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American Morning

New Spirit of Bipartisanship: A More Civil Congress?; More Positive Signs of Recovery for Congresswoman Giffords; Exiled Dictator Returns; Left Hanging; "The Social Network" Wins Big at Golden Globes; Addicted to Gaming; Steve Jobs Taking Medical Leave of Absence

Aired January 17, 2011 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. Glad you're with us on the Monday, January 17th. I'm Kiran Chetry.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes. Glad you can be right here with us.

It is going to be tested, that whole new spirit of bipartisanship going to be tested on Capitol Hill this week. Congress is getting back to work. Of course, they kind of put things on the back burner last week after that shooting in Tucson, Arizona. But, getting back to work and they're going to take up one of the most contentious issues they will take up this session. That is a repeal of health care reform. We'll see if cooler heads prevail.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Also, another positive sign of recovery for Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords to tell you about this morning. Her condition upgraded to serious. She is breathing on her own. And there are also some other amazing milestones in her recovery that we're going to tell you about in just a moment.

HOLMES: All right. Big party last night as well. I don't know if you got to catch it. But the Golden Globes happening. We'll tell you about the big winners, big losers, who was dressed appropriately and who maybe should have left that dress that home. But, also, you will be hearing a couple of moments that were a little awkward. Ricky Gervais, the host, kind of went after a few folks.

CHETRY: Yes. And he's getting hammered today.

(CROSSTALK)

CHETRY: Yes, they're just -- they are just saying -- they are saying that he was a bit uncomfortable for the Hollywood actors and actresses.

HOLMES: They can stand to be a little uncomfortable sometimes. It's OK.

CHETRY: Yes. I mean, hey, it is not the Oscars.

HOLMES: Oh, wow.

CHETRY: I mean, it's more -- you know, it's looser. They sit at tables and drink, for goodness sake.

Well, also today, we honor the memory of civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Here are some live pictures this morning. This is from the King Center in Atlanta. At 10:00 Eastern, the center is going to be holding a memorial service at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church. That's where Dr. King preached.

HOLMES: Also coming up at 11:00 Eastern this morning, there will be a march on the nation's capital. Also at 11:00, the president and first lady will participate in the community service project. Last year, they dropped by, to see some of these pictures, a Washington food bank to serve hot meals to those less fortunate.

CHETRY: That's right. As you said, a day of service, not just a day off from school to play in the snow -- important stuff to teach your kids.

Well, meanwhile, Congress back to work this morning. Shootings in Tucson now a week behind -- behind them and the Democrats are pledging to tone down the rhetoric, to show each other a little respect. Meanwhile, the Republicans are trying to dismantle the president's health care reform.

Brianna Keilar is live in Washington this morning with more.

So, it will be interesting to see if they disagree vehemently on this issue if they can keep it civil.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It will. Can the bipartisanship last? That's the question. It's going to be tested starting tomorrow. We'll see debate tomorrow ahead of the health care repeal vote in the House, which is going to be on Wednesday.

And what you're hearing from House Republicans who are leading the charge here, who are expected to push this through, they have the votes for it, is that they say, you know, we have to do the people's work even though we've delayed things for a week. They feel like this is a campaign promise they made and they have to deliver on. But they're still promising that the tone is going to be different, that it's going to be civilized. And you certainly have Democrats as well committed to that.

We're really going to see, though, guys, tomorrow.

CHETRY: Sort of this symbolic shift in mood, is this promise that they are going to sit together perhaps, at least some of them, at the State of the Union despite their party affiliation.

KEILAR: That's right. And when you look at the State of the Union, you have Democrats on one side. You have Republicans on the other side. You really see that division. Democrats will stand for certain parts of the president's speech. Republicans will, you know, basically be sitting on their hands, and vice versa.

Listen to what Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat from New York, said about his plans of the evening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: Violent discourse, right, left or center, is wrong and should be rejected. But I do think we as elected officials have an obligation to try and tone that down. And if we tone it down, then maybe the media will be less vociferous.

Let me give you one example. 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 and he graciously agreed, we're going to sit together Wednesday night at the State of the Union.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now, politically, you really could not get two people more different than Tom Coburn, a Republican, and Chuck Schumer, a Democrat. Let's take a look, we actually have a graphic to show you what it would look like if we do a little seat-swapping here with Chuck Schumer and Tom Coburn.

Now, the interesting here guys is that there are a lot of Democrats and Republicans talking about this. And one is the number three Republican in the House -- especially considering it's going to be a contentious week in the House -- Kevin McCarthy, the number three Republican in the House, saying that he would like to sit next to the number two Democrat, Steny Hoyer. We're not sure if that's -- if they are committed on that and if it's definitely going to work out.

But, certainly, we've heard from a lot of Democrats and Republicans that they like this idea. We're just waiting to see if we do the see map kind of all shook up and all speckled with red and blue dots everywhere. It's still to be seen.

CHETRY: That's the beauty of being an independent. You can sit with anybody, right? You're always -- you're always post-partisan.

KEILAR: Well, hey, the point they're making is that anyone can sit anywhere they want to and they just kind of tend to go to one side or the other.

CHETRY: Right.

KEILAR: That, you know, it's not like their names are on the chairs and they have to definitely stay there. So, keeping that in mind, we'll see where they choose to sit.

CHETRY: Yes, it's not Oscar seating, right?

All right. Brianna Keilar for us this morning -- thanks.

HOLMES: And the reason so many people are talking about this new spirit of bipartisanship and sitting together is because of that shooting and their colleague, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Well, she is continuing with her remarkable, remarkable recovery after being shot in the head. Now, her condition upgraded over the weekend by her doctors from critical to serious.

That's a big deal. She's now breathing on her own. She's off the ventilator. Still has a tracheotomy tube in right now. Her friend, the New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand telling CBS that Giffords is also moving both sides of her body.

In addition to the congresswoman, another two shooting victims are still in the hospital. Both of them are listed in good condition.

CHETRY: Also learning this morning, more about the trial for the accused gunman, Jared Loughner. It could be moved out of Arizona, to neighboring California, to San Diego. "The Washington Post" is reporting that San Diego may get the case because of the pre-trial publicity and San Diego is one of the closest judicial districts to Arizona.

HOLMES: And a lot of people thought this might have been just in poor taste over the weekend in Tucson. They had a gun show. It was long planned over the weekend, had been planned for sometime. It's annual deal. But it went on as scheduled.

A lot of people thought it was too incentive and too close to the shooting. But it went on apparently without a hitch. Not a lot of real backlash here. And it's estimated that some 8,000 people attended that event.

CHETRY: Well, one of the survivors of the Tucson shootings is being evaluated now at a mental health facility. Sixty-three-year-old James Fuller was taken into custody in a town hall meeting Saturday after an outburst during a discussion on gun control. Fuller reportedly lashed at Tea Party founder Trent Humphries of Tucson. He's been charged now with disorderly conduct and making a threat. Officers are also searching fuller's home.

Last hour, I had a chance to speak with Humphries about what happened on Saturday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, EARLIER ON AMERICAN MORNING)

CHETRY: What did he say to you?

TRENT HUMPHRIES, TUCSON TEA PARTY FOUNDER AND ORGANIZER: Well, 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 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 rose from his seat, took a picture of me and said, "You're dead."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Well, authorities say Fuller will be held for observation for at least 72 hours.

HOLMES: Well, the brother-in-law of former President John F. Kennedy is in the hospital right now. Sargent Shriver is the name. He's 95 years old. He does suffer from Alzheimer's but no word on exactly why he ended up having to go to the hospital this time around.

This is a man who has a long history of service, including being the first person to serve as director of the Peace Corps. He was also the former vice presidential candidate in 1972, his running mate being George McGovern.

CHETRY: Well, in northeastern Australia, 20 people are now need and dozens more missing after a disastrous flooding in Queensland. The nation's prime minister fears that it could be the most expensive disaster in its history. The government is now also conducting an investigation into weather dams failed to work properly.

HOLMES: Also, flooding to tell you about here in this country as well, in the northwest part of this country, in particular, Oregon and Washington state. You are seeing video here of the devastation in Portland, in particular.

But flood waters prompting mudslides that have gotten a lot of this stuff on to streets. They have to be blocked in some areas. Highways have been closed off because of a lot of this. But they could be looking at some rough weather and some problems from all of this through today at least. So, maybe things are starting to move out at least for another rough 24 hours possibly.

CHETRY: Absolutely.

Well, it's eight minutes past the hour. Let's check in with Jacqui.

I know you're keeping an eye on the storm system down stuff. But also, is it going to get better for them out west?

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it will get better. You know, today, they still a significant amount of rain, but just kind of tapering off later this afternoon and tomorrow to some showers, and then a much dryer weather in the Pacific Northwest and for the remainder of the week.

Well, things are really kicking up, though, with the wet weather across parts of the Southeast -- in particular, northern Florida is getting some heavy showers and even a few embedded thunderstorms. And that's what we're seeing around the Tampa Bay area right now, as well as in the Lower Keys. Expect that system to ride up the coast in the next couple of days and that is going to be having a huge impact on your travel in the Northeast for tomorrow.

In addition, we've got a clipper-type system across the upper Midwest. And that bring you some snow showers for Minneapolis, over towards Chicago. And temperatures stay in pretty nippy across the upper tier of the U.S. But we've had record temperatures out west.

We'll talk more about that as well as the flooding coming up in the next half hour. We'll see you guys again then.

CHETRY: Jacqui, thanks. HOLMES: It was a big party last night in Hollywood. This is the one everyone loves because you can sit around and drink while you're watching the show. This is not stuffy like the Oscars, no offense to them. But it's a little different here.

But "Mad Men," which had been the top TV drama for the past three years, it was knocked out by, what, "Boardwalk Empire." People even know what that is, if you don't, it is a heck of a show on HBO you need to check out.

Also, Facebook's story "The Social Network," also racked up four awards last night including the Best Screenplay.

Also, the Best TV Series went to "Glee." Best Actor, Colin Firth, what was the movie again?

CHETRY: "The King's Speech."

HOLMES: "The King's Speech." And then Best Actress, Natalie Portman, which, of course, you've been saying that movie gets so much attention, "Black Swan."

CHETRY: Yes, "Black Swan," your favorite ballet movie.

HOLMES: I like ballet movies. Is there another one "Black Swan"?

(LAUGHTER)

CHETRY: Right. It was half ballet. That was sort of ultimate goal.

HOLMES: OK. Would you believe I never saw "Flashdance"?

CHETRY: It's great.

Well, host Ricky Gervais took shots at a handful of Hollywood stars.

(CROSSTALK)

CHETRY: -- for it this morning. But he opened the Globes with jokes about Charlie Sheen, Mel Gibson, Robert Downey, Jr. But when Downey had the chance to bite back, he took it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICKY GERVAIS, HOST, 68TH ANNUAL GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS: He has done all those films, but many of you in this room probably know him such facilities as the Betty Ford Clinic and Los Angeles County jail. Please welcome, Robert Downey, Jr.

ROBERT DOWNEY, JR., ACTOR: Aside from the fact that it has been hugely mean-spirited, but mildly sinister undertones, I'd say the vibe of the show is pretty good so far, wouldn't you?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Well, Gervais was noticeably absent in the second half of the show. And, of course, the Twitter-verse went crazy. He was gone for a long time. And they said, oh, he probably got pulled backstage, fired from the gig.

HOLMES: Is that really a possibility of what happened last night?

CHETRY: I don't think so.

HOLMES: I thought it was just produced that way.

CHETRY: But, I mean, they knew what they were getting. He's done this before. I mean, he hosted the show before. Shocker.

HOLMES: A big night last night.

Well, also coming up, have you heard? There's new book out about President Reagan. And there are some startling comments in there about his state of mind while he was president. And the book is written by Ron Reagan, Jr.

CHETRY: Also, Haiti's former dictator back almost a quarter century after he was overthrown. The big question, though, is: why?

HOLMES: And so many young people out there are working their butts off to try to get a perfect score on the SAT. Well, one kid just about did, but you're not going to believe how old he is.

It's 12 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Well, there's a new book out by Ron Reagan, Jr., and he suggests that his dad, President Reagan, had Alzheimer's, at least the early stages of Alzheimer's while he served as commander-in-chief. The book is called "My Father at 100" and it's going to be published before February 6th, which is the day that Reagan would have turned 100.

Michael Reagan, the former president's adopted son, is furious. He says that his dad did not have Alzheimer's while in office and he calls his brother Ron a sellout for writing the book. Ron and Michael have not spoken to each other since Ronald Reagan died in 2004.

HOLMES: Also, developing story this morning out of Haiti. People are trying to figure out why "Baby Doc" is back. He is the former dictator. He made a surprise return to Haiti. The pictures you're seeing here are supporters who greeted. His name is Jean Claude Duvalier, but again, the nickname Baby Doc. He's at Port-Au- Prince airport as you're seeing. This was yesterday. He was overthrown back in 1986 amid allegations of brutality and corruption by his government.

But again, people scratching their heads why after exile some 20 something years did he just show up at a time when the country is in a bit of turmoil, still trying to deal with the aftermath of the earthquake, the cholera outbreak as (INAUDIBLE) after their contested presidential elections.

CHETRY: That's right. Well, maybe, we'll find out more details on that today, but quite unusual to say the least.

Meantime, a big visit this week in Washington. The president of China is set to sit down with President Obama. Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business," and you talked about at the time China rising, now, the second biggest GDP in the world.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And you know, last week, there was a story in the newspapers. It was basically, you know, is China's rise going to mean a descent of the United States, and it was the most clicked on story on a lot of different website because people really care about this question, who's century will it be? Will it be America's century or China's century or both? And how do we make sure that leadership of these two countries make sure that both countries can share in the rise of China?

Why should you care? Because, basically, the middle class lifestyle of Americans over the past 20 or 30 years has been made possible by the rise of China, by the export of American dollars, and the import of tons and tons of cheap manufactured goods. And it has changed so much the way we live our lives. Now, one of the things we're looking at this morning is some questions about the role of the U.S. dollar. Hu Jintao answering written questions for the "Washington Post" and the "Wall Street Journal."

He said the current international currency system is the product of the past. And that got a lot of us this morning kind of interested ahead of this meeting because this is a pretty sharp, bold tone about the U.S., especially the time the U.S. has been criticizing China about undervaluing its currency.

Imagine, if you're doing a 100-yard race and your opponent was always starting either at the 25 yard line or at 40 yards into the race, that's what Democrats in Congress and also manufacturing companies have said, that's what's happening with the U.S. and China right now. I want to show you the trade gap. This is going to be something these two big superpowers are going to be talking about.

If you look at our exports-imports, we exported, from January to November, $81 billion of goods. We imported $334 billion. That means every single day, we import every day $755 million more than we export to China. That translates into jobs. That translates into a huge, huge imbalance between these two countries that many say is still at the root of so many of our diplomatic problems.

HOLMES: All right. It's all about China. This is a big visit. You know, there were even some technical difficulties, not technical difficulties, but kind of work out diplomatic behind-the-scenes of how this is going to be presented to the world. ROMANS: And a trade mission came back late last week in the state department, and said, they were profoundly disappointed in the progress they made in China about opening China to U.S. goods. So, there's a lot for these two superpowers to talk about. And what happens this week really matters to all of us.

CHETRY: It sure does. Christine, thank you. Let's to continue to follow it, absolutely.

An abrupt and chilly ending to a day of skiing. This isn't how you want to end up. You want to end up in the lodge, you know, after nice day of skiing and some warm-up, but instead, these people ended up dangling 100 feet in the air. And they had to be brought back.

HOLMES: Also, coming up, you thought you had problems with the in-laws when you got married. Just imagine if grandmom in-law was the queen. It's 18 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Well, that was skiers stranded. I said 100 feet earlier. It was only 30, but it probably felt like 100 if you were stuck up there. Crews had to rescue 90 people one by one after the ski lift broke. This was in Ohio. Here they are just dandling. Some of them were tossed blankets and hand warmers to keep warm as they were extracted one by one in the temperature pre- freezing, but everyone made it down safely.

HOLMES: How long were they up there?

CHETRY: I mean, I guess, if you are first, it's kind of like being stuck on the Ferris wheel before they unload the bottom, you know? But, all's well that ends well.

HOLMES: All right. Do you remember your S.A.T. score?

CHETRY: Yes.

HOLMES: Well, this young man you're seeing here. Young man out of Florida, he got the highest S.A.T. score in the state, and he is an eighth grader.

CHETRY: It must have gotten easier?

HOLMES: It had been easier, do you think? You don't want to give the kid credit. This is more (ph) right now on national TV. He just scored perfectly on the S.A.T. and you want to kill it? OK. He got 790 out of 800 on Math. Let's listen how he did it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABHINAV VENIGALLA, 8TH GRADER: I don't take school as like something of a grudge. It's more of, like, it's fun.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: That helps. If school is fun, if learning is fun, if test taking is fun, you enjoy it, you're probably going to do well on it. He says he would like to pursue his dream of becoming an aerospace engineer.

CHETRY: Rock on. So, congratulations to him. It was, you know, jealousy talking because my score was so much lower that his.

HOLMES: We all sensed it.

(LAUGHTER)

CHETRY: But rock on. Good for him. Well, also, texting and driving, you know that that's dangerous, but how about texting and shopping. This poor lady, she look up from her Blackberry or Iphone, and she was making her way through the maul. You know, they have these pesky fountains.

Sometimes, if you're not looking, which she clearly wasn't right there, oops, I could totally see this happening to me, so, I really can't laugh too hard. But, the first part is, OK, there's no one really around. She hops back up, she collects herself. she steps out, and she quickly walks off screen right. No harm, no foul, although, the security cameras were rolling.

HOLMES: I would love to know who she was texting and what it was about

CHETRY: I mean, the poor thing. The phone is ruined, obviously.

HOLMES: Maybe not. We have pesky fountains. Always problem right there.

Well, coming up, you know what can be a problem around your wedding day? The in-laws. But what if the queen is going to be your new grandmother? You might have a problem. We'll tell you what prompted the queen to pick up the phone and go off on grandson.

CHETRY: Well, the award seasons, of course, now in the full swing, the Golden Globes last night. We have Alina Cho live from L.A. with some of the most memorable moments. Twenty-four minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. They're a month away from the big day. Everybody's big day of the wedding day is huge, but if you have the whole world watching, it's a royal wedding, a lot more pressure. A lot of decisions that have to be made. And apparently, not everybody is agreeing right now, not on the same page.

CHETRY: That's right. So, we have Kate Middleton exerting some of her own ideas about her wedding, God forbid.

HOLMES: Oh, stop. CHETRY: I know. And, apparently, it might be rubbing the queen of England the wrong way. So, we're going to get the scoop on this with Mark Saunders. He's a royal biographer. He joins us this morning from our London bureau. We heard it, Mark, good morning, by the way, about the queen making --

MARK SAUNDERS, ROYAL BIOGRAPHER: Good morning.

CHETRY: A phone call to Prince William. What was going on with that?

SAUNDERS: That's right. Yes. I don't want to do much and say cracks are beginning to be seen in this relationship between the Middletons and the palace, but I think crack starting to be seen. What we go is, I think, there was a breakdown in communication between Buckingham Palace, Clarence House, and the Middletons. The queen is said to have heard that the details of the wedding, for example, Kate going to the church in a car not a coach were actually first released on William's Twitter account.

The queen has no problem with modern technology. She uses e- mail. She has her own Facebook page, but she felt Twitter was slightly undignified for the details of a royal wedding. And she went into a room of Buckingham Palace and demanded a phone. And she was given a phone, and she phoned William. And she said, so Kate is going to the abbey in a car. What next? Are you going on a bicycle?

William managed to placate the queen by basically saying, you know, the information was given to Clarence House, but the queen -- apparently, she went very quiet. And when the queen -- the queen's anger is always denoted by silence. And for most members of the staff at Buckingham Palace, when the queen is silent, that's when they get worried. So, I understand that the relationship between Buckingham Palace and Clarence House is stronger now. They are sharing information. And the Middletons are being kept more informed on how the queen feels.

HOLMES: Mark, in reality, shouldn't they understand that there are only going to be some limits to how much control Kate and William have over their own wedding? Yes, it's theirs, but still, it's a royal wedding.

SAUNDERS: I mean, we still have this idea that the wedding details are being shared and the expense of the wedding is being shared between the two families. But how on earth do you share the expense with the queen of England, I've no idea. And also, it's not as if the Middletons can just pick up the phone and call the queen as most families can. But you're always going to get tension when two families are involved in a wedding, invariably, it's the bride's family that will take the charge.

The groom usually is interested in nobody but himself. And it's the mother of the bride and the bride that will take charge. Indeed, this weekend, Kate's mother, Carol, was spotted out shopping with her sister, Piper, at Bruce Oldfield's Shop in Beauchamp Place, in Knights Bridge, which would suggest that they might be looking at designer gowns from Oldfield as part of their wedding package.

Where (INAUDIBLE), I don't know. But certainly, we're not hearing anything from the palace. It seems that the Middletons are the ones getting all the attention at the moment. So, maybe, they are trying to take control, but as I say, at the end of the day, I think it's going to be up to the queen.

CHETRY: Yikes. All right. Well, I mean, you know, these are the growing pains. This happens. And as we said, as you said, it's just -- I mean, it's hard when it's the royal wedding, and everybody wants it to be just so. All right. Mark Saunders, thanks so much for joining us this morning. Appreciate your take.

SAUNDERS: Thanks a lot.

HOLMES: A quick look now at the bottom of the hour. It's some of the stories that are making headlines, including the remarkable recovery of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Her condition has been upgraded by her doctors from critical to serious. She's now breathing on her own.

She's off the ventilator. She's still using a tracheotomy tube according to her friend, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Also, Giffords is now moving both sides of her body.

CHETRY: Congress gets back to work this week. Lawmakers sidetracked for a week by the Tucson shooting. When they start tomorrow, the first order of business will be for House Republicans to vote to repeal health care reform. Both parties now are promising to tone things off and conduct bids with a more civil tone.

HOLMES: And would you want sushi from Wal-Mart? Possibly it could be coming your way. More and more stores are branching out into the food business. Target as well, investing $500,000 in this in 2010. Not too long ago, I say "back in". Many supermarket chains already in the red may not make it through 2011 so they are trying to find ways to bring in revenue.

CHETRY: It is convenient to do things at these places like Target and Wal-Mart and Costco.

HOLMES: Sushi.

CHETRY: A California roll.

HOLMES: Sushi.

CHETRY: Yummy. I would eat it.

Anyway, it has officially begun. Awarding season is here. The Golden Globes kick it off. This is the fun one. Everyone sits around the tables drinks the champagne. It was a big night for "The Social Network." The Hollywood foreign press liked it, it got best drama, best director, best screen play, best original score, which is interesting because Nine inch Nails Trent Resner who had the original score and stood up and gave a speech. He delivered this incredible off the cuff speech. Trent Resner.

HOLMES: What were you expecting?

CHETRY: It is funny. He is a rocker in a dark heavy metal band. I know he is talented. It was funny. He was not the at least put off by Hollywood bigwigs. He gave his speech and moved on.

HOLMES: Let's bring in Alina Cho who was there for all of this as it went down last night. Alina, good to see you. And is there no doubt the Michael Douglas moment took the night?

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Without a doubt. Guys, good morning. It is safe to say there were so many memorable moments last night at the Golden Globes. It was a thrill for me to be there right there in the room. It was a major case of whiplash in every way, I must say. Every Hollywood star of stage and screen was in the room last night, Brad and Angelina, Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, and Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones.

Michael Douglas in one of the most touching moments of the evening came to the stage to present the final award of the evening. And here's what he said. And keep in mind he recently announced treatments for throat cancer had been successful. Here is what he said when he came to the stage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(APPLAUSE)

MICHAEL DOUGLAS, ACTOR: Thank you. Thank you. Please. There's got to be an easier way to get a standing ovation.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

CHO: It really was a great way to end the night.

You mentioned "Social Network" being the big winner on the film side and "Glee" on the television side. There were other big winners, Colin Firth picked up the award for best actor drama for his role in "The King's Speech." That was expected. So was this, Natalie Portman. She picked up the award for best actress drama for her role in "The Black Swan." Of course many people calling that the role of a lifetime for her. She just looked spectacular last night. There she is kissing her fiancee.

And Annette Benning was favored to win in the best actress for comedy or musical category and she did just that, picking up the best actress nod for her role in "The Kids are All Right."

It was a great night. It was a late night because as you know, the golden globes ends and the after parties begin. We were joking around last night that the best seat in the house is in the bathroom because that is where you run into all of the stars. As luck would have it, in one of the most exciting moments of the evening when Natalie Portman won, I got back to the table and said I can't wait for the best actress drama award. They said it just happened. I was just in the bathroom. I missed that moment, but I caught everything else.

CHETRY: Sounds like you had a great time.

CHO: I did.

CHETRY: It is always amazing to be there with the Hollywood stars and be there in person. Touch them. They are real.

CHO: They are but they are not human.

(LAUGHTER)

CHETRY: Thanks so much, Alina.

HOLMES: We don't recommend that, if you see a star, don't just go touching them.

CHETRY: You are real.

Still ahead, we are talking about gaming and the serious consequences that researchers are saying they are finding in some of these studies in people who spend a lot of time, kids especially, on video games.

HOLMES: Also coming up, your kid's backpack could be getting a lot lighter. No more textbooks. Just toss in an iPad. It is 35 minutes past the hour.

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HOLMES: IPads could be cropping up in Chicago and Virginia public schools. New York City has ordered more than 2,000 of them. Joining me via Cisco Technology is Steve Perry, good friend and CNN Education Contributor. Good to have you with us this morning. We are talking about these tablets now. Is this going to make any kid any smarter?

STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR: I don't know if it will make them smarter, but it will give them more access to information. We had a library when we were building our school. Our challenge was do we buy a library full of books or do we buy tablets?

In "Time" magazine tells us in the next six months there were be 20 different tablets on the market. We don't know what to buy, but we do know technology will transform education.

HOLMES: You put it out there yourself. Textbooks will get outdated over a certain time. A tablet can be updated in three months. So can it prove to be a good investment?

PERRY: Here is the challenge, T.J. What we do is we buy a textbook. If you think back to college, you buy a textbook in biology, and by the end of that semester, 16 weeks later, there is another edition of that book. The time we are spending trying to keep up with information we are losing.

School districts are at the intersection of innovation and a recession. So that creates an opportunity for invention. So what we need to do is use the technologies more effectively and we need to decide on those technologies that have, in fact, been proven and then use them most effectively.

In addition to that, we, as educators, have to understand we are educating children for jobs that don't even exist. We need to look differently at what the classroom is. The classroom is no longer the four walls in which we sit. When we look at some of the suburban districts, they are smaller. They can't necessarily offer a Calculus two or three or upper level Spanish. But through technology they can bring some of the best teachers into their building and not pay benefits.

HOLMES: That is looking down the road. Not every school can do that. You talk about bringing the best teachers in certain schools. You are all about it is all about that teacher. As long as he has a good teacher, that kid can learn. So even with the best technology and access to whatever, if you have a bad teacher, any technology is not going to make a difference?

PERRY: You are absolutely right. Here we have teachers who are visited, shown to produce results. These are not teachers you have to hire because they live within a 20-mile radius and they're the ones who can get closest to your school. These are teachers that have shown themselves to be successful in many places around the world.

This is what News Corp is doing. They are bringing amazing teachers to the classroom, allowing us to essentially downloading information. This is what Cisco is doing. The way in which you and I are communicating is another way to communicate beyond the walls, because our children are competing with students in colleges they will never meet. We can bring some of the world's best teachers into every single classroom, and it is not nearly as hard as you think. Some of the technology you have to pay for. Other is free.

HOLMES: Let's go back specifically to iPads and tablets moving forward. These things are expensive. Is this the right investment for school districts right now to be handing these out to children? And what are some of the risks that come along with that? Kids will be on the internet at younger ages and have access and you might lose the thing and break them all the time.

PERRY: Technically they actually don't cost more than the amount of money we spend on books for a child. We spend anywhere from $200 to $500 per child on books.

HOLMES: You are talking about replacing the textbook in that context, right?

PERRY: Or not buying the textbooks and instead when you have re- up, buying the tablets instead. But you did bring something up, T.J. The Internet is an amazing place. It is also a very dangerous place. We have firewalls in this place. One of the teachers suggested the students as an extra credit project to see if the students could get outside the firewalls on our school. Within a day seven kids got beyond the firewalls. They are not afraid of technology.

And we can't necessarily contain them. We put together necessary strategies, so for instance, when you are using technology in the classroom, you turn the orientation of the classroom where the children face the back wall and you can see their screens.

HOLMES: That is an interesting way to put it too, these kids are born with technology in their cribs. You are absolutely right about that. Steve, good to see you, as always, and we will be chatting was you plenty.

PERRY: Thank you, T.J.

CHETRY: All right, we will take a quick break. When we come back we are going to check in on weather. Jacqui Jeras is keeping track of some of the hot spots around the country, flooding and landslides in Oregon and Washington State. Will they be getting more rain this week? We'll be taking a look at that.

And also when Venti just isn't big enough, Starbucks, back up the truck. It's time to get your coffee.

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CHETRY: It's 47 minutes past the hour right now. Man, Alina was very excited about her night at the Golden Globes.

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HOLMES: And why wouldn't she be? She just rolled in to work from -- from the parties last night.

CHETRY: She left the parties, right.

HOLMES: Yes. We told her to get a moment --

CHETRY: I did, we sure did.

HOLMES: -- this morning.

COOPER: Don't call her in a couple of hours. I'm sure she'll be napping.

Meanwhile, we want to get you caught up on the top stories this morning and some really great news coming out of Tucson. An upgrade of the condition of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords; she is now in serious condition, up from critical. They were able to remove the ventilator, she's breathing on her own. She does have a tracheotomy tube in place. New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand who's been you know by her side visiting her good friends with her, telling CBS that Giffords is now able to move both sides of her body.

HOLMES: Also, one New Jersey town could be about to lose half of its police force. I'm talking about Camden, New Jersey here; 400 jobs in all right now might have to be cut, lay off, like I mentioned includes half of the police force; also a third of the fire department. They are waiting to see if the police and fire unions can reach some kind of a last minute concession with the city which of course, like so many other cities are cash strapped right now.

If they can't the cuts would go into effect tomorrow.

CHETRY: Also, we want to tell you about Starbucks. They are always doing something, right. To try to keep up and now it is adding a -- the big gulp of deluxe coffee.

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HOLMES: There you go.

CHETRY: I guess you could say it. But don't go there and say big gulp, though, they'll get mad. It's called the "Trenta" and it's going to be available starting May 3rd for their iced drinks.

So there you go, if you're kind enough to get you're 12 ounces, your 16 ounces, your 20 ounces of caffeine, you can rock on with the 31-ounce "Trenta". Making room for the ice.

HOLMES: But you can't get a coffee for 31 ounces. No, nobody needs 31 ounces of coffee, right.

CHETRY: That was good but -- I think you'd regret it.

HOLMES: All right, let's start now -- we've got 49 minutes past the hour.

We've got a weather situation here and there to keep an eye -- could cause some problems for some people throughout the week, including some travel issues.

Jacqui Jeras, keeping an eye on things for us.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey guys.

Yes, we're starting on the southeast today. Because we've got some really wicked thunderstorms that have been developing and put -- putting down some very heavy rain and a lot of lightning at this hour focusing in along the I-4 corridor here on Tampa Bay and then stretching up towards Orlando.

We're talking about an inch an hour with these thunderstorms that they roll on through. So use a lot of caution if you're traveling here for today. And there you can see some of those live lightning strikes. We also have some pretty nasty thunderstorms down here towards the lower keys. And we could see severe weather as things continue to kick into the afternoon hours.

Now, in the meantime, we also have a clipper type system making its way across the Midwest bringing some scattered snow showers, not a lot in terms of accumulation, but visibility will be low at times and certainly slick on the roadways.

Now, those travel issues that you were talking about there're, T.J., we'll we do expect delays in Miami, over an hour possibly this afternoon because of that thunderstorm. In Memphis and Nashville, a little bit of rain and even some sleet mixing in that time this morning; Chicago and Milwaukee over an hour because of the snow; Denver, nice day for you but windy; and San Francisco and Dallas looking at some delays because of the low clouds and fog. Dallas, we think you'll be fine as you head into the afternoon hours.

However, the big focus on today will be our southern system and it's going to eventually make its way on up towards the east. We do have the watches and warnings in place already ahead of that storm system for some of the mid Atlantic states and the northeast.

Now notice, that Boston, New York City, you are not in these advisories. Well, we do expect you to have some wintry weather, overnight tonight and early tomorrow morning. It's going to transition over to rain.

So the morning commute will be the biggest concern really with that one. Oops sorry, wrong map, that's flight explorer showing you all the planes in the year. Here's the track of the low, as that heads up and there you can see freezing rain. That will be our big concern in Philadelphia as well as parts of upstate New York.

So we'll continue to track this storm as well as the one out west. We'll have more details on that one in about ten minutes from now.

CHETRY: All right. Sounds good; Jacqui thanks so much.

Still ahead, we're going to have more on a study connecting gaming and -- and -- and kids who spend a lot of time with video games and some potential mental health problems. What to look for and what to avoid.

Fifty-one minutes past the hour.

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CHETRY: Fifty-four minutes past the hour right now.

And this morning some new evidence suggesting that excessive gaming or what can be an addiction for some children can actually lead to serious mental health issues. This comes in a study in the "Journal of Pediatrics" as at the same time, there is some questions about the man accused in the deadly Tucson shooting, that he posted violent and in some cases disturbing comments on gaming internet sites.

Our senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen joins us from Atlanta this morning.

So back to this pediatric study, what did they say? What kind of problems did they find in kids who as they call it engaged in pathological gaming?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. It's interesting what they found. What they found, Kiran is they found kids who were these quote-unquote, "pathological gamers" were more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety and have poor grades.

And these kids weren't just sort of casually playing these games. They were spending more than 30 hours a week playing video games. Now, this is a study of 3,000 kids; nine percent of them fit this pathological label. These kids were in Singapore. But the study authors say that kids in America that other studies have shown American kids also have this problem -- Kiran.

CHETRY: Does the type of game matter? I mean is it whether they're playing some violent or war-related games or, you know, games that involve any type of violence or is it any game?

COHEN: You know that is a great question and they didn't look so specifically at this in this study. But I think most of these kids were playing some form of violent game. I mean these weren't kids playing, you know Ms. Pacman. I mean they were playing things like "World of Warcraft" and games like that.

CHETRY: And they also said that they found what -- an incidence -- an increase in some issues, mental health issues such as depression and other things?

COHEN: Right. Depression, anxiety, poor grades in school. And I know that a lot of people will hear this. I mean as a parent I think my kid plays video games. How do I know when they've crossed that line? And I think most kids these days play some form of video game.

And what the study also said is that this is kind of the litmus test. If you ask your kid to stop playing 30 hours a week and they become irritable or even violent, that's clearly a sign that this is too much. If you ask them were you playing video games when we went out last night and they say no, but you know that they were, lying is another sign that this has gone from being something that's just fun to being something that's actually unhealthy.

CHETRY: I mean the gaming industry has always hit back hard on any suggestion that their products are dangerous or bad for kids. What are they saying about this one?

COHEN: Right. They are saying the same thing about this one. They're basically saying that this study means nothing. That it was very poorly done and let me read to you from a portion of their statement. They say there simply is no concrete evidence that computer and video games cause harm. So they dismiss this study altogether.

CHETRY: It's interesting though and parents should take note. That is a lot of hours in a week of playing video games.

COHEN: Right. I mean, as a parent --

CHETRY: That is a part time job.

COHEN: Exactly. As a parent that would just be my first sign. I mean 30 hours a week -- 30 hours a week of pretty much anything can't be good.

CHETRY: Exactly. All right. Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much.

HOLMES: We're getting close to the top of the hour here. We want to bring in Christine Romans here to my right as well.

We are just getting word that Steve Jobs, the head of Apple is going to be taking another leave of absence related to his health, we would assume. We just got this statement so I haven't even seen the part -- please give us the details.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, Apple CEO Steve Jobs is saying that he is taking a medical leave of absence. That he has asked the board for this and they've granted it so he can focus on his health.

That's what he says in a note to his team. "I will continue as CEO and be involved in major strategic decisions for the company." He said Tim Cook will be responsible for all of Apple's day-to-day operations. He said he has great confidence that Tim and the rest of the executive management team will be able to do a terrific job of executing all of their exciting plans.

As you know, when he is there in his black turtleneck in front of their new products it is something that energizes both shareholders and believers in the Apple cult, if you will. And so his much publicized liver problems over the past couple of years have been something that concerned investors and concerned shareholders and concerned Apple fans because he is really seen as the soul and the face of this company.

HOLMES: All right. Back in '09 had a leave there as well. But just getting that word, he's taking a medical leave of absence. We'll get more details on that. We wanted to get that information to you right now.

Christine, we appreciate you having that for us. Quick break here. We're right back.

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CHETRY: All right. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.

We are following this news that just broke within the past couple of moments. Steve Jobs asked Apple's board to be able to take a medical leave of absence needing to focus on his health. We've talked before about some of the problems that he's had, most recently back in 2009. So we are waiting to get more details on what could be the nature of what he needs to focus on, medically speaking.

HOLMES: Not just the head of Apple, he is actually the face people look for. Like Christine just said it energizes so many people; consumers, also investors to see Steve Jobs on a new product.

So much more on that throughout the day on CNN. Right now we want to hand it over to Kyra Phillips in the "CNN NEWSROOM" in Atlanta. Hello there, Kyra.

CHETRY: Hi, Kyra.