Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
LeBron Returns To Cleveland; "Rent is Too Damn High" Candidate to Star in a Movie; Tax Breaks for All?; Romney in 2012; Sports Training for Babies; Wesley Snipes Going to Prison; Rangel Ethics Case; Obama: No Gulf Drilling for Seven Years; Threat Level: Black
Aired December 02, 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: Good morning to you. This morning, we are following the latest developments in the WikiLeaks case. A location disclosed, and breaking news in the search for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. We may know where he is, but he is still not under arrest.
Good morning to you. It's Thursday, it's December 2nd. Glad you're with us on AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, I'm John Roberts. We'll have more on Julian Assange in just a moment. But first, the morning's other headlines, torrential rain, extreme ice pounding Pennsylvania. Rivers rising, homes and cars submerged, roads and schools shut down. There was a state of emergency in the northern suburbs of Pittsburgh, and the worst may be yet to come.
CHETRY: Tax cuts. Who gets to keep them? House Democrats plan to vote today for the middle class only that has Republicans in the Senate saying they could filibuster, all while your take-home pay for 2011 hangs in the balance. We're live in Washington with the latest.
ROBERTS: And it's all coming out tonight, Cleveland bracing for the return of the king, LeBron James. It's his first time back since he decided to, quote, "take his talents to south beach." Can LeBron handle the Heat, can he handle the Cavs? Will the fans behave?
CHETRY: First, new developments in the search for the most wanted man in the world right now. Reports say British police know the whereabouts of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange but they have not yet arrested him. He is wanted on sex crime charges in Sweden. He's also been called a traitor and a terrorist by critics in the U.S. for releasing diplomatic secrets to the world.
Atika Shubert has the latest from London this morning.
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So just where is Julian Assange? Well, British police won't give an official statement to his whereabouts, several media sources quote police sourcing saying he is somewhere in the southeast of the country and they have not arrested him because a procedural error in the original Swedish arrest warrant.
We called the Swedish police and the prosecutor's office to get answers. Marion Nye told us that it is, quote, "complete news to her that there's any problem with the arrest warrant." She also added that Assange's legal case has been handled completely according to Swedish law.
Swedish police also say they don't know where Assange is. They gave us this statement, "All we have heard is what is reported in the media, that he is supposed to be in the U.K., but we have no information at all about his whereabouts.
In the meantime, Assange's lawyer in London has said that his client has denied all of the allegations against him and has repeatedly offered to be interviewed for questioning by both Swedish prosecutors and the police, but so far all of his offers have been refused."
So, a lot of conflicting information from both Sweden and Britain, hopefully, we'll get more answers by the end of the day.
Atika Shubert, CNN, London.
CHETRY: And the State Department's in full damage control right now at the White House. The Obama administration appointed a new czar, a career counterterrorism official to oversee the government's efforts to fix security gaps.
Last hour, we spoke to Congressman Peter Hoekstra. He is the ranking Republican on the House and intelligence committee. He said we should have looked at this years ago. We also asked him about what should be done with Julian Assange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Do you believe he's guilty of espionage?
REP. PETE HOEKSTRA, (R) MICHIGAN: I don't think our legal system, our framework of laws allows us to go after him and get him for espionage.
ROBERTS: Really?
HOEKSTRA: We can argue about whether that's right or wrong. But I don't think our current legal framework allows us to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Congressman Hoekstra also fell short of calling for Secretary of State Clinton to resign because of what was in the documents, but he did say diplomats should not be spies.
ROBERTS: New developments in the shooting death of famous Hollywood publicist Ronni Chasen. She was gunned down execution-style two weeks ago while driving home from a movie premiere in Los Angeles. Detectives are questioning a person of interest yesterday when he suddenly shot and killed himself. Kareen Wynter is with us in Hollywood this morning. A stunning twist to the story. What are the police saying about it? KAREEN WYNTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely bizarre, John. We do know that man who turned the gun on himself. He was in his early 40s, a black male. He lived in this apartment bidding located right in the middle of Hollywood behind me.
In fact, John, we just reached out to the coroner's office to get an idea of when we will be releasing this man's identity. They say it's going to be several hours. Right now, they're working to notify the next of kin. So we don't have an identity on him.
Again, police aren't calling him a suspect. They say they was just a person of interest in the Ronni Chasen murder case. He lived in that apartment building living in a busy part of town. Detectives say when they zeroed in on this building yesterday evening they came with a search warrant. They tracked this guy down in the lobby of the building when they say we just wanted to question him when things took a shocking turn.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our detectives were here on a follow-up. And this person was a person of interest from the Chasen incident. That's all we have at this point. As the captain mentioned, this person shot himself. It was a self-inflicted gunshot wound pronounced dead later on. And the investigation is ongoing at this time. We have nothing further to disclose about the investigation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WYNTER: So there you have it, John. Case closed -- not exactly. In fact, police say this is a case that's far from over. And the least publicly, John, they're telling us they don't even have a motive here. They don't have any suspects. So still a lot of work to be done, John.
ROBERTS: We also don't have the autopsy report on Chasen. It's been on a security hold since last week. When do we expect that?
WYNTER: That was, we thought, was going to be released on Monday. It could be any day now. Perhaps today, but we don't have that. But it could provide, of course, important clues here.
And there was a report that was leaked initially in the investigation that said that the type of gun used in Chasen's murder. It was a .9 millimeter handgun. Three shots fired in Chasen's body,two in her chest, one in her shoulder. Again, this could provide crucial, crucial details. Police say they don't know at this point if it was a random crime or something much more targeted.
ROBERTS: Kareen Wynter for us with the latest from Hollywood. Thanks so much.
CHETRY: Now, the latest from western Pennsylvania this morning, where the rivers are rising and there's real concern about flooding. A state of emergency in effect for the northern suburbs of Pittsburgh where three inches of rain fell yesterday. That's been combined with all of the melting ice.
You get a look at what it's been like there. Homes are underwater, roads impassable. And the Ohio River expected to crest at 27 feet this morning. That would be two feet over flood stage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were checking every two hours the back where the creek is, it kept coming up, 2:30, 3:00, my dad said we got to get out of here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's 3:00 in the morning?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, at 10 to 4:00, he said we're getting out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The creek backs up. There's three ponds here. We're in the middle pond, right now, they're all connected.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: A very intense morning for thousands of people living in Pennsylvania. We're going to head to Reynolds Wolf right now in the extreme weather center. You see what some of the homes look like. What is the situation there?
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The situation is many of those rivers, especially the Ohio river, expected to crest within the hour, once it does, it's slowly going to recede. All of that rain, of course, finds its way into the rivers and the rivers begin to rise.
How much rain? Take a look at the map behind me. In fact, we're going to take it full to see it. Mt. Pocono had three inches of rainfall, Williamsport, close to three inches, Connecticut had two inches of rain, fort Richie, Pennsylvania, two inches but not just the rain.
We've got wind, wind damaging parts of New Jersey. We have wind gusts of 65 miles an hour, one topping 70 miles an hour in Vermont. Also in places like New York, Ellenberg and Malone, 50-mile-an-hour gusts caused trees down and outages. That wind may cause delays in all the airports, in New York, over an hour wait. Seattle, it could keep you on the ground perhaps an hour.
You see the areas shaded in green, not just north of Pittsburgh, Altoona State College, Williamsport, all under the flood warnings. Now the big issue in that part of the world, later this afternoon, heavy snowfall. Places like Buffalo, guys, get this, possibly over a foot of snowfall by tomorrow afternoon.
Lake-effect snow is the first major snowstorm for parts. East and, again, could remain that way for the weekend. Back to you.
ROBERTS: It's not just here. Extreme weather pounding the U.K. as well. We've got live pictures from just outside of London's Gatwick airport. Look at that. Gatwick airport remains closed until at least, listen to this, tomorrow morning.
CHETRY: A lot of the snow, nearly a foot of snow. It's the heaviest most of widespread snowfall they've seen in Great Britain in 17 years. Hundreds of schools have been forced to close and it's also causing big headaches and the roads and rails.
ROBERTS: Finally, the headache is easing on Wall Street. It opens this morning after having its best day in three months. The Dow closed up over 250 points yesterday. The NASDAQ up over 51. Our Christine Romans is "Minding your Business." Is it the holiday spirit?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: No, the holiday spirit never moves Wall Street. It's all about money, the economy, and diminished concerns about Europe because of strength in China.
Let me tell you what happened yesterday. Big rally, it's what we call a banner day. This morning, folks, it's holding. And it looks like futures are moving higher.
This is what happened. One, you had a number from a private payroll service that showed private sector hiring. In fact it showed that small business was hiring strongly in the month. Main Street was working again.
Also car sales, GM car sales up 11 percent. Ford up 20 percent over the year. Something happened there in the auto industry that is showing consumers more confidence. Finally, manufacturing data in China it showed that they were strong. And China a leader of the global recovery, it made them a little more confident. U.S. multinationals, anything that had to do with resource, minerals, those companies did well. Of course, those companies are in the stock market. When the stock market went up, the stock went up, too.
ROBERTS: It's a long day.
ROMANS: It is a long day.
ROBERTS: A lot could change between 9:30 and 4:00.
ROMANS: That is true.
CHETRY: Thanks, Christine. Still to come, can he handle the heat? LeBron James is ready to take the brunt of 50 years of Cleveland sports frustration as he heads back to the city for the first time in a Miami uniform. Carol Costello is live there with a preview. And she's getting a little bit of -- I don't know if it's a tongue lashing, but the locals are going to revenge.
ROBERTS: Not lashing her, maybe the king.
Plus, he scores a touchdown, takes a knee and points to the heavens, and a high school quarterback gets flagged for excessive celebration. Now everyone wants to know why. The video and the controversy have gone viral.
CHETRY: And we have the Hoff here live. We're talking about fame, running from demons, and being a dad. It's 12 minutes past the hour now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: It's 15 minutes past the hour right now.
It's not going to be a happy homecoming for the king, but we knew it was going to happen at some point. Tonight is the night that LeBron James comes back to Cleveland. It's Miami's first game there since he ripped the hearts of fans who watched him play as a kid in Akron for seven years for the Cavs.
ROBERTS: Crushed their hopes and dreams like bugs. And there's going to be extra security on hand to handle the 20,000 people who are ready to vent this evening. Carol Costello is live for us in the "Q" arena this morning. Going back home.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Crushed. Crushed -- yes. Crushed their hopes and dreams like bugs?
ROBERTS: Yes.
COSTELLO: That was a good line, John. I am where the Cleveland Cavaliers will play the Miami Heat tonight. It's quiet now. But boy, will it be loud tonight. You can't imagine what a reception LeBron James will get here at the "Q." Fans are kind of considering what they should do. Should they boo? Should they laugh? What should they do? Should they stand up and turn their backs? That's still undecided. I guess we'll find out tonight.
Security here will be very tight. LeBron James arrived in Cleveland from Miami after he and the Heat annihilated the Detroit Pistons. They arrived about 3:00 a.m. Eastern Time, were whisked away to their hotel. That hotel is at undisclosed location for security reasons. Security will be extra tight here. Here at the "Q," there'll be extra security people on the floor. We hear there'll be undercover people in the stands all to make sure nothing happens.
Also fans will not be allowed to wear t-shirts with profanity on them. And the beer usually served in plastic bottles will now be served in plastic cups to prevent fans from throwing those plastic bottles onto the floor. As for LeBron James, he says it will be an emotional homecoming. I think pretty much everyone will be emotional here tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's responsible for almost half of the Heat's points.
COSTELLO (voice-over): LeBron James used to unconditional love from fans will experience something quite different tonight. Yes, he did see Cleveland fans burning his jersey after he ostentatiously announced on national television that he was leaving for Miami. But he hasn't yet experienced the anger live and in person. Keith Dambrot coached James in his Akron, Ohio high school. KEITH DAMBROT, JAMES' HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL COACH: I mean, he's never been booed in Cleveland. And he's never really been booed hardly anywhere or anyplace in his whole life. So, again, I think he understands the business side of this. And he understands that there's some animosity towards him.
COSTELLO: Keith Robinson, a life-long Cavs fan will be sure James hears loud and clear. He'll be in tonight's game.
(on camera): Do you feel it's necessary for the fans to show something towards LeBron?
KEITH ROBINSON, LIFE-LONG CAVALIERS SEASON TICKET HOLDER: No, hatred.
COSTELLO: Really, hatred?
ROBINSON: Yes, dislike. How about dislike?
COSTELLO: Because hatred is a strong word.
ROBINSON: Yes, I will say dislike. I don't hate him, but I don't like him.
COSTELLO (voice-over): Robinson plans to boo James, but he and others fear some fans, a few, could try to hurt James physically. Especially if he incites the crowd with his signature puff of smoke as he enters the game. You could hear the concern as the Cavs practiced Wednesday.
MO WILLIAMS, CAVALIERS POINT GUARD: The heckling, you know, it's part of the game. When we go on the road, we get it. Obviously, you know, this is going to be a little bit worse. I get that also. But once we get talking about harming people and their family and their well-being, I think that's kind of taking it a little too far.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you ready for the return of LeBron James? The two-time NBA MVP will bring his talents back to the north coast.
COSTELLO: On Cleveland's ESPN radio, they were urging fans not to embarrass the city.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hopefully, we don't see, you know, stupidity on some of the fans' parts of throwing things or running out on to the floor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Going to the ATM today and tomorrow to put enough bail money in your pocket in case you get incarcerated.
COSTELLO: Most fans will not be that stupid, but they will vent. Robinson only wishes he could do it face-to-face.
ROBINSON: What I would say to him is you're not the guy I thought you were.
(END VIDEOTAPE) COSTELLO: So many people feel that way here in Cleveland. And John and Kiran, as I said before, fans are still trying to decide exactly how to show their displeasure. I kind of like the Twitter campaign going on right now. It's advising fans to just stand up and laugh. Because LeBron James is used to dealing with boos and he'll know how to handle it psychologically. But if fans stand up and they just laugh, he'll be totally flummoxed and probably won't be able to play an ounce of good basketball.
ROBERTS: Well, we'll see if they can get inside his head someway.
CHETRY: Yes, and not mess up the Cavs while they're at it. You know, because they have to play and they have to win.
All right. Carol Costello for us.
COSTELLO: That's right.
CHETRY: Thanks so much.
ROBERTS: Carol thanks. What an interesting story we're going to have tomorrow either way.
It's going to be the video that everybody is talking about today. Take a look at this. It's tame by NFL standards. But a Washington State high school player gets flagged for this touchdown routine. Kneeling and pointing to the heavens. The referee tagged him for excessive celebration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RONNIE HASTIE, TURNWATER HIGH SCHOOL RUNNING BACK: I asked him, you know, he said unsportsman-like comment, can't draw attention to yourself. I do that to give glory to my heavenly father, Jesus. Something I feel like he gives me the strength. He's the one who gives me these abilities to do this in the first place. But I've done it every time I've gotten in the end zone. And nothing's -- no one has ever said anything about it, so it's something that I've done that's tradition.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Is a little prayer excessive celebration? League officials say they're aware of the religious overtones but the rule says that players have to give up the ball immediately after the ball. Hastie has scored 17 touchdowns this season. He's done that every time, he says. If he does it again this weekend, though, he says he will kneel and point but he'll do it from the sidelines, instead of the end zone.
CHETRY: All right. So his team won't get the fine. But we've had it in slow motion. It's got to be two seconds that he did that.
ROBERTS: It wasn't very long, was it? But you know, rules are rules. But then again, you know, people say with the attack on religion across this country, maybe that's an excessive call by the ref. So we'll see how it goes.
CHETRY: How about this one, sports training before you're even potty trained. How young is it too young to get your kids learning how to train for sports? We're going to talk to a baby trainer about a growing trend.
Twenty-one minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twenty-four minutes past the hour right now. Time for a look at our "Morning Talkers" this morning. Eminem wasn't kidding when he said -- well, when he called his album "Recovery." The rapper got 10 Grammy nominations last night. That's more than any other artist. And they include Album of the Year, Best Rap Album, Song of the Year for his "Love the Way You Lie" featuring Rihanna. His competition includes Bruno Mars who got seven. Lady Gaga and Lady Antebellum each earning six, including Album of the Year. And the Academy also honored one of the most profane songs of the year. Cee- Lo's "bleep" you was nominated for both Record and Song of the Year.
ROBERTS: Glad to see Lady Antebellum getting a lot of nominations. I really like them. Good band.
Looks like all those macho android ads are paying off. According to a Nielsen survey, when it comes to phone platforms, more men prefer the android, while more women say they want an iPhone. You're an iPhone user.
CHETRY: Yes, but you don't have an android.
ROBERTS: Yes.
CHETRY: There's only one person I know on our staff that has an android and she's a girl.
ROBERTS: You know, I've been an Apple guy since 1982, so that's probably why.
CHETRY: I've been an orange gal, but they don't know how to make phones yet. So, got to stick with that one.
You probably know him as the gubernatorial candidate who said "the rent was too damn high." Jimmy McMillan. Well, now, he is making the most of his 15 minutes fame. First, he had a Barbie doll, a doll out after him. But now he's starring in a documentary that's set to be released next year. Here's a little peek.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY MCMILLAN, "THE RENT IS TOO DAMN HIGH": I got calls from London. Australia. Hey, this is Jimmy. Wait. Wait. The rent, it's too damn high.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROBERTS: And if Jimmy didn't put a smile on your face, this next YouTube video will no doubt do that. Look at this. It's Emma, a French bulldog puppy engaged in what can only be described as, well, it's heaven for a little puppy dog. This epic battle with a doorstop.
CHETRY: So cute. Her little growl sounds like a motor. She's so adorable.
ROBERTS: Oh, that's the great thing about being a puppy. Hours of endless joy, just doing something as simple as a doorstop.
CHETRY: Then she'll grow up and sleep on a couch all day. Not worrying about the doorstop at all.
Well, a famous Christmas Carol from the -- favorite, rather, from the 1980s is about to become musical theater. Peter Billingsley who played Ralphie Parker in the classic "A Christmas Story" is producing "A Christmas Story, The Musical." The show opened last night in Seattle. Billingsley says the story has always meant a lot to him personally. And he hopes that someday he can bring the play to even more theaters. Hopefully, he won't shoot his eye out.
ROBERTS: Right. Can you put that to music?
CHETRY: Not on camera.
ROBERTS: All right.
CHETRY: Top stories coming your way in just a few minutes, including the big tax debate going on right now. Republicans and Democrats fighting over it again. We're live in Washington with more on where your take-home pay may go.
ROBERTS: And start preschool at 2 now, sports while they're still crawling. How young is too young to start getting your kids in shape? We'll talk to a baby fitness trainer about this new craze. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Crossing the half hour right now. It's 7:30 on the East Coast. And our top stories this Thursday morning.
A shocking turn in a real life Hollywood murder mystery. Police say a "person of interest" in the death of publicist Ronni Chasen killed himself while detectives requested were questioning him. Chasen was gunned down two weeks ago in Beverly Hills as she drove home from a movie premiere. Despite the death of a potential suspect, police say the investigation is "not over yet."
CHETRY: Hunting for the man behind WikiLeaks reports out this morning say Julian Assange is indeed in Britain. But so far, British police have not acted on a warrant for his arrest on sex crime charges in Sweden. Assange has been lying low since releasing hundreds of thousands of leaked State Department documents. ROBERTS: And it was a great day in Wall street yesterday. Stocks rallied. The Dow rising nearly 250 points on better than expected auto sales and listen to this, stronger private sector hiring. Economists at Goldman Sachs also predict the U.S. economy will do better than expected next year. Yesterday, was the Dow's biggest one-day gain since September. And signs are pointing up again today.
CHETRY: Well, they're bickering again, Democrats and Republicans at odds when it comes to who keeps their tax breaks in 2011. House Democrats are planning a vote today and they only want to extend the breaks for families making $250,000 or less.
ROBERTS: Congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar is live with us. She's on the telephone this morning and that idea isn't flying with Republicans. They want to keep the tax cuts for everybody?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (ON THE PHONE): They want to keep it for everyone. And what you have is even as Democrats or Republicans are promising to work together, they say they've made strides after that meeting at the White House. And as they're going forward with bipartisan negotiations to reach a deal, the House is still going to go ahead with this vote. Democrats pushing to extend these tax cuts just for the middle class, extending them for folks who make $250,000 and less as a couple.
So why are those negotiations still going to go on before there's even an agreement? We caught up with Speaker Pelosi yesterday and she said it's to show our position is very clear that we support tax cuts for the middle class. The Democrats in the House making a point. Discord between Democrats and Republicans really on full display here as Republicans want the tax cuts for everyone including the wealthy. And many Democrats don't want to extend it for the wealthy.
And John and Kiran, you also have the Senate Republican saying that they're going to block legislative action on any issue, for instance, "don't ask, don't tell," that doesn't have to do with coming to an agreement on these tax cuts, with the federal government. They say those are the first priorities. And everything else has to get put on the back burner until those issues are resolved.
CHETRY: Brianna Keilar for us this morning. Thank you.
ROBERTS: Brianna, thanks.
Mitt Romney for president in 2012? Well, maybe. The former Massachusetts governor has been laying low lately but he was back on the spotlight last night, making an appearance on "The Tonight Show." He told Jay Leno, another run at the White House not in the cards right now but he's not ruling it out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": What would you do differently that you did in 2008? FMR. GOV. MITT ROMNEY (R), MASSACHUSETTS: Well I'm not a political consultant and a strategist that can lay out, you know, how you do these things. But my own view is if I were to do it again, I have to make sure that I got more votes than the other guy.
(LAUGHTER)
LENO: Yes. Yes. I think that is a good way to do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: There's the simple answer. You said that, what would you do differently?
CHETRY: Win.
ROBERTS: Win.
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: And please, he's going to run.
CHETRY: I know, it's so refreshing when somebody just says, yes, I am going to run.
ROBERTS: Yes, wouldn't that be nice?
CHETRY: Because no one believes you when you say, no, not at this time.
ROBERTS: He's going to run, for sure.
CHETRY: Well, the younger the better? We're talking about infant athletes. And the new trend of sports training for babies and toddlers, up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
CHETRY: We're getting new meaning to born to run. And perhaps getting rid of the baby fat. Instead of parents plopping their kids down in front of Sponge Bob, they're now buying sports DVDs for babies. Some as young as six months old.
Our next guest says it's never too young to start on sports-like activity, even before kids start walking. Joining us this morning is sports educator, Doreen Bolhuis, she's also the creator of DVDs on how to teach physical skills to kids and babies, as well as all the way to elementary students. Doreen, thanks for being with us this morning.
DOREEN BOLHUIS, PRESIDENT & CEO, GYMCO: Thank you, I'm pleased to be here.
CHETRY: So we sought video of the little baby probably about six months old getting rolled around on one of the exercise balls. What is the benefit of starting very early with getting kids involved in exercise?
BOLHUIS: Well, it helps babies and toddlers and young children to develop the full range of movement ability and to explore all of the ways that their body can move. That gives them an advantage in brain development. And also helps them to have joy in movement, to have positive emotional associations with movement and also to develop skill, which will encourage them to keep moving throughout their lives and it gives them a hedge against obesity.
CHETRY: What is the age that you start in terms of how many months old before they can start doing this type of stuff?
BOLHUIS: Our DVDs start at six months. That's really when children begin to explore movement in their world. They start to crawl. They're rolling over by then. So they're already beginning on their own to try to find out how their bodies can move. So we enhance that and help them in the learning process.
CHETRY: And the CDC says, you know, the number of obese children has more than tripled over the last 30 years. You're obviously very fit. Your father actually started you being active at a very early age as well. Do you think that starting kids in sports earlier actually prevents obesity down the road?
BOLHUIS: Unquestionably. I worked with thousands of children every year. We don't have any obese children in our facility because they are active. Not only during the time that they're there. And most children come once a week for an hour. But they take those skills and abilities, and they're moving all day long, every day because of their enhanced movement ability.
So we know that that's 50 percent of the emotion, in terms of preventing obesity. Of course, the other is nutrition. So we need to maximize movement capability because we like to do things that we're good at. So when we help children become good at movement, they're more likely to move every day and engage in it.
CHETRY: What about people who say we're just pushing babies too hard? I mean, they're babies, let them be babies?
BOLHUIS: Well, certainly, you can push babies too hard. There's no question about that. It needs to be done very carefully and we need to respect when children are tired of movement, then we need to give them a rest. So, you know, there's a delicate balance with that, certainly. We're not talking -- I'm not talking about repetitive movement, about rigorous training, about early sports specialization. This is exploring and teaching children how to move well.
CHETRY: Right. You mentioned that about starting early with specialized sports because one orthopedic surgeon is quoted in "The New York Times" as saying there's really not any evidence that this helps and it can cause younger kids to get hurt. One of the examples is, you know, a little leaguer who may blow out their arm pitching. What do you say to that?
BOLHUIS: I absolutely agree with that. Early childhood should be about movement exploration. I have eight categories in our DVDs of movement, different kinds of movement that we explore with children. But children should not be engaged in repetitive training. Because then you do have overuse injuries. And it's not necessary. When they develop their full range of abilities, they'll decide later in life, middle school and beyond, how they want to use those abilities.
CHETRY: Got you. Well, certainly, childhood obesity is a huge problem. And we know that moving is good when it comes to combating it. Doreen Bolhuis, this morning, a fitness coach training the babies and toddlers with your DVDs, thanks so much for joining us this morning.
BOLHUIS: Thanks for having me.
ROBERTS: It's kind of -- you know, everything old is new again. Your kids moving around a lot?
CHETRY: Yes. They were going crazy because it's been raining for the past few days so we haven't been able to get them out of the house. They were at their little JW tumbles gym yesterday. And the kids were just running around like lunatics but they need it.
ROBERTS: Some of the kids these days, you know, this is their exercise.
CHETRY: I know.
ROBERTS: Just got to get them out. Let them go. Well, you can't go outside in many sites, bitter cold plus some cities get their first big snowfall. Of course, it's always fun to go out and play in the snow.
Reynolds Wolf, coming up next. It's 42 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Good morning, Boston where it's fair and 36 degrees right now, later on today, partly cloudy with a high of 45.
CHETRY: Reynolds Wolf is following that. That's certainly an improvement over what it's been like in the past few days on the east coast and also parts of Pennsylvania. I know you guys got it in the south as well.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. You're right, in the northeast it's been horseshoes and hand grenades. It's just been insane out there. You've had some flooding. You've had some strong wind gusts and power outages. I'll tell you, things are going to at least look better in parts of the northeast area.
But you're still going to have some delays in terms of the wind, especially in all the major airports in New York. This morning, the Keystone State of Pennsylvania, it is the flooding issue that we're dealing with.
North of Pittsburgh, we've got some widespread flooding. Some places had nearly 3 inches of rainfall. All of that rain going into the rivers. The rivers expected to go at flood stage, but actually now less than what they initially forecast.
If it's still widespread flooding, it's going to be a big issue for a lot of people and the cleanups are going to be very, very tough, now in Pittsburgh, but also towards Altoona and in the state college.
Farther to the north though in Buffalo, it is not rain, but, rather, snow that's going start picking up. Some of that could be especially heavy. In fact, you take a look at the map. These are the forecast snow totals not only for parts of Cleveland, but in the Erie and Buffalo.
Buffalo itself may get close to a foot of snowfall by tomorrow afternoon. In fact, take a look at some of the video they have in Buffalo right now. This is the first heavy snowfall they've been getting so far this season.
People making their way through the downtown area, not too bad, but believe it or not, once you get outside of the main thoroughfares of downtown in the surrounding areas, the hinterlands, that's when things get a little bit crazy. But I'll tell you the people in Buffalo, they're hearty folks. They know how to handle this but, still, you've seen the change, the transformation of a few flurries and heavy snow, the sheets coming on later on is certainly a daunting prospect.
Let's go back to the magical wall. As we do so, the snow is not only an issue in the great lakes, but farther back to the west. We're going to see it will begin to pile up some places here, close to a foot, especially south of the twin cities.
Now one of the reasons we're seeing it is really quite simple. We've got a big area of low pressure that continues to drag its way across the nation. That area of low pressure is going to be something that's going to not only bring some snowfall to parts of the northeast.
But it's also going to bring more cloud cover in parts of the southeast in terms of the Mississippi Valley. Finally some sunshine in the deep southeast and then back out to the west, we're seeing yet another storm system ramp up.
It's going to bring some snowfall to the northern Rockies, the cascades and into the Sierra Nevada Mountains, but for much of central and southern California, cloudy skies northern California nearly a rain event.
In Shasta, again, in the mountains it's all going to be snowbis. Anyone traveling on parts of 80, watch out for that especially up in the mountains, east of Sacramento at this time.
Now, it in terms of temperatures today, another comfortable day for you much of the southeast, Atlanta 53 degrees, warmer than yesterday, 76 in Phoenix, 67 in Dallas, 71 in Houston, 66 in Tampa and 47 in St. Louis, 35 in Chicago, and, of course in parts of the Great Lakes, that's where you have your coldest temperatures, Detroit with 26 at this hour.
These are current temperatures now, Cleveland with 26. It's going to be much warmer tonight for Lebron James' return. That should be interesting. Toronto, to the north, 30 degrees that's in Fahrenheit, 30 in Albany, 33 in Philadelphia, 35 in the nation's capital and Washington, D.C.
Taking the jog up to Boston commons, by the frog pond, it's going to be a cold morning 37 degrees currently, in Portland with 40, 24 in Chicago, 28 in Cincinnati.
Guys you're up to speed in terms of your forecast. Let's pitch it back to you in New York.
ROBERTS: You promised this year, you're going to tell us what you the weekend is going to be like?
WOLF: Well, unfortunately, that storm system that's we're watch ought to the pacific northeast. It may be showers, maybe a rumble of thunder, but certainly not the magnitude that we've seen in the last couple days. That's good news.
ROBERTS: All right, Reynolds. Thanks.
CHETRY: Meanwhile, there are some big troubles across the pond, as well as snowstorm crippling traveling in England -- not New England, good old England.
Check this out. They're just not used to it there. The system has given a foot of snow. It's forced London's Gatwick Airport to shut down again and this time it's shutdown until tomorrow. Heathrow is open, but there are a number of delays and cancellation. This cold snap is also causing some major chaos on roads and rails.
That guy scraping them off (INAUDIBLE). Happy December.
ROBERTS: The old sod has become the old snowdrift in the last couple of days.
This morning's top stories this minute, including a number that makes the $700 billion bailout seem like lunch money. A stack of dollar bills that could make several round trips to the sun. Wait until you hear how much money the fed really handed tout to banks to avert disaster.
CHETRY: And the Hoff here live with us, David Hasselhof on the reality show about addiction, redemption and just being a dad.
ROBERTS: Chuck Norris wasn't born, he fought his way to freedom and now the state of Texas is honoring their hero in a big and fitting way. Those stories and more beginning at the top of the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Phil's back, and he just got engaged.
ROBERTS: He did.
CHETRY: Phil popped the question to his sweetie this week.
ROBERTS: Congratulations, Phil.
CHETRY: Congrats, Phil. So cute. All grown up and off the market, ladies.
ROBERTS: Can you imagine, he is off the market. Hearts are breaking across America this morning.
CHETRY: I know, I'm sad.
ROBERTS: Don't laugh too loud, guys.
CHETRY: Actor Wesley Snipes, by the way, not laughing. He is has tactless new role as a federal prisoner. He has to report to a Pennsylvania Correctional Facility by noon next Wednesday to begin a three-year sentence for tax evasion. The order coming yesterday after a judge denied the request to be free on bail while appealing his conviction to the Supreme Court.
ROBERTS: New York Congressman Charlie Rangel learns the extent of his punishment today for violating Ethics rules. The full House expected to vote on whether to censure him. The Ethics Committee found Rangel guilty on 11 counts of violating House rules including not paying taxes on a vacation home in the Dominican Republic and using his office to raise money for an educational center that bears his name.
CHETRY: President Obama deciding he will not allow any new drilling in the eastern Gulf of New Mexico for at least the next seven years. An oil exploration in the arctic will proceed with the utmost of caution. The White House saying that these are lessons learned from the BP spill. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal not pleased with the decision saying it will costs his state and the U.S. more jobs.
ROBERTS: While White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was brushing off Republican threats during yesterday's press conference, he had a close encounter with a different kind of animal. Have a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tax cuts. On this tax --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How is senator --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A spider.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A spider-man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Had a lot of problems.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have they?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the glitches.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Works here -- I want the follow up on --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Julian Assange.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me know if there's a bigger one behind me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The press secretary and the spider. There it is.
CHETRY: Proud of him. He didn't kill the spider.
ROBERTS: Taking the high road.
CHETRY: It's bad luck to kill a spider. I always take them outside.
ROBERTS: It's going to rain. Somebody killed something yesterday because it poured here yesterday. Maybe it was the big one that was behind him.
CHETRY: We'll take a quick break, your top stories coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
