Ahead of the curve: The next 7 days
June 3rd, 2012
02:00 PM ET

Ahead of the curve: The next 7 days

Here is a look at stories CNN plans to cover this week:

Space shuttle to take slow ride on river

These are the voyages of the Space Shuttle Enterprise. The prototype orbiter, which never went to space but did go to New York on April 27, will be placed on a barge Monday and carried down the Hudson River to Bayonne, New Jersey. There it will be transferred to another barge, this one with a crane. The second barge will carry it back up the Hudson and lift the shuttle onto the deck of the USS Intrepid Museum, a former aircraft carrier and Enterprise's final destination.

Venus to stroll across the sun

A mini-eclipse of sorts will happen Tuesday when the planet Venus crosses between the sun and Earth. The event, called a transit of Venus, will occur late in the daylight hours of Tuesday in the United States and take about seven hours to complete. Some of the best and longest views will be in the South Pacific, so start heading for Tahiti now. During the transit, Venus will appear as a tiny dark speck crossing the disc of the sun from left to right. But remember: It's always dangerous to look directly at the sun. Use the same precautions you would with a solar eclipse: special light filters, a welder's mask or a pinhole viewer. If you're interested, you'd better get out there and look - it won't happen again for 105 years.

Penn State football coach's trial to begin

The trial of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky is due to begin Tuesday in State College, Pennsylvania. Sandusky, 68, has been under house arrest since being charged with sexually abusing 10 young boys over a 14-year period. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Related allegations that university officials failed to act on a complaint about Sandusky led to the November firing of the school's president and of lauded Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno, who died of lung cancer three months later. Tim Curley, Penn State's former athletic director, and Gary Schultz, a former university vice president who oversaw campus police, have been charged with perjury and failing to report an alleged 2001 sexual assault of a child. Both have pleaded not guilty.

Wisconsin governor faces recall election

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker faces voters Tuesday in an election called for the purpose of deciding whether he should complete his term of office. Walker outraged liberals and labor unions two years ago when he pushed through sweeping legislation that limited pay increases for state employees and gutted the collective bargaining rights of unions. Voters on Tuesday will choose between retaining Walker, a Republican, or replacing him with Tom Barrett, the Democratic mayor of Milwaukee.

Gaming expo on tap in Los Angeles

The Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, the world's premier trade show for computer and video games and related products, will take place Tuesday through Thursday at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The show is put on by the Entertainment Software Association, a leading trade group.

Hearing held in Bradley Manning leaks case

A pretrial hearing will begin Wednesday for Bradley Manning, the Army intelligence analyst suspected of leaking hundreds of thousands of classified military and State Department documents while serving in Iraq. Many of those documents ended up on the WikiLeaks website. The charges include aiding the enemy, wrongfully causing intelligence to be published on the Internet, transmitting national defense information and theft of public property or records. He could go to prison for life if convicted. The hearing could last until Friday. Manning's trial is scheduled for September.

Atlanta Braves to retire pitcher's number

Before their interleague game Friday against the Toronto Blue Jays, the Atlanta Braves will retire uniform No. 29 in honor of former pitcher John Smoltz. According to baseball-reference.com, Smoltz compiled a 213-155 record in his 21-year career, which ended after the 2009 season. Though a starter for much of his career, he also earned 154 saves as a relief pitcher. He amassed 3,084 strikeouts and a 3.33 earned-run average. He won the Cy Young Award as the National League's best pitcher in 1996, when he was part of a Braves rotation that included likely Hall of Famer Greg Maddux, two-time Cy Young winner Tom Glavine and fellow Michigan native Steve Avery. At a luncheon Friday, Smoltz will be inducted into the Braves Hall of Fame.

Will we have a Triple Crown winner?

The surprising athlete called I'll Have Another will try to make horse racing history Saturday in the 144th running of the Belmont Stakes. The Belmont is the third jewel in thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown; I'll Have Another captured the first two jewels, the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, in breathtakingly close contests in May. Only 11 horses have won the Triple Crown. The last was Affirmed in 1978. California racing authorities suspended I'll Have Another's trainer, Doug O'Neill, for an incident involving another horse, but it won't keep him from participating in the Belmont.

Broadway gives its regards

The Broadway world will hand out its biggest prizes Sunday. The Tony Awards show will be broadcast from the Beacon Theatre at 8 p.m. ET and 8 p.m. PT on CBS, with Neil Patrick Harris as host. Actor Hugh Jackman and the Actors' Equity Association will receive Special Tony Awards for their contributions to  theater, and actress Bernadette Peters will be honored with the Isabelle Stevenson Award for her charitable work.

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soundoff (44 Responses)
  1. dazzle ©

    I saw where @bobcat posted a joke on the Syria thread. Haven't seen him around though.

    June 3, 2012 at 11:41 pm | Report abuse |
  2. dazzle ©

    Guys I am outta here. I've had it with the jacker. Good Night to all!!

    June 3, 2012 at 11:44 pm | Report abuse |
  3. chrissy

    @ cnn, you guys are sure droppin the ball alot lately. And @ my troll...Go lay down by your dish!

    June 3, 2012 at 11:47 pm | Report abuse |
  4. chrissy

    Ok good night to my friends, i dont have the patience for this crap today. Any future posts under my name will NOT be me.

    June 3, 2012 at 11:58 pm | Report abuse |
    • Jj

      Walker will win this thing and prove that the people of Wisconsin do not want their tax dollars going to over payed union thugs dispite the whining liberals complaints.

      June 4, 2012 at 11:08 am | Report abuse |
  5. bobcat(in a hat) ©©

    Good Evening ladies and gents. Has my fan club summoned me.

    June 4, 2012 at 12:17 am | Report abuse |
  6. Trollbuster

    Not the real CNN moderating staff @ ll:54. Youre an awfully stupid troll.

    June 4, 2012 at 12:23 am | Report abuse |
  7. mickey1313

    Ooh, horse racing, almost as interesting as nascar, or golf. Some people are lame

    June 4, 2012 at 1:51 am | Report abuse |
  8. No one

    ex-president Graham Spanier filed a lawsuit against Penn State to get access to copies of e-mails - generated between 1998 and 2004 - considered relevant to the Sandusky investigation.

    Spanier said the e-mails would "refresh his recollection significantly and allow him to assist the university fully in its investigation."

    The university has refused to make the material available on the basis that they could compromise the ongoing investigation.

    Would not those emails be evidence in this case? This is crazy, The University should be ordered to hand over those emails to the prosecution.

    June 4, 2012 at 7:08 am | Report abuse |
  9. Mary

    Yes, guys like Sandusky are pro-lurkers !

    June 4, 2012 at 9:18 am | Report abuse |
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