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American Morning

President to Deliver State of the Union Address Tomorrow; Detroit Police Officers Shot; Turning Point in Job Creation?; Palestinian "Papers"; Wrigley Dump "Skins"

Aired January 24, 2011 - 06:00   ET

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


T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Just ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING, the accused Tucson shooter expected in court today and more charges could be coming, including murder charges. Meanwhile, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords isn't starting rehab just yet. We'll tell you why she's still in ICU.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Also, it's one part dating game, one part odd couple. Mix them together and you have the State of the Union address. The president saying his focus will be on jobs tomorrow night. Right now, though, everyone seems focused on who's sitting next to whom in the audience.

HOLMES: Also, a lot of parents out there might have a really tough time trying to get that kid out of bed. Well, you may want to just let them stay there. And a new study may convince you to just let them sleep in.

CHETRY: Also, emergency calls to 911 one after the other, all from the same woman over a bad manicure. You'll hear from the Florida woman who made those calls and wound up getting nailed by the cops. All that and much more coming up on AMERICAN MORNING. Hope you'll stick around. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: As the president prepares for the State of the Union address tonight, a lot of members of Congress are focusing on the seating chart.

HOLMES: Also this morning, a delay in Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords' rehabilitation. We'll tell you why she isn't in that rehab center just yet.

CHETRY: And dress in layers. Bring out the hat, the gloves, the scarves. Dangerous bitter cold. Subzero wind chills in the northeast this morning, frame (ph) the groundwork for the next big winter snow in the region. Snow and sleet and freezing rain in the south as well. This is AMERICAN MORNING.

HOLMES: Hey there. Good morning to you all. Glad you could be here with us at the top of the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING for this January 24th. I'm T.J. Holmes alongside Kiran Chetry this morning.

CHETRY: You know, last week we were saying, oh, wow, poor International Falls, it's negative 42.

HOLMES: Oh, yes.

CHETRY: Well, we're getting that temperature yet. Today, it's actually warmer in International Falls than it is in many parts of the northeast. So we'll keep -- we'll keep people posted. Supposedly it's going to get warmer from here on out, so fingers crossed.

HOLMES: It can only get warmer actually.

CHETRY: Exactly.

Well, first this hour, some new developments in an amazing story that we brought you last week. Police tracking down the accused fake mom suspected of posing as a nurse and snatching little Carlina White from a New York hospital back in 1987 and then raising her as her own daughter. White last week was reunited with her biological mother and father in New York. And she discovered her own true identity after 23 years of living a lie.

Well, the suspect's name is Ann Pettway. She was picked up in Connecticut yesterday, and reportedly has a long rap sheet. Susan Candiotti will have more on what led to the break in the case. Facebook was involved. And also, more on what went on for the past two decades in a live report in the next hour.

HOLMES: Meanwhile, the accused Tucson shooter, Jared Loughner, will be in a Phoenix courtroom today. He'll be there for an arraignment hearing. He's going to be facing more charges many anticipate. Right now, he's facing three charges of attempted murder for shooting the congresswoman and two of her aides. But, of course, he's accused of killing six others. We do expect more charges. This is a legal case that's certainly could take a lot of time, even years, many of the legal experts are saying.

CHETRY: Well, Gabrielle Giffords' new doctors in Houston say they're actually surprised by the progress that she's already making. The congresswoman was transferred Friday to Memorial Hermann Texas Medical Center, but she's been in the ICU since she got there because of a fluid build-up on her brain. Doctors are draining it and she is not going to be able to start rehab until that's finished. She's expected to remain in the Houston facility for up to six months.

HOLMES: Well, the State of the Union coming up tomorrow night for the president. A lot of focus on where people are going to be sitting. A lot of focus is on stability (ph). The president, however, expected to focus on jobs and the economy and trying to get everybody involved in this recovery.

CHETRY: He's also expected to call on Congress to be more civil. But he was clear this weekend that tomorrow night's address and the next two years will be focused on the economy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm focused on making sure that the economy is working for everybody, for the entire American family. How do we make sure that people have good jobs with good benefits? How do we make sure that somebody who has a good idea can suddenly start a business? How are we going to make sure that we have the most innovative dynamic economy in the world? And how do we make sure that our kids are able to compete with workers anywhere in the world?

Now, to do that we're going to have to out-innovate. We're going to have to out-build. We're going to have to out-compete. We're going to have to out-educate other countries. That's our challenge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: All right. Jim Acosta joins us this morning live in Washington.

Jim, good morning. We heard the president at the end of that sound bite say the number one challenge is trying to get this economy going. But what is his number one challenge just in his message tomorrow night?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and do it all on the cheap at the same time because we're all broke, right? You know, T.J. and Kiran, this is a guessing game you hear every year on the days before the president's State of the Union address. People in Washington trying to predict what the president is going to talk about in his speech. It's expected President Obama will call for national unity. You talked about that. It's a theme you heard a lot coming out of this White House in the wake of the Tucson shootings. And over the weekend, President Obama, as you mentioned, gave a bit of a preview in that weekly address. He talked about the need for new investments in the economy to create jobs. But here is the problem. Republicans, they don't want to hear any new calls for new government spending. And they made that clear on the Sunday talk shows.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ERIC CANTOR (R), MAJORITY LEADER: What the people have said is, enough. We've got to shrink government. We've got to cut spending. And we need to really look to the private sector to grow job.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you're saying, you're saying now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Right. So, you know, the president is going to be talking a lot about investments. You're hearing the Republicans using the words cut and grow. You know the other thing we're going to be looking at on Tuesday is the seating chart. It's not something we typically focus on, but this year members in Congress in both the House and the Senate will not be sitting in their usual spots with the parties sitting on separate sides of the aisles. Roughly 60 Democrats and Republicans have lined upstate dates as they're calling them for Tuesday night. That means you will see Democrats and Republicans sitting together for the address. And we will talk about these political odd couples in the making coming up at 7:00, guys. CHETRY: Date night at the State of the Union.

ACOSTA: Absolutely.

CHETRY: Interesting stuff. All right, Jim. Thanks so much.

ACOSTA: You bet.

CHETRY: You can also see the president's State of the Union live tomorrow night. It's at 9:00 Eastern Time. CNN's coverage begins at 7:00.

HOLMES: We'll take you to Detroit now. Listen to this.

A man just walked into a police precinct and opened fire and four Detroit police officers were hit. Again, this gunman, no one can explain right now why he went in and did what he did. Didn't necessarily say anything, just walked in and opened fire. Four police officers hit. They're all expected to survive. The gunman was also shot and killed. Among those shot was a female police officer who was shot in the chest. She did have on a bullet proof vest. Expected to be OK. The chief of police there not talking about maybe changing their policy when it comes to security.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RALPH GODBEE, JR., DETROIT CHIEF OF POLICE: In light of what happened in Tucson, Arizona, obviously, with Congresswoman Giffords, and then with this incident, of course, we have to take a step back and reassess security procedures at each one of our facilities. We want to still maintain a community policing format. We want to engage our public. But by the same token, incidents like this are very sobering.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Again, I mentioned the female police officer who was shot in the chest. Another two were grazed in the head by bullets, and another was shot in the back. That is considered to be the worst injury out of the four. But that officer did have surgery and, again, the prognosis for that officer is good.

CHETRY: Well, she's lucky wearing a bullet proof vest.

HOLMES: Yes.

CHETRY: Saved her life.

A shootout in front of a Wal-Mart about 15 miles west of Seattle. Two people were killed and two sheriff's deputies were wounded yesterday. Police say that one of the dead was a man who opened fire on them. Both deputies were shot in the torso. They're recovering at Tacoma General Hospital.

HOLMES: Also, new leaked documents could cause some problems for Palestinian leaders. These documents show that Palestinian negotiators made more concessions than were publicly released. More concessions to Israel than many people thought during those peace talks back in 2008. There were 1,700 classified documents that were obtained by Al Jazeera, that Arab network. Palestinians reportedly agreed to give up much of East Jerusalem. But again, this was not mentioned publicly. The chief Palestinian negotiator calling the document a bunch of lies. We're going to have more on this, the implications with our Zain Verjee later this hour.

CHETRY: And check out the waves on California's Half Moon Bay. Look at the surfers. That's hilarious. They look like tiny little people there.

Pretty amazing to see them all like that but also pretty dangerous. Just probably for the most skilled surfers only. Over the weekend one surfer was critically injured when he was caught by a massive wave and nearly drowned. He was rescued and revived onshore. But boy, you have to be pretty much of a daredevil to try to go for those waves.

HOLMES: Yes. And these guys are -- these are the best surfers in the world, this Maverick competition. I know Rob Marciano, we check in with him now, is familiar with this thing. But they get 24 hours' notice. They wait for the conditions to be just perfect at Half Moon Bay. They give them 24 hours' notice, Rob, to show up and compete. And these are 50-foot waves. And you have to be something either wrong with you, but this is some serious stuff for these guys. Fascinating event every year though.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is. And that's some of the most startling video I've had yet to see coming out of Maverick. Unbelievable stuff. When you think about how much water is in even a 10-foot wave and how that can crush and kill you --

CHETRY: Yes.

MARCIANO: -- you look at those waves, and it's just mind boggling.

CHETRY: And they live for that. You know, they love it.

MARCIANO: Yes, I mean, you can be an adrenaline junkie but that takes it into a whole other level. That's for sure.

Good morning, guys. No wave -- no surfing on the East Coast today. That's for sure. Cold air again. And temperatures that are, well, pretty mind boggling as well.

Minus 11 right now in Syracuse. That does not include the wind chill. We're talking about temperatures that are 12 below zero in Albany, New York, the capital. Six degrees currently in the Big Apple. Nine degrees in Philadelphia. So even the buildings and the concrete that hold on to the heat just a little bit better not doing a very good job of it this morning. Factor in the wind and the wind chills are zero in New York City. Minus 24 in Albany. Minus 20 in Syracuse. That will get you some frostbite to exposed skin in about 10 minutes or less in some of those areas.

So dangerous cold from Cleveland up through Buffalo, Montreal and into Boston as well. So just be aware if you live in those areas. Do cover up the skin. Temperatures though rebounding into the lower 20s. Eventually in New York City, 53 degrees expected in Atlanta.

We've got a little bit of moisture heading through the lower Great Lakes. This is not a whole lot of action. Maybe a little bit of freezing drizzle and some snow mixing in from Chicago over to Detroit. No advisories really for the bigger cities. And then we're watching the storm develop across the south. This is going to bring some rain and maybe some snow mixing in across the Deep South. Some sleet and snow eventually for the northeast later in the week. So that cold air in place, and typically when it's in place, some sort of winter precip will mix in as well. So we'll talk about those details a little bit later on in the broadcast.

CHETRY: All right.

MARCIANO: Guys.

CHETRY: Potential for a big mess. That's for sure. Thanks, Rob.

Well, the Green Bay Packers are on their way to the Super Bowl. They punched their ticket to Dallas with a 21-14 win over their archrival Chicago Bears on Sunday. The Packers rode their defense to the NFC championship. And this was a great play as well. Lineman B.J. Raji took an interception back for a touchdown. The Bears had to use -- that was his first interception and his first touchdown in his NFL career. So happy. The Bears had to use their first, second and third string quarterbacks in the game. In fact, third stringer Caleb Hanie actually led the Bears on two touchdown drives that came up short in the end. And the Packers prevailed.

HOLMES: A lot of criticism this morning for Jay Cutler, the Bears starting quarterback. A lot of people saying this is -- you've got the Super Bowl on the line. Get your butt in the game.

CHETRY: Yes.

HOLMES: I don't care how your knee feels.

CHETRY: His teammates were supporting him.

HOLMES: Very much so.

CHETRY: There are a lot there saying, look, he's one of the toughest guys out there, never complains. So if he wasn't playing, he was hurt.

HOLMES: He had to be hurt.

Well, a lot of Jets fans are hurting this morning, aren't they, fellows?

Yes.

CHETRY: All is quiet here in the studio this morning. HOLMES: Yes, they tried. This was not much of a game. A lot of people probably went to sleep on it may be in the first half. The lead was 24-0 or 24-3 at half. One of the two, but at some point it was 24-3. But the Jets put together a bit of a comeback against the Steelers in the second half. Got 19 points on them but still it was not enough. Pittsburgh converted a couple of critical first downs, so the Steelers are headed back to the Super Bowl. A familiar place for them. It's their eighth Super Bowl. They've won six. And this is the third Super Bowl in the last six years for them. So very familiar place for them. We're going to be talking more about what we saw last night.

And also, at least two storied franchises. The Packers and the Steelers going head to head. We've got the legendary New York sports anchor Len Berman. Going to be joining us a little bit later with a look ahead at Super bowl XLV.

CHETRY: All right. Look forward to that.

Meanwhile, caught on tape. It was a car chase ending with a state trooper throwing a punch at a woman. He's defending what he did though. We're going to hear why police say it came to blows.

HOLMES: Also, it's a new year, so a new outlook possibly on employment. Christine Romans is going to be along in just a moment to tell us if there's good news for our nation's businesses.

CHETRY: Angry birds bumped from its perch by a 14-year-old. We'll tell you about the puzzle game with the simple graphics programmed by a 14-year-old that's now knocking off angry birds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Fifteen minutes past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Why would a state trooper punch a 58-year-old woman repeatedly in the face? Well, he says he had good reason, and you're about to see part of it here.

You see the officer there repeatedly striking the driver of this vehicle, who is that 58-year-old woman I just mentioned. This is in Utah. The trooper broke the window and started striking her because of this. You see this.

It was supposed to be a routine traffic stop, catch somebody for speeding. That person took off, led the officers on a high speed chase, and they finally cornered the person, the driver. The officer said he had to do this to get her to stop.

Right now that officer is on administrative leave.

CHETRY: Wow.

All right, getting a bad manicure may be a crime for some women. One actually called 911 over it. Police say this Florida woman called the cops at least four times because she was not happy with the length of her nails. She was sobbing in a news conference, but claims that the woman giving her the manicure manhandled her and when the cops showed up she still kept calling. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... he's not doing anything.

DISPATCHER: If you don't like what he's saying -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She had a nail clip in her right hand and she was talking with it, and at that time she hit my top lip.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Well, police say even if there was a confrontation, it was not an emergency. and one call was more than enough.

HOLMES: All right. We'll move right on from that one.

I wasn't familiar with this, but a lot of people are. Angry Birds, a popular - or it was the most popular iPhone app. No more. There's something else out there, another app. I believe they're both free. Do I have this right?

CHETRY: Yes, Angry Birds did charge at some -

HOLMES: They did charge?

CHETRY: -- at some point and then they were - and then it was free for a while, too. So, it changes.

HOLMES: Well, it has been knocked out by another app, got to top spot last week, something called Bubble Ball. Now, a lot of people are talking about Bubble Ball because it was designed by a 14-year-old kid from Utah. A very simple game, but clearly these are fairly simple to put together. I think he used the public library and now he's got the most popular app out there.

CHETRY: Yes, but these were the - these were (ph) the innovators and the gamers. He's going to own his own tech company someday. That's how it works around here.

Christine Romans is here, "Minding Your Business" this morning. There's a new survey suggesting the U.S. may be at a turning point when it comes to hiring, which of course is something we want to hear.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's right.

CHETRY: We want 2011 to be the year of the jobs.

ROMANS: I mean, how many times have you heard me talking about rising demand? The companies aren't going to start hiring until they see their demand rising. In the meantime, they've just been putting their own money under the mattress and they haven't been using it to hire workers. But a new survey from the NABE, the National Association of Business - Business Economics - this is the - the group that really looks at businesses and their conditions -found that 42 percent of companies plan to boost jobs in the next six months. That compares to only 29 percent last year, folks, and only seven percent of companies said they plan to lay off.

The difference between the hiring and the firing is the biggest it's been since 1998, so that tells you that something is changing in the psyche of companies that they've got all that money under the mattress, but demand is starting to rise for more than half of these companies, and eventually they'll have to start hiring and they hope to do it in the next six months.

Now, what about that - that tax bill that was pushed through Congress in December? We heard that that was going to add to jobs and help the situation. Well, more than half of companies say, in fact, they think that is going to boost their sales.

Nearly one out of two businesses say that tax cut deal is going to boost their sales, especially companies like miners, factories, agricultural products, those sorts of things. Most companies say that in itself will probably not help - cause them to hire. It's rising demand that will cause them to hire. But one in two companies say that it should help boost their sales and, of course, that is - that would be good news if that were true.

So we're seeing maybe the turning point.

Don't get me wrong. Hiring is not as robust as it should be, 9.4 percent unemployment rate is still too high. But we've been looking at all these surveys, you guys, trying to find out what's going to be that key to turn things. This is just one more piece of evidence that things are starting to turn for companies.

HOLMES: And sometimes simple optimism can drive things.

ROMANS: That's right.

HOLMES: As long as people feel good about what's coming.

ROMANS: That's right. Absolutely. And only seven percent of companies saying they're going to lay people off I think is really - is really good news.

Something has to happen and turn in the economy to cause them to hire, but when you've got the mass layoffs over, that at least is a foundation under things.

CHETRY: Unfortunately we have no more people to layoff.

ROMANS: Yes. That is true as well.

CHETRY: Bare bones.

All right. Thanks so much, Christine. ROMANS: Right.

HOLMES: Christine, thank you this morning.

Well, we have seen over time, convenience store clerks often have to keep a little something behind the counter to warn off - to ward off, I should say, would-be robbers. Well, usually that's a gun.

Well, not this time. Listen to this one clerk describe what they had to use.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GLEN ZIRBE, HIT WOULD-BE ROBBER WITH HAMMER: I got a knife, and I want the money out of the cash register. And I said, what did you say? He repeated it, and the third time he repeated it I hit him in the head with a hammer.

I expected him to drop, but I - but he didn't. He must have had - yes. I hope he's got a headache.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: This is the one convenience store we don't have the surveillance footage from. This would have been great.

But yes, he hit him in the head with a hammer. He said actually used the handle of the hammer to get the guy out of there. He didn't go down but he did run out and so far police don't have a suspect.

CHETRY: The best part is he goes, I said to him, what did he say? And when he repeated it the third time, out came the hammer.

But look, he showed mercy on him. He only hit him with the handle.

HOLMES: Yes.

CHETRY: OK, that thing's rubberized. He got lucky, that would-be robber.

Driving blind, a blanket of thick fog shuts down a major highway. Interstate 5, notorious area this time of year. When the fog hits, you literally can't see, and a trail of wreckage left behind when the clouds lifted.

HOLMES: Also this morning, it's one of the biggest health concerns for our children in this country, but could it be helped by you simply letting your child sleep longer?

It's 21 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Well, it was certainly a close call on a highway in Ontario. Check out the video. A car with a dash cam captured the whole thing. A tractor trailer crashing through the guardrail. There you see it happen. Losing control and dumping about 30 tons of sand. This happened Friday morning. Several other vehicles were involved. There it is in slow motion.

Can you imagine that thing coming at you? No one was hurt unbelievably, but the truck driver was blamed for the accident. He said it was poor driving conditions, but he's actually been charged with reckless driving. There it is one more time.

HOLMES: Overwhelmed.

CHETRY: Just missing that other big rig.

HOLMES: Speaking of poor driving conditions, nobody would have seen that thing coming if they were in California. Take a look here. This happens certainly so often. They're - they're used to this there, but thick fog out there. That really just blinds drivers. You can't see a thing. And it was blamed for causing a least 15 - 15-car accident, two big rigs involved in this thing. It shut down part of I-5 that goes through the center of California. You can see some of the - the clean-up that had to be taking place there.

Now, cars were pinned under trucks in this case. But, again, this all blamed - look at that. There's the shot we've been looking for that you see how bad it was. But you really can't see a thing booking down the highway at 60 plus miles an hour, and this sometimes is the result. One major injury we know about in this accident.

CHETRY: Well, much better luck on the highway north of Denver where a crew used to picking up other people's garbage, in some cases, road kill, instead found a duffel bag with $10,000 in it. They didn't take it and run. They actually called their boss and turn it in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had fun with it for a few minutes. Joke and, ah, you can take half, I'll take half. But that was just for fun. We definitely knew what we needed to do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My girlfriend, Martha, well, she was kind of shocked that we gave it back. We wanted a new bedroom set, but, you know -

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Well, they did the right thing. Hopefully they'll get a reward. No one knows how the bag got there. The state police said they're getting closer to finding out whose it is.

HOLMES: Yes.

It's 27 minutes past the hour here now. Talking about your health. It is the number one killer in this country - heart disease. And now, a new study says possibly you can help prevent heart disease by doing something as simple as getting the right kind of air filter.

Researchers in Canada put in this HEPA air filters in 25 homes. These are special air filters that are supposed to really get the smallest of particles out of the air. After they put them in these 25 homes, they tested the folks seven days later. And what they found is that they had reduced inflammation. They had improved function in cells that lined blood vessels. The air quality was improved as well. But 60 percent fewer harmful particles were in the air and might have had some health results here.

CHETRY: Well, you may want to let your kids sleep in a little more often. A new study says it will help them keep off the pounds. Researchers studied 400 kids and found that letting them sleep more especially on holidays and weekends improved their metabolism and their body mass index, and they've done other studies about increasing their attention and their focus in school as well when they get a good night's sleep.

HOLMES: And there are some schools actually who do have later schedules even -

CHETRY: Yes.

HOLMES: -- to let the kids sleep in. So maybe we're on to something there. Too bad they didn't figure that out when we were kids.

CHETRY: Exactly.

HOLMES: Still ahead this morning, Rudy Giuliani needs Sarah Palin to make up her mind before he makes up his mind. We'll explain.

CHETRY: Also, caught on tape, a small boat spun around in rough waves and foreign waters, and a cruise ship came to the rescue. One passenger recorded all of it. We'll show you more of the dramatic video just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Good morning. It is 31 minutes past the hour right now. We're looking at a shot in Minneapolis, Minnesota, this morning, where it's 15 degrees. That's actually pretty balmy. A little later, it will be 27 degrees in Minnesota.

Where we are, the wind chills and the negative degrees, and we're looking at, I think, five or seven degrees right now in New York City.

HOLMES: Not something -- I don't know if I've ever been in weather like that, my entire life. I'm sure if that will happen.

CHETRY: So, you had a five-block walk this morning. How was it?

HOLMES: I got in a car this morning. But I got to walk.

(CROSSTALK)

CHETRY: You didn't want to chance it. Frostbite, you know?

HOLMES: You never know. Welcome back to you all. Give you an update here on some of the stories we're keeping a close eye on. One of them being a story everybody was talking about in the country this past week. And that's the story of this 19-day-old who was taken from a Harlem hospital back in 1987 being reunited with her real family after all these years. Well, now the person suspected of taking her has been arrested, expected in court today. The woman is the one believed to have raised the child all these years. Her name is Ann Pettway, expected to face charges today in court.

CHETRY: She's dazzling her doctors in Texas. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is still in the intensive care unit in her new hospital in Houston. But doctors say she is showing surprising results after being shot in the head. She's facing six months of grueling rehabilitation. Her accused shooter is expected back in court today and could face murder charges.

HOLMES: And tomorrow night is the night for President Obama. State of the Union address, you will, of course, be able to see that live right here on CNN. But he is going to be talking, of course, about the economy and jobs. Maybe a little bit about civility.

So much attention has been on civility since the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords and so much has been on the seating arrangement as well.

CHETRY: That's right. CNN's going to start coverage 7:00. The actual address starts at 9:00. State of the Union is shaping up to be a really strange cross between the odd couple and the dating game in some cases. Republicans and Democrats are pairing offer and they're pledging to sit together. One Democratic senator even joked about Republican seating partner saying, "I'm bridging the popcorn and he's bringing a coke with two straws."

The two parties normally usually sit on opposite sides of the floor. That's pretty much the traditional seating arrangements. Well, tomorrow night, the odd couples will be seated in the yellow section in between. There are more than 25 of them so far.

Liberal New York Senator Chuck Schumer will be sitting with staunch conservative Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. John McCain will be sitting with New Mexico Democrat Tom Udall. He's the one who actually -- it's Mark Udall actually, isn't it?

HOLMES: Mark Udall --

CHETRY: It's Mark, not Tom.

HOLMES: Yes.

CHETRY: Didn't mean to rename you. Sorry, Senator.

The Arizona Republican says it's no big deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Yes. I'm going to sit with Tom Udall, and hopefully, I think Mark Udall may be sitting where I usually sit. And, look, this whole thing is a good idea. I think it's been a bit overblown, but the fact is, it's a good thing to do. Why not? The Udalls, for example, have been close friends of me and family for many, many years. So, let's sit together.

And finally, could I just mention? It might be nice, maybe we cut back a little bit on all the jumping up and down, which I think frankly distracts from any president's speech when it's interrupted every 30 seconds by people jumping up and down, because the president isn't speaking to Congress. He's speaking to the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: So, he is actually sitting by Tom Udall. Mark Udall from Utah is the one who originally proposed this idea in the Congress. So, there you go.

Well, the Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says he's -- this is really not something he's going to be doing. He's sitting where he always plans to sit. He says the American people are more interested in the actual accomplishments, bipartisan or not, than the seating arrangements.

HOLMES: Well, he was one of the most high-profile Republicans to come out and say he was, in fact, going to be voting for the Democrat, President Obama, or then-Senator Obama back in 2008. But Colin Powell says he's not so sure about who he's going to vote for this time around. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I will always vote as I have throughout my life, for the person I think is best qualified to be president of the United States. And I don't adhere to a single party line. So, I'm not committed to Barack Obama. I'm not committed to a Republican candidate. I will see who emerges.

Right now, I do not see on the Republican side any one individual who I think is going to emerge at the top of the pile. So, it's going to be an interesting 2011 and a very interesting early 2012, as the primaries begin and they separate themselves. But I am not committed to any candidate until I see all the candidates and finally see who the two candidates are who are going for this position.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: He went on to tell our Candy Crowley that Obama has addressed some of his campaign promises but still has a way to go.

CHETRY: Well, former New York mayor and former presidential candidate, Rudy Giuliani, is talking once again about the possibility that he'll run this time. In an interview on "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT," that's airing tonight, Giuliani says he's more likely to run in 2012 if Sarah Palin does, too.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PIERS MORGAN, HOST, "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT": Would you be more tempted to run if she wasn't?

RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER NEW YORK MAYOR: Maybe the opposite.

MORGAN: Really?

GIULIANI: Yes. Maybe the opposite because, you know, my one chance, if I have a chance, is that -- I'm considered a moderate Republican.

MORGAN: Yes.

GIULIANI: So the more Republicans in which I can show a contrast, probably the better chance that I have.

MORGAN: You've become the acceptable face of the Republican Party?

GIULIANI: I don't know if I'm acceptable, but the question is, the way I got elected mayor of New York City was not being acceptable. My slogan was -- you can't do any worse.

(LAUGHTER)

GIULIANI: Things were so bad, you need me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Well, you can see more of Piers Morgan's interview tonight with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, 9:00 Eastern, only on "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT."

Well, it was quite a drama at sea. A cruise ship had to come to a rescue of a small boat carrying three American citizens that lost power and was sent spinning off the coast of Cuba. A passenger on that crew ship shot video of the rescue. You can hear the high winds. You can see the swells. Witnesses say it was clear the crew of the small ship had been through a lot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Their boat was pretty well wrecked. There was a lot of gas cans and just everything was just thrown amok all over their boat. So, I think they had been tossed and turned for white a while out there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Three boaters also had to deal with waves made by the huge ocean liner, but they did eventually make it on board, along with their cat, an unexpected cruise. But I'm sure they were so grateful.

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: The cat.

CHETRY: Yes. HOLMES: Well, he was fitness guru before people were talking about fitness. Jack LaLanne has died at 96 years old. There he is. Told by the public now or at least coming out of his camp that he died of respiratory failure due to pneumonia. Now, at his age, he was still working out and eating right, according to his family, up until the day he died.

He is the one who's giving credit for really founding the modern fitness movement. And he was trying to get America and Americans to get them going, get them moving and dealing with their personal health even before it became a huge national issue, before it became all the craze. Also had a workout show on TV for some two decades.

Jack LaLanne, dead at the age of 96.

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CHETRY: Forty-one minutes past the hour. Time a take a look at some of the other stories around the world this morning.

Classified documents leaked to Al Jazeera, may be the latest roadblock to peace in the Middle East.

HOLMES: Let's join our Zain Verjee keeping an eye on that and other big international stories. She's in our London bureau.

Zain, good morning to you. This, from these documents at least, if they are to be believed, Palestinian leaders were given a little more behind the scenes than they were at least saying publicly.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a huge deal, guys. It is the biggest leak of documents in Mideast history. We're talking about something like almost 1,700 documents and memos since 1999 about the Mideast crisis.

Now, the headline here is basically telling us that Palestinians were willing to give up most of the control of east Jerusalem to the Israelis. That has been a major red line in the public discussions that they've been having about this. They also said they're willing to compromise on refugees that has also been a major stumbling block.

The documents also say that the Israelis rejected any offers of compromise the Palestinians made. They also reportedly say that it shows that the United States was not handling the situation in an even-handed manner and was also extremely tough, along with the Israelis on the Palestinians.

One memo, guys, that I picked out was from 1999. And it reads like this, "Heed the advice of the 'Rolling Stones,' you can't always get what you want." You can finish that, right?

CHETRY: Yes, of course. But if you try, sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need.

VERJEE: Right, right. Bravo, Kiran.

(CROSSTALK)

CHETRY: I would ask you about something else, though. Gordon Brown, he would like British investigators to check about whether or not he actually is tied in some way or perhaps his voice mail was hacked? A big scandal is going on there.

VERJEE: Yes. Yes, a huge scandal here in England. Gordon Brown is saying that he believes that his phone conversations may have been hacked when he was the prime minister. And he wants police and he said he told them ages ago to look into it. You know, there are actresses as well as other politicians and members of royal family that have been affected by this scandal.

Basically, there's a newspaper here called "News of the World" and they are alleged to have gotten some of their stories by hacking into people like Elle McPherson, the model, Sienna Miller, the actress, and even Prince William as well.

One of the arguments has been, on their side, that there was only one rogue reporter and now, we're learning that it could have been a lot more widespread. It's making headlines here in this country and really putting the ethics of journalism in the spotlight.

CHETRY: All right. Zain Verjee for us this morning -- thanks so much. Good to see you.

And you can catch Zain every morning on her new show "WORLD ONE," at 5:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.

HOLMES: All right. Still coming this morning, we've got weather problems in the Northeast and also down South. We'll tell you exactly what those issues will be. Rob will join us in just a moment.

Also, when dogs fly. Some people take their pets everywhere. And that even means paragliding.

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CHETRY: Welcome back. Forty-seven minutes past the hour. This video had a lot of people talking, animal lovers were not too happy with this.

HOLMES: Yes. I haven't heard you all talking, but I haven't seen it just yet.

CHETRY: All right. Let's check it out. T.J. can watch it along with us here. An iReporter sent in this video of look likes two people just paragliding in tandem, right? She's with her fiance over Hawaii, but when you take a closer look, yes, she brought her dog along. The dog looks thrilled, doesn't he? She says that he goes paragliding every day, and they wanted to include the dog. People are so weird. I know.

HOLMES: OK. What part of people is this just animal abuse, is the animal not enjoying it, is it the way the animal appears to be locked in there, looks like he's dangling and uncomfortable -- CHETRY: He's happy as heck to be back on solid ground. That's why his tail is wagging furiously. They had to make a special harness in Paris, they said, for the dog. But you know there's some -- you know, animals, the animals are happy to sit at home and sleep, you know, throughout some of people's extreme adventures.

HOLMES: People are really into their pets. They consider them part of the family, wanted to take the pet along.

CHETRY: Yes. Next trip, bungee jumping, right, the dog?

HOLMES: Don't send us that video.

Let's check in with Rob Marciano in Atlanta for us where we are always, it's another week, it's another storm.

MARCIANO: That's right. Haven't you noticed how dogs hanging their head outside the window when you drive down the highway? And these dogs want to fly, baby. You got to let them up there.

CHETRY: You know, what makes me laugh is some people go all the reason I taught him how to surf is because he just really love the surf board. There's no dog that, you know, expressed some sort of interest in paragliding since that be impossible.

MARCIANO: Maybe not. Speaking of surfing, we showed this video earlier in the program. It is just startling stuff. You know this -- the maverick wave competition just off the Half Moon Bay, Northern California. Monstrous wave over the weekend. Huge. They didn't have many swells this year partly because of La Nina, but they got on them this weekend, and the waves were just absolutely monstrous there. Startling video. There was one surfer who was injured.

And you look at the size of the waves and you think only one. My goodness. That's probably something that's going to happen more often than that. All right. Cold air across parts of the northeast today. That certainly is the highlight as far as what we're looking at for temperatures. Six degrees currently in New York, minus 12 in Albany. You factor in the wind and the wind chills in some cases I found as low as minus 49 in parts of Maine.

Right now, feel like minus 22 in Boston, feels like minus 24 in Albany. A balmy zero is the wind chill in the Big Apple. Of course, there are going to be some spots especially downtown to canyons (ph) at Wall Street where the winds will be humming even higher and you'll feel even colder than that. Some wintry precip heading across parts of the lower Great Lakes. Shouldn't amount to a whole lot, but they'll be a slick go parts of Indiana and southern parts of Illinois.

And then some rain heading across parts of the Gulf of Mexico. This is going to be developing over the next day or two. It will bring beneficial rain across parts of the south east. At one point, we thought it might be a real wintry mess across the southeast. I think maybe just the back side will get some snow, and this will head up towards the northeast and you'll probably get some sleet and snow towards Thursday. We'll iron out those details in the coming days. T.J., Kiran, back up to you.

CHETRY: All right. You're right, when you say iron out the details, there are wildly different models right now on what this could do. It's kind of scary.

MARCIANO: Get away, you know, give us a day or, you know, 24 to 48- hour forecast, and we'll nail down pretty good, but three and four days out is tough.

CHETRY: Yes. All right. We need to figure out whether to book hotel rooms to try to get in here in the middle of the night.

MARCIANO: We'll keep you posted.

CHETRY: Thanks, Rob.

HOLMES: Thanks, Rob.

MARCIANO: All right, guys.

CHETRY: This morning's top stories moments away including the accused fake mom in custody. What we now know about the woman accused of snatching little Carlina White 23 years ago.

HOLMES: And the State of the Union, sometimes, just makes strange seat mates. We'll explain if this is just a stunt or is this a serious gesture that could lead to more civility in Washington. It's 10 minutes until the top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Wrigley is now the third major sponsor to jump ship on the controversial MTV show "Skins." We told you about this last week. The Parent Television Counsel is calling a child porn, basically. They want the government to investigate the show for exploitation and child pornography. A statement from Wrigley says they're suspending advertising during "Skins" because, quote, "It was never our intent to endorse content that could offend consumers. Taco Bell also pulled its ad last week, and GM put "Skins" on its do not buy list.

HOLMES: All you American mothers out there, do you have a thing or two to learn from Chinese mothers? You may have heard, last week it was all the rage, a book and a study put out last week saying that some of the practices of Chinese mothers, you know, a little stricter, and sometimes, the kids are performing a little better. Our Alina Cho is here. This controversy just will not go away.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And as a result, this is the best- selling book, "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother." And I know you spoke to the author. She says the book is about her own evolution as a mother that is not why this book is getting attention, you know by now. We have heard from the author, Amy Chua. We have heard from experts and parents, but what about the young adults who have just lived through this, who have been raised by so-called tiger mothers.

We talked to a group of Asian-American 20 and 30 something who spoke candidly about the realities of growing up in an Asian-American household. Even though, all of them found that some of Chua's parenting style is over the top, they all agree that her emphasis on the value of education is spot on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID HUNG, ASIAN-AMERICAN: Obviously, no Asian kid cannot get good grades. I mean, that's just an expectation that you're going to get straight A's and you're going to do really, really well in school. And then, of course, you've got to play either piano or violin. I got them to play the viola, so maybe I was a failure, and I respect. And then, of course, Chinese school every Sunday, right? Two hours, got to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: I went to Korean school every weekend, and I also play the piano. So, there you have it. David Hung also told us that education was so important that his father even uprooted the entire family without any job security, moving from Florida to Virginia because he read that Fairfax County public schools were among the best in the nation.

Now, Kenneth Lin's family also moved to a better school district, in a neighborhood slightly out of their means which meant that his father worked three jobs. That put enormous pressure on him to succeed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KENNETH LIN, ASIAN-AMERICAN: If you don't succeed, then you are hurting and letting down your family.

CHO: You're bringing shame to the family?

LIN: Not just bringing shame, but like, your parents are so invested in you and your succeed, and when you don't succeed, it injures them. I think even children pick up that kind of energy and start feeling responsibility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: That's for sure. A responsibility that sometimes means giving up that thing you really want to do in life. And Michelle Chia's case, it was school sports. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: Your mother made you quit the lacrosse team.

MICHELLE CHIA, ASIAN-AMERICAN: She did, yes.

CHO: Why?

CHIA: Because she thought that I need to study for my S.A.T.S my junior year, and I wasn't able to play lacrosse for one season.

CHO: How did that make you feel?

CHIA: I was very upset.

CHO: But you did it.

CHIA: I did it because I had to respect my parents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: Respect is very, very big. Now, Michelle says sports was actually the reward for doing well in school and for doing well in her piano and violin competitions. Now, while all of them felt pressure to succeed, all of them also told us that they emphasized how deeply their parents loved them and how that pressure that they felt was really about respecting their parents and wanting to do well to show them that they could.

You know, what's interesting is that Amy Chua says in her book, you know, my western friends who consider themselves strict make their children practice their instruments for 30 minutes every day, an hour at most. For a Chinese mother, the first hour is the easy part. It's hours two and three that gets tough. And, you know, all of them laughed as a result. You know, she also says toward the end of the book that western parenting is about building self-esteem while Chinese parenting is about not letting up, but, you know --

CHETRY: And she said that building self-esteem, what we do is by telling people that you did a good job, even when you didn't. That it actually is worse because once they hit the real world and they realize that they're not doing well, it's too late.

CHO: That's right. You know, I have an interesting story. You know, I was asking my mother about this because, obviously, there's a lot about my childhood I don't remember. And I said, when did I start reading, and he said, oh, you started reading in kindergarten, and you know, were one of the only ones in the class so you became the teacher' assistant.

(LAUGHTER)

CHO: You taught other students how to read. And I said why -- what do you think it is about the way that I was raised that, you know, maybe I progressed faster than some of the other kids in class. And she paused and she said, well, you know, you're just smarter and better.

(LAUGHTER)

CHO: I thought, you know what, that is another aspect of Asian parenting. You know, sometimes it's, no, you're not good enough, practice harder, or sometimes it is sort of helping them along by saying you did do well. So, there are different ways to do it. The end result is often the same though.

HOLMES: All right. Alina, I just love it when you do your mom's little accent. Thank you this morning. That story is not going away. We appreciate it.

CHETRY: Top stories coming your way after a quick break.

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