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More Snow, More Cold, More Misery; Defense Secretary Robert Gates in Iraq; New Threat in Space
Aired January 19, 2007 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I am T.J. Holmes, sitting in today for Tony Harris.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Heidi Collins.
For the next three hours, watch events as they come in to the NEWSROOM live on this Friday, the 19th of January.
Here's what's on the rundown.
Iced over in the Plains. Today, winter piling it on. Another big storm takes aim at west Texas and Oklahoma.
HOLMES: China knocking out a satellite with a missile. The tests have been alarming to the U.S. American spy satellites perhaps at risk.
COLLINS: A kidnapped boy back with his family. Shawn Hornbeck's parents talk with CNN about the four-year nightmare -- in the NEWSROOM.
More snow, more cold, more misery. The central U.S. starting -- staring, that is, at another wave of winter weather. The region struggling to recover from the paralyzing ice storm over the past week. Tens of thousands of people still without electricity.
CNN's Reggie Aqui joins us now live from Krebs, Oklahoma.
Reggie, how many people still powerless? What are they doing at this point to keep warm?
REGGIE AQUI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, I'm in a small town in southeast Oklahoma. This is the area that was hardest hit during last week's storm, and this morning, 10,000 customers are still waking up with no power at all.
What they're fearing today is more of the same, ice coating all of the trees, knocking down power lines and trees, coating the power lines. We're talking about statewide still 60,000 people without power. And this is dangerous business, this is no winter wonderland.
We're talking about a storm that killed more than 20 people in Oklahoma alone. And can you believe it? They're getting ready to go through this all over again.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) AQUI (voice over): Thousands of people in Oklahoma without power for nearly a week are bracing for another blast of bad news. More snow and more freezing rain are on the way.
McAlester, Oklahoma, may look like a picture postcard, but it's already been declared a disaster area. And crews are still working to get the lights back on.
In Norman, Oklahoma, a TV news chopper came to the rescue of a deer stuck on a frozen lake.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought, well, you know, if I could get close enough, maybe I can blow -- just blow the deer over to the shore.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got it, Bubba.
AQUI: The punishing weather has stretched across the country. Citrus growers in California are surveying damage from a winter freeze.
Some 70 deaths in nine states are blamed on the winter blast. Many of those killed on the roads.
In Texas, a 300-mile stretch of Interstate 10 was closed for two days. Parts of Texas could see ice again this weekend.
Snow and ice were a deadly combination in North Carolina yesterday. In Virginia, ice caused a slew of accidents and shut down a section of I-95 near Richmond.
Next in line for round one, the northeast and New England, as round two gears up from the Southwest.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AQUI: I'm in the small town of Krebs, which is just outside of McAlester. And, see, that's the Krebs Town Hall back there. But last night, it was turned into a Red Cross shelter.
Some people decided that it was just getting too hard at home without any heat, without any electricity at all. They spent the night there, and they are anticipating they could be spending many more night there.
Back to you.
COLLINS: Reggie, I know that there is some electricity, though. It kind of seems like it's in pockets. How does that happen, and who is getting it?
AQUI: Well, here's what's happening. First of all, if you were to drive here just about an hour ago, before the sun came up, you would see that there were lights inside of the shelter. That's because FEMA has come in with some emergency generators.
They brought them to the shelters. They brought them to the hospitals. To the essential areas where people need to go.
And they're also bringing in a bunch of folks from other states and other power companies to come and support the Oklahoma power companies. They are out there. In fact, they're actually filling the parking lot of our hotel right now. And they're going to be out there again later today trying to get this power on.
But as you know, Heidi, it can all be for naught, because tomorrow morning we could be talking about those power lines down again.
COLLINS: Boy, it's unbelievable, isn't it?
All right. Reggie Aqui, we appreciate it, live from Oklahoma today.
HOLMES: Want to turn now to our Reynolds Wolf.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: 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 is in southern Iraq, 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 aide 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: We're going to get more now on defense chief Robert Gates' return to the war zone and a big arrest there.
We want to go to Arwa Damon, who's in the Iraqi capital.
Arwa, hello to you.
And tell us, he's back. Of course, he has a lot of catching up to do, still a new guy on the block. So maybe not such a big deal that it's his second trip there so soon, but what should we make of the fact that he's actually in southern Iraq this time?
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, T.J., the southern portion of the country, which is predominantly Shia, is of specific interest, especially for the United States. Again, it is predominantly Shia, and it is where British and American military intelligence officers believe that a fair amount of the Iranian influence that we have been hearing so much about is concentrated.
Now, intelligence, according to the Brits and the Americans, does indicate a clear connection between, for example, these sophisticated roadside bombs that we are seeing in Iran. We believe that technology coming right across the border. They also believe they have specific intelligence that proves that Iran is really trying to exploit the various Shia factions that exist down in that area. And throughout this entire trip we have heard Secretary Gates re- addressing the issue of Iranian influence in Iraq. In fact, going as far to say that currently Iran has the upper hand. So one would assume that the main point, or one of the main points of his trip down there, other than security, is to also perhaps try to get a better handle on the Iranian influence in this country -- T.J.
HOLMES: Arwa, let's turn now to this big arrest that we saw, a close associate to Muqtada al-Sadr. Do we know what the -- exactly who this is and what the reaction and response is possibly going to be with such a close person to Muqtada al-Sadr being taken into custody?
DAMON: Well, T.J., this was a very interesting arrest in the sense that, first of all, it was an operation that was conducted by Iraqi Special Forces with their coalition advisers. The individual whom they did obtain, according to Muqtada al-Sadr's office, is the director of his main office located in Sadr City. That this is his Mehdi militia stronghold.
The man has been identified as Abdul al-Hadi al-Daraji (ph). Now, according to al-Sadr's bloc, though, the Americans and the Iraqis arrested the wrong person. However, the Americans are insisting that they detained a man who is responsible for kidnapping, torturing and killing Iraqi civilians.
This is why this is interesting. The Iraqi government in the past, when U.S. and Iraqi forces have detained individuals of Muqtada al-Sadr's party, when they have detained leaders of his militia, the Iraqi government has put pressure and been successful at securing their release.
As part of this new plan moving forward, this new Baghdad security plan, the Iraqi prime minister has vowed, has promised that there will be no political interference when these sorts of arrests take place. Now, we do know that al-Sadr's bloc is pushing for his release; however, we did hear from one of the spokesman for the Iraqi government saying that al-Daraji (ph) will be fully investigated -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right, Arwa. And we're going to hear from you again next hour. Tell us what you have coming up for us.
Did we lose Arwa?
I don't if Arwa -- we must have lost Arwa there. But we are expecting to hear from her again next hour. So we will hopefully reconnect and see her then -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Meanwhile, growing violence and dwindling faith. The Bush White House and top Democrats increasingly questioning Prime Minister al-Maliki's leadership in Iraq. The latest critic, likely presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Here is part of her talk with CNN's John Roberts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHN ROBERTS, CNN SR. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Nuri al-Maliki, the prime minister, do you have any faith that he is the guy who can -- who can bring Iraq back to a state of security?
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM 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)
COLLINS: And 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 again Sunday afternoon at 1:00 Eastern.
HOLMES: Well, Iran's pursuing it. Now the desire for nuclear power is spreading to other parts of the Middle East. Jordan's King Abdullah II reportedly admits his country wants its own nuclear program. Abdullah told an Israeli newspaper he's discussing it with Western nations. The king says his interest is only in energy, not weapons.
COLLINS: The Chinese take aim at targets in space. It's a missile threat that could leave the U.S. in the dark.
You're in the NEWSROOM.
HOLMES: And scary pictures here, alarming words, but apparently dead wrong. Consumer Reports retracts its scathing report on infant car seats.
That story 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 ahead in the NEWSROOM.
HOLMES: And an observation from CNN's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Deer are getting more daring, but they can still be dumb. What deer in his right mind would wander into a store with a name like "Target"?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: You know, I have wondered that myself on many, many occasions.
COLLINS: But this is the best right here.
HOLMES: Yes. Jeanne has all the endearing video just ahead in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A new threat in space. The U.S. protesting China's apparently successful test of a satellite killing weapon. The test could pose a danger to satellites vital to the U.S. military.
More now from Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Low Earth orbit satellites have become indispensable for the U.S. military for communications, for GPS navigation to guide smart bombs and troops, and for real-time surveillance. But they are also extremely vulnerable, as the just revealed test of a satellite killing weapon by China ominously demonstrates.
JOHN PIKE, GLOBALSECURITY.ORG: If we, for instance, got into a conflict over Taiwan, one of the first things they'd probably do would to be shoot down all of our lower orbit spy satellites, putting out our eyes.
MCINTYRE: According to U.S. government officials, after three misses, China last Thursday succeed in shooting down one of its own aging weather satellites with a medium range ballistic missile fired from the ground. U.S. censors tracked the satellite as it disappeared from its polar orbit 537 miles above the Earth and was reduced to hundreds of pieces of space debris after impact with a kill vehicle carried by the missile.
The U.S. has lodged a formal diplomatic protest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was this a provocative move by China?
TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Don't know that, but we are concerned about it and we have made it known.
MCINTYRE: Under a new space policy authorized by President Bush last August, the U.S. asserts a right to freedom of action in space and vows to deny, if necessary, adversaries the use of space capabilities hostile to U.S. national interests.
Experts say the concern is not as much about Chinese capabilities, as their long-term intentions.
PIKE: The thing that is surprising and disturbing is that they have chosen this moment to demonstrate a military capability that could only be aimed at the United States.
MCINTYRE (on camera): In effect, the Chinese have fired a shot across the bow of the United States and made it clear they feel no constraints in developing space weapons. Some observers feel this may mark the lowest point in U.S.-China relations since the downing of a U.S. spy plane back in 2001.
Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Sexual abuse of a kidnapped child, the mere thought of it is hard for any parent to stomach. And the parents of Shawn Hornbeck say they haven't discussed that subject with their son.
Fifteen-year-old Shawn Hornbeck was allegedly kidnapped four years ago, then found last week, you will remember. Forty-one-year- old Michael Devlin has been charged with his kidnapping but not sexual abuse.
CNN's Soledad O'Brien of "AMERICAN MORNING" sat down with Shawn's parents and asked them whether they think their son was molested.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAM AKERS, MOTHER OF SHAWN HORNBECK: That's one of the questions I will be asking Shawn when the time is right and when he feels that he could talk about it. But I don't want everybody to think that he had this perfect life with this -- with this guy. There is no way he had a perfect life with this guy.
Shawn was happy at home. He had a good home. I know he wanted to be at home.
Shawn will come to us when he's ready. We've always been close. He's always been comfortable with us.
But I think part of the reason he hasn't yet is because he doesn't want us to hurt any more. He's just wanting us to enjoy the time we have and to focus on the good things. But eventually, I do believe Shawn will tell me everything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And you can see Soledad's complete interview on cnn.com/pipeline.
COLLINS: Far from home. The road to recovery for injured U.S. troops and their families could be a very, very lonely one. But the Fisher House is changing that. The nonprofit organization operates 33 houses in the U.S., another one in Germany.
"Headline News'" Robin Meade took a tour of the Fisher House at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBIN MEADE, CNN HEADLINE NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hey!
VIVIAN WILSON, MANAGER, FISHER HOUSE: Welcome, Robin!
MEADE: Thanks for having us at the Fisher House. How are you, Vivian?
WILSON: Thank you for coming today. I'm doing great. Thank you. It's wonderful to have you here.
Welcome.
MEADE: Thank you. The honor is all ours.
So this is pretty gorgeous in here.
WILSON: Why thank you. We're very proud of it. The Army's 15th house.
MEADE: So in here you have, like, different living areas?
WILSON: We do. A living room right in here.
MEADE: You were saying this is the Army's 15th?
WILSON: Right, the 35th Fisher House and the Army's 15th Fisher House.
The wonderful thing about the Fisher House, though, is that the support system is the family.
STAFF SGT. HAROLD ORD, U.S. ARMY: It's helped my recovery a lot. Basically a home setting. We can pretty much come in here and the whole family feels relaxed. And there's other soldiers here which you can kind of talk and socialize.
MEADE: So who would stay in a room like this?
WILSON: This room here is typical of a spouse, a family type of setting, where a spouse comes in and she's able to spend time with her husband.
MEADE: Show me around.
MEADE: Oftentimes they're inpatients, initially. But when the service member gets out and he can join his family here, or she, then this is a wonderful setup.
MELISSA PRICE< WIFE OF INJURED SOLDIER: Whenever he's in the hospital, or anything like that, I can be close. I can just walk over to the hospital.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just having my wife close to me everyday really made a difference.
WILSON: All the bathrooms are fully handicapped accessible. Actually, all the rooms, this house, has large hallways. The bathrooms are large.
SGT. JASON PEPPER. U.S. ARMY: The fact that I was newly blinded, both arms -- both my arms were in a cast, so I couldn't feed myself, couldn't wash myself. You know, I couldn't do anything for myself. So I needed to have Heather, you know, feed me, bathe me, just everything.
WILSON: You're seeing a lot more soldiers that are coming back who have lost limbs, for instances. And oftentimes, spinal cord injuries or traumatic brain injuries that inhibit them from being as ambulatory as they want to be or can be.
HEATHER PEPPER, WIFE OF INJURED SOLDIER: And thank God the Fisher House is here. Because if it wasn't, we wouldn't -- I don't know how far Jason would be in his recovery.
WILSON: Welcome to our family room. This is the most used room, because this is where the soldier can come back, oftentimes the first time he sees his family since he returned from war.
MEADE: Is right here?
WILSON: Right here. You have a 52-inch TV. When the houses are turned over, it's turnkey, including all the furnishings.
We like to think of the Fisher House as a home for all service members who are returning back from war who have a place to always come to.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: And we do invite you to learn more about the Fisher House on a special "LARRY KING LIVE." That's coming your way today at noon. You will hear unforgettable stories of courage and caring from America's heroes as Larry tours the Fisher House facility in San Diego.
That will happen at 12:00 Eastern.
Also, CNN is pitching in to support the efforts of the Fisher House Foundation. This is Warrior One. You've seen it before. It's outside our doors -- now it's inside. It's down in the food court.
One of the vehicles CNN used to cover the war in Iraq. After a complete makeover, complements of the TLC program "Overhaulin'," Warrior One will be auctioned off tomorrow with all the proceeds going to the Fisher House foundation.
You can find more information on Hummer One at CNN.com. Also, two more Fisher Houses - 21 suite (ph) facilities opening up very soon. Next week we'll tell you more about that.
HOLMES: All right.
And meanwhile, we're looking here at some scary pictures. And these came along with some alarming words, but apparently it was dead wrong. Consumer Reports retracts its scathing report on infant car seats. That story ahead in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: A young teacher knocked out of class by a stroke.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It just came (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The ambulance came and everything. And I don't like sirens and everything. And I saw the stretcher and I got really sad.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was very scary.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Students learn a life-saving lesson in the NEWSROOM.
HOLMES: Ad we are "Minding Your Business." Not so much me, but Ali is. Ali Velshi here with a preview.
Good morning to you, sir.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: T.J., they spoil me. They don't let us talk very much. But I'm going to talk about oil. That sixth bill that the Democrats said that they were going to pass in the first 100 hours got passed yesterday, and the oil companies are mad.
Stay with us in the NEWSROOM and I'll tell you all about it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: It terrified parents and embarrassed major car seat makers. Now Consumer Reports is retracting its recent safety review of infant car seats.
The blistering report claimed many popular car seats performed disastrously in crash tests at speeds of 38 miles an hour. But the National Highway Safety Administration says some of those tests were conducted at speeds exceeding 70 miles an hour.
Consumer Reports says it doesn't know how its test might have gone awry or who, if anyone, is to blame. The magazine plans to retest the car seats and publish a new review.
HOLMES: Congress looking to close some loopholes open for oil companies.
Ali Velshi, as always, never minding his own business, he's minding my business.
VELSHI: I'm minding your business, T.J. HOLMES: Yes, and we appreciate that.
Good morning.
VELSHI: Well, good morning to you.
This was the sixth of the six bills that Congress said they wanted to pass in the first hundred hours. This one was about royalty relief.
Now what this means is that, you know, with oil at $50 a barrel, it seems very low to us. But back in the late '90s, it was about $11 a barrel. And the U.S. was concerned that the companies drilling in the Gulf of Mexico were going to stop drilling because it was sort of more expensive to explore and produce oil than it was to sell it.
So they said that the companies don't have to pay royalties to the government to lease the space on which they drill until oil went up above 30 bucks a barrel. Except that a couple of those contracts, those leases that were signed in the late '90s, were -- they were sort of missing that clause that said when oil goes back up they would have to pay. So, a number of companies have been getting away without paying royalties while oil has been $50, $60, $70, $78 a barrel.
Well, a few of those companies have agreed that going forward they'll pay those royalties, but the back pay, forget it. So that's what the Democrats did. They put in a law to say that they get to -- get to get that money back.
Now, the oil companies haven't been loving that. We got some responses from them.
ExxonMobil, for instance, has -- as part of its response -- said, "Once a contract is signed, don't violate it."
The one on the screen, Shell, "This will also cost U.S. jobs, make U.S. industry less competitive, and penalize millions of workers who have oil and gas stocks in their retirement plan."
And this one, we don't have a screen for it, but it's just come in from ConocoPhillips, saying that they're disappointed in the vote, which was more about lawmakers making a political statement than about creating an energy policy that addresses consumers' needs.
The bottom line here, T.J., is that the oil companies are telling the U.S. government, don't put all sorts of onerous taxes or -- you know, don't put charges on us, don't take money away from us, because we'll go to friendlier waters, perhaps, and America needs all the oil -- oil that we consume. The other side of that is that these oil companies make a lot of money and critics say they don't need any help from the government.
HOLMES: Yes. And what does the consumer need to hear out of all of this? We certainly hear about the fight between the Democrats in the Congress and the oil companies, but consumers always stuck in the middle. VELSHI: Yes.
HOLMES: What do they need to be hearing here?
VELSHI: Well, what happens here is that the money that the government says it's going to get, if this thing gets through the Senate and it gets signed and becomes law, the billions of dollars that the government is going to recover as a result of fixing this mistake it made many years ago is going to be applied to research and development of alternative fuels. So far, the federal government has said a lot about research and development of alternative fuels, but we haven't seen a lot of investment and a whole lot of change. So that might be the benefit for the consumer, that there'll be some spending on things that aren't just about crude oil.
HOLMES: All right.
Ali Velshi for us.
As always, we appreciate you minding our business. Thank you, sir.
VELSHI: My pleasure. See you, T.J.
COLLINS: Hurricane-force winds. Northern Europe trying to recover today from a powerful and deadly winter storm.
Details now from CNN's Frederik Pleitgen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It was the strongest storm Europe has seen in years. In London, hurricane-force winds blew people off their feet. Others had to cling to streetlights and try to claw their way forward.
Moving around outside was difficult and dangerous, as Storm Front Carol raged for almost 24 hours.
Help came just in time for 26 crew members of a British container ship. Royal Navy helicopters were able to pull them from the rough North Sea after their vessel had been damaged.
Others were not so lucky. More than two dozen people across Europe were killed. And a day later, a whole continent is licking its wounds. There was extensive damage in the Netherlands.
German authorities told people to stay indoors in the afternoon hours. One man died in this car crash after trying to avoid an uprooted tree on the road.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had to hang on after landing in London for a meeting Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair. The storm caused massive travel delays across Europe, hundreds of flights were canceled and the German national railroad suspended its entire service. At Europe's largest train terminal, in Berlin, service will be down for at least another day after steel girders from the building dropped almost 120 feet, hitting a car and several bicycles.
To ensure the safety of the travelers, the federal police closed off the station and evacuated the passengers. This Berlin police official says thousands of passengers were left stranded, and had to spend the night in waiting areas in the terminal building.
COLLINS: Berlin Bureau Chief Frederik Pleitgen joining us now, live.
Frederik, I wonder, are those travel delays still pretty bad?
PLEITGEN: Heidi, the travel delays here are still massive in Germany and basically over all of Europe, especially people traveling with the railroad here in Europe. Many trains are just not running at all, especially in the southeastern part of the countries.
But also on airports, a lot of flights have been canceled. And really there is a lot of backlog still from yesterday, where a lot of flights were also canceled. People traveling to Europe today, and people trying to travel in Europe today, should really watch out and check if they are really going to get to where they want to go, Heidi.
COLLINS: Is this the worse they have ever seen in these parts of Europe?
PLEITGEN: I can tell you, I've been covering these storms for a while. I've covered a couple of them. I've never seen a storm of this magnitude in Europe. I'm sure a lot of Europeans have not seen a storm of this magnitude for a long time.
It's not just that the winds were very heavy, the gusts were up to 120 miles an hour. It is also the sheer size of the storm, where it really engulfed the whole continent of Europe, The Netherlands being engulfed, and the U.K., and also Germany. Really these storms don't happen a lot here.
COLLINS: Boy, the pictures are really unbelievable. All right, Berlin Bureau Chief Frederik Pleitgen, thank you for your information today, coming to us live from Berlin.
HOLMES: We're going to keep our eye on this weather. It has been nasty, it's been ugly, been dangerous -- and it just keeps on coming. Yes, it's January, here in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: A young teacher knocked out of class by a stroke.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She just fainted.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The ambulance came and everything. I don't like sirens and everything. I saw the stretcher and I got really sad.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was very scary. (END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Students learn a life-saving lesson coming up in the NEWSROOM.
HOLMES: Taking a look at the opening bell, actually some students.
COLLINS: Do you know who this is?
HOLMES: By all means, tell me.
COLLINS: The University of Maryland, my alma mater.
HOLMES: Is it really?
COLLINS: Yes, the Robert H. Smith School of Business.
HOLMES: You've been talking about this.
COLLINS: I didn't go there, I went to Journalism. But needless to say, what a fabulous school.
HOLMES: You're a Terrapin? I had no idea.
COLLINS: Yes! Hey, look at the numbers. That's what we're supposed to talk about. Dow Jones industrial average down about 16 points resting at 12,553. We will continue to watch that for you as we go on here in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, it's the last thing many in the Central U.S. want to see, another blast of winter weather. But that is exactly what they're facing. Much of Oklahoma and parts of Missouri could get six inches of snow by Sunday.
Texas also bracing for more winter weather but folks there should escape the worst of it. The region is still recovering from the ice storm that is blamed for at least 70 deaths over the past week. The storm shut down roads, grounded flights and knocked out electricity. More than 164,000 people are still without power in Oklahoma and Missouri. Oklahoma's governor is asking for a federal disaster declaration to help residents repair damage from the storm.
COLLINS: Reynolds Wolf joining us now with more on all of this.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMES: We do have some information, just in. A video we are just getting in, we want to show you, of disgraced former Congressman Bob Ney, of Ohio. He was caught up in that Abramoff scandal. Pleaded guilty, not long ago, some months back, in October, to charges of corruption.
Facing up to two years in prison in connection with those corruption charges, just arriving in district court, we should here fairly soon -- that was federal court. Should hear fairly soon what his sentence would be. Again, prosecutors are asking that he be sentenced to 27 months, his attorney asking he gets no more than two years. We should know shortly. He was wrapped up in that Abramoff scandal, but going to be sentenced and we should get word fairly soon. We'll bring that to you.
COLLINS: In Hendersonville, Tennessee, a homecoming of sorts. Teacher Allye Zachery returned to her 7th grade classes this week. She was there to thank the students for helping to save her life. Melissa Penry of affiliate WKRN has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALLYE ZACHERY, TEACHER: Hi. How are y'all?
MELISSA PENRY, REPORTER, WKRN TV: It's the day these 7th graders have been waiting for at Hawkins' Middle School, Miss Zachary is back.
ZACHERY: I kind of hobble around now so I'm not as fantabulous as I could be, but, hey, you know? Klutz, Miss Zachary, what's new?
PENRY: One month ago, Ally Zachary was in the middle of reviewing this class for a math test when something began to go wrong.
ZACHERY: I started feeling really heavy all over. I remember standing up and being really dizzy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She said to go out, I went out. I got Miss Dearing (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then she just fainted.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The ambulance came and I don't like sirens and I saw her on stretcher and I got really sad.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was very scary.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was kind of frightened, you know. I just didn't know what was going on.
PENRY: What was going on, was Allye Zachery, a 28-year-old picture of healthy was having a major stroke.
ZACHERY: It was because y'all acted so quickly, that I got treated quicker, and it could have been a lot worse.
PENRY: Even though she has trouble with movement on her left side, and tires easily, she's making progress.
ZACHERY: My goal is to be like I was before. I'm too young.
PENRY: She wanted to see these special students and share some news, such as her engagement, and more.
ZACHERY: Y'all need a -- ya'll hear I was going to be the queen of a Mardi Gras cruise?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Really?
ZACHERY: Really.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My gosh, am I invited?
PENRY: It was during the photo session, that the teacher in her re-emerged.
ZACHERY: All right, a negative times a negative equals a
STUDENTS: Positive!
ZACHERY: Positive, OK.
PENRY: And she gave a little lesson.
ZACHERY: Strokes do not have a face. It can happen to anyone at any time.
I better not be seeing zeroes for homework and incompletes, ya'll know how I am about that.
PENRY: The students promised be good and Allye Zachary promised to come back for good, something only possible because of the kids' quick actions that day in December.
COLLINS: Boy, that is a very tough thing to come back from. She looks absolutely fabulous.
HOLMES: Still teaching there. Get your homework done.
COLLINS: Do your homework, right?
HOLMES: Coming up next, we're going to talk taxes. Specifically a New Hampshire man taking his state's motto heart, he's hold up in his home, bracing for a raid. Yes, it has to do with taxes, that's ahead.
COLLINS: And this, an observation from CNN's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Deer are getting more daring, but they can still be dumb. What deer in his right mind would wander into a store with a name like Target?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Good question, right? Jeanne has all the en-deering video, ahead in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Armed and ready to defend himself, Ed Brown remains hold up in his home after he and his wife were found guilty of tax evasion. About 25 supporters are with him. The group believes U.S. Marshals are preparing to storm the house. The Marshals say they don't have any plans to raid the house.
But unlike her husband, Elaine Brown attended the couple's trial. The judge has allowed her to stay free until an April sentencing date, as long as she doesn't join her husband.
COLLINS: You already know to catch us weekday mornings from 9:00 until Noon Eastern, but did you know you can take us with you anywhere you go on your iPod, CNN NEWSROOM podcast available 24/7, right on your iPod.
And then there's this: An important observation from CNN's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: Deer are getting more daring, but they can still be dump. What deer in his right mind would wander into a store with a name like Target?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Good question, Jeanne Moos has all the endearing video, my favorite right here, the helicopter rescue, ahead, in the NEWSROOM
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Tell me you saw this video. It's my favorite from yesterday, the deer rescue on that icy pond in Oklahoma. A helicopter pilot used his blade to blow it off the ice to safety. It was brilliant. CNN's Jeanne Moos looks at that, and also some other stories about deer gone wild.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MOOS (voice over): You know how everyone talks about that deer in the headlights look? Well, for a deer that's truly frozen, check out this icebound deer on a lake in Oklahoma.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, it's right in the middle of the water.
MOOS: The ice was too slippery for the deer to get its footing. To the rescue, the local news chopper, KW TV's pilot, Mason Dunn (ph), had the bright idea of using his helicopter's whirling blades to shove the deer to shore.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought, maybe if I can get close enough, maybe I can blow the deer over to shore.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got it, Mason.
MOOS: Talk about a deer crossing, you can only imagine what's crossing through this deer's mind. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got it, Bubba.
MOOS: The rescue got us thinking about what a weird deer season it's been. It was the deer that wandered into the Iowa Target store and when employees tried to corral it -- spill in aisle three! It was just one of several deer caught on surveillance tape rather than by hunters this season.
Security cameras captured this deer leaping over a desks inside a bank branch in suburban Pittsburgh. A few years back, the cameras at a Washington, D.C. Metro station, caught a deer walking down the escalator and prancing on the platform. Who can forget the scene that played out in front of the Washington Monument?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's really neat.
MOOS: To the delight of tourists, officers chased the deer around, eventually tranquilized it, until it staggered like a drunken sailor. When it collapsed and officers tried to restrain it -- oops! Finally managed to tackle and transfer it to a wilder locale. This was the season of the deer that got its head stuck in a plastic Jack-O- Lantern for several days. Eventually, folks found the empty pumpkin with deer hair on it, so we assume the deer survived.
The deer gone while theme, is big on the Internet, where famous maulings end up translated into other languages. Finally, there was the time that a Chow named Little Bear, had an "Oh, deer" moment.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We saw the deer, so I grabbed the camcorder.
Who is that Deersey? Is that Deersey friend?
MOOS: With Deersey friends like this, who needs enemies?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No! No!
MOOS: The though, Little Bearsey came out of it unscathed.
Deer are getting more daring but they can still be dumb. What deer in his right mind would wander into a store named Target? Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Quickly, we used to do a lot of driving in Wisconsin, Minnesota, at night because we had a lake home. I made my dad honk the horn every about 30 seconds or so, so we wouldn't hit a deer.
HOLMES: You're kidding me?
COLLINS: No, no. Then they came out with those deer whistles.
HOLMES: Did that work? You never hit one?
COLLINS: Sometimes. Yes, well, there was an incident. HOLMES: You took out a few? You took out a few! You took out a few deer!
COLLINS: No, it hasn't scarred me at all.
HOLMES: All right. Heidi, we're going to move on.
We'll head back over and talk about Muqtada al Sadr and his Mehdi Army, his Mehdi militia, in Iraq.
President Bush is demanding a crack down on it. Well, today a top figure close to Muqtada al Sadr is in custody. We have all that coming up, for you, in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: And winter signaling another numbing march into the Plains. It is January in the NEWSROOM/
HOLMES: First, as you've almost certainly heard, Oprah Winfrey recently spent $40 million to open an academy for girls in South Africa. What if you could build a school in Africa for a fraction of the cost that Oprah paid? One woman is doing that, right now. Ali Velshi has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALI VELSHI, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The African country of Mali, one of the poorest places in the world, life expectancy, only 48 years. But to Judy Lorimer, Mali is a place of hope.
JUDY LORIMER, VOLUNTEER, SAVE THE CHILDREN: It just shows you can make a difference, even if it's just a little at a time. When they started literacy rates were only 20 percent, now, 69 percent of the kids in the district are in school.
VELSHI: The drumbeat of Africa began calling more than a decade ago while Lorimer was a kindergarten teacher in a Boston suburb.
LORIMER: I had started taking dance and drum classes. Because of a course that I had taken called, Africa through the Arts. After I started dancing, I decided to go to Senegal in '95, to learn more about the culture there. It sort of took off.
VELSHI: Lorimer was soon making regular trips to Mali. The trips inspired her to sponsor a child from the country, and it changed her retirement plans.
LORIMER: I knew that I wanted to do some volunteer work for Save the Children. They had built classrooms in nearly all of the 205 villages, in the Colonje (ph) District. So I offered to go in 2004 as a volunteer, and they accepted.
VELSHI: Lorimer spends much of her time raising money in the United States for the school building, and she goes to Mali twice a year to check on the progress.
LORIMER: They can build a school in under three months, for under $25,000, including furniture.
Oprah spent $40 million on a school for 152 kids. That would build 1600 three block classrooms in Mali.
I think what Oprah is doing is great, but $40 million is a little excessive when you can build a school for $25,000.
VELSHI: Ali Velshi, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: From a dealership in Kuwait, an embed assignment sustaining artillery fire to a complete overhaul. We're talking about CNN's Warrior One, one of our Hummer in Iraq being auctioned this weekend in Arizona. You can get more at CNN.com.
This is what the Hummer looked like before the overhaul, it was used by CNN journalists embedded with the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, until it came under heavy fire near Baghdad in April of 2003.
Last summer, TLC's program "Overhaulin" took the vehicle from CNN's Atlanta headquarters and transformed it into Warrior One. We have video clips of the process, a new engine, a body makeover, with airbrush images of soldiers and journalists, and new state-of-the-art entertainment system.
Since the overhaul Warrior One has been touring the country. This map has each location it's been, including a recent visit to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, before making it's way to Scottsdale, Arizona, where it will be auctioned. All the proceeds will go to the Fisher House Foundation, which is an organization providing temporary residence for families of military patients receiving major medical care.
You can point your browsers to CNN.com/warriorone, for more. For the Dot.com Desk, I'm Veronica De La Cruz.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: All right for that auction, for Warrior One, you see a live shot there. It's happening today. Scottsdale, Arizona, the 36th Annual Beret Jackson Collector Car event.
You know what to do? They're expecting about 225,000 visitors. And hopefully, a whole lot of money when they get the final bid for this thing.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com
