Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
New Rules to Governor Airport Security; Wall Street Seeing Triple-Digit Gains; The Making of a Terrorist; World's Tallest Building Opens in Dubai
Aired January 04, 2010 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: The president and first family returned from their holiday vacation in Hawaii last hour, back to the bitter cold of Washington. But some school children in Hawaii are getting some extra vacation days. The state is drastically shortening the school year to cope with a budget crisis. The story now from CNN's Ed Henry.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Like many nine-year- olds, Hunter Gentry loves his scooter and is very creative.
HUNTER GENTRY: Hi, my name is Hunter Gentry and I'm a chef and a baker.
HENRY: This young Hawaiian has already started his own cooking show on YouTube, hoping to make it big on "Top Chef" some day. But Hunter also has bilateral hearing loss, which makes it hard to hear s's and t's at the end of words. Two hearing aids help, and so do special classes at school. But that's been disrupted by furlough Fridays. A drastic measure by Hawaii to cut 17 more class days, resulting in the shortest school year in the nation, to deal with a massive budget hole.
LELA GENTRY, HUNTER'S MOTHER: When he's missing Friday, he's missing not only his regular school day, like everyone else, but he's missing his one-on-one resource time with his teacher.
HENRY: Lela works as a makeup and wardrobe stylist and her husband is a freelance photographer. So they can often work with Hunter at home on Fridays. But she notes other families have daycare issues and she has a second child on the way.
L. GENTRY: My time's going to run thin.
HENRY: U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is pushing for the nation to adopt an all year round curriculum, so he's angry this state is going in the opposite direction.
ARNE DUNCAN, EDUCATION SECRETARY: Everyone's having to make really tough choices. But if we desperately need more time, not less, when Hawaii said their answer to this tough fiscal problem was to eliminate 17 days of school, 10 percent of the school year, no one else has proposed that kind of answer. There has to be a better way. HENRY: But last week, Hawaii's Republican governor, Linda Lingle, rejected a move by the teachers' union and state education officials to restore seven days to the public school's calendar.
H. GENTRY: I get the day off.
HENRY (on camera): So it's not so bad for you.
H. GENTRY: No, but...
L. GENTRY: He's honest.
HENRY: Come on. I get a day off.
(voice-over) Mom worries that, while the politicians slug it out, the testing scores of her son and others will suffer come spring.
L. GENTRY: The biggest person that's, you know, being hurt are the students, and I think, you know, when it comes to education, it should never be touched and never cut back.
HENRY (on camera): With so many states cash-strapped right now, others across the nation may start following the Friday furlough model, but Lela Gentry told us she hopes they resist that temptation and find other places to cut.
Ed Henry, CNN, Honolulu.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Kyra Phillips.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Brooke, thanks so much.
And we're pushing forward. You knew after the Christmas-Day near-blowup over Detroit getting on a plane would get more complicated. Where you're from and where you're flying through carries a lot more weight now.
The thrills of victory, the agonies worse than the defeat. Sometimes star athletes pay a heavy, heavy price for their fame and glory. And it's a price getting paid way too often.
And you could call it will heroin shooting for dummies. A legitimate how-to guide for an illegal drug. Seriously?
Hi, everyone. Well, you knew this was coming. And here it is: new rules to protect you in airports and in airplanes. Starting today, air travelers from certain countries face extra screening, including body scans and pat-downs. They apply to people flying through four countries the State Department says sponsor terrorism: Cuba, Sudan, Syria and Iran.
Also included, people flying into the U.S. from Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Yemen, and seven other countries of interest.
Joining us now with his take, former State Department counterterrorism official Larry Johnson.
And you know, Larry, I read your piece today that came out. You are harsh. You're saying this is a bonehead move that will likely increase the chance that terrorists will succeed. You say this is half-assed security and will get people killed. You even go on to say this is not even security. This is a joke, except it's not funny. Wow. Your words are strong.
LARRY JOHNSON, FORMER STATE DEPARTMENT COUNTERTERRORISM OFFICIAL: Well, Kyra, this is -- this is a senseless policy. Why don't they just have everybody wear a red sock on their left foot or baseball caps backwards? That will have the same effect on the security.
Note that the countries that don't appear on this. You don't have Egypt. The No. 2 guy in al Qaeda, Zawahiri, is still out there. You don't have Mali. You don't have Niger.
The fact of the matter is, let's recall that, when the 9/11 hijacking took place, those hijackers, some of them started from Europe. Some of them started from small airports up in New England. And at that time, we had different levels of security predicated on the notion that we could anticipate what the threat is. We know now that that's not the case.
The only defense is to have effective security procedures that it doesn't matter where you fly from, it doesn't matter what country you're from, it doesn't matter, you know, any part about your personal identity. What matters is that you have a security procedure in place that will prevent an explosive or weapon from being placed on board an aircraft.
PHILLIPS: So bottom line, Larry, are we just not getting the security thing right, or is al Qaeda, members of al Qaeda so smart enough that they continue to figure out where our gaps are and they hit them?
JOHNSON: I never sit around and worry about the intelligence of the bad guys. I always assume -- assume the worst. Assume the bad guys are smart and they will do things right even if they don't.
What we do know, though, is an effective layered security procedure, which involves technology, which involves profiling, and I'm not talking about saying whether or not somebody's an Arab or a Muslim and you identify them, but profiles that identify habits of travel and other things that will provide indicators about somebody, when you put the technology, the profiling, and some other security measures together, then you have an approach.
What this is doing is already identifying for the bad guys "Here are the 14 countries that you have to worry about. So as long as you're not one of those countries, you can do a work around."
And we've already seen al Qaeda do that. And in fact, we know that there are al Qaeda members from Uzbekistan, from Georgia, from Mali, from Niger, from Egypt. So enough with this silliness that somehow we're going to anticipate the intelligence in advance and get it. That's just -- that's setting an expectation that's way too high.
PHILLIPS: So let me ask you this. Do we have the right people in charge of our security when it comes to flying? Is the TSA the right organization with the right people, or should the TSA just be done away with and some different type of intelligence group take over our security when it comes to flying?
JOHNSON: This is not a problem of switching agencies. This is a problem of leadership at the top. Right now, the people that are running TSA are doing a disservice to the traveling public and putting them at risk.
PHILLIPS: We don't even have a head of the TSA, Larry.
JOHNSON: Yes, well, that's you know -- there's an acting head. And there was a head of the TSA during the entire Bush administration when this was allowed to continue.
I mean, this didn't just start under Barack Obama. This has been going on for the last 12 months here, but it was going on for the previous seven years under the Bush administration. It was not fixed after 9/11.
They fixed some of it. They did start requiring checked baggage to be screened for explosives. That's good. They did put security professionals in charge at the security screening checkpoints. That's good. But they left some other gaps, particularly the issue of detecting explosives on board a person or in carry-on luggage.
PHILLIPS: Larry Johnson, appreciate your insight.
Just want to let you all know, too: we did reach out to the TSA and did not get a comment for this interview.
Larry, thanks.
JOHNSON: Thank you, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: We're keeping our eyes on Las Vegas. Two law enforcement officers down and wounded, one suspect fatally shot in the head. Chaos this morning at a federal building after a gunman opens fire in the lobby.
I all started about two hours ago in a building that houses federal courts and the offices of senators Harry Reid and John Ensign. A witness reports hearing 30 to 40 gunshots. Right now we're waiting for news on the victims' condition: one of them a deputy U.S. marshal, the other a court security officer. No word yet on that dead gunman's identity or possible motive.
Well, does a new year mean a new start for stocks? Boy, we all hope s. After what we've been through last year, well, we sure need it. We're going to check out your portfolio.
And this was a big day for Wall Streeters. Back in 1865, just after New Year's, the New York Stock Exchange opened up its first permanent home. Address? Broad Street and Wall.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, Wall Street is getting a fresh start today, and thank goodness. 2000 through 2009 was the worst decade for stocks on record. And now we all want to know what the new year holds for our investments. Susan Lisovicz hopefully will be able to give us a good sign from the New York Stock Exchange.
Susan, we're off to a pretty good start, right? Triple-digit gains?
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Happy New Year, my friend.
PHILLIPS: Happy New Year.
LISOVICZ: And it's been a terrific start on this first trading day of 2010.
First of all, we saw a global rally. Why is that? China had a very strong manufacturing report. What does that have to do with us? Well, China makes things because people want them. And you know, we as Americans buy a lot of things made in China.
That was followed up by a strong report on manufacturing in Europe and here in the U.S., suggesting global recovery. So the bulls took off at the opening bell and haven't looked back.
You talked about the lost decade, Kyra. 2009 was a terrific year for stocks when the U.S. economy narrowly averted depression. Remember, though, we are still a ways off from the all-time high. The Dow off more than 3,700 points from its all-time high just a couple of years ago.
What's it going to take for this positive momentum that we saw in '09 to continue? Well, consumer spending. Outside of stimulus, jobs. These are important things. Historically, when the stock market comes out of a bear market, it's usually a pretty good year, and this first trading day, pretty good so far, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, this I guess, is a pretty good omen for the so- called January effect that you tell me about every year.
LISOVICZ: That's right, because every year, I consult the Stock Traders' Almanac. Sometimes I feel like a sports reporter. There's so many stats in there. But this one is remarkably accurate.
The January effect, specifically the first five trading days of the year, have been right -- almost -- I mean, they have a 90-percent accuracy rate from -- from the 1950. And so why is that? Well, one of the reasons why is you often see new money at work: pension funds, big funds reinvesting money, putting money at work. There is a sense of optimism. If it's not happening, it's an early warning system for what happens the rest of the year.
So let's -- let's hope that the next four trading days bear this out that we're going to see more rallies. But this one is terrific so far -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Sounds good. Let's hope it sticks. Thanks, Susan.
LISOVICZ: You're welcome.
PHILLIPS: Just a kid, or so it seems when you see his photos. But the U.S. says this is the face of an al Qaeda terrorist. If he is, how did he get there? We're digging deeper for answers.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Chad Myers, Happy New Year. Welcome back.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: What's going on at Ronald Reagan National Airport?
MYERS: Power outage. And people are not getting through security, and planes not getting off the ground either.
This is what it looks like now from our flight tracker. We still have planes arriving at Reagan. You can see they're kind of coming in here and going around the beltway an then up from the south and landing. Thirty-four planes still in the sky to land right now.
But Sean, go ahead and switch that to the departures, and the last plane out was an AirTran flight, and it is now off the screen. But no -- no planes at all in the air around Reagan National because of departures. So they are not allowing them out of the gates.
I'm getting some tweets, and people are telling me that they are stuck on their planes on the tarmac or near a gate, but the plane hasn't left the gate that they want to use. So they're stuck there, waiting for either a stair -- a set of stairs to come to the plane or, of course, they'll eventually get those other planes out of the way.
PHILLIPS: OK. Keep updating us, Chad.
MYERS: Sure. OK.
PHILLIPS: Thanks.
From a quiet young Nigerian man to a terrorist willing to kill himself and innocents for al Qaeda. That's the allegation, at least. And if it's true, what caused Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to change?
CNN's Nic Robertson looks back for answers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In this high school photograph, there is a look of innocence. But behind the impassive gaze, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab appears to have been deeply troubled and lonely.
He was devout, loved his faith. His friends even called him "the pope." One of his Internet postings reads, "How can I really enjoy being with people to whom I cannot express my feelings? They know I'm Muslim, but I see how they don't understand."
But he hid his troubles well. Kwesi Brako was on the school basketball team with him.
KWESI BRAKO, HIGH SCHOOL FRIEND: To say I'm surprised is a given at this point. I wouldn't have figured him to be a lonely person.
ROBERTSON: His blogs: Abdulmutallab was longing to get to university, mix with Muslims. In the fall of 2005, he got his wish: admitted to University College London. But this conflicted teenager was about to enter a highly-charged Islamic scene.
USAMA HASSAN, FORMER RADICAL: There was a battle of ideas if you like going on, on the campuses.
ROBERTSON: Hassan knows. Now reformed, he was once a campus radicalizer and influenced the man who orchestrated the killing of the "Wall Street Journal's" reporter Daniel Pearl.
HASSAN: On British campuses he would have had exposure to a variety of Muslim voices, all claiming to speak for true Islam. And many of these voices were likely to be extreme fundamentalist voices who openly advocate no compromise with the west, as they see it.
ROBERTSON: Abdulmutallab joined the university's Islamic Society and by his second year, became its president. Brako was at a different college in London, but his old friend had turned his back on him. Abdulmutallab was changing.
BRAKO: He had begun to wear, you know, Islamic clothing. I think he was wearing a caftan and the matching trousers and sandals.
ROBERTSON: In 2007 under Abdulmutallab's leadership, the Islamic Society organized a week of debate about the war in Iraq, titled "War on Terror," a war that appears to have weighed heavily on him.
(on camera) This is the campus at University College London where the "War on Terror" week was held. A year later, an independent British think tank issued a report on Islamic societies at universities like this. They concluded that, while most students were tolerant, a significant minority supported violence in the name of Islam.
(voice-over) The few friends Abdulmutallab did have at university are hard to track down. Eventually, we get a lead.
(on camera) We've been trying three days to find one person at the university who knew him well enough that he's willing to talk to us, and we think we've found him. This could be the breakthrough.
(voice-over) His name is Qasim Rafiq. He was the Islamic Society president just before Abdulmutallab.
QASIM RAFIQ, FRIEND OF SUSPECT: Hello? ROBERSON (on camera): Hello. Is this Qasim?
RAFIQ: Yes, speaking.
ROBERTSON: Qasim, hi. This is...
(voice-over) I ask about Abdulmutallab.
RAFIQ: It's difficult for me to reconcile, you know, the man that -- the person I knew and what I've just been reading and seeing in the media over the last three or four days. It's extremely difficult. And again, it goes back to the issue of where exactly did, you know, this process of radicalization take place?
ROBERTSON: Investigators are still trying to figure out where and how Abdulmutallab was radicalized. What worries Osama Hassan is that Abdulmutallab may have radicalized others.
HASSAN: There is, of course, the worry that he may have a small band of comrades or friends that -- who think along similar lines.
ROBERTSON: Nic Robertson, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And we're getting some new information now out of that shooting that took place in Las Vegas, 8 a.m. Pacific Time in morning.
We told you about a deputy U.S. marshal and a court security officer that were both shot at the Lloyd D. George federal courthouse in Las Vegas this morning. We're now getting word that that security officer, the court security officer has died. That's according to our affiliate in Las Vegas, KLAS, and also the Associated Press is reporting that.
We did tell you the suspect was shot and killed. Now we are being told that court security officer has died. We'll continue to update you on this story.
Other top stories that we're following for you right now.
Five Americans in a Pakistani court today. They're accused of meeting with militants to plot terror attacks in Afghanistan. The men deny any involvement with terrorists. The court gave police a couple more weeks to build a case.
Atlanta has a new mayor, Kasim Reed sworn in just a short while ago. He won a hard-fought runoff last month against Mary Norwood. Reed replaces two-term Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin. His first priority: making the city safer.
Houston also has a new mayor. Annise Parker was sworn in over the weekend in a private ceremony, and she's repeating the oath today in public. The 54-year-old Parker doesn't hide the fact that she's a lesbian, making Houston the largest city in the U.S. to be governed by an openly gay person. Architects love it; window washers fear it. The newest marvel of construction up and running. And when we say up, well, as you can see, we mean it, tumbling (ph) down on the Empire State Building, by the way. Chicago's Willis, formerly Sears Tower, now...
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Chicago's Willis, formerly Sears Tower now second size wise. They're celebrating the official unveiling of the world's tallest skyscraper in the United Arab Emirates today. More than six years in the making, the 160-plus story Burj Khalifa rises more than a half mile. The cost: around a billion and a half bucks, more like $8 million per story.
Some hail it as a monumental achievement. Others say it's a monument to excess.
Here's CNN's Stan Grat -- Stan Grant, actually. And you'll hear him refer to the building as the Burj Dubai. That's before it was renamed in honor of the president of the UAE.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NEIL ARMSTRONG, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: It's one small step for man...
STAN GRANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The year, 1969. Now 40 years later, here on earth in a city in the Middle East, man is again reaching for the stars.
KYE HO KIM, SVP, SAMSUNG CONSTRUCTION: This is kind of a project like first exploration to the moon. OK? Nobody can challenge it.
GRANT: The Burj Dubai translates in English as Dubai Tower, and it certainly towers over what is already a massive Dubai skyline. Kye Ho Kim is senior vice president Samsung Construction, a division of the giant Korean multinational company that is rewriting construction records with this building.
KIM: That's really, really scary.
GRANT (on camera): Why? You can see down.
KIM: Yes, yes. Just the bottom of the -- we can see just through the bottom. We can see right through the bottom.
GRANT: Oh, my goodness. The whole way to the ground?
KIM: Yes, yes. It's really scary.
GRANT: And if you fall...
KIM: Gone.
GRANT: ... forget it. KIM: They have 1,200 units of the residences and hotel rooms. Think about, you know, just the one building, one single building. We have just one town.
GRANT (voice-over): Samsung has cornered the market in giant buildings. It has constructed the two previous tallest buildings: Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur and Taipei 101 in Taiwan. It's a source of pride for a company whose success is a symbol of Korea's development.
KIM: I think the Korean engineers is very brilliant. I think they're the most brilliant people in the world.
GRANT (on camera): You're very proud.
KIM: I'm very proud. Yes.
GRANT: Proud of this building, proud of Korea.
KIM: Yes.
GRANT: Well, Dubai is all about firsts; it's all about what is the biggest and what is the most impressive.
I'm just leaving Dubai Mall. Now, that is the biggest shopping mall in the world. And if you walk down here and take a look behind me, here is the biggest building in the world. Or it will be when it's opened.
Now, if you speak to the people who are constructing it, this is not just a building. It is a symbol: a symbol of Korea and what Korea's been able to achieve and, indeed, a symbol for all humanity.
(voice-over) It is already a tourist landmark.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's amazing. It's great. It's -- 880 meter height is the highest in the world.
GRANT (on camera): Do you look forward to being able to go up there one day?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sometime.
GRANT (voice-over): In the sweep of human history, the Burj Dubai may not rank with man on the moon, but right now, there is nothing else like it on earth.
Stan Grant, CNN, Dubai.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, it's the word on everyone's lips today, but you won't find it in the dictionary: "Brr."
MYERS: How many "R's" in that?
PHILLIPS: A heck of a lot when it comes to what you're about to tell us.
MYERS: Depending if your teeth are chattering or not.
(WEATHER REPORT)
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Chad.
MYERS: Sure.
PHILLIPS: Ask and you shall receive. And then some.
Pastor Rick Warren put out an urgent bulletin last week to members of his megachurch. He asked them to dig deep and make up for a $900,000 year-end shortfall. Otherwise, he said their Saddleback Church would have to cut back on all the ministerial work.
Well, it looks like they'll have to expand that work instead. Folks kicked in 2.4 million bucks, almost three times what Pastor Warren had asked for.
Memory loss, depression or Alzheimer's disease, just part of the job. The occupational hazards of pro football. Specifically, severe brain injuries. Can lawmakers make America's sport of choice any safer?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Let's get back to that developing story out of Las Vegas. CNN has now confirmed one of the law enforcement officers wounded in a shooting this morning has died. This was a court security officer at the Lloyd George Federal Building. A gunman opened fired there about two-and-a-half hours ago. That officer and a deputy U.S. marshal were hit. A witness actually described what exactly he heard.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOICE OF TREY SACEAL, WITNESS (via telephone): They were kind of running down the steps toward like the southwest corner of the building. And I saw the one marshal, as far as I know now, it's a marshal got shot up on the corner of the building. And another marshal ran up and covered him up.
And I saw some other police officers started arriving at the scene and coming up Las Vegas Boulevard shooting. And then when the shots kind of subsided, I saw some officers run up and check on that marshal that was apparently hit up by the corner of the building in the front.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: The suspect is dead, shot in the head just outside the building. No word yet on a motive.
The NFL's regular season concluded last night, but the hits keep coming for those tracking serious is football related brain injuries. The latest worry: Miami Dolphins backup quarterback Pat White knocked out of yesterday's game against Pittsburgh after a serious head-to- head collision with a Steeler defensive back. White's hospitalized and thought to be okay, but according to Miami's head coach, it's not just the pro athletes who need to worry.
University of Tennessee quarterback Jonathan Krompton's college career concluded last week in an Atlanta hospital. After he suffered what his father terms a severe concussive injury in the Vols' Thursday night loss to Virginia Tech. Krompton, White or the hundreds if not thousands of football players suffer any long-term problems or ill effects from concussion-type injuries. Well, that topic has reached a new audience with lawmakers now stepping into the fray of debate surrounding traumatic brain injury.
Getting underway this hour in Detroit. John Conyers, the chairman of the U.S. House Judicial Committee convening a follow-up issues on the legal issues relating to football head injuries after a similar symposium last October in Washington, D.C.
But let's be candid here. Brain trauma and injury certainly are not limited to one sporting arena. Boxers, skiers, snow boarders and many other recreational sportsmen and women can suffer head-first mishaps that could last a lifetime.
CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen live in Boston with more. Elizabeth, in terms of the NFL, how bad is the problem considered right now?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, I got to say, Kyra, I was sort of surprised to go to the NFL site and see that eight players right now are not playing because of head injuries. Not just any kind of injuries, but specifically head injuries. So, that's if eight players at any one time, that is not a small problem.
Now in, addition, we spoke with a researcher at Boston University who's working with the NFL, and he looked at autopsy results of 20 NFL players who passed away. And he found that 19 out of the 20 had some signs of a disease called traumatic encephalopathy which is an Alzheimer's like illness. One of the things interesting about this is that the signs of this disease, like dementia, speech and balance problems didn't show up for, like, 15 to 20 years after retiring.
So, you can see, 19 out of 20 former players had some brain issues and then the signs didn't show up till relatively late in life tells you one, this is relatively common and two, that this can last a lifetime. Kyra?
PHILLIPS: So is there a way to make football safer? A lot of people are asking that now.
COHEN: Oh, they are. We asked a researcher at Boston University that, and he talked a bit about helmets. There's been a lot of the talk about helmets because the helmets they're using now in the NFL were designed back in the 1990s. They're thinking gee, we've had a lot of good things happen since then. Can't we come up with a better way to design the helmets?
And what you're seeing here is that at universities, they are using different helmets. They're using helmets that will actually record when a player gets hit in the head and will send the impact level and the location back to a computer at the sidelines so that the folks back on the sidelines, the coaches and all of those folks will know what that player has been through. Now, that doesn't make the helmet itself necessarily safer, but it allows the coaches to know what kind of injury their player has just had.
PHILLIPS: Got it. Elizabeth Cohen, we'll keep following the story. Thanks so much.
Stay with us though. I do have one more question for you about a severe brain injury keeping American snowboarder and U.S. Olympic hopeful Kevin Pearce in a Utah hospital. Elizabeth, maybe you can weigh in on this. A spokeswoman for the 22-year-old says he's still in critical condition. Pearce actually flipped and landed on his head Thursday while training for next month's Winter Olympics. He was wearing a helmet, and his family via Facebook is thanking doctors, friends and fans for their support.
So Elizabeth, you know, on that note of the helmets, what's your take?
Oh, we just lost her. Sorry about that. We'll try and -- no, are you with us, Elizabeth? I'm getting bad intel.
COHEN: I am. Here I am.
PHILLIPS: Sorry. All right. I'm I just -- I had you and thinking about that story because this morning, everybody was talking about the fact that you know, this was the young snow boarder that was about to take on Shaun White, who we've had on our air after he won the Olympics for snow boarding and now we have this horrible incident or accident rather where he landed on his head. With this kind of injury, you know, what types of conditions could he be facing now?
COHEN: Well, I think with this kind of an injury, doctors are going to be looking for some of the same things they look for in football player injuries. Was there any kind of internal bleeding? Will he suffer some of these long-term concussive effects as they're called, you know, God forbid, would he suffer any kind of balance or speech problems or dementia problems like you see with the football players?
I do want to point out one important difference, though. He, as far as we know, doesn't suffer this kind of blow to the head every day. Football players suffer them sometimes on a relatively frequent basis. Hopefully, this is the only time he's had that problem, and he should definitely be praised for wearing a helmet because not all young kids do when they do these sports.
PHILLIPS: How can you actually recognize if someone is suffering from a concussion because a lot of times they're just acting like everything is okay. Meanwhile, they're either suffering a concussion or having bleeding of the brain.
COHEN: Kyra, you're absolutely right. Sometimes the signs of concussion are big and obvious right after the injury, but sometimes really you don't know, and so parents and others around someone need to pay careful attention. I did a story with a girl who was hit in the head with a softball ,and her parents didn't notice for like a week. That's how subtle some of these signs can be.
Look for headache, dizziness, slurred speech, amnesia and fatigue. I'm going to add one more that I think is the most important. A big change. If your child acts a certain way most of the time and all of a sudden they're acting very differently, that is a sign that perhaps that injury that you thought maybe was a big nothing might have been a big something.
PHILLIPS: Got it. We'll be following that story. Elizabeth, thanks so much.
We've got new video on that breaking story on the courthouse shooting in Las Vegas. We'll show it to you right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Just when you thought it all went away, turns out there are more party crashers at the state dinner. Dan Lothian at the White House with new information on a third guest, Dan?
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We've just gotten this information from the U.S. Secret Service saying that a third individual did manage to come into the state dinner back in November, and they were not on the invited list.
According to the Secret Service, this individual did not apparently get into the receiving line to meet or greet the first lady and the president.
How was this person able to do it? The Secret Service says they went to a local hotel where the Indian delegation was staying and then came in with that delegation. According to the Secret Service, that delegation was under the security arrangement of the state department. And so they were in charge of that.
That is currently under review and an investigation continues, but certainly an embarrassing moment again for the White House as you know, at that same state dinner the Salaheis were able to gain entry to the dinner according to White House and were not on the invited list.
Of course, there were hearings up on Capitol Hill. There's been a big fallout, a lot of changes, according to the Secret Service, have taken place since then, and now this third individual. It's unclear how they were able to come to the conclusion that yet another person had entered. Perhaps they were checking some list or checking videotape. We don't know that at this point but an investigation continues.
PHILLIPS: Dan, do we know yet if anyone has been held accountable for this? Have heads rolled in any way, shape, or form?
LOTHIAN: We do not know. Certainly big names have been let go. We know that the individuals who were at the gate at the time who did let the Salehis had is come in, they were put on administrative leave. We don't know the if they're back on the job at this point.
So, it's unclear if down the road other people will be held accountable for this. Certainly the president was not happy with the breach in security, and most likely not happy with this latest report that another person was able to gain entry, as well.
You know, this comes as this administration is now dealing with the whole terror threat after what happened on Christmas Day aboard that airliner and now something as simple as this -- as trying to control security here at the White House. There's another report of a breach from the Secret Service. So certainly concerns here at the White House about this.
PHILLIPS: Got it. Dan Lothian, thanks so much.
Also, we were telling you abuot this courthouse shooting that took place in Las Vegas, 8:00 Pacific time. We are now just getting cell phone video that was posted on YouTube that includes the sounds of the bullets as they were fired. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICKY FLIPS, YOUTUBE VIDEO: Shooting outside of a Las Vegas courthouse. Holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Unbelievable. Hell of a morning for jury duty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Now, of course, we don't know -- we do know there was a shoot-out with that suspect and authorities, but we can't tell you how many shots were fired on behalf of the shooting suspect. How many on behalf of authorities that actually shot and killed the shooting suspect.
But we can tell that you he did shoot a deputy U.S. marshal and a court security officer inside the Lloyd D. George Federal Courthouse in Las Vegas this morning. That will court security officer has been reported dead. That coming to us from our affiliate there this Las Vegas, KLAS, and also the Associated Press.
So, right now, the suspect shot and killed. A court security officer killed and a deputy U.S. marshal, still don't know the condition that have individual after that shootout that you just heard by a passerby of the courthouse this morning, capturing the sounds of those bullets being fired on cell phone. It was just posted on YouTube.
Quick look now at other top stories.
First, Iran, reports that nearly 100 professors at Tehran University have asked the country's supreme leader to stop violence against government protesters. They actually signed a letter to the ayatollah, and it was reported on a pro-reform Web site.
Iraq is telling Blackwater employees to leave the country while they still can. That warning comes after a U.S. judge dismissed manslaughter charges against five former Blackwater security guards charged in the deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians back in 2007. The decision has triggered anger across Iraq.
It's bad judgment or criminal behavior. The police and the NBA have some tough questions for a pro basketball star.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Washington Wizards player Gilbert Arenas facing some tough questions from police today. He admits that he used bad judgment by storing his guns in the locker room at the Verizon Center. That's not all. Here's our Susan Candiotti.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas is a three-time NBA all-star, but his alleged locker room gun antics could get him into serious foul trouble legally.
GILBERT ARENAS, WASHINGTON WIZARDS BASKETBALL PLAYER: I'm a jokester, I know. Nothing in my life is actually serious.
CANDIOTTI: But it's no joke. The D.C. police, U.S. attorney's office and National Basketball Association all say they're investigating. The "New York Post" reports Arenas and team mate Javaris Crittenton allegedly drew guns on each other in the locker room December 21st over a card playing gambling debt.
ARENAS: I can't, you know, speak on that. But, you know, if you know me, you've been here, I've never did anything violent. Anything that I do it's funny. Well, it's funny to me.
CANDIOTTI: Team owners say Arenas kept unloaded weapons in his locker with no ammo, a practice they call dangerous and disappointing. Quote, "Guns have absolutely no place in a workplace environment and we will take further steps to ensure this never happens again."
ARENAS: I agree. You know, that's bad judgment on my part, you know, storing them here. And, you know, I take responsibility for that.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): And players are working. There's a great deal of security. But away from the spotlight it's a whole new ball game.
(voice-over): Some professional athletes own or carry guns saying they consider themselves potential targets and need protection. Protection from attacks like that suffered by Washington Redskins defensive back Sean Taylor, who was murdered in his Miami home during a robbery, but carrying a gun can be costly even for a celebrity. Ex-New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress is currently serving a two-year prison sentence for illegal possession of a gun after accidentally shooting himself in the leg at a nightclub.
Mega stars like Cleveland Cavaliers LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neal create fan frenzy when they hit the court, and post game fans get up close and personal with their heroes. Shaq, who works with police in his spare time, declined to talk about the Arenas incident.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shaq, (INAUDIBLE) about the Gilbert Arenas...
SHAQUILLE O'NEAL, CLEVELAND CAVALIERS BASKETBALL PLAYER: I'm not going to (ph) talk about that.
CANDIOTTI: Neither did LeBron James, but he did talk about security in general.
LEBRON JAMES, CLEVELAND CAVALIERS BASKETBALL PLAYER: I live in Akron, Ohio, which is my home town, so I don't need security. I don't -- I don't travel with -- I don't travel with security. The one thing I do is continue to just make sure my family is always safe.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, smokers in a huff over new cigarette rules, afraid this might make their smokers - or smokes -- unhealthy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Heroin shooting 101. Can you believe it? There is actually a how-to guide on the proper way to get loaded on smack? And it's out there for the taking.
Wait. Heroin is still illegal, right? We'll push forward on the story in a while.
And the rules along the U.S.-Mexican border changing big-time for small-time pot smugglers.
Hey, don't you dare put anything in my cigarettes. That's bad for me. Hard to believe, but some smokers are muttering that in states now requiring fire-safe smokes only. You know, the cigarettes that burn themselves if you go too long between drags? Well, basically, so you don't fall asleep and burn the house down? Extra layers of paper are there, but some smokers say they taste pretty bad, make them sick and, get this, might have chemicals in them that are unhealthy. Apparently some people like their carcinogens pure and untainted.
As we talk about cigarettes, well, we have to talk about alcohol for balance, right? Britain's National Health Service has this idea on dealing with drunks. If you get so acutely hammered that you have to go to the hospital, you ought to pay an admission fee. The equivalent? About $845. Cheers! Right now, it's just a thought. The idea actually came up after a report predicting New Year's Eve drunkenness alone would cost the health service up to $37 million.
It's where people get what they need, live a better life, right? But for a while, terrorists tried to take it away from them. What it's like now in one of Baghdad's most popular markets. We'll look at the BackStory.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: A place of commerce transformed into a place of terror. Baghdad has struggled to make its markets safe again in the wake of deadly car bombings. What's it like now? Our Michael Holmes is here with the latest BackStory.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You can't get enough of us. We're here every day now.
PHILLIPS: It's been so incredibly popular, the BackStory on Fridays, we'll do it Monday through Friday.
HOLMES: We both know this marketplace.
PHILLIPS: We both have our various stories of various bombings, don't we?
HOLMES: I was there in February -- it was February 12, 2008 and they had three bombs in this very marketplace. Killed 70, 150 wounded...
PHILLIPS: I was on my way there and they rerouted us because of a bombing.
HOLMES: It's a mixed Sunni and Shia area. It's a good place to go if you want to get out and get a sense of the temperature of the people, if Even You can get a man on the street story there. Even now, you still have to take precautions. Here's Diana Magnay. She did it the other day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're the Shorja (ph) market in central Baghdad, this has been a site of dozens of bombings in the past at the height of the sectarian violence.
Security is an issue for us. We have been asking ourselves on the way back if I should wear the head scarf or shouldn't. We've accumulated some (INAUDIBLE) along the way.
This is an area that's sealed off from the traffic. We have to walk about 500 meters to get to the main old part of what is the oldest and most important market in Baghdad.
This area used to be where a lot of the car bombs went off targeting the Shorja market. They have sealed it off to cars. But then, since then one of the security issues has been people placing sticky bombs, they're called, on these carts. That is something you have to be careful of here.
I have also found out where we accumulated our security from because they seemed to appear out of nowhere. Apparently when we arrived here at the first checkpoint, we were told it was a good idea for these guys to come was to make our filming easier here. That's how that happened.
As you can see, I decided it was okay to take my head scarf off, and frankly, no one seems to be taking much notice, I hope.
Back in 2007 in February, there was a major car bomb at the Shorja market. Just months later, John McCain, accompanied by a huge company of armed soldiers, attack helicopters circling overhead, soldiers did a walk-around like I am now and said -- used it as an opportunity to talk about how security here had got so much better. The merchants were furious because it hadn't. The car bombings were continuing. They felt it was extremely wrong of him to cite it as an example of an area of improved security in Baghdad.
Obviously, the situation now is different. Security is much better. You speak to the merchants and they say we feel more confident.
Sorry.
Apparently we need to get this picture taken or we have to leave the store.
(PEOPLE SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
MAGNAY: Thank you very much.
You have his card. Tell him we have his card.
