Today on CNN Newsroom
The push for gay rights is still reverberating through Washington this week, after the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender organization drew thousands to a rally on Sunday.
NAACP Chairman, Julian Bond, was a keynote speaker at the group's "National Equality March". He's also taken a lot of heat for his support of the gay community. Drew Griffin asked him about that and more. Hear Mr. Bond's response, by clicking the white arrow below:
Be sure and join Betty Nguyen and TJ Holmes in the CNN Newsroom, Saturday and Sunday mornings, beginning at 6am ET/ 3am PT.
BackStory: An Afghanistan Embed
Friday's BackStory had us shipping out to Afghanistan, for a rough-n-tumble embed with correspondent Fred Pleitgen and camerawoman Claudia Otto.
In the end, we had to blow out that second BackStory hit. Y'know. Because the president was speaking. But for folks who wanted to check out Cal Perry's Special Forces stint in Iraq - we've got you covered:
Soldiering On
If you're a regular visitor to the Team Kyra blog, you probably know she's a big supporter of TAPS - a group that helps families of fallen U.S. troops.
Well, Kyra just heard about a song called "Soldier On"; the people behind it are donating half the song's proceeds to TAPS.
You can find more info on "Soldier On" right here.
Texting & Driving
Eighteen states have banned texting by all drivers, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Nine more states have banned texting by young drivers (in some states that means under age 18, in others, 21). And it seems like every other state is talking about instituting some kind of ban.
In Oklahoma, a group of 20 high school juniors and seniors got a unique look at the challenges of texting while driving. They spent a day at a precision driving school and had to drive through an obstacle course while texting, changing the settings on their iPods, or eating. At 10:30 we’ll talk to one of those students and the superintendent of the driving school to see how things went.
Meantime we want to hear from you.
Do you think texting and driving is dangerous? If so, do you do it anyway? Post your comments here.
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