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American Morning
The Big Dig; Airports Reopen After Blizzard; Proving The President's Nationality; "Empire" Preserved; New York's Snow Response; Busboy Beats the Odds
Aired December 28, 2010 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. It's just about 8:00 here on the East Coast. It is Tuesday, December 28th and we are still digging out here in New York City.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, yes. Especially some of the cars you should see lined up on the streets of New York City this morning. If you didn't get out before the plows got in, you're in trouble this morning.
ACOSTA: Big trouble.
CHETRY: Well, we have a lot to talk about. The snow stopped falling as we know yesterday, but there is a lot of headaches to contend with. More than two and a half feet of snow falling in parts of the Northeast. You know it if you're living in it. The blizzard of 2010, stranding thousands of people who are still trying to dig out and fly out this morning.
ACOSTA: Absolutely. They are waiting at the terminal and sometimes on the tarmac. It is still chaos at the airports this morning in the New York City area. They are open, but that's a relative term because they have a lot of catching up to do. Over 4,000 flights have been canceled. We are live at LaGuardia where people spent another night stranded by the blizzard.
And we just got off the phone a few moments ago talking to the port authority and they say, quite frankly, they're not satisfied with the situation at the airport. They're looking into that as well.
CHETRY: That's right, but saying that they're still investigating why it may have happened.
Well, one governor says that we've become a nation of wusses because of the NFL's decision to postpone a football game because of the blizzard. He says that they would have played in China. Eagles fan and Pennsylvania governor, Ed Rendell, uncensored and unfiltered -- still ahead.
ACOSTA: People across the Northeast are still digging out from the blizzard that dumped more than 30 inches of snow in some areas.
CHETRY: Yes, one of those areas was in Lyndhurst, New Jersey, not far on the other side of the New York where four-foot high snow drifts making things worse. And our Chris Knowles, meteorologist, is there right now.
And you had said earlier, though, that at least the town of Lyndhurst seemed prepared, at least made sure that their residents knew what to look out for.
CHRIS KNOWLES, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Kiran, this town's very active, proactive when it comes to that, with that social media, Twitter, Facebook. But there are still places that are socked in.
Let's walk and talk. And we begin by showing you the street right here. This is just one side street in one small town in and around New York City where the snow is still a problem on the ground. You go down the block, and you got cars snowed in. This side of the street, this guy didn't get out in time. Several cars on the other side of the street, as well. This is what happens when you leave your car in 29 inches of snow.
And that 29 inches of snow not going anywhere. The temperatures here are going to remain just slightly above freezing, but it's going to be very several days before those cars get out of those spots. Once you get it packed in like that, forget it. It's like concrete.
Even though it's powdery snow, it's been a back-breaking snow to shovel out. We heard stories from people this morning how it was several hours of digging out from the blowing and drifting snow, as well.
Now, here in Lyndhurst, they had 55 tons of -- or 150 tons, rather, of salt put on these roads, with plenty of plowing being done. So, it looks OK on the main roads but here again on the side streets in this town and many others, it will be days to come.
So, the advice that we are getting from officials in and around the area of New York City is take it slow. Even with the black ice, believe it or not, we're still under a winter weather advisory just for the blowing snow, we're going to get winds 20, 25 miles an hour today and the black ice. Be careful. It's still wintertime and plenty of winter left to go -- Jim and Kiran.
CHETRY: Yes. Well, one driver you don't have to worry about is the one who owns the car behind you, only the two windshield wipers are sticking up. I never understand how people -- they take the time to do that, but they don't move their car.
KNOWLES: They don't want to stick to the windshield, Kiran, and he's certainly achieved that. But in between that and the windshield, there's probably six or eight inches of snow.
CHETRY: Yes, start digging. All right.
ACOSTA: With a nice glaze of ice over top of it.
CHETRY: Yes, I know. It only gets worse.
Chris Knowles for us this morning in Lyndhurst -- thank you.
ACOSTA: Meanwhile, there is a blizzard of tweets and angry phone calls piling from passengers in the middle of tarmac nightmares at JFK airport. A handful of packed planes sat on tarmac all night long. Various tweets were coming in from some of the passengers on the planes as they were waiting for gates to become available, while others were waiting for customs agents to come back on duty. And one of those flights arrived from Heathrow Airport in London last night. And keep in mind, those passengers had been on a transatlantic flight before their ordeal on the tarmac.
We talked to another passenger about half an hour ago who was on an Aero Mexico flight who went to the same ordeal and then we went to the port authority to try to get some answers. They don't have a whole lot of answers at this point.
CHETRY: No. And one of the passengers on the Aero Mexico flight was saying that it could have perhaps been because the custom agents went home at 1:00. So, what they are supposed to do with all the passengers. They have to clear customs before they're allowed around the airport. I mean, you know, into the main terminal.
ACOSTA: Clearly, a lot of questions out there.
CHETRY: Absolutely. Well, after more than 4,000-plus canceled flights, there is finally some progress in terms of getting people on planes and off the ground.
ACOSTA: Yes. All three of New York City's airports are now open again, but the waiting is far from over for everyone.
Allan Chernoff is live for us at LaGuardia airport this morning. And, Allan, open is a relative term this morning. It's not -- that doesn't mean everything is in the clear.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: That's certainly the case, Jim. You know, we had a two-day knockout punch from Mother Nature. So, it takes a while for the airports here to get off the canvas.
As you can see behind me, LaGuardia airport is busy. There are many travelers here. That doesn't mean they're all getting on to flights.
The problem, as the general manager of this airport described, is that there simply are not enough planes on the ground.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THOMAS BOSCO, GENERAL MANAGER, LAGUARDIA AIRPORT: We don't have a departure push because the airplanes are not on the ground yet. We're going to have to have an arrival -- a wave of arrivals come in before they can turn around and depart.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHERNOFF: The whole idea of the way the airlines deal with this storm is they get the planes out of the New York region, they also did that in Philly and Boston, et cetera, also Washington, D.C. They want the planes away during the storm and then after the storm, they bring the planes back in. They say that's the quickest way to minimize their losses and most importantly, to get the schedule back up to normal.
Now, it's taken a little longer than the airlines had anticipated to return the planes to New York. That's why we are very, very slowly creeping back to normal.
Here at LaGuardia this morning, we already have more than 100 cancelations for today -- Jim, Kiran.
CHETRY: Yes. Well, you know, there's a lot of activity behind you.
ACOSTA: Yes.
CHETRY: So, people are -- you know, people are showing up.
CHERNOFF: That's right. Well, some of them are showing up now. Some of them were showing up over the weekend, as we -- as we told you last hour, some folks been here for three days.
ACOSTA: Yes. Just because there are folks behind you, Allan, doesn't mean they're going anywhere at this point.
Allan Chernoff live at LaGuardia this morning -- thanks, Allan.
He's still in good spirits.
CHETRY: Yes. At least they're off the cots and they're getting ready. And hopefully, they'll take off today. Yes, poor things.
ACOSTA: Well, critics have called the NFL the "no fun league." Add Pennsylvania Governor Rendell to that. In a radio interview, he blasted the NFL for postponing Sunday's Eagles-Vikings game because the blizzard heading up the coast at the time.
CHETRY: Yes. An article in "The Philadelphia Daily News" by Will Bunch titled "The Wimps Who Stole Christmas" seemed to really hit home with the governor. Here's a listen.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GOV. ED RENDELL (D), PENNSYLVANIA: Insane. We have become a nation of wusses. Chinese are kicking our butt in everything. And Will Bunch is right. Did you read what Will Bunch wrote?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think Will Bunch is full of crap, to be honest with you. I read that story today.
RENDELL: I think it's a Pulitzer-prize winning story. If this was in China, do you think the Chinese would have called it off? He's right. The people would have been marching down to the stadium. They would have walked and they would have been doing calculus on the way down.
(END AUDIO CLIP) CHETRY: Well, all's well that ends well. The game will be played tonight in Philly. It is the first NFL game on a Tuesday night since 1946.
ACOSTA: And New York City' response to the blizzard of 2010 is coming under fire this morning. Adding insult to injury, a video has surfaced on YouTube showing a New York City Sanitation Department tow truck in Brooklyn Heights trying to free a snow-bound front loader. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God. Are you out of your mind?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Yes. Not exactly textbook towing.
CHETRY: Look at. Oh gosh, when the actual front end just start scraping along the car, what a nightmare.
ACOSTA: Yes, that parked Ford Explorer getting crunched reportedly belongs to the city of New York, the Buildings Department. And a spokesman for the Sanitation Department says they're investigating, calling the incident unfortunate but not unusual during the snow season.
CHETRY: Really?
ACOSTA: And there's probably some truth to that. I mean, I would -- you know, you park your car on the street and stuff's going to happen.
CHETRY: I know. Well, when you live in New York City, you don't --
ACOSTA: You don't have a choice.
CHETRY: -- much of a choice. I mean, the lots are extremely expensive. But, yes. Feel bad.
ACOSTA: The chance you take.
CHETRY: Jacqui Jeras is in the extreme weather center for us this morning. She's taking a look at how things are shaping up.
I'm sure, you know, everybody wants to know -- are the skies going to be clear enough, or things going to be OK that finally some of this backlog of airplanes can finally get moving?
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. You know, the snow was over with. Things are clearing up and that's the good news.
But the one issue that we're still dealing with is that the winds are strong and so, we've got, you know, two-plus feet of this white snow on the ground and you get a strong enough wind in there and that's going to cause some blowing and drifting and that's going to cover up some of the runways at times. So, they're still going to have to clear things off and, of course, deicing. So, all of those things factor into play here.
There you can see what we call the isobars, those equal lines or the equal lines of pressure and the closer you see them together, the windier it is. So, you can see it will stay very gusty all throughout New England and the Northeast and then we start to taper off a little bit as we headed in the Mid-Atlantic States.
There you can see some of the snowfall totals. More than two feet in Brooklyn, as well as Newark; 20 inches in Atlantic City; as well as Central Park. So, it's going to take a long time to get rid of some of that snow. And the winter weather advisories remain in effect here and that's because we're expecting the black ice and because of the blowing and drifting. But that should improve.
Now, the blowing snow is also causing problems now. Islip gets in on the game in terms of closed airports. That's together with Teterboro, which is being closed over the last couple of days.
Our big weather picture today showing you the low pulls away. So, that's some good news and high pressure pulls in. So, sunnier conditions, better conditions throughout the week. But huge storm system out west is going to cause some major problems here. Travel delays expected.
Heavy rain where it's already very saturated. In fact, we could talk maybe one to five inches in parts of California before Wednesday is over with and then heavy snow into the Sierras, as well as the Cascades. We could see one to three feet of snow by the middle of the week.
And, Kiran and Jim, we want to watch that storm because that one is going to make its way all the way across the country again. We expect problems with snow in the Midwest. But by the time the thing heads to the east, we think it's going to pull in some warm enough air that we'll be dealing with more of a rain event as opposed to a blizzard. A bit of good news.
CHETRY: That's -- we were looking forward to rain, Jacqui, anything but the blizzard. Thanks.
ACOSTA: They need to wash away some of the snow. I'm guessing by the time that storm rolls through, most of that snow will still be here, or much of it will still be here.
Well, you may have heard of the "Birthers," the folks who don't believe that President Obama is actually a U.S. citizen. They want more proof of his citizenship. Well, they just might get it.
This morning, we have an exclusive interview with Hawaii's governor, Neil Abercrombie. The new governor of that state, he wants to set the record straight once and for all.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ACOSTA: A birthday celebration has turned tragic in Hialeah, Florida, in a motel room there. Five teens are dead. Investigators believe it's because of carbon monoxide poisoning. The teens were reportedly having car trouble and keep their vehicle running in a bottom floor garage to charge the battery while they partied in the room above. Authorities believe fumes from the car seeped into the room.
CHETRY: Horrible.
Also in New Orleans, a fire swept through an abandoned building, killing eight people. Our affiliate WDSU reporting that the victims were possibly homeless people and that they were trying to stay warm inside of the building during a very cold night last night.
ACOSTA: And President Obama is praising the Philadelphia Eagles for signing Michael Vick. "Sports Illustrated's" Peter King says the president called Eagles owner Jeff Lurie last week to congratulate him and the team for giving Vick a second chance, saying too many ex-cons never get one.
Vick has been back in the league for almost two full seasons now and he's having an MVP-caliber season. But critics are saying, you know, the president waited for a safe time to pick up the phone and give this praise. But what was the politics behind it? Maybe there wasn't any.
CHETRY: Yes. Well, speaking of -- for the president, the first family is on vacation in Hawaii and the state's governor, Neil Abercrombie, says that he plans to do everything he can to prove or to disprove some of the allegations that people make about whether or not the president was born in the U.S.
ACOSTA: Yes. It's incredible that this controversy is still going on. That's because these so-called birthers keep challenging the president's citizenship hoping, in some cases, to keep him off the ballot in 2012, if you can believe that. And our Ed Henry has more from Honolulu.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: What's really interesting is that Governor Abercrombie told me in this exclusive interview that he's so fed up with the Birthers not just because they've been attacking President Obama, and in his words, the office of the presidency, but that they're also attacking, essentially, Barack Obama's deceased parents. And Governor Abercrombie actually knew both of them. Both Barack Sr. and Ann Dunham back at the University of Hawaii in the early 1960s.
And he said their names have been sullied here. That, basically, the Birthers are suggesting that Barack Obama's parents lied about his birth and that he was born in Kenya or somewhere else and that they covered it up and made it look like he was born here in Hawaii, and he wants to clear their name as well as bring some respect and dignity back to the president and the presidency.
And when I asked him whether or not he would stop if President Obama wanted him to, he basically said, no. He's going to move forward, anyway. That this is his decision, and he has a couple of cabinet officials here on the state level investigating what documentation he could legally release to sort of clear this up, and so, he said, basically, it's not up to whether or not President Obama wants to release his actual birth certificate, it's up to the governor here to figure out what legally he can do. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. NEIL ABERCROMBIE, (D) HAWAII: It's not up to the president. It has nothing to do with the president. This has to do with the people in Hawaii who love him, people who loved his mom and dad. This has to do with the respect of the office of the president entitled to, and it has to do with the respect that every single person's mother and father --
HENRY: So, do you envision the possibility that you can release the birth certificate without his permission as governor?
ABERCROMBIE: Obviously, I'm going to do what is legally possible. I have the attorney general and the director of the Department of Health looking at what we can do to try and see what we can do in turn for an open process that will put those who want to disrespect the president and his parents in the proper light which is to say they have a political agenda, not worthy of any good American.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: Now, it's very interesting. White House officials are not commenting on my interview with Governor Abercrombie. It appears they just don't want to bring more attention to the Birthers, but Governor Abercrombie told me, look, essentially, he doesn't care if the White House wants him to stop here.
He, basically, believes this is a matter of principle, and he wants to settle it, once and for all, in part because there are some lawmakers on the state level, states like Texas and Arizona that are pushing legislation that would try to keep President Obama off their state ballots in 2012 unless he produces a copy of his actual birth certificate, not just the certification of live birth which is what he's produced already.
And so, Governor Abercrombie is saying he wants to settle this once and for all -- Kiran, Jim.
CHETRY: All right. Ed for us, Ed Henry, in the lovely and warm Honolulu this morning.
ACOSTA: Yes. Hawaiian shirt and all. Thanks, Ed.
CHETRY: Well, the hits keep coming for actor, Hugh Jackman, just two weeks after that botched stunt? Did you see that one where he tried to --
ACOSTA: I did.
CHETRY: And didn't hit the brake. Well, another --
ACOSTA: What's happened now?
CHETRY: Another big ouch for the star.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ACOSTA: All right. Time for some "Morning Talkers." Check out this amazing video of a rescue of a calf in Oklahoma. This little guy found himself stranded in the middle of a frozen pond. A quick- thinking helicopter pilot actually used the wind power from the blades of his helicopter to blow the calf to safety. Look at that.
CHETRY: Oh-oh.
ACOSTA: Oh, my goodness.
CHETRY: Wait.
ACOSTA: He broke through the ice, but -- it was the little calf that could. He made it to the shoreline there.
CHETRY: Sometimes, I feel like that, you know? Like, when you're trying to walk around, your heels are too high.
ACOSTA: We've all had mornings like that, Kiran.
CHETRY: But we're showing you the video on a loop again because he really did get out there, make it to safety, climbed up, and he's safe.
ACOSTA: And it was some quick thinking on the rescuers' parts because they were able to actually blow him to safety. So, nice job, guys.
CHETRY: They got lucky. If he, maybe, broke the ice a little bit actually further in, it might not have ended so well, but it ended well.
Simon Baker, star of TV's "The Mentalist," has a good feeling about the number 30. A contract extension with Warner Brothers, the producer of the show, will net him reportedly $30 million.
ACOSTA: Wow.
CHETRY: $30 million contract. That makes him the highest paid dramatic actor on TV. "The Mentalist" is about a psychic who solves problems, and it pulls in 16 million viewers per show.
ACOSTA: I'm not going to think about that one.
CHETRY: Yes. Spend a little while.
ACOSTA: Yes.
CHETRY: Wrap your head around it.
ACOSTA: Wrap my head around it. Exactly.
The library of Congress is expanding its film library and "The Empire Strikes Back," one of my favorites, will make the cut. Empire is one of 25 movies that will be added to the National Film Registry. It's the fifth film in the 'Star Wars" series, and it's when we discover Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's father.
CHETRY: Luke, I am your father.
ACOSTA: That is my favorite voice. Other notable choices include "Saturday Night Fever" and "All the President's Men." And, I'll be happy to do my Yoda sometime if you're really nice to me.
CHETRY: I'm always nice to you. I think it's hilarious. I walked in this morning, and he's talking with one of our writers, you know, there are two people in this room you get the Big Lebowski or you don't get the Big Lebowski.
ACOSTA: That's right.
CHETRY: You're a movie buff.
ACOSTA: I am. I do love movies and the "Star Wars" trilogy. That was like a big part of my childhood. I actually met George Lucas one time, and I wanted to go up to him and weep at his feet and tell him that he's, basically, like a religious figure in my life, but I just sort (INAUDIBLE) and said "nice to meet you."
CHETRY: That was probably the better way to go.
ACOSTA: That was probably the better way to go.
CHETRY: You kept your wits about you. Well, swing and a miss. Check this out. Actor, Hugh Jackman, at bat during cricket match in Australia. There you see it, and ouch.
ACOSTA: Wow.
CHETRY: He ended up hitting himself, if you know what I mean.
ACOSTA: Yes. You could shake that off, Hugh.
CHETRY: Yes. It's hard to do that, I hear. But he did joke later on, don't wear boxer shorts when you play cricket. That's what he said.
ACOSTA: Yes. With all the padding on the legs there, you would think -- never mind.
Coming up next, Christine Romans has some tips for how to improve your credit score in 2011. You don't want your credit score to take a hit like Hugh Jackman did, so stick around. Christine Romans has some tips for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ACOSTA: Welcome back. "Minding Your Business" now with Christine Romans.
CHETRY: Yes. Twenty-seven minutes past the hour. She's going to give us a lecture, I can tell.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I know. It's a great -- I was saying 2011 is got to be the year to get out of debt and know what your credit score and figure out are you going to be playing offense with your money or are you going to still be playing defense and have your hands over your eyes, so you don't even know your credit score is.
So, about the top three things that you need to do right away to get your credit score under control for 2011, one, you got to know your credit history. Pretty easy to do. It's free. You can go to annualcreditreport.com and get a free credit history from each of the three major credit bureaus. You got to fix your mistakes.
ACOSTA: Not necessarily the dudes in the pirates hats or --
ROMANS: No, not necessarily the dudes in the pirates. You want the free one first. You want to look at that credit history and make sure there are not mistakes on it because guess what, about three quarters of people look on there and find out, hey, I closed this account years ago. Wait a minute, I don't have a $38,000 line of credit with this particular bank. You got to fix the mistakes.
I guarantee you, they're on there. If you like most people, there's a mistake on there, then you got to cut your debt. You need to cut your debt because when the credit bureaus, when the banks they look and they see all this debt and they see you charging on credit cards and adding more debt to the old debt, your credit score goes down, down, down, down.
And you got to pay your bills on time every time. OK, consider this. If you have a pretty good credit score, say 720, 750, that's a good credit score, and you are 30 days late on a bill, first time ever, your credit score drops 110 points. Boom.
CHETRY: And then, how long is going to take to climb back up again?
ROMANS: Forever. It's take a very long time. I mean, that missed payment or that late payment stays on there for like nine, ten, 11, 12 years. I mean, and that's something that found there all the time. So, if you're in the market to borrow money, interest rates are very, very low. If you got a good credit score, you got money in the bank, interest rates are very, very low. You need to know what's on that.
This is my -- the first and foremost New Year's resolution for 2011, figure out what your credit has resaid (ph), figure out -- make sure you're on the right place, fix up any mistakes, because if you're going to be in the market to borrow any money, and money is very cheap to borrow if you're in the right position. You want to make sure that you're in good shape.
ACOSTA: It's a good thing to do while you're snowed in right now.
ROMANS: It most certainly is. And now, look, Gail Cunningham from the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, she said you might have to pay to get the actual score. The higher the score, the lower your interest rate.
CHETRY: But it's annualcreditreport.com.
ROMANS: annualcreditreport.com. She says you might have to pay. I kind of -- it bothers me that you have to pay that to know that number. I mean, I think if you clean up all the mistakes down there, you pay the bills on time, you start paying down debt, that number is going to up, up, up, up, up.
ACOSTA: Wouldn't it be great to get that from the government, I mean, to have some sort of government agency or regulation that says to these credit agencies, you got to give that number out?
ROMANS: If you are denied a loan because of that number, yes, you are entitled to get that number. You can get that number. The number, there are even more numbers than that number. Now, the banks have all these other numbers that they're using to decide whether you're likely to leave their bank and go to another one, to decide whether you're likely to default on a loan.
ACOSTA: That's the new reality.
ROMANS: Oh, the new reality is you got a lot of scores on you.
CHETRY: The last thing you want is for everybody else to have more information about your financial health than you do.
ROMANS: That's exactly right. That's exactly right. And I think that should be a priority for everyone in 2011.
CHETRY: All right. Thanks, Christine.
ROMANS: That wasn't a lecture.
ACOSTA: Thanks, Christine.
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: Yes, it was helpful advice.
We're crossing the half hour right now. Time for a look at our top stories. And you could call it the blizzard hangover. Most of the northeast trying to clear the snow this morning. Some spots hit by as much as 30 inches, and the snow also shut down the nation's biggest commuter railroad system in New York. The LIRR, Long Island Rail Road, now operating on a limited schedule. Metro North and the subway system are also reporting scattered problems.
ACOSTA: If you're wondering out there, why aren't you talking about the issue I'm deal with right now? It's because there are so many issues to talk about. We can't possibly get through them all.
Take a look at the airports where 4,000 flights cancelled in and after the storm. That means there are tens of thousands passengers looking to take off. The good news is airports across the northeast back open for business, but industry experts say it takes to get everyone to their destinations.
CHETRY: And many New York City residents, especially those living outside of Manhattan in the outer boroughs, they want to know why they can't get to work this morning.
The city last night said it may need another 24 hours to clear all of the snow. A lot of cars still lie abandoned in snow-covered streets even the city's normally reliable subway system crippled. As many as 500 people crippled on a disabled A train for hours without food, water, or bathrooms.
ACOSTA: And while most of the northeast was dealing with all of the snow, people along the Massachusetts coast were forced with a different problem, forced from their homes from the cold rain and flooding situation.
CHETRY: Coastal flood advisories were in effect all over the place and that blizzard warning triggered these huge waves that crashed on shore and flooded streets, and now the floodwaters in some cases freezing into a hard slush. Todd Kasakiewich from our affiliate WCBB shows us a scene this morning from Massachusetts.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TODD KASAKIEWICH, CORRESPONDENT WCBB: We had a major problem with coastal flooding. And to give you an idea, I was talking to the man that lives in this house just a short time ago, and he was telling me back in 1976 they raised up their foundation. They had flooding in '78 with the blizzard of '78 and yesterday was only the second time that they have actually had water in the house despite having an elevated foundation. He said the water came up to the glass of this lantern so a big mess here.
And just a few streets over from where we are there was a house fire. It was an electrical fire and the wind spread to a second house and completely flooded in the neighborhood. And so the firefighters brought in divers from the department to bring the hose close to the house and spray down the other homes to hope to prevent the fire from spreading to those homes, as well.
So again, the water has receded quite a bit. It was up to here. We now just have a little bit of saltwater here that's not frozen despite the temperatures which are not 20s and the winds. So it's a big mess here and hopefully things are going to get back to normal later today. Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: That's the situation there. Hopefully things get better. It was surreal to see.
ACOSTA: Yes.
CHETRY: It looked like a moment frozen in time because the flood waters were not moving. They were just frozen. ACOSTA: Yes. But as he told us, it wasn't the sheet of ice, it was more of a hard, frozen sort of Slurpee-like slush that basically turned into a solid behind him.
CHETRY: What a mess.
ACOSTA: That going to be a huge mess to clean up for days.
CHETRY: Still ahead, "TIME" magazine's top tens of 2010, the list of the top comebacks. Betty White made the list, Michael Vick.
ACOSTA: Thank goodness.
CHETRY: And if you want to see who else made the cut, we're going to take a looking coming up.
ACOSTA: You go, Betty.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: 2010 is almost history now, so we're going to look back this morning on the good, the bad and some of the biggest comebacks. "TIME" magazine is keeping a list of the top ten everything in 2010. So today we're going to check out the top ten comeback and also the top ten buzzwords.
Here to help us this morning, Belinda Luscombe. She is the editor at large with "TIME" magazine. Thank you for being here.
BELINDA LUSCOMBE, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Thank you for having me.
CHETRY: Of course, the election, a pretty big deal. When it came to Jerry Brown, former governor of California, what's old is what's new again.
LUSCOMBE: I think what we do love in Jerry Brown is the young person, the slightly out there, craziness. We loved that in a governor, and of course beating Meg Whitman and a big race for him. Good to see that people respect the experience of the guy. No more Governor Moonbeam, whatever it was.
CHETRY: What about Michael Vick. He's back in the news because the Philadelphia Eagles are back on top. It was 18 months ago he was in a prison and now he's possibly being talked about as the MVP of the NFL.
LUSCOMBE: I think the overriding theme of the comebacks we've chosen were that people were reminded of what people did well. With Michael Vick, once you saw him play again and how amazing he was, I think that people tend to put that aside. And that's why people haven't been able to come back and he has. What did we love him for in the first place? The athleticism.
CHETRY: Betty White, was it just luck, or how did she sort of become one of the hottest superstars of 2010 so late in her career?
LUSCOMBE: I think there are probably agents around town trying to figure that out right now.
CHETRY: She did a Snickers commercial that really caught on.
LUSCOMBE: Again, what we learned from her is she is actually very funny. And just because a woman reaches a certain age doesn't mean she's not funny anymore, and you mature into your funniness. I think that's what's happened with her. A couple of good movies, "Saturday Night Live." She was big, big. She was on the "TIME" 100, too. She's a big -- she's legitimately a star again.
CHETRY: She's a lovely person.
LUSCOMBE: That helps, I think.
CHETRY: What a sweetheart.
Lisa Murkowski, she was the incumbent senator up in Alaska, and she had a very, very tough primary challenge. Joe Miller, Tea Party candidate, lost, and then a write-in candidate that was pretty much decided just yesterday.
LUSCOMBE: I think this is one of my favorites because it showed while the Tea Party had a lot of strength around the primary, at some point the voters said, no, that's not what we want and we know how to get it back.
So it shows that although democracy is kind of a -- it's an imperfect system, it works so that people have their views expressed. and I love that people wrote in a woman, that the first write-in candidate that won in 55 years is a woman is great.
CHETRY: It's amazing. We don't have time to get to all of them, but I do want to get to number one, Conan O'Brien. We'll post it online so you can check it out, as well. Conan, he went from on top of the world to the very bottom to back on top.
LUSCOMBE: I think Conan came out swinging. I think if you want to do like a model lesson of how to exit something and still stay favorite and still remind people what they love you for, that whole goofiness, he was so good at being the guy who was scorned. He was like the best ex-boyfriend ever.
CHETRY: He is a good -- he is good at the underdog.
LUSCOMBE: He's very good.
CHETRY: That's why people loved him in late night, too.
All right, let's take a look at some of the buzzwords. Of course vuvuzela.
LUSCOMBE: I love it. It's probably under-regarded as a musical instrument. We should have symphonies for it now. It's such a great name, and the color of it. Not that I want them introduced at American games. That's not something to hear all the time but I think such a good word, vuvuzela, just to be able to say it. CHETRY: And it still hasn't gone out of favor with my two and four- year-old. It's still there.
This is a sad one, the "top kill/junk shot," "static kill/top hat," these were all of the potential fixes to probably one of the most excruciating thing to see environmentally, which was the 24/7 camera of the oil spilling out in the Gulf.
LUSCOMBE: And they're all incredibly desperate, "junk shot," "top kill," you know, "static kill," until you get to "top hat" and which point, have we given up now? We're just trying to put a little hat on it.
CHETRY: But that worked.
(LAUGHTER)
LUSCOMBE: Maybe it wasn't the violent ones we needed.
CHETRY: I want to ask you about the other couple of buzzwords, "austerity" which is interesting. We have been talking a lot about the financial crisis and getting back on our feet, this ongoing debate between pouring more stimulus money to pay for or, you know, tightening the belt a little more, which they've been trying to do in Europe.
LUSCOMBE: I think the thing of austerity is it rises to the top. We thought it was a bad thing and now embracing as a virtue. It is something that moved out of favor. It is like austerity is a comeback, maybe gone in either category. And there's sort of a wry humor about it. We are on the austerity program now, yea. It's almost medieval in that way.
CHETRY: And "mama grizzlies."
LUSCOMBE: "Mama grizzlies," you have to love those. I love the dissidence of that. One is a mom who is gentle and loving and the other is a grizzly, and she is fierce and protective, which does I think sum up the whole appeal of Sarah Palin, that sort of passion, as well.
CHETRY: You wrote an article about this one saying maybe it works in the animal kingdom but does it work in politics? To be continued.
LUSCOMBE: But "anchor babies," also another one. A baby is a fragile thing, an anchor is a robust, heavy thing. You put those together and you have a whole new concept.
CHETRY: That's right. It was great talk to you about these and we'll be checking them out in more detail at CNN.com/amfix or Time.com. Belinda, great to talk to you this morning.
LUSCOMBE: Thank you so much.
CHETRY: It's 42 minutes past the hour. We'll take a quick break and we'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ACOSTA: You are looking at a live picture of Central Park this morning. It looks beautiful with all of that snow, but it has not been a pretty picture out on the roads, out at the airports, on the subways. It's pretty much been a huge mess the last 48 hours here in New York City.
CHETRY: Yes. And the howls, the grumblings certainly gotten louder among some New York residents who feel that the city didn't do the best job possible when it came to dealing with this blizzard.
And joining us right now is city Councilwoman, Letitia James, Democrat from Brooklyn, also the sanitation committee chairwoman. Thanks so much for being with us with this morning.
LETITIA JAMES (D), BROOKLYN (via telephone): Thank you. Thank you for having me this morning.
CHETRY: So there are people complaining especially in your borough, saying you know their streets have not been plowed once. They -- they -- that it was -- that they were more likely to spot a UFO than a plow.
What do you think was the problem with the city's response to this blizzard?
JAMES: Well, the constituents and residents of New York City have a lot to complain about the last few days. Clearly the administration, Department of Sanitation failed and adequately failed to respond adequately to the storm.
It's important to know, though, this was the sixth largest storm we've had other than in the past that were much worse. In February, the storm was much worse and the Department of Sanitation, the administration at that time I gave them four stars.
This time, I'm giving them half a star. Most of the arteries, major arteries and Great Borough of Brooklyn have not been plowed. Most of the secondary and tertiary streets have not been responded to. I have spoken to all of my colleagues in every borough in Staten Island and Queens and the Bronx and in parts of Manhattan and they, too, are experiencing the same.
It appears that the only streets that are clear are in Manhattan where tourists are enjoying.
(CROSSTALK)
ACOSTA: Yes.
JAMES: And so it appears --
ACOSTA: So what went wrong here? What -- why did the city fail in your mind? JAMES: Well, I think the deployment. They apparently -- Deputy Mayor Goldsmith, who the new -- the new deputy mayor, apparently he has made the calls and the deployment in the city of New York is much differently than the deployment in past.
And in each community board there is a sanitation garage and there is a superintendent of each community board. And each of the superintendents in the past have been responsible for snow removal. The last few days, those decisions have been made at city hall and not in respective community boards.
CHETRY: That's interesting. I want to ask you about that because how much of this has to do with budget cuts? Some complaining, the president of the Uniformed Sanitation Men's Association said they're down 400 and that there are further plans for cuts because of the multi-billion dollar deficits that we have here; 265 more sanitation workers set to be cut by attrition.
Is it simply a problem that we can't afford to do the job that we would hope would be done in the nation's largest city?
JAMES: Well, obviously the mayor is talking about doing more with less and obviously when it comes to snow removal that cannot be the case. We are now spending money hiring day laborers and private haulers to come out and remove garbage and to remove snow and that should not be the case at all.
Clearly, some agencies had been held harmless as a result of the budget cuts and I believe the Department of Sanitation should be one of those agencies that should be held harmless and what we should do is hire a new class of sanitation workers so that we can avoid what happened within the last few days.
And it's really a travesty. New Yorkers are angry. The mayor of the city of New York unfortunately is out of touch with the reality. Everywhere I go, my call -- my phone has been ringing. All day yesterday, this morning, streets in Crown Heights and --
ACOSTA: Well, the mayor says this is what happens, councilwoman. This is what happens in a big snowstorm and there are going to be problems when you have a blizzard.
JAMES: I disagree because this did not happen in February and the storm in February was much worse than the storm that we experienced within the last 24 hours.
ACOSTA: Well, let's show -- let's show some of the video that we have been running this morning of this front loader being towed away by a tow truck and it sideswipes what may be, we are not sure about this, but reportedly is a City Ford Explorer.
And I guess, what was your reaction when you saw this? Was this sort of exhibit A of the city falling down on the job here?
JAMES: Clearly, this is exhibit A, a callous driver with no regard to the personal property, apparently just having his way and his will with this private car. And clearly, the individual is subject to filing a claim with the controller's office and getting reimbursed for damages to his car and to all the other cars that were impacted by his negligence or her negligence.
CHETRY: Yes, well, they and the sanitation commission say they're looking into it right now they said though that this is unfortunate but not unusual during the snow season. What do you make of that?
JAMES: I find that unacceptable. Clearly, had the driver just exercised some caution, clearly they could have not hit these cars. Let me also go on to say that the city, the mayor, the administration should have called a snow emergency in the city of New York which would have kept a number of cars off the streets.
ACOSTA: And that wasn't called and that -- that's a big source of controversy in the city.
(CROSSTALK)
JAMES: And that was not called -- and that was -- and that was a major error.
ACOSTA: If this wasn't an emergency, what is, I guess, right?
CHETRY: And -- and you know, and speaking of that, we are hearing there was a backlog of some 1,300 critical calls, not just, you know, calls for minor things but critical EMS calls and you have one state senator calling for emergency hearings right now saying that, you know, lives were put at risk.
What are the lessons learned moving forward? So I mean, this is the middle of December. We're going to have more snow.
JAMES: Well, Senator Krueger from Brooklyn called for me to hold emergency hearings and I am going to respond to Senator Krueger and in fact hold hearings immediately in response to the administration's failure in the aftermath of the blizzard.
I put -- I just believe that we have could have done better. We have done better. It's not a question of lack of funds that the Department of Sanitation has a surplus. What they need are more men and women on the ground removing snow, not only on major arteries but on secondary and tertiary streets in the city of New York. We should not just focus on Times Square --
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: Right.
JAMES: -- but we should focus particularly on the outer boroughs which has been ignored, South Brooklyn, Staten Island, parts of central Brooklyn, Queens has been untouched and parts of the Bronx. This is totally, totally unacceptable.
ACOSTA: Councilwoman Letitia James, on the phone with us from Brooklyn, and not mincing words this morning. CHETRY: No. Echoing the sentiments --
ACOSTA: Councilwoman we appreciate your time. Thanks -- thanks very much.
CHETRY: Yes, thank you -- of -- of many other people who feel that way she said, her phone has been ringing off the hook.
ACOSTA: Yes.
CHETRY: And there -- she's not the only councilwoman or council member saying that this has been the case that they have been fielding nonstop phone calls.
ACOSTA: Right. And keep in mind, last year during the snowmageddons in Washington, D.C., the mayor down there, Adrian Fenty, was accused of not doing a good enough job down there. And he may have paid a political price because he got voted out of office.
So politicians do pay the price when something like this happens and -- and the residents are upset about it.
And we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Here at CNN we call it the "Human Factor", it is that special something that allows people to overcome incredible odds.
ACOSTA: This morning, Dr. Sanjay Gupta profiles a man whose resilience should inspire us all.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Horst Shulze remembers what it was like to be hungry.
HORST SCHULZE, CEO, WEST PACES HOTEL GROUP: We actually moved for days into the forest picking mushrooms and beechnuts and things like that to survive.
GUPTA: Growing up during the war in Germany, he had one goal, a warm meal, which for him meant leaving home at a very young age.
SCHULZE: At 14 I left. I went and worked in a hotel as a busboy.
GUPTA (on camera): At some point, you know, working in a hotel is more than just having a place where you could actually get food.
SCHULZE: (INAUDIBLE) I could see that if you're excellent in what you're doing, you will be recognized and you will get rewards. We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen. I wrote an essay when I was 15 in the hotel school about it and it has been my motto ever since.
GUPTA (voice-over): He worked in hotels throughout Europe and eventually landed a job in the United States but there were always challenges.
(on camera): What was the biggest obstacle to getting to this vision?
SCHULZE: The reality that I'm a foreigner and the reality that I don't speak the language. The reality that the people I competed with, if you will, came from Cornell and different universities. And I came from eighth grade.
GUPTA: At some point in your life you had another obstacle and this one a much more personal one.
SCHULZE: A large tumor. That was the greatest shock. At the time, my children were young. Looking at them and being told this is a very serious cancer. It is not easy.
GUPTA: How did you overcome it?
SCHULZE: I make the decision that I won't accept it, that I will live.
GUPTA (voice-over): He empowered himself through extensive research.
(on camera): You were told by very respected cancer doctors that you would be dead a year. How many years ago was that?
SCHULZE: Sixteen.
GUPTA (voice-over): After overcoming cancer, he went on to open his own line of boutique luxury hotels all over the world. Still guiding his employees with the same principles he learned at just 15.
SCHULZE: You are ladies and gentlemen just like they are.
GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ACOSTA: Well, that's going to do it for us this morning here on AMERICAN MORNING. It's been a fun 48 hours.
CHETRY: It's been real. We've still got a lot of digging out to do here. Hopefully things will some -- somehow, some way get back to normal at the airports around New York and New Jersey by the end of this week.
ACOSTA: I don't think it's going to happen any time soon but keeping us to speed on all of the developments here in the Big Apple and across the country is our friend, Alina Cho, in the "CNN NEWSROOM". Hey Alina.
CHETRY: Hi there.
ALINA CHO, CNN GUEST ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": Hey there, guys. Stay warm in New York.
