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American Morning
Politics on Ice: Deep Freeze on Capitol Hill; Biden on Palin; AIG Rolls Out a New Bonus System
Aired February 11, 2010 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. It's Thursday, February 11th. Glad you're with us. I'm Kiran Chetry.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes sitting in today for John Roberts.
Here are some of the big stories we're telling you about. We're still talking about the storm, but at least we're not talking about another one that's coming. The East Coast still buried under record- breaking snow. Again, we saw two blizzards in a week. Forty inches of snow in the Capitol.
Good news now that maybe some of the airports will be opening up. Two runways at Dulles just reopened minutes ago. Also told that the first flight landed there 45 minutes ago. Reagan National is a different story, not open just yet. We are waiting on information as well from the Baltimore airport.
CHETRY: CNN uncovering shocking allegations against Toyota employees, the feds who are also supposed to keep your cars safe to drive claims Toyota has known about the sudden acceleration problems for at least six years, and in some cases the feds may have looked the other way.
It is a story you will want to hear before getting behind the wheel to go to work this morning.
HOLMES: Also, the vice president Joe Biden speaking about Sarah Palin like a lot of people have been doing over the past week or so. You need to hear what he had to say, actually talking about some things he likes about her. That's coming up in a few minutes.
CHETRY: Our top story, though, this morning, the northeast is buried right now, digging out from two bruising blizzards since the weekend.
In Washington, D.C., two runways at Dulles just reopened minutes ago, ten inches of snow falling yesterday on top of nearly three feet already on the ground, 20 more inches falling in parts of Baltimore where they shattered records with a month of winter still ahead.
Philadelphia, by the way, hit with another two feet of snow, highways restricted to emergency vehicles only. And then let's switch over now to New York where a foot or more fell in parts of New York where schools shut down for only the third time in eight years. Our Allan Chernoff is live at LaGuardia airport this morning where cancellations and delays have everything backed up. First though we'll start with Rob Marciano from lower Manhattan as the Big Apple begins to dig out.
You know, pretty efficient, as usual with the sanitation guys getting most of the snow cleared off the roadways.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It was pretty impressive. Pre- treating the roads certainly helped and the fact that the temperatures weren't a whole lot below freezing at least in the city, concrete keeping things warm. That kept the snow fairly wet, packed it down and got it for the most part off the streets.
It's not just New York, Baltimore and Washington either. The storm encompassed almost 20 states, a third of the country, tens of millions of people. The size and scope of the thing and the timing of it will go down in the history books.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO (voice-over): At one point the massive storm produced two inches of snow an hour. Two blizzards in one week dropping a staggering 40 inches of snow on the nation's capital. Government offices shut down for a third day, costing $100 million a day in lost productivity.
At times it may have been beautiful to look at or play in, but the snow did damage -- 22 roof collapses reported in D.C. including this one at the Smithsonian's storage facility. The Capitol area's two airports shut down, thousands of flights cancelled.
In Williamsburg, Virginia, a 50 car pile-up on Interstate 64 sent seven people to the hospital with minor injuries and shut down the interstate for hours.
In central Pennsylvania, one person was killed after two large pile-ups closed Interstate 80. And in the Big Apple, 2,000 spreaders and plows tackled more than a foot of snow. In New York, major government offices remained opened but barely functioned. Local and tourists tried to take it in stride.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's OK, just take your time and go slowly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm from Florida, so I'm drawn to shorts anyway.
MARCIANO: Back in the nation's capital, under howling winds and chest-high snow drifts, commuters were few and far between. Not everyone, though, missed work.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm going to keep slogging down this hill up here, and then we have a bunch of uphills to maybe make it to the metro three miles from here.
MARCIANO: CNN's Tom Foreman, now front runner for employee of the month.
FOREMAN: Finally, here I am, three hours later, skiing up to the CNN offices.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: Tom Foreman going to keep his job for sure, and folks in some of the major cities who made it to work certainly getting points on the boss's good list.
Down here in lower Manhattan, Wall Street will be open and the kids back in school today, but a lot of side streets under crusty snow, just under a foot here in Manhattan.
And the winds now cracking out waves in lower Manhattan. And on the Hudson River the water taxis and ferries going strong. And Lady Liberty, believe it or not, is still standing, Kiran and T.J. Blowing snow will be a problem. Obviously some waves if you're taking a dip. But other than that, the storm is headed out to sea.
There will be issues with drifting snow and there will be some lesser issues with the next couple of storms that Jacqui talked about, but after two historic storms coming in less than a week, you would be hard pressed to believe a third one is coming.
CHETRY: And if it is, it will feel like child's play after all this, right, Rob?
MARCIANO: Exactly.
CHETRY: It's a pretty sight out of lower Manhattan. Thanks a lot.
HOLMES: Slowly but surely things are getting back online at airports, not getting back on time however. All the airports up and down the east coast really hit hard.
D.C.'s Dulles airport reopened minutes ago -- that's great news -- after all flights were grounded yesterday. Airports in Philadelphia, Boston are also open but with cancellations. In New York, runways are mostly clear, but many flights are still in limbo.
Allan Chernoff at LaGuardia airport keeping an eye on the monitors, and sometimes the monitors, Allan, do lie.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, unfortunately. As you can see the airport is open, but extremely quiet except for the few passengers who made the mistake of not calling ahead or not checking online.
They could probably get better information online than they are getting over here on the monitors, because a lot of flights are listed as cancelled, but here at the American Airlines departure board, well, not everything is accurate.
American Airlines actually is not having any flights until 10:00 out of LaGuardia. But if you are trying to get to Chicago and you read board you would see on time for the 7:30 and the 7:50 departures.
Similar problems for the United Airlines board which talks about flights to Houston. Those are code share flights with Continental, which actually operates those. They have a bunch of flights listed to Houston this morning, but indeed, those flights aren't happening either. United isn't starting flights until later in the day.
So we've got lots of cancellations. I'll give you a quick list of some of the numbers. Delta Airlines today has already cancelled 450 flights, U.S. Airways, 606 flights, American, 382, JetBlue, 66.
Is anybody getting out of here? Well, yes. Spirit Air took off for Ft. Lauderdale about 20 minutes ago. I saw passengers boarding, so at least somebody is flying out of this very, very cold city. T.J., Kiran, back to you.
HOLMES: And they get to go to Florida on top of that. Allan Chernoff, we'll check in again. Thank you very much.
CHETRY: Also new this morning, power is still out from an ice storm that hit Oklahoma weeks ago. And they still are dealing with power outages there. Close to 4,000 people in one small town still waiting for the lights to come back on. Utility crews told people it could be a month before they do.
How bad is it? Even the town's own utility chief has no power.
HOLMES: Well, that's no good.
Also a video here you need to look at. This is out of Houston, Texas. Cameras rolling as a commuter train smashed into a bus. The impact knocked the train off the tracks. Take a look at it there.
Nine people had to go to the hospital. Not life-threatening injuries, however. The cause of this accident, how could this happen? Officials say the bus driver actually ran a light.
CHETRY: A red light, wow.
Well, a $1 cigarette tax could help fix health care and the economy according to the American Cancer Society. It says just by adding $1 per pack, you could raise more than $9 billion a year for states and save on long-term health care costs. A poll released along with the study says that most Americans would support that.
HOLMES: It's amazing what that could do.
CHETRY: Toyota now says dealers stuck this morning with 70,000 cars they simply cannot sell. They are part of the major safety recall involving gas pedals that could get stuck and make cars speed out of control. Toyota's U.S. sales chief says that number amounts to about 60 percent of all dealer stock.
CHETRY: Also new this morning we now know the cases and claims of uncontrolled acceleration in Toyota vehicles go back to at least 2004. We have also uncovered allegations that Toyota has known about the problems perhaps all along and that in some cases the feds may have looked the other way.
Our Deborah Feyerick is here with a CNN exclusive. What have you found out, Deb?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So many people are wondering why Toyota didn't catch this much sooner, especially because this applies to so many millions of vehicles. The big question today is, was there a relationship that was simply too cozy between Toyota and the federal regulators who were supposed to be investigating and keeping track of safety?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK (voice-over): In 2003 Christopher Santucci (ph) did when most people do when they get a new job.
CHRISTOPHER SANTUCCI, TOYOTA EMPLOYEE: I gave two or three-week notice.
FEYERICK: The new job was with Toyota in Washington, D.C. as a liaison to assist federal regulators in their investigations run by the very agency Santucci was leaving, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, called NHTSA for short.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were there in place any procedures within NHTSA that would govern your negotiating a job with an entity that you were supposed to be regulating?
SANTUCCI: Not that I'm aware of.
JOAN CLAYBROOK, FORMER NHTSA ADMINISTRATOR: It raises questions of conflict of interest.
FEYERICK: Joan Claybrook was a long-time president of consumer advocacy group Public Citizen and before that ran NHTSA for four years.
CLAYBROOK: There should not be a revolving door of people going from the government immediately to a company that's regulated by the agency.
FEYERICK: A year later when NHTSA decided to investigate complaints of sudden acceleration in some Toyota models, its officials sat across from Santucci, their former colleague, to discuss parameters. And 20 days later NHTSA issued a memo that would exclude certain reported incidents.
(on camera): Are you suggesting that, in fact, Toyota and a former NHTSA employee worked with the federal agency to basically narrow the scope of the investigation?
BEN BAILEY, LAWYER: That's how it appears to us.
FEYERICK (voice-over): Ben Bailey's law firm is suing Toyota over the alleged wrongful death of a Michigan woman whose 2005 Toyota Camry crashed after suddenly accelerating out of control. (on camera): Back in 2004 they were already talking about the throttle control system.
BAILEY: Right.
FEYERICK: So this isn't a new problem that Toyota is investigating suddenly.
BAILEY: No. Right.
FEYERICK: They knew about it.
BAILEY: Yes.
FEYERICK (voice-over): So why didn't NHTSA look into it? Rather than review all possible the causes of sudden acceleration, Bailey says the agency decided to exclude two crucial areas.
BAILEY: They specifically say longer duration incidents involving uncontrollable acceleration where the brakes didn't work are not within the scope of this investigation.
FEYERICK: That decision was made after discussions with Santucci and another Toyota official who had also worked for NHTSA. Santucci was deposed in December.
SANTUCCI: We discussed the scope, NHTSA's concerns about the scope, and ultimately led to a decision by the agency to reduce that scope.
FEYERICK (on camera): Was Toyota effectively calling the shots? Were they telling the federal government what they should and should not be looking for?
BAILEY: I wish I knew the answer.
FEYERICK: Is that what you believe?
BAILEY: I don't know. And that's why we filed this lawsuit.
FEYERICK (voice-over): A Toyota spokesman in Santucci's office tells CNN any insinuation that he violated federal ethics laws or that he did not live up to the highest professional standards is totally without merit.
And NHTSA says, quote, "Our record reflects that safety is our singular priority." The agency says the scope of the investigation was appropriate because, quote, "longer duration incidents involve the possibility that the wrong pedal was used, which could mask a vehicle- based defect."
CLAYBROOK: That was ridiculous for the agency to agree to that.
FEYERICK: Joan Claybrook's consumer group successfully sued Toyota in 2007, forcing it to disclose which vehicles were involved in crashes. CLAYBROOK: They should require more information to be submitted, not less. And they should require all the complaints so the agency itself can do an evaluation of what is a problem and what is not.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: So what about this alleged conflict of interest? Well, NHTSA says under federal law employees who work with a private company like Toyota have to recuse themselves of issues that would affect either NHTSA or Toyota, but that only affects them when they are in the government, not after they leave -- Kiran.
CHETRY: And also, is this new? And if so, for how long? Is a new policy in place, and how long before they could come back after leaving the agency?
FEYERICK: Really, there are no guidelines. There are a lot of guidelines that apply if you're in the executive branch, if you're a senator or congressman, but not if you're simply an employee.
Remember, he was looking for a job while he was regulating Toyota. He was saying I'd like a job with you. By the way, I work for the agency that happens to regulate you.
CHETRY: It is interesting stuff. Deb Feyerick, thanks so much this morning.
FEYERICK: Of course.
HOLMES: Also just ahead, Vice President Joe Biden says he likes Sarah Palin. He said it himself. That's not all he's saying however. Stay tuned.
CHETRY: Also ahead, she's probably on your iPod, but it's her extreme and bizarre fashion sense that's an inspiration for some top designers. We sit down with Lady Gaga is coming up on the Most News in the Morning.
It's 14 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Sixteen minutes past the hour. Welcome to the Most News in the Morning. Got a few stories we want to pass along to you now.
The 10 Americans accused of child trafficking in Haiti could be released from jail within hours. The judge is telling our Karl Penhaul that a ruling on bail for conditional release could be made by mid-afternoon. But for now, the charges still stand and the trial could still happen, even if they are released.
CHETRY: Iran's telecommunications agency is announcing what's being called a permanent suspension of Google's Gmail service in the Islamic Republic. The e-mail crackdown first reported by the "Wall Street Journal" comes on the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. Google telling the journal it can confirm a sharp drop in traffic from Iran and says it hopes to resolve the situation.
HOLMES: Now that communication crackdown comes as Iran celebrates the anniversary of its revolution today. Protests were planned, but there were no reports of any major disruptions. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad marked the day by lashing out at President Obama and the West. In particular, he said the U.S. president is, quote, "missing opportunities."
CHETRY: Well, there may be good reasons why most Americans are not happy about filing their taxes this time of year. According to a new "Washington Post"/ABC News poll, out of every dollar Uncle Sam collects, Americans estimate that 53 cents is wasted. That frustration is not helping Sarah Palin who is calling for less government spending. According to the poll, 55 percent of Americans still have an unfavorable view of Palin.
And Vice President Joe Biden, though, giving Sarah Palin a mixed review. He told our Larry King that he likes his former 2008 rival, but he also says he has a hard time wrapping his head around some of the things she says.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": Sarah Palin.
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I like her.
KING: Wanted your job.
BIDEN: Yes, you know, everybody --
KING: You like her?
BIDEN: I do. I like her. She's an engaging person. She has a great personality. I don't agree with what she says and I think some of the things she says are not -- well, I --
KING: What did she say?
BIDEN: Well, you know, it's sort of like some of the comments made are just so far, sort of out there. I just don't know where they come from. But she -- if you met her, she's an engaging person. I understand why people like her.
KING: Do you fear and fear her -- in a sense, politically fear her?
BIDEN: No, I don't. Look, I've not done as much of the raw politics as I used to do when I was a senator. I mean, this job I've been given big chunks of assignments, Iraq this, et cetera. So I'm not up to being able to give you the poll numbers. But my sense is that Sarah appeals -- Governor Palin appeals to a group of people who are genuinely frustrated, feel disenfranchised, are very conservative -- not all of them.
KING: Tea party people. BIDEN: Tea party people. But beyond that, she has appeal beyond that as well. But I don't know that it represents anything (ph) approaching a significant portion of the population.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Biden also telling Larry King that he believes another 9/11-style attack in the U.S. is unlikely. Instead, he says terrorism has resorted to small but frightening attacks like the failed Christmas Day bomb plot.
Well, don't miss Larry King tonight, because he's going to be speaking with New York Governor David Paterson about this rumors that continue to dog the governor about infidelity, drug use. That's tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.
HOLMES: Well, the government shut down again in Washington. I know what you're thinking. The government was already shut down. Nothing was being done. It seemed like everything was frozen as far as politics go. But now, everything is literally frozen in D.C. Our Jim Acosta is on the hunt for our lawmakers.
It's 19 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Wow.
CHETRY: They look thrilled. I mean, are we that boring? Come on.
HOLMES: Can we see that shot of that group again? Can we, please? We're playing the song "Barracuda."
CHETRY: There you go. Now, they're smiling. All right.
HOLMES: Now they're smiling now. Good morning, guys.
CHETRY: They're smiling and happy. All right.
That's our control room there. The brain trust in there working hard for us. Didn't look so thrilled, though.
All right. Its' 23 minutes past the hour. It means it's time for "Minding Your Business" this morning. And we are joined by Stephanie Elam.
One thing we were talking about in the last hour was about the AIG bailouts. $181 billion and counting.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Right.
CHETRY: And they're still getting ready to shell out those bonuses.
ELAM: Yes, they are, but they're changing the way that they're shelling out this money. It's different. You know, and everyone likes to give everyone on Wall Street a hard time. But this is how Wall Street works. It's about bonuses. You get a smaller salary and you expect a big payout for the hard work you do and not seeing your family throughout the year.
So this is what they're doing here for this compensation change here at AIG to put it more in line with performance and less upon retention and how long you've been with the company here. They're saying that this new system will actually grade and compare employees to their peers and that will determine the salaries and bonuses. So they're going to rank them on a scale of "1 to 4.' The top 10 percent will get that one, and they'll be the top rank and they will get considerably more money than the rest.
Then you have the 20 percent who will get a "2," meaningful pay. Same thing for the meaningful pay if you get a "3." That will be 50 percent of the employees who are eligible for these bonuses. And then the bottom 20 percent will get ranked to "4" and they will be lower paid compared to everybody else in there.
Now, this is something that has been pushed for. There's been a lot of debate between this, between CEO Robert Benmosche (ph) and also the pay czar, Kenneth Feinberg, because they've been going back for about a year of this pay compensation. So he says by putting it in line with performance this will make it better. Benmosche (ph) has been saying that without the right compensation, top talent is going to leave and they're going to have a hard time attracting the right talent to come and do these jobs.
And I know it's hard to understand how the culture works on Wall Street, but this is really how it's been. It's been like this for years. This is nothing new. So this way, by putting it in line with performance, he's hoping that we'll have less anger that will come from people because it will be based on the job that you're doing.
HOLMES: But it's hard for other people if you're not on Wall Street to get your head around. You just hear bonus, and you just think people are being rewarded. Don't get me wrong. Some of the stuff is ridiculous and outlandish.
ELAM: It is. No doubt, no doubt.
HOLMES: But some of this is just the way their salaries are structured sometimes.
ELAM: Right.
HOLMES: But --
ELAM: And the thing is when you hear bonus, you think oh, so you're already getting this inflated amount of money.
HOLMES: Yes.
ELAM: And now you're also going to get this huge bonus. For a lot of these people, they may be taking in a much smaller number as their salary throughout the year. But when the bonus comes along, that's really where their compensation comes from and that's really why this matters so much to people on Wall Street. And they're afraid if you go to a different company that didn't get bailout money, you'll be able to get those numbers.
HOLMES: Yes.
ELAM: So that's why it matters.
CHETRY: Still a lot of anger out there about it all, you know.
ELAM: OK, no doubt about it. Yes.
CHETRY: It's a tough year for people. All right. Thanks so much, Stephanie.
HOLMES: Thanks so much.
Coming up here in just a moment, this blizzard is blowing things all around but it's also blowing the budgets of a lot of municipalities. The cost to remove all those feet of snow is really going through state coffers. We're going to be talking to the governor of Maryland after the break. Is he getting help from Washington?
It's 25 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Twenty-eight minutes past the hour. It's cold. It's frozen and they are buried in D.C. right now. We're going to get to the top stories here in just a few minutes. But first, we have an "A.M. Original" for you, something you'll only see right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
With Washington's airports re-opening finally this morning, the nation's capital starting to show some signs of life. Can't say the same for the government necessarily, taking a fourth day off -- a fourth snow day in a row.
CNN's Jim Acosta reports from the National Mall for us now. Jim, good morning to you. You're having a tough time tracking down the lawmakers?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. My sources tell me that this needs to stop right now, T.J. We've had enough down here in Washington. Thank you very much.
This whole city is shovel-ready, if I can use some stimulus speak this morning. And you know, for a while that term "snowmageddon," it was cute, but it's not anymore. "Snowmageddon two" is sort of like one of those Hollywood blockbusters. The sequel is never as good as the original.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ACOSTA (voice-over): In what was Washington's second monster storm in less than a week, up on Capitol Hill the lights were on, but nobody was home. The halls of Congress were nearly vacant. The capital subway was out of service. One of the few people we found was Garry Prout, a maintenance worker who was going out every four hours to help clear off the capitol steps.
GARRY PROUT, CAPITOL HILL MAINTENANCE WORKER: Three hours later we go right back out and do it all over again.
ACOSTA (on camera): I thought my driveway was bad.
PROUT: And we'll continue doing that until most of the snow has stopped.
ACOSTA (voice-over): The question around Washington is whether America will notice. Democrats and Republicans have been in a deep freeze for months.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I understand that McConnell and Reid are out doing snow angels in the south lawn together.
ACOSTA (on camera): Want another sign of Snowmageddon, check this out. We are inside the Capitol, in the Rotunda. And this is as quiet as the Congress will ever get. There are no lawmakers, no lobbyists, no tourists, even no media - well, almost.
Does that mean we can report that nothing happened in Washington today?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No harm was done.
ACOSTA (voice-over): We had to go across town to find a congressman, the aptly named Darryl Issa who was standing across the street from one of D.C.'s legendary snow ball fights.
(on camera): How is this different than what goes on from Capitol Hill?
REP. DARRYL ISSA (R), CALIFORNIA: Here they have no rules and they don't pretend to. We assume they are students because federal workers obviously can't get out today even though Starbucks is open.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Over at the White House, even a blizzard couldn't keep Al Sharpton from the microphones. He was pressing the president to create more jobs for minorities.
REV. AL SHARPTON, NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK: We do not seek any special kind of edict or any kind of special thing from the president because he's African-American. We expect to be included in the process.
ACOSTA: But the rest of Washington is ready for the city to return to normal. Over at the Capitol Hill Tavern, the Hawk N' Dove, a certain bunch of librarians are reportedly quite good tippers. (on camera): When the government shuts down like this -
PAUL MEAGHER, HAWK N'DOVE GENERAL MANAGER: It hurts us. We have a lot of government employees, the librarians. The Library of Congress is just two blocks away.
ACOSTA: They come to the pub?
MEAGHER: For food and other sustenance.
ACOSTA: I see.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: They know how to have fun at the Library of Congress. Who knew? Now, taxpayers would think they are saving some money with the federal government shut down, but guess again. It costs the federal government $100 million every day in lost productivity according to the Office of Personnel Management. Every day the government is shut down.
And T.J., we're ready for those snowball fights if you want to come down here and join us.
HOLMES: No, we're good.
ACOSTA: There should be one starting any moment now.
HOLMES: No, we're good. I'll stick right here just with the 10 inches. You have three feet there in D.C.. Jim, thanks so much, buddy. We'll talk to you again soon.
ACOSTA: Plenty of ammunition.
HOLMES: You got it.
CHETRY: I love the one guy that said, at least they're doing no harm. They're closed.
HOLMES: Good point.
CHETRY: Well, just past the half hour and that means it's time for this morning's top stories. Toyota saying that it's dealers are working overtime trying to fix the sticking gas pedals and some 2.1 million recalled vehicles. The company is saying that dealers are working on 50,000 vehicles a day and have so far repaired 225,000 cars.
HOLMES: Celebrations to mark the anniversary of Iran's revolution going off without significant disruptions. There have been reports that thousands of protesters were going to take to the streets. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad marked the day by railing against the west and defending his country's disputed nuclear program.
Also, you may want to think and think twice before trying to fly standby on American Airlines. The nation's second largest airline now says it will charge $50 for passengers in coach hoping to switch to an earlier flight. The company defends the fee saying it will improve the boarding process.
HOLMES: Well, it's been a month since the earthquake hit. And while the death toll is now over 200,000, many victims with critical injuries have been saved thanks to hospitals here in the U.S. and that care comes with a price.
Here now, our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The story is common, too common.
JEAN CHERY, HAITI QUAKE VICTIM (through translator): Yes, I was running. You know, the back of the shirt burned. I just closed my eyes and asked god, are you going to let me die?
GUPTA (on camera): The nightmare started here at a gas station in downtown Port-au-Prince. 39-year-old Jean Chery was driving in a truck down this street when this power line fell and hit a propane tank.
There was a huge explosion and just like that Jean Chery was burned over a quarter of his body. His friends scooped him up and drove him quickly to a hospital two blocks down the road.
The care at this Doctors Without Borders Hospital is good. It's very good. The burns are notoriously difficult to treat and they are deadly if that treatment doesn't come fast. All this to say that even in the best of times Haiti wasn't the place for him.
(voice-over): And that meant a transfer. In this case to the United States. Since the earthquake, hundreds of patients have been brought to the U.S., like Jean Chery. As things stand today their medical costs are paid for through a program called the National Disaster Medical System.
Think of it as a special relief fund. And this is the first time it's ever been used for a natural disaster outside the United States. Here's something that might surprise you. The plan is the hospitals that take these patients are reimbursed at 110 percent of Medicare costs. Why 110 percent and not just 100 percent you ask? Well, we wanted to know as well.
A government spokesperson told us "It was set up as an incentive. We don't want hospitals to worry about extra costs or the extra manpower required to treat patients after a disaster."
(on camera): You know, as things stand now, there really is no end in sight. You see there is a lot of critically ill patients here in Haiti, a country that can barely afford the basics. As for Jean Cheri, doctors say that he's going to do very well and there is another thing to all this. His wife hasn't spoken to him or seen him in over a month. So we tracked her down (INAUDIBLE) to this particular marketplace.
Bonjour. I wanted to show you a picture of your husband. Is it good to see him? Yes. Do you want to talk to your husband?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oui.
GUPTA: There you go. This is the first time they have spoken almost since this all happened.
(voice-over): He asked about the kids, said I love you and that he's coming home soon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Be sure you're watching CNN tonight at 10:00 Eastern time for a special "AC 360" investigation "Stealing Haiti." Before the quake even hit, corruption and greed in Haiti were rampant and hundreds of millions of dollars simply vanished. We follow the money. "AC 360" tonight at 10:00 Eastern.
CHETRY: Well, it's "Fashion Week" this week and one of the reigning queens of fashion right now is Lady GaGa. She is known for some of her very eclectic clothing choices. Our Alina Cho had a chance to sit down one-on-one with the performance artist. Coming up next.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the most news in the morning. And the big blizzard may be over but the big dig-out is actually just beginning especially in places like the state of Maryland, hit with nearly two feet yesterday. And that is on top of the two feet it already got over this past weekend. And it could be days, maybe weeks, before the roads are all cleared.
HOLMES: And the governor there, Martin O'Malley wants his state declared a disaster zone and yesterday he had a pretty stern warning for anybody out there griping about unplowed streets.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. MARTIN O'MALLEY, MARYLAND: We want to make sure we have our best shot at getting in there and saving lives. so stop already with the pave my street or rather scrape my street down to the pavement. That cannot happen for the next 72 hours and we ask that you be the great citizens, great Marylanders and great Americans that you are and bear with us through this emergency.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, Maryland's Governor Martin O'Malley now joins us on the phone from Annapolis. Thanks for being with us, governor.
GOV. MARTIN O'MALLEY, MARYLAND (via telephone): Thank you.
CHETRY: We know you guys had a rough time yesterday, on the streets especially. Some of plows had to be pulled off the roads at some point and you had officials warning people that if they went out they were taking their lives in their hands. Where do you stand this morning?
O'MALLEY: Well, we are doing much better this morning. And the roads are still treacherous. The temperatures were still low. So it's very icy. Every school district in our state is closed. This is the first time any of us could ever remember the entire state being under blizzard conditions. So we've got a lot of digging out to do, but the sun is out today. And we have dedicated really committed people that have been out there for four, five days without seeing their families that have been pushing these plows and doing everything they can to keep the streets open so the public safety and emergency vehicles can get through.
So we just have to keep going, you know? One foot in front of the other. In our state we're used to, you know, six to eight-inch snowfalls, not 47 or 57-inch snowfalls. So we'll be bringing in equipment from other states and doing our very best to punch through and get our people out of this and back to normal as quickly as we can.
HOLMES: And governor, we couldn't help but notice in that sound bite we aired just a moment ago, you appeared to be a little bit frustrated with some people complaining about their roads. Explain your level of frustration, if you will, with some people in your view being a little unreasonable with their expectations in this record snowfall.
O'MALLEY: Well, again, this was such a record snowfall. Most of us are accustomed to being able to call our county council people, our city council people and getting our roads scraped down to the pavement. I think that because of that tradition a lot of us did not appreciate just how much snow we were dealing with here and what a tremendous burden and strain that was on the first responders, paramedics and firefighters.
And I think the vast majority have come to understand that, look, we need to keep the roads passable. We can't compromise public safety by planning to scrape down to the pavement on every road. We have to keep them passable. We had National Guard that were helping to deliver babies and getting in there with humvees to transport people who are heart attack victims to the hospital.
And that's the mode we are still in is protecting public safety. And so I'm just trying to convey to neighbors that, look, we will eventually the street will get plowed down to the pavement, but it's going to be an awful long time given the amount of snowfall.
CHETRY: I grew up in Montgomery County, I know we're not used to all this. I tell you, my parents are digging out, too. You know, for local municipalities like Montgomery County, and like the counties all across the state, this is costing a lot of money. You guys have spent what? More than $7 million and counting trying to fight the storm.
I know that you're trying to get federal disaster assistance. What's the latest with that?
O'MALLEY: I had a very good conversation yesterday with Secretary Napolitano who was called, of course, by our United States Senator Barbara Mikulski as well as Congressman Cummings and leader Hoyer and other members of our congressional delegation. And I'm hopeful - in fact, the secretary told me that they were going to be treating this entire last three, four days of snowfall as one event which is good news and hopefully they can help us on the back end in terms of paying for this.
It's made a wreck of the streets. We hope it doesn't make a wreck of the county and state budgets as well. With a little federal assistance that would be very, very helpful.
HOLMES: Governor Martin O'Malley, sir, good luck to you and your citizens digging out from this thing and good luck certainly with that federal money as well. We appreciate you hopping on the phone this morning. Thanks so much.
O'MALLEY: Thank you. Thanks very much. Bye-bye.
CHETRY: Good luck. Still a few busy weeks ahead trying to get that cleared out. They don't have anywhere to put it right now. That's the problem.
HOLMES: And those budgets, to hear how bad so many cities and states were doing already and on top of this now.
CHETRY: I know, what a mess. All right. Well, 44 minutes after the hour. We'll be right back.
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CHETRY: Not fair is it?
We're talking about digging out from a storm. Look at that beautiful site in Rio de Janeiro.
Well, it's a beautiful sight, right, when we saw that dude's stomach. No, I was thinking general -- the waves, the ocean and the sand.
HOLMES: Whatever works for you, Kyra. It's fine.
CHETRY: How pretty. It's sunny, in lower 80s. Sunny, in 90s for a high today.
Wouldn't you love to be on that boat?
HOLMES: I would love to be there right now.
Today, New York, northeast can be beautiful sometimes when you get the snow. Not when it causes all the problems, but it is gorgeous. It's gorgeous up here, right now.
CHETRY: See that? You got lucky. HOLMES: We got a lot of snow here. They don't have it in Vancouver where they need it right now. We'll tell you about that in a second.
The Olympics, you know, is actually taking place here pretty soon. The torch on the last few legs of its relay around the world. Look at this. Record crowds turn out to welcome it to Vancouver. Criss-crosses the city before the opening ceremonies which are tomorrow night.
CHETRY: Yes. And a town literally built in hopes of one day hosting the Olympics finally getting its big shot. Whistler British Columbia, 70 miles up the road from Vancouver, is the site of the Alpine ski competition, as well as the bobsled and the ever popular luge. There will also be separate medal ceremonies happening in the town plaza, and that's an Olympic first.
HOLMES: My one little problem here, it's B.Y.O.S., bring your own snow to the games. Now we have plenty of snow here. But they need it there. They have had to actually truck the stuff in three hours away from some other mountain. It's actually they would consider balmy for this time of year, around the 50s in the highs every day, and that is bad. The winter games, and you got no winter.
CHETRY: Yes, I know. That's when Mother Nature is playing a little practical joke on all of us.
It's forty-eight minutes past the hour. We check in with Jacqui Jeras.
You know, too bad they can't just get the snow out of the D.C. Metropolitan Area, maybe from Baltimore, and get it up there where they need it for the Olympics.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. People might actually volunteer to fill up their trucks to bring it there. Hey, guys.
And, by the way, I think Whistler itself is doing OK with the snowfall. There's actually two ski resorts where they are doing some of these ski events, and it's Cyprus Mountain which is a little further south near Vancouver, where they are missing all of that snow.
OK. Yes, we wish there was no snow in the northeast today. Unfortunately, we're still digging out. But just a little blip there on our radar of that storm system that brought the epic snow, really. The record-breaking snow. So we're just left, really, with cold and windy conditions today.
Here's some snowfall totals for you. Some of you had records for the day. Some of you had records for the month. Some of you had records for the season with this one. 22.5 inches in Baltimore, Maryland.
Let's look at some video from the Baltimore area. This is Eldersburg, Maryland. Actually, you had 15.5 officially in a 24-hour period yesterday. BWI, by the way, is open now. So hopefully getting a little traffic moving. You can see though it's probably going to be days before, you know, any of these side streets even get opened back up.
All right, the snow today -- Dallas. Take a look at a picture of Dallas. The snow is coming down here this morning. 33 degrees. So it is a wet, heavy snow. Winter weather advisory in effect there until midnight. One to three inches expected. Maybe some isolated four-inch amounts.
Radar picture will show you most of this is right along that I-20 corridor and northward. And we are going to watch all of the snow, guys, spreading to the southeast. Places like Birmingham, even Atlanta, getting in to the snow by tomorrow -- T.J. and Kiran?
HOLMES: Southern snow, not up north.
CHETRY: So just in time for him to go back there. You're going to get some more snow.
JERAS: Yes.
CHETRY: Congratulations.
JERAS: It is following you.
HOLMES: All right.
JERAS: You may have to delays there, T.J.
HOLMES: I'm trying to get out of here Friday. We'll see if I can make it back.
JERAS: Yes. You are not going to do it. Maybe not. I don't know.
HOLMES: I've been here since Sunday, Jacqui.
JERAS: The earlier, the better, OK?
HOLMES: All right.
JERAS: The earlier, the better.
HOLMES: All right. Thank you, I think, Jacqui. We will talk to you again soon.
More top stories in just a few minutes away, including -- ten minutes past the hour.
Unlocking a medical mystery. Doctors finding the reason some people stutter, but can they cure it?
CHETRY: Also, at 15 minutes past the hour. War games. Looking for serious consequences if Israel decided to deal with Iran by itself, where would that leave the United States? HOLMES: Also at 40 minutes past the hour, the last place maybe you want to have flash cards in your pockets in Arabic, including one that says bomb on it. When an innocent man found out at the airport, but he is asking now did interrogators go too far? Those stories and more at the top of the hour.
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HOLMES: What was that?
CHETRY: Some apparatus. That's how fashion.
HOLMES: I can't quite figure out her fashion. But still, Lady Gaga, it doesn't matter.
Welcome back here to the Most News in the Morning.
Of course, with a string of catchy hits, Lady Gaga had a quick rise to fame. Just last month she shared the Grammy stage with none other than Sir Elton John.
CHETRY: He sure did. It was really interesting performance, by the way. But with fashion week starting today here in New York, we are not just talking about her music, instead it's about Lady Gaga's out of this world fashion sense.
And who better to join us to talk about it than our own Alina Cho, our fashionista here on AMERICAN MORNING in an "A.M. Original."
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I didn't say that.
CHETRY: Well, you are. Look at you.
HOLMES: You are.
CHETRY: I mean, who else could pull off that necklace?
CHO: You could.
CHETRY: Yes, right.
CHO: You know, I mean, obviously, Lady Gaga has a huge, huge talent, guys. But, you know, some people believe that her ability to shock on the red carpet is what gets her noticed. There's no doubt about that.
You know, two years ago, most of America had never even heard of Lady Gaga. Now, she is one of the biggest pop stars on the planet. No question music critics rave about her talent, but some say it is fashion that puts Lady Gaga on the map.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LADY GAGA, SINGER: I'm your biggest fan, I'll follow you until you love me, papa-paparazzi.
CHO (voice-over): The paparazzi is gaga over Lady Gaga.
(on camera): What do you say to your critics who said this is all about shock value?
LADY GAGA: You are right.
CHO (voice-over): Gaga as she likes to be called is the master of performance art. A music and fashion phenomenon at age 23. Two Grammys, five number one hits, more than 8 million records sold. A bona fide talent. But this is what gets everyone's attention.
(on camera): How do you even decide what to wear?
LADY GAGA: For me, it's important to always keep that connection with my fans. So no matter what I'm wearing, whether it's high fashion that it was on the runway last week or it's a leather jack that I found at a vintage shop, I need to create things and wear things that they can always replicate.
CHO: But the truth is that most people in the world can't do this, right?
LADY GAGA: It is not exactly true. The last thing you want to do as an artist is create something that feels like you can't touch it, or you don't deserve it, or I can't have that. My hair bow, you can make a hair bow for $2.
CHO (voice-over): And Gaga fans, she calls them little monsters do try to replicate her look, whether it's that bow made entirely of hair, or this red latex Elizabethan dress, which she wore to meet the queen, Lady Gaga's fashion choices always inspire even make headlines around the world.
(on camera): And so what do you think the biggest misconception is about you?
LADY GAGA: I don't feel like there is any misconception about me. I am whatever you perceive me to be.
CHO (voice-over): Today, she has the House of Gaga, advisers who consult with her on her look. And yet when asked who inspires her, she says her mother. But it's another mentor, Cyndi Lauper who Gaga is teaming up with to promote AIDS awareness through sales of lipsticks made by Mac cosmetics.
CYNDI LAUPER: This one is a sculpture, a sculpture artist.
CHO: And just last night she wade her performance piece, and sang for free at this black-tie affair benefiting the foundation for AIDS research. Her outfit made of crushed pearls is meant to blend and be one with the piano.
LADY GAGA: It is not about money, it is not about prestige, it is not about class, it is about having an identity. And the trick is through pop music, through makeup, through femininity. You sort of encourage young people no matter who you are, and where you come from, harness your identity.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: So where exactly did the name Lady Gaga come from? Well, it's homage to the song by Queen, "Radio Gaga." The story is one day her producer called her Lady Gaga and the name stuck, guys.
But hard to believe, you know, five years ago, she was Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, a Catholic school girl in New York. She went to high school with Paris Hilton. But she is the real deal musically, guys.
I mean, she started playing piano at age 4, she wrote her first song at 13. She's started playing in New York night clubs at 14. And that's really where she got her look by being a club kid, you know. But fashion, she really sees it as performance art. It is as important to the whole thing that she does as her music.
HOLMES: I would ask you in a second if she puts on jeans and a T-shirt and brands at Wal-Mart. I'll buy it.
CHO: Somebody has asked me that. I don't think that happens too often these days.
CHETRY: There's no Wal-Mart in the city. Maybe there is.
HOLMES: I come from Atlanta, forgive me. All right. Thank you.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: All right. Thank you, Alina.
We'll be right back. We're taking a quick break.
Fifty-eight minutes past the hour.
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