the party in south beach. guaranteed it is still going on this morning. >> he said it's the best day of his life. >> i wouldn't doubt it. hi, everybody, nice to have you with us this morning. welcome to "early start." >> it's 5:00 a.m. in the east, good morning, everybody. >> it may be a good morning, it may not be such a good morning, depending how you look at things. the markets are down worldwide this morning after the ratings agency moody's downgraded 15 of the world's largest banks and guess who happens to be sitting in this morning. the woman who knows everything there is to know about this. can you boil this down and let us know what it means for us? >> it means that your stock investments got hit yesterday and the global economy is slowing and we're seeing the ramifications of that around the world. 15 of the biggest banks in the world, including five of the largest u.s. banks were downgraded by moody's. bank of america, citigroup, goldman sachs, jpmorgan stanley. and hsbc, barclays, moody's says these banks have significant exposure to volatility in the credit markets. banking analysts mike mayo says this move by moody's will not change your day-to-day banking, but it will affect business for the banks themselves to get loans and to lend and who will be willing to do business with them. he says this is likely to be the worst lending decade for banks since the great depression, that's something that you feel. the stocks for these banks are actually up a little bit this morning, because in short, the downgrades could have been worse and many say these ratings changes were already priced in. stocks have had a very rough spring. it was a rough day on wall street, the dow plunged 250 points almost 2%, and here's why. we have more concern about a slowdown in china, germany and the u.s., weak manufacturing data, the data if all of these countries a little bit weak yesterday, plus goldman sachs put out a report saying investors should sell s&p 500 stocks. meaning sell them and let the prices drop and buy them later at a cheaper price. the s&p 500 dropped 30 points yesterday or 2% and the buzz about the bank downgrades pushed stocks lower. futures are up. whatever happened yesterday happened you're going to feel it in your 401(k), but right now futures are up a little bit, which we could see a bounce in the open, which tends to happen. >> by market open we could be sailing in the clear? >> i don't think we're going to regain almost 250 points. the other thing that's important for everyone to know, look we've seen these little signs for several months that the world is slowing and when europe is slowing and world demand is slowing, that means jobs in this country are not going to grow. all of this goes back to your 401(k), your ability to get a job and there's also an election. >> i still can't believe you said the bank stops are up this morning, remarkable. we'll talk more about that in a moment. meantime another big story developed overnight for you, while the jury in the child sex abuse trial of jerry sandusky is preparing for day two of deliberations. two new accusers are coming forward with explosive stories of sexual abuse at hands of the former assistant football coach, is jerry sandusky's own son. one of six adopted children of jerry and dottie san dusky. going public with his claims that his father assaulted him and said he was prepared to testify against him in court. not only this, but a man named travis weaver is coming forward. here he is, he's telling nbc that the abuse by sandusky was accompanied by threats. >> he kind of pinned me down on the bed. and i told him if he didn't get off me i was going to call the police on him. and he just laughed at me and you know, forced me to stay on the bed. and told me if i ever said anything that nobody was going to believe me. and he would get my dad fired from penn state. >> travis weaver did not testify in this trial. he wasn't part of the charges, either. however, he has filed a civil suit against jerry sandusky. and in the next half hour, we'll be joined by pulitzer prize-winning reporter, sara ganim. shoo has watched the trial closely from the beginning and watched the closing arguments and has observations. severe flooding in northeast minnesota is keeping rescue crews busy this morning. they needed a coast guard helicopter to pull a couple to safety thursday in thompson. the two were left stranded by flooding caused by the overflowing nomson reservoir. the flooding has decimated the neighborhood, it's only one of, only one of the johnson's neighbors remain inside their home. look at the pictures. >> speaking of water and weather, it looks like florida could be in for a soaker this weekend, there is a huge storm brewing in the gulf of mexico. and alexander steele has been watching this for us overnight. i think there was this big debate, will it or won't it by morning turn into a tropical storm? do we know where it is at this point? >> well it hasn't really developed yet. so there's a lot of unanswered questions. the good news, it's early in terms of development and also the good news, early in terms of awareness. so let's show you what we do know. here's the satellite picture. all eyes on the gulf of mexico, and the northern yucatan peninsula. here's what we're watching an area of low pressure just beginning to develop now. still disorganized, but getting more organized. now, national hurricane center does have it becoming a depression in the next two days, next 48 hours. so the entire gulf needs to be aware. so there are a few different scenarios possible. so how big it is, how strong it is and where it goes, all uncertain. but atmospherically, a few different models, taking it few different ways. scenario number one, it's contingent on the jet stream, the driver in this thing that will push it or nudge it one way or the other. jet stream scenario number one, we see a dip here in texas and we see it kind of go a little bit farther north here this is the most benign scenario. here's the area of low pressure, it moves it into florida with just kind of some rain, negligible compared to a different scenario. scenario number two, the jet dips in the east, it's slower in moving and it bring as lot of rain and wind to florida. scenario number three takes it to the west and puts the whole gulf coast in play. so all contingent upon the jet and the movement, so a lot still to figure out and follow these computer models. just so you kind of are aware of what's happening in the gulf right now. >> no matter the classification, florida is going to have a lousy weekend weatherwise, thanks, alexandra. see you later. breaking news this morning from the afghan capital of kabul. a taliban militant storming a hotel, opening fire, sparking an ongoing gun battle with afghan and nato troops overnight. three security guards, a police officer and two of the attackers are dead. this is according to the afghan interior ministry. 20 civilians are cress cued from this hotel. but it's feared some may be dead inside. and others may have been taken hostage. eight minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. and if you think that's early, it could be very late. if you're in florida because the party may just be getting start or not wound up on the streets of south beach. here you go, the king has delivered the crown and there are the cheers. lebron james leading the miami heat to their second nba title in six short years. it was a 121-106 game five victory over the oklahoma city thunder and lebron james's first championship. he also had a couple of great moments last night because he cass named the mvp. very nice. finishing off his remarkable season with a triple-double, 26 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds. after he seemed pleased about the decision he made to head south to miami. >> i knew what it was going to have to take and i was going to have to change as a basketball player and i was going to have to change as a person. you know to get what i wanted. i'm happy. i'm very excited, i'm very happy right now. to be a champion, nobody can take that away from me. >> he says he's happy. he didn't sound so happy. but i'm sure he's pretty darn thrilled. next half hour, live to the streets of miami for a little taste of the celebration down there. she was verbally abused beyond belief. taking unthinkable taunts from 12-year-olds, but now this grandma may never have to ride the bus again. wait until you hear how viewers of the video have reacted and how much money they have donated. anderson cooper's interview with karen klein, next. but their shakes aren't always made for people with diabetes. that's why there's glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. and they have six grams of sugars. with fifteen grams of protein to help manage hunger... look who's getting smart about her weight. 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[ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. ♪ ha ha! do you really think brushing is enough to keep it clean? while brushing misses germs in 75% of your mouth, listerine® cleans virtually your entire mouth. so take your oral health to a whole new level. listerine®... power to your mouth™. she's captured the sympathy of the world. now a 68-year-old bullying victim reduced to tears by children is revealing exactly what she wants to happen to her tormenters, first a clip of the disturbing video incident. the victim, karen klein, a bus monitor in upstate new york tormented by these middle school kids for an agonizing ten minutes. >> you're a troll, you're a troll. you're troll, you old troll. >> i'm going to bring my, if i stabbed you in in the stomach, my knife would go through you like butter. >> klein is a 68-year-old grandmother, she told ac 360 host anderson cooper was all she wanted was to make the teasing stop. >> trying to get it out of my mind. i was trying to make it go away. i was looking out the window. i kept looking and front because i needed to check on the other kids. i would like them to be at least kept off the bus for a year. be forbidden to play any sports. at least for a year. somebody mentioned community service and i thought that was a pretty good idea, too. >> you know, we use the word teasing, this is not teasing, this is verbal assault. this is verbal assault on a bus, this is not simply teasing. support for klein pouring from all over the world, a website raising funds to send her on a dream vacation has received almost half a million dollars in donations. >> i still can't believe it. i can't believe it. there's that much -- i don't know, i don't feel like it will come to me, anyway. so i don't -- think too much about it. i mean it's -- it's a nice gesture. but i don't know. if it's for real or not. it sounds too good to be true. >> we've just learned one other thing that you don't know about, southwest airlines reached out to us today, they've been extraordinarily touched by your story, they wanted us to let you know that they'd like to send you and nine people to disneyland in california for three nights, air fare, hotel and car all included. >> you got to be kidding me. that's awesome. nine people? >> and that bullying tape igniting a a frightening ripple effect. police say the four students accused of harassing klein have gotten death threats, the school district responding to the threats in a statement quote people are outraged and they feel the students should be punished. while we agree that discipline is warranted, we can condone the kind of vigilante justice some people are calling for. this is just another form of bullying and cannot be tolerated. we all need to take a step back and look at how we treat each other. it's our job as educators and parents to teach children and lead by example, we encourage parents to use this as a springboard to begin a dialogue about bullying, respect and consequences. coming up, we'll speak to the founder of the site reddit.com. tell me what you think the punishment should be for those kids, curious, if you think she's shown a little bit of mercy for those kids, would you be so merciful. >> at "early start" cnn, you can join in the twitter conversation. >> is it verbal assault. that's not teasing to me. teasing is saying, you're old. >> there is a case to be made for actual verbal assault. don't forget, these are 12-year-old kids, we're not talking about kind of justice system that you and i would enter into. this is a juvenile justice system, if they do at all. clearly there's a bigger issue here, that is, what is the message that everyone is getting from this. i think the school district made a good point. let's not counterbully, either. they are 12-year-old kids. even the victim herself has said that some of them didn't seem to even know what they were doing. that they were just trying to one-up each other as opposed to assault her. >> a lot of people have been saying, they're only 12, it's the mob mentality, cut them some slack. there are a lot of kids who would never, ever do something like that. these are kids -- >> i think -- they should be off the bus and their parents should be responsible for getting them to and from school. if they want to bully, they can do it to mom and dad. >> it could be more serious if the police decide to charge. so this conversation continues, make sure you check in with us on what you think about it. it's 17 minutes past 5:00. a couple of other big top stories to get you up to date on. not the least of this, markets in europe and asia trading sharply lower in the wake of the downgrades for some of the world's largest banks, u.s. stocks took a plunge. the dow losing 250 points. the stock futures here are up this morning. yes. i did. up. like you, awake. could see a bounce at the open. so stay tuned to christine. taliban militants opening fire on a hotel in cabal triggering a gun battle with afghan and nato troops, three security guards, a police officer and two attackers are dead according to the afghan interior ministry. 20 civilians have been rescued from the hotel. but officials fear others may be dead or taken hostage inside. mitt romney bobbing and weaving when it comes to taking a stand on immigration. he stood before latino leaders in orlando and criticized president obama's recent decision to halt deportations for illegal immigrants who were brought to the country as children. >> some people have asked if i will let stand the president's executive order. the answer is that i will put in place my own long-term solution, that will replace and supersede the president's temporary measure. >> governor romney didn't offer the specifics about what his plan would be, an immigration plan that he might be willing to support. on the topic of support, a new cnn poll is showing that 48% of voters support president obama, that gives him a four-point lead over governor romney. whether george zimmerman goes to prison or goes free could come down to the tapes. newly released tapes of zimmerman given police his version of what happened just before he shot and killed trayvon martin. zimmerman reenacting the final moments of martin's life. >> my jacket moved up and i had my firearm on my right side hip. and my jacket moved up. and he saw it, i feel like he saw it, he looked at it. he said you're going to die tonight [ bleep ]. and he reached for it, but he reached like i felt his arm going down my side. and i grabbed it and i grabbed my firearm and i shot him. >> the martin family doesn't believe that story. their attorney told cnn's aaron brant last night, his credibility has to be questioned. >> i think that credibility is an issue in this case, because you're going to have, there's clearly a homicide that has been committed. trayvon was shot by george zimmerman. george zimmerman is bringing forth a self-defense argument. his self-defense argument is that he was defending himself and the only person that is saying that and backing that up is george zimmerman. so his credibility comes into play here. >> next hour, we compare what zimmerman told police in this video reenactment of what he initially reported in his 911 calls. is his story consistent? we'll let you decide. it is a battle over bones. bones, believe it or not. old bones. >> very old bones. >> but look at them. wouldn't you want that? why is the united states suing for custody of this million-dollar dinosaur skeleton? i'll give you a hint. they say this thing was smuggled. and if you are leaving the house right this minute, you can watch us any time on your desktop or mobile phone, go to cnn.com/tv. ♪ [ acoustic guitar: upbeat ] [ dog ] we found it together. on a walk, walk, walk. love to walk. yeah, we found that wonderful thing. and you smiled. and threw it. and i decided i would never, ever leave it anywhere. because that wonderful, bouncy, roll-around thing... had made you play. and 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[ cheering ] in true london fashion. [ male announcer ] now citi thankyou visa card holders can combine the thankyou points they've earned and get even greater rewards. ♪ it's 5:25 in the east, getting an early read on local news making national headlines. the justice department going after two u.s. cities it says are controlled by polygamists. it's suing both towns, colorado city in arizona and hilldale in utah. accused of carrying out orders of imprisoned fundamentalist mormon sect leader, warren jeffs, who is serving a life sentence for raping two underage girls. official says he controlled both cities from behind bars, imposing new laws, such as a ban on dogs. the towns are accused of discriminating against residents who don't belong to the sect. the next one is kind of gross to say the least. a new naked flesh-biting atta