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Gunmen Storm Ukraine Parliament Building; Arizona Governor Vetoes Anti-Gay Bill; "The Dating Game's" Lange Dies; Nutrition Label Overhaul; National Hero To National Celebrity

Aired February 27, 2014 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: It's 31 minutes past the hour in the east. Let's take a look at your headlines. We start with breaking news this morning in Southern Ukraine. Dozens of gunman have seized a parliamentary building and planted a Russian flag atop it. Police have been ordered to surround that building. In the meantime, Russia sent thousands of troops to its border with Ukraine for military drills. The U.S. is urging Russian President Vladimir Putin to show restraint.

Arizona's governor saying she feared negative and unintended consequences and veto the bill that would have allowed businesses to refuse to serve gays on religious grounds. That measure triggered nationwide outrage with several large corporation and sports leagues including the NFL Super Bowl host committee publicly opposing it. Governor Jan Brewer said she vetoed the religious rights bill because it was too broadly worded.

Disturbing video of an attack against a Washington State bus driver. That violence caught on security camera after a driver got in an altercation with a passenger that he was trying to eject from the bus. The rider fled after repeatedly punching the driver in the face. He was caught by police several hours later. He was booked on third- degree assault charges.

The very first host of "The Dating Game" has died. Jim Lang was with the show when it debuted back in 1965. Some of the famous contestants during a stint included Michael Jackson, Farrah Faucet, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Lang went on to host several other game shows like "Hollywood Connection" and "The Newly Wed Game." Jim Lang was 81 years old.

Coming to a freezer near you. Prepare yourself for four new flavors of Ben & Jerry's ice cream that might change the world. They all have decadent pores running down the middle. Hazel nutty like Nutella, raspberry, peanut butter fudge, salted caramel in the middle and all but the salted caramel have two ice cream flavors on either side of the core. That's a problem when you are trying to prevent one from getting on your spoon cake.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: I like that.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm just standing here thinking about what we should be having for breakfast.

PEREIRA: They got to label that --

BOLDUAN: Let's not talk about the nutrition of that please. What we are going to talk about, nutrition labels. Breaking this morning, nutrition labels on the package as you buy at the grocery store are in for a major overhaul. The Food and Drug Administration is proposing changes to the labels for the first time in over two decades.

The goal is to help Americans better understand what they're buying so they can hopefully eat healthier. Let's bring in CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta for more on this. So Sanjay, I want to get your opinion on if you think it's going to help people eat healthier in a second. First start me off with what are the changes. What are they proposing?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it was a perfect segment from Ben & Jerry. This is interesting. People may not know, before 1990 food nutrition labels were not required. It was voluntary so a lot of products had them, but that was just voluntary. It's interesting. They want to make this sort of more relevant I think to people's lives.

There's a few things that people really want to know when they look at a label and they want to highlight those things, and the things that they think are important. They want to really emphasize. So take a look at the current labelling and look at what is proposed in the future.

One of the things you are going to see is that calories, first of all, that number is really high up there very prominently displayed. They also want to focus on a few different things including added sugar, not just total sugar.

But how much of that sugar is added and then certain nutrients like Vitamin D and potassium. But it's that emphasis and the other thing, if you look at the top eight servings per container. People complain about this all the time because they don't see that line, eight servings per container.

They see the bottom line. They think that's how much I'm getting. Actually, you could eat that eight times within a particular serving. They want to serve take sort of part of it out of it as well. This is a proposed labelling.

There's going to be a 90-day comment period now and you are going to hear I think from a lot of people on this because people have very strong opinions on how much should be divulged here, how much should not be divulged and what really helps.

BOLDUAN: And also talk to us about they're even proposing new serving sizes. As I look at this and I'm looking at kind of some of the details I handed out. My headline from this is if you can't beat them join them because it's just showing us that we eat bigger servings.

GUPTA: I think - I think there's two parts there. One is that, look, let's really look at what Americans consider a serving and let's label it that way. So and you're right. If you take ice cream. And I have my own ice cream here this morning just to show you.

But this might have been considered four servings before, but now it may be considered two servings. I'm making those numbers up, but the point is they're really going to sort of reflect exactly what is serving is for Americans are.

The other thing that they're going to do is like a bag of potato chips for example, if you specifically - if it's likely you're going to eat the whole bag in a single sitting, they're going to label as much.

They may say, look, this is typically two servings, but here also the package data on this. If you eat this whole bag, here's what you're going to be eating so people can really see those numbers as well and get an idea of just exactly how much they're taking in.

BOLDUAN: I guess, first having a better understanding of how to read the labels maybe is the first step trying to push people to eat healthier. Do you think this will translate to that? Once we understand the labelling and the value, we will eat healthier?

GUPTA: Yes. I think it's going to make a difference. You know, I'll tell you one thing, Kate. These are hard sort of things to study because the people who read labels are going to get a benefit. And the people who ignore the labels are not, and I guess that goes without saying. But I think the question is, now with these new labels are more people likely to read them.

If you look at chain food restaurants for example and they've had, you know, labelling in this chain food restaurants for some time, you'd see about a 10 to 20 calorie decline in calories in people who are actually looking at the labels. It's not a huge difference, but it is a little bit of a difference.

Women by the way more likely to read the labels and make a decision based on those labels as compared to men. But you know, I think the new labels could help and maybe more significant than what we're seeing right now.

BOLDUAN: A good first step though. We know that the food industry is complaining of it because it's going to cost them some $2 billion to make these changes, but I guess that comes with it, right, Sanjay?

GUPTA: That's right. And this won't happen overnight even if this is approved for that very reason. It takes a long time to roll something like this out because so many products already exist with the old labels so they are mitigate their cost by slowing the roll out. Again, there's 90 days before we see how this all shakes out. A lot of people are going to be weighing in on it.

BOLDUAN: A lot of people weighing in, but at least we're talking about it. Great to see you, Sanjay. Now go eat that ice cream. You're one person that could eat the entire thing and we would never see the difference.

GUPTA: It's got all the ingredients for breakfast in here I'm told.

BOLDUAN: Now you are talking my language. Thanks, Sanjay. Of course, a reminder to all of you, you can watch "SANJAY GUPTA, M.D." weekends right here on CNN, Saturday 4:30 p.m. Eastern and Sunday morning at 7:30 a.m. Eastern. Let us know what you think. Is it going to help you? Is it going to hurt you? Tell us, tweet us #hashtagnewday -- Chris.

CUOMO: We need to know. We need to know. We need to know. You know, they hide the ball when they do that serving size. I like that Sanjay channelled Bill Cosby there. Remember that chocolate cake, everything you need for breakfast, the eggs, milk, perfect.

Coming up on NEW DAY, he was the undisputed star of the "State of the Union" address, Army Sergeant Corey Remsburg. You're going to meet this genuine American history and go inside his recovery, a story we all need to see.

PEREIRA: Quite a recovery it is too. Later, the forecast from this weather man, mostly creepy with a hundred percent chance of spider.

CUOMO: On that chrome dome.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Welcome back. An update now on the inspiring story of Cory Remsburg. He is the army sergeant who received a nearly 2-minute standing ovation at the "State of the Union" address after battling back in an attack on Afghanistan that left him with a brain injury and an inability to speak. He already is a national hero. I mean, now Remsburg just a national celebrity as well.

CNN's Pamela Brown got the incredible opportunity to meet him and see that he is still fighting every day to get better.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He really is and he's a humble hero as well. We spent a day with him, really so inspiring. Sergeant First Class Cory Remsburg, he's become the face of hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops returning from war with a traumatic brain injury.

We learned that Cory has a great sense of humor and an incredibly positive spirit that is helping him get through what he says is the most challenging battle he's ever faced. He celebrated his 31st birthday yesterday in a way that will likely surprise you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): The determination that drove Sergeant First Class Cory Remsburg to serve his country during an astonishing 10 deployments still drives him during his toughest mission yet. This is how he spends up to six hours a day, every day, practicing what were once simple tasks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go a little lower.

BROWN: All while keeping his sense of humor intact.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Give me the name of a news site.

SGT. CORY REMSBURG, INJURED IN IED EXPLOSION IN AFGHANISTAN: Fox News or CNN. Oops.

BROWN (on camera): What goals have you reached that you're most proud of.

REMSBURG: Standing on my own. Think of it like a kid. He falls a lot. I'm the same way.

BROWN (voice-over): Remsburg became the most recognizable vet in the country at last month's "State of the Union" address where he was honored by the commander in chief hailed as an American hero receiving the nearly 2-minute standing ovation.

BROWN (on camera): What's it like to be admired by so many people?

REMSBURG: That's a little awkward, but it's good to know that the face of the wounded warriors brought together a divided Congress.

BROWN (voice-over): His journey to that moment began at 18 when Remsburg joined the U.S. Army eventually becoming a member of the elite Army Rangers. An experienced sky diver, he participated in a re-enactment of D-Day in June of 2009, meeting President Obama afterwards.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We joked around and took pictures. I told him to stay in touch.

BROWN: The two would meet again because of an event later that year in Afghanistan that changed Remsburg's life forever. His father, Craig, remembers getting that dreaded phone call.

CRAIG REMSBURG, CORY'S FATHER: It was near drowning, it was an IED explosion, burns, shrapnel wounds.

BROWN: After emerging from a coma three months later, Remsburg underwent dozens of surgeries. He remains partially paralyzed on his left side and blind in his right eye. The president met with him again, this time at his bed side, Cory was in such bad shape, he didn't even recognized his commander in chief. Then a third encounter last year. Remsburg not only acknowledged the president, but did something that shocked even his father.

CRAIG REMSBURG: Cory got up, saluted him and then walked with a walker across the floor.

BROWN (on camera): What was that moment like for you, Cory?

CORY REMSBURG: Rewarding. This is what happens when you don't quit.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Sergeant First Class Cory Remsberg never gives up and he does not quit.

BROWN (voice-over): Though Remsburg doesn't like being called a hero, he is happy to inspire others.

CORY REMSBURG: The other people who would have acquit a long time ago and would have been happy in their wheelchair. Me, no.

BROWN: It seems nothing is insurmountable for this warrior. He celebrates his 31st birthday Wednesday and took part in a sky dive, his first since being injured. He acknowledges reaching new heights like this is only possible with the help of his family, charitable organizations and an army of doctors and nurses in rehab facilities. He gains strength through this constant reminder around his wrist inscribed with the names of fellow rangers who have lost their lives.

CORY REMSBERG: Keeps reminding me of what they gave for me.

BROWN: In return, he vows to never give up, working to regain his independence and reach his dream.

(on camera): Looking into the future, what is Cory Remsburg doing?

CORY REMSBERG: Hopefully getting married, having kids. I'd like to go to college.

BROWN: Sounds like a pretty good plan to me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Remsberg says his ultimate physical goal is to be able to run. I have no doubt he'll accomplish that. Since his appearance at the "State of the Union," he's been inundated with messages and is working to respond to every single one of them. So he continues to inspire people every single day. One of the main points during the interview was it really takes a village to get this far in his recovery.

We have more on some of the charities that have been working with Cory in other ways that you can help veterans, wounded warriors. That's available on our web site, newdaycnn.com.

BOLDUAN: Not just have to let Cory speak and here his message.

BROWN: Beautiful to see how they lean on each other. The family is growing tighter, you can tell.

COUMO: He went and served. He sacrificed. So did his family. A lot of these men and women have family back home. A lot of the veterans who come back, not all of them who need something look like Cory. He's a face that's easier to connect to because it's so severe what he's dealing with. They don't have TBI necessarily, but maybe PTSD.

BOLDUAN: And have a hard time asking for the help.

CUOMO: Everybody stood up and applauded at the "State of the Union," but do they follow through and the bills come up and the money is needed and the programs are there, not as much, not as much.

BROWN: Yes, and I did ask him, Cory. I said, you know, do you feel like you've been getting the help that you needed. He said the resources are available, you just have to look for them, but the key here is the support. And the family and his father's company supporting him financially giving him the flexibility. I think that's important to remember as well.

BOLDUAN: He is a great face. We need to remember and honor our wounded warriors. Pamela, thank you so much for bringing that story.

BROWN: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Great story. Still ahead on NEW DAY, we're going to show you what happens when a not so itsy bitsy spider takes on the TV weatherman.

CUOMO: The opposite end of the hero spectrum.

BOLDUAN: Exactly.

PEREIRA: Come on. We're not all warriors like you, Cuomo.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Welcome back to NEW DAY. As our Indra knows, predicting the weather is always a tricky business. What happens when it starts raining spiders? Here's CNN's Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Bakersfield, California, it was sunny with a 100 percent chance of arachnids.

AARON PERLMAN, WEATHERMAN, KDAK: My gosh, did you guy sees that? Sorry. There was a spider that fell.

MOOS: Yet another weatherman --

PERLMAN: Creeped out right now.

MOOS: Aaron Perlman has been attacked by a spider while on the air.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take it easy.

PERLMAN: I hate spiders, man, especially when you are bald. You feel them crawling on your head.

MOOS: But suddenly the spider became itsy bitsy. And Aaron joined the ranks of weather people ambushed by arachnids.

KRISTI GORDON, METEOROLOGIST, GLOBAL BC.: My gosh, that was creepy. He had to be right on my head. I just don't like that.

MOOS: The spider wasn't even in the studio last year when Global BC's Kristi Gordon freaked out. It was just hanging out on the lens of the camera stationed outdoors. Some spiders were invited guests.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will punch you if you even get close to me. Just get it out of the studio. MOOS: Spiders aren't the only critters to cause jitters. BBC Radio's Kate Kinsella was in the middle of her forecast --

KATE KINSELLA, WEATHER PRESENTER, BBC: The good news it will -- sorry, there's a mouse that's just run past me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there a book or block of wood near you.

KINSELLA: I'm not killing it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why?

KINSELLA: It's quite sweet actually.

MOOS (on camera): But having a bug fly in your mouth can make you a star. Actually it was a grasshopper.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That led to Chris Woods' death.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Flying in my mouth. I can't see --

MOOS (voice-over): Isaiah Carey has gotten an Emmy for his reporting, but he's gotten over 19 million views on YouTube for almost swallowing a bug.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you eat the grasshopper?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I didn't. I spit it out immediately.

MOOS: But creepy crawlies are nothing compared to what ended up in one weatherman's shorts.

(voice-over): KCCI weatherman, Curtis Kurt was doing a live shot at the Iowa State Fair when a python snakes into his pants.

MOOS (voice-over): Curtis was finally relieved of the snake.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kurt, I was it good for you?

MOOS: The long-range forecast calls for a slight chance of being shadowed by spiders. A few isolated snakes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's just wrong.

MOOS: Jeannie Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA: OK. Yes, Jeanne, that snake thing --

BOLDUAN: But if you look like Vin Diesel, you cannot let a spider scare you like that.

PEREIRA: There's no rationale with what you're afraid of. We have somebody on our floor who is afraid of bugs.

BOLDUAN: Would you even let a snake get close to you?

CUOMO: I don't know what I would do in that situation. I would be afraid if I do anything aggressive it's going to bite and that's not good. I don't know what you do in that situation. I'll tell you what I loved about the -- that's one of the things, like I have that dream. You have dreams of bad things that can happen. Something crawling up my pants is always at the top of the list. The guy who swallows the bug, I love how he goes from --

And here we are at the fence right now and all of a sudden -- what the -- I love how he goes back into regular speak and drops the whole newsman thing. Very good stuff. Sweaty in the palms after that constrictor thing.

BOLDUAN: Coming up next on NEW DAY, a religious freedom bill that religious rights bill in Arizona has been vetoed, but the fight is just beginning. This is about much more than just that one law. And we're going to go inside the debate with the president of the Catholic League straight ahead.

CUOMO: What is that on your leg?

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