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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Deadly Snow Storm; Woman Arrested for Ties to ISIS; Feds Call for Nationwide Airbag Recall; Ukraine Braces for War
Aired November 19, 2014 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: A deadly snowstorm, the lake-effect storm slamming Upstate New York. A staggering six feet, six feet of snow. A state of emergency declared as rescue cruise race to help those stranded. And the country faces the coldest November day in decades.
Homegrown terror. A Virginia woman in custody. Her neighbors shocked after authorities raid her home. Her secret endeavors and alleged ties to the terror group ISIS.
Nationwide recall. The Feds demanding fixes to more than 20 million vehicles for nearly a dozen automakers for removing potentially explosive airbags from these vehicles immediately.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. Twenty-nine minutes past the hour. John Berman has the morning off.
All right. A deadly snow storm barreling Buffalo this morning. More snow is on the way, upwards of 5 feet already on the ground in some parts of Erie County with at least another foot expected. Abandoned cars turning roads into parking lots.
County officials declare a state of emergency, banning unnecessary travel, while crews try to clear these roads. At least four people now dead, one in an auto accident, three others from cardiac arrest while shoveling snow. In at least one case, emergency crews unable to transport the 81-year-old victim because the roads are impassable this hour.
Twenty-four members of the Niagara University women's basketball team stuck on their bus on the interstate as they returned home from a game. They have been stranded without food now for more than 24 hours. Their coach estimates there are more than 100 cars trapped out there with them.
And one bit of good news in all of this. Firefighters had to deliver a baby in the fire station because they couldn't get the mother to the hospital. The Buffalo's fire commissioner reports the baby girl is safe and healthy.
The giant snowstorm isn't finished with western New York state yet. CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray is up to her waist in this story. She's in Buffalo with more for us this morning. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Christine, welcome to South Buffalo.
This is lake-effect snow in full force. You can see the blowing snow. Snow is coming down, sometimes at 2 inches per hour. There are areas around Buffalo that have received almost 50 inches of snow, another two feet possible tomorrow. Bit time this is said and done, low-end estimates could be 70 inches.
And just look at this, cars over here, completely buried. We passed cars left and right that were completely stuck. And look how powdery this is, you just get it in and it's so fluffy. We're estimating this is a ratio of 50 to 20 to one, that means you take 15 to 20 inches of snow and melt it down and it equals one inch of water.
So, this is very, very powdery. The plows have been out here all day, though. Driving is just treacherous, though, and it is very dangerous out here. Most folks are staying at home, which is a good idea.
We are going to get another round of this Thursday, into Thursday night. So, this could be one of the worst lake-effect snow events this area has ever seen -- Christine.
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ROMANS: All right. Thanks for that Jennifer.
Along with that heavy lake-effect snow, widespread cold, very cold temperatures. In fact, temperatures dropped below freezing in parts of all 50 states last night, including Hawaii. And we're expected to do the same this morning.
I want to get a look at the forecast this morning. Chad Myers has that.
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CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: A very cold early morning to you in New York, D.C., Philadelphia, Boston. Temperatures are all the way down, even into the single digits upstate, around 19 to 20 in New York City right now. Minneapolis, lows going to be down around 5 degrees in some spots, especially up north into Ramsey County, for the next couple of mornings. New York warming up.
This is the coldest morning we're going to see for a while. It begins to warm up before the next cool-down, at least we warm up a few degrees. But I'll tell you what, it is cold out there today.
Lake-effect snow machine still going on in New York. Buffalo, New York, some spots picked up over six feet of snow in 1 1/2 days. It's just insane up there. I don't know how you dig all of that out.
I grew up in Buffalo, but still, there's a lot of snow to dig out. It's heavy snow. It's heart attack snow as we call it. So, please be careful out there today and make sure the pets -- make sure you can find them it's so deep. They don't want to dig around on that stuff. They can collapse on them.
Thirty-one in Chicago, 21 in Minneapolis for today, and 32 in New York City.
For tomorrow, things don't change very much, although a front does combine and it moves colder air back into a frigid area already. But that warm-up we had in Chicago for one day goes away tomorrow as the cool-down comes.
Still sunny and nice in the Southwest. A little windy in L.A. today. We'll watch out for that, probably red flag warnings going on out there. No burning outside if you don't have to, of course.
Guys, back to you.
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ROMANS: All right. Chad Myers, thanks for that, Chad.
We know more this morning about the deadly terror attack on a Jerusalem synagogue. Two Palestinian cousins barged into a temple in the western part of the holy city. That was Tuesday, they had guns, they had a butcher knife, they killed four rabbis and a police officer.
The Israeli prime minister calling the attackers, quote, "human animals" on Tuesday night.
For the latest, I want to turn to CNN's Atika Shubert live in Jerusalem.
Good morning, Atika.
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
Well, at that synagogue, where that attack took place, morning prayers continued today. They're determined to go ahead with life as normal, despite the attack. But for many people here in Jerusalem, it's particularly shocking that a synagogue, in the midst of prayer was the focus of such an attack.
And really, the city hasn't seen anything like this in years. So, it really has put the city on edge.
Fortunately, overnight, it was relatively calm. There were several mobs outside in the streets of Jerusalem, calling for revenge. But fortunately, it seems that violence was kept to a minimum. But security authorities are saying they will have -- take a heavy hand to prevent further violence.
So, the city's still very tense as it waits to see what reaction will be.
ROMANS: Atika, what does a heavy hand mean? Do we have any kind of indication of what Israeli authorities are doing, in terms of investigating these two young men and their alliances and allegiances and families?
SHUBERT: Well, what we do know is that no one group has really claimed responsibility for this attack. But this attack was far more coordinated than the recent bit of attacks that we've seen. It took a bit more planning, of course, to get the weapons, to select the target and go forward.
So, what investigators will be looking at is what triggered this. What was behind these two cousins carrying out the attack.
They've arrested a number of relatives, about 13 family members. And undoubtedly, they will be interrogated. They have also, of course, said they will demolish the home of both of the cousins. This is a standard deterrence policy by Israeli security here.
There's also some talk about whether or not there should be a loosening of the gun laws to allow civilians to carry weapons more openly. That's not something that will take place for a while, and is only being discussed at this point.
But is it does go to show the sort of mood in the country at the moment.
ROMANS: All right. Atika Shubert for us this morning in Jerusalem, thank you, Atika, for that.
In this country, a Virginia woman is behind bars for her alleged ties to ISIS. Police say 29-year-old Heather Coffman conspired and attempted to provide materiel support to the Islamic terror group. Investigators built their case against her with information from a series of undercover interviews and from her inflammatory social media posts.
Her neighbors are obviously in shock.
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TODD LAUTERBACH, NEIGHBOR: As astonished by the sight, can't even believe that literally something like this is happening in my backyard. Horrifying what they're doing. I mean, it's one of those things where I can't even comprehend someone sympathizing. It's just sickening.
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ROMANS: Coffman is expected to appear at a hearing today in Virginia.
A critical setback for the supporters of the Keystone XL oil line. But the controversial project is by no means dead. Senate Democrats shooting down a bill that would have approved construction. They shut that down by a single vote, 59-41.
Louisiana's Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu was a leading proponent of that measure. She was hoping to get it passed in order to boost her own chances of winning a runoff election in December. She insists the fight for this pipeline is not over yet.
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SEN. MARY LANDRIEU (D), LOUISIANA: It's been on my agenda, and it's staying on my agenda. And I'm going to do everything I can to help America become energy independent and to use the assets and resources that we have. And most importantly be a partner with our best ally which is Canada.
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ROMANS: Republican leaders are already promising to bring up the Keystone project next year after they take control of the Senate.
New details this morning about President Obama's immigration plans. Under an executive order, the president will allow undocumented parents of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents to stay in this country. That's according to Bloomberg. The president's order is expected to stop short of including the parents of children brought to this country illegally.
Police caught the man suspected in a fatal subway shoving in New York City. Kevin Darden was arrested Tuesday at his mother's house. Authority say the 34-year-old has a long rap sheet, who's also accused of pushing another man unto subway tracks earlier this month. Wai Kuen Kwok was killed Sunday when Darden allegedly pushed him in front of an oncoming train.
Congratulations going out this morning to CNN's Hero of the Year, Pen Farthing. The former royal marine founded a non-profit that reunites soldiers with stray dogs they befriended during combat tours in Afghanistan. The group Nowzad Dogs is named after a stray he adopted during the war. Pen Farthing will be a guest on "NEW DAY" later this morning.
You can see the entire event, wonderful event, "CNN Heroes: An All Star Tribute." It will air Sunday, December 7th, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.
Congratulations to all the other heroes this year for the great work they had done.
Thirty-nine minutes past the hour. Time for an early start on your money.
Not a very good morning for stocks around the world. European stocks mostly lower, so are Asian stocks.
Futures in this country pointing lower too. But remember, stocks are inching higher and setting record after record. Yesterday, it was a record high in the S&P 500, the eighth in last time trading days. It's the 43rd closing high this year.
The Dow also closed at a record. Stocks were boosted by a big deal, a $66 billion pharmaceutical merger, plus encouraging data from Germany, and Japan's decision to delay a sales tax hike. Major growth concerns still out there and it's weighing on markets today.
Plus, it has really just kind of a boring week, a very tight trading day. It's been hitting records but not with much conviction.
All right. Another alleged victim coming forward. Supermodel Janice Dickinson now claiming she, too, is a victim of sexual assault at the hand of comedian Bill Cosby, in her own words, next.
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ROMANS: Another, a new accusation of sexual assault against iconic comedian Bill Cosby. TV host and former model Janice Dickinson telling "Entertainment Tonight" she met with Cosby in Lake Tahoe in 1982 to discuss a possible role on "The Cosby Show".
Listen to her describe what she claims happened at the end of the evening.
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JANICE DICKINSON, FORMER MODEL: After dinner in my room, he'd given me wine and a pill. And the next morning I woke up and I wasn't wearing my pajamas. And I remember before I passed out that I had been sexually assaulted by this man.
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ROMANS: Cosby is not commenting. And CNN has learned Netflix is postponing the release of the comedian's stand-up special "Bill Cosby 77". It was scheduled to begin streaming the day after Thanksgiving.
New video this morning that appears to show Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson getting involved in an altercation on the job in 2013. This comes as an embattled Missouri town awaits a grand jury decision whether to indict Officer Wilson for the shooting death of the unarmed teenager Michael Brown.
Listen as Wilson approaches a resident for having a derelict vehicle on his residence.
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FERGUSON RESIDENT: What's your name, sir?
OFFICER: If you want to take a picture of me one more time, I'm going to lock your ass up.
FERGUSON: Sir, I'm not going to take a picture. I'm recording this incident, sir. Do I not have the right to --
OFFICER: No, you don't.
FERGUSON RESIDENT: -- to record?
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: The video of the confrontation is grainy, but CNN has obtained a Ferguson police report confirming that was Wilson responding to that home last fall. This as the Justice Department panel begins reviewing the police response to 16 days of protests in Ferguson, after Michael Brown was killed.
The death of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham has officially been ruled a homicide, but according to the medical examiner, exactly how she died is still undetermined. The 18-year-old vanished in September after a night out with friends. Her remains were discovered following a month-long search some ten miles from where she was last seen in Charlottesville. The suspect in her disappearance, Jesse Matthew Jr., currently being held in jail on charges in an unrelated case.
Breaking overnight, a Cuban doctor in Sierra Leone, now the latest Westerner to be diagnosed with Ebola. Felix Baez Sarria is being sent to the University Hospital of Geneva in Switzerland for a specialized treatment to fight the Ebola. The physician came down with a fever of more than 100 degrees on Sunday and was diagnosed with Ebola the following day. It is unclear how he caught the virus.
The head of the Centers for Disease Control making his pitch to Congress for more than $6 billion in emergency funding to fight Ebola. Thomas Frieden telling the lawmakers the CDC is working on borrowed dollars. He says the only way to protect Americans from Ebola is to stop it at the source in West Africa. He likened the spread of the Ebola virus to a wildfire.
Federal safety regulators now calling for a nationwide recall of -- this is an unbelievable, 20 million vehicles on the road now equipped with airbags made by Japanese supplier Takata. These air bags can explode and spray passengers with shrapnel. This had could expand the current recall which covers 8 million vehicles made by 10 different automakers. This had also been limited to state with hot, humid climates originally. The defects have been linked to at least five deaths.
Ukraine unrest has civilians paying the pricing. Day-to-day activities there becoming increasingly difficult. We're live from the region with the very latest in Ukraine.
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ROMANS: Secretary of State John Kerry has reportedly pushed back his trip to Vienna as negotiators there work to hammer out a nuclear deal with Iran by a November 24th deadline. Kerry originally scheduled to join Western diplomats in the Austrian capital today. Iran says it will resist extensive restrictions on its nuclear program in exchange for relaxed Western trade sanctions. Now, Kerry is delaying his arrival in Vienna, rather, until later in the week.
Ukraine this morning balances on a knife edge between peace and what its president calls total war. The German foreign minister saying, quote, "There are no grounds for optimism", after talks with his Russian counterpart in Moscow, NATO warning what it called a very serious buildup of troops, artillery and air defense systems on both sides of the border between Ukraine and Russia.
And a spokesman for President Vladimir Putin laying out exactly what Russia wants, telling the BBC only a, quote, "100 percent guarantee that no one would think about Ukraine joining NATO would be enough."
Meanwhile, on the ground, civilians pay the price.
More on that, CNN's Phil Black in Eastern Ukraine, near the Russian border.
Phil, I don't see any optimism in any of those comments?
You can hear me, Phil? I'm listening to the comments about the situation in Ukraine and it sounds so dire.
PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, in the recent weeks, there's certainly a new intensity in fighting. We've seen an uptick in heavy weapons that are being thrown by both sides at several points along the battle lines. And it's resulted in civilian and military casualties. But that firing, that weapons use, is kind of indirect. Not very specific. The targeting isn't the same.
So, the territory that both sides control, that isn't changing. What is changing and it is changing quite significantly, is just how hard it is for the civilian population to live in this region. Outside of the cities, the small towns and communities that have always been at the front line, the fighting between both sides. It's always been pretty tough there, people driven from their homes. Communities really destroyed, still empty, big displaced populations.
But now, those difficulties are finding their way into the city here in Donetsk. Much of the city today is without water because of damage to a local pumping station. There is a critical shortage of food. People are relying upon charity handouts from a local wealthy oligarch. And people have not able to access their money anymore. This is all a direct result by the government to cut off government spending, funding.
What that means is no more pensions, and no more payments. People can't even access their banks and savings because the banks are closed. It is a growing problem and it is one that's a responsibility for the local separatist leadership -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Phil Black, thanks for that this morning, in Donetsk for us -- a very troubling situation still in Eastern Ukraine.
All right. Those crazy mob scenes on Black Friday, could they be a thing of the past? We're going to get an early start on your money, next.
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ROMANS: All right. Let's get an early start on your money today.
Stock futures are pointing a bit lower, good time to snap that record streak. The S&P 500 climbed to a record high yesterday. It's eighth in the last 10 trading sessions. The Dow also at a high yesterday.
Apple also never been this high, its stock. It closed at about 115 bucks a share. That stock is up 47 percent this year. Apple is the most valuable company in the world. It's worth about $670 billion. With the stock rallying like this, some are speculating Apple could one day be worth a trillion dollars.
Traveling around Thanksgiving, of course, can be a nightmare. It's a huge travel week. But a new report says we'll soon face that level of airport gridlock all year-round. More people are traveling but airport infrastructure doesn't keep up.
The U.S. Travel Association says half of major airports have holiday once a day. Imagine, Thanksgiving once a week. In the next six years, all major airports will experience weekly gridlock if infrastructure isn't upgraded. That means you're going to see longer security line, crowded terminals and more delayed flights.
And most Americans plan to skip Black Friday shopping this year. According a new study by Bankrate, 40 percent of Americans plan to shop on Black Friday. And a big chunk of those people plan to stick to online shopping to avoid crowded stores.
Black Friday has developed a reputation for long lines, overly aggressive deal hunters. Plus, shoppers know deeper discounts could come closer to Christmas. We will see if the Black Friday frenzy is a little more subdued this year.
EARLY START continues right now.
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