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More Winter Misery; Baghdad Survivors; A Family's Ordeal; Tale of Two Cities

Aired January 19, 2007 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: You see a live shot there. It's happening today. Scottsdale, Arizona. The 36th Annual Barrett- Jackson Collector Car Event. You know what? Today they're expecting about 225,000 visitors and hopefully a whole lot of money when they get the final bid for this thing to be donated, of course, the proceeds of Fisher House. Which is excellent news.
Meanwhile, you can hear unforgettable stories of courage and caring from America's heroes. Join Larry King today at noon as he tours the Fisher House Foundation for wounded troops and their families. This will be a special "Larry King Live" today at a very special time, Noon Eastern, only on CNN.

COLLINS: And good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm T.J. Holmes, sitting in today for Tony Harris. We've got a lot of stuff going on for you. You're going to spend a second hour in the NEWSROOM this morning. We're going to catch you up on all the news of the day. Here is what we have on the rundown.

Winter taking another shot at The Plains. West Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri in the cross hairs.

COLLINS: American and Iraqi forces arresting a top figure in Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi army. The man linked to Iraq's death squads.

HOLMES: And Saints alive. New Orleans just one game away from the Super Bowl. The party a sharp contrast, however, to a town languishing in a post Katrina funk. The tale of two cities this Friday, January 19th. You are in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Still reeling from a paralyzing ice storm and about to get shocked again. Another wave of winter weather closing on in on the central U.S. Tens of thousands of people still without electricity from the last storm. CNN's Reggie Aqui is joining us now live from Krebs, Oklahoma.

And, Reggie, shelters are open, but are people taking advantage of them?

REGGIE AQUI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are starting to take advantage of them because they really have no other choice. A lot of these folks have been without power for a week. It actually marks a week since they were hit so hard by the first round of storms. So, at this point, some of them who depended on electricity for heat need somewhere to go at night. Some of them have kids and there are elderly people in this community who need some help.

And so what the town is doing is, they're actually sending police officers out. They also have Red Cross folks here to knock on doors and basically find the folks who need that help and try and persuade them to leave and come to the shelters. They opened up a shelter -- and I'm actually staring at it, it's just across the street -- last night. The Red Cross stayed there last night, as did some residents here who decided they just had to get out from the cold.

And actually the mayor of the town is here, Mayor Boatright. And we were just talking a few minutes ago about how you don't have power right now. And you estimate how many people in this town still don't have the lights on?

MAYOR DONALEE BOATRIGHT, KREBS, OKLAHOMA: I'd say probably 75 percent of the population.

AQUI: And what is your biggest concern at this point for your community?

BOATRIGHT: Well, our elderly people. The safety of our people is the main thing and keep everything running just like we're doing now. Like this morning, we got up early. We refueled all of our equipment on the generators and things and everyone's working together. It's just doing real good. We're doing good. We're coming through it.

AQUI: But I know Oklahoma has a sense of pride for being resilient, for getting through weather situations. Usually tornadoes is what we're hearing about in Oklahoma, not ice storms. I know you guys were hit in 2000 and back then you received a lot of help.

BOATRIGHT: Yes, sir. Yes.

AQUI: Are you anticipating you're going to get that federal help again?

BOATRIGHT: I hope so. I think we will because FEMA brought us a generator in to use Wednesday night, I guess. It's a 36,000K, I believe is what it was.

AQUI: And that generator, I should mention, is really the only thing that is keeping the town hall open at this point so that it's heated so that people have a place to go at night. That's where the police officers are also at night. And those police officers are going out and trying to get people the help they need. Tell me about that.

BOATRIGHT: Yes. Yes, they go out and, you know, door to door and neighbor to neighbor, check in on each other. And it's just worked good. We went through this, though, like you say, in 2000 and we had our game plan. And It's worked good. The people are doing good. They're responding to any request we have. And it's just going good. If you can say that.

AQUI: Right. It's all relative at this point, isn't it? BOATRIGHT: Right.

AQUI: Mr. Mayor, thank you so much for being here.

BOATRIGHT: Thank you, sir.

AQUI: And good luck to you because tonight this could all happen again. We don't know exactly what that precipitation is going to be. And, believe it or not, there's hope here that, of course, we miss it completely. But beyond that, they'd much rather have snow than ice because, Heidi, this ice is really the evil in this sort of storm because it puts out the power. It's so heavy. It just knocks out really communication with the outside world. So they are praying for snow, not ice.

COLLINS: Yes. And, boy, I bet they are. You know, Reggie, we understand that the governor, of course, just yesterday, Governor Brad Henry of Oklahoma, declared a major federal disaster declaration. Hopefully people will be able to get some of those costs back if they had property or other things damaged that were not insured. So some good news there.

But any idea from the power companies, Reggie, on when things will be turned back on?

AQUI: Well, here's the problem, Heidi. They did get a lot of businesses and even homes on last night. And then when I'm talking to the residents this morning, they're telling me the power's off again. So as soon as they fix something, something else happens to break it. And with the storm coming in later today, of course, that's only going to get worse. So they're out there trying. They have backup from other states to help them get out there to these communities, but it's overwhelming at this point, particularly in towns we're talking about, in the southeast, Oklahoma, they're doing their best but it's just not enough.

COLLINS: All right. All right, Reggie Aqui, from Krebs, Oklahoma.

Thanks, Reggie.

HOLMES: We're going to now to our expert now who's helping us through all this, walking us through it, Reynolds Wolf in the Weather Center.

Now like they were saying there, they don't know how much precipitation they're going to get next, but these folks don't even have time to catch their breathe, some of them, and they're going to get hit with it again.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: Want to get this information out to you just as quickly as we can, just into us here at CNN. Washington, now. Former Representative Bob Ney from Ohio has just been sentenced. That sentence in the Abramoff scandal. You'll remember he is the first congressman brought up on charges. He admitted to trading political action for golf trips, tickets, meals and campaign donations from the lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

That sentence a little bit surprising. Thirty months in prison is what he got. That was from U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle. Her recommendation for 30 months said to be because Ney's actions were "significant, serious abuses of the public interest." So, once again, former Representative Bob Ney getting 30 months in prison to his links to the Abramoff scandal. We'll continue to follow that story for you and let you know if anything else should happen here today.

HOLMES: Back in Iraq. New Defense Secretary Robert Gates is on his second mission to the war zone in less than a month. This time he's in southern Iraq meeting with U.S., British and coalition figures in Basra and Nasiriyah.

Overnight, U.S. and Iraqi forces arrested a top aid to anti- American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. His Mehdi army is thought to be in the middle of the sectarian violence in Iraq. The U.S. military says the man arrested in Baghdad is suspected of working with death squad commanders.

Also in Baghdad, another U.S. soldier has died from a roadside bomb. The blast wounded three other U.S. troops.

COLLINS: Baghdad awash in blood again this week. Survivors struggling to cope. Tuesday's double bombings at a Baghdad university killed at least 70 students and employees and wounded 170 more. Our Arwa Damon takes us to the shell-shocked campus.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): A mound on the campus green, a grave for unidentified remains of victims of a pair of bombs, literally blown to bits.

IBRAHIM MOHAMMAD, UNIVERSITY EMPLOYEE, (voice over): Don't believe anyone who tells you they carried entire bodies. We would carry a body and parts would fall off.

DAMON: Atop the grave, ID cards picked up after the blast. The fate of their owners, unknown. Inside the school where students chattered and footsteps sounded just days ago, only silence. Hanging across the entrance, a sign of defiance. The banner reads, "we will not succumb to terror."

Hadi Ashur, both legs broken, his face indelibly scarred, says he will be back. To say away, he says, would be to let the terrorists win. He says a girl's body fell on him after the explosion, saving his life, and is tormented by thoughts that it might be his good friend Mahab (ph).

HADI ASHUR, INJURED IN BOMBING: And I was walking and I saw her and she said, finally, I caught you. And I told her, Mahab, I swear to God, tomorrow, I'll not attend any lectures just for you. DAMON: Ashur confesses he's had a crush on Mahab for a long time but never told her. Now, he fears, he'll never get the chance.

In another bed, Samah, a 20-year-old chemistry student who also survived purely by chance.

SAMAH, INJURED IN BOMBING: The last thing that I talked about with my friend was her engagement tomorrow. I asked her to stay with me but she wanted to leave. I insisted on staying to photo copy some papers. She wanted to go and she died. I wanted to stay and I stayed alive.

DAMON: Those who could talk said the most painful thing was that one minute they were just college students having fun, the next, waking up to a nightmare that will likely never end.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Arwa Damon joining us now live.

Arwa, you know, we have heard before here on CNN about other attacks on intellectuals, if you will, coming in and out of universities. What does it say about the violence there now?

DAMON: Well, Heidi, when you speak with the students at the universities, when you speak with educators, when you speak with what is left of Iraq's intellectual elite, they will all tell you that this is an effort on the part of the insurgency to actually dampen the education in this country. They say that it is because the insurgents don't want Iraq to move forward. They don't want Iraq to develop. They are trying to basically shatter the dreams of Iraq's youth, Iraq's next generation that would potentially be leading this country.

Now that being said, though, when you do visit these university campuses, after the attack, there is this sort of resilience that is reborn there, if you want to be phrasing it that way. And it's very encouraging and it really is very awe inspiring when you look at these young students, when you look at the professors there, when you look at all that they really have to go through on a day-to-day basis, how they survive the violence, how they try to move on, it's really very admirable.

Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes, very determined, that's for sure.

I wonder though, and you have spent so much time there talking to as many people as possible in Iraq about the mood there, what do attacks like this make the Iraqi people feel and think?

DAMON: Well, Heidi, it's utterly devastating, especially following this attack. When we were speaking with Iraqis, they were more shocked and more disgusted, even though they are tragically used to dealing with the violence. But specifically because the sole aim of this attack seems to be to target the students, to target the employees of this university. And, really, that struck a chord with most of the Iraqis that we spoke to, expressing their disgust, expressing their horror. And in some sense it does make them feel as though any kind of better future is not going to be happening any time soon. But again, I go back to the point of the strength that we saw amongst the students and that tells of a different story of people that are determined to stand in the face of the violence.

COLLINS: It is incredible. And good for them. All right. Arwa Damon reporting for us live this morning from Baghdad.

HOLMES: We do want to pass along to you information we're just getting, coming to you out of Massachusetts. Specifically Sudbury, Massachusetts, where the AP is reporting that someone at Lincoln Sudbury High School there in Sudbury, Massachusetts, has been stabbed and killed at a high school there. This happened, pronounced dead according to AP around 8:00 this morning at a local hospital there. Sudbury is just 20 plus miles or so to the east of Boston, to give you an idea of where this is.

But don't know much about the incident or if the person who was stabbed was a student or a teacher. Don't know if the person who was doing the stabbing was a student or a teacher. But we're just getting something. We are certainly going to be on top of and following a stabbing at Lincoln Sudbury High School, in Sudbury, Massachusetts, where one person has died after being stabbed at that school. We're going to continue to monitor that, find out as much information as we can and bring that along to you.

Meanwhile, also need to tell you about satellites. Eyes in the sky for spies? Is U.S. intelligence at risk after China's successful strike in space. You'll find out more here in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: The two faces of New Orleans. Take a look at this. CNN's Sean Callebs' tale of two cities in the NEWSROOM.

HOLMES: And living a nightmare. Boy, a parents' fear here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

: It's a question that no parent -- that every parent is going to go through their mind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: CNN's Soledad O'Brien talks with the parents of Shawn Hornbeck, about their son's horrible kidnapping ordeal. That is ahead in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: A home away from home for soldiers and their families to heal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just not having to worry. Being able just to be here and see for my own eyes that he's walking, see for my own eyes that he's getting better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: We'll tell you about the Fisher House and how you can support it, coming up right here in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Relief, joy, hope, and maybe some regrets. The parents of 15-year-old Shawn Hornbeck are talking more about their ordeal now that their kidnapped son is back home. CNN's Soledad O'Brien talked with the teen's parents. Shawn's step-father says he's haunted now that he dismissed messages the teen posted on a website created after his disappearance.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let me ask you a question about the messages on the message board. It's got to break your heart to pieces.

CRAIG AKERS, STEPFATHER OF SHAWN HORNBECK: Oh, it does. To know that I sat there and looked at it. And I remember reading it. And I remember reading it, looking at it and . . .

O'BRIEN: What did you think it was?

AKERS: Somebody else yanking my chain again. I mean, we had already gone through numerous times were people would go into our chat room and say, "hi, I'm Shawn. I left because I don't love you anymore." And, you know, things like that. We'd get postings on the message board almost on a daily basis that we would delete as soon as we saw them because, you know, there was a lot of things like that posted. So it, you know, it really didn't throw up a read flag.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And you can watch Soledad's complete interview on cnn.com/pipeline.

COLLINS: For New Orleans Saints fans, it is the best of times, with Super Bowl dreams on the line this weekend in Chicago. But for many in New Orleans, it is the worst of times. Much of the city is still a ghost town. Rebuilding efforts going nowhere. CNN's Sean Callebs has the tale of two cities.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): One step from the Super Bowl, there is no question the New Orleans Saints are energizing this city. Cheering, smiling, celebrations. Images of the city flashed around the country. But lest anyone forget, this, locals say, is a much more accurate picture.

CHUCK BACIGALUPI, NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT: There are so many people around here that are, you know, living in tents, inside, you know, gutted houses because they just don't have the means.

CALLEBS: The lower Ninth Ward, Lakeview. These are current pictures, not something from months ago.

BACIGALUPI: This neighbor over here hasn't done anything. Her refrigerator is still in there. It, you know, stinks. There's rats. You know, there's more holes where there used to be houses than there are houses now.

CALLEBS: So, come on, you say, it can't be that bad. We've seen Bourbon Street. After all, Brad and Angelina are moving to the city, right? Business leaders say tourism is slowly coming back, but still . . .

EARL BERNHARDT, BOURBON STREET ALLIANCE: In normal times, these business, all of them on the street, would be doing better than they are. But times are tough and the strong survive and the weak don't.

CALLEBS: And even though the French Quarter was spared when 80 percent of the city was flooded, there is no question it still suffers.

BERNHARDT: New Orleans is tourism. Without tourism, we're nothing.

CALLEBS: So few residents have been able to return to areas decimated after the levies gave way. They wonder where are city, state and federal government leaders? Where is the money for rebuilding? But people here are resilient. And they will take the black and gold until the city starts seeing the green.

BACIGALUPI: You know, hopefully it will come. And this is helping. If the Saints win, you know, people are smiling.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: It's nice to see. It's also nice to see Sean Callebs standing on the field there.

Hey, Sean, wondering about the mood of the city. The Saints have had an incredible season. But is that hiding some of the real issues, maybe?

CALLEBS: You know, it's interesting because the last gentleman we spoke with kind of sums up the way people here in New Orleans are looking at the Saints. I mean, these lovable losers have done so much for this city. The last four months you have really seen this city get behind the team, get so energized.

But there is a certain degree of frustration because the networks have chronicled the Saints great season as well. You see a lot of shots from here inside the Superdome. People cheering. You see shots on Bourbon Streets. Crowded streets. But, boy, get out of those areas and it still is a ghost town. There's a lot of frustration. And the biggest thing we hear from people is, they feel like the rest of the country has forgotten about them and they simply don't want that to happen.

COLLINS: Yes. And we just saw a couple weeks ago some serious frustration with Mayor Ray Nagin there, that speaking event, they wouldn't even let him talk. Is there a plan for the future yet, Sean? The city still hasn't really released anything official.

CALLEBS: Right. Exactly. And I think the mayor's office says, yes, we have a plan. But, you know, go talk to the citizens who live in the 80 percent of the city that got flooded. They're still trying to seek out some kind of lifestyle. Some kind of home life. They say there is no plan and there's no rebuilding going on to speak of.

There is this much ballyhooed program called "The Road Home." It's supposed to provide tens of thousands of dollars to tens of thousands of people. About two-thirds of the people who have applied for this program have heard back. Only one-third of those have been interviewed. And only some of those people have received money. And no one knows if it's even going to be enough to rebuild.

So that is the biggest question. Will people rebuild in the city areas like the lower Ninth Ward, which has really become synonymous with misery. And in Lakeview, which used to be the backbone of the city. Still unclear how they're going to rebuild or if.

COLLINS: Yes. What about those efforts, though, the volunteers and the organizations that are helping to clean up and rebuild? I mean, are they still around?

CALLEBS: Yes, that's interesting. Yes, they're still around. And not just here. If you go through the Mississippi area, that really got punished by the storm surge as well.

If you talk to a lot of people they say, you know what, if it wasn't for these legions of volunteers who have come from all over the country, a lot of church groups, a lot of civic groups, that they just don't know where the city would be because so many of the homes were gutted by the folks who were coming in to do what they can to help people. And charitable groups have done so much to try and get this city back on track. I think you can -- there's a huge degree of thanks the people in this area think that they owe. All those people have come down and done so much when so many others, in terms of government, people here feel have just turned their backs on them.

COLLINS: Well, it is nice to see you standing there on the field. And although nothing has been determined for the Super Bowl yet, hard not to get behind the Saints. But the good news, Sean, they won't have to worry about the Minnesota Vikings, I don't think. My Vikings don't look so good.

All right, Sean Callebs live for us from New Orleans this morning.

HOLMES: Well, the new defense chief is back in Iraq. Robert Gates' mission to Basra. That's ahead in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Hold on. Europe ripped by hurricane force winds. The gusty day and the details in the NEWSROOM.

HOLMES: And Gerri Willis, here with us to answer some viewer e- mail.

Good morning to you kind ma'am.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you.

We are dipping into that mailbag. And I'll tell you, if you should save for your retirement or your kids tuition? Which comes first? That's next on "Top Tips."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We do want to continue to update you on a story we're watching out of Sudbury, Massachusetts, which, again, is about 20 miles to the west of Boston, where there has been a stabbing at a high school there. And at least one person has died. This was at the Lincoln Sudbury Regional High School there in Sudbury.

AP is reporting this now and also parents are telling AP that they were told at least that this incident did involve two students and happened before school started. The person was pronounced dead, according to the AP, at a local hospital just after 8:00 a.m. Again, this is at Sudbury Regional High School there in Sudbury, Massachusetts. The AP also reporting that the other students in the school, some 1,600 do attend this high school, were taken to the auditorium and left there after the incident happened.

But again, keeping an eye on this. Trying to get more details. No official word yet on who exactly the victim is and who might have been doing the stabbing. But again, at least one person dead after a stabbing at a school in Sudbury, Massachusetts. We're still working this, getting more details and we will pass them along to you as we get them.

COLLINS: To Iraq now and new Defense Secretary Robert Gates on his second trip to the war zone in less than a month. This time he's in southern Basra and Nasiriyah, meeting with U.S., British, and other coalition officials. His visit comes as U.S. and Iraqi forces work to restore law and order. Overnight they arrested a top aid to anti- American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. His Mehdi army is thought to be in the middle of the sectarian violence in Iraq.

HOLMES: Growing violence, dwindling faith. The Bush administration and top Democrats increasingly questioning Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's leadership in Iraq. The latest critic might be presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Here's part of her talk with CNN's John Roberts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, do you have any faith he is the guy that can bring Iraq back to a state of security? SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: I don't have any faith.

ROBERTS: No faith in al-Maliki?

CLINTON: Whether there is a gap between his intentions and his will and capacity is the real problem, or whether he's doing what he intends to do to sort of mark time and further, you know, the dominance of his sectarian supporters, it's hard to tell.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: You can see John Roberts' full interview with Senator Clinton this weekend. Tune in to "This Week at War" Saturday evening at 7:00 Eastern, and then, again, Sunday afternoon at 1:00 Eastern.

COLLINS: China aims a missile into space and brings down a howl of protests. The United States and some allies object to apparently successful weapons tests. The missile destroyed an aging weather satellite in the U.S., used it as a direct threat to lower Earth satellites vital to the U.S. military. It is also a threat to U.S./China relations. We'll explore that and more next hour right here in the NEWSROOM.

Well, Iran is pursuing it. Now the desire for nuclear power is spreading to other parts of the Middle East. Jordan's King Abdullah reportedly admits his country wants its own nuclear program. Abdullah told an Israeli newspaper. He is discussing it with western nations. The king says his interest is only in energy, not weapons.

Do you have questions about student loans, hope shopping and CDs? Well, some of our viewers did. So here to answer them, CNN personal finance editor Gerri Willis joining us this morning from New York.

Good morning to you, Gerri.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Hey, Heidi, good to see you.

Hit me with that first question.

COLLINS: All right -- "Next year we will be in the market for a home. Please cite any sources you we might find useful to help me start my search," coming from Stephen in Minneapolis.

WILLIS: Well, congratulations on looking for a house. The first thing you want to do is to figure out exactly how much you can afford. You can use Web sites like bankrate.com and HSH Associates at HSH.com. And then of course you'll want to know what houses are going for in the neighborhood that you've targeted. Go to zillo.com. You can get tons of price information, and finally see what's out there on the market right now by going to Web site with largest real estate agents in the in the area. They're easy enough to figure out, because they've got signs all over the neighborhood.

COLLINS: All right. Now to Florida and Michelle. She wants to know this -- "Where can I get more information on affordable student loans? I have a teenager who will be going to college in 2008. I need to find loan money in the next 12 months. Some interesting legislation going through just yesterday."

WILLIS: Absolutely. And you can hear the desperation in her voice, right? It's really tricky. And you've got to get on it. First off, you wan to get as many federal loans as possible, since they're always cheaper than private loans, and lenders will compete by offering discounts. For a list of benefits that lenders are offering go to finaid.com.

And something else to check out here, myrichuncle.com. This company offers federal student loans, like any other bank, but at more attractive rates. Check this out. Here's an example of what you would save by using My Rich Uncle versus the lender Sallie Mae. Now on a $10,000 Stafford Loan, with a 6.8 percent interest rate, My Rich Uncle is offering a one percent interest rate reduction right off the bat, while Sallie Mae is offering a 3.3 percent reduction on principle after students make 33 months of on-time payments. So you can see, in the end, the students would save a thousand dollars with My Rich Uncle, with Sallie Mae, it's less than $750.

But of course the feds are talking very seriously here about cutting rates on these loans, as you just mentioned. But it's going to be a long time coming, and we'll keep an eye out on it for you.

COLLINS: That's right. I want to go ahead and get to Ohio now, a question from there -- "What should a person do first, pay down a mortgage, invest in an IRA or college funds?

WILLIS: Great question. I mean, people debate this all the time. My vote, the IRA. Look, retirement should take priority over the future college education of your kids, because guess what, they can borrow the money. You can't borrow money for your retirement. Mortgage debt, for most of us, too, is low, low-cost debt with interest rates under 6 percent. So you don't really have to be in such a hurry to pay that off.

COLLINS: All right, and finally, "Melanie R. wants to know this. I have three children, ages 2 through 8. They want to put away money for them in CDs. Do you have a better suggestion to help pay for college and other related expenses, like maybe studies abroad?"

WILLIS: Well, I'm not a big fan of CDs for college savings. First of all, the tax benefits are minimal, plus whatever's in that CD will be treated as a student asset, and that's going to hurt your kid's chances of getting financial aid. You're far better off investing in a Coverdale Education Savings Account. There's a yearly maximum contribution of $2,000, a ceiling. The thing is, though, you're starting so early, you'll build up quite a bit of savings pretty fast.

Plus, you can use the savings in that Coverdale to cover anything, from books to studying abroad.

And just a tip I want to squeeze in here, Heidi, don't forget, this Tuesday, new passport rules go into effect, and that means everyone arriving by air into the U.S. has to show a passport. This includes U.S. citizens and citizens from previously exempt countries like Canada and Mexico.

And just a reminder, if you have a question for us, a money question of any sort, send us an e-mail to toptips@CNN.com. We answer them right here every Friday, and we love to hear from you.

COLLINS: All right, Gerri, and we will be watching.

"OPEN HOUSE" tomorrow. Don't forget, everybody, 9:30 a.m. Saturday, right here.

Thank you, Gerri.

WILLIS: Thank you, Heidi.

COLLINS: Have a good weekend.

WILLIS: You, too.

HOLMES: Well, hold on. Europe gripped by hurricane-force winds. This gusty day coming up in the NEWSROOM.

Costly cleanup, one state's tab for snow removal runs into the billions. Why so high? Find out ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Talk about a high tab. More than $7 billion, that is the tab for snow removal from two holiday storms in Colorado. The estimate includes the cost of material, lots of chemicals, equipment and staffing.

But officials say not all the bill for overtime and contractor expenses are even in yet. At one point, officials had more than 600 pieces of snow removal equipment running 24 hours a day, seven days a week. At least 100 of the machines broke down and had to be repaired.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HOLMES: Europe's windy day. But parts of the continent scrambling to recover today from a deadly and damaging winter storm. The latest live now from Berlin bureau chief Frederick Pleitgen.

Pleitgen, I should say. Hello to you. I guess the wind is not blowing your way right now. Tell us what some of the other issues are.

FREDERICK PLEITGEN, CNN BERLIN BUREAU CHIEF: Well, the wind is actually still blowing quite a bit, T.J. But we are very much on the tail end of that storm, and it really was a very big and very, very nasty storm here in Europe. I've covered a couple of these storms here in Europe, abut really I've never seen one like this. I'm sure that many Europeans have not ever seen a storm like this, or least haven't seen one like this in the past year. Really it was one that engulfed the entire continent here, England, the Netherlands and Germany as well. Dozens of people have been left dead after this story, one very, very tragic case, where a little 18-month-old baby was killed by a porch door that was flying around, and basically was blown out of its hinges. And really, right now, in all of Europe, there's still over a million people without power -- T.J.

HOLMES: How are people getting around right now on the roads, and as far as travel delays at the airports as well?

PLEITGEN: Well, it's very, very difficult. Many people in Europe and especially in Germany, they travel by railroad, and the railroad travel here right now is just an absolute disaster. There is massive delays in many parts of the country. There is no railroad service at all with trees till on the railroad tracks, and with flights you'll see exactly the same thing. Massive cancellations still here in almost all German airports, and really still a backlog from yesterday.

So people traveling to Europe and people travelling, planning to travel in Europe, they better check out and see if they're going to get where they want to go.

All right, you told about what has happened. Is anything else going to happen, are they anticipating? Is it over? Is it Done? Have we seen the worst?

PLEITGEN: Well, we believe that we have seen the worst. We believe we're pretty much on the tail end of this storm, really right now what they're doing is they're making an assessment how big the damage was. They're saying it's in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and really those lives lost, of course, are a very big issue in Europe.

But really right now, they think that this storm is slowly, very slowly, beginning to pass, but it did rage for almost 24 hours here in Europe.

HOLMES: All right, Frederick Pleitgen. Frederick, thank you so much.

COLLINS: A home away from home for soldiers and their families to heal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just not having to worry, being able just to be here and see for my own eyes that he's walking, see for my own eyes that he's getting better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: We'll tell you about the Fisher House hand how you can support it, ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BUSINESS HEADLINES) HOLMES: I have a little bit more information on the story we've been telling you about, a fatal stabbing that happened in Sudbury, Massachusetts. We are learning, according to our affiliate there, and that would be WHDH, apparently the victim was a 17-year-old student, again, according to our affiliate on the ground there, Sudbury, Massachusetts, WHDH reporting a 17-year-old student was stabbed to death this morning at Lincoln Sudbury High School. This happened, the child died, according to the Associated Press, a little after 8:00 a.m. this morning. We know that the state and local police have responded to this incident. School has been canceled. Certainly all classes have been called off. But once again, that's the latest information according to our affiliate there, a 17-year-old student stabbed to death this morning at Lincoln Sudbury High School in Massachusetts.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

HOLMES: All right, Susan, thank you so much. We'll see you again soon.

COLLINS: I want to go ahead and show you a live shot here, before it goes, we should say. This is CNN's Warrior One, that's right, today going to be auctioned off. We've been telling you about this now for a long time after the show on TLC "Overhaulin," completely redid it after some of our crews used in Iraq and Afghanistan.

HOLMES: We didn't have those rims.

COLLINS: No. We didn't have rims like that. I hear the stereo system is pretty darned good too. The proceeds, of course, will be going to the Fisher House, this is for wounded warriors from both Iraq and Afghanistan. Incredible facilities all over the country. In fact, the Warrior One has visited the Brook Army Medical Center down in San Antonio, grand opening for that going to be happening on Monday, January 29th, two more Fisher Houses, some of the most elaborate yet, 21 suite facilities going to be opening up there as well. So we'll be following that for you.

You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Faith and fury, Iraq's prime minister under fire from Washington. The latest blow from inside the beltway, hear for yourself in THE NEWSROOM.

HOLMES: And the threat from space.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we, for instance, got into a conflict over Taiwan, one of the first things they'd probably do would be to shoot down all our lower orbit spy satellites, putting out our eyes.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: China launches a killer missile and brings down a howl of protest. We're talking about it here in THE NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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