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American Morning
Storm Slams the East Coast; Snowmaggedon: The Sequel for the East Coast: Could Get Another 10 Inches of Snow; Troops Get Pep Talk: Battle for Marjah Underway in Afghanistan
Aired February 10, 2010 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, good morning. Hello, glad you're with us on this AMERICAN MORNING. It's Wednesday, February 10th. We are bracing for quite a big amount of snow.
T.J. HOLMES, CO-ANCHOR: What.
CHETRY: We haven't gotten it yet. But --
HOLMES: What, it's just late?
CHETRY: Just you wait.
HOLMES: All right. We were promising that yesterday. We're going to promise it again today that the big snow is coming, right? Yes, we'll see what happens.
But hello to you all. I'm sitting next to Kiran Chetry this morning. I'm T.J. Holmes filling in for John Roberts. Here are the top stories.
There are a lot of people are still digging out once again. Another storm is coming through. Now it's hitting the northeast and mid-Atlantic. Like we said, it's a little late but we're told just hold on. Its' going to make it all up here to New York.
Here comes a ripple effect we're going to see. Six thousand flights already canceled. Schools, businesses closed as well. We are live in all the big cities with this winter storm warning. It's hitting all of those places.
CHETRY: All right. And still ahead as well, we're going to have more on the U.S. Marines. They're joining forces now with Afghan troops unleashing a deadly assault in Afghanistan. The mission is to drive the Taliban from their last major stronghold in the country. We'll have the exclusive look at the pep talk from the commander as they get ready for battle.
HOLMES: Also, do we spend too much and save too little? A lot of people would say yes to both of those questions. Our Christine Romans, you see her there. She sat down with the former treasury secretary Henry Paulson. She asked what our huge debt means for the future of the nation's economic stability.
CHETRY: We begin though with a winter for the record books at this hour. Snow storm bearing down on the East Coast paralyzing travel for millions. Chicago took the early hit. The snow coating roadways making this morning's commute there treacherous.
In Washington, D.C., the streets are still deserted. The federal government is still shut down because of last week's storm as well as many areas. School districts deciding to keep their doors closed as well because of the storm. And they're looking at getting another eight to 14 inches and a new concern, the weight of all this snow possibly causing some roofs to collapse.
Here in the New York area, where snow days are quite rare, the city schools are closed for just the second time since 2004. So with the East Coast taking it on the chin again for Mother Nature, we've got blanket coverage of the storm.
We have Reynolds Wolf. He's in Washington out on the National Mall for us this morning, where you see the flakes falling there. Rob Marciano is in New York Central Park where things are not so bad right now, but they say that we could get six inches to a foot of snow later today. And also Jacqui Jeras. We'll start with her. She is watching the storm and the effect on airline travel as well in the weather center in Atlanta.
Good morning, Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, good morning, guys. Yes, this really is snowmageddon number two, actually. And you know the difference this time around is that we're going to have a broader wind field so more power outages are going to be likely and blizzard conditions expected across the bigger cities. And so this kind of is a shift of north of who's going to see the worst of the storm.
Let's show you the radar where the worst of the conditions are at this hour. We're really focusing on it right now, right along the I- 80 corridor across parts of Pennsylvania where the snowfall rates are coming down one to two inches per hour. The worst of the storm this morning in Washington, D.C., heading up towards Philadelphia by midday. New York City, the worst of it this afternoon carrying through the evening hours.
There you can see the winds not too bad. But by this afternoon, we're looking at 35, maybe 45-mile-per-hour sustained winds. So that's whiteout conditions and many of you that went to bed last night with winter storm warnings, you're waking up now with blizzard warnings. I can't remember the last time I saw a blizzard warning for New York City. This is all along the I-95 corridor down towards Philadelphia and Baltimore.
Snowfall totals usually could reach around here 10 to 20 inches. So travel really just crippled today. In fact, you know, delays -- it's almost pointless to put a number on there in terms of how many minutes you're going to be late because it's very likely your flight is canceled. And some of these airports, you know, especially New York City, Philly, you guys could have the airports closed at times for the runway removal because the winds are just going to be blowing. Anything that's removed, right back over those runways. We've also got problems to start you out with this morning. In Chicago, if it's not bad enough for you in the northeast. So travel delays in the southeast because the wind field extends from Atlanta all the way on up towards Boston later today.
CHETRY: So hopefully a lot to tackle this morning. You guys are on it. Jacqui Jeras for us, thanks.
HOLMES: I want to turn to D.C. now and our Reynolds Wolf. He has been in that area for the past several days.
Reynolds, good morning to you once again. We were talking about the storm maybe being a little late coming to New York. But looking at the picture there in D.C., looks like it's right on time.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, T.J., to you and our viewers tuning in from across America, the snow is beginning to come down once again and the wind is also beginning to pick up.
Now last night, we had I'd say roughly two, 2 1/2 inches of snowfall. And there is a chance you could see another four to eight inches of snowfall in the area before all is said and done.
Now right behind me, you see the capitol rotunda. NO action there today. The federal government is going to be shut down. And it's really good reason because the roads are still in pretty bad shape.
I'm going to step on over here and get over on Third Street. You can see what I'm walking through kind of mushy here and there. A little bit of not really power, but kind of a slushy snow. And then what we had last night that actually has frozen over. Some of this was liquefied but now has formed kind of a hard crust, if you will.
One of the big issues that we have here in the city, you're really going to be blown away by this. Twenty-five percent of the snow removal vehicles, we're talking the plows are not going to be functioning today. They're not working. They have issues in terms of just breakdowns and mechanical malfunctions. They're missing parts, that kind of thing. So part of the force they're planning on using to help push the snow away is not going to be able to help today.
I can also tell you that still in Washington D.C., and in Virginia and Maryland, up and down much of the Eastern seaboard, a lot of the state governments are saying and this is common sense, if you don't have to get on the road today, by all means don't. In terms of airport traffic, that's going to be very difficult. A lot of the airports may be open and flights are going to be canceled top to bottom. It's going to be another long day as Mother Nature still continues to lash the mid-Atlantic region.
Let's send it back to you, T.J., in the studio.
HOLMES: All right, our Reynolds Wolf in D.C. Thanks so much, buddy. CHETRY: Now let's switch it up to New York right now, where Mayor Michael Bloomberg is urging everyone to use public transportation if you have to go work, because it is going to be very rough and slow going for the morning commute.
Our Rob Marciano is live in Central Park. And, you know, I came in this morning. Everyone is like, where is the snow? Is it a delay or is it just warmer than they thought it was going to be?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: No, it's right on time, baby. Schedule coming around 2:00 a.m. or so. And now we've got a couple of inches on the ground and it's already blowing sideways and really blizzard conditions aren't even close to coming in.
So the storm is going to make rounds in the New York City area. You've all been waiting for one. You kind of got skunked with the snow with all the action being in the Philadelphia, Baltimore and the Washington D.C. area, where those spots, they will break all time yearly records for snow today.
Here in New York, we're about on par to where we should be for this time of year. We've got about a foot in December and we're probably going to get another foot today.
Central Park behind me, always pretty during a snowstorm. But when it comes to getting around town, right now Columbus Circle, OK, a little bit slushy. Temperatures yesterday were in the 40s, so that helped warm the ground just a little bit. It will begin to stick as snowfall rates start to pick up one to two inches per hour. They got 365 salt spreaders ready to go, 1,600 plows. Cost to this city? Every inch cost you $1 million. And we think we'll see at least 10 if not 12 inches of snow in the city. Blizzard warnings up and power will be knocked out in many, many spots. I think that's going to be the ongoing issue. A dangerous storm as we get into the afternoon.
Kiran and T.J., back over to you.
CHETRY: All right. When is it going to get -- I guess its worst today in New York?
MARCIANO: The worst action will be probably from 10:00 to 4:00, 10:00 to 6:00 in the evening. So right there in prime time, daylight hours and also for that afternoon rush. So I wouldn't -- they've got added trains just to take people home a little bit earlier because the afternoon is just going to be a god awful mess.
CHETRY: Wow. All right, Rob Marciano for us in Central Park this morning where it is, indeed, starting to snow. Thanks, Rob.
HOLMES: We'll turn to Southern California and a different weather problem they're dealing with out there. More than 500 homes near L.A. under mandatory evacuation orders this morning. Police are going door to door telling people their lives could be in danger as a new storm threatens to send another wall of rocks, mud and debris down the hills.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am worried about if there's any more pressure on the side of this house, that wall starting to buckle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's crazy. I mean, I can't believe -- it's almost like living in one of those Hollywood movies but really being one of the actors. You know, that's the way I look at it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And mudslides on Saturday carried away cars that busted through walls damaging more than 3,000 homes.
CHETRY: Well, there are stories new this morning. Cooking up in space. The shuttle "Endeavour" successfully docking with the International Space Station. It happened just after midnight. The Endeavour crew was delivering the space station's last two main components, including a dome-shaped observation deck. The first of three planned spacewalks to install the new equipment is scheduled for tomorrow night.
HOLMES: And the first lady has her cause. Michelle Obama wants parents across the country to help tackle childhood obesity. About a third of American children are overweight or obese. The first lady hoping it helps out with her "Let's Move Campaign" hoping to change some of those numbers. She told Larry King last night, it's a complicated issue that requires compassion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: Let's think of some ways we can do it so you can have these conversations without having the conversation. And I think it's very important that we don't unintentionally make kids more paranoid or more self-conscious. At the same time I think that it's not useful to point fingers at anyone, kids or parents.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now more on the first lady's "Let's Move Campaign" at the bottom of the hour when we're joined by Dr. Cynthia Bullock, an eating disorder expert from the University of North Carolina.
CHETRY: Super Bowl champs celebrating Mardi Gras style. The Saints rolled through downtown New Orleans yesterday on carnival floats. There you see it. There was confetti. The players were throwing beads into the crowd and, of course, thousands of fans chanting "who dat." They're the "who dat" nation now.
Well, the Saints beat the Indianapolis Colts 31-17. Why are you laughing at me? The team championship is the first championship in their franchise.
HOLMES: That's wonderful. But the viewers did not get to see your whole "who dat" motion. They just heard the words so --
CHETRY: There you go.
HOLMES: I got the behind-the-scenes look. We're going to turn to a billboard we want to show you here. This billboard features former President Bush. You see what it says there, "Miss me yet?"
From what we know, he did not take this ad out himself. This is on I-35 outside of Minneapolis. It's been up about a month. It kind of blew up on the Internet. A million hits it got on Google.
Now according to the manager that leases the space, this billboard space, it was paid for by anonymous small business owners and some of them were actually Obama supporters. So maybe showing their displeasure with what's happening with President Obama right now.
CHETRY: All right. Well, still ahead on the Most News in the Morning, U.S. Marines are gearing up for a major offensive. The goal is to root out the Taliban in Afghanistan. We're getting an exclusive report as this push begins.
It's 10 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: It is 12 minutes past the hour now. A quick check of some headlines we're keeping an eye on.
Rescue workers spent hours looking for survivors inside a Haitian supermarket. They're not looking for survivors of the actual quake. This happened after a machine that was being used to clear rubble triggered a second collapse. Several people were in that partially collapsed building. Officials say some were helping in the search and recovery. Others were simply looting.
CHETRY: Wow. It looks like Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is not getting involved in the case against 10 Americans held in Haiti on kidnapping charges. A Washington lawyer who represents one of missionaries asked her to intervene, but a State Department spokesman says it would be, quote, "highly unusual for a secretary of state to get involved in a case involving another country's legal process."
And an all-out assault on the Taliban under way in Afghanistan. And we're giving you a special look at U.S. and Afghan commanders as they get ready to send their troops into battle.
This is being called the largest military operation in nearly nine years. Joint forces now hunting down Taliban fighters in a battle to seize the terrorist stronghold of Marjah. The goal is to establish security and also to gain the trust of some 80,000 Afghani citizens there.
CNN's Atia Abawi has the exclusive from Helmand Province.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's beautiful. ATIA ABAWI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At a fire base in Helmand Province, the First battalion Sixth Marine Regiment prepares for combat. This regiment has fought in two world wars, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Today, it has a new ally on the battlefield. Brigadier General Mohiyiden Ghori of the Afghan army wishes his soldiers luck and says thanks to the Marines who will be fighting alongside his men.
"You've made the best life for yourselves," General Mohiyiden says. "You built the best country your people depend on you. You are the pride of your country and now you've come from many miles away to help us. Although his soldiers say they are ready to fight, they also say they don't have proper equipment.
"We don't have things like night vision," Commander Gholam Rasoul Takan says, "and it leaves us unprepared." General Mohiyiden and Brigadier General Larry Nicholson (ph) are going from base to base explaining the importance of the Marjah offensive and the importance of distinguishing civilians from the Taliban.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The population is looking for you. The enemy is not the population. OK? But we do have an enemy who's going to try to hide in that population. That's why we've got to be very careful. We've got to be very disciplined, and we've got to be very accurate.
ABAWI: Marjah, a town of some 80,000, is considered the last Taliban stronghold in Helmand Province.
(on camera): Though the US Marines and the ASEAN soldiers have been preparing for the battle of Marjah for months now, but today a visit from their commanding generals is proof that the battle is about to commence.
(voice-over): This isn't the first time many of these men have fought in Helmand. The Marines cleared the Taliban out of another area in 2008, but the enemy has changed.
LANCE CPL. CHRISTOPHER LIMA, US MARINE CORPS: I think it will be a little harder, to - they actually know how to fight this year. Last year they kind of - they used a lot of guerilla tactics. They shoot and then run. This year I think they'll try to stay around.
ABAWI: General Nicholson agrees.
BRIGADIER GENERAL LARRY NICHOLSON, US MARINE CORPS: I think some of our units will go into some pretty heavy contact and I - I think some of our units may have less contact. We don't know.
All I know is we've done everything we can to prepare, and - and on the eve of this big operation, I think we're ready.
ABAWI: Ready, but there's still some light-hearted moments.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is our secret weapon. This is the Mullah (ph). You don't want to mess with this guy, I can tell you that.
ABAWI: Ahead of these soldiers, many unknowns. Will the Taliban fight or melt away? How many roadside bombs await them? And can they help turn the tide of this eight-year war?
Atia Abawi, CNN, Fire Base, Fiddler's Green, Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Atia, thanks.
Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, 8:30 Eastern, we'll be joined by two experts on Afghanistan. They're going to tell us about the strategy in Marjah, also how to win over the locals there and what taking back this Taliban stronghold could mean for the war.
HOLMES: Well, coming up next on the Most News in the Morning, we are "Minding Your Business". Our Christine Romans sits down with the former Treasury secretary, Henry Paulson, and when he thinks - what he thinks about the economy and why we may not be out of the woods just yet.
It's 17 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: That's a pretty picture of Chicago this morning, where right now it's 25 degrees. A little bit of a break in the action when it comes to the snow. It's windy there. A little bit later, though, 27 degrees and it is going to snow again.
It's 20 minutes past the hour. It means it's time for "Minding Your Business". There's more trouble for Toyota, this time involving problems with the steering. Federal safety officials are reviewing complaints involving Toyota's best selling Corolla.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it's gotten more than 80 complaints from drivers reporting that their cars drift at high speed, making it hard to stay in the lane. Now, this comes as Toyota has already recalled more than 8 million vehicles. There you see the list of the makes and models for problems from floor mats to gas pedals, and the Corolla is already on the list because of the sticking gas pedal problem.
HOLMES: OK. Gas pedal problem, brake problems, steering problems - the last three things you want wrong in your car -
CHETRY: Exactly.
HOLMES: -- and they have all of them.
We're going to turn to your money now. American spending, too little - our saving, too little - excuse me.
CHETRY: You wish you were spending too little. HOLMES: Yes. Spending too much, saving too little. The warning we're getting out from former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and he just published a new book on the near collapse of the global financial system. It's called "On the Brink".
CHETRY: And he also sat down with our own Christine Romans to talk about America's economic future, and Christine's here with more on what they talked about, "Minding Your Business" this morning.
So what did he say?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It was a wide ranging interview, 35 minutes with the former Treasury secretary, talking about his ties to Goldman Sachs, talking about those days on the brink.
Also, talking about, you know, the - the bailouts and where are we going from here and some of the mistakes that might have been made, but also talking about how this is a country still living beyond its means, and that's kind of at the core of this.
He poses two problems, structural global imbalances and also trade deficits. Listen to the Treasury secretary.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY PAULSON, FORMER TREASURY SECRETARY: One of the root causes of the crisis were the structural economic imbalances that really result from the proclivity of not just our nation, but Americans to save too little, to invest too little, to borrow too much, to spend too much.
ROMANS: Those global imbalances we keep hearing about.
PAULSON: Yes.
ROMANS: They haven't gone away, though.
PAULSON: No.
ROMANS: I mean, this is still a problem. We're saving more, but we're still importing far more than we're exporting from China, for example. China - the Chinese are still saving a great deal of money, much more than we are.
How do we politically and diplomatically even out these imbalances?
PAULSON: I think we need to start at home and with some of our policies at home. We have a tax system that really discourages savings and investment and punishes them, and we have a tax system that really encourages consumption.
We have housing policies. They penalize renters relative to - to homeowners. And so - and then, when you look at it globally, we have nations in - in Asia, China, Japan and others that don't have enough domestic consumption. They - they need to consume more and they need to save less.
And so there's - there's - I think the only way to deal with it is with a direct, very forceful dialogues between nations.
ROMANS: The Chinese are a huge buyer of our debt. The Chinese have - have great interest that we pay our bills. Moody's just this week said that if the United States doesn't get its fiscal house in order, you know, looking forward, if - if - we've got to address these - these issue or there will be pressure on our AAA rating.
Is that possible, do you think?
PAULSON: Well, in - in the long term, it's - it's possible. In the long term, all great nations need to have fiscal policies that make sense and are manageable.
ROMANS: Or they're not great nations any more. I mean -
PAULSON: But I - but I think we're - we're a long ways from losing our AAA rating. We still have the biggest, strongest, richest economy in the world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: And he says a great deal has been accomplished. The stability in the financial system allows him to sleep at night. You know, he says that during those crazy days of last year, there wasn't a lot of sleeping.
A lot of people at the Treasury, at the Fed and elsewhere were working 24 hours through the night. He said that he is now sleeping through the night.
And he told me when he was writing this book, there were some nights he would wake up again at 2:00 in the morning very nervous and overwhelmed because he was so into those moments again, and it was very crazy. It was literally, he said, the future of the country on the line, and - and even writing the book brought it all - all back from -
CHETRY: Wow! Post-traumatic stress of the financial crisis.
ROMANS: Maybe. Maybe. Right. But he said he's sleeping well tonight and now he is sleeping well again. And he - he feels strongly that what they did, they did all - they did the right things, and he - he defends those things.
We'll talk about his defense of his ties to Goldman Sachs and also what he did for the bailouts and - and some of the unintended consequences maybe of the bailouts. We'll talk about those in the next hour.
HOLMES: All right. We're going to see much more of that.
Christine, thank you. And you can see, again, more of that interview next hour. We also have clips of the full interview on blog, cnn.com/amfix. You can also read an excerpt from Paulson's new book, "On the Brink".
CHETRY: Coming up next on the Most News in the Morning, he's an elderly university professor. He's dying of cancer. Why the Iranian government thinks he's a dangerous political adversary and is keeping him locked up in jail.
Twenty-five minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Twenty- eight minutes past the hour. Time for an "AM Original", something you'll see only on AMERICAN MORNING.
The Iranian government has reportedly arrested thousands of political prisoners since last summer's disputed presidential election. Many paid for their dissent with their lives.
Reza Sayah has their stories.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): To the Islamic Republic of Iran, this 76-year-old man with prostate cancer is a threat to national security, so much so that according to his son, last August Iranian intelligence officials came to Mohammad Maleki's home and took him to prison.
AMMAER MALEKI, MOHAMMAD MALEKI'S SON: When they arrested him, he was in bed because he was a very tough treatment for prostate cancer. And so the main concern of the family is his health.
SAYAH: Human rights groups say Maleki is among an estimated 5,000 people arrested by the Islamic Republic during the eight months of unrest that have followed the June elections.
Maleki, the former dean of Tehran University, was a outspoken critic of the regime, but his son says he was too sick to take part in the post-election protests.
MALEKI: We ask from the authorities to - at least, if they don't want to release him, they should - they must in fact let him to be treated.
SAYAH: Fifty-five-year-old human rights activist Mahin Fahimi was arrested at her home on December 27th, her daughter says. The next morning, authorities detained her journalist son, Omid Montazeri.
Shokoofeh Montazeri says her mother and brother's arrests bring back painful memories of her late father, a political prisoner arrested and executed by Iranian authorities in 1988.
SHOKOOFEH MONTAZERI, MOTHER/BROTHER IN PRISON (through translator): Sometimes I wonder if I can go on living without them, but I'm hopeful because my mother and Omid, just like my father, just like thousands of others, loved life so much and fought for life so much that their absence will not take away from the beauty of what we're fighting for.
SAYAH: Iran's political prisoners are usually kept in Tehran's notorious Evin prison, where over the past eight months families have held protests and vigils outside.
Human rights groups say most detainees have been denied access to lawyers. With at least 11 death sentences and reports of prisoner abuse, families of detainees are worried, but appear far from broken.
FAMIMEH MELATI, MORTEZA KAZEMAN'S WIFE: I believe this is the cost we have to pay for a better life, for a better future of this country.
SAYAH: When the ailing Maleki was being led away, his son says he told his captors he would prefer to be in prison with his fellow activists than to be resting in bed.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAYAH: Now, the stage is set tomorrow for more arrests when the opposition movement has called for more protests during the anniversary celebration of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Human rights groups have criticized the international community and media for putting too much focus on Iran's controversial nuclear program and ignoring human rights violence against these political prisoners -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Reza Sayah for us this morning -- thanks so much.
Well, it's 30 minutes past the hour. It's time for this morning's top stories.
And a powerful winter storm now paralyzing travel on the east coast. Major airlines are already cancelling more than 6,000 flights. Washington, D.C., still trying to dig out from last week's storm, is expected to get another foot of snow. We checked in with Reynolds, and we saw it already falling today. And that's certainly unwelcome news for the thousands who are still without power.
HOLMES: U.S. Marines working side by side with Afghan troops this morning, ready to seize the city of Marjah and capture the hearts and minds of the locals. Military forces are up against insurgents whose largest drug smuggling operation is at stake. The biggest offensive since the war in Afghanistan began some nine years ago.
CHETRY: Also, here come the lawsuits. Some experts say Toyota is looking at several billion dollars in legal settlement over the recalls affecting more than 6 million cars and trucks in the U.S. There are already more than 30 lawsuits filed in the U.S. over the gas pedal problems. The company also faces at least one class action suit involving problems with 2010 Prius brakes. That recall was just announced yesterday. Well, about 1/3 of America's children are considered either overweight or obese. And First Lady Michelle Obama is now trying to tackle this problem with her "Let's Move" campaign. She actually told Larry King last night that she found her motivation when a family doctor raised concerns about her own daughter's body mass index.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: And he saw a little uptick in the kid's BMI and he kind of pulled me aside. It was a little bit shocking and a little disorienting because I wasn't sure what to do. But I went home and it was kind of a wakeup call. And we made some changes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And some people are wondering if all of this focus on size, sometime in weight, could trigger a backlash in some overweight kids.
We're joined now by Dr. Cynthia Bulik, a leading expert on eating disorder at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Ma'am, good morning. Thank you so much for being here. And you're probably familiar with some of the criticism that came right before she made her announcement yesterday, just about -- talking about a child's weight, talking about her own kids' weight in some instances.
Explain to us, what's the danger there and sometimes focusing on, I guess, the child's weight versus the child's health.
CYNTHIA BULIK, PHD, PROF. OF NUTRITION, UNIV. OF N.C. SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Well, I'm going to start off by saying that we need to embrace this initiative. Childhood obesity is a huge public health problem. But with any major public health intervention, you have to make sure you get the right message out so you don't have untoward effect. And I think that's what some people might be worried about.
If we start focusing on numbers on a scale or use terms like going on a diet, that's when people are worried that we're just going to start getting kids obsessed about their weight. And that's not the direction that Mrs. Obama hopes that we go.
CHETRY: No, but it's very interesting though because -- I mean, it is a delicate balance. I mean, you sort of have to talk about their being a problem. And we clearly have one. I mean, we've seen the obesity rates in children skyrocket since they started keeping records from the '70s until now. We say one in three is obese.
And unless we're able to sort of have honest discussions about it, how do we solve it?
BULIK: Absolutely. And I think that's what she's done for us. Every parent in this country doesn't know how to bring the topic up. She has put the topic on the table so that we can talk about it. And now, what we're being able to do, this is a golden opportunity to recognize that there are dangers at both extremes.
We have to worry not only about those kids who are in the upper red zone on those BMI charts but also be really vigilant for the kids who are falling off the growth curve and might be at risk for anorexia nervosa. So, we can tackle both of these problems simultaneously.
HOLMES: And, Dr. Bulik, you're complimenting her for putting it on the table. But we know, and you certainly know, this isn't the first time there's been a major campaign, even a national campaign, to try to fight childhood obesity.
So, what do you see in this initial campaign? I mean, we're just taking off sure, but what do you see here that has a chance for success and changing the national trends? How -- does it have a chance to succeed where others have failed in the past quite frankly?
BULIK: There are a couple of things that I love about this. And one thing we know is that the best change happens when the whole family changes. And she's not saying, "Let's just change our children's behavior." She's saying, "Let's bring it into the family, let's all make changes. Because if we make changes as a family and if we make the changes as a nation, then we have a chance to succeed."
But it's not up to the families because she's looking at schools. She's looking at industry. She's looking at fashion. She's looking at the food industry. We need all of those prongs in order to tackle this huge problem.
CHETRY: It's also interesting, one of things that she did was criticize the marketing of unhealthy fast food, I mean, basically saying, listen, it's not the kid's fault that they are gaining weight and getting heavy. It's just there's aggressive marketing of fast food.
But also, she tried to, as you said, make it more systemic. I mean, changing -- working with the companies that make fast food lunches to take some of the fat, sugar and salt out of it.
How do you sort of make it more of a lifestyle than a diet?
BULIK: And that's exactly why we need her help. Because we can make the changes in the families, we can give the families the tools to make changes at home. We can get the pediatricians to do BMI screening, which they need to do. But we need someone as powerful as Mrs. Obama who can really work with industry, so that it's not about a number on a scale, it's not about going on a diet, it's making choices for a healthier lifestyle.
HOLMES: But also, ma'am, we can talk about BMI, we can talk about doctors, we can talk about weight, we can talk about diet, we can talk about these manufacturing -- these food manufacturers, but at the end of the day, our society has changed in such a way that has put us in the different direction of kids on the Internet all day, kids not riding bikes to school anymore, kids playing video games. We're just not active. We are a different society.
So, how much do we need to go in that direction? And that seems almost impossible to change the direction that our society has gone.
BULIK: You know, I don't think it is. And I think that's the beauty of the name of the campaign. "Let's move" is what it's all about. We need to get out there. We need to get kids playing again.
We all need to get more active, because, you know, the screen just lures us to sit sedentary and not expend energy. And we need to get out there and move again. Not just exercise, but physical activity in general.
CHETRY: It sounds like a lot of lifestyle changes and it will certainly be a challenge. But as you said, the first lady is taking the bull by the horns here, if you will, and trying to make some positive changes.
Cynthia Bulik, PhD, director of the eating disorders program at UNC -- thanks for joining us this morning.
BULIK: Thanks for having me.
HOLMES: And coming up next here on the Most News in the Morning, we're going to introduce you to a philanthropist that's doing major things to change the world -- a philanthropist that is 11 years old.
It is 37 minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Forty minutes past the hour now. Time for an A.M. original, something you'll see only on AMERICAN MORNING.
These are kids who can teach all of us a little bit about giving.
HOLMES: Yes. And some of them too young to even spell the word "philanthropy." I don't know if they say it, but they are big philanthropists.
Our Alina Cho is here with a look at one teen now.
How old is this child exactly, first of all?
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She started when she was 11. She's now 14 years old.
HOLMES: OK.
CHO: It's incredible, guys. You know, there's been so much focus on philanthropy because of what's been going on in Haiti, of course. And as you, guys, know, I did a series on celebrities who are involved in philanthropy. And we thought, what about kids?
You know, when you hear this young girl talk about philanthropy, you almost forget she is just 14 years old. But she is the founder of her own charity raising tens of thousands of dollars to help educate girls in Rwanda.
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CHO (voice-over): She looks like an ordinary teenager, but there's a reason why 14-year-old Jessica Markowitz draws a crowd. She has hope.
JESSICA MARKOWITZ, FOUNDER, RICHARD'S RWANDA: I just felt like it was my turn to sort of make a difference.
CHO (on camera): At 11?
MARKOWITZ: At 11 years old.
CHO (voice-over): Three years ago, at the age of 11, this unassuming girl from Seattle started a charity to help educate girls a world away. Richard's Rwanda was inspired by a Richard Kananga, a Rwandan man who Jessica's family hosted during his visit in 2006.
(on camera): What was it about what Richard said to you that inspired you?
MARKOWITZ: I think just hearing about young girls my age not having the same opportunities as I had and hearing about how some of them are the heads of their households, which means they are taking care of their siblings when I have a mother and a father to take care of me and a family that support me. And I just don't see how it was fair.
CHO (voice-over): Jessica was so outraged by stories about the Rwandan genocide, about orphans who could no longer attend school, she decided to act, providing supplies, uniforms, even shoes for young Rwandan girls.
MARKOWITZ: Forty dollars can support a girl in Rwanda to go to school for a year. And --
CHO (on camera): Forty dollars?
MARKOWITZ: Forty dollars.
CHO: Wow.
MARKOWITZ: And --
CHO: When you tell people that, how they do react?
MARKOWITZ: They are definitely very surprised and they say, well, wow, I can make such an easy difference. I mean, I spend $40 on a shirt.
CHO (voice-over): Instead of $1,000 play fundraisers, there are $1 bake sales and strategy meetings. Jessica has even traveled to Rwanda. The charity is so popular Richard's Rwanda has six chapters in Seattle alone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's an example of saying, "I can do something, I can dream big, and I can really impact lives of others."
CHO: It's working. When Jessica recently landed on front page of "The Seattle Times," Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen saw the story and donated $25,000. Bringing Jessica's total to $75,000 in three years. Her next goal: build a library and return to Rwanda this summer.
MARKOWITZ: This feeling that you can't get from anything else, when you give back, it's hard but it's so easy. It's just that little step that can really make a difference. And when you feel like you can make a difference, you never want to stop. (END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: Wouldn't be great if more kids are like her? You know, in June, Jessica plans to go back to Rwanda with 11 of her friends. Ten of them, guys, have never been to Africa. So, this is really going to be an incredible experience.
You know, I found out about Jessica through a charity called World of Children. They honor people who are making a difference with kids around the world. Jessica was honored last year.
You know, and I asked the founder, Larry Leibowitz, "Why kids -- why do you think that kids are able to do this?" And he said, "Well, you know, there's an old adage, why can I bird fly, because they think they can."
And really, kids are not jaded. They're not jaded like a lot of adults and think they can't do something. And that's, in many ways, why they succeed at this.
CHETRY: That's a good way to put it.
CHO: Yes.
CHETRY: I mean, she's a sweet young girl and really has a head on her shoulders.
CHO: She's great.
CHETRY: Thanks, Alina.
HOLMES: Great stuff.
CHO: You bet.
HOLMES: Thank you so much.
It's 44 minutes past the hour now. We're going to be talking about another major winter storm that's blackening the eastern half of the U.S., bringing air traffic to a standstill once again. This morning's travel forecast coming up after the break.
CHETRY: Also, in 10 minutes, from Super Bowl MVP to world's best dad. Jeanne Moos takes a look at quarterback Drew Brees' tender moment with his young son. It's 45 minutes past the hour.
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HOLMES: Miami will change the attitude right about now. Sixty- three degrees, it's going to be 66 and sunny later today, and just getting over a pretty big party they had down there a couple of days ago with the Saints taking home the Super Bowl.
Welcome back to you all in the Most News in the Morning. Forty- seven minutes past the hour now and time for towns call, stories about your health we want to tell you about. Now, the Food and Drug Administration plans to tighten regulations on CT scans and other medical imaging devices. Federal regulator say they want to require manufacturers to install safeguards on scanning equipment that automatically notifies operators if radiation levels are too high.
Also, lung cancer, frequently very different in men and women, and according to researchers, at Duke University, chemotherapy is usually reserved for younger lung cancer patients. Certain older patients could benefit from the treatment as well. They also discovered lung cancer tumors in women are far less complex than they are in men.
Also, researchers in Australia say gastric banding surgery helps severely obese teens lower cholesterol and blood pressure levels a lot more effectively than diet and exercise programs. After two years, a group of patients who had the surgery averaged a 28 percent loss of body weight. Those who only changed their life styles lost 3 percent of their body weight, and we were just talking this morning, talking about the new campaign with the First Lady, childhood obesity, and we're talking about health and diet and now we got a study that's telling us, hey, actually, surgery works better.
CHETRY: You know what, you're just sort of hoping I think when you talk about a third of teens being obese, or you know, considered overweight or obese a third of children in our country, then you can prevent it before it gets to that point where they have to get surgery.
All right. Right now, it's 49 minutes past the hour. We've been following the weather headlines this morning. Jacqui Jeras in the Extreme Weather Center for us this morning with round two of the East Coast walloping.
Hey there, Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, guys. Yes, it really is. You know, you might be waking up in places like New York City this morning saying, no there's not a whole lot going on, but this storm is just beginning to deepen right now, and we're expecting some major intensification with this thing, and so winds are going to be picking up. The snow is going to be getting heavier, and it's really going to be impossible to get around this afternoon.
Now, the snow is heaviest at this time right along the I-80 corridor and then we're also getting some heavy burst of snow especially on the south side of Washington, D.C. The worst of the storm in D.C. this morning stretching up towards Baltimore, Philadelphia, watch for it by midday. Right now you're getting a little freezing rain, so a nice little coating of ice on top of all that snow you're going to get and New York City, we're going to see that snow pick up this afternoon and continue into the evening hours when those winds pick up and it just going to blow everything right over the area that you just shoveled, so travel expected really to be crippled.
Blizzard warnings from New York City down towards Baltimore for today and winter storm warnings stretch all the way out west including Indianapolis and Detroit, so we're heading a lot of these major hubs. Chicago, you're just coming off record snow yesterday, a foot and a half, and we got those winds to deal with today, so here's we're expecting the delays. Really, we could possibly see airport closures before all is said and done. If that's not enough, the storm system bringing in some very strong winds behind it.
We could see gusts 55 miles per hour today in Charlotte, Atlanta around 35 miles per hour, so everybody in the east may be impacted by this storm -- Kiran and T.J.
CHETRY: All right. Jacqui Jeras for us. Thanks so much. This morning's top stories are just minutes away including it is real, and we now know who paid for the George W. Bush, miss me yet billboard. We still don't know the point, though. Could the people behind it really be Obama supporters?
HOLMES: Also coming up at 7:05 Eastern time, cribs that have killed are now coming off the shelves. Details of a huge government recall involving half million of cribs that have been sold at the biggest retail chains.
CHETRY: Oh, and speaking of recall, 7:20 Eastern, first Toyota, now Honda recalling hundreds of thousands of cars, the issue, air bags that could cause harm not prevent it. Those stories and much more at the top of the hour. Fifty-two minutes past the hour.
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UNKNOWN MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, the Most Valuable Player of the world champion New Orleans Saints, Super Bowl, Drew Brees!
CHETRY: They almost looked like they were coordinating a dance for a minute there. Everybody laugh (ph), having some fun, tossing out the beads, and riding the floats in New Orleans. What a great time!
HOLMES: Mardi Gras is just a week away?
CHETRY: Yes, I know, double the fun. How about it?
Fifty-five minutes past the hour right now. It means it's time for the Moos News in the Morning with Jeanne. The Saints and their fans probably -- actually probably still up right now celebrating the big --
HOLMES: It's going to go, they say, for the next couple of weeks through Mardi Gras, and it was Papa Brees, of course, who named the game's MVP, but it was the little cutie-in-training who won over the fans the night of the Super Bowl. Here's our Jeanne Moos.
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was one of the most memorable plays of the game, the winning quarterback play, catch the confetti with his son, sort of made those e-trade baby commercials forgettable. Saints quarterback Drew Brees cradled his son instead of a football, eyes brimming.
UNKNOWN MALE: Guys, guys, that's what it's all about. Drew Brees with his son.
MOOS: And his mascara, otherwise, known as eye black didn't even run. Brees could be seen mouthing the words, I love you, little man as he later told Letterman.
DREW BREES, SAINTS' QUARTERBACK & SUPER BOWL MVP: I'm telling him the whole time just how much I love him, and I just told him, you know little boy you just don't even know what you're experiencing right now.
MOOS: Little Baylen Brees drove the ladies ga-ga.
UNKNOWN FEMALE: With his baby.
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST: There you are and your son on the cover of "Sports Illustrated". How about that?
MOOS: Baylen was watching with mom in the green room as dad passed to letterman. After a less graceful pass reception, floor manager, Biff Henderson, hit the floor.
He had to go to the hospital, and he's now recuperating at home. Sandra Bullock, on the other hand managed to stay on her feet. Baylen pretty much stays on all force.
UNKNOWN MALE: The kid can really move.
MOOS (on-camera): Baylen was born a little over a year ago, born on his father's 30th birthday, and already he shot a commercial with dad.
BREES: If you want to play at this level, you need a high performance diaper.
MOOS (voice-over): No web spots or Pampers, Brees proves that hitting a diaper sure beats changing one.
And this was a tough quarterback in a tender moment.
MOOS (on-camera): And what made the head to head moment even more adorable was the set of giant head phones.
(voice-over): As one admirer posted, kids should really come standard issue with the set of those head phones. Sure it's fun to see the players rub the Super Bowl trophy, but having the kid is nicer. Talking to the trophy, but talking to the kid is nicer and raising the trophy and kissing it can't compare with raising the kid and kissing him. Brees connected with two face kisses and two handoffs, kissing his son's hands to win MVD -- Most Valuable Dad.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
CHETRY: The stuff after the Super bowl is so cute, tears in my eyes. You lost me with the diaper ad, though.
HOLMES: You need a high performance diaper. No, it's a great moment, and that shot, "The Sports Illustrated" cover --
CHETRY: Awesome.
HOLMES: That is an awesome shot. All right. We're glad we could bring you that, the Most News in the Morning, but we're going to bring you some more news here in just a second. Top stories, 90 seconds away.
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