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President-elect Obama Holds Conference on Economic Recovery Board; Possible Terror Threat for New York City; Watching the Weather
Aired November 26, 2008 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: And helping you get home for the holiday. We're keeping an eye on the weather, travel delays on this day before Thanksgiving. And live this hour, a peek inside the president's thinking. Barack Obama reveals his team of economic advisers. Live pictures right now of the press conference that will take place in 45 minutes from now. At least scheduled to take place 45 minutes from now.
It is Wednesday, November 26th, I'm Fredricka Whitfield, in for Heidi Collins. And you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
The economy, issue #1 for the Obama White House. Later this hour the president-elect unveils a new economic advisory board. It will be his third news conference in three days.
CNN's Ed Henry is in Chicago -- Ed.
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Fred.
That's right. It is day three of the president-elect's rollout of his money team. And today we are expecting the creation of sort of a new outside board. They're calling it an economic recovery board of advisers. It's going to be headed by Paul Volcker. You remember him as the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, highly respected for his views on the economy. He's been advising the president-elect throughout the campaign in recent months, now also still a trusted adviser. This is another layer that they're adding.
They already named the Treasury Secretary, they named the head of the council of economic advisers, they named the head of the National Economic Council within the White House. He has another layer of advisers today. We're told also sitting on this board will be Austan Goolsbee. He's also been a long-time economic adviser to the president-elect. And let's face it, they're going to be facing a whole host of tough challenges dealing with this international financial crisis.
In particular, one thing they'll have to deal with is trying to figure out how to spend the rest of that $700 billion that was shelled out for the bailout money, taxpayer money obviously that was dolled out to try to buy out troubled assets. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has been sort of changing the mission of all that in recent days, though a lot of controversy about exactly how that money will be spent. They'll also have to deal -- this broader money team will have to deal in the days ahead with the fact that consumer spending is sharply down. In this new report, job losses obviously have been sharply up, about 1.2 million jobs lost in the past year. The president-elect has been warning in recent days that millions more jobs could be lost next year without, as he calls it, drastic action. He's been saying this week that not a minute can be wasted. And he's piecing together right now with this money team a broad economic recovery plan, they're calling it, a stimulus plan if you will. We've already seen part one of that in the Bush administration.
Now they're planning a bigger one, could reach up to $700 billion. So far this week though we have not heard the president- elect spell out any details about what will be in the plan or frankly how he will pay for it. Obviously there's a amounting bit of debt, trillions and trillions of dollars for the U.S. government. Now when you add up all of these bailouts, Fred.
WHITFIELD: And Ed, when we talk about his team, we know that there's lots of replacements in many departments except for the Department of Defense.
HENRY: That's right. A very interesting move.
And CNN learned that in fact the Robert Gates, the current Defense Secretary, is now expected to stay on in that post. It's pretty rare for that to happen. But the word inside the Obama camp is that the president-elect feels strongly that it's a good idea to have some continuity at the Pentagon right now given the fact that there are two wars, obviously in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also wanted to have some bipartisanship in his cabinet.
They've been talking for a while about having at least one republican official in that cabinet. So it's at least going to be Robert Gates. There could be others down the road. He has a lot of posts to fill. I think there's one other key reason why he went in this direction.
An when you talk to key Obama advisers, they say that this president-elect realizes he's going to be spending so much time on financial and economic security that he wants to have a strong national security team with a lot of continuity in it to be handling that day today with as little disruption as possible -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: And so Ed, is there also some interpretation that President-elect Obama thinks all is going right in the Department of Defense and that's why he wants to stick with the person who has been heading it up?
HENRY: Well I can tell you that's a good question. Because there are a lot of liberal supporters of the president-elect who helped elect him who are concerned about this move and are wondering whether it suggests a status quo move instead of the change message that the president-elect talked about so much on the campaign trail. And in fact, there are concerns about a lot of liberal anti-war activists who are making news in recent days about whether or not he'll start back tracking from that pledge to remove U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16 months.
I can tell you senior Obama aids insist that regardless of who is sitting in the cabinet, at the end of the day it's going to be the commander in chief who makes that call with the situation in Iraq, the other war as well. And they insist that he's still firm in saying that he will bring home all U.S. combat troops in 16 months -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: Ed Henry in Chicago, at the very place where President-elect Barack Obama is to take to the podium there. We'll bring you live coverage of Obama's press conference scheduled at 10:45 Eastern time, 7:45 a.m. Pacific.
All right. Let's talk about your commute to grandmas. Less crowded but still pretty busy. We're talking about the roads and the airports as people head for Thanksgiving get-togethers. For the latest weather, driving conditions and what's happening at various airports, check out our special on screen information there. AAA is predicting 41 million people will travel about 50 miles this holiday. And they say they simply cannot afford to go on a longer trip this year.
So for those who can, it will cost less at least to gas up. Pump prices are down nearly $2.00 since mid September. Our Reynolds Wolf is in the weather center and he's checking the sky ways for you as well as the roadways.
And getting around is not so easy around the Thanksgiving holiday. This year is included.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, you're absolutely right. I mean just if the weather was perfect across the country, it's already a bit of a struggle. I mean, imagine, you know taking a flight say going to Detroit with maybe two screaming kids. My wife had to do that a few days ago.
WHITFIELD: And without you?
WOLF: Yes. And I can only imagine.
WHITFIELD: Leaving you to fend for yourself this holiday.
WOLF: Exactly. But I tell you if the weather had been worse, what a nightmare that would have been. That's going to be a situation in parts of the northeast and parts of the southwest. There are two big weather problem areas, beginning let's go first to the southwest into Las Vegas. We see some scattered showers and I'm telling you right along the strip in Las Vegas, it is just heavy rain that's coming down.
Also heavy rain which is a tremendous concern in the L.A. basin. We're seeing the potential of anywhere from say one to three inches of rainfall. Already we got flash flood watches and warnings that are in effect for much of southern California including Oceanside, Long Beach, Los Angeles and farther to the north in Santa Barbara county.
Already, the totals have been very interesting, we see anywhere from say one to two inches of rain. That's going to continue. We can talk about some other totals, check out parts of the northeast as we look to right along 81 near Syracuse, points north. We're seeing some scattered showers that are going to begin to pile up. And the precipitation amounts anywhere from six to 12 inches of some snowfall. Then back farther to the west we go, to Jamestown and areas farther to the south. It looks like it could e anywhere from five to 10, you're going to be shoveling that off the walk by tomorrow morning when people come over for turkey.
Niagara Falls and Buffalo, not so bad, for the time being but even then you're going to get a little bit of dusting. Hey, you have an idea of what's going to happen around the country weather wise, but in terms of your travel we're going to send you over to my friend Rob Marciano who's got the very latest for you. Rob, what's happening? And Rob is not there.
WHITFIELD: Oh, oh, no Rob.
WOLF: You know what? I can tell you -
WHITFIELD: We have so much is happening, he's inundated right now.
WOLF: Well, put this on for size. You know one of the great things, this is a good opportunity to look to this side of your screen, right here where you can see some of the very latest in your holiday travel update. But also Fred, if you look to the bottom of the screen, you see the Columbus five-day forecast, right there for you. It gives you an idea of what's happening, not just today but for a couple of days ahead. There's Dallas right there, home of the Cowboys, looks pretty good.
WHITFIELD: I like that.
WOLF: So we'll keep you up to speed through the rest of the day on your weather and travel forecast.
WHITFIELD: Very convenient. We're trying to make it somewhat easy for everybody. You get a little frazzled around that holiday travel time -
WOLF: Absolutely.
WHITFIELD: This should be comforting.
WOLF: Think about Thanksgiving. It is a day of plenty. This is a day of weather pointing. Look at it that way.
WHITFIELD: There you go, nice combination. Reynolds, thanks so much.
WOLF: You bet you.
WHITFIELD: Hopefully we will hear from Rob too, coming up a little bit later. In the meantime we're also watching your money. The nation's economy. Let's take a look at the Dow right now perhaps on the big board there on Wall Street. Well it's down 110 points, but, you know, we've been enjoying a rally for the past three days. Perhaps the market responding to the latest jobless numbers of last week. Not so good even though it's a bit better than the week prior.
500,000 jobs lost last week. Well, we've got a pretty good look at the economy overall. Our Allan Chernoff is in New York keeping a close watch on things.
And now there are yet more numbers coming out on new home sales. How does it look?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Well I think you can tell Fredricka, you know it's not looking that good.
WHITFIELD: It can't be good.
CHERNOFF: For those people who are staying home for Thanksgiving, not all that, many of them will actually be staying in a brand new home. Because new home sales declined once again in the latest month. You see down 5.3 percent from September, down 40 percent from the year ago period. That really says it all. The selling pace of new homes right now is at its lowest level in 17 years. Why is that?
WHITFIELD: Oh, my God.
CHERNOFF: Well, of course, the job situation. It is simply miserable. And latest numbers on unemployment claims show that. You see right now we've got 529,000 for the latest week. That is a very, very large number. Even though it is less than the prior week, down by 14,000. But nonetheless, anything over half a million is huge. If people are losing jobs, obviously they're not going to be spending as much.
We see that in today's personal consumption data, also a very big decline over there, down by one percent in October. The biggest drop since 9/11. And by the way, it's not just consumers pulling back. Corporations as well. And as a result the durable goods number also, a significant decline for October, down by 6.2 percent. Here they were talking about a cut back in auto production, also orders for aircraft, anything that you put in a home as well that's supposed to last for a good long time, like a washing machine, a drier. People are just pulling back, not spending, and that, of course, severely hurts the economy -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Yes and something tells me no corporate holiday parties or fewer of them as well as fewer corporate bonuses, too, I would think.
CHERNOFF: Yes. They'll be out there. But there will be far fewer of them. They will be more modest.
WHITFIELD: Yes. Less of everything. All right. Allan Chernoff, thanks so much, in New York. Appreciate it.
A medical update for you now. Former First Lady Barbara Bush is said to be "doing great" in a Houston hospital this morning. She was admitted to Methodist Hospital last night after complaining of stomach pains. CNN's Sean Callebs is live in Houston with the very latest.
Very nerve-racking kind of moments, right?
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well certainly the kind of thing that gets people's attention when you see something like that come over. The former First Lady taken to the hospital. She apparently had been complaining of having stomach pain for several days. She called her husband, the former president around 5:30 Central time, 6:30 Eastern and said you know I really think I should go to the hospital and get this checked out.
A Secret Service detail brought her in here. She went through a battery of tests last night. At that point the physicians, according to a family spokeswoman, decided that she should spend the night here for observations. Well, apparently all of those tests for the stomach pains came back negative. So the information we're getting out here this morning is she's probably going to get released pretty soon, which is certainly going to be great news, a day before Thanksgiving.
Hopefully she'll be with her very large family enjoying tomorrow. We don't know exactly what caused this stomach pain, obviously neither does she, the reason she came to the hospital last night. So hopefully nothing terribly serious and she'll be released from this hospital, Methodist Hospital right here in the heart of Houston sometime soon.
But think back, she was also diagnosed with Graves disease right after her husband went into the White House back in 1989. It was a thyroid condition. She lost a great deal of weight about 18 pounds in a matter of weeks. That caused some concern. There's no indication that Graves disease had anything to do with this. But certainly one thing physicians are going to be looking at. Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Well, we're glad she checked out OK overnight and hopefully going to be spending the holiday with family. Sean Callebs, thanks so much in Houston. Appreciate it.
Well, overseas, a key vote on the future of U.S. forces in Iraq. Who is stopping it from going forward?
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WHITFIELD: The future of U.S. troops in Iraq, no decision on that today. Iraqi lawmakers have delayed their vote on a timetable for withdrawal. CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr joins us with the very latest.
How critical is this vote, Barbara?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely critical, Fredricka.
I have to tell you, here at the Pentagon, even the day before the Thanksgiving holiday, senior officials watching these developments very closely. In Iraq by all accounts they have now delayed at least 24 hours the vote on this controversial security agreement that would really lay out the rules of the road for U.S. forces in Iraq for the next three years and lead to the withdrawal of U.S. forces by 2011 under the terms of the proposed agreement.
Now, what is holding it up in Baghdad from the next step in the approval process? Politics Iraqi style. As the parliament has been really trying to get this done, but there have been a lot of problems. The Shiite-led government is really struggling to meet the demands of the Sunnis in the government who want national referendum, who want a larger voice at the end of the day in the running of Iraq. This is still fundamentally the basic political issue in Iraq. The Sunnis looking for a larger voice in the running of the government.
All of this has led to some rising tensions in recent days, a number of bombings. The Iraqis now putting more security forces on the street as tensions rise over all of this, and the U.S. again watching. If they cannot get an agreement, the current agreement runs out at the end of the year. They will have to go back to the United Nations and look at that as an alternative path, not something that they want to do -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: Sounds very complicated. And it seems to get more complicated by the hour-even though it's without a vote today.
All right. Thanks so much. Barbara Starr, appreciate it, from the Pentagon.
Well, the former driver for Osama bin Laden. Well, he's on his way home to Yemen today. Salim Hamdan is on board a U.S. military plane from Cuba's Guantanamo Bay, after the Pentagon ordered his transfer. He'll serve the remainder of 32 days of his sentence in Yemen. Hamdan was the first man to go before a U.S. war crimes trial since the end of World War II. He was convicted of providing material support to terrorism.
Well Thailand's man airport still shut down right now. Anti- government protesters flooded the airport on Tuesday, trapping thousands of tourists - while they were trying to block the return of the country's embattled Prime Minister. He returned from an economic summit in Peru this morning but had to land at a military airport in northern Thailand.
It's a first. Cancer rates falling in the U.S. We look at what's behind the drop.
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WHITFIELD: A pretty alarming discovery made by the U.S. Food and Drug administration. The FDA says traces of the toxic contaminant melamine was actually found in a single sample of infant formula. The FDA would not disclose the maker of the tainted formula . But the agency says the contamination likely occurred during the manufacturing process or through contact with canned liners. The FDA testing program was initiated after tainted formula in China was linked to thousands of illnesses and a number of infant deaths.
We're still talking about medical news with now. For the first time ever the rates of both cancer deaths and new diagnoses for men and women in the U.S. are in the decline.
CNN's medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen here with more on this very encouraging news.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is. It's nice to hear this. It's nice to hear that to some extent the war on cancer has worked over the past three decades or so.
Let's take a look at some forms of cancer that saw particularly dramatic decreases, colon cancer down, prostate cancer down and breast cancer down. Overall cancer rates went down about one percent per year from 1999 to 2005. And Fred, experts credit better screening and better prevention. People are finally getting the word you need to get those mammograms, you need to start eating better. Not as much as they should but they're getting the words to some extent.
WHITFIELD: And colonoscopy, getting those. But at least there's one other cancer where unfortunately the numbers have gone up?
COHEN: Well there is some bad news, and this is with lung cancer. And really what we found is that we're sort of two countries when it comes to lung cancer. Look at those states in red. In those states lung cancer death rates have gone up. In the rest of the country, all those white states, they've pretty much -- they're pretty much flat. But in those red states there is a real problem. Death rates from lung cancer are going up. As you can see they're mostly in the southeast and the Midwest.
WHITFIELD: So 13 states. Why? What do they have in common? What's the common denominator?
COHEN: Right, it's what they're not doing that's really important here. In those 13 states, they don't have two kinds of laws that the rest of the country does have. Those are bans on smoking in public places. And the other is that they don't have -- oh now, I've actually forgotten what the other one is. And the other one is that they haven't limited smoking in other ways. So that is a big problem. But no bans on public smoking. That is a big issue.
WHITFIELD: That's interesting, that kind of enforcement would have an impact on overall health.
COHEN: Oh, absolutely.
WHITFIELD: Wow, so cities and states can certainly make an impact in that regard.
All right. Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much. Appreciate it. Well experts on the economy helping the president elect Barack Obama about to name more members of his economic advisory board. And we've got it for you live in less than 30 minutes now. That podium will be filled with President-elect Obama and members of his team to make those announcements, coming up, 10:45 Eastern time.
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WHITFIELD: Well this just in. This unsettling report we're going to bring to you now. According to the Associated Press, federal authorities have warned law enforcement personnel of possible terror plot against New York City subway system during this holiday season. This internal memo, according to the "Associated Press," says the FBI has received a, "plausible, but unsubstantiated report that Al Qaeda terrorists in late September may have discussed attacking the subway system. So this information just coming in from the ""Associated Press."
Our Kelli Arena is working her sources in Washington, D.C. to confirm or perhaps get anymore information about this AP report of a possible terror plot that would target New York City's subway system this holiday season. When we get more information, we'll be able to bring that to you. Meantime, in about 20 minutes or so from now, less than, CNN will have live coverage of President-elect Barack Obama's scheduled news conference. You're looking at live pictures right now as they get ready to set up. He's going to be revealing more information about his economic advisory team, that taking place at 10:45 Eastern time, 7:45 Pacific. We'll, of course, carry that live for you.
Meantime, a less crowded travel day? Still pretty busy, however. We're tracking it all for you from weather conditions to the airports. Tune in to CNN any time today for the very latest. And as we said, fewer Americans are expected to hit the roads for Thanksgiving this holiday. So AAA predicts that about 41 million of you will travel at least 50 miles from home. Most planes will still be packed. Airlines are putting fewer planes in the air, however, anticipating a 10 percent drop overall in travel.
Reynolds Wolf is in the weather center.
You've been keeping a close watch on the weather conditions, as well as the road conditions. Where do you want to begin?
WOLF: You know what? Probably start off in the -- let's look at to the northeast, the southeast. Then what we're going to do is we're going to hand it over to Rob Marciano. He's going to give us some more in depth -- a better look, if you will, at the travel weather. But I'm going to lay out the situation that we have.
Right now, in the northeast and the southwest, we've got a couple of issues. In the northeast, the big issue is going to be the snowfall. We've got lake-effect snow activity that is really going to pile up, especially along on the Eastern Shore of Lake Erie and into Lake Ontario. That's going to be a problem for you. Also, at the same time, desert southwest -- we're seeing some scattered showers moving into the Four Corners, also into the L.A. Basin, rain has just been pouring. Same story in Las Vegas, they've just been inundated with some heavy rainfall.
Los Angeles a big concern, though, in the L.A. Basin. Reason why is because you'll remember a short time ago we had those wildfires; the wildfires have eaten up a lot of the vegetation. With that in mind, with the rain coming down, there's the potential for mudslides in places like Santa Barbara County, where we had the Tea Fire. We could see anywhere from 1-3 inches of rainfall between now and between the rest of the day.
Same story as farther south as Oceanside in San Diego, right into the L.A. area, Santa Clarita, back up into Lancaster along the Grapevine. That rain could get especially heavy.
Meanwhile, back out to the northeast. The big story has been, as I mentioned, the snow. It continues to come in. We've got that northwesterly breeze that was pulling right across Lake Ontario. I'd say for a good part of 81, if you're making the drive from Watertown to Syracuse, wow, good luck to you. It's going to be really rough. The wind is going to be rather strong at times. Visibility could be very poor -- 6-12 inches of snowfall possible. You see the warnings indicated by the red popping up on the screen. And you'll see more of those as we make our way to the southwest.
In Jamestown, it looks like anywhere from 6-12. Same story for Erie. And just the northeast of Cleveland you can see 5-10 inches of snowfall.
Now, that gives you an idea where we have those trouble spots. But in terms of your travel, we're going to switch gears and hand it over to Rob Marciano.
Rob, you're going to take it from here.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: All right, Reynolds.
Well we're looking at flights, we're looking at the roadways. It could be a lot worse. I'll preface it by saying that. We're kind of zoomed into the Chicago area here, looking at some of the planes that are up in the air. We have the ability to actually look at specific flights here. This is United Airlines 607 leaving -- looks like it's arriving in ORD, it may have already landed at this point. But when this shot was taken, it was 11,000 feet and traveling at 315 knots. Here is another United flight travelling to Boston, 16,700 feet. Right now we've got about -- over 5,100 flights that are in the air at this hour.
What about flight delays on the ground right now? We've got delays at Newark at about 45 minutes, on the increase there, mostly departure delays. And Baltimore, BWI, also looking at delays at about 30 minutes. Most of those, by the way, are volume related delays.
As far as weather is concerned, you've got to go up to the Great Lakes to see any sort of action there. And that's where most of our weather delays are on the ground.
Where there are no delays on the ground -- all right, back to Chicago. Here is a nice shot for you. There's our tower camera from our own CNN office there, high at top the Magnificent Mile. It looks like traffic is flowing quite nicely there.
We do expect to see the potential for black ice across the northeast later on today. And when that happens -- look mostly tonight I think -- across parts of the northeast, all across from New York, north into parts of Fairfield County, most of Connecticut, and through Massachusetts and in northern parts of Vermont where we saw some black ice this morning -- there has been some moisture that fell yesterday. And obviously we've got some cooler air that's rolling in.
So if you're traveling tonight by car in some of those major metropolitan areas north of New York City, be on the lookout for some black ice. And at least take it easy when you're traveling to see your loved ones.
Fredricka, back over to you.
WHITFIELD: Yes, and generally, Rob, folks are pretty used to it in that area. So hopefully they have a better grasp of how to drive in that kind of weather than anybody else, right?
MARCIANO: Yes, it'll be pretty spotty. But it just kind of takes you by surprise.
WHITFIELD: It does.
MARCIANO: It's something you don't really see and then you turn the corner and, boom, there it is.
WHITFIELD: Yes, always need that warning.
All right, Rob Marciano, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
MARCIANO: You bet.
WHITFIELD: Well retailers -- they are hoping that they'll have something to be thankful for this year. Maybe a lot of shoppers? Maybe not. New numbers show Americans are not spending much money these days. Susan Lisovicz is on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange with more details on that and what to expect on black Friday.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka.
Well, consumer spending fell 1 percent in October. That is a big drop. And of course, it is an ominous sign for the holiday spending season. Analysts say that fourth quarter GDP could drop 4 percent due to a pullback in consumer spending.
And word from Tiffany today, the upscale jeweler, saying that it's impossible to know when consumer confidence will be restored. Tiffany plans to cut jobs and slow its store expansion plans as a result. It had been seen as immune to the pullback, given that it was at the highest end. But even Tiffany showing it's not immune. Tiffany shares are down 4 percent.
And the Dow pulling back after three days of gains. The Dow is down 57 points. The Nasdaq is down 15 -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: Wow, something tells me if anyone has plans on popping the question this holiday season, they're looking for a used ring maybe? Not going to Tiffany's.
Susan Lisovicz, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
LISOVICZ: You're welcome.
WHITFIELD: Well is everybody coming to your house this year for Thanksgiving. Cut your costs by having an energy efficient turkey day. CNNMoney.com's Poppy Harlow has our Energy Fix from New York.
Hello to you and happy holiday.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Happy holiday to you, Fred.
It's possible to have Thanksgiving, enjoy it, and not run up your power bill. The main advice from Butterball. They say keep your oven door shut this Thanksgiving. The expert we talked to said there's really no need to baste your bird. That's like putting water on a rain coat. It just slides right off. And since your oven is on anyways, why not load it up with other dishes, like pies and potatoes? And that way you can turn it off sooner.
Also, I thought this was very interesting, didn't know this one. Fire up your microwave. According to Con Edison, microwaves use less than half the power of traditional ovens. Butterball says you can actually cook a turkey under 12 pounds right in the microwave.
But if you can't stomach that thought, it's tough for me to do, nuking your turkey, at least try to use that for your side dishes.
WHITFIELD: Yes, it doesn't sound good no matter how you try to phrase it.
All right, so that goes for cooking everything. But then it's chilly, you want to stay warm. You've got a lot of folks in your house.
Besides body heat, what do you do?
HARLOW: See, I'm heading home to Minnesota for Thanksgiving --
WHITFIELD: Oh, burr.
HARLOW: -- and it is freezing there. You can turn down your thermostat, believe it or not, in your house. Having those people over, that will help keep the room pretty warm. All that cooking, that is going to help also. Think twice about lighting a fire, though. Believe it or not, it actually sucks that heat out of your house. Fires need constant oxygen to burn. So it pulls that warm air into the fire and then it goes right out the chimney. You can make your fireplace more efficient in the long term. You want to make sure the fluid is clean and closed, obviously, when you're not using it. Some glass doors, those can also help. And down the road you can add an external vent. That way, the fire sucks air in from outside instead of from inside your house.
Just some tips for a green Thanksgiving, an energy fix for everyone at home tomorrow -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: Always good to be green.
Appreciate it, Poppy. Thanks so much.
Much more now on that news we wish we didn't have to bring you. This on what federal authorities are saying, according to the "Associated Press," they've warned local authorities in New York City because of a possible terror warning. Our Kelli Arena is in Washington. She has been working her sources.
Can you tell us a little bit more on this, Kelli?
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fredricka, actually the FBI and Department of Homeland Security sent out a bulletin to its state and local law enforcement partners warning them about a threat. I did get a copy of that bulletin. And it reads that the FBI "...has received a plausible but unsubstantiated report indicating that al Qaeda terrorists in late September may have discussed targeting transit systems in and around New York City. These discussions reportedly involved the use of suicide bombers, or explosives, placed on subway and passenger rail systems. We have no specific details to confirm that this plot has developed beyond aspirational planning. But we are issuing this warning out of concern that such an attack could possibly be conducted during the forth coming holiday season."
That is the warning that went out. It does get pretty specific in terms of what the target may be, that it involved what they call al Qaeda terrorists. But again, unsubstantiated, hasn't moved beyond talk of wanting to do it. But according at least to this bulletin, the FBI has no evidence they're in any sort of operational mode. They haven't taken any action to actually do it.
Now my colleague, Mike Aller (ph), spoke with the Department of Homeland Security. They said that there's no adjustment being made to metropolitan areas like New York. There's no threat being raised.
But you have to remember Fredricka, the New York City subway system, New York City on its own, always has a higher threat level than the rest of the nation anyway because it always comes up as a possible target in any of the intelligence that's gathered. But, DHS says that passengers may see an increase in security presence, like maybe uniformed or plain clothes officers, behavior detection officers, federal air marshals, canine teams, security inspectors. They may see more of a physical security presence during this holiday season as a result of this information.
But, of course, federal authorities never tell states and local governments what to do. They just say, hey, this is what we're hearing. You take it from here.
WHITFIELD: Yes, well still it would be very comforting to know that there's more personnel out there as a result of this kind of warning.
Kelli Arena, thanks so much, from Washington.
ARENA: You're welcome.
WHITFIELD: Well the president-elect in Chicago. His economic advisers, Barack Obama naming a new team -- actually more members of that team at a news conference. We've got it for you live coming up less than five minutes from now.
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WHITFIELD: All right. In a little over an hour, jurors resume deliberations of the fate of a Missouri mother charged in a tragic Internet hoax. A note to the judge suggests that they have reached a decision on three of the four charges against Lori Drew. Lori Drew is accused of posing as a teenage boy on MySpace and sending messages to her 13-year-old neighbor, Megan Meier. The teenager, Meier, committed suicide after being spurned by the fictitious boy who didn't really exist. Drew is charged with conspiracy and accessing computers without authorization.
An 8-year-old Arizona boy accused of killing his father and another man is being released today so he can spend Thanksgiving with his mother. He has to be back in juvenile detention by noon Friday. His attorney, meantime, is objecting to a motion by prosecutors to drop one of the murder charges. In court documents, the boy's attorney calls it a tactical move because it could allow prosecutors to charge him as an adult when he is old enough.
And momentarily to Chicago. We expect that President-elect Obama will be emerging there and taking to the stage with other members of his economic team. He will be unveiling more of his plan. He has already made it very clear over the past two days now -- this is the third press conference in three days -- over the past two days we've heard from President-elect Obama saying that he wants to show that he is acting swiftly and boldly, and that's why he continues to bring members of his economic team and reveal more about his plan.
We're going to take a short break. And momentarily we'll be bringing you to Chicago live for that press conference.
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WHITFIELD: All right, as promised, onto Chicago now -- President-elect Barack Obama.
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BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT: ... It has been increasingly clear in recent months, and we saw some additional reports this morning, that we're facing an economic crisis of historic proportions. And at this defining moment in our nation's history, the old ways of thinking and the old ways of acting just won't do. We're called to seek fresh thinking and bold new ideas from the leading minds across America.
And as we chart a course to economic recovery, we must ensure that our government, your government, is held accountable for delivering results. Today, I'm pleased to announce the formation of a new institution to help our economic team accomplish these goals: the president's Economic Recovery Advisory Board. This board is modeled on the president's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, created by President Eisenhower, to provide rigorous analysis and vigorous oversight to our intelligence community by individuals outside of government, individuals who would be candid and unsparing in their assessment.
This new board will perform a similar function for my administration as we formulate our economic policy. The board will be composed of distinguished individuals from diverse backgrounds outside of government, from business, labor, academia and other areas, who will bring to bear their wisdom and expertise on the formulation, implementation and evaluation of my administration's economic recovery plan. The board will report regularly to me, Vice President-elect Biden and our economic team as we seek to jump start economic growth, create jobs, raise wages, address our housing crisis and stabilize our financial markets.
Let me speak to why I think this is necessary. The reality is that sometimes policy making in Washington can become a little bit too ingrown, a little bit too insular. The walls of the echo chamber can sometimes keep out fresh voices and new ways of thinking. You start engaging in group-think. And those who serve in Washington don't always have a ground level sense of which programs and policies are working for people and businesses and which aren't. This board will provide that fresh perspective to me and my administration with an infusion of ideas from across the country and from all sectors of our economy, input that will be informed by members' firsthand observations of how our efforts are impacting the daily lives of our families.
I'm pleased to announce that this board will be chaired by one of the world's foremost economic policy experts, a former chairman of the Federal Reserve, and one of my most trusted advisers, Paul Volcker. Paul has been by my side throughout this campaign, providing a deep understanding of the financial markets, extensive experience managing economic crises and keen insight into the global nature of this particular crisis. Paul has served under both Republicans and Democrats and is held in the highest esteem for his sound and independent judgment.
He pulls no punches. He seems to be fairly opinionated. He has a long and distinguished record of service to our nation, and I'm pleased he answered the call to serve once again.
I'm also happy to announce that Austan Goolsbee, another one of my key economic advisers, has agreed to serve as staff director and chief economist of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board and to act as the primary liaison between the board and the administration. I also plan to nominate Austan to serve as one of the three members of my Council of Economic Advisers.
Austan is one of America's most promising economic minds, known for his path-breaking work on tax policy and industrial organization. He's one of the economic thinkers who has most shaped my own thinking on economic matters. He has been a stalwart adviser for me since I ran for the United States Senate. I look forward to continuing our close collaboration in the White House.
I plan to announce the remaining members of the Economic Advisory -- Economic Recovery Advisory Board in the coming weeks. And I look forward to their contributions to our urgent work to rebuild the economy and restore prosperity across America.
Last point I'd make about the board, I'll announce the particular members in the future, but I just want to be clear that this is going to be designed to make sure that everybody, that businesses across the board, whether it's high-tech or manufacturing, old or new economy, labor, innovative thinkers who may not always subscribe to the conventional wisdom, that they are there to challenge some of our assumptions, to make sure that we are not just doing the same old thing all the time. I can't think of better people than Paul and Austan to help lead that advisory board.
So with that, let me take a couple of questions.
I'm going to start with David Schafer (ph) from NPR if he's around. There he is.
Good to see you, david.
DAVID SCHAFER, NPR: Thank you, sir.
This is the third news conference you've done on the economy this week. And I'm wondering, when you say that there needs to be a new way of thinking and the old way of thinking won't do anymore, does this suggest a bit of a frustration or disappointment with the way the Bush administration and Secretary Paulson is handling the crisis to this point?
OBAMA: I think what it speaks to is the frustration of eight years in which middle class wages have gone down, or, in real terms, their family incomes have been reduced. It speaks to my frustration about all the families that I've met over the last two years who have lost their health insurance or their pensions are in danger, young people who can't afford to go to college. It expresses frustration about our inability to tackle some of the long-term problems that we've been facing and have been talking about for decades, whether it's health care, energy, an education system that's been slipping behind in critical areas like math or science. And most of all, I think frustration with the incapacity of Washington to take bold, clear, decisive steps to deal with our economic problems.
So I was elected with the charge of getting this economy back in shape, but also making sure that it's working on behalf of middle class families. In order to do that, I've tried to bring together the best economic minds, people who don't always agree with each other, but all share a commitment to making sure that we're growing the pie and that that's equal opportunity is a reality in our economy, that the American dream remains alive.
And so what I intend to do over the next two months is to forge that team, make sure that it has concrete plans for us to put this economy back on track. And we are going to implement starting day one when I come into office.
OK. Tom DeFrank.
TOM DEFRANK, AUTHOR, JOURNALIST: (OFF MIKE) ... as we all know, we are two days away from the biggest shopping day of the year, and a lot of retailers are worrying that this year it could be a disaster that this economy can ill afford. Do you have any shopping advice for nervous consumers? Are you planning to hit the malls yourself on Friday?
OBAMA: Well, we are going to do some Christmas shopping and Malia and Sasha have already put their lists together. It's mostly for Santa. They send their letter every year. But we may do some extra shopping as well.
Look, I think families understandably are nervous and concerned about their economic situation. We've seen job loss, we've seen flatlining wages and incomes. The economic statistics have been bad and people are watching television and understandably are nervous about their future. There is no doubt that during tough economic times family budgets are going to be pinched. I think it is important for the American people, though, to have confidence that we've gone through recessions before, we've gone through difficult times before, that my administration intends to get this economy back on track, that we are going to create 2.5 million jobs over the next two years, that our future is bright if we make good decisions.
And what we don't want to do is get caught up in a spiral where people pull back from the economy, businesses then pull back, jobs are reduced and we get into a downward spiral.
What we want to do is to be sober, to be clear, to recognize that we've got some real adjustments that have to be made. That's true at -- in individual businesses, it's true in terms of individual family budgets, it's also true for the economy as a whole. But, we continue to have the best workers in the world. We continue to have the most innovation in the world. We continue to be in possession of extraordinary resources that if we harness properly, will get this economy moving over the next couple of years, but also over the next two decades or three decades.
So -- people should understand that help is on the way. And as they think about this Thanksgiving shopping weekend, and as they think about the Christmas season coming up, I hope that everybody understands that we are going to be able to get through these difficult times. But we're just going to have to make some good choices. All right. I'm going to take one more question. Go ahead.
HENRY: Thank you, Mr. President-elect.
In addition to the Santa Claus list, I wanted to get into some specifics on exactly what you plan to do when you say help is on the way. First of all, do you support the Bush administration's latest $800 billion bailout? Are you worried about the continuation of printing money? Specifically, what federal programs would you cut --
OBAMA: How many compound questions is this going to be?
HENRY: It's three to be honest with you.
Secondly, what federal -- you talked about sacrifice yesterday -- what federal programs specifically, one or two, would you cut to actually pay for your stimulus plan? And finally, you're talking about changing Washington. Your campaign was -- Paul Volcker has been around for a long time. Paul --
OBAMA: Paul, I think that's an insult.
HENRY: He's very highly respected, I want to add, very wise man. But sir, you talked about John McCain who was going to come back to Washington if he won and just move people into different chairs. You've got Tom Daschle, Hillary Clinton --
OBAMA: Wait, wait, wait, hold on, hold on.
HENRY: We hear anyway.
OBAMA: You hear that, so first of all, that's not the topic. We're not talking about my cabinet because I haven't made those appointments yet.
HENRY: So we're talking about -- Paul Volcker has been around a long time, so he's somebody who knows the ways of Washington.
But what do you say to your supporters who are looking for change?
OBAMA: Actually, Paul Volcker hasn't been in Washington for quite some time. And that's part of the reason he can provide a fresh perspective.
Austan Goolsbee, from my understanding, you've never worked in Washington.
AUSTAN GOOLSBEE, ECONOMIST: I haven't been in vacation.
OBAMA: This is about as fresh a face as you can get. Although -- well, that's all right.
Look, let me take the questions in turn. No. 1, with respect to the details of the economic plan, as I've said before, we are going to be working over the next several months to put those details together. I've described for you the framework within which we are going to put that legislation forward. We're going to have a strong stimulus -- an economic recovery plan that is designed to put people back to work. That's priority No. 1. It's going to be large enough to jump start the economy. That's what I talked about on Monday.
On Tuesday, I talked about the fact that we are going to have to pair back on programs that do not work and I think would hardly be expected to provide you a detailed list now. That's why I have Peter Orszag, our budget director, who is going to be going through that budget, page by page, line by line. And the expectation is that will identify those programs that are not working, make sure that those are eliminated, and put money into programs that do work around things like health care modernization, making sure that we've got the first- class schools that our kids need in order to compete in the 21st century, start putting a down payment on a new energy economy.
When it comes to the people that we've pulled together, because I know this has been sort of conventional wisdom floating around Washington, that, well, there's a recycling of people who were in the Clinton administration. Although Paul dates before that. The last Democratic administration that we had was the Clinton administration. And so it would be surprising if I selected a Treasury secretary who had had no connection with the last Democratic administration, because that would mean that the person had no experience in Washington whatsoever. And I suspect that you would be troubled, and the American people would be troubled, if I selected a Treasury secretary or a chairman of the National Economic Council at one of the most critical economic times in our history, who had no experience in government whatsoever.
What we are going to do is combine experience with fresh thinking. But understand where the vision for change comes from first and foremost. It comes from me. That's my job, is to provide a vision in terms of where we are going and to make sure then that my team is implementing. I think that when you ultimately look at what this advisory board looks like, you'll say this is a cross-section of opinion that in some ways reinforces conventional wisdom, in some ways breaks with orthodoxy in all sorts of ways. And that's the kind of discussion that we're going to want. We want ideas from everybody.
But what I don't want to do is to somehow suggest that because you served in the last administration, that you're somehow barred from serving again. Because we need people who are going to be able to hit the ground running.
HENRY: (OFF MIKE) ... the markets are watching your words very closely and they are wondering whether you support that, sir.
OBAMA: Well the -- what I've said is that we have to do whatever is required in order to make sure that our financial system stays effective in being able to get credit to the markets. And it is important for us to make sure that the federal government, whether it's the Fed or the Treasury or any of the other agencies that have been given this authority, use it in a forceful fashion.
The latest attempts by the Treasury to make sure that we have a housing market in which credit is flowing and that is looking at other areas of consumer credit like student loans or car loans, I think that is a positive sign. And my hope is that over the next couple of months we continue to ensure that credit is flowing, that businesses are able to keep their doors open, that we are able to make sure that people have payroll.
If we do those things then I'm confident that we can get back on track. But we're still going to need the kind of economic recovery plan that I've been talking about and that I intend to get passed as soon as I'm sworn into office.
All right. OK, guys. Thank you very much. Happy Thanksgiving.
I want you to know both Paul and Austan have special turkey- cooking recipes if anybody out here needs some advice on how to make the ideal turkey. They seem to have a competition back here.
All right. Thank you, guys.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And there you have it. President-elect Barack Obama wrapping up his third -- one, two -- third news conference in three days. The president-elect adding more expertise to his money team. The president-elect announcing his new economic advisory board.
