Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Bailout Money for Job Creation; Progress in Cancer Fight

Aired December 08, 2009 - 10:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: We are watching a couple of developing stories for you this hour involving your money and your health. The bank bailout, are you the taxpayer getting the most bang for your buck? President Obama says some of the unused cash could be used to create jobs.

And on Capitol Hill a possible compromise with regard to health care taking shape today. Could there be an acceptable alternative to this so-called public option.

Also we've been listening to this on the Hill. The new war plan in Afghanistan, the top U.S. commander facing or is about to face some pretty tough questions on the troop surge and the time frame to bring them home.

With nearly 16 million Americans out of work, the White House is feeling a renewed urgency to create more jobs. And a little later today, a little later this morning, in fact, the president is expected to call for using leftover bailout money to help put people back to work.

Cnnmoney.com Poppy Harlow is live for us in New York. And Poppy, spell this thing out for me. How would this work using this extra $200 billion?

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Sure. We're going to get to more specifics from the president in the 11:00 a.m. hour, Brooke, but I'll use Barney Frank's term, Representative Barney Frank, calling it maybe a TARP for Main Street, using some of that leftover TARP bank bailout money to help Main Street.

How's that going to happen? Here are some ways that we're expecting to hear the President mention, first of all, improving our infrastructure, building roads and bridges. We've heard that time and time again. Another idea, weatherizing homes to cut energy use and really cut your energy bills and maybe giving tax credits for doing that. Also increasing lending to small businesses.

President Obama has harped on the importance of small businesses to economic recovery. Possibly giving these small businesses tax breaks in order to incentivize them to hire individuals. Now, the White House hasn't said yet how much TARP money the president will ask for but we know there's a lot left.

We heard yesterday from the Treasury Department, Brooke, which said about $200 billion of those bank bailout funds are not going to be needed anymore so technically they'd go back to the Treasury. Well, today the president is expected to lay out exactly how much of that money he would like to see spent on job creation.

Here is what one of his colleagues at the White House, Christina Romer, had to say on the topic this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINA ROMER, DIRECTOR, WHITE HOUSE COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISORS: What you'll hear the president say is it does help us to do this in a fiscally responsible way. It means that we've returned money to the Treasury. That opens up some space where we can do what we need to do to put Americans back to work.

The president has been very clear that the kind of actions he's talking about today are targeted. They're limited. They're aimed at getting the private sector back into the hiring business, and we know that that's got to be the source of the major job creation going forward. And we think it's going to be effective.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: All right. We will see, we'll hear from the president in the next hour, Brooke. But you can bet critics are going to be calling this a second stimulus and also saying, listen, that's money that we can't afford to spend right now, Brooke.

BALDWIN: So I know, you know, when we talk about TARP and we refer to it as a bailout, that's what it was. We were helping stabilize the banks and the financial systems, et cetera. So my question is I guess, a question of legality. I mean, is using this leftover, this $200 billion even legal?

HARLOW: It's a great question. It's up in the air. This is an unprecedented move. We haven't had a TARP program specifically before, so we'll see. But the president can't just mandate this. Let's make that clear. Congress has to approve any action. So he's going to be calling on lawmakers this morning to come on board with him and create essentially we're expecting this TARP for main street.

And he's going to get support among House Democrats. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in fact last week backed up the idea saying let's use some of that TARP money for a job creation bill. But there are a lot of Republicans, Brooke, that are going to say, listen, take that leftover money and give it back to Treasury and help pay down our $12 trillion debt.

Republican Senator John Kyle of Arizona. He is one of them. He says, OK, if we want to use more money to create jobs, why not use some of that unused stimulus money for job creation measures instead of just using excess TARP money that wasn't intended for that. So there will be yet another heated debate in Washington on this topic. We'll update you. The president expected to speak shortly this morning. Brooke.

BALDWIN: Yes. And I'm glad you pointed that out. Obviously, Congress has to give the stamp of approval first and foremost there.

HARLOW: Exactly.

BALDWIN: Yes. Poppy Harlow, CNN Money.com, good to see you. Thank you.

And as Poppy just mentioned, the president will be making his economic speech to the Brookings Institution right around 11:15 Eastern time this morning, and as soon as we see the president speak, we'll of course bring that to you live.

And taking a quick look at the big board, the Dow is down right now sitting at right around 10,293 points. You know stocks opening a bit of a mix this morning here, but as Felicia Taylor and I were chatting earlier, perhaps with this Obama job announcement, right around 11:15, hopefully we'll start to see the numbers go into more positive territory there.

And speaking of some of this rebounding optimism over the U.S. economy, hitting a bit of a snag here. The latest CNN opinion research poll shows 66 percent believe things are going badly with the economy right now. 34 percent believe things are going well. But that's still 14 points better than what we saw a year ago.

Remember when we were in the thick of this thing, the financial crisis, and it's six points better than people were feeling in May. But it's still down from last month's numbers, where 37 percent were showing confidence in our economy.

A deadline today for Democrats to reach agreement on a health care compromise. Now, the deal under discussion would do away with the so-called public option, replacing it with a separate system, an alternative system. It's part of a plan to get full Democratic support for the nearly $1 trillion bill.

CNN congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar, live for us on Capitol Hill. And Brianna, a lot of focus today here on what's happening behind a lot of closed doors as Democrats try to strike a deal on the government-run insurance plan. Might we see this compromise at all today?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We could and that's certainly the goal of these Democrats who are meeting behind closed doors. We are monitoring the healthcare debate on the Senate floor but it's really what's going on in a room between 10 to 12 Democrats. Some of them liberal Democrats and some of them more towards the center as they try to work out an agreement.

Here is the chasm that they need to basically bridge. The ones on the left, they want a robust public option, a government-run insurance plan that is so controversial. Now, the ones more toward the center have some serious misgivings about the public option. So right now, they work towards a compromise.

We understand what they're really looking at is instead of having that government-run insurance plan is to have private insurers providing health benefits, but it being a nonprofit model and then having the government be allowed to oversee the whole process. This would be a substitute to the public option to kind of bridge that gap between those who want the public option and those who don't. And we're talking only about Democrats here as they try to get towards that all-important 60-vote threshold, Brooke.

BALDWIN: So the 60 points and public option, perhaps this compromise for public option. But another big flash point, you know, abortion, funding of abortion, might the Senate be debating that today as well?

KEILAR: Yes, we are expecting that this could come this afternoon. And this is likely to give Democrats maybe a bit of a setback because what you have is an anti-abortion Democrat, Ben Nelson, who is proposing a change to this health care bill. He wants to toughen up restrictions on spending federal money on abortions.

He wants to say that any plan, whether it's the government-run public option or it's private insurance plans that certain people would buy into using federal subsidies, that those plans would not be able to provide abortions. This is what he wants. We are expecting this could fail narrowly.

And the reason this would be such an issue for Democrats, even though they would consider it a success to keep this toughened language out is because they need Ben Nelson's vote. He would be the 60th vote, and so you can see this would be a step back for them. They would have to - he said this is a deal-breaker.

If he can't get this toughened-up language, you know, he may very well vote against the healthcare bill and so you can see that would mean Democrats would then have to get some Republican support and that would be mighty, mighty tough work.

BALDWIN: That would be difficult indeed, they need that 60th of Nelson. OK, Brianna Keilar, got you there on Capitol Hill. Thank you.

A fierce winter storm gaining strength right now. Rob Marciano tracking that for us.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Oh, yes. The snow plows are out, no doubt about it. And folks are going to deal with some wind as well. Blizzard conditions across parts of the Midwest. This one is a big one. Is it going to affect where you live? Talk about it next when the CNN NEWSROOM comes right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Snow, it is pretty ordinary stuff in California's Sierra Nevadas but down in the foothills surrounding Sacramento, it is a rare sight. The powerful winter storm that's now moving across the country left snow in that area and that is where we find reporter Wendy Poon from our affiliate KXTV, joining us live from El Dorado County, California.

Wendy, I feel for you. I've been there shivering in the cold as a reporter. First let me ask you, how cold is it? WENDY POON, KXTV REPORTER: It is 20 degrees here and that is below freezing. Let me tell you, Brooke, I'm wearing eight layers of clothes right now.

BALDWIN: That is hard.

POON: It is very cold outside. And actually I was just talking to officials and they say that is very, very unusual for this time of year. They usually expect those type of temperatures in February and that's why a warming center in El Dorado County is necessary.

Now, as a collaborative effort between El Dorado county sheriff and other organizations, they opened up the warming center early Monday afternoon. Eight people slept there through the night and yesterday's winter storm brought down trees that caused power outages leaving many in the dark and without heat.

The below freezing temperatures can be deadly to seniors and children who are most vulnerable and the search and rescue teams were busy yesterday, picking up people who were snowed in and needed a ride to the hospital or the warming center.

The warming center is keeping it nice and toasty at about 70 degrees. And they say they're going to keep the doors open until 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday, for those who lose their power and for many of those who may just need a warm place to stay.

Live in (INAUDIBLE), Wendy Poon. Back to you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Wendy, the camera kind of went off here. I want you to turn around and you see that big wall of snow? What is that? It looks like bunkered into snow. What is that behind you? I mean, it's massive.

POON: It is a massive. Where I am right now is the El Dorado County sheriff's office and that is just a hill and it is covered in snow and actually yesterday's weather and snowstorm was really unexpected in lower elevations. It's a little unusual for Auburn and Citrus heights and lower elevation cities but here in Placerville, it's typical from time to time, but they didn't expect to see that much snow yesterday.

BALDWIN: A-ha. Wendy Poon in all eight layers of clothing doing a live shot for us. Wendy, thank you.

That same storm is dumping a lot of snow in the Rockies and apparently it's getting stronger. Rob Marciano, we're talking feet, not inches, right?

MARCIANO: Yes. Reports of three feet of snow in the Sierra Nevadas, and now this thing is heading into the Rockies where, by the way, it's not really weakening. Many times these things come into the Rockies and they start to at least get the wind knocked out of them a little bit but this one continues to pummel the four corners region, the southern parts of Utah, Wasatch there, the northern parts of New Mexico, the San Juans, into southern parts of Colorado. Blizzard warnings are up and we've already had reports of measured wind gusts over 90 miles an hour, so that is some serious stuff. 15 to 30 inches of snow. In some cases I think we'll probably see three feet of it across parts of the Colorado Rockies and Taos (ph) will get a good hit as well. So enjoy that, skiers for a really good shot of some fresh powder, early season powder for the most part.

Blizzard conditions in this little pink area. Southern Minnesota, northern Iowa, probably see winds sustained 30, 40 miles an hour or at least for a three to four hour period there. Six to 10 inches across parts of the Midwest. Notice that this warning is north of Chicago. So with the exception of Minneapolis, most of the major cities, including St. Louis and Chicago, will be spared most of this particular storm.

I do want to show you this though. It shows how much snow we expect to see. Omaha 9.4, 12.4 by this computer model in Rochester, Minnesota and 11 inches or so in Minneapolis. What about the East Coast? Let's talk about that. Tomorrow's daytime highs in D.C. and New York, 47 and 51 respectively. So you're going to be on the warm side of this storm, at least to start and that's the problem.

To finish it Thursday, though, the storm will be north and east into Quebec and that will spawn some colder air that will filter in across the Great Lakes. We'll see lake-effect snows there but most of the major cities on the East Coast, including New York, Philadelphia, D.C. and Baltimore will likely be all rain with this particular event.

So a big storm, Brooke, affecting just about everybody in some way, shape or form as it barrels its way to the north and east towards the Great Lakes.

BALDWIN: Hey, Rob, can I put you on the spot just because it's fun?

MARCIANO: For you. What's up?

BALDWIN: Do you have a man bag?

MARCIANO: Do I have a man bag -

BALDWIN: A man bag, you know what I'm talking about. A man bag. A man purse?

MARCIANO: No, I don't.

BALDWIN: So Rob can't relate to this.

MARCIANO: I'll try.

BALDWIN: I want you to check out the surveillance video. This wouldn't have been Rob, apparently chasing down his non-existent man bag but this video grabbed our attention here. You're going to see a woman chasing down her handbag that got caught in the door of this Boston subway train. And you can see her running towards us and actually slamming into the wall because he's trying to get her bag back. She's dragged along the platform. She frees herself, doesn't get her bag, I'm assuming. The woman says she's missed work. She is still suffering migraines after this from last month. She is actually considering a lawsuit, but the train attendant was fired and the train operator were suspended.

And so we want to ask you this question, ladies. What would you do in that split second? Think about it, what do you have in your purse, your Blackberry, your wallet, your keys, your life, right? Hang on to the purse if you let it go.

And guys, those of you that actually have a man bag, neither Rob does, he's just not (INAUDIBLE) to it. Would you chase after your man bag? That's a question for our blog today. We want to hear your responses. This could be kind of fun. Go to cnn.com/heidi to post your thoughts.

Well, fewer Americans are getting cancer and fewer Americans are actually dying from it. We will tell you what's helping to save so many lives.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Checking today's top stories now, filling the U.S. Senate seat left behind by the late Ted Kennedy, polls are open right now in Massachusetts where voters are trying to narrow down the field of candidates. This is a special primary election with four Democrats, two Republicans. The winner of the general election in January will serve the last two years of Kennedy's six-year term.

Demonstrators showed up voicing their support for two Navy Seals arraigned in a military court in Norfolk, Virginia. One is accused of striking an Iraqi detainee who is a suspect in the killings of four American contractors. Both men are charged with dereliction of duty, they face court-martials next month. Both could have taken a reprimand but wanted to go to trial here to clear their names.

And an Ohio inmate scheduled to die at this hour by a single drug lethal injection, and in fact, just minutes ago here the U.S. Supreme Court refused to stop this execution. Kenneth Biros would be the first U.S. death row inmate put to death that way. He challenged then Ohio's single drug injection would simply be too painful. Biros was convicted of murdering a woman and scattering her remains in two different states.

How about this story? Welcome news here for really anyone whose life has been touched by cancer. Americans are now making significant progress in the fight against the disease.

CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has the story behind the success.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Aggressive efforts to get the cancer rate down in the United States seemed to be working. That's according to a new study from the National Institutes of Health.

(voice-over): Colonoscopies, mammograms, screenings like these work, according to a new study from the National Institutes of Health.

DR. OTIS BRAWLEY, AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY: And we're seeing declines in cancer incidents and mortality because the right things are being done.

COHEN: Deaths from nearly all types of cancer are down on average 1.6 percent. At the rate things are going, by the year 2020, deaths from colorectal cancer, for example, could be reduced by 50 percent. Breast cancer rates are also down, partly because in 2002 many women stopped taking hormone replacement therapy when they hit menopause because of studies showing a possible link to cancer.

Cancer death rates remain higher for African-Americans than for white Americans. The problem, access to care.

BRAWLEY: There is a clear problem that we are losing lives because people do not have access to the high quality care that every American should get.

COHEN: But overall, health officials say the results of this year's report proved screening and early detection are helping the U.S. turn the tables in the fight against cancer.

BRAWLEY: If we actually did the screening that we know saves lives, the number of lives that could be saved is tremendous.

COHEN: There is a piece of bad news in this study. They found, believe it or not, that fewer women are getting mammograms than in previous years. The concern among experts is that death rates from breast cancer could then be going up in the future.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: It is not what the TARP fund was originally intended for, but a major announcement expected from the president this hour to use leftover bailout money to put Americans back to work.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The banks got their bailout money, but if you are unemployed, how about some relief for your own troubled assets? Next hour President Obama is expected to announce that leftover TARP money will be used to create jobs, but you can imagine here already he's getting some pushback from Republicans.

I want to go to Susan Malveaux, standing by live at the White House. You know, we've heard from Congressman Boehner saying, you know, basically spending this - it's supposed to go to the deficit. It is repulsive but the administration says otherwise. SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, it's important to note that some of these funds, the bailout funds to those banks that's not being used to the tune of $200 billion, some of that can actually be used in other ways, perhaps lending to small businesses. But I spoke with the Chairwoman Christina Romer of the Council of Economic Advisers and she said that some of that money is well - would need congressional approval.

So, this will be really be somewhat of a food fight, if you will, for a while to see where these funds ultimately end up.

But the president is making it very clear. He wants some of those funds to be used to create jobs. How does he want that? Providing small business with incentives, whether it's tax cuts or whether it's credits for hiring folks, that that's one possible idea. Another one, infrastructure improvements. They found out the last time it worked. Building bridges, repairing roads, funding those projects, putting people back to work right away.

The other thing, weatherizing your homes. You heard of the Cash for Clunkers program, Brooke. Well, this is Cash for Caulkers. Caulk your house, weatherize your home. You get a tax break for that. That may take off and provide jobs right away. At least, that's what the White House officials are saying.

And finally -- you had touched upon it and that, of course, is the federal deficit. The real controversy over that, Republicans not happy at all. They say those dollars belong back to the Treasury, back to reduce the federal deficit.

That is the question I put to Christina Romer this morning. What about the federal deficit? Is the president going to talk about ways of reducing the federal deficit as well as creating jobs, and here's how she responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINA ROMER, DIRECTOR, W.H. COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: When we came into office, we inherited both a big jobs deficit and certainly a federal budget deficit. The president is committed to dealing with both of those. We know that putting people back to work is one of the crucial things you can do to help the deficit because when people are working again, they're paying taxes again. We're also in the process of our 2011 budget, and there are going to be very much thinking about how can we reduce the deficit in the medium run (ph)...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So, Brooke, it's very clear that Christina Romer and other White House officials understand the kind of heat that they're under right now from Republicans, who are saying the dollars belong back to the federal Treasury, to the Treasury Department, back to reduce the federal deficit.

They are going to try to work with members of Congress. This is not just bringing down the hammer, but work with members of Congress to figure out where those dollars are going to go. And ultimately he's going to need Congress's authorization to move those dollars to another pot if that's the case.

BALDWIN: And we'll be listening to the president right around 11:15. I know you will as well. Suzanne Malveaux, I'll let you go.

And I want to remind our viewers that the president will be making this economic speech to the Brookings Institution at 11:15 Eastern this morning. Of course, we'll bring that to you live here on CNN.

The nation's housing crisis this hour. Lawmakers looking at how the government and private sectors have responded to the record number of foreclosures and overdue mortgages. The House Financial Services Committee holding that hearing.

As the president plans to step up efforts to spur job creation, this new report is showing a growing number of U.S. businesses expect to add workers. That's some good news. Add workers in the first quarter of this year. Felicia Taylor is at the New York Stock Exchange with that.

How about that, Felicia? Adding workers come next year.

FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Isn't that encouraging news?

BALDWIN: Yes.

TAYLOR: You know, Brooke, stability is the key word in this report from Employment Services Company Manpower. Of the 28,000 U.S. employers surveyed, 73 percent said they plan to holding staffing levels exactly where they are in the first quarter of 2010. So, that's great. That's the highest in the survey's history.

Twelve percent of employers, as you were saying, expect to add workers. Another 12 percent say they might have to cut workers. A final three percent are simply undecided at the moment.

The end result, though, a six percent hiring rate. That, however, is the worst since 1982. It's an improvement, though, from the fourth quarter of this year, so the trend is going in the right direction. Brooke.

BALDWIN: I guess this is a matter of glass half full or half empty, and it depends on perhaps your perspective. What should we be taking, Felicia, away from these numbers?

TAYLOR: Well, you've got to take it with a little bit of a grain of salt. Manpower's CEO points out that the first quarter is generally a slow hiring period, so to see this increase from the fourth quarter into the first quarter is unusual.

On the other hand, the outlook for the first three months of next year is weaker than the outlook for 2009 was. If you remember, about one and a half million jobs were lost in those first three months of this year. This is why we're likely to see President Obama step up his job rhetoric and push for that legislation today. And despite some of these signs of stability, the administration really wants to push employment from stability to full-on recovery.

And we heard from Suzanne some of the ideas that the administration has come up with to hopefully create jobs in the very near term and then on down the road.

Let's take a look at where the market stands right now. We've had some negativity, but we're well off of our lows. The Dow Industrials is off about four-fifth of 1 percent. The NASDAQ is down three-quarters. The S&P is also off about four-fifths of one percent, but that's really based on some global information that we got at the beginning of the day. Brooke.

BALDWIN: Stability to recovery. We'll all be waiting for that, Felicia. Thank you.

What would you do, a woman home alone. An intruder tries to break in.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

CALLER: I don't know, they need to hurry. He's going to break this thing open. And when he does, I'll have to kill him, and I don't want to kill him.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Who made the next move? You'll hear it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Today marks Day Two of the largest U.N. climate meeting happening ever in Copenhagen, Denmark. The goal? A new agreement to cut greenhouse gases worldwide. Now, this event has been overshadowed a bit here by e-mails that were hacked recently, suggesting some scientists are manipulating data or hiding some of the data regarding climate change. One hundred ninety-two countries are taking part in the summit. President Obama will be there next week.

The U.S. trying to gauge North Korea's willingness to return to talks about the country's nuclear program. The top U.S. envoy to North Korea arrived there just a short time ago. A senior administration official says Steven Bosworth is not offing incentives to get North Korea back to the table.

And oh, yes, the White House party crasher story not going anywhere, I'm afraid to tell you. The House Homeland Security Committee plans to vote tomorrow as to whether or not to subpoena the couple at the center of this controversy. We're talking about the Salahis that refused to appear before the committee during a hearing last week.

A woman living in rural Oklahoma shared her horror with 9/11 operators -- 911 operators -- as a man tried to break into her home. Still waiting for help, the woman made a fast and fatal decision. Reporter Jacqueline Sit of affiliate KWTV has the chilling 911 tapes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONNA JACKSON (PH), SHOT INTRUDER: I don't know, they need to hurry. He's going to break this thing open. And when he does, I'll have to kill him, ma'am. I don't want to kill him.

JACQUELINE SIT, KWTV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the 911 call Donna Jackson (PH)made after midnight as this man, Billy Riley, tried to break into her rural home. (INAUDIBLE)

As the 57-year-old tried to stay calm and collected, on the other line, a team of dispatchers were sending help her way.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She pleaded and begged. She said, "I don't want to have to shoot him, I don't."

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

911 OPERATOR: Can you understand what he's saying at all?

JACKSON: Oh, he's crazy.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SIT : For nearly ten minutes, Billy Riley continued banging at the door and yelling profanities, threatening the woman.

BRENDA HART, LINCOLN COUNTY, OKLAHOMA, 911 DISPATCHER: I could hear him banging the doors and yelling at her. I was scared for her.

SIT: Listen carefully as you can hear the intruder smash the windows, first with a chair and a second time with a patio table.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

911 DISPATCHER: Ma'am?

JACKSON: Hurry, dear God hurry. I haven't shot yet. Hurry.

911 DISPATCHER: Oh, my God.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SIT: That's when the gunshot was fired, killing him.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

JACKSON: I shot him. I'm going out front. I hit him. God, help me. Please dear God, I think I've killed him. Please, father in heaven. Please father in heaven. Oh my God.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

JOAN HERD, LINCOLN CO., OKLAHOMA 911 DISPATCHER: For me, listening to the call, the hardest part was hearing her pray for forgiveness, you know. Being put in a position that no one ever should have to be put into.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: The case is being investigated as a homicide. The local district attorney will decide whether charges will be brought against the homeowner.

This morning, we've been asking for your reaction to this surveillance video. This is happening in Boston. A woman's handbag gets caught in those doors. This is Boston subway train. Train takes off, bag in the doors, woman running, running, slams into the wall. I guess she got her bag. Definitely hurt, she has migraines. About a month later, still here. She is contemplating a lawsuit.

We've been asking you as part of our question here this morning on the blog -- you know, ladies, I realize we put a lot of stuff in our purses. I myself am guilty. Our Blackberrys, our iPhones, our wallets. Everything. And so our question is, would you be chasing after that bag? Asking men as well, the man bag, some of you have them, some of you don't. Would you chase after it?

We're getting some pretty funny responses. April writes, "It depends. If it is my Coach, Chanel or Kate Spade purse, then it would be worth the pursuit. Otherwise, I can always purchase another purse and cancel the credit cards."

Michael writes in and says, "If I were trying to board a subway train and were carrying some luggage with me or whatnot, I would definitely attempt to get my hands back on it and run the risk of being injured to do so."

So, people, it seems are running after their bags. Alexa writes this, "Let the purse go! My life is the most irreplaceable thing I own." Alexa, good point.

Remember, we always want to hear from you. Log on to CNN.com/heidi and share your comments on our blog.

I don't know what I'd do. I'd probably run a little bit. Just being honest.

Taking questions on Afghanistan. The top general is on Capitol Hill today while his boss talks with troops awaiting deployment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: It's icy, it's dicey on roads from California to Ohio. Take a look at this, this is what happened to a driver. This is Dayton, Ohio, yesterday. Another driver apparently hit some black ice, swerved right into him. Wow, that's not even part of this massive snowstorm Rob Marciano has been talking about. Rob, that's never fun, that's scary. That black ice.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's just the beginning part. It's kind of like the pre-show...

BALDWIN: Before the main deal?

MARCIANO: ... before the main event.

(WEATHER REPORT)

BALDWIN: So, this could be the big one. All right, Rob. Thanks for that.

MARCIANO: All right. You bet.

BALDWIN: Defense Secretary Robert Gates underscoring the U.S. commitment to Afghanistan. Gates arrived in the capital city of Kabul today with talks with president Hamid Karzai. U.S. military officials at a news conference with the Afghan president. Gates said the first of 30,000 additional U.S. troops are scheduled to arrive in a matter of days. Gates says as security improves, the U.S.-Afghan relationship will grow in economic ways. Then echoing President Obama, Gates said we will never turn our back on the region.

That said, General Stanley McChrystal and ambassador Karl Eikenberry -- there's McChrystal, live -- there, Capitol Hill this morning, talking about, you guessed it, Afghanistan. This is just another part of the P.R offensive launched after last week's troop announcement. The president's announcement yesterday, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff went to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. Admiral Mike Mullen faced pretty tough questions from troops just like these.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Honestly, do you think 30,000 troop surge is going to be enough right now?

ADM. MIKE MULLEN, CHAIRMAN OF JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: Honestly, I do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, sir.

(LAUGHTER)

MULLEN: And as somebody that -- as I indicated earlier, started in Vietnam, it's an area of particular focus for me and I'll -- I'll just talk about two things. And already similarities, I've got all that. I mean, insurgency is an example.

But you've got -- we shouldn't forget that there are 42 other countries in Afghanistan with combat forces with us. This isn't just the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, when we return from missions in Afghanistan to Camp Levenik (ph), the amount of people made it so that it took sometimes two to three hours to get some chow as well as four to five hours to e-mail our families. With the increase in troops that's coming up, is there anything in place to compensate for us?

MULLEN: We've been working -- actually been working this for months, to be able to plan ahead for a decision like this and to try to break down those barriers. A couple of them that I mentioned to you just a second ago.

We are also working extensively on bandwidth, on C-4i support. You get that in terms of the e-mail connectivity, but again it's not a very robust infrastructure, and there's not a lot of extra bandwidth. So, I think all of us recognize the importance of that.

The only thing I can tell you broadly, we've been very focused on this for months, but it's going to take us some time to get the infrastructure in place to do what we need to do with respect to those two things.

Now, chow, I don't know. I'll have to ask the question. And if it's routinely - obviously, we've got to feed you. I got that. And from what I can see, the food has been pretty good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Many of the troops that attended that event with Admiral Mullen will in fact be going to Afghanistan.

I want to also take you back to Iraq and the news we're getting this morning. We're following this morning's coordinated bombings in Baghdad. Now, Iraqi authorities say suicide bombers detonated their cars in a series of five coordinated attacks. Taking a look at these numbers, the casualty figures have been horrifying. We have at least 112 people dead, at least 425 wounded.

Look at the aftermath. Children, students among those dead. The apparent targets included government buildings, a courthouse, a commercial district. There has not yet been a public claim of responsibility.

A new controversy over climate change. I got a chance to sit down with one of the climate scientists involved in this whole thing. Climate-Gate, up close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Are we nearing the end of the warmest decade on record? The United Nations weather agency believes we are. Its experts also say this year is likely to be the fifth warmest since 1850, when recordkeeping actually began. Those findings were presented today at the climate conference going on in Copenhagen, Denmark. Total of 192 nations taking part in that. The summit lasts until the 18th of month, and that is when President Obama will be there.

Negotiators are hoping to set limits and caps on carbon dioxide and other gas emissions. But there are some skeptics out there who believe climate change is all a conspiracy, all a hoax. And they point to a slew of hacked e-mails, documents from climate researchers -- prominent climate researchers in Britain and in the U.S. Those e- mails are raising some questions about whether some scientists have manipulated the data. This whole controversy being called by some as Climate-Gate. I, along with Special Investigations Unit, recently sat down with one of those scientists whose e-mail was hacked.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Dr. Michael Mann, the director of the Penn State Earth Systems Science Center, who is under inquiry by his own university, was one of the first scientists to come under fire.

DR. MICHAEL MANN, PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY: The first thought in my mind was, don't tell me it's come to this, that the sort of the opponents of action to combat climate change have reached such a low point where they've actually stolen people's personal e-mails.

BALDWIN: And this is the e-mail at the center of the controversy, an e-mail sent to Dr. Mann from Phil Jones, the head of the Climate Research Unit at the University of Easy Anglia. Jones, another casualty of the hacked e-mails, chose to step down while the university conducts an investigation.

(on camera): In an e-mail dated Tuesday, the 16th of November, 1999, Phil Jones writes, quote, "I've just completed Mike's nature trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years, i.e., from 1981 onwards and 1961 for Keith to hide the decline."

People see the word "trick." There have been all kinds of accusations about that word. It could be duped. What does he mean by saying the word "trick"?

MANN: Scientists, mathematicians often use the word trick in the sense of a clever approach to solving a problem.

We had one data set that stretched way into the past, but it didn't come up to the present. It stopped in 1980. At the same time, we had more recent data that showed how the earth has warmed in the subsequent decades.

And in order to understand the longer term data, it needs to be put in the context of the more recent data so that the relative warmth today can be compared to the relative warmth in the past.

And so the trick was simply presenting these two data sets together so that they could be compared against each other. It was completely out in the open. So there was nothing hidden or secret. It was just what my colleague was calling a clever way to present the data.

BALDWIN: What about the word "decline"? What's that referring to?

MANN: He refers to tree ring information. They were looking at the density of the wood that formed in those annual growth bands. And it turns out that that measure is highly correlated with summer temperatures where these trees grow. BALDWIN: For decades, scientists have used tree rings to chart the earth's past temperatures. Before 1960, temperature records from tree rings matched up with other temperature records. After 1960, scientists discovered some tree ring records no longer correlated with other temperature measurements.

MANN: In this e-mail that referred to the decline was simply referring to the fact that these data shouldn't be used after 1960 because of this divergence, because of this decline. So this was something that was completely out in the open, it was in the published literature.

BALDWIN: No cover-up?

MANN: No cover-up. It was perhaps a poor choice of words. And again, I imagine my colleague that if he knew his personal e-mails were going to be read by the entire world, he might have been a little more careful about how he worded things.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: So, my sit-down interview with Dr. Mann just a piece of our larger investigation in which I also talked to a Georgia Tech scientist about all of this. Her name is Judith curry. She said, you know what? If you take this East Anglia, this hack job out of the equation, the conclusion she says, would be the same. The earth is warming and human behavior is having a driving impact.

Over the next two weeks, CNN has the Copenhagen Climate Summit covered. Why it matters, what it means to you. Stay with us to find out. And ake sure you watch tonight when Campbell Brown will take an in-depth look at the e-mail controversy that threatens to overshadow Copenhagen. That is 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, right here on CNN.

And once again, I'm Brooke Baldwin. CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Tony Harris.