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Jurors to Question Arias; Massive Winter Storm Targets DC Area; Winter Storm to Slam East Coast; Nightmare Superbug on the Rise; Hugo Chavez's Legacy; Paul Filibustering Brennan Nomination

Aired March 06, 2013 - 14:00   ET

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


BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: For weeks jurors have sat and watched Jodi Arias cry and explain her lies. Well, now, it's their turn to ask the questions.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

Some are calling it the next crisis. Tuition at public universities making a record jump. So we're asking, is college worth it?

Plus, a confession in the acid attack against a ballet director.

And, knives in the skies. Why the TSA's policy change has flight attendants absolutely livid.

Here we go. Top of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Day 16 on that witness stand for Jodi Arias and this could be the finale for this accused murderer. Just about an hour from now, in Phoenix, the woman charged with killing her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, in a shooting, slashing and stabbing rage of jealousy, is to testify again. And today is the day she will answer to the jury. You heard me right. Questions from the jury.

Let me show you the judge. Here she is. This is Sherry Stephens. And starting just about an hour ago, she and the lawyers begin sifting through these 100 questions submitted in writing by the jurors. Now, granted, yes, they have tossed out quite a few of the questions based upon objections from the prosecutor, Juan Martinez, and the defense attorney, Kirk Nurmi. And CNN's Miguel Marquez has been inside that courtroom. He's just ducked out to talk to us. Talk us through what he has seen so far.

And, Miguel, it seems within just this past couple of moments, the court has now declared a recess. What's happened?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The court's not quite in recess yet. The judge has called the defense lawyers in to talk to her about something. It's not very clear. They've been working their way through these 100 or so questions. And the way this process works is both sides got the questions for about an hour, hour and a half this morning. They went through them. The defense going through them with Jodi Arias. Then they all came into court and went through one by one which ones they wanted to get rid of.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: So in terms of these questions from the jury, was the jury actually in the courtroom as these attorneys went back and forth over which questions would be admissible or this was just a private hearing for the questions?

MARQUEZ: No, the jury was not in the courtroom for this particular part of the process. They will be in the courtroom in about an hour, perhaps a little longer after the lunch break. They will then come in and the questions that both sides agree to have answered by Miss Arias will then be -- will be answered.

In fact, they can ask questions of anybody who took the witness stand. And keep in mind, while they started off with 100 questions, there were about six or so that both sides agreed they didn't want asked, so the judge sustained those and those will not be asked. But a lot of these questions, it turns out, have multi parts. So we could be talking 150, 200, perhaps even more questions by the end of the day.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: Wow! So this could take quite a while. Of course we should mention to the viewer, we will be taking this live as this really, as we mentioned, could be the finale. And also bellwether moment, Miguel, because, you know, when you watched some of the cross between the prosecutor, Juan Martinez, and Jodi Arias, you know, watching just her reaction and her tears and she, you know, made light of some of the questions. And today, knowing that these questions are coming from the jurors themselves, she can't do that, can she?

MARQUEZ: Not at all. I mean she'd be a fool too.

BALDWIN: Yes.

MARQUEZ: But stranger things have happened in this trial, I suppose, but this is -- look, these are the questions directly from the jurors. These are questions not at the end of this trial, but that have been asked since this trial began on January 2nd. So there's a lot of ground that they may be covering. She has to obviously take this very seriously. She has to be respectful to the jury. She has proven herself very capable throughout all of this of changing things up and acting accordingly when it's in her interest. So I suspect we are going to see a very respectful and very restrained Jodi Arias in answering these questions, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Miguel Marquez, thank you.

Again a reminder, we'll take it live whenever that begins. The questions from the jurors, next hour.

Want to take you to the East Coast now where Virginia and Washington, D.C., being hammered by another massive winter storm. The weather is so bad apparently in Virginia, that the governor declared a state of emergency just a short time ago. Nearly 2,000 homes and businesses are without power right now. Mostly in Virginia, West Virginia as well, but also here, Maryland, Ohio, D.C. And let me tell you what the nation's capital is dealing with today. Closed schools affecting thousands of students. Also, of course, as we talk D.C., federal offices, they're closed. Mayor Vincent Gray is warning folks to stay off the roads. The storm is expected to dump 10 inches of snow on the region by tonight.

Let's go to Erin Pike, because apparently we like to send you in the snow, Erin Pike. She is just outside Dulles International Airport there for us in Virginia.

And it looks windy. Looks cold. Tell me about flights.

ERIN PIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, it is windy. Actually, the wind is a little bit painful right now. The snow is kind of letting up, but it's been bad since about 9:00 this morning. And, of course, we knew this yesterday. And that's why airlines canceled about 1,600 flights yesterday in advance of today.

Now, where I am at Dulles International Airport, it's a major hub for United Airlines, as is Chicago's O'Hare Airport. And those two hubs are why United Airlines have canceled about 700 flights.

Now, here, though, Dulles Airport is still open. And I spoke with the operations manager here, Dana Pitts, just a short time ago about what they're doing to stay open today.

BALDWIN: So what exactly -- what more were they saying as far as advice for travelers, and also future snow later on in the D.C./Virginia area?

PIKE: Well, basically, we're seeing snowplows back on the runways and the taxiways go over and over again. They spent about an hour plowing that entire area. And they swath (ph) in different teams every six hours to make sure that the runways are clear.

Now, Brooke, what we can tell you is that international flights are still coming and going. But most domestic flights out of here have been canceled today, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Erin, thank you. We'll keep a close eye on the situation in that airport, and several airports I know in the region.

But what about big picture? Alexandra Steele, where is this thing going?

ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Oh, it is going to Boston, actually.

BALDWIN: Oh, boy.

STEELE: That's where this thing wants to go. It's a three-city stopper, right? We hit Chicago. Been there, done that, broke some records along the way. Washington, D.C. And then it will find its way to Boston tomorrow and into Friday morning. And you know what, I think the calling card in Boston will be the power outages. It's March. Heavy wet snow. We won't see the amounts we're seeing in D.C. and Boston, but it will come with its own problems.

So let's get to the boards. Let's show you what we've got. Here's the radar picture. You know what this really is? It's a battle of wills. It's a battle of temperatures. When you see it a little bit wider, of course. Here's the green denoting right along the eastern shore where we're seeing the rain. Dover, Delaware. On the west side, of course, the colder air, and that's where we've got the snow.

Washington, D.C., precarious right now, 37 degrees. It's March. We've got a high sun angle and we've got all that asphalt and it's an urban heat island. So it's hard to kind of make it happen in there. Adams Morgan (ph) in town, about 0.8, so just under an inch, but not doing the numbers we're seeing farther west.

All right, here's a look. Let's go west and we'll show you. You know, where she was live at Dulles, only 3.3 inches on the ground. And you can see kind of looking at it, temperature wise, temperature is key. Again, it's not at that 32 degree mark, that crucial mark we need.

We have had some totals thus far. Front Royal, of course, also in Manassas, five inches. But along that I-81 corridor, you get up 700 feet, that's all you need, colder temperatures, and we're going to get the numbers. And we are. Here's a look west of town, 10 to 15. Just want to show you, though, four to eight inches in Boston and Providence. What we're going to see is the wind, 50-mile-per-hour gusts there, Brooke, tomorrow and that will be a big deal.

BALDWIN: Alexandra, thank you.

And now let's talk about what you can and can't take on the planes. As we told you about this announcement, came down during our show yesterday. The big announcement from the TSA that has a lot of flight attendants outraged, saying that they feel unsafe.

Let me show you why. Come on over here and I'll show you what is now a-OK. So you can -- it's clearly the maximum is two different golf clubs. But what do you have here. We have a three wood, I'm sure a driver could maybe do a little damage. But two golf clubs. That is permissible. Plan on playing pool? And you want to take some pool sticks along for the ride? You can. Certain kinds of baseball bats. Obviously, toy, plastic, you can take these. And what they call novelty size baseball bats. So anything under 24 inches is fine. And, finally, I was asking earlier, this doesn't look like a lacrosse stick to me. Maybe not regulation size. Nevertheless, this is fine.

The other question is about knives. So we know we think about 9/11. We think about the box cutters. That is still not at all allowed. But these are OK. See these? This is fine. You can take these on board. And, of course, you know the deal, three ounces of liquids. This is all you can take despite this. This is what you can take. And as far as a no-no in terms of knives, if you're kind of wondering what can or can't you, because this locks open as a knife, you cannot take this kind of knife on board an airplane for now.

So now that we've got the show and tell out of the way, the TSA here says items like this will be allowed in carry-on bags. When? Starting April 25th. They were banned. This stuff was banned from planes post 9/11. But now security experts have changed their opinion on the ban. David Mattingly is at Hartsfield International Airport for us in Atlanta on the phone with me.

And, David, why? Why allow these? Why the change in policy?

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): The TSA explains it very simply, saying that they were trying to bring their restrictions more closely in line with international standards. Because you can get on a plane in one part of the world, you come to the United States, you might have some things taken away from you that were allowed in other countries that closely align travel routes with the U.S. So they wanted to do that.

Also, when I called the TSA today and spoke to their spokesman, and he really focused on one particular thing here, one thing that was driving all of this, why are you having certain knives, not others, why are you allowing lacrosse sticks and hockey sticks --

BALDWIN: Right.

MATTINGLY: When we still have to give up our drinking water and things like that when we go through security? Well, he says that what they're allowing now, going into effect on April 25th, what they're allowing now, he says, these items will not pose a catastrophic threat to the operation of aircraft. It doesn't involve the safety of the people immediately there if someone tries to do harm with these, but he was saying that these items cannot be used in a way that would either take over an airplane or bring an airplane down and use it as a weapon, as we saw on 9/11. So that was what he was saying about how they chose what can now go on and what has to stay off.

But, of course, talking to passengers here today at the world's busiest airport, a lot of them were listening to this thinking this doesn't make a lot of sense, how can you allow anything with a sharp knife to go on board like that when somebody may want to do harm? So you can bet there's going to be a lot of pushback on this.

We heard from the Flight Attendants Union who said this will further endanger the lives of all flight attendants. I spoke to one here today. She agreed that passengers themselves might be at risk here as well. I also got a statement today from the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association. They called this dangerous, ill advised and they called it foolishness for the TSA to be rolling back their regulations in this way. And you can bet these organizations are going to be pushing back very hard against TSA in the month to come to see if these restrictions can remain in place.

BALDWIN: Yes, I know as you talk to passengers there at Hartsfield, a lot of people buzzing about this. David Mattingly, thank you.

Just a heads up to all of you. We will be tackling this with our hot topics panel a little later on this hour. Just, let me ask you, tweet me @brookebcnn. Will you feel safer or not next time you're on a plane after these rules go into effect at the end of April? Let us know.

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

First up here, Attorney General Eric Holder is not totally ruling out a case where a drone strike could target Americans on U.S. soil. He made the comment in a letter to Republican Senator Rand Paul, raised the question during hearings involving CIA chief nominee John Brennan. Holder says, in a hypothetical and unlikely to occur case, the president could authorize the military to use lethal force within our borders, but he went on to say, the U.S. has not carried out such an order and has no plans to do so.

The drama deepens in this acid attack that disfigured the artistic director of Russia's famous Bolshoi Ballet. Apparently this was an inside job. The alleged mastermind, a star male dancer who was shown confessing on Russian television. So were the suspected getaway driver and the man who allegedly put on this mask and tossed this sulfuric acid into this Bolshoi leader's face, this artistic director's face. Russian police say the attack was prompted by a quote/unquote hostile relationship between the dancer and this artistic director.

And how about this one. A slip of the tongue has British tabloids buzzing. Speculation Prince William's pregnant wife Catherine is expecting a girl. Why? According to "The Telegraph," it happened right here. Here she is kneeling, talking to some of her pint-sized fans. One hands her this teddy bear here and the duchess of Cambridge apparently said, and I'm quoting her, "thank you, I'll keep that for my d" -- one letter, d, d. Then she corrects herself and says "my baby." D, was it daughter, d, was it dog, darling baby? I don't know. She's due to give birth in July. But keep in mind, if it is a girl, this is key, she will be next in line to the British throne after her father and Prince Charles.

And with spring apparently just around the corner, the White House canceling its popular public tours. They are scheduled to end this weekend because of staffing reductions caused by the recent forced budget cuts. But Republican Congressman Louie Gohmert says, not so fast here. Instead, he wants the president to give up his golf game before these White House tours are canceled. He submitted an amendment just yesterday that would ban the president from using federal funds to travel to and from his golf outings until the tours are resumed.

Doctors, they are sounding the alarm on this deadly super bug. It is untreatable. It is deadly. You listen to these cases here, they're spreading in hospitals across the country. Elizabeth Cohen has more on how you can protect yourself or your loved one.

Plus, the rising cost of higher education. My hot topics panel weighs in. Is the cost of college worth it? We'll go there, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: There's a new warning today about the superbug that we told you about last week. It's spreading in hospitals around the country. It's untreatable. It is deadly. And the news today is that the CDC is now officially sounding the alarm. Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen here with me.

When we talk about the bacteria, what is it about the bacteria that has the CDC so concerned?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's very smart. That's what it's worried about.

BALDWIN: Huh, smart bacteria.

COHEN: Smart bacteria that know how to outwit antibiotics. So they have tested this bacteria against antibiotics and most of them fail. The antibiotics don't do anything. There are a few that work, but they're toxic. Kidney damage, neurological damage. That's a huge problem.

BALDWIN: So what do you do either if you're already in the hospital or you are headed to the hospital? There have to be something you can do to protect yourself.

COHEN: There are things that you can do to protect yourself and I really encourage people, if you're ever going to be an empowered patient, this is the time to be it. And often it's your loved one who's doing it for you because you're sick in the hospital.

BALDWIN: Right.

COHEN: The single most important thing, this bacteria is spread by the hands of doctors and nurses. So when someone comes in the room and wants to touch you --

BALDWIN: No disrespect, doc, but wash your hands.

COHEN: No -- right. I want to see you wash -- and I want to see it. I've had doctors and nurses say, oh, I washed my hands before I came in. And I say, I am sure you did but, you know, call me crazy, I just want to see you do it or use hand sterilizer.

BALDWIN: A kind way of doing it.

COHEN: Right. It is kind.

BALDWIN: Shouldn't risk it.

COHEN: Right. I try to be kind. But if I don't get the results I want, I can be less than kind, believe me.

BALDWIN: You are a tough empowered patient, Elizabeth Cohen.

COHEN: You have to be. You have to be.

BALDWIN: So you say this is smart bacteria. So this smart bacteria is teaching other bacteria in the area to be tricky as well.

COHEN: That's right. This super bug is teaching other bacteria how to resist antibiotics. So this superbug is spreading its antibiotic resistance to other bacteria. And that's one of the reasons why doctors are expecting this whole situation just to get worse. And there aren't a whole lot of antibiotics in the pipeline. So we can't count on new antibiotics coming out all the time to fight these bugs. BALDWIN: And there are a number of cases. And you say you anticipate those cases growing.

COHEN: That's right. That's right.

BALDWIN: All right, Elizabeth Cohen, thank you very much.

COHEN: Thanks.

BALDWIN: As always, read more about Elizabeth's reporting, "Avoiding Hospital infections," on our website. You can go to cnn.com/empoweredpatient.

And now, here we are, hours after the death of President Hugo Chavez, a divided Venezuela is emerging today. We will take you there live for a very, very different reactions here to his death coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: In Caracas, Venezuela, here, you have the coffin of Hugo Chavez. It's moving through the streets here. And close to tears, Venezuela's vice president telling the country, their leader has died.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICOLAS MADURO, VENEZUELAN VICE PRESIDENT (through translator): At 4:25 in the afternoon today, on the 5th of March, the commandant (ph) President Hugo Chavez Frias passed away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: In the hours after that announcement, the people of Venezuela poured into the streets. Some marking Chavez's death with mourning. Others, cheers. Just like the political split in the United States, support for Chavez has divided Venezuela. Those who loved him say Chavez put their country on the map, empowered the poor, made their country increasingly democratic. But others remember Chavez as a tyrant, corrupt, even murderous. A man who supported fascist regimes in Libya, Iran and Syria. Shasta Darlington is live today in Caracas.

And, Shasta, this is a man relished controversy on a macro, a micro level. I was reading this list of oddities about the commandant saying he wanted to ban Coke Zero, wanted to do away with Halloween. You met the man. Tell me three things Americans do not know about Chavez.

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are a lot of very unique thing about Chavez. But one of the first that comes to mind is just what a great singer he was. When I was the correspondent in Cuba, he came obviously on a number of occasions and he would be in the middle of a speech and all of a sudden break into song. He has a deep, rich voice and would sing these gospel-like songs. So that's something I always think of.

But then, of course, there's the time that he tried to imply that the United States could be behind the cancer that not only he was suffering, but other Latin American left wing leaders like Argentina's Cristina Kirchner and Brazilian President Lula. He said maybe they've discovered a technology to infect us. Very quirky.

And then another thing that probably a lot of Americans don't realize is that this guy who railed against imperialism now for 14 years, the first year that he was in office, way back in 1999, he actually rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Three odd things. I had no idea the man could carry a tune. Shasta Darlington, formerly of -- from the Havana bureau, certainly met this leader of Venezuela. Shasta Darlington, thank you so much.

And now to this. Republican Senator Rand Paul, here he is, filibustering at this moment President Obama's choice for CIA chief John Brennan. Senator Paul says he will talk, as this is how filibusters go, and talk and talk until he no longer can. We're going to take you live to Capitol Hill and explain what is going on, what's next, coming up.

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