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Police Investigate Shooting in Atlanta Mall; Christmas in Bethlehem

Aired December 24, 2007 - 14:00   ET

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

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Heavenly peace is still a dream in the holy land, but Christmas Eve is once again cause for a big celebration in the little town of Bethlehem.
DON LEMON, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: This hour, CNN's Ben Wedeman joins us live from the West Bank where Christmas is now just three hours away. Hello, everyone, I'm Don Lemon live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta

KEILAR: And I'm Brianna Keilar in for Kyra Phillips. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

LEMON: It is 2:00 here in the East, when you're looking for last-minute gift or last-minute travel we've got you covered. It's Christmas Eve. Malls have been opened around the clock and the discounts just keep getting better and deeper and deeper. People are flying, driving, bargain hunting or just sitting on Santa's lap, are you naughty are you nice, or do you just want to have some cash and save some time? We'll tell you what you need to know about all of this. But first, a lot of folks out there are traveling today, and a lot of people are shivering, too. Chad Myers joins us now from the Weather Centr.

It says "Arctic blast, Cold rigid temps, blowing snow." We've got all of it, Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LEMON: You gave us all the temperatures in the Midwest and the snowfall, or whatever. Just, you know, to goose my friends in the Midwest, what's the temperature here in the southeast today?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, I think it's going to be 54.

LEMON: Oh, man.

MYERS: Sorry.

LEMON: All right, Chad Myers.

MYERS: And we are getting some I do love how warm it gets every once in a while.

LEMON: Thank you very much. MYERS: Sure.

KEILAR: We're getting new information about a story that we brought you a short time ago, here about an hour and a half ago there was a shooting at a mall. The gallery at south DeKalb, this is about 14 miles east here of downtown Atlanta and what happened was a suspect seemed to be robbing someone there at the mall and then police responded or police were nearby, they exchanged fire, it appears. Police chased the suspect. The last time we looked at this story they had not picked up the suspect, but let's bring in Mekka Parish with the DeKalb County Police.

Mekka, has this suspect been picked up now?

MEKKA PARISH, DEKALB COUNTY, GEORGIA POLICE: Yes, five minutes ago officers did locate the suspect at a home approximately about three to four miles away from the present location and at the present time are transporting him to the hospital.

KEILAR: Whose home was this? Was this a relative of the suspect or was this an empty home? Do you know?

PARISH: At this time it is unclear, of course, this is a very fluid situation, so don't know the connection between that suspect and that home at this time.

KEILAR: Is the suspect a male?

PARISH: Yes, it is a male suspect from what I'm being told.

KEILAR: Did he surrender? I mean, what were the circumstances of bringing this guy in?

PARISH: Again, I don't have all the details. I was just told that our officers did find that suspect at the location of that home about four miles away from the mall location

KEILAR: One other thing, Mekka. I know that it seemed unclear as to where these -- this exchange of shots between the officers and this suspect. Can you give us any more details about that? Can you tell us where you happened, if you know?

PARISH: From what I've gathered, again, we did have an off-duty uniformed officer outside the mall when he was approached by a person who said that someone intended to rob him and the officer then saw that suspect in the parking lot and a foot chase ensued through the parking lot and at some point that suspect did pull out a weapon and shots did ring out, and that's how it all developed, it happened outside of the mall in the parking lot.

KEILAR: And did the off-duty police officer, the off-duty police officer, did he fire?

PARISH: Again, shots were fired. At this time we do believe that the suspect was hit multiple times. KEILAR: OK. All right, I guess the case, especially this off- duty police officer being in the right place for that person who reported that he had been robbed. We appreciate you giving us more information on this. Mekka Parish with DeKalb County Police Department. We'll keep you posted to our viewers out there on the details of this story, if they continue to develop.

LEMON: Tens of thousands of people flocked today to the West Bank down of Bethlehem for celebrations marking the birth of Jesus. It's the biggest gathering in seven years and it includes hundreds of Christians from Gaza who traveled across Israel under special permission from the Israeli government. We take you live to Bethlehem, now, and CNN's Ben Wedeman.

Ben, why the bigger crowds this year?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: For a variety of reasons, Don. For one thing, the weather is much nicer. It's relatively warm for this time of year, but really because for about a year now very little has happened here in the way of violence. Therefore, more foreign terrorists are expected here, according to the mayor 65,000 people expected in Bethlehem for Christmas Eve and Christmas and that's twice as many people who showed up last year, so generally the atmosphere is much better and we've seen festivities throughout the day, Palestinian, marching bands. There was a Palestinian symphony orchestra which played along with an American choir; all of this is quite amazing when you think that just a few years ago the scene behind me, Manger Square, was actually a battlefield.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice over): The Christmas lights are going up and the decorations are out, along with a few local twists to the yuletide theme, and Santa Claus -- there he is -- hovers over Manger Square. Bethlehem lies still this year. Unlike years not long past when the second Palestinian uprising was raging. As the memory of violence fades, tourists are beginning to venture back to Bethlehem

JOAN SCHAFER-TIPMORE, TOURIST FROM INDIA: We felt like maybe it was just time, that things maybe had settled more and that we would not encounter anti-American feelings.

JANE MCCAFFERY, TOURIST FROM CONNECTICUT: The feeling is when people know that we're coming it must be very dangerous and we say no, we don't feel any danger here. We're happy to be here

WEDEMAN: And Bethlehem's residents are happy, too.

HATIM MARBROUK, VENDER: If there is no tourists, there is no job so we hope tourists come again and visit us.

WEDEMAN (on camera): More tourists are coming to Bethlehem this holiday season than they have in seven years. The only problem is the tourists come, the tourists go and they don't spend any money.

(voice over): Most come to the church of the nativity, the sight where Christians believe Jesus was born, to take a few snapshots and leave. It's past noon and John Shaheen has yet to make his first sale. He worries Bethlehem's recent past has made tourists wary of wandering.

JOHN SHAHEEN, BETHLEHEM STORE OWNER: (INAUDIBLE) because we don't have big crime. We don't have crime. We don't have drug dealers, you know, we don't have prostitutes

WEDEMAN: His neighbor Adnan says it doesn't help that the town is surrounded on three sides by a towering grim concrete wall built by Israel to stop Palestinian suicide bombers.

ADNAN SUBH, BETHLEHEM STORE OWNER: Because the wall, you see the wall around the city, many tourists prefer to come to the city they think they go to the Fallujah, Iraq, not to Bethlehem

WEDEMAN: And this is a town eager to put the past behind and have a merry and profitable Christmas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

And as you can tell, it's getting very noisy here. The evening's festivities are going to be ending with a midnight mass. That mass will be attended by senior Palestinian officials. Many people here, Christians and Muslims, hoping that next year will be a more peaceful one - Don.

LEMON: All right, Ben Wedeman, thank you very much for that and merry Christmas to you.

KEILAR: Well, Chicago, Michigan Avenue, that all adds up to one thing and that is shopping even though it is rather cold there. Let's go to CNN's Keith Oppenheim. He is in the Windy City.

And we talked to you earlier, Keith. I know you're done with your shopping, so I want to congratulate you on that. What else is going on around there? A lot of people who aren't finished.

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: That's true, and you indicated that you had finished your shopping well ahead of time, too, although I'm very capable of being a last-minute frantic shopper, which is what you're seeing in Chicago because people really like the retail experience in this city, that's a lot of what it is. And men in particular are known, the experts tell me, for last-minute shopping, a lot of impulse buying on this day. So, actually we talked to some women about that subject as well as we took a chance to take a look inside their shopping bags.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I got a massager...

OPPENHEIM: Oh, wow.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ...for my father-in-law.

OPPENHEIM: Now, that's your father-in-law. Is he going to use - can I pull this up?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.

OPPENHEIM: This is a seat massager?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.

OPPENHEIM: OK, and so you put that in your any chair or is that for the car?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, in a chair.

OPPENHEIM: Can you drive with this thing?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think so.

OPPENHEIM: OK. Just asking.

OPPENHEIM: Show us what you've got, do you mind?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure, no problem. Well, these are gifts of Garrett popcorn, which is the best popcorn there is in Chicago

OPPENHEIM: That's such a Chicago thing to got.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely. So, I've got plenty of gifts that way and also I've got some chocolates. Frango chocolates.

OPPENHEIM: And why don't we just stop and eat for a while. Is that OK?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, let's do that. Sounds great.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OPPENHEIM: If any of you have not experienced Garrett popcorn in this city, that's something to get. All right, beyond that plug, we heard a lot of foreign voices. I heard French being spoken today, Italian on the street, that's not exactly extremely unusual for Chicago, but around this time of year we're seeing a lot of foreign travelers come to cities like this because of the weak dollar, so that is actually helping retailers a lot, Brianna, that they have people not only from Europe that are traveling here heavily, but from around the country who are visiting family and they are having a business shopping day. Back to you.

KEILAR: And, Keith, I can tell you don is just sal vagt over that popcorn. As you know, he used to live in Chicago. He was so excited when he saw the inside of the bag. But let me ask you, are we afraid that perhaps we are spoiling the surprise for some people who may be getting those gifts that showed in the bags?

OPPENHEIM: Yeah, what we can only hope that they weren't tuned to CNN at this hour and that they'll catch it on the replay.

KEILAR: All right, exactly. Maybe replay in a couple of days. LEMON: We hope that they are tuned into CNN. They don't know who it's for.

KEILAR: Let's home.

OPPENHEIM: Yeah, that's true. We are a retailer ourselves, that's right. I keep forgetting that.

KEILAR: All right. Keith Oppenheim, thanks for your report, appreciate it.

LEMON: Christmas on the campaign trail. With the caucuses just10 days away political operations are working through the holidays still trying to win over undecided voters. CNN's Dana bash joins us from Des Moines with more on that.

Hey, Dana.

BASH: Hi Don. Well, the operations are probably turning, but the candidates, for the most part, are giving voters a bit of a break today and that's probably a good thing because you said it's 10 days away right now. That means there's nine days between Christmas day and caucus day and, you know, just four years ago there were three weeks between Christmas and the caucus, even that was pretty close. So, what we're finding here is that it's causing some tension for Iowa voters between the political process that they really cherish and the holiday spirit they cherish just as much.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The Christmas lights are up, wreath is hung, the tree stands proudly in the living room with an angel above, presents below. A classic Christmas scene that could be anywhere in America, until you see all the mail from presidential hopefuls on the table. This is Iowa.

(on camera): I don't even know if you can count how many are here. How many pieces are here? Probably 20 pieces, here.

MAYOR CHAZ ALLEN, NEWTON, IOWA: Oh, yeah.

(voice over): That came in just two days to the Allen household. And with Christmas approaching, it's barely read.

ALLEN: The biggest thing is, a lot of it gets ignored right now, because we are focusing on the Christmas cards on the refrigerator. You know, you put all those Christmas cards up there and then this gets just shuffled paper we usually get rid of.

BASH: It's not just the mail. It's the phone.

ALLEN: Sixty calls since December 1.

BASH (on camera): Sixty calls? ALLEN: And that's just the campaign calls.

BASH: And it goes, "unknown name," "unknown name," "unknown name." But you know who these are.

ALLEN: Yeah. For most part, we know that this campaign is calling.

BASH (voice over): Chaz Allen isn't just any undecided Iowa voter, he's the mayor of Newton, Iowa, and Independent. He gets special calls.

CALLER: Hello Chaz, this is Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the Clinton campaign, if you could please give me a call at 703...

ALLEN: I would explain to him I've just seen Huckabee and I just talked with Edwards and Obama and things like that and...

BASH: Allen says he won't decide who to vote for until after the holidays.

ALLEN: Oh, she's not in right now. Can I take a message?

BASH: One of many Hawkeyes not thrilled that the deluge of calls, mail, and TV ads that come with their proud political tradition is colliding with the holiday tradition.

ALLEN: It's such an incredible process that we should all be a part of. Maybe the parties should think about what's going on around the times they do this.

BASH: For the next couple of days, it's family time. Mail from the candidates may be on the table, but the focus is Christmas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Now, this is by no means one person's story, trust me about that, Don. You travel around here talk to Iowa voters and they say they are definitely privileged to be able to meet candidates, to be able to ask them tough questions. But being inundated with those calls, with those TV ads, with that mail, especially this time of year, it's something they can do without. And I can tell you that Chaz Allen, the man I spoke to there, his neighbor, he's so aggravated he just turned his phone off for the Christmastime.

LEMON: That's what I was thinking. Turned it off or take it off the hook. And especially this time of year when everybody's at home, the kids, the relatives.

So, what are some of the candidates doing today on the campaign trail today -- Dana.

BASH: Well Don, for the most part they are out of site, they are spending time with their own families, perhaps reassessing where they are behind the scenes in the campaign. But, we did see -- have a surprise appearance today from a Republican, from Rudy Giuliani. He went out in New York City. He went to read to some children and bring them some presents and this is, again, a surprise appearance. It perhaps is a bit telling as to where Giuliani is right now. He perhaps doesn't want to afford any -- can't afford any day not being in the public spotlight right now because recently he's not had the best news.

You remember he had a health scare last week. That's what got him in the news and a lot of people talking about him, but before that he's been out of sight, if you will, not part of the narrative that's going on intensely here in Iowa and even in New Hampshire because his strategy, as you know, has been to focus on later states and that may have hurt him. You know, if you look at the national polls he has plummeted in the past couple of weeks. A poll came out just this past weekend in New Hampshire that shows that he is now at a distant third, there, so it's sort of interesting that he is the guy who went out and invited the cameras to be with him today, because his strategy has some people wondering whether or not it's actually going to work waiting until February 5. He could surprise us all, he could change political history, but right now it looks like he's got some work to do big time.

LEMON: We'll see Dana. OK, thank you very much for that report. And for all the day's political stories, log on to our special political news website, it's cnnpolitics.com.

KEILAR: They served their country, they lost their homes, now they sing. You'll hear their harmonies.

LEMON: Sorry, guys, she is taken. Katherine Heigl ties the knot. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Veterans on a new mission inspiring others with a song. Our Kara Finnstrom has their story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(SINGING)

KARA FINNSTROM, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're a choir veterans warmly applauded everywhere.

(SINGING)

FINNSTROM: But not long ago, these men and women say they were in the ranks of the shunned.

GEORGE HILL, CHOIR DIRECTOR: Living in cardboard boxes, abandoned buildings, vacant cars. I was a hopeless addict, an alcoholic.

FINNSTROM: Everyone in this choir was once homeless.

HILL: This is my favorite tree. This is kind of one of my little sanctuaries, because this is where I would sleep.

FINNSTROM: George Hill leads the New Directions Choir. He returned from service in Korea with a healthy body, but a badly wounded soul.

HILL: I felt like I was getting ready to die.

FINNSTROM: Hill lived on L.A. streets for 12 years.

HILL: The loneliness, the heartache, the lack of family members, the lack of a job, the lack of self-esteem.

FINNSTROM: In the midst of his drug and alcohol addicted darkness, this ex-Marine says he found light singing in this tunnel in MacArthur Park.

HILL: When you sing, a lot of things happen. I mean, I can sing my despair away. When I would sing a few hours, I would come out of this tunnel refreshed and renewed. When I came in here, sometimes on the verge of suicide.

FINNSTROM (on camera): It would ultimately be here at New Directions, that George Hill got the help need to get off drugs and off the streets. It would be here that he started the choir, now performing at venues like the Democratic National Convention and in movie stars' homes. And it is now here that his music is helping heal others, marred by lives of pain.

CARLTON GRIFFIN, CHOIR MEMBER: My rap sheet is probably longer than this table.

FINNSTROM (voice-over): Before Carlton Griffin's life started to unravel, he was a Navy recruit chief petty officer.

GRIFFIN: I basically had ripped my vocal cords. I didn't know it, though.

FINNSTROM: Carlton, who always loved singing, lost his voice while screaming military chants. With work, he's retrained his shredded vocal chords and the once high tenor is now the ground rumbling baritone he dreamed of being since childhood.

Carlton and the choir say their biggest joy is performing for fellow soldiers still struggling with homelessness.

GRIFFIN: Seeing what we go, this miracle that was -- these miracles that have been bestowed upon us.

FINNSTROM: Their hope? To help save more men and women they would not leave on the battlefield, and now refuse to forget on the streets.

Kara Finnstrom for CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Boy, they sound good. Joining me now from Los Angeles, the bureau there, the man who made that amazing harmony possible, George Hill. George Hill, he is the New Directions Choir director.

Thank you very much for joining us and happy holidays to you.

HILL: Well, thank you. I appreciate you having us here and happy holidays to you, as well.

LEMON: Oh, we appreciate you being here. Tell us, talk to us about first, initially, in the story we found out what your inspiration was. Why so many, though, homeless veterans? What's going on here?

HILL: It's been my understanding that there are a lot, especially in my case. I get a chance to see there's a lot of my compatriots, which is the Vietnam era, that we did not have the foresight, the people didn't know to look out for them and allow us to get the treatment that we may have needed. We wound up getting out of the service and had issues and what they finally eventually do is spiraled into homelessness.

LEMON: You're talking about things, just to name a few, like post-traumatic stress disorder, those kinds of things that you come back from war with that, in those days, may not have treated as much and they're working on that now. But let's talk about this. You talked about Vietnam, let's talk about the Iraq war, the first Gulf War. What do you think of overall treatment for veterans coming back from war now?

HILL: In my opinion, I think that there's more awareness. I'm glad to see that because there wasn't really any treatment for the previous wars. It's known now that PTSD does affect a lot of the servicemen and there seems to be a consensus that we want to help. I still also believe that there's going to be a lot of military that falls through the cracks because they are not going to be aware that they have any of these issues until they -- until hindsight, like for instance myself, after I went to treatment, 12 years of homelessness and I found out that I had these issues

LEMON: Yeah. Now, nothing is perfect, but do you think the government is doing enough, from your personal point of view?

HILL: I feel that the government is making a great effort. The thing is, is that it's going to ultimately be up to the individual serviceman. If they don't feel they need help, they won't go. I didn't know I needed help. I was an American fighting man and what I wanted to do was I wanted to be every bit of the American fighting man. I did not want to feel that any of the things that I had experienced had caused me any discomfort or pain or that I would have any issues.

LEMON: And you talked about that and that's sort of the past now. You're still working through that. But, let's talk about what you've done, how you've reworked your life and your effort to help veterans who may be having problems. What's been the response from the community for what you've done and for what you're doing?

HILL: Well, actually we have an extremely positive, it's very positive because all of the members that you see, one of the ladies there, she's a registered nurse. I'm a junior now at Cal State Los Angeles getting my degree in computer information systems.

LEMON: That's wonderful.

HILL: The base, Carleton is on his way, he's trying to be a doctor.

LEMON: Oh, nice.

HILL: Go ahead.

LEMON: That's very nice. That's very nice that you guys. That was just my response. I couldn't help but respond to it when hearing you say that.

HILL: And it's really, it's the positive thing because New Directions is a non-profit organization. They were -- what some of the people did, they decided to help veterans out, veterans helping veterans, one that spent years behind bars and things. We got our chance to see that. If we don't, the chronically homeless veterans, don't have the type of help that New Directions offered we would be forever through the resolving doors of institutions, be they jails or mental institutions and the fact...

LEMON: And before I let you get away from here, what do you want to say to the folks who are serving overseas now?

HILL: What I would really like to say to them is that do not feel that you are above help. If you feel that there could be an issue, please go to some type of support group, they are available be they in the armed services or it be at the veterans -- at the Veterans Administration or even a non-profit, one similar to New Directions, just seek some type of support.

LEMON: George Hill, we wish you all the best and we thank you again for joining us and of course, happy holidays, again as well. It's the New Directions Choir and you're available for events, lots of stars and what have you book you as well and we wish you the very best in the future. Thanks again.

HILL: Thank you kindly, and you have a very nice holiday season.

LEMON: Thank you

KEILAR: This is an amazing story that fell into a Chicago TV station's lap. Well, actually it drove into their studio. Fasten your seat belts for this one. We're going to talk to the news anchor who was live during this breaking news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: It's about 2:30 Eastern Time and here are three of the stories we're working on in the CNN NEWSROOM. Police near Atlanta have gotten their man. They've caught a robbery suspect who apparently got in a shootout with officers at a mall. CNN has learned this suspect is being taken to the hospital.

The commander-in-chief calling three soldiers, two sailors and two airmen and two marines and one Coast Guard member. They all served in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf and they got a personal phone call on is this Christmas Eve from President Bush.

Still no word on what caused a 12-story building to collapse in the Egyptian port city of Alexandria, today. There are reports of several deaths, again no word on that cause, but these kinds of collapses are common in Egypt because of shoddy construction.

LEMON: All right, dashing through the snow and then crashing a live show. Serious breaking news last night when a car plowed right into the studios of our Chicago affiliate, WLS during the 10:00 news. Anchor Ravi Baichwal was on the air at the time and he joins us now by telephone.

Oh my gosh, Ravi. What went through your head?

RAVI BAICHWAL, WLS REPORTER: Well, he Don, well the first thing was is everybody OK. Because normally there would be a lot of people in front of that class window at that point. It was a Sunday night and thankfully they weren't and so then the next thing is, OK, what's going to happen with this van that had just crashed into our studio? Is it going to explode? Is there another shoe to drop? So, you just have to go with what's happening right in front of you.

LEMON: Yeah, I can't believe you didn't - I mean, you were very calm, actually. I mean, the expression on your face is priceless and I don't know if I would have been that calm, cool and collected. But I remember when you guys, this was before you were there, you've been there, what, about a year, now, Ravi?

BAICHWAL: That's right. That's right.

LEMON: This was before you. They built this about a year before you got there, this is a state-of-the-art studio, multi-million dollar, one of the best in the country and everyone loves this studio in Chicago and they're out there, as you said, to watch this newscast right in front of the window. You're what, about 10, 15 feet right off the street, there, State Street

BAICHWAL: That right, the famous street that Frank Sentara sings about, that great street, State Street. And I'll tell you, the glass that we have used for the studio did its job. It actually stopped that van in its tracks and it's a special tempered glass and the other thing to worry about was now that the van crashed through the lower part, when was that upper pane of glass, which essentially has pinned the van, when was that then going to fall and what kind of hazard was that?

Meanwhile, there's a police situation unfolding literally right in front of us. There are people jumping around all in front of us and we're still live on the air, so we've got to carry on with our newscast. I have to give... LEMON: Ravi, that's what I want to ask you. You were live on the air. And so when you -- did you continue to toss to the reporter or did you start reporting on this at the time?

BAICHWAL: We were in the middle of the toss and Michelle Gallardo, God love her, she took the toss and stayed with it and I guess our producers decided to stay with that while we just kind of gathered our wits about us to make sure that nobody was hurt, because like I said, that was the first thing. And then we came back 90 seconds later, so after her package and then we were really into it trying to explain what was it that just happened, because not only my expression, but the sound of it was just phenomenal. It was so loud, a concussive feel to us at the studios, by my colleague at the weather desk, he and I both felt kind of a pressure on our chest...

LEMON: And you know what, Ravi, and right, the weather desk is right next to the window, isn't it?

BAICHWAL: Yeah, but it's on the north side of the studio. This happened on the south side, so this is the place where we often do interviews. Our breakfast show does a lot of work down there. So, thankfully nobody was situated there.

LEMON: And I know you worked last night. I'm sure if your covering this today, Rave, but I know there is a police investigation going on about exactly what happened, if this guy did this guy did this on purpose, and what happened before he did this. He sort of gave a warning possibly?

BAICHWAL: Possibly. Some onlookers had said, that - the people that we talked to said there was a car that was circling out in front of the studio had allegedly yelled at people, the person had allegedly yelled at people to get out of way. And this is -- I want to be clear, this is the only place along that window where anyone with a car could possibly do that because we have great planters in front that, just like in front of an embassy or what have you, Mayor Daly in Chicago has beautified the city, and one of the things he has done is put these planters in front, which actually serves to stop vehicles, as a barrier. So, it worked just the way it was suppose to work and as I said, we're just very thankful that nobody was hurt.

LEMON: Well Ravi, it's a pleasure to meet you. I left a little bit before you got there.

I know you did.

And I'm glad you're OK and I'm glad everybody is OK because, you know, folks watch that newscast and they look in because they want to see what a television set is like, and lots of people shopping there on State Street. Formerly Marshall Fields, Macy's just down the street and all the theaters.

BAICHWAL: That's right. You know it well and you're missed here in Chicago, Don, but congratulations on you moving ahead.

LEMON: Oh, thank you very much, Ravi, happy holidays to you. And give my best wishes to everyone especially my girl Cheryl Burton

BAICHWAL: OK, she'll be on the air with me tonight, all for 5:00, 6:00 and 10:00. Take care now.

LEMON: All right, take it easy.

KEILAR: We don't want to sound like scrooge, but unpaid credit card bills are piling off. Leading off our Christmas Eve business headlines, an "Associated Press" study of 17 credit card companies showing accounts at least 30 days late, they are 26 percent higher than last year. The total amount that's late, more than $17 billion. Some of the nation's biggest lenders report a 50 percent or more surge in accounts that are at least 90 days late. Experts say the subprime mortgage crisis is partly to blame.

If you're hitting the roads this Christmas, you'll find some relief at the pump. Gas prices are on the way down. The Lumberg survey shows the national average for regular unleaded has dropped about three cents over the past two weeks, it's now $2.97 a gallon on average.

If you're getting a new TV \ or \ computer \ for Christmas your old one might end up an environmental hazards. Millions of tons of discarded televisions and computers are said go be rotting away in land fills. "National Geographic" magazine says despite laws that prohibit putting electronic items in the trash, more than two-thirds of them, TVs and Computers in the U.S., end up in dumps where they could leak lead, mercury, arsenic and other toxic chemicals.

LEMON: A Colorado boy is learning a lot about the law after colliding with another skier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROB SWIMM, FATHER OF SCOTT: He seems to have injured himself so badly that he needs to sue my now 8-year-old son.

Didn't know what the word sue meant.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: A small fry defendant facing a whopper of a claim.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Sued over a skiing accident. An 8-year-old and his dad could be on the hook for $75,000 in damages. Reporter Matt Renoux of CNN affiliate KUSA in Colorado has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROB SWIMM, FATHER OF SCOTT: That this isn't right.

MATT RENOUX, KUSA REPORTER (voice over): Living near Vail, Rob Swimm says his son, Scott, likes to ski and is like any other kid.

SWIMM: He's an 8-year-old boy.

RENOUX: Except at eight years of age, Scott is being sued.

SWIMM: Scott's going to have to be in court and he's going to have to be deposed by lawyers.

RENOUX: The two were skiing together when Scott ran into 60- year-old Pennsylvania resident, David Pfahler, who's now suing Scott and his dad for $75,000 for medical expenses.

SWIMM: Seems to have injured himself so badly he needs to sue my now 8-year-old son.

RENOUX (ON CAMERA): It all started with a simple Friday trip to the Arrowhead ski area outside Beaver Creek. Scott was the uphill skier, coming down a catwalk. Mr. Pfahler was the downhill skier. Somehow their paths crossed and Scott ended up running into him.

JIM CHALET, PLAINTIFF'S ATTY: If you're driving here on Grant Street and you rear end somebody, the same rule applies.

RENOUX: Pfahler's Denver-based attorney, Jim Chalet, wouldn't discuss the lawsuit, but say his law firm often deals with ski injury cases.

CHALET: And our firm probably handles more of these of cases than any other firm in the United States.

RENOUX: And that since Scott uphill skier, he's responsible according to the Skier's Safety Act.

CHALET: Overtaking or uphill skier had the primary duty to avoid a collision.

RENOUX: As for suing an 8-year-old, Chalet says that a minor being taken to court isn't that unusual.

CHALET: It's no different than if your 16-year-old is involved in a moderate accident.

RENOUX: Scott's dad disagrees.

SWIMM: I think it's shocking.

RENOUX: Saying, like most kids, his son knew nothing of the legal system.

SWIMM: Scott didn't know what the word sue meant.

RENOUX: But now has to learn about it firsthand.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Scott was just seven years old at the time of the accident and the term "uphill skier," in case you're not familiar, means Scott was behind the other man as they both came down the trail. LEMON: One of the busiest travel weekends of the year proved to be a dangerous one, icy roads turning deadly.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Weekend blizzard in the plains and the Midwest leaves behind mangled cars and trucks. Three massive pileups on three interstates in three states. The storm caused whiteout weather near Topeka, Kansas, where a 30-vehicle pile-up killed one person there. Same scenario in the Texas panhandle where another chain reaction crash reportedly killed one person. More than a dozen people were hurt. And whiteout conditions this weekend in Missouri where an interstate was temporarily closed after a pile-up involving some 40 cars and semitrailers

KEILAR: Chad Myers is tracking the forecast for travelers on the road and, of course, he is tracking the weather for a very important traveler who is in the sky. What do you have for us -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, if you go to noradsanta.org, you can see this guy. And I actually have him popped up here, we can see where he is. He is in Bulgaria and in many spots, he has already delivered gifts. Go on to noradsanta.org and you can see it and show you some of the video from -- we know that Rudolph is actually leading the sleigh, today. We didn't know if that was going to necessarily happen or not because the really weather has been pretty good across the country, but clearly Santa feels that he needs Rudolph our there for the big bright lights.

Speaking of lights, here are some lights from Robert Cox (ph) of Pittsburgh. I don't think he's need Rudolph to find this house.

Not sure about the "Love Shack" think going on there, but. You know about the love shack's from? Any of you? Either one?

KEILAR: No, where is the "Love Shack" from?

MYERS: Bueller -- what was the original love shack?

LEMON: "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," yeah.

MYERS: That has nothing to do with it.

LEMON: Bueller. Bueller.

KEILAR: Where is it from?

MYERS: It is actually in Athens, Georgia.

LEMON: Oh, is it really?

MYERS: It burned down in 2004, but...

KEILAR: I remember that it burned down, OK. I remember that.

LEMON: I thought it was just a song. MYERS: And I got a couple other pictures from Murrayville, Pennsylvania, and this one's from Matthew O'Brien. There's some lights there. Three months to put all those bad boys up and another three months, probably, to take them down.

I remember my dad putting up all these lights back in Buffalo. It was always so cold and then I did it about two weeks ago and it was like 65 degrees putting up lights, not fair putting up lights in the warmth when my dad had to suffer putting up all those in the cold, I guess, but hey, what comes around goes around.

There's a photo by Doug Lowry, appreciate the pictures, there.

We're not going to see much in the way of any big time snow for Santa, tonight. I think we're really in pretty good shape.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KEILAR: All right, so Santa is in Bulgaria. So, interesting because he was just in Ethiopia and before that, you know, he was here at CNN world headquarters in Atlanta and I do find it interesting that Rudolph is leading the charge because, Santa told me in makeup that Rudolph has a bad attitude, so he must have grudgingly allowed him to lead the charge, I think.

MYERS: I have the video coming up in 11 minutes. I'll will show it on the air live.

LEMON: And he was on the Potomac too, earlier.

KEILAR: Water skiing.

MYERS: He's quick. He's quick.

LEMON: He is everywhere. Hey Chad, real quick I want to ask you something. Wasn't there something they may not have needed Rudolph this year because of something with the red planet because. like it's so bright or something right now, this time of year?

MYERS: The red planet, Mars, is right next to the moon, tonight. So, if see the moon, kind of look for that big bright star, it's star, it's a planet, but it's right next to the moon. Kind of a pretty neat sight. Only one or two degrees away from the moon, so you're going to see them both right in the same line of shot - line of sight.

KEILAR: Very cool. What a fun Christmas Eve treat.

Chad Myers, the font of weather and Rudolph and red planet information.

KEILAR: Thank you.

MYERS: You're welcome.

KEILAR: Love shack information, too. LEMON: Price cuts, long hours, last-minute shoppers, you know what day it is and you're watching, you're shopping or you know someone who is. Right? What do you think?

KEILAR: Hopefully they're finished.

LEMON: Well, we're going to take you to the mall coming up. Hey, Kareen.

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, guys. I'm Kareen Wynter in Los Angeles. One "Grey's Anatomy" star and a rock musician say "I do" just days before Christmas. I'll have the story when CNN NEWSROOM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: It was a winter wonderland wedding for one popular TV actress, over the weekend, and entertainment correspondent, Kareen Wynter is joining us now from L.A. with the dtails.

Hi Kareen.

WYNTER: I there Brianna, wonderful to see you.

KEILAR: Good to see you, too.

WYNTER: Good to see you, it's better for me, actually.

(LAUGHTER)

WYNTER: Hey Brianna, I bet you are such a fan of this show, "Grey's Anatomy," right?

KEILAR: I sure am, I love it.

WYNTER: I know you do. And Christmas actually came just a few days early for one of their big stars, Katherine Heigl. She married musician Josh Kelly at ski resort in northern Utah over the weekend. Now, the ceremony was held in front of a small group of friends and family in a tent outside of the lodge, there. Just a month before her wedding, she actually gave CNN a hint of what she could expect on her big day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATHERINE HEIGL, GREY'S ANATOMY STAR: We chose a Christmas wedding and then I figured, OK, if we have to do a Christmas wedding then it should be really Christmassy. So, that was sort of the idea behind it, like to go up to the mountains and have the snow and have the big Christmas trees and have the winter wonderland feeling, and really embrace it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WYNTER: I just love her. Also in attendance from the "Grey's Anatomy" cast were her great friend, T.R. Knight, who was part of her bridal party, as well as Sandra Oh, and Kate Walsh. The 29-year-old Heigl and her 27-year-old Kelly, they met back in 2005 after she appeared in one of her music videos.

And Brianna, for another star, the holidays not so bright. Former "Lost" actress, Michelle Rodriguez will be spending the holidays behind bars. That's right, she turned herself into a Los Angeles County jail on Sunday, in the city of Lynwood, California. That's the same jail where Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie also did their stint.

Rodriguez must do a six month sentence for failing to complete community service and alcohol monitoring as part of her previous probation from a drunk driving incident. You may recall that Rodriguez spent less than a day in jail before on a previous charge because of overcrowding.

These actresses, you know, they just can't seem to stay out of trouble.

KEILAR: I know, I remember when she was wearing that big clunky ankle bracelet. So, let's move on to Naomi Campbell, supermodel. I'm hearing that she's been in Cuba lately on a goodwill trip. I'm wondering is this voluntary, because normally she's forced to do goodwill when she throws cell phones at people who work for her.

WYNTER: The tantrum, a really positive story for the supermodel. She is on assignment, she was for Britain's "GQ" magazine. The 37- year-old, she was Cuba, Brianna, on Friday. What she was doing there is touring homes donated by Venezuela for local workers at an oil refinery. She was also in town for a summit geared towards providing oil for Caribbean neighbors for fairer prices. Now, the supermodel has already interviewed the Venezuelan president for the gig. She is being really ambitious, here. Now she wants to interview Cuban president, Fidel Castro. So she's moving on up.

KEILAR: That's pretty amazing. An amazing get, perhaps, for Naomi Campbell.

WYNTER: It's good for her. It's good for her.

All right, let's talk a little bit about what's going on tonight on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. We'll talk a little bit more about the power of women, Hollywood women. How Hollywood's biggest female stars are fighting back against unrelenting pressure to be too thin or look too young. It's a night of special reports only on TV's most provocative entertainment show at 11:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific.

And Brianna, I have to ask you, you know, you're in Atlanta, you're doing a fantastic job, but I want to make sure that Don's take care of you. You know? Is he being nice?

KEILAR: He is. In fact he brought his mom and his mom brought cake, so I am being well taken care of today. I'm bucking that trend of Hollywood thinness with the cake.

WYNTER: You have to eat, you have to eat during the holidays. WYNTER: Hi Don.

LEMON: Mom's right here. Say "hi" to mom, she's sitting actually right next to me.

KEILAR: Yeah, she is.

LEMON: All right, Kareen.

WYNTER: Happy holidays, guys.

LEMON: Happy holidays to you, too.

KEILAR: You, too. Thank you.

LEMON: All right, you and your new one.

KEILAR: New baby, yeah.

LEMON: Some sad news to report here, Brianna, it happened yesterday, the day before Christmas Eve. Jazz pianist, Oscar Peterson has died. He was best known for playing with folks like Dizzy Gillespie and Count Basie and, of course, Ella Fitzgerald. He died of kidney failure, he was 82 years old, this confirmed by the mayor of Toronto where he was living. Count Basie once said, "Oscar Peterson plays the best ivory box I've ever heard." Duke Ellington referred to him as the "Maharajah of the keyboard." Oscar Peterson, dead at the age of 82.

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