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American Morning
Jordan Appoints New Prime Minister; Massive Winter Storm; Not So Hot In Cleveland; Massive Winter Storm; The Human Factor; Powering Nevada
Aired February 01, 2011 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour here now. Good morning and welcome to this AMERICAN MORNING for the first day of February. I'm T.J. Holmes.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kate Bolduan in for Kiran Chetry this morning.
Lots to talk about so let's get right to it. Airlines canceling flights by the hundreds due to what could be the biggest winter storm of the season. Storm warnings cover a 2,000 mile spot from New Mexico to New England. Travel's expected to be difficult, near difficult, or impossible in some areas as the snow, wind and ice push through.
HOLMES: Also, a lot of people had concerns after the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords about these town hall meetings, these collections where -- you know, these collection of folks come here and their congresswoman speak. Well, one congressman just held a town hall, at Tea Party town hall and he's a freshman congressman with a concealed -- license to carry concealed weapon. Our Jim Acosta is going to have this for us.
BOLDUAN: And breaking news out of Amman, Jordan, where King Abdullah has just dismissed his government and appointed a new prime minister. Maruf Bakhit is the new prime minister. He replaces Samir Rifai. This happened just moments ago. Jordanians protested over the weekend, calling for Rifai's ouster. We'll have more information on that throughout the morning.
HOLMES: Yes. On the back of that story there, people are saying that maybe a result of what we're seeing in the region, dominoes people thought will start to fall in some of these leaders in the region will start to pay attention and make changes, make reform in their governments. We are seeing -- of course, watching closely what's happening in Egypt right now. Enormous crowds have been gathering. And, so far, according to our correspondents on the ground, they say this is the largest gathering today that we have seen in a week-long protests there in the country.
This is called the "March of Millions" there in Egypt that's underway right now.
Our Ivan Watson is live for us from Cairo's Tahrir Square.
Ivan, hello to you. I want to start, if I could, with the news we are getting out of Jordan, where you were, not long ago, where they have been seeing protests there over the past several days. What do you make of King Abdullah making this change and replacing his prime minister?
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, T.J. I was there about a week ago and there was a lot of rumors at that point, a lot of speculation that King Abdullah would fire his prime minister amid a number of protests about rising food prices, about chronic unemployment there, and frustration with the government.
There had been protests taking place outside of the parliament at that time and called for the prime minister to be fired from these demonstrators. There is no question that the uprising that we saw in Tunisia last month that led to the ouster of the president there after more than two decades has had a ripple effect throughout the Arab world. Many of the demonstrators you're seeing here in Egypt telling me that that example that was sent to them added momentum to their own protest movement.
And I was hearing that in Jordan as well. Every time I mentioned the word Tunisia, ordinary Jordanians would break into a smile. It was interesting. I interviewed a deputy prime minister in Jordan. He said in no way will the prime minister be fired. These are all just rumors.
And now, we see, less than 10 days later, a Jordanian government falling and a new government being appointed, presumably in hopes to try to appease the frustrated population there -- T.J.
HOLMES: Let's turn to what's happening behind you now. This was the "March of Millions" as it was billed today. And for the most part, we are hearing that this certainly larger than the protests we have seen in the past week there. Is that the case from your vantage point? And have things been relatively peaceful today?
WATSON: Absolutely. Things have been peaceful.
We're going to pan out and show you the sea of humanity here. T.J., we have been here at this location since Saturday. There's no question this is the biggest gathering we've seen yet.
I talked to one opposition leader, George Isak (ph) of the group Katheya (ph). And he called this a revolution and it's hard not to get caught up in the fervor of the moment, the excitement of the moment.
As these Egyptians come out, they come out with these clever signs. They are painting them in the streets, denouncing, again, the President Hosni Mubarak who's been in power -- as one told me since Ronald Reagan. And they are saying it's time for us to get a choice in who will lead our country -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Ivan Watson keeping an idea on things for us there in Cairo. Ivan, we appreciate you. We appreciate your update on what's happening in Jordan as well.
We'll continue to check in with our correspondents there on the ground.
Meanwhile, the military is make ago promise today they are not going to open fire at all if the protests they say are peaceful. But we have been seeing tense moments over the past week, including this one from yesterday. Two soldiers down in this crowd were firing. They were firing into the air, however, trying to diffuse the situation, trying to get protesters under control.
But you see them fire in the air -- there he is in the middle. But also, the looks on their faces -- check out that look on his face, just a terrified look trying to keep people back. We are seeing these scenes play out.
But again, he was firing into the air in this particular situation, but they are promising, as long as these things are peaceful, protesters will not be fired on today.
BOLDUAN: A lot going on over there.
And also, a Google marketing executive has gone missing in Egypt. Wael Ghonim is Google's head of the marketing for Middle East and North Africa. He traveled to Cairo for a conference last month and was last heard from five days ago after he tweeted the following. "Pray for Egypt. Very worried as it seems that government is planning a war crime tomorrow against people. We are all ready to die."
Google is not commenting on Ghonim's disappearance right yet.
HOLMES: We'll start with a major story today, a major storm that is going to affect you, more than likely, because it's going to affect some hundred million of Americans. There have been blizzard warnings all over the place.
Now, they go from Oklahoma City to Chicago. Just take a look at there. You see just how much of the country is being covered by some of these watches and warnings.
BOLDUAN: Oklahoma City is expected to get some of the worst of it. Our Ed Lavandera is there live.
And the poor thing has been there throughout the morning. How are things right now, Ed?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, guys, the longer you stand out here, your jaw kind of starts to freeze up. So, if I sound a little funny, a little mush-mouth, you'll understand and kind of bear with me as we try to get through this.
But across Oklahoma, some 10, 12 inches of snow expected in some parts from Oklahoma City up into the northeast corner of the state and Tulsa. It's rather difficult at times and that could change dramatically depending where you are, you have sleet and ice possibilities as you kind of venture into various parts of the state.
But just look here. There's supposed to be a curb right here. It's kind of hard to figure out. That's how much snow has fallen here in the overnight hours.
So, it's really difficult driving situation -- although for the most part, we have been seeing some cars come through here this morning and everything is going pretty smoothly at least here in Oklahoma City. It's mostly just snow so that makes it a little bit more easier to drive on. It's in the parts of the state where we'll get that icy and sleet mixture on the roadways, which will be very difficult.
State officials are saying that so far, no reports of power outages across the state and they're also saying that they're really going to wait for the worst of the storm blow through before they sends out the trucks to start cleaning up the roadways and that will be around midday -- T.J.
BOLDUAN: All right.
HOLMES: Ed, you hold on out there, buddy! We'll talk to you again here soon.
BOLDUAN: Thanks, Ed.
Snow and ice will make travel almost impossible today. Hundreds of flights are already canceled. I'm very sorry to have to tell you that this morning, the National Weather Service says this is a, quote, "life-threatening storm."
(CROSSTALK)
BOLDUAN: Sorry.
HOLMES: No, no, please. Go ahead.
BOLDUAN: I'm very excited about that.
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: You know what who else? Rob is excited about the weather. He is out in it, where he loves to be. And you are at a point today, a place where a lot of people are going to be upset about what's coming.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I think so, you know? But for the most part, Chicago and much of the Midwest have gotten off relatively easy this winter with all the action really being over the East Coast. They've got about a normal or average amount of snow, but once this storm comes through, it's going to be anything but that.
You got eight to 10 inches in Chicago, and that actually is a pretty big deal. You talk 10, 20, maybe 24 inches, which is potentially what to get here, that would be certainly historic. The wind is certainly blowy. The snow is beginning to fall. We have some precursors of snow throughout the evening and through the morning. But the main event certainly is going to come later on today when the blizzard warning goes into effect beginning at 3:00 p.m.
Speaking of warnings and watches -- take a look at this. We have been showing this map because it's just jaw-dropping when you saw about Maine and New Mexico. The winter storm warnings are up. The blizzard warnings are up as well. And this is going to be some nastiness. And then on top what's going on below this in the form of severe weather.
All right. Radar showing the moisture getting into already New York, into Boston, where you're seeing freezing rain, slick and snow. So, a slick go on some of the major I-95 cities. And then -- but this is still a thousand miles away from the main event which is back through Texas and Oklahoma.
You saw the live shot from Lavandera. That is where most of the intense snowfall is right now.
Thunderstorms stretching down to the Texas coastline, ground stop at Houston right now, and at Intercontinental; also at Dallas because of the snow. We got a ground stop because of winter weather in Dallas, and a ground stop because of thunderstorms in Houston. That tell you just how dynamic this system, and a lot of heat and humidity built up across the Gulf States. And we expect to see -- could see 10 to 12 places of snow in places like eastern Oklahoma. We've already seen stuff like that.
St. Louis is going to get hammered with ice. Reynolds Wolf is down there. Right now, Michigan Avenue is flowing fine.
Chicago is open for business today. Not sure about tomorrow.
Lake Michigan is there. We're going to get this storm and then we're also going to get lake-effect snows on the back side of it, and that's why we're thinking we're going to see some historic snow event, snow amounts come this time tomorrow. T.J., Kate, back up to you.
HOLMES: All right. Rob, we appreciate you. We will talk to you again soon.
BOLDUAN: Thanks, Rob.
One of former President George W. Bush's daughter is breaking ranks over gay marriage. What young Barbara Bush has to say?
HOLMES: And there used to be a time parents just had to worry their kids would go to bed on time. But one state lawmaker said, you got to worry about finding a loaded gun in their bedroom. And he's making an instructional video for you to spy on your kids. The story is coming up.
It's 10 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: President Bush's daughter is breaking with dad, now saying she supports same-sex marriage. She took part in a video for the New Yorkers for Marriage Equality Campaign. Take a look here at Barbara Bush.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARBARA BUSH, DAUGHTER, FMR. PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: New York is about fairness and equality, and everyone should have the right to marry the person that they love. Join us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: She's not the first to split on social issues. Her mom and former Vice President Cheney have also voiced their support of same-sex marriage.
He says your kids have no First Amendment rights under your roof. A New York state senator and 20-year veteran of the NYPD posted a video on YouTube showing parents how to spy on their children. Here's a clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I always recommend to start out in a periodic fashion, so you'll be used to going through the room to look at the various items in the room. Jury box of this nature, maybe a simple jury box, but if you look through it closely, you don't know what your child may be hiding. For instance, a gun could be hidden, a small caliber weapon could be hidden inside a jewelry box.
Just look and see what's inside your bookcases. It could be more than just books, perfect place to hide cocaine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: There you go. The head of a leading youth rights group said this could be very dangerous and undermine parent/child trust. We want to know what you think because I know T.J. has several thoughts about it. Should you spy on your kids? Go to CNN.com/am and sound off, tell us what you think -- T.J.
HOLMES: Kate, kids that bad these days? I must be missing something, guns and cocaine in the room. And, of course, I was. Thank you.
Well, now, it was talk of the town, really, the country was talking about this after the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, talking about these gatherings that they have, where they have so much access to the public.
Well, freshman congressman and Tea Party member, Allen West, has just held a town hall meeting. This is one of the first of these such events that we've seen since that shooting in Tucson. We've known really -- he has been known for opening up. It was packed, didn't disappoint what we saw here.
Jim Acosta is live for us in Miami.
Jim, hello to you. And, you know, normally, a lot of these events wouldn't' get the kind of attention that this one has gotten, but there's good reason for this. One of the first gatherings we've seen.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, T.J. We haven't seen many of these town hall meetings since the tragedy in Tucson, but one congressman down here in Florida, Republican Allen West. He is determined to meet with his constituents, and he is taking some unusual steps to make sure that these events are safe. For example, last week at one of his town halls, he wore a bullet-proof vest, and he had another town hall last night, as you mentioned. And this one, it got a little bit testy at times.
One of the moments came when West, who is a tea party favorite, as many of our viewers might recall and an Iraq war veteran, he clashed with a member of a group that represents Muslim-Americans. This was an activist who was in the audience last night, and West has come under some criticism for some of his comments that he has made about Islam, and this activist challenged West on those comments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Me and my children choose to follow the faith of Islam.
REP. ALLEN WEST, (R) FLORIDA: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You consistently insulted. How can we expect you to defend our right and practice Islamic as far as the constitution is concerned?
WEST: Sir, I will always defend your right to practice the free religion under the First Amendment, but what you must understand, if I'm speaking the truth, I'm not going to stop speaking the truth because the truth is not subjective.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: West got a lot of cheers last night. This was a big tea party crowd for Allen West down here in Florida, T.J. And one thing that we've noticed, so far, about the tea party activists, they like to go to these town halls instead of the way they were behaving before the election when a lot of times they were giving, you know, those congressmen a piece of their minds. Now, they're showing up with these town halls to cheer on some of their own including Allen West.
HOLMES: Jim, is this what we're turning to now? Is this what we're going to see, all these town halls, all these gatherings, bullet-proof vests and other congressmen, you know, saying they have licenses to carry concealed weapons? Is this going to be our new reality?
ACOSTA: It might be in some cases, T.J. We talked to Congressman West about this last night. Congressman West has a permit to carry a concealed weapon, and he said that he will carry a firearm to some of his events, and we asked him about it last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WEST: I've had a concealed weapons license for quite some time, about the last two or three years. And, you know, I take it upon myself and my personal responsibility, but, you know, I choose the venues in which I will carry it.
ACOSTA: Are you carrying it now?
WEST: I can't tell you that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: And West went on to say that he's not going to talk about when he's carrying these firearms and when he's not carrying his firearms. He feels like that's the safest way to go. And we should also mention, T.J., there was a pretty big police presence last night, more than we're used to seeing at these town hall meetings.
HOLMES: Jim Acosta for us this morning in Miami. Jim, we appreciate you as always -- Kate.
ACOSTA: You bet.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: NBA superstar, LeBron James, is helping his former team to another NBA record, but Cleveland isn't so thrilled with this one. "Morning Talkers," next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM LENO, HOST: You know what Wednesday is? You know what holiday it is? It's Ground Hog's Day. Wednesday is Ground Hog's Day.
(APPLAUSE)
LENO: Can you imagine how Taco Bell is going to celebrate that?
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: Delicious.
HOLMES: Poor taco bell. It's 21 minutes past the hour. Speaking of, I guess, unhealthy food. Taco Bell, not known for nutrition, necessarily. No offense. The stuff is delicious, but the whoopi pie, we're all getting educated on the whoopi pie this morning.
BOLDUAN: There's a big debate about it.
HOLMES: Yes. You're seeing it there. But the debate of whether or not to make it Maine's official state dessert. Now, if you don't know what this is, it is a slab, not a slice, a slab. BOLDUAN: See? A schlep (ph)!
HOLMES: Of ice cream. Oh, excuse me. It's creamy frosting, I should say, sandwiched between two chocolate cakes. Now, some are saying no, this shouldn't be our official dessert. Because why? It's unhealthy. You don't want to send that message. Others say it's good for business. So, let the food fight begin.
BOLDUAN: Did you see the label? Wicked Whoopie.
HOLMES: Now, blueberries? What is this? Blueberries? That's an alternative, possibly. So, you go from the whoopie pie to the blueberries.
BOLDUAN: I think we're going to have little sound bite.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL DAVIS, MAINE STATE REPRESENTATIVE: I know much has been stated about the nearly 4,000 people that paid $6 apiece last summer to attend the Second Annual Whoopie Pie Festival in Dover-Foxcroft. Do we really want to glorify a dessert list large as its primary ingredient?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Hard to argue with that point.
BOLDUAN: If you put it that way.
HOLMES: Whoopi pie sounds great when you say lard, it doesn't sound delicious.
BOLDUAN: At least of you, a little bit?
HOLMES: A little bit.
BOLDUAN: Good to know.
Last year with LeBron James, the Cleveland Cavaliers were the first team to 40 wins. This year without him, the Cavs are the first team to 40 losses. No NBA team has done that before. LeBron helped his old team reach the milestone last night, so kind of him, scoring 24 points as the Miami Heat routed Cleveland 117-90. That score just surprised me. It was the Cavs 21st straight loss this season.
HOLMES: Too bad for Cleveland. Those fans still have been doing well in their attendance in Cleveland, even though the team is just horrid right now. But you feel bad for the team and feel bad for Cleveland right now. Let's take you to the college game. Let me show you what happens here. Just look closely at the screen. Young fellow goes up for the dunk. Oh, nice move! He's going to be on ESPN -- oh, it came out! Yes, it's down in and comes back out!
Now, I can't remember what the rule is necessarily here, but usually, when it goes in and hits the net and comes back out, it still counts. I'm not sure what happened in this particular game. Something you don't see everyday. It was in the Kansas/Kansas State game.
BOLDUAN: Very, very interesting. So, happening right now, we talked about a little this morning, the annual race to the top of the Empire State Building. Sounds pretty easy, right? Sure, for some. Eighty-six flights of stairs. I think we're taking a look at -- I think those are some live pictures from there. That's 86 flights of stairs. 1,576 steps from ground floor to the observation deck.
And our Jason Carroll got the plum assignment of actually running that, and we're told he just finished! He's, obviously, needing to get his breath. He's among the 100 or so running to support the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. They're going to be benefiting from this run, and we're going to be talking with Jason Carroll in a little bit.
HOLMES: Also, coming up, our Stephanie Elam. You've been hearing about Egypt, and no internet service there, cell phone coverage kind of spotty, so people are trying to get their messages out on Twitter. Google and Twitter are teaming up to find a way for you to get those tweets out. It's 24 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
Google helping Egyptians get out the word after a communications crackdown there that we've been talking about. Stephanie Elam is "Minding Your Business" this morning, and she's joining us now. This one is really cool.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It is cool. It's cool because there are some people out there saying, you know what? Egyptians should have the right to get out whatever they want to say, get their message out, and so, we have a couple of companies who are looking to help out. I mean, you look at some of the unrest that is happening in Egypt, and you see that they've cut down on cell phone service, they cut down internet service, all of this. So, we have some interesting new developments here.
Take a look at what has happened to internet traffic for one thing. You've got the cell phone limited during the demonstration. You have internet service provider shutting down for most people. There are still a few ways around this. But one thing, Egyptians can actually speak to tweet. That is one option. This is coming from Twitter and Google. And they set up some international phone lines, and what Egyptians can do? They can call in and say, hey, here is my message.
They can say it, hang up, and then, their tweet will go out instantaneously. They can also call in to those numbers and listen to see what tweets are out there. This service came up over the weekend. The guys behind these companies came up, decided, you know what, this is something that they need. They came up with this idea, and now, it is working for them. Also, remember that old school dialup option which I was making the sound before, but T.J. didn't really like that, but you know, the old school sound. You remember how it sounds. HOLMES: Do it again.
ELAM: Tee-hoo!
(LAUGHTER)
ELAM: Well, you can still do that in Egypt, apparently. It's like 30 numbers you can dial into, and you can get the old school dialup and get some service of the internet and may take you a very long time. You just need an international phone line to do that. But if you take a look at what happened to internet traffic in Egypt, you see it's running along like normal, and then, all of a sudden, it just falls off a cliff. There you go.
You can see it's just like falling directly off. You can see where they shut it off overnight on the 27th going into the 28th there. So, this has been very difficult. So, some creative ideas to help out and let Egyptians to get their word out, get their messages out about what is going on there with the march million.
BOLDUAN: I was trying to figure out, because, you know, you normally tweet out on your Twitter profile, whatever it's called. But, you know, these go to like specific hash tags like pound Egypt.
(CROSSTALK)
BOLDUAN: How are they going to follow this person or follow a certain thing?
ELAM: I mean, if you're looking for a certain chain, I mean, obviously, right now, I don't think a lot of people are just, you know, trying to keep up with their celebrities right now. They're trying to keep up with exactly what's going on and so that's how they're following it based on that. Pretty interesting, though. Over the weekend, they came up with that. That is pretty cool. They say the necessity is the mother of all invention.
HOLMES: Pretty good. Stephanie, thanks.
ELAM: Thank you.
HOLMES: And another breaking story we're following this morning out of the region, but this out of Amman, Jordan, where King Abdullah has fired his cabinet and appointed a new prime minister who is being tasked with forming a new government. The new government will be Marouf Bakhit who is replacing Samir Rifai. Samir Rifai was the target of many angry protests over the weekend in Jordan. They wanted him out.
Coming to the reports from Jordan's government news agency, it says that King Abdullah has asked Bakhit, to, quote, "take practical, swift, and tangible steps to launch a real political reform process."
BOLDUAN: And the woman known as "Jihad Jane" is due in federal court in Philadelphia today and her lawyer says she has changed her mind and plans to plead guilty. The feds say Colleen Larose, blonde- haired, blue-eyed American citizen was recruiting women online who had passports and could travel in Europe and elsewhere to launch attacks. Larose faces life in prison.
HOLMES: Take a look here. This is what police are calling bullying at its worst. This is a cell phone video out of Pennsylvania where police say at least six, maybe seven teenagers beat a 13-year- old classmate. You see him, they are dragging him through the snow and at one point hung up by a tree and hung on to a fence. But the savage beating took place and one of the classmates actually caught it on video, caught it on cell phone video. Six of the classmates have now been charged with attacking him.
BOLDUAN: The National Weather Service calls it a life- threatening storm, blizzard warnings from Oklahoma to Michigan. Thousands of flights already canceled. Just in to CNN, all of the runways at Dallas/ft. Worth international airport are now closed. Hopefully, only for a little while.
HOLMES: We don't how long. Let's turn to St. Louis now, another place going to be hit by the storm. Reynolds Wolf is there for us live. How are conditions now, Reynolds?
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Getting worse, guys. The rain is picking up, the freezing rain. It will be affecting travel. You were talking about flight delays. I can tell you that there is the possibility there may be up to 6,000 cancellations in terms of domestic flights over the next 48 hours all due to the rough weather.
Take a look at this branch is coated with ice. This is your average tree of maybe 40 feet high and can have four tons of ice and when they the branches break they cause widespread outages. Right now only 100 homes without power now, but we expect that to increase.
The volume of the roadways, you're seeing more cars out. Thankfully the Department of Transportation was out last night putting out sand and chemicals and salt on the roadways to keep things fine. But the problem is as the rain continues and the snow moves in, conditions will continue to deteriorate, probably the worst of it later this afternoon and overnight and into tomorrow.
There is a blizzard warning in effect for the St. Louis area, heavy snowfall in place of a foot and on top of that wind gusts can which may top 50 miles an hour into the afternoon.
It's going to be a rough time. Winter is really getting a punch in right here. Of course, we're going to keep the story and following it carefully here in St. Louis and across the Midwest and, of course, up to Rob Marciano in the Great Lakes. Let's send it back to you in the studio.
HOLMES: Reynolds, thank you so much and we'll talk to you again soon.
BOLDUAN: Thanks, Reynolds. Short of breath for good reason and for a good cause. Jason Carroll just sprinted up the 86 floors of New York's Empire State Building, yes, he did. This morning at 8:33 is what he did here. Is there glory at the top? We're checking in with him live next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: It's 37 minutes past the hour on this "American Morning." live look outside. Columbus Circle right outside where we are here at the Time Warner Center.
BOLDUAN: It's snowier there than when we came in this morning.
HOLMES: A little bit but we're used to seeing this every single week this here in New York. Meanwhile, this morning, one of our correspondents Jason Carroll had a heck of assignment this morning, not just reporting but participating in a race, but not the kind you're used to. This is the 34th year they have done this thing called "Race to the Top."
BOLDUAN: Race to the Top, to the top of the Empire State Building, that is. Jason joins us now from the observation deck. He made it. I'm very proud of you, first off.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes!
BOLDUAN: This is also for a very good cause. How did you do and how are you doing?
CARROLL: OK. Answer to the first question, I used to take breathing for granted, Kate and T.J., but not anymore.
(LAUGHTER)
This is proof I did it. This is my medal. We're going to give it to our executive producer Jimmy who made me do this assignment knowing that I had not trained but I did it anyway -- 86 flights, 1,576 steps, right? These are the guys who helped me do it. Tom Holland was my pacer and my coach during the whole thing. Much props to you.
And Kathy Goosty (ph) is the founder and organizer of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. Part of this is for a great cause. Gorillas run the race, too.
(LAUGHTER)
It really is a demanding experience, isn't it?
TOM HOLLAND, COACH: It's much harder than people think. It's straight up and 20 minutes are really working hard.
CARROLL: Feels like your heart is jumping out of your chest! Kathy Giusti, once again, also for a very good cause. What is going on here? Tell us about that.
KATHY GIUSTI, CEO, MULTIPLE MYELOMA RESEARCH FOUNDATION: We had 100 runners raising $250,000 for research for multiple myeloma, and we are so grateful. It was just an amazing and wonderful event. CARROLL: I wonder on a day like today if we ran the steps or did the Iditarod. It's freezing up here. This is the top, ladies and gentlemen, the Empire State Building. You hear about the storm moving? Take a look. You can imagine how cold it is up here. What an experience. I have to tell you climbing the steps, Tom is like, Jason, we can push it and I'm looking at him, really? With what are we going to push it with?
HOLLAND: You did a great job. You did really well.
CARROLL: In terms of time, how did we do?
HOLLAND: You did 20 minutes. It was our goal and we hit it.
CARROLL: So there you go, top of the empire state building -- weak legs, weak heart, but all for a very good cause. Once again, bringing us back to our executive producer Jim, thank you, Jim, really appreciate it. Thank you.
(LAUGHTER)
BOLDUAN: WE are impressed with this. We were reading up on the record, and I can't remember what year, but it was 9:33, which I can truly not believe. I'm also reading quite a bit of strategy to this where the best runners, they take steps two at a time. Was there a strategy for you guys?
CARROLL: Yes, the strategy for me was to breathe. That was my strategy. It worked for me. But also I'm grabbing hold of the rails, right?
HOLLAND: Yes.
CARROLL: That also helps. It's upper body as well as lower body but breathing is what I did.
HOLLAND: Important, very important.
CARROLL: Take every breath you can!
HOLLAND: You did very well at that. You did.
(LAUGHTER)
CARROLL: Thanks a lot.
HOLMES: Congratulations to you and to all of the other runners. That is impressive, $250,000 raised. That is a fun event and tough for you guys trying to run it but it's a lot of money raised today. Congratulations to all. Thanks so much and we'll see you back here in a bit.
CARROLL: All right.
HOLMES: You see there, Jason doing a bit of a weather report as well. Some 2,000 miles of the country right now could get hit by a dangerous and destructive storm. It could cripple parts of the Midwest. Our Rob Marciano is coming up next with the very latest on a forecast you have got to see. It's 40 minutes past the hour.
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HOLMES: It's 43 minutes past the hour. We have been telling you for a day or about this storm that is hitting right now that is covering New Mexico to New England, 100 million people in this country affected by it. And we are seeing more and more of these effects.
Right now, Dallas/Ft. Worth is shut down. The airport is closed, closed there because of ice. Another airport in the area, Love Field, it is down to one open runway now. Reynolds Wolf reported just a short time ago could see the country up to 6,000 flight cancellations over the next few days because of a huge storm.
BOLDUAN: It is a huge storm, 2,000 miles long.
HOLMES: So it's not intensity of it, it's the sheer size of this thing. Rob Marciano is standing by for us in Chicago. Rob, you have heard us trying to put this thing in perspective, but you do it for us, if you can. Put it in perspective what kind of a beast we are seeing here with this storm.
MARCIANO: The storms that we have seen this year and a lot of the storms we saw last year on the east coast were these east coast storms, nor'easters that exploded in intensity as we were moving away from everybody and you'd get a fair amount of real estate. They got pounded with heavy snow.
But this is a storm that is developing as it comes out of the Rocky Mountains and combing with that cold air from Canada and tapping into some serious moisture. And then you've got the entire eastern two-thirds of the country that it's got to go through before it's done.
So just the amount of population, amount of real estate is really mind-boggling with this. And the amount of weather that we have with this to have a ground stop in Houston because of thunderstorms and then have a ground stop at Dallas because of winter weather, I -- I can't think of when that's happened.
It's probably been five or six years since they've had any sort of ground stoppage because of winter weather at DFW. Now the runway is closed. So -- and we -- and we're just getting started.
All right, well, you know folks are out about here on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Chicago is open for business today, schools are open and snow really hasn't started in earnest just yet but I think by this time tomorrow it's going to be a whole different ball of wax, I can tell you that.
Here is the storm on the maps and we'll go through some of the important figures that you need to know. This storm obviously is stretching from New Mexico to -- to New England. And the -- the airport delays with this are numerous and will be on the increase today; 600 cancellations, pre-emptive cancellations alone at O'Hare today and obviously that number will be on the rise.
As far as the radar is concerned, we are stretching the moisture all the way from the East Coast to the -- to the Mexican border and the severe weather is going to be plentiful today. We've got strong thunderstorms that are -- are approaching the Louisiana border and the amount of snow that we will see will be striking in some areas.
St. Louis is in a blizzard warning but they are getting ice right now. So that -- that really is going to be a dangerous situation come later on tonight. And then we are also looking at the potential for 12 to 18, maybe 20, could see 24 inches of snow here in Chicago. It depends on how the winds set up off the lake. And if that happens, that would be the worst snowstorm that they have seen since the '60s.
There is the river. It's green on St. Patrick's Day, it's flowing right now. But this entire city is going to be white by this time tomorrow. T.J. and Kate, back over to you.
HOLMES: All right. Rob, we appreciate you this morning. Thanks so much.
BOLDUAN: Well, good seeing you Rob, thanks.
MARCIANO: All right, guys.
BOLDUAN: He built a decades-long career in music, but had quite a secret. Up next, Dr. Sanjay Gupta sits down with the piano prodigy who could hardly bend his fingers. The amazing story coming up next.
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BOLDUAN: There they are.
HOLMES: Oh, there is Phil. He always fakes working well. Well, 10 minutes to the top of the hour here now.
In today's "Human Factor" we are talking about folks who are overcoming obstacles.
BOLDUAN: Amazing obstacles. Today we meet a concert pianist who is battling a disease that affects 50 million people in the United States, arthritis. It nearly derailed Byron Janis's career.
Chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, with today's "Human Factor". This is a very -- this is an amazing story -- Sanjay.
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is -- it is a remarkable story. By the way, you guys look very comfortable on those chairs, I just have to say. You know, can you -- can you imagine being a -- being a pianist at the level that you're about to see and slowly having arthritis creeping into your joints?
I mean, this is your whole life and the pain is just debilitating and dealing with the pain is one thing but the idea that you might lose your entire career is another. Mind over matter is how a lot of people describe getting through something like this. This is what it looks like in action.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): Byron Janis has a rare gift.
He has played the classics from Chopin to Rachmaninoff to crowds at Carnegie Hall and for U.S. presidents. Yet, for most of his career, he has been tormented by wrenching pain.
BYRON JANIS, PIANIST: It started with a little patch of red on this finger inside and it was very painful.
GUPTA: It was 1973, the height of his career Janis was diagnosed with crippling arthritis.
JANIS: At first, I just ignored it. And I couldn't ignore -- but ignored the idea that I had an impediment.
GUPTA: Simply not thinking about the pain is what Janis says enabled him to continue playing to overcome his pain.
JANIS: I learned then about the power of the mind. And I said, no, I'm going to keep playing the piano.
GUPTA: But continuing had consequences.
JANIS: And this thumb was operated on and shortened. And then I had five more operations on my hand.
GUPTA: Janis hid his condition but eventually it became too much to bear. At a White House event in 1984, Janis finally revealed everything.
JANIS: The disease is still with me. I have it, but it does not have me.
GUPTA: The moment was, at first, cathartic. But then Janis became depressed. For a year he refused to play.
Janis's wife whose father is the actor Gary Cooper, asked him to compose a piece for a documentary about her father. It was that piece that brought him back.
JANIS: And I went back to play. I can still play and this is what I want to show people and I have been playing with this all -- all my life.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: It's amazing to listen to him play. You know, he -- he -- you probably have a hard time guessing how old he is now. I'll just tell you, he is 82 years old. He continues to play. He has terrible pain, he tells us still. You know, just it's really awful, but you know, this mind over matter thing, though, that's part of the point of these human factors. BOLDUAN: And it -- it really is amazing how many people suffer from arthritis. It really, I mean, I'm not trying to be flippant here, but it is crippling disease.
GUPTA: It is. And you know, for a lot of people, to be fair, there are -- there are some -- there are some good treatments, some good options out there.
And you know, Byron tried a bunch of those as well but in his case, the pain was still there. And he had a decision to make. He had the operation on his thumb, he had the operation on his pinkie as well, but he got through it and you know you just heard him there at 82 years old.
HOLMES: Wow. Sanjay, we appreciate that this morning. Mind over body, sometimes, the mind works sometimes. All right, Sanjay we appreciate you this morning.
BOLDUAN: Thanks Sanjay.
GUPTA: You got it.
HOLMES: Well, we're getting close to the top of the hour and coming up, a small town in Nevada's desert got some serious juice out there. North America's largest sun-powered energy plant and it means jobs, money and possibly a new future out there. Where "Building up America" next.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: President Obama has challenged American companies to lead the way toward clean green sources of energy.
HOLMES: And that is helping a small, struggling Nevada town seize the solar future. CNN's Tom Foreman live for us this morning with our "Building up America" report. Good morning to you Tom.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, T.J. and Kate.
You know, the sun is not up here but when it does arrive, it will be cause for some celebration. Nevada has had a very, very tough time, but here in Boulder City, people are finding a way to turn it around and build up through sunshine.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN (voice-over): Out in the Nevada desert, the future is growing wild amid a sea of solar cells and the hopes of folks like Scott Crider with Sempra Energy.
SCOTT CRIDER, SEMPRA ENERGY: Right now we have about a million panels.
FOREMAN: Who says he would not want this massive solar field anywhere else.
(on camera): Why is this a good location for this sort of thing?
CRIDER: You know, first there's a lot of available flatland. Second it's incredibly sunny. And third, there's existing transmission lines that provide access to major markets throughout the western United States.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Those lines are near little Boulder City because it was settled at another time when energy and the economy collided. When thousands came during the Great Depression for another grand power generating project.
(on camera): So why is this town here?
DUNCAN MCCOY, CITY COUNCILMEMBER: This town is here because it was a federal reservation to build Hoover Dam.
FOREMAN (voice-over): That's city councilmember Duncan McCoy who says even though sales and property taxes are way down, the solar facility has brought hundreds of temporary construction jobs and desperately needed money because it leases the land near those power lines from the town.
MCCOY: This year, we will get about the current budget about $2.5 million; that is about 11 percent of our city's general fund.
FOREMAN (on camera): That's pretty important money for a town this size.
MCCOY: It is important money and we can count on it.
FOREMAN (voice-over): giving this town a real chance to build up a new future, by looking to its past.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Foreman: Only created a few permanent jobs so far, but the city is excited because they believe that what they have got here is the core of a solid business that, as Duncan said, they can count on into the future to build more jobs, more tax revenue.
Let me tell you, Nevada right now leading the country in unemployment, all of that is very, very important. T.J.
HOLMES: Tom, quickly for me. We are going to see you all week this week on these "Building up America" reports. Where are we going to see you next time?
FOREMAN: Next place you're going to see is in a place that a lot of you may know -- Zappos (ph). The company that has made Internet shoe sales into a run-away success. Who would have thought it? They've made it work here.
We are going there and we'll have that for you very soon.
HOLMES: Outstanding Tom.
BOLDUAN: I will e-mail you my order. Thank you very much, Mr. Foreman. Thanks Tom.
FOREMAN: We will see you then.
HOLMES: And to our viewers, we appreciate you taking some time with us here on this American morning. Of course the big stories we've been following here on CNN and on AMERICAN MORNING what is happening in Egypt and also this huge snowstorm that is going to affect so many people in this country.
BOLDUAN: Across the country; 2,000 miles long, big, whatever you want to call it.
That is it for us. Thanks so much everybody for joining us. "CNN NEWSROOM" with Kyra Phillips starts right now.
