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Tornadoes Hit Oklahoma Again; Examining the Wild Weather Pattern; IRS Caught on Video; 25 Tea Party Groups Sue IRS; How to Survive a Tornado; U.S. Housing Market is Rebounding; One-one-One Interview with Phil Jackson

Aired June 01, 2013 - 13:00   ET

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


MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Miguel Marquez in for Fredricka Whitfield. A state already suffering is torn apart yet by more tornadoes. Five new twisters slammed Oklahoma claiming more lives. An update coming from Oklahoma next.

And we try to answer the question that hits all of us after seeing these images. Why all this bad weather? An atmospheric scientist weighs in.

Acting out a "Star Trek" spoof in full costume on the bridge of the Enterprise and learning how to do the cupid shuffle? IRS workers are caught on video having fun and doing it with your money.

Oklahoma is getting ready once again to clean up after devastating tornadoes. Officials say nine people died in last night's twisters. Two of them were children. And we heard this morning most of the victims were in cars.

It was a chaotic scene as five tornadoes hit the Oklahoma City area last night. A lot of people tried to get out of the area turning the interstates into parking lots. More than 70 people were hurt.

While communities are dealing with the mess left from yesterday's storms the big question now is, what's next? Can we expect more of these dangerous systems?

Meteorologist Karen Maginnis is here.

Karen, what can we expect?

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: All right. Right now what we're seeing are some strong thunderstorms that are producing some very heavy rainfall. We just showed you Memphis a few minutes ago. The severe thunderstorm warnings that were in effect are no longer in effect. Memphis, I think the worse is over. Some of those winds were gusting around 25 miles an hour. But there's a large volume of rain that's materializing across this region into the central Mississippi River Valley, the Ohio Valley, and into the eastern Great Lakes.

It's going to extend down into the Tennessee Valley. Some areas three to five inches of rainfall will be very common. St. Louis, you've cleared out. But yesterday we did see in St. Louis County, St. Charles County, near Covington, Tennessee, into Missouri, also Oklahoma City, around that area. Not in the city itself.

Numerous reports of tornadoes. Some 23 unfiltered reports. When I say that that means some may have been doubled up but they'll have to go out and survey.

Here is that line. Yesterday afternoon. Right now the damage from the turned EF-3. That's what they have surveyed so far but they will continue to evaluate that and many other reports of tornadoes across the mid-south and the mid-Mississippi River Valley.

El Reno started out in the evening just to the west of Oklahoma City. The tops on these thunderstorms soared to about 60,000 feet. And we did see some flooding rainfall across this region. The rivers continue to rise not just here but extending over towards St. Louis and into Kentucky, Paducah, over five inches of rain. You wonder why we have tornadoes this time of year? Because it's tornado season. May is the peak. June is the secondary peak.

So, Miguel, it's not unusual, but 100-degree temperatures in central Oklahoma this time of year, not so common.

MARQUEZ: Yes.

MAGINNIS: But that fueled those storms.

MARQUEZ: Karen Maginnis, let's hope the worse is behind us. Thank you very much.

Now Nick Valencia is live for us in Union City, Oklahoma.

Nick, what are people there telling you about how they're doing right now?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They're doing OK considering what just happened here. I'm standing outside of the Merritt residence or what once the Merritt residence. Right in the debris. This is -- this is piece of their chimney right here. Just collapsed. And you go through the debris, you've got kids toys. There's no telling how far this traveled.

We've seen debris in the two weeks that we've been out here travel as far as a mile and a half, two miles. Just from all over neighboring counties. And here in this county, it's one of the more hard hit counties, Canadian County. You know, you have El Reno, you have Union City. And a place like this, there's a lot of space for this tornado to travel which is a good thing. It didn't hit up -- you know, didn't hit or land on too many residences. The Merritts were lucky not to be home at the time but half their roof is gone.

You see the clean-up, they'll continue. You've got police officers going door to door trying to help the residents, showing their support by actually showing up and being here in the residents' lives. So this is sort a -- you know, sort of, sort of signs for hope for the residents in the community here. That's what they're focusing on. We asked them, you know, how frustrated are you for having to deal with all these tornadoes that have come through here and all the attention that you're getting?

It's as if they're completely unfazed by this, Miguel. I mean, it's hard to convey that considering the devastation, the damage, the deaths, all that. You take into consideration and then you talk to these people and, you know, it's just as if they've gone through it before and it's about taking the next step forward.

MARQUEZ: Yes.

VALENCIA: And not so much thinking about what happened.

MARQUEZ: Well, the good thing I see there behind you, Nick, is blue sky over your -- over your head, which is a welcome sign there. But, you know, a lot of electricity out. A lot of damage across the very large swath of the country.

What are people looking for right now? What's the immediate need?

VALENCIA: Absolutely. And that's a great point. Tens of thousands of people, Miguel, throughout the state of Oklahoma still without power. We know thousands here without power. In fact, when we showed up in El Reno it was pitch-black with the exception of our news crew and a news crew next to us. There was no light in the city. It was very eerie, very ominous.

We saw first responders going through with their flashlights up and down the roadside. But now that the light has come out and the sky is clear there's not a cloud in the sky right now, but as they say here in Oklahoma, if you don't like the weather, just wait a couple of minutes.

And of course, there's more new problems on the horizon, Miguel. Next week there's more predictions for severe storms.

MARQUEZ: Yes.

VALENCIA: This place just can't -- you know, can't get a stroke of luck here, Miguel. It's terrible and very unfortunate for the residents here.

MARQUEZ: I've heard that saying before, Nick, but when the weather turns in Oklahoma, it really turns.

Now thank you very much.

People in the Oklahoma City area aren't just dealing with tornadoes. They also have major flooding to worry about. The rising water entered buildings, stranded drivers, and took out a road. And it's not just in Oklahoma. Portions of nearly 250 roads in Missouri are closed because of high water.

And in Arkansas, a sheriff trying to rescue two women caught in the flooding is dead. Now the women and another officer are missing.

We've seen the devastation from tornadoes, wildfires, earthquakes in the past few weeks. Why is all this happening right now? We brought in an expert for some answers, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUEZ: Well, weather is slamming the nation coast to coast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's probably going to be a tornado on this clear. Pull off the side of the road right here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. This is our view of it. There's your wall cloud right there. Look at that wall cloud, dude.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: We've all seen the devastation and loss of life from tornados. In Oklahoma alone at least seven tornadoes hit in the month of May. As it leaves with this week, people in Kansas also looked to the sky and saw frightening images like this one. Out west and New Mexico and California, tinder dry conditions are fueling wildfires. Experts say a fire season started early this year. And if that's not enough, earthquaketrack.com has documented nearly 400 earthquakes across the U.S. from Maine to California in the last seven days alone. Most were very minor but the sheer number hitting central Arkansas gave rise to the term there earthquake swarm.

We haven't even mentioned hurricane season yet which begins today. Yikes. And it reminds us of Sandy and the destruction it caused along the northeast coast last year. Experts predict this season will be an active one with as many as 11 hurricanes.

All this extreme weather begs the question, why is it happening with such frequency and force? We've asked an expert to join us. Dr. Jennifer Francis is an atmospheric scientist at the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers University. She joins us via Skype.

Doctor, can we -- can we point to anything that's causing the extreme weather here?

JENNIFER FRANCIS, ATMOSPHERIC SCIENTIST: Well, yes, as a matter of fact, we can point to a number of things that are related to the changing climate system. For one thing, the atmosphere is warmer. A warmer atmosphere has more energy in it. So any storm that forms has more energy to work with.

We're also seeing that there's more moisture in the atmosphere. That moisture not only provides additional precipitation for storms but it also, when it condenses into clouds, it releases heat into the atmosphere, again providing more energy for storms. So we've got those things going on. We've also got warmer oceans. Those provide more energy for hurricane development. And the research that I've been involved in in particular has been looking at how the effect of the warming Arctic is having on the jetstream which is this very high- speed wind, river of wind over our heads that controls not only where storms go but their actual formation. And what we're seeing -- go ahead.

MARQUEZ: Well, this is -- I know that you -- sorry. We talked in the past about this. You talked about the loopiness of the jetstream. Tell us what that means. How has the lack of Arctic ice or the shrinking Arctic ice affected the jetstream and made it to do that more?

FRANCIS: Right. So the idea is that because the Arctic is warming two to three times faster than it's warming a little bit farther south it's this difference in temperature that provides the fuel that drives the jetstream. And so as we make this temperature difference smaller with the warming Arctic, it's causing the west-east winds of the jetstream to become weaker and when they get weaker the jetstream tends to take a wavier path, north-south loopier, as you say, as it travels around the northern hemisphere.

MARQUEZ: But --

FRANCIS: And those waves are what create storms.

MARQUEZ: And one thing I want to make clear, though, is the jetstream isn't necessarily tied to tornadoes or even hurricanes, or is there some sort of an effect back and forth?

FRANCIS: Well, they are tied to some degree. The jetstream actually does provide one of the ingredients that are necessary for tornado development. It also interacts with hurricanes when the jetstream and the hurricane come into contact, which is exactly what happened when Sandy came along. So the jetstream can steer hurricanes.

MARQUEZ: I see. Doctor, very quickly, are we going to see more or less in the weeks, months, years ahead?

FRANCIS: You broke up a little bit there but I'm wondering whether you're talking about hurricanes?

MARQUEZ: Are we going to see -- well, just more of this unsettled weather. Are we going to see more of this crazy weather?

(CROSSTALK)

FRANCIS: More extreme weather. Well, you know, if this connection with the Arctic continues and we know the climate is going to continue to warm as we continue to dump greenhouse gasses into it by our fossil fuel burning there's every expectation that we should see an increasing amount of extreme weather.

MARQUEZ: Dr. Jennifer Francis, thank you very much for joining us.

FRANCIS: You're very welcome.

MARQUEZ: So if you think people are mad at the IRS, wait until you see this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Attempting moderate the frequency now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sorry about the uniforms, Captain. The dry cleaner gave me the wrong order.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: Dear. And this is not the latest "Star Trek" movie, of course. We're back with a caught on video moment that you paid for that is a little hard to believe.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUEZ: As if the IRS doesn't have enough problems with the controversy over targeting Tea Party groups there is now evidence the agency has been spending money on things it shouldn't, like teaching its employees to dance and it's all caught on video. CNN's chief congressional correspondent Dana Bash is in Washington with the tape.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's a dance called the cupid shuffle. If you've never heard of it you don't work for the IRS.

(Voice-over): CNN obtained this video made by IRS employees to pose at a 2010 IRS conference. According to the video's narrator those taking part in learning the cupid shuffle are competing to, quote, "become the next great dance sensation."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To become the next great dance sensation.

BASH: The CNN has told a new IRS inspector general report coming out next week will detail excess spending at the IRS and this video will be spotlighted as an example of ways IRS employees wasted taxpayer dollars. And the IRS is not defending it at all telling CNN, quote, "This video produced for a 2010 IRS conference was unacceptable and inappropriate use of government funds. The IRS and the governments as a whole now have strict new policies and procedures in place to ensure that taxpayer funds are being used appropriately."

(On camera): Now we're told that cupid dance video cost $1600 to make. Certainly doesn't break the bank, but we also were told the IRS spent a lot more, $60,000 to make a pair of different videos, spoofs of "Gilligan's Island" and "Star Trek." Now you can see the production value is better than the cupid dance but it doesn't look like they spent much on acting lessons.

Watch this clip.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sorry about the uniforms, Captain. The dry cleaner gave me the wrong order. Star-like coffee while you wait, sir? It's better than McDonald's and only twice the price.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No can do. I've already spent my per diem for the day.

BASH: All of this opens up yet another controversial front for the IRS which of course is under fire from both parties for targeting Tea Party groups who are applying for tax exempt status. As for the upcoming report on excessive IRS spending the new acting IRS commissioner is calling the 2010 conferences that appeared to waste taxpayer dollars, quote, "an unfortunate vestige from a prior error, saying taxpayers should take comfort that a conference like this would not take place today."

Dana Bash, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: Thanks, Dana.

And speaking of the Tea Party, it's a big week for them. One of its strongest voices, Minnesota Congressman Michele Bachmann, announced she would not run again. The White House is right where the Tea Party wants it, on the defensive, from a barrage of controversies. All of this is the Tea Party's signature issue -- the fight over Obamacare looms once again.

Niger Innis is chief strategist with the teaparty.net and joins me on the phone from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

Mr. Innis, a year ago we thought the Tea Party was dead and now it seems to be roaring back. What's going on?

NIGER INNIS, CHIEF STRATEGIST, TEAPARTY.NET: It was roaring back before this controversy, but this controversy and this very purposeful political targeting by the IRS has put a movement that was already roaring back from walk one to walk five. And you will see the results of this malfeasance manifest itself in the election cycle of 2013 and 2014.

MARQUEZ: I appreciate that you kept up with this "Star Trek" references there.

Michele Bachmann stepping down. Who can replace her?

INNIS: Well, you know, I frankly -- I think that's going to work itself out. I mean, you've got obviously hopefully some congressional inquiries that is going to take place. You've got a lawsuit of a number of Tea Party groups and other conservative organizations that will likewise targeted. Those issues are, of course, the Obama administration is saying that they're going to roll up their sleeves and get to the bottom of this.

I don't know how much I believe that. But that's what they say. So that process is going to work itself out. I think the real question is, I'm not just going to dismiss and throw this at the IRS. We know for a fact that several Democratic senators, Chuck Schumer, Senator Baucus out of Montana, urged the IRS to investigate and question the status of Tea Party groups and other conservative groups.

We know that there were some elements within the IRS that followed the instructions from the United States senators. The question is, were -- was there anybody from the White House, was there anybody in the Obama campaign that was involved in this malfeasance, as well?

MARQUEZ: Well, we know that IRS targeted and denied Democratic groups as well, the same status. But you had talked about the Senate now. Now that Bachmann is sort of stepping down, she's been the big voice for the Tea Partiers. Now you're looking at the Senate. What do you guys have planned for the Senate come -- come July?

INNIS: We're going to have an extraordinary event. But, you know, we had a -- we helped organize along with Congresswoman Bachmann a House of Representatives Tea Party caucus that was back in April. It was very successful. We had 20 members of Congress attend. We had another 20 represented by their staff. Senator Mitch McConnell sent someone over. The RNC chairman sent his chief of staff over. It was a fantastic event. And they're going to replicate the event in the United States Senate in July.

MARQUEZ: All right. And now a lot of this seems to be the energy over the fight over Obamacare. It's due to be implemented in October. The commercials and all the -- you know, the hoopla over it will begin this summer. How nasty can we expect this implementation fight to be?

INNIS: Well, I hope it doesn't get nasty at all. I hope that the American people realizing the dangers and I think you are already seeing the unpopularity of Obamacare has been consistent all along when you consider that the IRS itself is going to be -- is going to be reviewing and regulating some 49 provisions of Obamacare. I think the timing could not be better to expose how dangerous the implementation of this bad legislation is going to be.

MARQUEZ: Niger Innis, thank you very much for joining us this afternoon.

INNIS: Thank you.

MARQUEZ: In a minute we'll take you back to Oklahoma. We've got reporters on the ground and we'll get a sense of just how bad the damage is. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUEZ: Oklahoma is cleaning up again after devastating tornadoes. Five tornadoes hit the Oklahoma City area last night. More than 70 people were hurt. Officials now say nine people died in the twisters. Two of them were children.

Nick Valencia is in Union City for us.

Nick, what are people there telling you? VALENCIA: Yes, Miguel, this is a state that seemingly can't catch a break when it comes to severe weather. Dealing with a handful of tornadoes in just the last two weeks. Some of them very severe. This time it was Union City that caught the brunt of the damage. But fortunately this time around, it's a very rural area. Not very densely populated. Not a lot of subdivisions for the tornado to sort of swirl around and cause more damage. But let me step out of the way here so you get a sense of where we're at.

This is the Merritt residence or what once was the Merritt residence. You see half of their roof is gone. Their entire second floor completely in ruins.

And, Miguel, this is one of the houses that was left in good shape after the tornadoes came through here yesterday. If we pan around just to the side of that you'll see a flipped over car and just to the side of that you will see a house or what's left of a house reduced to timber and just crumbs of concrete.

But people here are really in high spirits, Miguel. You know, they seem to say they're getting what they need. Just a short time ago we saw a handful of police officers walk through here going house to house, asking the residents if they need anything. There's, of course, also volunteers and first responders driving up and down these rural roads asking residents if they're getting enough to eat, asking us if we're getting enough to eat.

Just incredible to see the help and the outpouring of support by the community. And so far, residents say they're getting what they need -- Miguel.

MARQUEZ: Nick, it is over a very wide area. It's more rural. Sometimes authorities have a harder time finding people and getting help to those who need it. Do they -- do they sense that they have a handle on everything there?

VALENCIA: We were just at a press conference a couple of hours ago with local authorities and they brought that point up. They say right now they had nine total deaths. Seven in Canadian County but they said that that total could go up. The final death toll and those numbers, those figures, they will come from the chief medical examiner's office but a great point there in terms of the rural area.

Last night over night they had six people confirmed dead. They found another body this morning just as the sun came up. So they're still searching, they're still going around, doing sweeps, making sure that they didn't miss anything or miss anyone who may be in trouble and may need their help.

But as we're saying, you know, it's just a really big bullet dodged here because it touched down in such a wide open space -- Miguel.

MARQUEZ: Nick Valencia in Union City, thank you very much.

From Oklahoma to Indiana, more potentially dangerous storms are still a major threat. Let's go to the CNN Severe Weather Center and meteorologist Karen Maginnis.

Karen, what are conditions like right now and what can we expect in the forecast?

MAGINNIS: Well, the frontal system that triggers this outbreak is slowly making its way towards the east. I just showed you in the last 30, 40 minutes or so the big storms that were roaring across Memphis, well, they moved out fairly quickly. It's still raining a little bit. Winds have gusted around 25. But we had wind gusts up around 65, 75 miles an hour.

But with these tornadoes being confirmed, some of them EF-3, the damage done from EF-3 tornadoes that's just to the west of Oklahoma City and to the south, but not just there. They are looking and surveying damage in Missouri, also in southern Illinois and Indiana. Even over into Tennessee. An EF-1 tornado reported there and some damage. Two homes severely damaged. And they're saying that some outbuildings were also damaged as well.

In Paducah, about an hour or so ago, they were saying about 5 1/2 inches of rain. We take you back to yesterday and those big storms that's just kind of sprung up just to the west of Oklahoma City. We were watching Oklahoma in particular, specifically because of May 20th. But that wasn't the only area that saw these tornadoes just kind of spring up that were being monitored by storm chasers.

You have seen that over the last 24 hours. Here's some of the path. The El Reno, the EF-3 tornado. The Union City, Oklahoma City is right over here. And we've still got lots of surveyors, the National Weather Service surveying teams out.

And, Miguel, they'll let us know other places but they said most of the deaths, flooding in cars.

MARQUEZ: Terrible. Thank you very much, Karen Maginnis.

We now have new information about the threatening letters sent to President Obama and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Bloomberg's top gun control group. The FBI says tests on the letters have come back positive for the poison ricin. Investigators say they found very low traces of the poison. Authorities have searched the home of a Texas man in connection with the case.

Four Houston firefighters died after a hotel wall collapsed on them while they fought a five alarm fire. Thirteen other firefighters are being treated at the hospitals. A fire chief says the fire started Friday at a restaurant next to the Southwest Inn. He says that some of the firefighters went into the burning building because they thought there were people trapped inside. An investigation is under way.

Convicted killer Joran Van Der Sloot is planning to marry behind bars. Van Der Sloot is the prime suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway and he was convicted of murdering a woman in a Peruvian hotel room in 2010 and is serving a 28-year sentence. Van Der Sloot's attorneys tells HLN the convict met his fiance while she was visiting another inmate.

A swarm of tornadoes has ripped through Oklahoma. You've seen the devastation. Next, Dr. Sanjay Gupta shows us the best ways to survive a tornado.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUEZ: Oklahoma has once again been hit hard by deadly tornadoes. We've been showing you the devastation. Let's ask the question, what's the best way to survive a tornado? Do you run? Do you hide?

Our chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta breaks down your options.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very large tornado threat heading into Moore, Oklahoma.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Thirteen minutes. That's the average lead time you'd have if a tornado was headed your way.

(On camera): There's obviously no completely safe option during a tornado. Your best bet is to get into the basement, somewhere below ground level. But keep in mind that if you are there you want to see what's on the floor above you as well. A refrigerator, a piece of heavy furniture could come crashing through the floor. So you want to be wary of that.

Also here in Moore, Oklahoma, there aren't a lot of basements. Studies have actually shown that there is another very good option. Take a look over here. An interior room or a closet like that can be the best place to be, as well. The house is gone here, but that closet preserved, even the clothes inside of that. Remember, just got 13 minutes. So find that safe place. Maybe grab a helmet or a bike helmet, even throw some mattresses or a blanket over you to try to protect the head.

(Voice-over): One place you can't hide from a tornado is in your car. Tornado strength winds can pick up a one to two-ton vehicle like this one and toss it around like you or I would a basketball.

(On camera): Now you obviously don't want to be driving toward a tornado but it's also a bad idea to be driving away from a tornado. It's hard to gauge the distance. If you must be driving and the weather is clear, try driving at right angles to the tornado, perpendicular, to get out of the path of the storm.

There's another misconception as well which is that you should get out of your car and run underneath an overpass. What happens in a situation like this is the wind is actually funneled. It's even more powerful than the storm and there's also a lot of debris. And that debris can injure you. (Voice-over): Now if you are stuck outside as a tornado approaches, find a ditch or any place far away from potentially dangerous objects and vehicles and stay low.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Moore, Oklahoma.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: Now good news when it comes to the economy, home sales and housing prices are bouncing back. We'll take a look at what's led to the rebound.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUEZ: Five families just learned they are the new owners of a free home. No down payment, no mortgage payment, just plenty of goodwill from several groups. Operation Home Front, United Rentals and Wells Fargo. The families were presented pictures of the houses which are scattered across the Atlanta area.

There's good news on the housing front. Home sales are up and so are housing prices. In fact, one survey says the housing market is 54 percent back to normal.

Michael Corbett is a real estate expert and best-selling author of "Find It, Fix It, Flip It." He joins us from L.A.

Michael, what are the really hot housing markets right now?

MICHAEL CORBETT, REAL ESTATE EXPERT: There are couple of double- digit hot markets right now. Phoenix is one. San Francisco, it's up almost 22 percent. Las Vegas, Atlanta and Detroit are all up double digits and increasing in home value right now.

MARQUEZ: Well, certainly great news to hear that in Phoenix and Las Vegas that were so hard hit. What factors are leading to the rebound?

CORBETT: You know, just as you said, we are 54 percent back towards a market recovery, according to Trulia's Home Barometer Index. And what's driving that, that would be the increase in prices. But what's fueling that, low interest rates. Also one of the things is shrinking inventories are driving that right now as well as there's fewer distressed properties going on to the market. More buyers are now returning to the marketplace. They've been sitting on the sidelines. And we're also seeing an improvement in the employment picture.

These are all very good things that are helping to drive us towards this market normalization, as you would call it.

MARQUEZ: So the markets are rebounding, great news. But are still considered undervalued. What are some of those?

CORBETT: There are some even with these large price increases where homes are still considered undervalued meaning there are some really good deals to be had. There's a couple of really great markets like that, that San Antonio is one. Minneapolis is another. Portland, Miami, even with all the growth that's going on there and sales rise, and San Diego. These are still places where you can get good value for your dollar. You know, really in relation to incomes and other pricing and other areas.

MARQUEZ: And now do you see continued improvement because those interest rates, they are creeping up?

CORBETT: Yes, absolutely. I do see continued improvement but it's going to be tempered which is, I'm telling you, a really good thing. The reason why is because we are going to see an increase in mortgage rates. We're also going to see a little bit more inventory come on the market as prices go up, home sellers are going to want to sell. This is the time to be doing it.

And also as these prices creep up a lot of the investors who have been gobbling up a lot of the -- a lot of the inventory now are going to cool a little bit because the good steals are going to be gone. This is all a very good sign for a nice normal increase in market.

MARQUEZ: Michael, if you've never bought a house before, is this the time to jump in?

CORBETT: This is a fantastic time to buy. If you have the down payment, if you're going to stay in your house for five to seven years, and you can get a great mortgage right now if you have 20 percent down, this is a fantastic time to buy and a great long-term investment.

MARQUEZ: Michael Corbett, thanks for getting up early for us in Los Angeles.

(LAUGHTER)

CORBETT: You're welcome.

MARQUEZ: He's considered one of the best NBA coaches of all time. Our Rachel Nichols sits down with Phil Jackson. He explains an uncomfortable moment between two of his best players, Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUEZ: Well, The Miami Heat and the Indiana Pacers run for an NBA championship with a win tonight? We're hours away from finding out. The Heat shut out the Pacers Thursday to claim game five of the Eastern Conference Championship series. The team heads into game six with a 3-2 lead over the Pacers. Tipoff is at 8:30 Eastern.

CNN's Rachel Nichols had the chance to sit down with a coach who is no stranger to conference finals. I'm talking about legendary coach, Phil Jackson, he won 11 championship rings while coaching the L.A. Lakers and the Chicago Bulls.

In an interview Jackson talks about the road ahead and his secret to success. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS: If I was going to say on a scale of one to 10, what are the chances Phil Jackson would be an NBA coach again, what would you say? Zero. What about scale of one to 10, president or general manager?

PHIL JACKSON, 11 NBA CHAMPIONSHIPS AS A HEAD COACH: Well, that's to be determined. I mean, who would have faith in me? I've never done it before. I mean, it really -- it would require a lot of faith to turn over an operation like that, someone who hasn't done it. But I think I can have an influence on the game, yes.

NICHOLS: You coached Michael Jordan, you coached Kobe Bryant. Tell us what happened the first time you introduced Kobe Bryant to Michael Jordan?

JACKSON: Well, there's a small room off the corridor in Staples which is called the chairman's room. And I had Michael back there to meet Kobe. Kobe came in. Michael and I were sitting there. And he sat down and his first words was, I could beat you one-on-one, is what he said. And Michael said, you probably can. You know, he's just admitted to it. He just diffused it right away.

NICHOLS: Why was it important to Kobe to come in and say I could beat you one-on-one? Why do you think he said that?

JACKSON: I think he wanted to establish something right away, you know, that his prowess and, believe me, you know, and he certainly had one of the games that Michael showed up at I think he got six three-pointers in the first half, just went out and, you know, like, here, I'm going to show you something that's in my tool box and --

NICHOLS: Like showing off for dad when he comes to a Little League game, that kind of thing?

JACKSON: Yes, I was.

NICHOLS: We've heard from a lot of your former players. From Michael, from Kobe. Just your unconventional methods. You know, the burning stage around the locker room. Practicing in the dark, the Lakota Warrior items in the team meeting room, and a lot of them have turned out to be very successful and worked and motivated players. What's the most unconventional thing that you did that was a complete and utter failure?

JACKSON: Boy, I had a -- I had a therapist that was working with me on a -- on a situation in which, you know, we had come up against Detroit. There was all of this overriding thing about Detroit and their power and their ability to screw a game up into a physical confrontation, so this therapist said, my key is for you to get pencil, wood and pencil or chopstick or something like that, and put it behind the molars of your teeth and chew on it and get it firmly gripped in your jaw, and then the players look at each other and they get into this animal mode and they start challenging each other. And --

NICHOLS: And do they all have the chopsticks?

JACKSON: Yes, they're --

NICHOLS: OK. Great.

JACKSON: They're in that animal mode that it was a -- you know.

NICHOLS: Right.

(LAUGHTER)

JACKSON: OK. So I gave them all -- you know, I don't know, six or seven groups, paired them up. It lasted about one minute and they all fell over and they laughed. And they --

NICHOLS: I'm trying to picture Michael and Scottie with chopsticks in their mouth trying to growl at each other.

JACKSON: Well, I mean, it's to build the energy and to build the aggressiveness, you know, that you have to build the animal.

NICHOLS: Yes.

JACKSON: Or whatever it is that's in you.

NICHOLS: Didn't quite work so well?

JACKSON: Well, in that situation it didn't. I dropped that one.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: I absolutely love that. That was Rachel Nichols with NBA legend Phil Jackson.

Parts of Oklahoma are literally picking up the pieces after a swarm of deadly tornadoes. We'll have a live update after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUEZ: We're monitoring storms and the clean-up in Oklahoma after a night of devastating tornadoes, five tornadoes hit the Oklahoma City area last night. Officials now say nine people have died. Two of them were children. More than 70 people were hurt.

Nick Valencia is in Union City for us.

Nick, what are you seeing there?

VALENCIA: We're seeing a lot of debris on the ground, Miguel. Tons of debris, you know, leveled houses. Let me get out of the way here so you can take a look at the scope of damage. This is the Merritt residence. Next to that you've got structures demolished. You've got piles and piles of debris and the power is still out here. So residents are still having to deal with that. Cleaning up what little is left of their homes.

The Merritt residence is one of the good ones. It actually didn't suffer as much damage as you can see as some of the other surrounding residence, so we're seeing a lot of helping hands as well, a lot of volunteers coming to help out this family. We see dozens of cars in a barn close by as well, presumably volunteers to help that family which suffered damage.

But we're also -- hearing a little bit more about the victims of this -- of this devastation that tore through here last night. I spoke to the chief medical examiner earlier, as you mentioned. He said nine people confirmed dead. They tell us that five of those nine remain unidentified at this time. The nine dead include two children and seven adults, so you talk about an area that's just getting over that EF-5 tornado on May 20th, only to have its neighboring county affected so it's -- it's a state right now, Miguel, that can't seem to buy a break when it comes to severe weather.

MARQUEZ: Yes. And a lot of those people in those cars apparently -- that were killed were in their cars, maybe they're trying to escape, maybe they were caught unaware of the tornado coming in.

This storm -- these tornadoes over a wide area, much more rural. Do authorities there feel they have a handle on everything given how widespread the damage is?

VALENCIA: You know, we went to a press conference a little while ago, and they seemed to say at least or give the impression that everything was under control. They said they had a lot of volunteers from surrounding counties trying to help out. The Salvation Army is already here, the American Red Cross is here. Other benevolent organizations are here to help as well. People are coming up and down the road passing out food.

Police officers are going to house to rural house, checking on the residents in the community. Nine people -- nine lives lost. It is still a lot of -- a lot of lives lost for a community that is sort of was prepared for this storm to come through. They had warning signs. The tornado sirens went off, Miguel, and as far as those people that were in the cars, it's probably the worst place you could have been in a time like this.

MARQUEZ: Nick Valencia in Union City, thank you very much.

Now everyone has been talking about how advanced warnings have saved lives in these dangerous storms and that's why we're providing constant updates. We want -- we want you to know where the next storm is coming from and who needs to be on the lookout. Meteorologist Karen Maginnis is with us again.

Karen, what do folks need to be looking out for here?

MAGINNIS: All right. Here we go. Frontal system makes its way towards the east. We already saw some pretty big storms in Memphis. Here goes the frontal system and the area of low pressure as it treks its way from the Great Lakes into the northeast. So over the next 24 to 48 hours we will start to see the storms really build into the northeast.

For tomorrow looks like the threat is going to be from northern Virginia all the way up to Maine, primarily it looks like wind, rain, the possibility of hail, and can't rule out the potential for an isolated tornado. Right now the big thunderstorms are roaring right across central Arkansas, extending towards Memphis, and just moved to the east of Memphis now.

And we're seeing a lot less volatility because it looks like these storms are a little less intense. I don't think we've seen the heating like we saw yesterday and I mentioned that because -- several of the other areas right around Oklahoma City, temperatures, we're in the triple digits. There were 102, 105 degrees, so that really fueled those thunderstorms. A lot of heat, moisture, cooler air coming in on the back side and low-level rotation and there you go.

All right. Memphis right now still seeing some reduced visibility, some rain showers being reported there, Paducah earlier, they really got a soaking. Some places reported five inches of rain.

Here is the threat for today from Ft. Worth, to Shreveport, to Nashville, Lexington, and Detroit.

Miguel, we'll stay on top of it.

MARQUEZ: Karen Maginnis, thank you very much for keeping up.

Coming up at 3:00 Eastern in the CNN NEWSROOM police are stepping up the search for whoever ambushed and killed a police officer. But they say they need your help to find the gunman.

On a much lighter note the football Hall of Fame is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a makeover. We'll take you inside for a tour with the football legend Joe Namath. Cool.

Then at 4:00 Eastern you've heard the story of an Arizona mom who spent a week in a Mexican jail falsely accused of drug charges. We'll talk to a Marine who spent four months in a Mexican jail and he says he was innocent.

We'll be back in an hour with the latest breaking headlines from CNN NEWSROOM. But first we want -- we all want a bargain. Does chasing cheap come at a high cost for American workers?

Christine Romans has the answers. "YOUR MONEY" starts now.