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Anchored by Jake Tapper, The Lead airs at 4 p.m. ET on CNN.
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national lead
Televangelist Joel Osteen on the power of Twitter, and same-sex marriage
One pastor who will have a very busy Easter weekend is televangelist Joel Osteen, who oversees a congregation far larger than the thousands who fit into his Houston church. Osteen is a TV mega pastor whose message reaches millions of households weekly.
This weekend at his church, Osteen will be speaking to an average of 40,000, 45,000 people, and also reach 10 million through television. How does he create a message for such a wide audience, as opposed to the one-on-one ministering?
A lot of it "is acting like you're talking to one person," Osteen said on "The Lead with Jake Tapper" on Good Friday. "When I prepare my messages, I think, okay, how am I going to talk to people about how to live the Christian life, how to forgive, how to overcome, how to keep a good attitude? So I think the beauty of talking to the masses is you've got to act like you're just talking to one."
"Even though I'm standing in a large auditorium, you know, I do my best to make it as personable as can be," added the pastor.
This week in the news, the Supreme Court took up arguments about same-sex marriage and same-sex couples. Where does Osteen draw the line?
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politics lead
Is hastened legislation bad for our health?
This week, President Obama signed a spending bill to keep the government running, but buried deep within the pages of that bill is a controversial piece of legislation that would keep the federal government from banning the sale of genetically modified food.
Food safety groups are furious and started picketing in front of the White House this week. Their concern is that the legislation allows big biotech companies that produce genetically engineered crops to bend rules – basically it builds in a stalling tactic that if one of their crops is found to be unsafe, they can still sell it while it's getting examined.
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pop lead
15 minutes of fame? Not so much
Pop artist Andy Warhol once said "in the future, everyone will be world famous for 15 minutes."
Turns out he was almost right. In an age of viral videos and reality TV, celebrity status seems easy to come by. Some might say, a little too easy.
In the past, we could console ourselves that the Morton Downeys of the world would soon leave the airspace. But something has changed. And now, according to a new study, the ease of fame is matched with the difficulty of making the famous, unfamous.
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national lead
Man trapped inside a Disney ride gets $8,000
Strap yourself in, lock the restraint and hang on: the ride is about to begin.
But none of the safety devices which prevent riders from falling off at the theme park would have helped Jose Martinez.
Instead, he found himself stranded on Disney’s “It’s a Small World” for a half hour in 2009 when the ride malfunctioned – leaving him stuck while that brain-piercing melody played over, and over, and over again.
"I could have a stroke,” he said during the incident, according to court documents. “I have dysreflexia. It's very serious, and I need to go to a bathroom."
In addition to the dysreflexia, Martinez is quadriplegic and prone to panic attacks. The situation was serious.
“It’s a condition that, Jake, that people like myself with chronic spinal cord injuries suffer when your bladder extends to incredible amounts,” he said Friday on CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper.”
A California court awarded him $8,000 this week after suffering through that episode. A doctor testified before the court that the condition could make an individual fear for his life.
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politics lead
Derek Jeter wants to own a team, would 'in some ways' run it like George Steinbrenner
During Derek Jeter's historic 17-year run as shortstop for the New York Yankees, he's racked up five world championships, and more than 3300 hits. And that's just on the field. He also has all-star status on the red carpet.
But with a season-delaying ankle injury and many of his closest friends retiring from the game, the 38-year-old is starting to plan for when he too eventually steps away from the diamond.
Asked what is scary about the thought of not being in the game down the road, Jeter said, "I don't know if there is anything scary about it."
"I'm pretty sure I'll be involved in the game in some facet. I wanna own a team someday, that's my next goal, but I don't know if it's anything scary," added Jeter.
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