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Record Day on Wall Street; Possible Abuse Charges in CPR Refusal; Major Snowstorm Gains Strength; Hate On Campus; Escort Lied About Menendez

Aired March 05, 2013 - 14:00   ET

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

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: That's it for me. Brooke Baldwin takes it from here.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Folks in one famous college town on edge after a string of racist behavior. A prankster or something bigger? I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

The Dow on the verge of closing at a record high. We're watching.

Plus, some in Arizona livid at the "Mike and Molly" show for a joke involving American Indians. Do they deserve an apology?

And, new information on the drone a pilot spotted in the skies above New York.

Hi, everyone. Top of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

And we begin here with really what has become a mystery. It's a mystery surrounding Hugo Chavez. Because, for the last hour, we have been listening to Venezuela's vice president, Nicolas Maduro, in his lengthy address to the nation. He has accused the U.S. of plotting against the Venezuelan government. Even made accusations that the U.S. poisoned Chavez. So this theory is prompting Venezuela to immediately expel a U.S. diplomat from the country.

As for the president's battle with cancer, Venezuela says Chavez is still alive, but that he has this new infection and that his breathing problems have worsened. This is the last picture we have seen of him. That was taken just last month. Vice President Maduro also moved to reassure citizens of Venezuela that despite the failing health of the 58-year-old leader, they will continue on.

Talking economy here. This should be a great day to really check your 401(k), right? The stock market clearly on a tear. The Dow up 138 points here as we speak, two hours away from the closing bell. Keep in mind, this is a big deal because the Dow Jones has hit a record high, smashed through the old record. We talked so much about that over the last couple of days, that old high set back in October of '07. CNN business anchor Christine Romans is with me now in New York.

Christine, we have been watching. I feel like we've been flirting. I don't want to cry wolf here, but today, finally, it's the big jump. Why now? CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR: You know what's interesting, you know, overnight, China said that it was going to keep its economy moving forward at about a 7.5 percent growth rate and that seems to be the fuel that lit the kindling that was the Dow Jones Industrial average that was already so close to those highs. Remember, the Dow is 30 stocks. Thirty stocks. So your 401(k) is probably more represented in the stocks portion by the S&P 500. Still about 1 percent away from its high. But that's 500 stocks.

But I want to show you some of the Dow stocks and how much they're up from the low. I mean, Brooke, look at this, American Express up 491 percent. Home Depot, up 286 percent. Take a look at some of those household names there. Those are the kinds of names that have been driving the Dow Jones Industrial average to record highs.

BALDWIN: But, here's the thing. I was reading a CNN Money article from your friend and mine, Paul LaMonica.

ROMANS: Oh, yes.

BALDWIN: And it was an opinion piece, right? And he was saying, hey, I'm not popping the champagne bottles just yet. I mean not everyone is feeling this.

ROMANS: Right. And how many people have told you, great, the Dow is at record highs, but what about me? I still need a job.

BALDWIN: Right.

ROMANS: It doesn't help 12 million people who are still out of work. It doesn't improve an almost 8 percent unemployment rate. And, look, not everyone is invested in the stock market. Gallup, the most recent numbers from Gallup find that 53 percent of Americans say they have mutual funds or retirement accounts that they own stocks. Fifty- three out of 100 people say, yes. And that's the lowest number since -- or percentage since 1998. So fewer people today invested in stocks than were a decade ago. So not everybody is feeling it, no question.

BALDWIN: We will keep an eye and hopefully we can close above that mark. That 14,164 set back in October of '07.

Christine Romans, thank you very much.

ROMANS: Thanks.

BALDWIN: And now this here. This is the story, it has everyone talking, asking questions about elderly care in America. Moments ago we have now learned police may pursue charges in the case of a nurse who refused to give CPR to a dying woman.

Here's the back story. A woman stops breathing at a retirement home in California. It's called Glenwood Gardens. None of the staff, at least none of those in the loop, was willing to save her life. What? Here's why. That's against the rules. No CPR at Glenwood Gardens in Bakersfield. So this woman, this elderly woman, was lying there, unconscious, in the dining room. She was still breathing. But despite the valiant efforts of this 911 dispatcher, she died. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DISPATCHER: I understand if you -- if your facility is not willing to do that. Give the phone to that passerby, that stranger that (INAUDIBLE). I need -- this woman's not breathing enough. She's going to die if we don't get this started. Do you understand?

GLENWOOD GARDENS EMPLOYEE: I understand.

DISPATCHER: OK.

GLENWOOD GARDENS EMPLOYEE: I am a nurse. But I cannot have our other senior citizens who don't know CPR to do this. We're in a dining room.

DISPATCHER: I will instruct them and -- I will instruct them. Is there anyone there who's willing?

GLENWOOD GARDENS EMPLOYEE: I can not do that.

DISPATCHER: OK. I don't understand why you're not willing to help this patient.

GLENWOOD GARDENS EMPLOYEE: I am.

DISPATCHER: OK, great. Then I'll walk you through it all. We -- EMS takes the liability for this (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I'm happy to help you. OK. This is -- because this is EMS protocol. OK.

GLENWOOD GARDENS EMPLOYEE: Can you get (INAUDIBLE) right away? I don't know where he is, but she's yelling at me and saying that we have to have one of our other residents perform CPR. And she'll instruct. And I'm not going to do that and make that call.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not allowed to.

DISPATCHER: (INAUDIBLE), is there anybody that works there that's willing to do it?

GLENWOOD GARDENS EMPLOYEE: We can't do that. That's what I'm trying to say.

DISPATCHER: Are we just going to wait -- we're going to let this lady die?

GLENWOOD GARDENS EMPLOYEE: Well, that's why we're calling 911. I'm sorry.

DISPATCHER: We can't wait. She can't wait right now. She is stopping breathing. She can't wait for them to get there.

GLENWOOD GARDENS EMPLOYEE: He's saying we don't. So you can talk to my boss and I --

DISPATCHER: OK. GLENWOOD GARDENS EMPLOYEE: I don't know what to say.

DISPATCHER: They're refusing CPR. They're going to let her die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So that's the phone call. Now we have Miguel Marquez, who has breaking the news for us.

Miguel, possible charges. What do you know?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Possible charges. It just makes one's blood boil to listen to that call over and over again.

BALDWIN: Yes.

MARQUEZ: The Bakersfield Police saying that they are looking into elderly abuse charges. They are interviewing everybody involved with this incident. They say that in a next -- in a matter of days they may be able to make a decision on those charges. It is very difficult, though, for them to charge. There is no reason for anyone to render assistance to somebody like this, although it does seem common sense to most of the world in which is -- makes this such a frustrating situation.

As for Glenwood Gardens, the independent living facility where this woman was, you know, they say that it is their protocol, that if someone has a problem, their protocol is then to call 911, to stay with that person until 911 arrives, and then get them to the best care that they can. Now, we did speak to a retired firefighter who had responded to this facility many times over his 21-year career and he said that it wasn't just CPR that they wouldn't help on. If somebody fell off a chair or fell off a bed, still they would call 911 to have them literally lift them up, put them up. Sometimes they were there for 20, 30 minutes. They would soil themselves. They just felt it wasn't right. It will be interesting to see what Bakersfield Police can come up with here.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: Again, though, as you point out, this facility standing behind this nurse. And apparently if you walk in, if you sign on and stay at this facility, you have to sign that you agree to this policy.

Miguel Marquez, thank you so much, for me in Los Angeles.

And now let's talk snow, shall we? As in this snow. A whole lot of this. It is falling right now in Chicago. Have a look with me. Live pictures here. Michigan Avenue. Several inches of snow on the ground right now. It is piling up fast. But here's the thing. This storm here is moving eastward. And it's really just beginning to organize itself. Just getting out of bed, so to speak. So it will be hitting the big cities starting tonight. The question is, who gets the rain, who gets the snow? Alexandria Steele is in the CNN Weather Center. She's going to fill us in on that in just a moment. But Jennifer Delgado, she's standing by for me in snowy Chicago. Biggest snow of the year here, 1,000 flights canceled already. Is the windy city, is it calling uncle?

JENNIFER DELGADO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: No, absolutely by no means. We are talking about snow getting heavier across the region. And we've seen those snowfall rates between one and two inches per hour. And you can kind of see on the roadways some of that snow is starting to build up a bit more. You can get snow coming down at that rate, it makes it harder for officials to keep the streets clean.

Now, keep in mind, Chicago's street and safety and sanitation department, they have roughly 1,500 cameras out there. So that's how they're able to stay on top of the roadways. So the problem is, the snow is going to get heavier, then we're going to be firing up those winds with gusts up to 30 miles per hour. That is going to be reducing the visibility. You can already kind of see now how it's hazy out there with that blowing snow. Visibility roughly about a quarter mile to a half mile for Chicago O'Hare, as well as to Midway.

So, Chicago, the good news, they are pros when it comes to snow removal. But the problem is, we could still see between six to 10 inches of snowfall coming down. And, of course, with the winds kicking in, that's going to make it dangerous for commuters on their way home from work and, of course, more cancellations, more delays. So lots of patience will be needed at the airport.

BALDWIN: I know. Not fun. Not fun if you're flying out of that airport. Not crying uncle. They know how to deal with it. Stay safe. Same with you. Jennifer Delgado, thank you.

Let me talk now to Alexandra Steele. She's in the CNN Weather Center.

As we try to sort of push this whole thing forward, where should we look to tonight and also in the morning hours?

ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Washington, D.C., they -- this is going to be Chicago's biggest snow, Brooke. Also Washington, D.C., it will be your biggest as well. You've only had an inch and a half of snow thus far this entire season. So you're 13 inches below average. So this certainly will be your biggest.

And Washington, the Mid-Atlantic, is kind of the most interesting with this. That rain/snow line, kind of where it exactly moves, shifting 10 miles one way or the other will be the difference between five and 12 inches of snow. So we'll get to that.

Here's the big picture, of course. This is where Jennifer is in Chicago. Picking up maybe seven to 10 inches, locally a foot possible. Minneapolis, things winding down for you. You will see -- you have about five to seven. You'll see maybe a few more inches. But the endgame is pretty much near. Minneapolis, here it is. What we'll see, a stripe of snow. And you can kind of see the track of it. And that's the track and where the storm threat is. And where the watches and warnings are.

But where it will be most interesting is certainly in the Mid- Atlantic. The snow tomorrow is the snow show for Washington, D.C. And what's happening in Washington, D.C., in town, Brooke, we could see four to eight inches.

BALDWIN: Wow.

STEELE: West of Dulles, you've driven it, it takes 20 minutes, they could see 10 to 18. West of that in Winchester, in the mountains, into western Maryland, they could see 20 inches. And east of that, Annapolis, the water influence, maybe one to three. So we'll talk more about that coming up.

BALDWIN: We will. We will. Alexandra Steele, thank you very much. Talking snow.

STEELE: Sure.

BALDWIN: And now the FBI, there. The FBI now wants the public's help in solving this mystery in the sky over New York City. An Alitalia pilot coming in for a landing at JFK Airport when he noticed something a little strange outside the jumbo jet's window. Take a listen. You'll hear what he told air traffic controllers. This is audio captured by liveatc.net.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOWER: What did you see?

PILOT: We saw a drone. A drone aircraft.

TOWER: Alitalia 608 uniform heavy. Roger, what altitude did you see that aircraft?

PILOT: About one thousand five hundred.

TOWER: Roger. Caution, report of a drone on about a five mile final by the traffic that you are following.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: An unmanned drone described by the pilot to look just like this one here. Small and black, helicopter rotors hovering about 1,500 feet above the runway. As we said, the FBI investigating the incident, along with the Federal Aviation Administration and the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

And now some of the hottest stories in a flash. "Rapid Fire." Roll it.

In Seffner, Florida, just two miles away from that sinkhole that swallowed a man while he slept, a second sinkhole here has opened up. This is a backyard of a family nearby. Crews there, they are on alert. They're now deciding if it's safe for the family to stay there or not. This area actually of the state of Florida has been called sinkhole alley.

And as the world's cardinals prepare to choose the next pope, an impostor has tried to crash a secret meeting at the Vatican. Here he is on the left. Can you tell the difference? What led him down this whole thing and got him caught was his wardrobe. Swiss Guard kicked him out. They noticed his robe was a little shorter than the others. You see his sash? Not quite the same red color. It turned out to be a scarf. How about the fedora? I don't know what's going on there. But about the vote here. This is what you need to know about the vote for the next pope. We're told it could be a long wait.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is no desire to rush things, but to take this time for discernment and reflection. And that's been evident in the meetings thus far.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge often overshadowed by the majestic Golden Gate nearby, but it's making a visual splash. Look at this with me. This visual splash here. It's an installation called the Bay Lights. So these are 25,000 LED lights spanning the entire length of this bridge. The visual artist behind this display said he didn't look to far for inspiration, used the birds and clouds and traffic. Imagine driving across it while the whole light show is going on. The lights, we're told, will burn from dusk until 2:00 a.m. for the next two year and the light pattern will never repeat. Kind of cool.

Coming up next, a mystery involving racism on a college campus. It has this tiny town on edge. Reports of a KKK sighting, but it's not the first instance. Is this a lone prankster? Might this be something bigger? We'll talk live with a student about what is happening on this campus, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Oberlin, Ohio. It's 35 miles from Cleveland. It's home to a small liberal arts college. It's called Oberlin College. The school has a reputation for being proudly progressive, making history along the way. Oberlin was the first college in the U.S. to admit African-American students, the first college to grant degrees to women. They also boast their legacy of inclusion and respect for diversity, which only adds to the shock of the events over the past month here. According to police, 15 hate related events have been reported, include a sign proclaiming whites only above a water fountain and a swastika drawn on a building. But the most recent event was the toughest to swallow here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUNCERAY TAVLER, STUDENT WHO REPORTED THE INCIDENT: As I was in the car, I saw someone in what seemed to be KKK paraphernalia walking on a pathway that's like a pathway that leads to south campus. And just, like, seeing them, having it sink in like this is something that's real, that actually happens.

MEREDITH GADSBY, OBERLIN PROFESSOR: Some faculty have had invitations to the new KKK delivered to our mailboxes. CHINWE OKONA, STUDENT: There are definitely moments of fear. I think we all have moments of fear. And then there's also that kind of belief that it won't happen to you. And then you re-evaluate and realize it could happen to anybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Because of what's happened over this last month here, classes were canceled yesterday. And, instead, students gathered for campus wide demonstration of solidarity. I want to bring in Sophia Bamert. She's a senior at Oberlin College. She is managing editor of the college paper "The Oberlin Review."

So, Sophia, welcome to you. And if I may, I want you to just put your managing editor hat on just for this first question here, and you may not be able to tell me a whole heck of a lot, but I have to ask, what are you, what's your paper hearing from campus police as far as who could be behind this?

SOPHIA BAMERT, MANAGING EDITOR, "THE OBERLIN REVIEW": I really cannot speculate anything about who is behind this. I know that they told us yesterday that the college and the police have investigations going on. But there is really nothing that I can say. It seems unclear to me at this point.

BALDWIN: OK. Student hat on. What's the reaction then over the past couple of weeks on campus to all of these different hate incidents?

BAMERT: Well, so the events of yesterday were not the first solidarity marches even. We have been finding these different hate speech incidents over the past few weeks. And already a couple weeks ago there was a different sit-in and solidarity march that students organized. And then yesterday I woke up to an e-mail, multiple different e-mails explaining that classes had been canceled and that they highly encouraged students to go to a teaching with a professor from the African-American studies department to a solidarity march and rally and then to a convocation, which had already been scheduled to be tomorrow, Wednesday afternoon, but they bumped it up to yesterday after the incidents of early yesterday morning.

BALDWIN: Let me just ask you this personally to you, Sophia. Given everything that's been happening on campus here, does it anger you? Are you saddened? Are you in fear?

BAMERT: So this is something that -- what -- something that I've been hearing a lot of on campus is how important it is in this case to acknowledge that every single individual comes at this from a very different place and has different reactions. So I really just want to emphasize that this is me, just me, not --

BALDWIN: Right. That's what I'm asking, just you, just Sophia.

BAMERT: And I have -- yes. And, yes, I've found it very shocking and surprising. I have not actually encountered or seen any of the hate speech, only heard about it or seen pictures that were given. But it does -- I do have a strong reaction to that. And see how scary it is. Although I know that a lot of people have felt really different emotions or more strong emotions than I have, but I am very surprised and shocked by all of this.

BALDWIN: Understandably so. Sophia Bamert, thank you. We're going to get a little bit more on the investigation, the campus culture here because we have just landed the president of Oberlin College. He will be joining me next hour about these different hate incidents that Sophia was just talking about here.

High ranking lawmaker caught up in scandal after he is accused of sex with prostitutes. But now one of these women says she made the whole thing up. Coming up next, we'll sort through the confusion and tell you what's really going on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Remember those scandalous allegations about New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez. He was accused of partying with prostitutes while on a trip to the Dominican Republic. He vehemently denied that. And now one of the women he was accused of having sex with says she made the whole story up. Again, Senator Menendez told CNN's Dana Bash, no, he did not do it. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ROBERT MENENDEZ (D), NEW JERSEY: It's amazing to me that anonymous, nameless, faceless individuals on a website can drive that type of story into the mainstream. But that's what they've done successfully. Now nobody can find them, no one ever met them, no one ever talked to them, but that's where we're at the. So the bottom line is, all of those smears are absolutely false and, you know, that's the bottom line.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The conservative daily website -- conservative website, I should say, it's called "The Daily Caller," first reported these allegations, running this video from nameless women who say they had sex with Menendez for money. But according to court documents, the 23- year-old escort says she was paid to read the whole story off a script. Dana Bash, our chief congressional correspondent, live with me on Capitol Hill.

So now then "The Daily Caller" saying this prostitute isn't one of the two prostitutes they interviewed for the expose. Cut threw it for me. What's the story?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The story is, is a classic he said/she said or she said and we think it's the same she said, with a twist. Because so much of this is kind of in the shadows, as you saw. The woman who was initially on "The Daily Caller" website, her face was obscured. So we really don't know who is telling the truth.

What we do have is a clue into it because our colleagues at ABC News posted a story today saying that they too interviewed these women, in tandem with "The Daily Caller," but they decided not to air them because they had doubts about the veracity of these women, which is very interesting.

The other interesting twist in their report is that the whole appearance was helped and aided by Republican operatives. But, of course, remember, this was posted on "The Daily Caller" website just a few days effectively before the election day, November's election, and Bob Menendez was up for re-election. So it is really unclear where this is going, although Senator Menendez was very eager to talk to the cameras for a change today because he wanted to say, kind of, I told you so.

We should note, however, that this whole salacious discussion about prostitutes is one part of what law enforcement officials say that they are looking into with regard to Menendez. Another big part of it, maybe the biggest part of it, are allegations that he used his influence to help one of his biggest donors, and that is still, we understand, being investigated by the FBI and also here in the Senate by the Ethics Committee.

BALDWIN: OK. So that part's still under investigation. Dana Bash on The Hill for us. Dana, thank you.

In most cases, the birth of a baby, a happy occasion. Even when a surrogate is involved. But that is not so for a couple in Connecticut and their surrogate. This is more like a nightmare. This is the case. I'll tell you, this story, this is unreal. You have to stick around. We're talking about it. Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is going to tell us the story. The panel will react. I want your tweets @brookebcnn. Back after this.

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