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Blizzard Buries Northeast; First Lady Attends Teen Funeral; Ex- Cop Video Clue To Danger He Poses; 40 Million Plus People Affected By Blizzard; Boston Slammed With Hurricane Force Winds; Hundred Of Cars Stranded On Expressway; Jesse Jackson Jr. Signs Plea Deal; Grammy Awards Handed Out Sunday; Helicopters Search For Accused Killer; Looking For Solutions To Murders; Uphill Fight For Gun Control Bill; Documents Question "In Cold Blood" Accuracy; Asteroid Hurtling Closer To Earth; Apps, Websites Help Monitor Weather

Aired February 09, 2013 - 12:00   ET

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

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Ashleigh. I'm Deborah Feyerick at CNN Headquarters in Atlanta. We've lots of major news stories today including the blizzard blanketing parts of the northeast. No power, no mail. That is what more than half a million people are facing today across the northeast.

As of right now, more than 3 feet of snow has fallen in some areas. Some roads are so treacherous that the U.S. Postal Service is now suspending mail in seven states. We're going to take you across the region ahead.

She's the newest face in the war on gun violence. Today in Chicago 15-year-old Hidia Pendleton will be buried and among her mourners will be first lady Michelle Obama. Pendleton was shot in the back just days after marching in the president's inaugural parade. Police say it looks if she got caught in the cross fire between two gangs.

In California, search teams are back out trying to find and arrest ex-cop and suspected killer Christopher Dorner. Authorities say he's still at large possibility in the resort area of Big Bear Lake. Dorner is accused of killing three people in revenge for losing his, quote, "dream job," unquote, with the LAPD. He allegedly has a hit list of dozens more. Everyone out in California on high alert.

An asteroid half the size of a football field is hurtling to earth at 17,000 miles an hour. It's expected to pass inside satellites orbiting our planet. Scientists say people have nothing to worry about. We'll have the details on this stellar event later this hour.

BANFIELD: Hi, everyone. Welcome back. I'm in Fairfield, Connecticut, and this is one heck of a mess. Case in point, look over here. I'm at a gas station off 95. You have here the perfect example of why the governor says don't leave your house. That's what you call summer driving in winter conditions.

Forty million people in the path of a big blizzard. Please, let the public works people do their jobs. I don't know how many times I can say this. I said it last night and all day this morning. The 95 is a parking lot because of people like that.

The only people supposed to be on the roads are guys with big -- going to get out of the way over here. I just don't trust that that car can control itself if it gets traction. Guys with big, big vehicles and front-end scoops on the front helping the state to clear snow or the public utilities themselves not only helping to clear snow, but get power up to the roughly 650,000 people who got knocked out with this killer blizzard.

Remarkable stuff, those are big, big numbers. Let me tell you this -- it's not over. There's still some blowing snow like here in Connecticut where the sun is shining and it's a beautiful day if it weren't for the overwhelming wind. You've got to get off the road, sir. No one's supposed to be out. It's dangerous.

Good luck. Be safe, OK, because a lot of people off the roads. I've watched people like that not only off the road on 95 but buried over as well. There were wrecks the whole way here. In case you're wondering what the heck were you doing on 95? We in the media are allowed to be out as well.

But it's a $1,000 fine and up to a year in jail if you cause problems. I mean, it is a misdemeanor, but it is a serious one if there are problems that you cause, if you break the ban. There are several states with this ban in place, Massachusetts one of them where Indra Peterson is standing by live right now.

Indra, I don't know if the blizzard conditions where you are have abated. I know Jason Carroll was there earlier saying that the snow is still falling. My snow is just a blowing snow that's already on the ground and being whipped up by big winds.

INDRA PETERSON, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, you know, pretty much what we are dealing with. There have been some heavier bands out here. It looks like right now we're kind of in between two bands. I know there is one near the coast and a little one that's a little bit farther inland.

I'll give you the latest though, 21.8 inches that's what we've seen since 7:00 a.m. this morning, but since then we've had snowfall rates of several inches per hour. In the next hour, we'll find out how much we've had up to this point.

We're trying to see if we can beat the record of 27.5 inches. Right now, it's still cold. A lot of people out here, they are enjoying this, people snowshoeing and people running out in shorts. I have Beth and Dan here. What are you guys doing out here this morning?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our crazy dogs want to get out. They love it. We're chasing them around.

PETERSON: A little stir crazy through the night?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They'll figure it out with the snow over their head.

PETERSON: Have you been through a storm like this before? Is this your first blizzard?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've been living in Boston for ten years. Two years ago it was like this every other week.

PETERSON: Been a while. You guys feel prepared? Is the city prepared? Everything went the way you expected?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I think closing down the "t" was a smart move. Nobody got stuck yesterday. Now everyone is just figuring out what to do today.

PETERSON: Yes, and exactly that's really what we're hearing of 15 inches of snow are still out toward Logan. They're now starting to clear that just in the last hour or so. Still have about 3,600 pieces of machinery clearing the roads, a mandate to stay off the roads until at least 4:00 p.m.

They'll obviously evaluate that further throughout the day. Now again, we're still watching that low try to exit out of the area. Even though we're seeing like it's calmer, that stronger band is farther inland. As the low tries to cruise off towards Atlanta, we could see some strong bands again.

As far as temperatures, we're below freezing once you add in the wind chill. Temperatures today, the highs in the single digits here and we're also going to be talking about winds.

As we know these gusts, we're still talking about gusts, 50 miles per hour, so I can't tell you because the national weather service meters tell you how high the wind is, those got blown out last night. So that's a guess. That's the advice. Stay off the roads. Let everyone do their job here and keep everyone safe.

BANFIELD: Good advice, Indra. From your lips to the weather God's ears because as you were just talking about gusts, we just got walloped by a couple of real big ones. You know, these are gusts of upwards of 30 miles an hour, 40 miles an hour.

So they really do whip the wind up and make visibility tricky even though the effective blizzard is over. And you mentioned, Indra, the travel ban in Massachusetts. The governor of this state, Connecticut, Dan Malloy, has said travel ban remains in effect until I say so otherwise.

We were thinking maybe 4:00 this afternoon, but it is indefinite until it's safe. Here is the problem. Getting around is still brutal and the plows can't plow past all the parking lot people on I-95. Here's another big problem.

Trying to restore power, all those utility companies that have been brought in from other states to help out in Connecticut, they can't get around either if the cars are choke up the roads. Some of those cables are buried and trying to unearth them from all of this snow is also tricky.

Alexandra Steele, part of the problem with that is this blowing snow continues to drift even after the plows go through. These remarkable winds are making it tricky here. Are they going to stay around for a long time?

ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: No. They're going to stay around for you today. The gust you had about a moment ago was about 38 miles per hour wind gust. That's what you'll see through the day, but they will slacken throughout tonight and tomorrow will be much calmer.

So kind of finishing up this day, it will all wind down. The snow has wound down where Ashleigh is in Fairfield, not quite where Indra is yet, but it will within the next couple hours. Connecticut, really bulls-eye for some of the most substantial snow, 38 inches in Milford, Connecticut, that's right along the shoreline, right along 95.

New Haven, 34 inches, Bridgeport, 30 inches, Hamden, 34, Madison -- Madison, 32 inches. Gilford, Madison, Branford, those shoreline communities really got socked. All that moisture coming in off the Walter coupled with that cold air kind of wrung out every inch possible.

Even on Long Island 30 inches. Stony Brook in Long Island, 28 inches, Islip, Paramus, new Jersey, New Jersey not out of this as well, 14 inches, Central Park 11 inches. Almost seems paltry, right, compared to the 30-inch numbers in Connecticut.

But even Maine, almost 30 inches in Portland and actually that was the record, the greatest single snowfall total, Worcester, 28, so Providence even at 16.5 so we've all seen it, but it is also coming to an end. The winds are all weakening. Now we're seeing gusts in the 30s and 40s.

Earlier, last night about midnight to about 2:00 this morning we had 60, 70, hurricane force wind gusts. This is the snow predominantly off the coast, but that's what Indra was saying. She was kind of between a couple of these bands.

One to the west, the same band that's set up shop throughout this entire event for most part and was bright and it was really bright and white. It's called kind of banding where the snow coming down 2, 3 inches an hour and that's how you get up to those 30, 35-inch snowfall totals.

This is where we've seen it. It hasn't let up. That's how weather is, kind of just stays where it is and that's what we've seen on that 91 line. That will abate, too. You can see it slackening. For the most part it's offshore and will continue to move off. So the winds will weaken throughout the day. The snow will end.

Here's Boston. You can see by this afternoon where this area of low pressure is well offshore. So pretty much today things will wind down, the snow, the winds, it will all move off. Tomorrow we'll be in cleanup mode.

But you can see the big picture. What we're going to see is much quieter conditions. The gusts with this, too, really have been so substantial. You all right, Ashleigh?

BANFIELD: That cleanup mode -- yes. Sorry. You just caught me right in a gust. When it hit, it hurts. Some of that snow that's blowing is really sharp.

STEELE: You made a good point about being out there. You have to be careful if those drivers are out there and can't control the car. We did have a fatality and that was part of it. The gentleman was hit by a car that lost control.

BANFIELD: Alexandra, the wind chill just takes that temperature right down to, you know, close to zero Fahrenheit. It is brutal when the wind blows. When it doesn't blow, the sun was out and it was lovely. Let me get something to you we found out about.

Bridge Port, not far from here, there are about 50 vehicles apparently that are stranded. We also were told the ambulances that were trying to operate in the blizzard getting injured people to the hospital got stuck and had to use SUVs, people with SUVs, to transport patients to the hospital.

Clearly everybody was in, you know, triage mode trying to do what they could do just to function in this blizzard. I know, Deb Feyerick, you've been watching the power outage stories, no surprise given the strength of the wind when you have big, heavy, heavy trees, laden with lots of snow and powerful winds like these, they take those trees down and with them go the power lines.

FEYERICK: Yes, absolutely. That's something we saw during Superstorm Sandy. Just these trees that were taking power lines down one after another. But Ashleigh, as painful as it is to watch when the wind blows, I bet there are tens of thousands of children out there having the best day of the winter.

BANFIELD: Mine included.

FEYERICK: Exactly. All right, thanks, Ashleigh. We're going to be coming right back to you.

Blizzard warnings are still in place for Long Island and up the Maine coast. Connecticut is reporting very high snowfall with a few locations with over 30 inches, some nearing 40 inches. Portland, Maine, got 29.3 inches of snow, breaking the old all-time record of 27.1 inches in 1979.

Boston's Logan International Airport got almost 22 inches of snow. While snowfall is ending in New York, Connecticut, and Long Island, it will be followed by Boston and the New England coast later this evening.

All airports are now open. Yes, believe it or not, in New York, but commercial flights will be running really on a delayed schedule. The planes got to come in from somewhere. A total of nearly 4,800 flights have been canceled. United Airlines canceling the maximum number followed by Delta, U.S. Airways, JetBlue and American Airlines.

For those of you who are not watching this, outdoors or sitting in the dark, almost 650,000 customers without power in the region with the bulk of them in Massachusetts followed by Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and Maine. You can see the trajectory of this storm.

Coastal areas in Massachusetts are under mandatory evacuation orders. The state's Emergency Management Agency fears widespread flooding from the towns of Hull to Sandwich. Residents in Scituate are already reporting rising water.

And the Long Island Expressway and Sunrise Highway, two of the busiest highway, closed to all nonemergency vehicles. Hundreds of cars are now stranded on the expressway because of the snow. There's nowhere for them to go.

Many of the people in the cars have been rescued. Some, though, are still out there. Authorities say they are doing everything that they can to get everyone and to make sure that those folks are at least warm.

First lady Michelle Obama is back in Chicago not far from the Obama family home. She's there for the funeral of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton. Pendleton is the honors student and drum majorette shot and killed in a rainy playground days after performing for a party for the president's inauguration.

Police believe the gunman is a gang member and say Pendleton was caught in the cross fire. Friends say the popular teen was always smiling. She's become a symbol of the gun violence plaguing Chicago. No one has been arrested in the shooting. Police are offering a $40,000 award for any information leading to an arrest.

Former Illinois Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. has signed a plea deal with federal prosecutors. The son of the well-known civil rights leader was under investigation for misusing campaign funds. Details of the deal are sealed, but Jackson could still face prison time.

Jackson had not been seen in Washington since last spring. His office revealed he was receiving treatment for a mood disorder, depression, and gastrointestinal issues. Jackson resigned in late November after winning a tenth term to the House.

The 2013 Grammy Awards are coming up tomorrow night. A new name in Grammy favorite, singer Frank Ocean. He has racked up six nominations. Ocean's album "Channel Orange" is nominated for album of the year. He's also among the candidates for best new artist.

Country singer, Taylor Swift, got to listen to that -- she's among the favorites in the records of the year category with her song, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together Again." Very popular I know among some teenagers. Forty grand, that is the reward offered to anyone who can help investigators find Hidia Pendleton's killer. So why has no one stepped forward? Some say silence and fear have become a part of Chicago's culture and way of life because of gang violence.

Police in three states are out on a manhunt to catch an alleged California cop killer, the suspect a former LAPD officer using the department's own training to target fellow police. So far he is accused of killing three people.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: On the west coast, police will use helicopters to try to find an elusive accused killer. Christopher Dorner used to be one of their own, a former Los Angeles police officer. In fact, he blames law enforcement for the loss of his job and is now in revenge. Dorner is accused of killing three people already.

Paul Vercammen is live for us in Los Angeles. You read the manifesto he's written, he talks about a conspiracy to have him terminated. He also issues an ultimatum, saying when the truth comes out the killing stops. Where are police officers trying to find him right now?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now the focus is here in the mountains, which are actually southeast of Los Angeles. I am in Big Bear, California. This is where the last known trace of Dorner was seen and that was his burning pickup truck.

They have been unable to launch the helicopters here to go into the air and look for Dorner, but they're going to start them up again shortly. They will also start up again officers in snowcats, officers in armored personnel carriers with tire tracks. They'll get the dogs out.

They were unable to do so overnight, Deborah, because of the conditions. It got into the teens in big bear and the wind chill was below zero. Now they will resume that search, combing this vast national forest for Dorner.

They know also that his mom owned property up here, but this was just basically a lot that they hoped to develop. They checked out this property. There was nothing there. But it does indicate that Dorner has knowledge or knows these mountains very well.

And because they saw that burning car up here and then sort of had a five-hour lead time before they were able to confirm that it was his and put in that perimeter, Dorner had a lot of time to get of this mountain.

And from leaving Big Bear he could have gone anywhere in Southern California. He could have headed to Las Vegas, where he has ties. He could have gone into the desert. Deborah, so there's a lot of ground they have to cover.

FEYERICK: What's so fascinating about this is I spoke to somebody in counterinsurgency who basically says right now Dorner really controls the battlefield. You can see all those police officers who are not only hunting for him, but they're trying to protect their own lives because he's been very clear that they, too, are targets and he knows their tactics inside-out.

He's off the grid right now. But how worried are police that he may make his way back to Los Angeles? You've got the Grammys on Sunday night. Usually about a thousand police officers, they're going to have to protect stars while at the same time watching their own backs there -- Paul.

VERCAMMEN: Well, police are absolutely on edge. I don't think I've ever seen officers so tense. When I was in Riverside the other day, for example, where he killed two Riverside police officers, they never took their fingers off their trigger guards.

I mean, they were that concerned. This is after they had set up gauntlets. They're traveling in pairs as best they can so obviously high tension here. They know police are the target and many officers throughout Southern California and their families, of course, because Dorner said in the manifesto he would target families, all of them extremely concerned.

FEYERICK: One thing we have to keep in mind, Paul, is that he was fired three years ago so he's had three years to execute this plan or at least to come up with this plan. Thanks, Paul. We're going to be check in with you later on to see what else is going on.

Also a little later, we're going to bring you exclusive video of the ex-police officer who's now accused of three murders. It shows what authorities are up against, a man who is highly trained and threatening those that he blames for losing the job he loved.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: The funeral for 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton has now begun. She's the high school majorette who was shot. Take a look at some of the pictures. Now, she is the girl who was shot and killed as she sought shelter during a rainstorm in a playground and this was days after performing at a party during President Obama's inauguration.

First lady Michelle Obama, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and senior adviser, Valerie Jarrett, all returned to their hometown to honor the girl. The reward for information leading to her arrest now stands at $40,000.

So as Hadiya is laid to rest, police have had little luck trying to find the killer. Some say it's because of the unspoken code the community knows well -- don't snitch. We know Hadiya wasn't afraid to speak out. Take a look at the PSA she recorded earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HADIYA PENDLETON: Hi. My name is Hadiya. This commercial is informational for you and your future children. So many children out there are in gangs and it is your job to say no to gangs and yes to a great future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Robert Spicer works with parents in schools to help solve gun violence by trying to change the culture. Robert, so many people are afraid to talk. How can they even begin to change it?

ROBERT SPICER, COACHES TEACHERS, CONDUCTS TRAINING AT CHRISTIAN FENGER HIGH: Well, we begin to change it by now beginning to conversant and really talk to each other, not at each other. What we've done at Christian Fenger High School where I've worked since 2009 is begin the whole process of bringing them to justice.

Through that philosophy we've been able to really bring gangs and young people and parents and staff together in opportunities to be able to talk and communicate as to how we heal and how we move forward.

The actual philosophy was highlighted in "The New York Times" and the philosophy looks at how do we heal and move forward after a tragedy or how do we build community, which is so needed right now.

FEYERICK: Robert, in Chicago, there are more than 500 murders last year, less than half resulted in an arrest. Is it that police are outmanned, outgunned or being outsmarted by gang members who simply just hide?

SPICER: We can't arrest our way out of this, nor can we suspend or expel our way out of this situation. It will take everyone working together. That's what we were able to do under the leadership of our principal, Elizabeth Dozier, to begin to partner with everyone to figure out how do we reach our young people, how do we talk to each other, begin to mend relationships.

The police right now have a trust issue with the community and so because of that, the community is not willing to come and talk to them about situations because they are fearful of the police, fearful of retributions for talking to the police. So our city really needs to begin to heal.

And after the funeral and after the services, we need to now mobilize and work together with our police and with our churches and our schools to really move this conversation along and begin to bring in commonsense policies to help our young people.

FEYERICK: You see this girl, Hadiya Pendleton, so much promise, so much hope for the future and now she's gone. Do you think that that could be a rallying cry that maybe the community will say enough and maybe police will say OK, you know, we've got to meet halfway? How do you see her death?

SPICER: Well, I see her death as an opportunity for all of us to really look within ourselves in the African-American community and all communities throughout the city of Chicago and the United States. Look, the first lady is there and we know that the president is a part of this whole conversation, but really politics is local. And we as representatives and citizens of our city need to work together with our politicians to figure out how do we reach our young people? Because the deaths that are going on are with our youth and our youth have a response to this.

They have a way to help us support this. And the generation before us, it was Emmett Till and maybe she would be that Emmett Till, that spark to move the conversation along and begin to bring in commonsense policies that are going to be restorative as opposed to punitive.

FEYERICK: Robert Spicer, thank you so much. Hopefully, perhaps something good will come of this and her death will not have been in vain. Thank you.

SPICER: Thank you.

FEYERICK: We've got more ahead, an asteroid hurtling towards earth. This one will be a close one. How close? Find out. The answer is ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Hi, everyone. Welcome to the beautiful Fairfield, Connecticut, post blizzard but very much pre-windstorms because we keep getting these gusts every so often of upwards of 40-mile-an-hour winds that kick up a ton of snow. The sun is out and it's beautiful, but this is what it looks like when two feet of snow falls overnight.

That's what it looks like when you try to move around and don't have four-wheel drive. You get cars stuck everywhere and very nice people with shovels helping them to get out. So a quick couple of nuggets to get to you from our governor here in Connecticut, Dan Malloy has now said that there are 270 national guardsmen out helping to try to free people out from wherever they may be stuck.

Fifty different vehicles not 5 minutes away from here are stuck and immobilized, people in them, people out of them, some people spending the night in gas stations like this. The gas station I'm at right now, the guy who works here has been working since 8:00 last night because his replacement couldn't make it into work, understandably.

There have been 1,600 calls to the state troopers here. I just met one state trooper and said are you able to ticket anybody for being on the roads when there's a ban? He said, ma'am, I can't stop them. I just can't get at them. It's amazing, just remarkable.

Jason Carroll is standing by. He is in Boston. Jason, I was watching you being whipped around in the snow last night. Hopefully, those blizzard conditions are really starting to abate by now.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Much better now, Ashleigh. We just have light snow that's going on. We get those wind gusts going on as well, but the conditions today, nothing like what we saw last night. Actually 10 inches of snow fell overnight. That's 10 inches of snow.

If you look up the street, you can see some of the results. In all, you've got some 21.8 inches that fell in Boston, but that doesn't tell the whole story. You've got to get out into the neighborhoods like this one in South Boston to see what's going on here and the rest of the city, the big dig out.

Because once these plows come down the streets it creates mounds on both sides and buries these cars. These two have been at it for an hour and a half. They probably have another hour or so to go. You can see as you walk along here, Ashleigh, it's just car after car after car that's buried.

You've got snow plows and salters that are out on the roads trying to do what they can to make the conditions a little easier. Last night, you remember I was in this parking lot and I'm not sure if you remember I was talking to Anderson Cooper and this plower actually got stuck.

He's back here today. He has completely redeemed himself. Brian, I want to talk about some of the challenges you face being out on the roads trying to clear so people can get through.

BRIAN SULLIVAN, SNOW PLOW OPERATOR: Well, a lot of people are trying to clean their cars out and sidewalks and, you know, we're trying to keep it off the street and just getting around on the corners.

CARROLL: The travel ban is still in effect so only emergency vehicles are out, but you can tell people how difficult the conditions are. You got stuck here in this very same spot last night and here you're an emergency vehicle that's equipped for it.

SULLIVAN: Right. It has been difficult. Last night, the visibility was bad. Today now we're trying to clean up and it's going well.

CARROLL: I know you've been at it for many hours. Any idea how much longer you're going to be at it to get the city back where it needs to be?

SULLIVAN: I would say at least today, tomorrow, and hopefully by Monday at least get the streets cleaned and people back -- trying to get back to normal.

CARROLL: I know the city of Boston are appreciative. Thank you very much. Brian Sullivan, one of the plows doing the good work. Once again, the mayor tells us that they've already used some 3,700 tons of salt and sand out in the streets of Boston.

Once again that travel ban is still in effect, Ashleigh. So technically the only people who are supposed to be out on the roads and out in the streets are only emergency vehicles -- Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Aren't you a smart man, Jason Carroll. Look what's going on behind me. It's for this reason there is a travel ban in place. I just watched a guy take off the opposite direction from this gas station about a minute and a half ago and he nearly took out another vehicle on the road.

Because he had to get the momentum to not stay stuck and his momentum couldn't be stopped when he saw a vehicle coming and it was a very close call. There are guys who are helping push people out of the gas station, helping shovel them out of the gas station.

Look what happens. You get down here and it's so slick you can't get any traction. It's just impossible to get around. It's near lethal for people, too. We now have four reported fatalities because of traffic accidents.

Deb Feyerick, I'm going to pass it back to you. I know that there is a whole lot more news on the weather front and then of course, other news that is making headlines as well.

FEYERICK: Yes, absolutely. You know, also, Ashleigh, you have to wonder where people have to go on a day like today. This is the perfect day not to go anywhere. The perfect day to be indoors, catching up on reading and movies and all those other fun things you never have time to do. All right, Ashleigh, thanks so much.

BANFIELD: Great day not to be breaking the law.

FEYERICK: Just enjoy having nothing to do. All right, Ashleigh Banfield, thank you so much. We'll check in with you in just a short while.

Snow, another issue, well, it is easing and police in Southern California can now use helicopters, get them back in the air to search for an accused killer. Christopher Dorner is believed hiding in the rugged mountains near Bear Lake, California. That is where police are searching for him.

Exclusive CNN video of Dorner during his police academy training shows why he is such a threat. He is good, very good, at what he does. He is focused and trained in survival. He is vowing revenge for those he blames for ending his police career.

Police say Dorner has killed at least three people including a police officer who he ambushed in a squad car. He is said to have a hit list and those police officers are now being given round-the-clock protection.

Well, the fight for a ban on semiautomatic assault weapons and for tighter gun control in general appears to be losing momentum. It was top of mind after the Connecticut school shooting, but eight weeks after that nationwide rallying cry, the administration no closer to any new law.

The president wants a ban on assault weapons and a law limiting magazines to ten rounds along with universal background checks, which mean anyone buying a gun undergoes a background check. Newly discovered documents appear to cast doubt on a very famous author and a very famous book, Truman Capote and his bestseller "In Cold Blood." "The Wall Street Journal" reporting that events described in two crucial chapters of the book are actually significantly different from those found in documents originally from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, which were taken by an agent decades ago and only uncovered recently.

The documents also bring into question the reputation of the lead investigator described "In Cold Blood" as a hero brilliantly cracking the case. Truman Capote created the genre of the nonfiction novel.

So now let's check the stories that are trending on the internet right now. Food safety officials in the U.K. have ordered the testing of all beef products. The move comes after horse meat was discovered in beef lasagna sold by the company Findus. Testing revealed between 60 to 100 percent horse meat in the lasagna samples.

The power outage at the Super Bowl is being blamed on newly installed electric relay device meant to protect equipment at the New Orleans Superdome. But the power company and the device's manufacturer don't agree on whether human error was to blame.

Google's executive chairman plans to sell a big chunk of his stake in the company. Eric Schmitt will the sell up to 3.2 million shares of Google stock. Guess how much that's worth, pretty penny, $2.5 billion. What do you do with that much money?

We've got more ahead. An asteroid is hurtling towards earth and this one will be close. How close? Find out. The answer is ahead from the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: It is half the size of a football field and it is hurtling to earth at 17,000 miles an hour. The asteroid is expected to pass inside satellites orbiting our planet. And if that's too close for comfort, well, you're not alone. Tom Foreman gives us a look at the close encounter to come.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In cosmic terms, this is a very close encounter, the closest one that NASA has ever seen for something this big. Let's get some reference points here. When we talk about the earth, many of us like to think the moon is close to us, but it's really not as close as you think.

It's almost a quart million miles away. So what is close in space, satellites. We've been launching these for many decades now and we fill the sky with them. Some are fairly low, others are quite high. The highest out there are communications and GPS satellites about 22,000 miles up in the air. So where is this asteroid going to be?

It is going to shoot out of the sky and cut right through the top of the satellite belt at about 17,000 miles. Is that dangerous? No, not really, in part because of the size of this thing, the official name, by the way, is 2012 DA14.

It's only about 50 yards long or wide. It will be traveling 18,000 miles an hour almost. That's fast. If it were to hit earth it would have a huge explosion equal to more than 2 million tons of dynamite. But that really wouldn't be enough to harm the earth unless it hit a populated place.

Yes, it would knock down trees and destroy an area of several hundred miles but that would be all. Most importantly, scientists who have been tracking this thing for more than 2 million miles already say it's just not going to hit the earth. It is going to miss even though this is a very close call.

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FEYERICK: Police say he is armed and extremely dangerous. Despite the intense search, former LAPD officer, Christopher Dorner remains a fugitive. Taunting police that he is now off the grid, which means they will not be able to track him by normal means.

Our Kyung Lah has obtained exclusive video of Dorner that was taken at a police academy shooting range during his time as a cadet. It shows how skilled he is handling weapons.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Christopher Dorner, LAPD cadet, in 2005.

(on camera): What do you think watching this, considering what's happened?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, he's an expert with weapons. He's definitely dangerous.

LAH (voice-over): This man spent months with Dorner at the LAPD Training Academy. We are altering his voice and not showing his face because he fears Dorner will go after his police friends. But he wants the public to see this so people understand what the LAPD is facing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You look at Chris, you could see that he's a little bit of an expert, the way we disarms, the shoot. Almost no movement when he shoots the gun and then pop, nothing.

LAH (on camera): So he stood out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, he stood out. He knew what he was doing. The LAPD has -- they're going to be going after one of their own former and he knows -- like I said, he knows what he's doing. He knows how to use everything.

LAH: Being a cop, do you think that it was -- could you tell that it was important to him?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I think it was very important to him. Yes.

LAH: You could see it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

LAH: Even during the training.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right, yes. I think it's a 300-pound dummy and he does that easily.

LAH: Easily. This is 300 pounds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I believe that's 300 pounds.

LAH: So this is a very strong man.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

LAH (voice-over): But not everything was easy for Dorner, the aspiring police officer. This man says he witnessed drill instructors picking on him for his weight and slow running.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I hear about how angry he is about the LAPD, I think that fits to my experience with him. You know, that matches up when he says things about -- matches up to the way I think he had his experience through the LAPD, especially the academy.

LAH: This man never spoke to Dorner, but he never forgot the cadet.

(on camera): But your thought was this man represents power and strength.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, exactly. I wanted to show -- when I was going to use it, I wanted to show and maybe put music and show the LAPD is powerful and look at this powerful man, you know, handling this gun.

LAH: Is it frightening to think the LAPD is now facing this man?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes. I mean, this guy is no joke.

LAH (voice-over): And one police are taking very seriously. Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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FEYERICK: Well, if you're not among the 600,000 or so people who have actually lost power and you're still plugged in, there are a lot of ways you can negotiate what is going on outdoors or find some fun things to do while you're stuck.

Apps help monitor weather conditions and tell you the latest. Many towns have their own apps you can check. There's also high-def radar, dark sky, weather underground, hotel tonight, plus if you want to down load a couple of movies lots of ways you can go.

"Tech by Toast," Brett Larson joining us from New York. So first, let's start with the fun. You've been outside. You're frozen. You want to watch something. Where do you go?

BRETT LARSON, HOST, "TECHBYTES": You know, streaming movies have gotten really good over the past couple years. If you have power and you have a broadband connection you can head over to Hulu Plus. You can take advantage of Netflix. What I really like is Amazon Prime.

If you're an Amazon Prime subscriber, which gives you that free two-day shipping. It also gives you access to Amazon's instant video. What's great about that is if your power is out it's still going to work on your tablet, it will work on your hand-held device because more than likely that is still working.

The only caveat to that you have to be careful you don't want to go over your data plan, so keep an eye on how much video you're watching, definitely, though, plenty of fun to be had.

If you still have power you can use your laptop or desktop computer to logon to apple's iTunes and either rent or down load high definition movies very quickly and start enjoying them and staying outside of the very cold weather.

FEYERICK: I thought I was the ultimate Amazonian, but apparently I'm not. I can download things. Who knew?

LARSON: How great is that? And it's included in your annual fee. I don't think a lot of people know that.

FEYERICK: I don't think they do. Let's talk about serious stuff, weather conditions. How will people know when they can go out? What are the best apps far?

LARSON: There are so many great apps. I love Noah's high definition radar app. I've been looking at it all day to see where the storm is going. Admittedly it works on the iPad. It costs you 2 bucks, but it's worth it because it displays a realtime high- definition animated weather map.

There's Dark Sky you mentioned. That is also is going to cost you $4, not too bad considering it shows you what's going on in your immediate vicinity. I was looking at that morning. Of course, right now here in New York City the storm has passed and it's kind of like looking at the weather in boring town.

No rain, no snow. And in the next few minutes there will be no rain and no snow. But apps like this are great to have for two reasons. One, they'll work when the power goes out because your phone and tablet will still work.

Two, they'll keep you aware of what's going on. If your TV is not working you're not going to know what the weather conditions are going to be or how they'll develop. These apps will tell you down to the minute and show you where that storm is in relation to where you are.

FEYERICK: The one thing you have to be careful about with your tablets and things like that, ultimately they do run out of power then, my God, you're going to have to play games with your children.

LARSON: Then there's no power to play games.

FEYERICK: Then you're stuck. Go out in the snow. Brett Larson, thanks so much, from Tech Bytes. We appreciate the information.

LARSON: Thanks.

FEYERICK: Well, it is a busy news day. We have all the bases covered for you ahead in the next hour. The manhunt continues far rogue cop on an alleged killing spree in California, his targets other cops. We've got new details on the investigation.

The northeast blizzard heading out to sea, we will have the latest on the havoc it is leaving behind. Our reporters are live as CNN NEWSROOM continues.

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