Anderson Cooper 360

360º Wednesday

There are new developments in our investigation of veterans charities that give little money directly to vets. Watch AC360° at 8 and 10 p.m. ET.


Tonight on AC360: Senator Launching Investigation into Vet Charity

Our Keeping Them Honest reports on the donations collected by the Disabled Veterans National Foundation (DVNF) have gotten the attention of lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus is demanding answers from DVNF. The Montana Democrat, along with Republican committee member Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, has launched an investigation to determine if the charity is abusing its tax-exempt non-profit status.

As we've been reporting for weeks, tax records show DVNF raised nearly $56 million over three years. But here's the problem: Not one dime has gone directly to help disabled veterans. Instead, CNN's Drew Griffin discovered the charity sends free stuff to veterans groups - stuff they say they didn't ask for and don't need. We're talking about thousands of bags of coconut M&Ms, bulk shipments of chef's aprons and military dress shoes. The veterans groups have had to sell the items to raise money so they could buy items vets actually do need.

So, where did the nearly $56 million donated by Americans go? Griffin followed the money trail to a company called Quadriga Art, a company that specializes in fundraising. Quadriga Art and its subsidiaries have more than 500 charities on their client list, including DVNF. A source who had first-hand dealings with Quadriga tells us it’s the "financial equivalent of heroin addiction for charities."

Tonight on 360° at 8 and 10 p.m. ET, Griffin reports on the Quadriga connection to veterans charities. Plus, Anderson Cooper talks with Sen. Baucus about his investigation.

KTH: Pastor preaches about eliminating gays

A North Carolina pastor says gays and lesbians should be rounded up and confined until they die. His sermon included anti-Obama remarks that could be a violation of the church's tax-exempt status.

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Filed under: Keeping Them Honest • Religion

Students receive electric shocks

The Director of Research for a school that administers shocks to change children's behavior defends the method. The Director of Yale’s Child Neuroscience Laboratory, and a father of autistic children, disagrees with the treatment; he says punishment doesn't treat the underlying cause.

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Filed under: 360° Interview • Autism

Church member to CNN: 'Lay off my pastor'

Just about everyone here is talking about the local pastor who made national headlines this week after a video that features him telling congregants how to "get rid of" gays went viral.

Neighbors of the Providence Road Baptist Church - where a sign advertises "old time religion" - say Pastor Charles Worley is known for being over the top, with one neighbor describing him as "fire and brimstone" whose views are out of sync with much of the surrounding community.

"I figured a way out, a way to get rid of all the lesbians and queers, but I couldn't get it past the Congress," Worley told his church on May 13, in a video that has been seen half a million times on YouTube.

"Build a great big, large fence - 50 or 100 miles long - and put all the lesbians in there," Worley said. "Fly over and drop some food. Do the same thing with the queers and the homosexuals, and have that fence electrified so they can't get out. Feed them. And you know in a few years, they'll die out. You know why? They can't reproduce."

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Minister to file complaint on Worley

Rev. Barry Lynn, the Founder and Executive Director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, wants a North Carolina pastor to lose his church's tax-exempt status for remarks against Obama's re-election during an anti-gay sermon.

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Filed under: 360° Interview • Religion

Carville: Obama's Bain ad is legitimate

James Carville and Ari Fleischer debate both campaigns' dueling ads about Mitt Romney's record at Bain Capital.

RidicuList: Man cut off during all-you-can-eat meal

The sign says "All You Can Eat," and one man tried. Oh, how he tried. He accuses a restaurant of false advertising after he was told to stop eating.

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Filed under: The RidicuList

Tonight on AC360: School uses electric shocks on autistic students

Can zapping emotionally challenged children with painful electrical shocks - like cattle - actually help them? The Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC) in Massachusetts claims it does. But as Anderson Cooper reported last week, there’s a new push to close the school.

The renewed effort to shutdown JRC comes after a graphic video surfaced that school officials didn't want the public to see. The video shows Cheryl McCollins' son, Andre, receiving 31 electric shocks from school staff in a seven hour period. His family’s attorney says he was later treated for post traumatic stress disorder.

However, another mother, Marie Washington, said JRC saved her son's life by using the shocks to treat him, instead of medications. Washington calls the program a "godsend."

JRC is a special needs school for children as young as 3-years-old. Their website says they've provided "very effective education and treatment to both emotionally disturbed students with conduct, behavior, emotional, and/or psychiatric problems and developmentally delayed students with autistic-like behaviors."

Critics disapprove of the method used by the school to change students' behavior. JRC calls the shocks "aversive therapy," opponents call it torture. They invented the device used to administer the shocks, and they're the only school using the technique.

Tonight, Anderson explores the medical research behind the shock therapy. He'll speak with one of the top autism researchers in the country, Kevin Pelphrey, who’s the Director of Yale’s Child Neuroscience Laboratory, and Nathan Blenkush, Director of Research at JRC, who has worked at the school since 2006. Tune in to AC360 at 8 and 10 p.m. ET.


Filed under: 360° Radar • 360º Follow • Autism

Friday on AC360: Arab Spring: Revolution Interrupted

Anderson Cooper talks with Bob Baer, Arwa Damon and Ivan Watson about the dramatic changes in the Middle East.


Filed under: Middle East
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