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White House to Get Gun Proposals; Newtown to Discuss Sandy Hook; Former Egyptian President to Get New Trial; Another Woman Gang Raped in India; Costa Concordia Disaster One Year Ago; Miss New York Wins Miss America; JFK Not Killed By Lone Gunman; Inauguration Preps Under Way; Hollywood's Biggest Party; Who Will Win a Golden Globe; CDC: Flu Spreads to 47 States

Aired January 13, 2013 - 14:30   ET

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


MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: It is 2:30 p.m. in the East, 11:30 a.m. on the West Coast. I'm Martin Savidge in for Fredricka Whitfield. If you're just tuning in, thank you very much for joining us.

Let's look at the top stories we're following right now the CNN NEWSROOM. Tomorrow marks one month since the Sandy Hook massacre. That is a horrifying event that galvanized nationwide calls for greater regulation of firearms.

Now on Tuesday, Vice President Joe Biden is expected to present his recommendations to President Obama on how to reduce gun violence. Universal background checks, restrictions on ammunition magazines and a ban on assault rifles will likely be among those proposals.

New York's Senator Charles Schumer went even further today asking Wal- Mart and other retailers to stop selling military-style assault guns.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: I'm urging our country's major gun retailers like Wal-Mart and Sports Authority, to suspend sales of modern assault-style weapons until Congress is able to fully consider and vote on legislation to curb gun violence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: And then on the flip side, gun shows are thriving. The National Rifle Association says its membership swelled by 100,000 since the Sandy Hook shooting saying that the gun control debate in Washington is behind it. NRA President David Keene tells CNN he doubts Congress will actually do anything.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID KEENE, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION: One of the things that we have pushed for, for a number of years is including those who have been adjudicated to be mentally incompetent and potentially dangerous onto the lists of those people who are prohibited from buying firearms, that has not been done.

That should be done because most of the people who engage in these sorts of things are people who have had real trouble. For example, some years ago, the Virginia Tech shooter, would not have been able to purchase a firearm, had that been done in Virginia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: In Newtown, Connecticut, that town is slowly trying to carry on, among the important pieces of business, what to do with the Sandy Hook Elementary School building.

Our Susan Candiotti is live in Newtown where a meeting about the school is about to begin. And Susan, what's happening there now?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Marty. You know, as you said, it's been a month since that tragedy happened. And literally, there are signs still around Newtown, in tribute to all of the victims, including for the 27 people killed, including 20 children, 6-year-old and 7-year-old boys and girls among the dead.

And here at Newtown High School, at this hour, a public forum is beginning, to decide what to do about Sandy Hook Elementary School. You remember that the children are attending another school now, but again, what to do with it.

Do you destroy that school? Do you put a public memorial, a memorial in its place or perhaps a combination of those ideas and that's in part what this public forum is about, to talk about ideas -- Marty.

SAVIDGE: Yes, that's a very difficult discussion to even imagine they're having in that community. How are the people recovering? How is that town healing?

CANDIOTTI: Well, you know, people are saying a lot of things about the healing process, Marty. For example, we spent some time at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church where nine of the children were parishioners. And it's been a very difficult time for them as you can imagine.

And their philosophy is that it is good to just be there for each other, to lean on each other. To talk about it as people want to talk about it and get strength from each other.

And you know, ever since this happened, believe it or not, they have received, they estimate, tens of thousands of people of mail and mementos from all over the world. Every day a dozen volunteers come in to sort this out and put them in individual boxes for victims' families. They're very touched by all of this -- Marty.

SAVIDGE: Almost beyond belief. All right, Susan Candiotti, thank you very much.

In international news, in Egypt, former President Hosni Mubarak will get a new trial. His lawyer believes the retrial could take place within two months. Mubarak is currently serving a life sentence for ordering the killings of peaceful protesters during eat Egyptian uprising. The 84-year-old was deposed after 30 years in power. And there been another shocking incident of gang rape in India. The latest happened this weekend in the northern state of Punjab. Police have arrested six suspects and a manhunt is under way for a seventh.

The 29-year-old woman was taken to an undisclosed address after she got on bus and was raped all night. The attack is eerily similar to an assault last month where a group of men gang-raped a woman and brutally beat her after she boarded a bus. She later died. That attack sparked protest and international outrage.

And today marks a year since the "Costa Concordia" disaster and the cruise ship is still laying on its side. Hundreds of people are working on the wreck, observing a moment of silence to commemorate the disaster. At least 32 passengers and crew died when the ship sank off the coast of Italy.

Meantime, officials announce that the ship will be towed to port in one peace in September. Italian prosecutors meanwhile are still awaiting charges against the ship's captain.

It's been nearly 30 years since a woman from New York has won Miss America.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your new Miss America is -- Miss New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: There she is, 23-year-old Malory Hagen, accepting the crown at the Miss America pageant in Las Vegas last night. She tap danced to James Brown's "Get Up Off That Thing." While there were no meltdowns there were a couple of firsts, Miss Iowa let the audience know she had tourette's syndrome. One comment she made is getting a lot of attention on the web.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIAH CARY, MISS IOWA: I personally know people who have had to go to medical marijuana for their last resort for their health care. I completely agree with that, however, I do not think it should be used for anything but recreational use and health care.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: Also there is Miss Montana, she is the pageant's first contestant with autism.

A new and surprising take on the lone gunman theory. And this time, it's the family of slain President John F. Kennedy speaking out. You have to hear this.

Plus -- they're getting ready for a big show in Washington. President Obama's second swearing-in is just over a week away and we're in D.C. live with all the latest on the party preps and the inside details. Plus anything can happen at the Golden Globes. We're breaking down some of the odds, pick your favorites and find out what our expert is predicting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: President John F. Kennedy was not assassinated by a lone gunman. At least that's what the belief of Robert F. Kennedy, according to his son Robert Kennedy Junior is. Speaking at a roundtable in Dallas, he said that his father publicly supported the Warren Commission, which said it was a lone gunman.

But privately, he was much more critical of that conclusion. Robert f. Kennedy Junior said his father thought there was strong enough evidence that he asked the Justice Department to look into the connection between the assassination and the mafia and the CIA and other organizations.

But he never publicly voiced those concerns because he thought it would take away from the civil rights fight that was gripping the country at the time.

It is the biggest celebration that happens once every four years. We are, of course, talking about the inauguration of the president. All the bands, the drill teams and the stand-ins are in the capital today, rehearsing for next week's second inauguration of Barack Obama.

Athena Jones is in Washington as well to give us a sneak preview of it all. Athena, hello. I guess they started early and I suppose they're trying to make sure they work out all the kinks. You don't want to have anything go wrong on the big day, do you?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Certainly not, you think once every four years they'll try to get it right. Today we've seen fife and drums practicing, marching bands, members from every branch of the military practicing marching and formation.

We've seen people standing in for the vice president and for President Obama, as well as the first lady and two young girls standing in for Sasha and Malia to make it as close to how they expect it to be as possible next week.

Of course, there's a lot of excitement here in town. We had a chance to speak with the president of the Chamber of Commerce about some of their expectations, let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA LANG, PRESIDENT, WASHINGTON D.C. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: What we're hearing is anywhere from 600,000 to 800,000 people coming into the city. You compare that to 2008, 2009, 2008 election, 2009 inauguration, it was almost two million, 1.8. Those of us in the business community would love to see two million people in our city. But no, we're not looking anywhere near those numbers.

(END VIDEO CLIP) JONES: And so not as many people expected as last time. But if you think about it, 600,000 to 800,000 is no slouch and of course, while you need tickets to get up close. Right here behind me, out on the mall, it's a free for all. So they certainly expect a lot of people -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: I always love looking at the video of the stand-ins for the huge name tags around their necks. Do we know if the president or other officials will actually do run-through or not?

JONES: No. The president spent at least today, he went and watched a little bit of one of his daughter's basketball games. He won't be doing the sort of practice that we can see here. I can tell you that the actual swearing in will be next Sunday behind closed doors.

We'll get video of it. It's because it's the constitutionally- mandated day of January 20th. The big day, the big celebration like we saw last four years ago will be on Monday. That's when all that you see behind us will get under way -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: All right, Athena, we'll look forward to it. Thank you very much.

It is a Golden Globes first, two of the funniest women in comedy hosting the show together. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, they're in control tonight and millions of us are going to be watching. We've got the inside scoop from where else, Hollywood.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: Hollywood is getting ready for its biggest party of the year, the Golden Globes. After hosting the show for three years straight, British comedian Ricky Gervais is out and BFFs Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are in. Nischelle Turner has a preview of tonight's awards.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It will be splendid, filled with surprises, slightly ghetto, drunken.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Golden Globes hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler aren't just hosting an awards show. They're emceeing Hollywood's biggest party of the year. Just ask anyone who attended in the past.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I was there, people were having a pretty damn good time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's fun. I mean, I went last year with all the ladies from "The Help." We drank a lot of champagne.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe the Golden Globes, people want everyone drunk for some reason.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It becomes a party to be able to celebrate how hard it is to survive in this business.

TURNER: Surviving in the business is one thing, being recognized for your work is another. Amid the champagne and (inaudible) awards are actually handed out to some of the best in television and movies.

Now appears to be the time for Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln." The period piece leads the way in the drama categories with seven nominations, including best motion picture, best actor, Daniel Day- Lewis and supporting actress, Sally Field.

Joining "Lincoln" in the best picture drama race are "Argo," "Django Unchained," Life Of Pi" and "Zero Dark Thirty." The musical, "Les Miserables" and surprise hit, "Silver Linings Playbook" headline the comedy or musical categories with a handful of nominations each including best picture.

Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway earned acting nods for "Les Mis," while Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper were nominated for "Silver Linings Playbook."

BRADLEY COOPER, ACTOR: It's wonderful because especially a movie like this where it's a word of mouth film.

TURNER: "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" "Moonrise Kingdom" and "Salmon Fishing In The Yemen" round out the best picture in a musical or comedy category.

HBO's made for TV movie "Game Changer and the most nominations in the television field with five while "Homeland" leads the drama race with four nominations including best series, best actress, Claire Danes and best actor, Damien Lewis.

"Homeland" will battle it out with "Boardwalk Empire" and "The Newsroom" in the best drama series contest. "Modern Family" has done well at the Globes, it won best TV series and is nominated in the same category this year, as well as supporting acting nods for Eric Stonestreet and Sophia Vergara.

A repeat for best comedy or musical could be tough for "Modern Family" as it faces stiff competition from "The Big Bang Theory," "Episodes," "Girls" and "Smash" in that category.

But come the day of the ceremony, everyone who gets to walk down the Globe's red carpet is a winner. Just ask the hosts.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It will be the greatest celebrity party/award show in all of Hollywood.

TURNER: Nischelle Turner, CNN, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: So who is going to win? Eighteen movie experts have already made their picks and we've got the predicted winners for you. Joining me now is Tom O'Neil, editor of "goldderby.com" a web site that tracks the showbiz award's top winners. Welcome, Tom, nice to see you again.

TOM O'NEIL, EDITOR, GOLDDERBY.COM: Good to be here.

SAVIDGE: All right, first of all, what should we watch for tonight?

O'NEIL: We're looking for the best performance at the podium because this is your Oscar audition, if you're in this race. And I can think of examples historically like Hilary Swank and Jamie Foxx, who were so amazing at the podium. That the Oscar voters said, you know what, I want to see that again.

SAVIDGE: All right, well, I know -- we sort of teased this. What are the current odds on winners for the Globes, based on globederby.com?

O'NEIL: Starting with what category?

SAVIDGE: Well, let's start with best movie.

O'NEIL: Best movie, it looks as if "Lincoln" is ahead with 13-8 odds. I think it has, with the most nominations, it seems to have a consensus, 10 of the 18 experts at gold derby are backing that. Six are for "Argo," two are for "Zero Dark Thirty."

SAVIDGE: Best actor?

O'NEIL: Best actor, Daniel Day-Lewis has this in the bag. Seventeen of our experts say he's going to win and I think it's safe to say he's on a clear march to the Oscar.

SAVIDGE: Yes, I think he's pretty safe there. How about best supporting actor or actress?

O'NEIL: Best supporting actress is pretty much Anne Hathaway's to win here although watch out for Sally Field potentially.

SAVIDGE: OK, well, let's talk about the upsets because I think those are always the interesting ones that jump out at us. I've got a few in mind, but I'm wondering what you see.

O'NEIL: Well, I think everyone has got this prognostication wrong, Martin. I think it's going to be "Argo's" big night. They are starstruck at the Golden Globes. "Argo" isn't just Ben Affleck's achievement. Remember who produced it. It's George Clooney.

I think we're going to see at least "Argo" take best director for Ben Affleck, but probably best picture too. Now that's very controversial because remember, "Argo" was not nominated for best director at the Oscars this week.

And normally you need those parallel nominations for picture and director to go all the way. But I think we're going to see something amazing tonight that could be the game-changer of Oscar season.

SAVIDGE: Yes, I watched that movie last night. I'm a fan of history. It is a very, very good film. Enjoyed it greatly. Tom O'Neil, editor of goldderby.com. Thanks very much for the prognostication. We'll see how it all plays out. Thank you.

O'NEIL: Thanks, Martin.

SAVIDGE: Only three states that managed to avoid this menace so far. You know what I'm talking about -- it's the flu. Chances are you've either had it or you're really trying hard not to get it we've have tips on how to avoid the epidemic.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: You may be sick of this story, but the flu has spread to 47 states. There is some good news though. The CDC says that the situation seems to be slowly improving. So far, though, 20 children have died. And doctors are encouraging those who haven't got the flu sweat yet to go out and get it.

Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta has details.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: The latest numbers from the CDC tell us that we're now seeing widespread activity in 47 states. In fact only California, Mississippi and Hawaii aren't at that level. Now it's important to note that this tells us about the spread, but not the severity. And while high levels of activity have gone down a bit in five states, they've actually gone up in several others.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JOSEPH BRESEE, CDC INFLUENZA DIVISION: We're seeing flu in almost every part of the country right now and lots of it. So we do think that the early signs that the southeast may be starting to go down are hopeful. But I think the message to the folks out there is that there are still lots of flu around. We expect it to be around for several more weeks. But it's still not too late to get vaccinated if you haven't already.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: Now it's also important to remember this is just a snapshot of the first week of the New Year. And because flu is so unpredictable, it's hard to tell this early on if flu season has peaked already or not. For now we're basically at the halfway mark of the most intense part of the season. There's still time to get a flu shot.

In case you're curious, about 37 percent of people have had a flu shot. Keep this in mind, it takes about two weeks after you get the shot to build up your immunity and your protection. There's also a possibility that even though you've been vaccinated in time. You could still get the flu, but the symptoms may not be as severe because your body has built up some immunity. Back to you.

SAVIDGE: Thanks very much, Doctor. Well, it takes a lot to shock New Yorkers at least usually, but it has happened. In Central Park, take a look. Not sure what that is? Here's a hint. It's more than 200 years old and it's loaded.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: Here's what's trending around the web. Internet trail blazer, Aaron Schwartz has died. Schwartz hanged himself in his apartment. He was only 26. As a teenager, Schwartz was involved with developing website Reddit and RSS Technology, technology that has impacted just about all of us. After dropping out of Stanford University, he focused on battling internet censorship. Schwartz had blogged about his battle against depression.

And talk about serious pocket change. The Treasury Department said it won't be minting a $1 trillion coin to avert a federal government default. The coin would have been deposited into the Federal Reserve, but it would never have been in circulation. The federal government has already reached the debt ceiling of nearly $16.4 trillion.

And a dangerous find in New York's Central Park. Conservancy workers were cleaning an 18th-Century cannon when it was realized it was fully loaded and ready to fire full of gun powder and a cannon ball. A bomb squad was called in to remove the explosives.

I'll be back in one hour and I'll show you the apps that can help you track the deadly flu outbreak where you live and locate a doctor who can treat you if you get sick. But first, Ali Velshi explains why we still don't have a budget and how our elected officials have bungled a basic business process that most of us handle with ease. It's a must see and "YOUR MONEY" starts right now.