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American Morning
Unveiling Swiss Banking Secrets: Politicians, Celebrities in Wiki Docs; Highlights of the Golden Globes; Honoring Martin Luther King; Big Chill Hits Boston
Aired January 17, 2011 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Good morning. The remarkable recovery continues. We've got a new development in congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords' condition. Doctors have upgraded her, and she's breathing on her own. Also, the first we've heard from the accused shooter, Jared Loughner, in his own words, right now, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES (on-camera): Top of the hour, good morning to you. Welcome to you all on this Monday, January 17th. I'm T.J. Holmes.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. Today is supposed to be the saddest day of the year.
HOLMES: How are you doing, so far?
CHETRY: I'm OK. It's Martin Luther King's birthday. The kids are off from school. They're hanging out. Having fun.
HOLMES: So far, so good all this day. We'll be talking about more about this MLK day, why it's causing some controversy even today.
CHETRY: Yes, especially in parts of the south, in Georgia, to be exact. Also, a wonderful moment at the Golden Globes, a healthy- looking Michael Douglas presenting the final award of the evening and joking that there must be an easier way to get a standing ovation.
HOLMES: It was a great moment for him, but a great night as well. We'll talk about the Golden Globes.
Also over the weekend, as you know, we are down to the final four in the NFL. But it was a big deal, because there was a big upset yesterday. We'll tell you who is left standing this morning.
CHETRY: First, though, new insight into the state of mind of the accused Tucson gunman Jared Loughner. We're also learning that his trial could be moved out of Arizona, possibly to San Diego, California. The "Washington Post" reporting San Diego may get the case because of the pretrial publicity and because San Diego is one of the closest judicial districts to Arizona. As I mentioned, we're also getting insight into what may have been part of Jared Loughner's downward spiral, video obtained by the "Los Angeles Times," showing Loughner walking through his community college, videotaping and narrating behind the camera. Here's a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JARED LOUGHNER, TUCSON SHOOTER: We're looking at students who have been tortured, their low-income pay in two wars. The war that we are in right now is currently illegal. It's impossible for people to think. It's mind control.
How is it going? Thanks for the B. I'm pissed off.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's that?
LOUGHNER: This is the police station. This is where the whole shaboozie (ph) goes down with illegal activity. If the student is unable to locate the external universe, then the student is unable to locate the internal universe. Where is all my subjects? I could say something sound right now, but I don't feel like it. This is genocide in America.
Thank you. This is Jared from Pima College.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, Pima College said it suspended Loughner in part because of that video.
Also in Tucson, signs this morning that the city is trying to move on. Over the weekend a long-planned gun show went on as scheduled. There was apparently no real backlash, and in fact it's estimated that 8,000 people showed up to the event.
HOLMES: It was a week and two days ago the congresswoman was shot in the head. And here we are now talking about a remarkable recovery. Developments over the weekend, her condition has been upgraded by the doctors.
Let's bring in our medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen. It's now serious condition. Explain the difference, if you will and why it's significant to go from critical to serious. And also, she's breathing on her own.
DR. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. And let me talk about the second one first, because that really is an incredible sign of good news. She's breathing on her own.
And what they did over the weekend was that they gave her a tracheotomy, which is a procedure to put a hole in the windpipe. So in case she is having more problems and they need to have access, they can. So they have that access in case things don't look like they're going well. But they say that she is breathing on her own.
They also mentioned that they put in a tube into her stomach to deliver food directly into her stomach. It's called the peg tube, and that's good to know that she's able to digest food. They don't know -- they haven't said to us when they think she'll be able to actually eat foods by mouth. But hopefully that will be the next step.
HOLMES: Elizabeth, with that tube out, will we know soon whether or not she will be able to speak?
COHEN: Hopefully, yes. Hopefully that will be the next step. It is still hard to speak with this tracheotomy that she has in her windpipe. It's still difficult to speak, but hopefully that will be the next step. If she can get some words out, it may be in a whisper, it may be difficult to understand, but hopefully that will be the next step.
HOLMES: And how significant is the news that she's moving both sides of her body?
COHEN: You know what, that's also very significant. When you have a wound to a bullet hole to one side of the head, you're wondering, will the other side move. So the fact that she, we don't know if it's a fact, but we're told by one of her friends that she is moving on both sides. If that's true, and her doctoring haven't confirmed that, that means that the damage wasn't as extensive as it could have been. Even if she's wiggling a toe or a finger, that is significant.
HOLMES: Unbelievable. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much for the update. We'll talk to you again soon.
COHEN: Thanks.
CHETRY: Also this morning, one of the survivors of the Tucson shootings is now being evaluated at a mental health facility. And 63- year-old James Fuller was take noon custody after he appeared at a town hall meeting Saturday and had an outburst during a discussion on gun control.
We had talked to the Tea Party member, Trent Humphries, about this. Because it was directed to Humphries, "You're dead" he said to him. Now he's been charged with disorderly conduct and making a threat. Officers are also searching his home. Last hour I had a chance to speak with Humphries about exactly what happened on Saturday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: What did he say to you?
TRENT HUMPHRIES, TUCSON TEA PARTY FOUNDER AND ORGANIZER: It wasn't really a debate. It was just a discussion. You know. And I was making the point that you know, sometimes we're really quick to jump on political angles and maybe we need to slow down and look at the victims first and then have a discussion about the politics a little bit later. And then he arose from his seat, took a picture of me, and said, "You're dead."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Authorities say that he will now be held for observation for at least 72 hours.
HOLMES: Congress is going to get back to work this week. Republicans, Democrats, both of them pledging, a lot of people waiting to see if they're going to stick to this, but right now after the shooting they're pledging at least to work together.
CHETRY: It's proven to be interesting because they want to tone things down. But at the same time it's going to be put to the test because they're taking on a very divisive issue, the repeal of President Obama's health care reform. Brianna Keilar is live in Washington this morning with more. Hey, Brianna.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Kiran and T.J. This is going to be a couple of pretty politically-charged weeks ahead. It's going to kick off tomorrow. This is where we're going to see debate beginning on this health care reform repeal in the House. Wednesday we're going to see the vote.
And also we're going to see the state of the union next week, which is something where you often see, you always see Democrats, Republicans, sitting very separately, standing for certain parts of the speech, and then the other side isn't standing for certain parts of the speech. You really see that division.
What we're hearing from House Republicans who are leading the charge on this health care reform repeal vote, is that the tone is going to be respectful. We hear Democrats talking about this as well but they also feel that they have to deliver on their campaign promises.
Back to the seating and the state of the union which has been become a very interesting thing, listen to what Senator Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, said about his plans for this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER, (D) NEW YORK: My colleague, Senator Mark Udall, called for Democrats and Republicans to sit together at the State of the Union. I called up tom after he did that, and he graciously agreed we're going to sit together Wednesday night at the State of the Union.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Now, the big question, Kiran and T.J., how many Democrats and Republicans are going to follow this? Are we going to see them really kind of staggered, the way you would back in elementary school, with boy-girl, boy-girl? We're not sure, but we'll be watching in the next week.
HOLMES: Bipartisanship right now is the theme of the day on Capitol Hill. And if it's not, it should be.
KEILAR: Yes, it is, we're also hearing this from Republicans. This was something that really interested me on Friday. When we were at the House Republican retreat in Baltimore. Listen to what the number three Republican in the house, Kevin McCarthy, said about his plans for the state of the union.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCARTHY: Well I like the idea. You no he what's so interesting, is there are no assigned seats, maybe only a couple up at the dais, but there's only a couple on the floor. People can always sit by one another.
KEILAR: Do you think you would sit next to a Democrat?
MCCARTHY: Hey, I would -- you know what? Steny Hoyer and I tried to talk quite often. I would enjoy sitting next to him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Steny Hoyer, of course, the number two Democrat in the house. McCarthy there was the first Republican leader to say, hey, you know, I like this idea, endorsing this idea. He also said, guys, that Republican leaders aren't going to be instructing Republicans that they need to all be mingling. He said it's going to be a pretty organic process.
HOLMES: All right, talking about seating assignments like it's a school assembly.
CHETRY: Yes, it's Almost like a field trip. He's my bus buddy. But you know if they can keep that bipartisanship tone and just you know, you can disagree and not be disagreeable, hopefully that will work. Brianna, thanks.
It's nine minutes past the hour right now.
(WEATHER BREAK)
HOLMES: Viewers, you need to listen up. Names like Tylenol, Sudafed, you need to be checking those cabinets because we have millions and millions of bottles of the stuff being recalled. Our Christine Romans minding your business, this story just drives you nuts. Johnson & Johnson once again recalling product.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I'll tell you what drives me nuts, because this is a company whose entire image is built on, all the way back to the 1940s trust, for doctors, nurses, moms and dads. This is -- every kind of product they have is built on this glowing halo of Johnson & Johnson reliability, quality control, and trust.
And for a year, Johnson & Johnson has had major quality control problems, the most recent being another 43 million bottles of medicines are being recalled. They include Tylenol, Benadryl, Sudafed, Sinutab. You can go to the Johnson & Johnson website and see exactly which bottles and specifically which, you know, which IDs you need to be looking for.
But there have been a lot of these pulled over the past year. You might recall last January they pulled some products because of a moldy smell. No one hurt from those, but a moldy smell. Somewhere along the manufacturing process there had been some quality control problems.
In May, 40 different kinds of children's medicines were pulled. It was months and months, in some places you still can't find the children's Motrin and Tylenol that many parents relied on. And in August, contact lenses were recalled. In December, a Rolaids recalled over foreign materials and some labeling problems as well.
So the fact that this is multiple and different medicines, multiple and different kinds of problems, most of them from the McNeal subdivision, but again, this has been going on for so long that many people are questioning what this is going to mean for Johnson & Johnson.
The sales of their children's products has plunged, their sales down about 25 percent, $1.3 billion. So they have seen a response here. That's the third quarter numbers. The question is how many consumers are going to make a switch permanently when they see the holes in the shelves, by the way, where the retailers are quick it say look at our less-expensive generic that does not have quality control problems, that is available.
HOLMES: It's important to note, they're saying the stuff is not dangerous, actually.
ROMANS: That's right.
HOLMES: This was just a process of cleaning process, essentially.
ROMANS: As they've been going through their quality control they have found this particular batch of stuff has been flagged not up to their standards. No one has complained, no one has hurt this he don't think. But they're getting it off the market.
CHETRY: But as you said, part of it is just the reputation. So it's kind of splitting hairs what the reason is but if it's recalled --
ROMANS: If you make a bottle of something that's supposed to make you better and you take it off the market, that's not good.
CHETRY: Thanks, Christine.
Today's Martin Luther King Day, and it may be a holiday, but it's no day off for kids in two states, and that's generating a little bit of a controversy. We're going to talk about that.
HOLMES: Also coming up, we've been keeping an eye on for weeks now the flooding in Brazil. Now we're getting word of a new update of the death toll. It's 13 minutes past the hour. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: Fifteen minutes past the hour now. Flooding is still causing all kinds of chaos and turmoil in Brazil right now. Take a look at some of these pictures now. We're getting updated death numbers. It says that some 630 people have been killed since the last week in the flooding there. Rescuers not able to reach a lot of people who are in the mountains outside of Rio. Meanwhile, a new storm is threatening floods and mudslides to the neighboring state there of Sao Paolo.
CHETRY: Flooding a similar problem in Queensland, Australia, where now 20 people have died in the flooding. Crews are still searching for 12 people who are still missing. And the government right now is launching an investigation into the state's dams. There are some speculation that they failed to work properly.
HOLMES: Also, a lot of people are scratching their heads, trying to figure out exactly why after 25 years, "Baby Doc" is back. We're talking about Jean-Claude Duvalier, who went by the nickname, "Baby Doc." He at one point was the dictator in Haiti. He was exiled after being overthrown back in 1986, after allegations that his government was corrupt. Also allegations of brutality by the government. Well, he has shown up. Supporters greeted him at the Port-au-Prince airport yesterday and there's no word right now exactly why he's back.
Now he's back coming at a time really of turmoil for that country. Still trying to deal with recovery after the earthquake. Still trying to deal with the cholera outbreak and also elections fraud allegations after the presidential election that still needs to be settled.
CHETRY: Meantime, WikiLeaks getting ready to expose more secrets today. The whistleblower Web site teaming up with a former Swiss banker, perhaps to reveal some banking secrets of the rich and famous.
Our Atika Shubert is live in London this morning. Looks like politicians, celebrities, maybe some top global companies included in this. Are they going to name names?
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well they're not going to name names. The Swiss whistleblower, Rudolf Elmer, just spoke to the press and he said he will not be putting out those names. He says it still needs to be verified. All of the people named in these documents, all the companies and it really needs to be investigated further. And that's why he says, he is handing it over to WikiLeaks. And in fact, we just saw now Rudolf Elmer actually give two discs to Julian Assange, WikiLeaks founder who has shown up here to accept this admission. And Assange says it will take WikiLeaks a little bit of time. He said possibly a few weeks or more to investigate these documents, verify them. And then he says, there will be a full revelation, that's his words, of what is inside these documents. And Rudolf Elmer has said these includes names of high-net worth individuals and major private companies.
CHETRY: Certainly things that most would like to keep secret. So we'll see how it goes. Atika Shubert for us this morning, thanks.
HOLMES: All right. A lot of people keeping an eye on the Golden Globes last night. People want to know, of course, who won, who didn't. But they also want to know what the folks were wearing there. We'll show you the best, the worst and just the god-awful, coming up.
CHETRY: That's worse than worst.
The not so golden moment for Tom Brady, his New England Patriots going home, toppled by the trash-talking Jets. Nineteen minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SETH ROGEN, AS GREEN HORNET: I want you to take my hand. I want you to come with me on this adventure.
JAY CHOU, AS KATO: I'll go with you. But I don't want to touch you.
ROGEN: OK, you don't have to take my hand, but will you come with me on this adventure?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: It doesn't necessarily look like a super hero movie, but it is. And it was number one at the box office over the weekend. That's "Green Hornet." It's a 3-D. That's all the rage now. Everything has to be 3-D these days, but star Seth Rogen, you'll recognize him, he's had a string of hits seen over the past several years.
CHETRY: Yes.
HOLMES: It earned $34 million. Number two at the box office -- "The Dilemma," looking forward to seeing that one. That's Vince Vaughn. Watch anything he's in.
CHETRY: I know, I love him.
HOLMES: "True Grit," saw that over the weekend, $11.2 million. Number four was "The King's Speech. Also number five coming in, "Black Swan," which you may have been hearing so much about.
CHETRY: Yes, Oscar buzz for all three. So you know how people, they want to go out during award season and see all the movies.
HOLMES: And see all the movies.
CHETRY: Yes. All right. Rock on.
Seth Rogen, I think it was last year or the year before, he was in the most movies out of any --
HOLMES: Really?
CHETRY: Yes, any leading man.
HOLMES: Love them all.
CHETRY: He's hilarious. Well, two of the films that we just mentioned didn't actually score with fans, but they won their stars gold statues last night.
HOLMES: Now the gold statues, of course, giving out at the Golden Globes, a fitting name there. Our entertainment correspondent, Kareen Wynter gives you what maybe you didn't see last night. She has a wrap-up.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICK GERVAIS, HOST: It's going to be a night of partying and heavy drinking. Or as Charlie Sheen calls it -- breakfast.
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This year's Golden Globes ceremony kicked off with host Ricky Gervais raising a glass and immediately taking aim at some of Hollywood's biggest targets.
GERVAIS: Our first presenter is beautiful, talented and Jewish, apparently -- Mel Gibson told me that, he's obsessed.
WYNTER: And although no one was safe from the British comedian's sharp tongue, one movie was a safe bet --
MICHAEL DOUGLAS, PRESENTER: "Social Network."
WYNTER: The Facebook drama, the "Social Network," took home four trophies, including the night's biggest award, Best Motion Picture Drama.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow, "The Kids Are all Right."
WYNTER: The Best Picture Comedy Musical went to the "The Kids Are All Right," with star Annette Bening also taking home a Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Colin Firth.
WYNTER: Other movie acting nods went to "The King's Speech" leading man, Colin Firth, who was crowned Best Actor in a Drama.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Natalie Portman.
WYNTER: And "Black Swan's" Natalie Portman was named Best Actress. Supporting Actor Globes went to "The Fighter" stars Christian Bale and Melissa Leo.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Glee.
WYNTER: This year's Globe was filled with "Glee" when it came to the small screen categories. FOX's mega hit earned three statues, including Best TV Series Comedy or Musical, along with acting nods for Chris Colfer and Jane Lynch.
KEVIN BACON, PRESENTER: "Boardwalk Empire."
WYNTER: On the drama side, HBO's "Boardwalk Empire" was named Best TV Drama with the series leading man Steve Buscemi earning Best Actor.
STEVE BUSCEMI, BEST ACTOR: I'm going to try and talk fast before that sad music comes on.
WYNTER: There was no interruption, only applause for Michael Douglas, who closed the show. The actor recently announced that he's beaten throat cancer after months of rigorous radiation treatment, bringing the audience to its feet.
MICHAEL DOUGLAS, PRESENTER: Just got to be an easier way to get a standing ovation.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WYNTER: And for even more Golden Globe highlights, you can log on to CNN.com/entertainment. You can also watch all of our coverage on HLN's "Showbiz Tonight" -- T.J., Kiran.
HOLMES: All right. Thanks to our Kareen Wynter.
You were telling me a lot of people pay attention to what folks are wearing that night. Who knocked it out of the park and who not so much last night? Which is it?
CHETRY: Yes, we got to -- we're going to show you a little bit later because we just had to still get the graphic made.
HOLMES: OK.
CHETRY: But Helena Bonham Carter's outfit was very unique.
HOLMES: Unique?
CHETRY: Let's put it that way.
HOLMES: OK. So she missed the mark? That's what you're saying.
CHETRY: Scarlet Johansson looked beautiful as always.
HOLMES: OK.
CHETRY: Are you all right?
HOLMES: Yes.
CHETRY: So you can make conversation with women today? You learned two nuggets on Golden Globe fashion.
HOLMES: Well, also coming up, if I have to have conversation with women today, I am probably going to give them a warning about texting and doing something else. Usually we're talking about warning about texting and driving. Texting and shopping can be pretty dangerous too.
We're going to wrap this back up for you. But you're seeing some surveillance video. See the bottom of the screen there, somebody kind of fishing their way out of a little fountain in the middle of a mall? Well, that woman from this video in Massachusetts, walking and she's texting and doesn't notice. Now, there she is again, head down -- and bottoms up for the lady. Now she hopped right out, of course, clearly embarrassed by it all, but nobody seemed to help her or even notice -- except for us.
CHETRY: Yes, exactly. I don't think she even knew the cameras were rolling. These good old security cameras, they're watching your every move. But she just walks away.
Now, so far we've seen people fall into, I think, like construction pits, you know, things like that.
HOLMES: Texting.
CHETRY: Yes, while they were texting and walking down the street. I mean --
HOLMES: Nobody's been hurt seriously. We can make kind of light of this, but seriously, you could run -- if you walk into traffic or something like that, could be bad.
CHETRY: Put down the phone for two seconds.
HOLMES: Put the phone down.
All right. Well, coming up, we've got Christine Romans still talking about the number one issue for so many Americans -- jobs. And we've got new details on the job outlook. Could tell you about who's possibly hiring as well.
CHETRY: Hopefully some good news there. Also, the nation honors the memory of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. And while most Americans have the day off, there are some schools that are using it as a makeup day because of snow days and that has some people quite upset.
Twenty-seven minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, bottom of the hour here, a nice start to this AMERICAN MORNING in New York at least. Good morning to you all. Good morning wherever you maybe this morning. It's going to be chilly day here in New York, as well as a lot of other places around the northeast and around the country. And so whether you need to be paying attention to it, it could disrupt maybe some of your travel this week. Our Jacqui Jeras will be along with that, for the meantime, thank you for being right here with us. I'm T.J. Holmes.
CHETRY: I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us.
Here's a look at the top stories this morning, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords' condition has been upgraded. She is moved from critical to serious condition and she is breathing on her own. Doctors put in a tracheotomy tube to allow for that to happen. Her friend, New York senator, Kirsten Gillibrand tells CBS that Giffords is also able to move both sides of her body.
HOLMES: Well, as you know after that shooting, Congress kind of put everything on hold. Just didn't do any work last week, which would have been their first full week in Congress of this new Congress. Well, they're going to get back to work this week, and one of the first orders of business will be House Republicans trying to tackle repealing the health care reform bill. Both parties promising that things will be more civil, but they are going to start out - it's going to be testy with one of the most contentious issues on Capitol Hill.
CHETRY: So have you tried the sushi at Wal-Mart? Well, more and more big box stores and pharmacy chains are branching out into the food business. Target invested half a billion dollars in 2010 on its new grocery sections. And this trend is triggering a big food fight. Economists say a lot of supermarket chains already in the red may not make it through 2011.
HOLMES: I'm sitting next to Jason Carroll. And when you said sushi at Wal-Mart -
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: It's easier now. I mean, can you get anything at Target. You can get nice organic chicken breasts already frozen, throw it in your cart, buy some clothes for the kids and get some light bulbs.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sushi. To his point, they just don't go together.
HOLMES: No offense to Wal-Mart or Target -
(CROSSTALK)
CARROLL: I get sushi at Whole Foods. It's very good, I'd be willing to try it.
HOLMES: All right. We're talking to Jason in just a second but I want to show you this live picture here now. Out of Atlanta, Georgia. Quiet there now, but what you're seeing there is where Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King are buried. This is at the King Center on Auburn Avenue in downtown Atlanta. This is right next door to Ebenezer Baptist Church. That is, of course, where Dr. Martin Luther King stood at the podium so many Sundays and delivered so many memorable speeches.
Now at 11:00 Eastern time today, there will be a march in the nation's capital. Also, President Obama and the first lady are going to be participating in a community public service project. Again, so many people have the day off but people try to promote it now. So many leaders say it should be a day on, a day of service today.
CHETRY: And today is as we said, a federal holiday. But not everybody is off. Students in at least two states are headed to school. And that's creating a bit of a controversy this morning and our Jason Carroll is following that part of the story for us, in an effort to make up some snow days. Are they targeting any other holidays, or is it just Martin Luther King?
CARROLL: Some other holidays are being targeted, as you can imagine. You know, it's still a very sensitive issue on both sides. So we're hearing a lot on both sides for this. We do have an update for you on this as well. Several counties in northern Georgia, that planned on being open today, are now closed, but not because of political pressure. Because of bad roads.
The county said that there were just too many dangerous roads out there that are flat-out inaccessible because of the storm. So that leaves two cities in South Carolina and two counties in North Carolina, including the one around Charlotte, by far the biggest district there. So by our count, approximately 168,000 students in about 230 schools will likely be in class today. And we say likely, because in Charlotte, the local chapter of the NAACP is calling on parents to keep their children home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KOJO NANTAMBU, PRESIDENT, CHARLOTTE CHAPTER OF NAACP: We do not want to use Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday at any time as an alternative. That's the only celebration that we have.
SANTRIE WALLS, PARENT: I'm not sending my daughter to school. I won't send her to school on that day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Protesters and calls for boycotts have also come in from Al Sharpton and the Reverend Jesse Jackson. Sharpton said "We're urging people to keep their kids home. It's un-American not to observe the holiday."
As for the school districts, they say they really had no choice. They said there was no intent to dishonor the legacy of Dr. King. But they simply had too many snow days to make up and only a handful of days they can legally use, another option would have been to shorten the spring break. Many of the schools say they are encouraging teachers to take the opportunity to talk about Dr. King.
But as you can imagine, it's still a very sensitive topic. King, of course, was born in Georgia and after his death, there was a tough fight in the Carolinas, just to get the holiday recognized. South Carolina was the last state to recognize it. And that didn't happen until 2000.
Another bit of an update for you, Georgia, districts in Georgia and South Carolina, school officials said they are also considering having president's day and Memorial day, the kids go to school on those days too to make up for the snow days. So it's not just the Martin Luther King holiday that's being targeted.
CHETRY: But you're talking about bringing up the history, that's why it certainly touched a nerve.
CARROLL: Right. That's why there's sensitivity, of course. HOLMES: All right. We'll see what about our a Saturday? That's just -
CARROLL: That would have been an option as well.
HOLMES: Can you imagine trying to get a kid into school on a Saturday?
CARROLL: You have a lot of unhappy kids in a lot of households if you did that.
HOLMES: You can't make everybody happy. Jason Carroll, we appreciate you this morning. Thank you so much.
Coming up, millions of Americans want to hear the words, "you are hired." Some are hiring, but exactly who? Christine Romans will be along to break it down.
CHETRY: Also, they're bumming in Boston. Something unexpected happened to the New England Patriots on their way to the Super Bowl. Boy, the Jets were really able to shut down Tom Brady.
It's now 36 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Columbus Circle shot this morning where - boy, it's a little empty out there. So we know that New York is celebrating the Martin Luther King holiday today, because they are not out in the streets. A lot of people are off, actually.
HOLMES: All right. Except for some school children that we heard. (INAUDIBLE) we'll be talking more about this morning, with us. Thank you for being back here with us, 39 minutes past the hour. Give you a look at some of the stories that are making headlines right now.
The gunman accused in the shooting in Arizona, the trial could actually be moved out of Arizona. We're getting word from the "Washington Post," that the trial could be moved from Tucson to San Diego. Federal law enforcement sources telling the paper that extensive pre-trial publicity in Arizona is the reason for that.
CHETRY: Well, close to 400 jobs in Camden, New Jersey are on the chopping block. The layoffs include about half of the police force and one-third of the fire department. Obviously tempers were very heated at the meetings that they were having about this. Unless the police and fire unions can reach some sort of last-minute concession with the cash-strapped city, these cuts go into effect tomorrow.
HOLMES: And Starbucks rolling out a new drink. I'm told it's the biggest drink yet. It's going to be available May 3rd. It's only for its iced drinks. I don't really understand the system at Starbucks.
CHETRY: So it's trenta. That's what it's called the trenta.
HOLMES: That's what we're told.
CHETRY: All right.
HOLMES: They have a tall.
CHETRY: Which is 12 ounces.
HOLMES: And there's a venti as well.
CHETRY: And so the trenta makes 31 oz. This makes sense. This is why it makes sense. So when you get like a shake or iced coffee, or something like that, which I do in the summer. I'm not a big Starbucks person. But anyway, you need a lot of ice, so you got to get a bigger cup.
HOLMES: OK. I'll take your word for it. Just every time I go, they look at me crazy when I ask for small.
CHETRY: They like the lingo.
HOLMES: They look down on me when I do that.
CHETRY: Yes.
Well, a lot of New Englanders are a little bit numb this morning. They're feeling a little small.
HOLMES: They didn't expect this.
CHETRY: I know. They thought they were going to go in there and sweep. But it didn't happen. The big chill, I guess you could say, courtesy of the trash-talking New York Jets.
HOLMES: Yes. The Jets walked into their house, all right, and sent them home. Tom Brady and the hair, you're not going to see it again for the rest of the year.
Let's bring in Jamal Anderson, our guy, in Atlanta, former running back for the Atlanta Falcons, one of the original dirty birds. We won't be talking about the Falcons off the top here. But put it into perspective first of all just how big of an upset was this yesterday, to see the Jets beat New England.
JAMAL ANDERSON, FMR. RUNNING BACK, ATLANTA FALCONS: It was big. It was big, T.J. and Kiran. Here's the thing, the Patriots have been the number one football team for the majority of the year this season. Obviously, you had the Falcons and the Patriots on both sides, the number one seeds in the playoffs. But the Patriots with the hype and actually coming on the football field and playing the way they played, Tom Brady having a fantastic season. Bill Belichick being the mastermind coach who has won three Super Bowl rings. People expected this football team to move on.
In fact, the last time they played the Jets they blew them out. And the New York Jets walked in there, you guys said it, talking trash, and telling everybody what they were going to do, and they handled business. I said this last night - Rex Ryan talked the talk, walked the walk, period, point, blank. Nothing else you can really say.
CHETRY: They sacked Tom Brady, I think, five times.
ANDERSON: Yes.
CHETRY: It was an interesting quote to hear one of the players on the Jets side say, "I just saw fear in his eyes." It seemed that he got scared and he was nervous after that happened. And it was also really cool. Rex Ryan was very - he was humble about it. He said, "I thought it might come down to me and Bill Belichick outcoaching each other." But really, it was the players that did it.
ANDERSON: Yes, no question. You know, obviously, these are two of the better coaches in football and Rex likes to talk and he's done a good job. He has prepared his team and got these guys ready. Again, you know, the last time these two teams played, it was a blowout. It wasn't even close. So there were a ton of people in fact a lot of New York Jet fans that were nervous about going up in this game, going back up to Foxborough and having to face the Patriots. The Jets were physically determined. They beat the Patriots up at their own game. They owned the line of scrimmage.
Mark Sanchez played a good game. Didn't turn the ball over, Ladanian Tomlinson came in, a guy who really, really wanted do get the best of the Patriots and they got it done. It was an impressive football game. The scoreboard is going to show that it was a touchdown difference. I don't even think the game was that close. To mean it was probably a three to four-touchdown game. Just the way the Jets physically manhandled the Patriots and were able to get to Tom Brady. And like you said, Kiran, five sacks on Tom Brady. It was a great performance by the Jets yesterday.
HOLMES: All right. I'm debating about this next question, whether or not I was going to ask you. But one of the players, Wes Welker, was suspended, if you will, for one series. He wasn't allowed to start. The leading receiver for the Patriots, because he talked trash, if you will, in a press conference and Belichick doesn't really appreciate that kind of stuff. But explain what he did, first of all. Kind of some weird details here.
ANDERSON: Well Belichick's thing, the Patriots' big thing, especially coming from Bill Belichick on down, they do not respond to trash talk. You know, they're a targeted football team. Obviously Tom Brady being as famous and popular as he is around the NFL. This is a team that people come after. And the thing from Bill Belichick is we don't respond, we don't talk, we go out and handle business and we keep it very professional and we keep our mouth shut.
Well, Wes Welker, you know, on the foot play with all the conversations with Rex Ryan. It's a topic of conversation for everybody talking about this game, he decided in his media press conference, that he was going to throw in several references about feet, you know, we're going to put our best foot forward. We hope to get our foot in the door. Different things like that, and Belichick didn't appreciate it and decided that to punish Wes, he was going to sit him down. CHETRY: You've got to see the cover of the "New York Post" on Saturday.
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: I saw all the covers. I saw so many covers like "is this really happening?" First of all, they had the "Star Wars" one and then the other - very interesting.
CHETRY: Popularized green nail polish, I can feel it coming on for the summer. All right. Jamal Anderson, thanks so much.
ANDERSON: Thank you, guys.
CHETRY: Well, it's a washout on the West Coast. Roads buried by mudslides, the flooding continues and there's more nasty weather expected today. We're going to check in with Jacqui Jeras.
HOLMES: And also, pretty soggy, take a look at this map. You get the idea what's happening. Jacqui's up next. It's 44 minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: Forty-seven minutes past the hour.
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HOLMES: I do know this is Christine, I do believe, talking about jobs this morning.
The White House feeling good about the jobs prospects?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was Larry Summers who used to be the big White House chief economic adviser. He's stepped back from that role now. But he was on "FAREED ZAKARIA" this weekend talking about jobs growth, saying, we have the best chance for real jobs growth this year in a long time.
Listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY SUMMERS, FMR. DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: I think the prospects we're starting to see significant employment growth and reductions in unemployment right now are better than they've been in the United States in a number of years. (END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Now, he did say there are jobs that there are jobs that will not come back. That is something that all of us have been real concerned about, about this economy that's coming out (ph). He said some of these jobs are not going to come back, but there will be new jobs in new areas. He specifically said health care, he specifically said information technology. And look, that's what we have been telling you for some time here. When you even look in December, you saw health care jobs, hospitality and leisure. We've been talking about stem careers, science, technology, engineering and math.
And the Department of Labor's own statistics show some fast growth occupations over the next 10 years. Among them, biomedical engineers. Look at the median pay there for biomedical engineers. Computer analysts. Home health aides, look at that medium pay. That's one of the single largest areas of job creation, but it doesn't have a lot of pay or opportunity for advancement. So be careful there in some of the health care jobs. Personal home care aides, $20,000 a year. Financial examiners, $79,000 a year.
The bottom line here is that a college education in the recession and after the recession is the number one buffer here to prevent you from some of these areas that have either low pay for job creation or they are jobs that are not coming back.
What I have not heard yet from people like Larry Summers and others, what are we going to do with the predominantly male, without a college education, construction housing-manufacturing workers who have been left behind by the millions. So what are we going to do exactly to get them reengaged and back into some of these areas that are growing?
The big thing that people can do, if you have a kid in college or you are going to college yourself, you can look at some of these areas and try to tailor your own talents for the growing area. Because a big part of the economy that has switched, Larry Summers himself says those jobs are not coming back.
How do you get those people into the areas of the economy that are growing again? We still haven't figured out how to decode that mystery.
CHETRY: All right. At least the good news is hopefully a brightening job picture in 2011.
ROMANS: That's right. 2.5 million to 3 million jobs -- that's pretty much the consensus. That you will see 2.5 to 3 million jobs created this year in those areas we've been talking about.
HOLMES: Christine, thank you.
ROMANS: Sure.
CHETRY: Well, perhaps the toughest part about planning a wedding -- and you know because you guys just went through this -- is sometimes dealing with the interfamily dynamics. The parents.
HOLMES: We had no problems.
CHETRY: Of course.
HOLMES: Not one. CHETRY: Well since I've been married for more than 10 years, I can say we had problems, OK? But, you know, it all comes out in the wash. It's just one day. You're married for the rest of your life. Well, not if you're a royal. Kate Middleton is getting a taste of just how tricky the wedding planning can be and why the queen may not be very happy.
HOLMES: Also coming up in just about an hour, we're going to be talking about gamers. And some say there's a problem with gamers. According to some evidence that video games can cause depression and anxiety.
It is 52 minutes past the hour.
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HOLMES: I don't know if you've heard. We've got a new co-worker around here by the name of Piers Morgan. His first day on the job is today, kind of, sort of. His show premieres tonight. His first guest on the show, how about this, Oprah Winfrey.
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: But they had their sit down. Oprah told CNN, it was one of the toughest interviews she's done in some 20 years.
CHETRY: Yes. And There's a sneak peak that we want to show you. This is about when Piers was asking her about her relationship with Steadman, and she explains why she knew he was the one.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OPRAH WINFREY, THE OPRAH WINFREY NETWORK: I had been betrayed by somebody in my family who had gone to the tabloids and for, you know, and $20,000 had sold me out. And Steadman came into the room with tears in his eyes -- we knew that it was coming out. Stedman came into the room with tears in his eyes and he said, the story's out. I have a copy of it if you want to see it. And I'm really sorry. You don't deserve this. It was that moment.
PIERS MORGAN, HOST, "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT": And you looked at him and you thought, I love this man?
WINFREY: No, I looked at him and I thought, here's somebody who is willing to stand in and stand up for you. And that's what love is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Very true. Well -- so they had a great sit down.
HOLMES: And everybody's going to be able to see that tonight. Again, his very first guest, Oprah Winfrey. It premieres tonight. The week lineup, it's not just Oprah, oh no. He keeps it going this week with Howard Stern after that, Condoleezza Rice after that. Ricky Gervais, who was, of course, hosting the Golden Globes last night. And then wraps it up with George Clooney on Friday.
But Piers Morgan kicks off 9:00 Eastern tonight.
CHETRY: All right. Welcome. I'm looking forward to it.
Well, meanwhile, we're going to take a quick break. We're going to have your top stories when we come right back.
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