonight honoring heroes like hall-of-famer ernie banks and the freedom riders who rode buses in the south in the '60s to defy discrimination. as the home to martin luther king, jr., and the adopted home of homerun legend hank aaron, atlanta is a natural fit for the civil rights game. barry bonds, of course, surpassed hammering hank as the homerun king, but not everyone thinks bonds' accomplishment is legit. t.j. holmes sat down with aaron to ask him about it. >> reporter: what would you say to fans who say hank aaron is the homerun king, he will always be my homerun king and they refuse to acknowledge anybody at this point that's above your name? would you say, let it go, folks, the guy above me has more

homeruns, he's your homerun king? >> i would say "thank you." first of all, i would thank them if they think that way. but here again, we were talking about barry bonds. you know, barry bonds has hit more homeruns than i did. and he should be the homerun king. that's the way i look at it. he's done everything he was supposed to do in baseball. now, people say, well, you know, he was on this, on that. i don't know what he was on. i have no idea. i'm not god. i don't have any idea. the only thing i know is that barry bonds was a terrific ballplayer. i hit 755 homeruns. he hit more homeruns than i did.

so he should be classified as the homerun king. >> reporter: you don't believe he was on anything? >> no, i didn't say i didn't belief that. i said, no matter what it is, i don't know what he was on. i have no idea. as i said, i'm not god. i don't make those rules. >> you're the guy that said once you get up to 50, 60 homeruns you said something's funny. >> i said i think it's something funny. i think. there is a difference when you say "i think." i didn't say i know. >> reporter: you are a scholar and a gentleman. i love it. >> hammering hank with t.j. holmes. listen, want to update our top story and it's breaking news tonight. for the first time in 38 years the morganza spillway in louisiana has been opened. historic flooding on the mississippi river made the move necessary to prevent the river from overwhelming levees in baton rouge and new orleans