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Florida House Above Sinkhole Being Demolished Now; Bracing for Another Winter Storm; Baby Girl Now HIV Free; Congress Returns to Work; Queen Expected to Leave Hospital Soon
Aired March 04, 2013 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Happening now in the NEWSROOM, a 911 shocker.
911 OPERATOR: We need to get CPR started. That's not enough, OK?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, we can't do CPR.
911 OPERATOR: She's going to die if we don't get this started.
PAUL: Frustration and outrage as an 87-year-old woman collapses at her retirement home, and the nurses refusing to help her.
911 OPERATOR: Is there anybody who works there that is willing to do it? We're going to let this lady die?
PAUL: Also, housing crisis. Big banks, Bank of America, Citigroup, chase, and Wells Fargo wrongfully closing on hundreds of military families.
Plus the call.
HALLE BERRY, ACTRESS: Officers are going to be there any second.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's going back downstairs.
PAUL: CNN goes one-on-one with Halle Berry, who opened up about her own home intruder.
BERRY: From the time I thought they were in, I couldn't stop talking, and the operator said to me, ma'am, if they're in your house, you must be quiet. Stop talking.
PAUL: And a buzzer beater you won't believe. Two seconds, 55 feet, and nothing but net.
You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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PAUL: Good morning to you on a Monday. I know you're thinking where did the weekend go? I'm Christi Paul in today for Carol Costello. I'm with you on that one, by the way. So let's begin in Florida where a houseful of memories is being torn down as we speak. These are live pictures coming to us from the town of Seffner, where crews are working to safely tear down, well, as you can see now, what's left of that house.
It was Thursday that a sinkhole opened up, killing 37-year-old Jeff Bush as he slept in his bed. Then as a crane started to tear down the house, there was a small, really important development in this story. Some of the family treasures were able to be saved, among them, the family Bible, photo albums, a jewelry box, and a pink teddy bear. And for just a moment, this was something the family could celebrate.
This morning, though, it's back to reality, as you see that crane there at work again. Crews still trying to determine, too, if the house is safe enough to get anything else out at this point. Don't think so.
George Howell is there now. So George, when did they start tearing this thing down?
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christi, they started 30 minutes ago. And the officials here, they described it as an emotional process for them. You can bet it's emotional for this family. And just standing here, you feel like you're at the site of a memorial, a place where a man died.
And you can see what's happening; it's a very delicate process but these crews going through this house with this track hoe, the 80-foot arm. The goal is to pull all of the debris as close to the road as possible so that the family can go through, sift through, and find valuables, the things that are important to them. Keep in mind, again, this was a home that was full of memories, years of memories.
Just a few minutes ago, we got some video, and you can see how delicate this process is. The crews there, they found a few pictures and they brought it over to the family members. They're trying to take as much care as possible in this process. But, again, the goal is to remove all of this debris, move it up to the street, and then get a better idea of the scope and scale of the sinkhole, Christi, that has grown underneath the home.
PAUL: All right. Hey, George Howell, thank you so much for bringing us the latest from the scene there. We appreciate it.
I do want to get you to some other top stories this morning so you can get on with your day in the know, so to speak.
A retirement facility in Bakersfield, California, standing by a decision not to give CPR to an 87-year-old resident. Now, the woman collapsed, and no one on the staff was willing to try to revive her, apparently. She did die, later. Glenwood Gardens says it has that policy because it's not a nursing home. But listen to the 911 operator trying to persuade someone to help.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: (EXPLETIVE DELETED), is there anybody that works there that's willing to do it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We can't do that. That's not how --
911 OPERATOR: Are we going to let this lady die?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, that's why we're calling 911. I'm sorry.
911 OPERATOR: We can't wait. She can't wait right now. She is stopping breathing. She can't wait for them to get there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: Here more of those chilling 911 tapes next hour. We'll have that for you.
Scary moments for several passengers on a bus when the driver faints and falls out of the seat.
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(SCREAMING)
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PAUL: They're just all over the road. This happened in Poland, by the way. Passengers did jump into action to stop that out of control bus, which did hit several cars and signs. According to "The Herald Sun," though, the two women who got control of the bus have not only been thanked, but they've been given permanent free bus fares.
Authorities are looking over two planes that made emergency landings at nearly the same time this morning. This was at Amsterdam's airport. Now, the first plane was a KLM flight headed to Milan, Italy. It reported a possible technical problem. The second plane was a Delta flight headed to Mumbai. It landed for precautionary measures. No injuries, though, were reported, thankfully.
OK, let's talk about what might be happening outside your window. It's being called the biggest snowstorm of the season. It's moving into the Mid-Atlantic. Jennifer Delgado is in the Weather Center.
So when we say this is a mega storm, how mega are we talking?
JENNIFER DELGADO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We're going to add it to the other list of the three major storms that we've already had this season. Now, looking at the radar right now, Christi, it doesn't look that impressive. But the storm is going to get energized, especially as we go later tonight in the overnight hours. We're going to start to see all of that snow coming down through areas like Chicago, as well as into Wisconsin, and parts of Eastern Minneapolis.
As we show you right now, look what's happening there. We have winter storm warnings and watches in place from Montana all the way over towards Maryland. That includes a 600,000 square mile area. So this storm system has the potential to affect millions of people. Now, we track this for you. As we give you an idea, this is Tuesday, 8:00 a.m. As we said, that snow really starts to come down for parts of Chicago. As we go Tuesday afternoon, we're talking Fort Wayne, Indiana, that snow comes down there. And then Wednesday, this becomes a Mid-Atlantic problem. Now, here's the problem with the storm. We're still watching those totals for areas like Washington, D.C., Richmond, as well as into Baltimore.
But look at these totals. We're talking, some of these locations, more than a foot. Fort Wayne, 12 to 18 inches. Now, Washington, D.C., your area is really going to depend on the track of this low as it moves up the coast. Now, if it does bring in more warm air, we are going to see the snowstorm totals being less than what we're picking up right now. Because keep in mind, you're looking at pink and purple. We're talking 12 to 20 inches of snowfall. Of course, the heaviest is going to be along the mountains, but for Washington, D.C., we're still saying you could see roughly five to six inches of snowfall.
This is just one model, and then Thursday we're going to keep that low right along the coast. And that means windy conditions as well as the potential for some coastal flooding. This is going to be potentially a mess. 600,000 square mile area affected by this storm.
PAUL: They always warn us about March, don't they?
DELGADO: They do.
PAUL: You never know what's coming. Thank you so much, Jennifer. We appreciate it.
This morning I want to tell you about a major milestone in the fight against AIDS. Doctors in Mississippi say a baby girl born with HIV now shows no signs of the virus, and no one's more surprised than the pediatrician who was treating her. In fact, listen to what she told CNN affiliate WAPT when she discovered this baby no longer had any trace of the virus.
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DR. HANNAH GAY, BLAIR E. BATSON SPECIALTY CLINIC: My first thought was to panic. I thought, "Oh my goodness, I have been treating a child who's not actually infected."
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PAUL: Now, this remarkable story could certainly rewrite treatment of the youngest HIV victims around the world. CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has a closer look for us.
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ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a startling announcement. Doctors say they've cured a two-year-old in Mississippi of HIV, the infection she'd had since birth gone. ROWENA JOHNSTON, DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH, THE FOUNDATION FOR AIDS RESEARCH: You know, it's fantastic from any number of angles. Of course, that a child has been cured. That is actually happened really quite easily and quite inexpensively.
COHEN: The cure came about as kind of a fluke. The baby was born to an HIV positive mother who transmitted the virus to her daughter. The baby was put on HIV drugs, but the mother, for some reason, stopped giving them to her when she was about 15 months old. She was taken back to the doctor around her second birthday and tests showed the baby was HIV-free, even though she had been off medication for 8 to 10 months.
JOHNSTON: What fantastic news. This is something that I don't anybody would have expected.
COHEN: The key to success here might have been that the baby received relatively high doses of three HIV drugs soon after birth. Usually HIV positive newborns get low doses of one or two drugs after birth.
If other babies could be cured after just 15 months on drugs, that would be huge. Now HIV positive babies take these drugs for life and they can be toxic. More studies need to be done, but this case may have inadvertently paved the way for other babies to have a brighter future.
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PAUL: All right, Elizabeth Cohen with us now here. So does it mean that she's 100 percent free?
COHEN: Not 100 percent. So when they did just the regular test for HIV, they found nothing. But then they brought in doctors from the University of Massachusetts and Johns Hopkins, and they did these ultra-super duper sensitive tests that are used for research, and they found tiny remnants of DNA and RNA from the HIV virus. They didn't find the whole virus, just these little genetic snippets, really, in tiny, tiny levels.
And so she's not 100 percent free, which is why some people say she's "functionally cured," because there's some in her. But really, functionally, she's fine. She's not sick. She's not getting treated for HIV. You would never know this baby ever had HIV.
PAUL: OK, that's what functionally means, that she's got traces of it, but it's not affecting her.
COHEN: Correct.
PAUL: OK, Elizabeth, thank you so much. Good to know. And obviously, we'll be watching for that one.
You know, we're of course watching queen Elizabeth too. She's still in the hospital this morning with that stomach bug. Buckingham Palace says it's a precautionary measure. Now CNN's Max Foster joining us from outside the hospital in London right now. So what are you hearing, Max, about the queen's condition this hour?
MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDNET: Well, Christi, I have to tell you, the police outriders (ph) have just around the back of the hospital. There's a car, a big car, that's arrived round the back, and the palace press team have just gone into the hospital. There was a wrap; they've taken either way, and all the indications are that she's about to come out. So she would have been in there about 24 hours.
We haven't got confirmation from the palace that she's coming out, but they're not saying she's not coming out. So we're expecting her to come out within the next hour or so. She's been in there since yesterday. She has this gastroenteritis, this is just a stomach bug. She's had it since Friday, we understand. But it got very bad yesterday, and she's had to come in.
It looks like she's had a day's worth of treatment and analysis, and we wait to see her condition when she takes to the steps behind me.
PAUL: Hey, Max, thank you so much for the update. Good to see you today.
And while the world waits to hear news of her and the world waits for a new Pope, of course, the people behind "Saturday Night Live," they have an idea as to who it might be. They told it in a spoof of CNN's "THE SITUATION ROOM".
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Retired Pope Benedict is trying to compete in cuteness, and now he's attempting an "oh no you didn't" gesture. Not even registering with the crowd because the new Pope is riding a cardinal like a horsey.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, look at that. Wow, I could watch that all day, huh? How about that? Horsey rides in the Vatican. That's got to be a first but probably isn't.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, Wolf, she is cute as hell.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But is it enough to turn the fortunes of this beleaguered church?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is the Pope Catholic?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She is not, and I don't think anyone cares.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL: Just a little laugh to get you going this morning in case you missed it on "Saturday Night Live". Let me tell you too about this 28-year-old woman who's making history. Her sights set on playing in the big league. We're going to show you how she performed in her long awaited tryout.
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PAUL: Up next in the NEWSROOM, on record watch. Just about 15 minutes till the opening bell. We're tracking the market's every move for you.
And Dennis Rodman back from visiting the North Korean president with sage advice for our president.
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DENNIS RODMAN, FORMER NBA PLAYER: He want Obama to do one thing, call him.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC HOST: He wants a call from President Obama?
RODMAN: That's right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: Political buzz waking you up. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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PAUL: Sixteen minutes past the hour right now. I hope you're on time this morning.
Here are some of the morning's top stories for you. A coroner and a family disagreeing about the murder of Marco McMillian, an openly gay Mississippi mayoral candidate.
Now, his family says he was beaten, dragged, and burned. The coroner says he's not sure where that information is coming from, but he says there are signs of an altercation. However, that didn't kill him.
There is an ongoing investigation, of course. Police have charged 22- year-old Lawrence Reed with murder.
A drummer for country star Kellie Pickler is still in critical but stable condition in a Kentucky hospital. Thirty-six-year-old Craig Lohman suffered head and neck injuries in a massive crash on Saturday. Police say a driver ran into the back of Lohman's truck after he had slowed down for a fiery crash that had killed six people.
And more than 100 cardinals will meet again in two hours and could set the date for the conclave that will choose the next pope. A Vatican spokesman says Catholics may not have to wait very long to find out who it's going to be. A new pope could be in place by March 15th.
All right. Let's bring you back here to the U.S. a 28-year-old making history. Lauren Silberman tried out to be an NFL kicker, the first female to do so, mind you. But it wasn't quite her day. Her two kicks didn't even go 20 yards.
She said she was dealing with a quad injury, and she did thank the NFL certainly for the opportunity. Maybe this is just a sign of things to come, see more of it.
They took the weekend off, and now Congress returns to work after $85 billion in forced spending cuts took effect on Friday. While most of us are waiting to see what happens as a result of the cuts, another big economic crisis is looming. The government could shut down later this month if Congress doesn't do something.
Dan Lothian joins us now from the White House. So, Dan, I know the Congress is having to tackle the spending cuts and a possible shutdown. How is that working so far with two economic crises?
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, pardon the breeze we're having out here today, but, yes, they are facing two key fiscal issues here in Washington.
On the shutdown of the government, I think what you're hearing from both sides, Republicans and Democrats, is this is something they do not want to happen. You heard from Speaker Boehner last week saying that this week, they would be taking up a measure to continue funding the government, and the White House has said that it supports the continued resolution, or the C.R., as it's known, if it's done the right way.
You're hearing a lot of optimism around the government continuing to be funded. But there's the issue of those deep spending cuts that kicked in late last week. And the president, according to a top adviser over the weekend, spent the time working the phones, talking to both Republicans and Democrats, talking to Democrats specifically about making progress on entitlement reform, but also trying to sway Republicans.
Take a listen.
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GENE SPERLING, ECONOMIC POLICY ASSISTANT TO OBAMA: Republicans who realize that, if we have that type of entitlement reform, they'd be willing to have tax reform that raises revenues to lower the deficit.
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: The issue here is spending. Spending is out of control. There are smarter ways to cut spending than the silly sequester the president demanded. And so, we need to address the long-term spending problems, but we can't cut our way to prosperity.
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LOTHIAN: So Republicans still digging in, saying that they don't think there's a need for more revenue, that the president got those tax increases in that fiscal cliff deal, and that started on the 1st of January. There are top Republicans saying that they don't believe there's anyone in their party right now who would be willing to embrace tax increases, Christi.
PAUL: All righty. Hey, thank you so much, Dan Lothian. We're going to talk to you in a little bit. So much more is going on in Washington.
I want to give you a live shot of what's happening in London right now. You're looking at the people who are on watch for the queen. She's expected to be released from the hospital any time now. Our Max Foster is there.
Remember she was admitted Friday for some sort of gastrointestinal bug. Queen Elizabeth expected to be released. We're going to take you live there. Stay close.
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PAUL: As you know, Queen Elizabeth has been in the hospital since Friday.
I want to get you live now to London with Max Foster who's outside that hospital right now. Looks like there's some activity there.
Max, what do you know?
FOSTER: (INAUDIBLE) made it very clear to me that she'll be leaving soon. On these matters, they never give official confirmation of that, but you read between the lines from the people at the palace, it's very clear she's coming out. Obviously, as you can see, the police are set up for it.
So, we are expecting her to come out the front. It's going to be interesting to see her. We did get images of her going into hospital yesterday. She was clearly very ill.
But she doesn't want to go to hospital. She hasn't been to hospital for 10 years. She's canceled all those engagements. So, it was serious, serious enough for her to come here.
But also, we expected her to be in for two days. That was a guidance. If she does come out in the next few minutes or hours, she would have been in for just one day.
We do know, I was told, she basically doesn't want to make a fuss. She doesn't want the hospital to have lots of royal visitors. It would have been her determination, I'm sure, that she'd want to come out as soon as possible.
PAUL: You know, you mentioned she was there briefly, but did she have any visitors while she was there that we know of, Max?
FOSTER: She didn't have visitors. She had made it clear she didn't want royal visitors causing a fuss in the hospital. It does cause a real commotion with all the security problems. So, no visitors.
And also, the royal family doesn't operate like other families. They don't necessarily visit at the drop of a hat because they know the world is watching, and that might raise concerns.
So, no visitors. If she's coming out soon, then, you know, she would have had the intention of coming out soon, I think, and she would have told her family that.
PAUL: You know, you made a good point, raising concerns as soon as she goes into the hospital. What was the reaction of the folks there in England? As they watched her go in -- I mean, we know that she's older. I'm wondering if there were fears there could be a change in the monarchy, that this was something even more serious than it turned out to be.
FOSTER: Well, it was an interesting piece of wording in the statement that we got yesterday, and that was that she had symptoms of this stomach bug, wasn't necessarily the stomach bug. And that led to a lot of speculation that perhaps they were looking for an underlying cause of this.
If she does come out soon, it would suggest it was just a stomach bug. But there was a moment when a lot of people were thinking maybe this was something more serious. And the context here in Europe is the Dutch queen recently abdicated, got the pope resigning, and a suggestion that perhaps she is in her mid-80s and she should consider actually giving more of her role to the younger royals or even resigning herself. That's certainly not what she represents and something she would consider normally.
She carries on regardless. She epitomizes the British stiff upper lip. I don't think she would ever resign unless she really felt she couldn't do her job properly.
PAUL: All right. Well, Max Foster, thank you so much for walking us through what's going on there in these moments. We'll continue to keep the camera posted there to see if we can see the queen when she does leave.
But, again, Max, thank you very much.
Let me get you to a scene that will likely be written into the show. Three "Modern Family" members stuck in an elevator, and we have their tweeted video for you.
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