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Big 3 Dilemma; Looking for Work; Snow in Vegas; Helping to Feed the World's Hungry

Aired December 18, 2008 - 11:11   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: All right, everyone. As the President- elect was speaking just moments ago, the president now, President Bush, was speaking out about the auto bailout.
I'm Don Lemon, in today for Tony Harris.

Want to listen in to the president. This happened just moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have concluded these are not ordinary circumstances for a lot of reasons. Our financial system is interwoven, domestically and internationally. And we got to the point where if a major institution were to fail, there is great likelihood that there would be a ripple effect throughout the world and the average person would be really hurt.

The autos obviously are very fragile. And I've laid out a couple principles.

One, I am worried about a disorderly bankruptcy and what it would do to the psychology and the markets. They're beginning to thaw, but there's still a lot of uncertainty.

I'm also worried about putting good money after bad. That means whether or not these autos will become viable in the future.

And frankly, there's one other consideration. And that is, I feel an obligation to my successor. I've thought about what it would be like for me to become president during this period. I believe that good policy is not to dump him a major catastrophe in his first day of office.

So those are some of the considerations that we're weighing.

What was the question on autos?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right. The president-elect was speaking in Chicago. President Bush there, speaking in Washington at the American Enterprise Institute, talking about the auto bailout.

You know the big three are in trouble right now. And that's why thousands of workers at more than two dozen plants will have a longer holiday than they had played for. Ford and Chrysler shutting down the plants. The plant closings are raising concerns among auto parts suppliers. And even if one automaker goes bankrupt, it could have a domino effect on suppliers.

We want to bring in CNN's Ali Velshi now with a look at that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALI VELSHI, CNN SR. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Usually around this time of year, these plants shut down for two weeks. That's their normal Christmas break. Chrysler is going to double that. Ford is adding a week to its normal shutdown schedule. And General Motors will be doing it over the first three months of the year, but individual plants could be shut down for between two and four weeks.

Now, here is the concern. The auto industry in the United States, it used to be that automakers had their own suppliers for parts. But over the last several years, the big three share a supplier base.

And by the way, it's not just the big three. Toyota, Nissan, Honda, they all depend on the same suppliers.

So the argument that the major automakers have been using is, let's say that General Motors were to disappear. and that's not what they're saying, but this is a pretty serious development. Let's say they were to disappear. The same supplier base would have to supply the remaining automobile companies.

But these guys are in trouble, too. They've been in trouble with the car companies. So what if the suppliers, one of the major suppliers, let's say, were to go bankrupt? Now you don't have supplies going to both of these two companies, and the danger in both of these cases -- and this is what Ford was saying -- is that they could just disappear entirely. This could actually trigger bankruptcy.

I actually was in Detroit when this news came down. I was sitting there with the CEO of Ford, and I was saying to him, you know, "Wouldn't that be interesting if your competitors were to disappear? Isn't that a good thing for you? And he was describing to me that that's actually a big nightmare for them, because if their supplier base would disappear, Ford could be in a lot of trouble.

Listen to what he told me.

ALAN MULALLY, FORD CEO: So, if any one of the OEMs, or one of the car companies, gets in trouble and would actually go into bankruptcy, that would affect all of the suppliers. And actually, a good probability it would take them into bankruptcy.

VELSHI: That's interesting, because Ford is relatively the healthiest of those three Detroit automakers. And he was talking about the fact that this could really affect everybody. And then you could be talking about three million people out of work.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Ali Velshi on "AC 360" last night.

Money matters, of course. And we are following several economic headlines affecting your bottom line.

New numbers out this morning show a drop in first-time claims for unemployment benefits. But the numbers still point to a dismal job market. The Labor Department reports 554,000 new applications for jobless benefits just last week.

Now, drastic moves by the struggling automakers. Chrysler is closing all of its North American manufacturing plants for at least one month. Ford is shutting down 10 plants for an extra week in January. And federal regulators are adopting new rules today on credit cards. They'll keep credit card companies from hiking interest rates on your existing account balances.

Let's take a closer look now at the new unemployment numbers out today. The weekly number is down, but still, it is very high.

And CNN's Christine Romans of our money team joins us now from New York.

It may be down from last month, but it's still a very high number -- Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's right. I mean, you're talking about down a little bit, but you're still talking about 554,000 people going to their local unemployment office and filing for jobless benefits for the first time ever. I mean, those are people who had had a job before, maybe their severance ran out, maybe their employer said you can stay on until the end of the month, but then you have to find something new.

Now they are out of a job and filing for unemployment benefits. And this means, of course, they won't get unemployment benefits that will match what they were getting before. It comes to maybe half of what they were making before, sometimes less.

So, 554,000 people filing for unemployment claims for the first time last week, and more than four million people are continuing to get those claims. Three hundred forty-nine thousand people this week last year had filed for jobless benefits. So it gives you an idea.

We have a very dynamic labor market. It's big and dynamic. We always have people falling into and out of the labor market.

So, last year, 349,000 people filing for first-time unemployment benefits. This year, it's quite a bit more than that.

One of the things that's interesting about this, too, I think, is that you're seeing companies like FedEx today announcing that it is going to have a five percent pay cut for some of its employees, that its CEO is taking a 20 percent pay cut, that it's going to stop matching to the 401(k). Companies beyond just layoffs are finding out lots of ways to try to tighten the belt, to try to cut costs. And so, even if you have your job, in a lot of these industries and a lot of these jobs, Don, you're feeling it one way or the other.

LEMON: And how much should we read into this, Christine? Because even though it's 554,000, it's down. But December and January are typically slow for those measures anyway, aren't they?

ROMANS: Yes. This is a seasonal time that could be hard to judge. I mean, more than half a million people lining up for jobless benefits is just bad.

LEMON: Yes.

ROMANS: It's just not good.

Now, one economist, Ian Shepherdson of High frequency Economics, you know, we go back to the early '80s recession, which was ugly. And that's when we look at the last sort of comparison.

He said when you adjust for the difference in the population -- we have a lot more people working now -- he said we'd have to see about a million people a week filing for unemployment benefits to compare to that worst, worst part of the '80s. And he's not saying we couldn't get there. I mean, he's just saying that right now, things are bad, they feel bad, the trend is getting worse. But we're still, when adjusted for population, not quite to the peak of the ugliness of the early '80s.

LEMON: And we certainly don't want to go back.

ROMANS: No, we don't.

LEMON: All right, Christine. Thank you very much for that.

Severe weather slams most of the country. We'll take you live to places that haven't seen snow in decades.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Boy, oh boy, it is definitely winter. And even though winter doesn't officially arrive for just a couple of days, it certainly feels like winter. It's already one for the record books.

Take a look at this: snow in Vegas. What are the odds of that? Well, about three inches piled up, causing delays at the airport and on the roadways there.

In California, Malibu is known for its sandy beaches. But snow? Snow in Malibu? Well, not so much. A pre-winter storm blasted much of the state Wednesday and startled Malibu with a light dusting.

And in Minnesota, where you would expect snow, check out the deer. Oh dear. A stranded doe gets a tow off the ice and onto solid ground. The doe is fine. So no worries about that.

Well, snow is not unusual this time of year, but it is rare in Las Vegas. And I guess you could say what happens in Vegas melts.

Live now to Lauren Murphy of affiliate KVVU at McCarran International Airport.

Thank you, Lauren, for joining us. You've got a lot of stranded travelers there that had to wait overnight. Have the flights resumed?

LAUREN MURPHY, REPORTER, KVVU: They are starting to resume. A lot of people are spending the night here. We saw people camped out all over the floor.

So they are picking up again, but of course, they're encouraging everybody who is flying in and out of Las Vegas to definitely check with their own airline, because a lot of disruptions yesterday. That means a lot of disruptions today.

LEMON: A lot of disruptions today.

You guys don't get snow much. What happens there when it snows? Do you even have enough trucks and plows? Does the whole city just shut down?

MURPHY: Oh, people are just not equipped for snow here. The airports and driving around, we saw a lot of people skidding all over the place.

But school is out today. So that's pretty cool for the kids. This will probably be the only snow day they'll have in their entire lives.

LEMON: It is a natural sign, Lauren, just to slow down when that snow comes.

Thank you very much for your report.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LEMON: Coping with job loss in the midst of this financial crisis. Your personal finance editor, Gerri Willis, has her top tips to get you through it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd rather go to work. I've been there 17 years, like I said, and I believe I missed one day for having a stroke. My father worked there 43.5 years and only missed five days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Chairman Bernanke and Secretary Paulson, after a month of every weekend where they're calling saying, we've got to do this for AIG or this for Fannie and Freddie, came in and said the financial markets are completely frozen, and if we don't do something about it, it is conceivable we will see a depression greater than the Great Depression. So we moved and we moved hard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: You can see the president there being very animated, yet very stern at the same time, speaking out within the hour about the auto bailout. He was at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, taking questions there.

So, let's talk about losing your job. It is bad enough. But, a layoff in the middle of one of the steepest economic downturns in recent memory. I mean, that can be devastating. So, how do you cope? How do you deal with this? Let's bring in your personal finance editor Gerri Willis. She joins us with her tips on lay-off survival -- her lay-off survival guide.

Boy, do we need it now, Gerri.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: You bet. And you know, a lot of people are in this boat right now, Don, haven't been in it in a very long time. You forget what you're supposed to do.

Let me suggest first things first. You want to line up some cash to take care of you and your family while you're unemployed. You may think about tapping that 401(k). Federal law in fact, allows you to tap your 401(k), for a hardship withdrawal if you lose your job. But, try to avoid it.

If you move your money now, you'll be selling at lows, locking in losses. Worse you'll have to pay a 10 percent penalty if you're younger than 59 1/2. On top of that you'll pay taxes. Bottom line, about 40 percent of your distribution goes right back to Uncle Sam.

Now, if you're trying to make this decision yourself right now, go to rolloversystems.com. It will help you analyze how much money you'll spend if you take that money out now. And how much money you'd be losing if you left it in place and saved it till you retired.

LEMON: So, we've been hearing you know, about the financial markets and people getting loans and what have you. And it's really tight right now.

So, where do people go if they need money, Gerri?

WILLIS: Right. It's tough. Finding money to pay the bills when you're laid off, very difficult. If you have a home equity line of credit, now is the perfect time to tap it. Unfortunately, some folks that have had these loans canceled or revoked.

If the HELOC isn't an option, you'll need to look at generating new income. You're going to have to think about part-time work to make ends meet. A lot of people do that. Freelance work is an option for some workers. You're going to have to be creative, really mix it up. It may be different streams of income, not just one.

LEMON: OK. So if you find yourself in this position and you've been laid off. Then what do you do?

WILLIS: Well, look. People in the best situation right now are those who have transferable skills. For example, you know, a good salesperson, they can sell widgets, they can sell gidgets, they can sell anything.

Construction workers today, what they're doing, they're transferring to green retro-fitting. Former real estate brokers are running businesses managing foreclosures. But, not everybody has transferable skills. Some of us are going to have to retrain. Think about community colleges. Some are offering fast track programs to people who are trying to develop new skill sets.

Online colleges. I know you don't think of this first. But, it's a good way to go if you have limited means. And to find an accredited online college, go to the council on higher education's accreditation web site. It's simply chea.org. Look for the databases and directory link. Don, it's a great idea if you're really stuck.

LEMON: Chea.org. It's there on the screen. It was really small, though. Chea.org.

WILLIS: OK, Gerri.

LEMON: We've been talking about you know -- they lowered the interest rate, right?

WILLIS: Right.

LEMON: And so, if you're -- what's coming up on Open House this weekend? Are you talking about that? And I also I hear that Open House is getting a makeover?

WILLIS: We're getting a little makeover.

LEMON: A renovation, we should call it. A renovation.

WILLIS: Yes, exactly. It's a home renovation. That's what we're doing.

We're going to make a few changes. But coming up this Saturday, we're talk about how to celebrate stress free this holiday season without going into major debt. Everything you need to know about gift cards and why they may not be the gift to get. Stay tuned because coming in January, we're going to have a little makeover.

LEMON: Oh, act surprised. Did I jump the gun there? Sorry. Shhh.

WILLIS: Well, you know, I'm happy to share with a few of your closest friends.

LEMON: I'm the contractor, so I know.

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIS: There you go.

LEMON: All right, Gerri. Thank you. You look great, by the way, Christmas red, today.

WILLIS: Oh, yes.

LEMON: Holiday red.

WILLIS: It's going to be Holiday season, right.

LEMON: All right. Thank you very much.

WILLIS: My pleasure.

LEMON: Well, this weekend you can get a guide on how to recover from this current financial crisis. Ali Velshi leads you down the path toward taking control of your finances and learning to grow your money. Don't miss Gimme My Money Back. CNN Saturday and Sunday night, 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

Well, President Bush says he hasn't decided how to sell the struggling U.S. auto industry. CNN's Kate Bolduan is live now, from the White House with the very latest on the options the President is considering.

Kate, we heard him just moments ago. What is he considering now?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it seems at the White House, for their part they say they're leaving all options on the table right now.

But, you did mention, Don, that today also thinking about the auto industry. But, the President is -- is the White House is billing it, offering his presidential perspective on policy making. Kind of offering his thoughts, part of a farewell tour as he prepares to leave office. At an event today hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank here in Washington.

He's been talking about a wide range of topics on foreign policy. He says that the cornerstone of his foreign policy is that freedom is universal, something we've heard. In terms of the struggling economy as well as the financial industry, President Bush says these are unprecedented times and it is just not the normal kind of situation that this president was expecting to deal with.

Listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Under ordinary circumstances, failed entities -- failing entities should be allowed to fail. I have concluded these are not ordinary circumstances. For a lot of reasons. Our financial system is interwoven, domestically and internationally. And we got to the point where if a major institution were to fail, there is great likelihood that there'd be a ripple effect throughout the world, and the average person would be really hurt. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Now, specifically on the future of the American auto industry, the White House says they are very close but have not yet made a decision and would not go further than that when pushed on it today.

White House spokesperson Dana Perino says that all options remain on the table, including possibly dipping into the Troubled Asset Relief Program we've talked so much about. The $700 billion that was set aside by Congress, as well as some sort of orderly bankruptcy proceeding as was mentioned in today's White House briefing -- Don.

LEMON: I understand President Bush and President-elect Obama plan another meeting before the inauguration.

What can you tell us about that?

BOLDUAN: Yes. Their first meeting was back in November, and the White House says that President Bush will be hosting a lunch in early January for President-elect Obama, as well as the former Presidents, Carter, Clinton and the first President Bush.

Kind of we can expect them to talk about many things, in terms of life in the White House, politics, possibly some policy making. And I'm told by a White House spokesperson that all have RSVP'd yes.

LEMON: All right, Kate. Thank you very much for that.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

LEMON: Doctors refusing to advise patients of medical options on moral grounds. President Bush gives them shelter.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: President-elect Barack Obama announces his choice to head the agency that protects your investment. His news conference just wrapped up just a short time ago. And our Jessica Yellin was there. She joins us now, live from Chicago.

Very good question, Jessica. You got some good information out of him. He talked about regulatory commissions and really being asleep at the wheel. Tell us more.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Don. Barack Obama really hit hard on the SEC and the regulatory agencies that should have been overseeing Wall Street before its meltdown. The mortgage crises could have been averted and this massive Ponzi scheme that could be the biggest fraud in U.S. history, which the SEC failed to detect.

He introduced Mary Schapiro as his pick to run the SEC, that commission that has been under fire for all of the above. And he says, look, she will help to reform it. He even suggested in his answer that he could overhaul the entire commission to try to update the way it regulates the financial industry, to prevent these things from happening again. And he even said that Washington itself, was partly responsible for missing the problems on Wall Street in advance.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT-ELECT: We have been asleep at the switch. Not just some of the regulatory agencies, but some of the congressional committees that might have been taking a look at this stuff. We have not been as aggressive, and we've had a White House that started with the premise that deregulation always good.

And so what I said during the campaign, I meant. We are going to have to greatly strengthen our regulatory apparatus and update it from what worked for a 20th century financial system so that it works in a 21st century financial system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: And Don, he said that his team will actually be meeting in the next few weeks to devices a plan to reform the whole system. And he'll unveil that perhaps even before he takes office.

His overall message, he used the phrase, there was no adult supervision. And he says it's really time for a cultural shift where Wall Street and the people who oversee it take more responsibility. Not just for enriching themselves, but for caring about the nation's economy. So, we'll see how effectively he can make changes. It's a lot to bite off.

LEMON: Very good question and very good answer.

Thank you, Jessica for that.

It is a medical dilemma. Some physicians refuse to do certain procedures like abortions, as a matter of conscience. Now, federal health officials say, that's OK.

CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, has all the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 20 year ago, when Dr. Sandy Christiansen went to medical school, she never thought she'd face discrimination. Yet, because of her anti- abortion views, she says she was repeatedly denied the opportunity to perform medical procedures that another intern was allowed to do. When she pressed her superiors, she didn't like the response.

DR. SANDY CHRISTIANSEN, OB/GYN: She's doing that because she's been working hard at the abortions and you haven't. And so, she gets that perk.

GUPTA: Even after she got her license, Christiansen says she felt unaccepted by some of her peers because of her views. Now, a medical consultant for a pregnancy resource center in Frederick, Maryland, she has never performed an abortion and refuses to refer patients to abortion clinics.

CHRISTIANSEN: Just in the same way that my conscience would not allow me to perform an abortion, I wouldn't ask another colleague to do that.

GUPTA: But, many health care organizations including the American Medical Association believe health care providers like Christiansen, have an obligation to their patients. To advise them of their options despite their own beliefs.

Now a new regulation introduced by the Department of Health and Human Services would support Christiansen's right to refuse referrals and withhold information that goes against her own beliefs. Critics argue there are already laws on the books protecting health care professionals when it comes to refusing care for personal reasons.

The new proposal goes further by making it so that all health care workers from doctors to janitors who work in the hospitals may refuse to provide services, information or advice to patients if they are morally against it. Critics fear that could mean anything from fertility treatments, to abortion, to stem cell research.

ADAM SONFIELD, FUTTMACHER INSTITUTE: This regulation explicitly allows that doctor or nurse or any other health care provider to withhold information that would be relevant from a patient trying to make a medical decision.

GUPTA: Organizations like the American Nurses Association already have a code of ethics for their members. They believe nurses and other health care professionals are there for the patient and it's the patient's prerogative to make decisions on care based on their beliefs, not the health care providers.

MARY JEAN SCHUMANN, AMERICAN NURSES ASSOCIATION: We don't go to school to learn to make God-like decisions. That's not what it's about for us. It's about trying to get to where the patient is and helping the patient make their own decisions. You know, nobody appointed us the ultimate person to pass judgment.

GUPTA: But Christiansen says she's not playing God, just exercising her code of ethics, along are with the Hippocratic oath.

CHRISTIANSEN: Why would you want to eliminate people who have these certain held beliefs and conscious, from the a particular field of practice? Frankly, all the more reason to hold them there.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: And for people in the poorest corners of the world, the global financial crisis is the least of their worries. They just need something to eat. Actress Drew Barrymore encourages you to help. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The bad economy hitting charities hard. The World Food Programme said this week it needs $5.2 billion in urgent hunger aid. Now recently, our Tony Harris spoke with World Food Programme ambassador, Drew Barrymore. She has traveled to Africa and tells us why she gives her time and energy to the fight against hunger.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW BARRYMORE, ACTRESS, WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME AMBASSADOR: When I found out about the World Food Programme what made so much sense to me was that it's the basis for everything. Food is the most fundamental thing for people to have to survive. It's the most basic need. And school feeding programs and children and having a chance of being fed and educated is, you know -- should be a mandate for every child.

And I'm here to do what I can to see that whatever I can do to bring that possibility to life has been my mission now.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: You mentioned your trip to Africa recently. At the end of the day, you're really a storyteller.

Was there one particular person or one particular story that remains with you from that trip?

BARRYMORE: Well, this particular girl Edythe (ph) I was talking about.

HARRIS: Yes.

BARRYMORE: You go and you learn from the people that you go to, and really I go there, I film it, I'm documenting it -- I'm working on my second documentary. And you speak about so many difficult issues, and the most important thing is for you to remain strong in the face of what these people are dealing with and to be there to help them and enable and bring their stories back.

So I'm doing that via my documentary. I do that when I go to the Clinton Global Initiative and we put the red cup in his hand, or we speak to the families.

This little girl Edythe -- she was one of the last people. I go there every year. We go to different places. We'll branch out in our travels, but this little girl Edythe, who has the HIV virus, was someone who held my hand and looked into my eyes. And after weeks of being on the ground and in these schools and talking to all of these children, there was something in her eyes, that the way she looked at me with such openness and such love, and such a lack of cynicism and a beauty that I totally broke down and cried. And she held my hand so tightly, and we just walked around together all day.

And it was such a silent exchange of loveliness. And I decided to sponsor her family.

HARRIS: Drew, you've been with the World Food Programme for three years, ambassador for a year. Can you explain to me why we have people who are hungry on this planet? Look this year alone we have seen riots for food in Egypt, in Haiti. We are a planet with enormous resources. I'm sure the answer to this question is wrapped in your motivation for getting involved in the first place.

But why do we have, with the resources we have on the planet, people who are going hungry?

BARRYMORE: I've heard that the president of the World Bank says we can't crack the code in moments of need. And you just think, what can I do as an individual if such powerful entities are not able to conquer this?

But then you go to the places, or now you can go to your kitchen on your Web site, and you realize that 25 cents a day, $5, $50 for a year feeds a child. These are numbers that people, even in these difficult times, can handle. And if we do those little steps day by day, and I don't pretend to understand, you know, why we can't feed everybody. It's my hope and my goal, and my direct work that I do on a consistent basis to try and change that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Well, this holiday season Drew is helping launch a new World Food Programme project. It's called the Wall Against Hunger. And for a small donation, you can upload a picture of yourself, your family or friends, on to the wall and the whole world will see the picture and you'll help the fight against hunger. For information go to wfp.org, or just go to cnn.com/impact for all the information that you need.

Packing your bags for the holidays maybe? Well, getting to your destination could be quite difficult. Our Reynolds Wolf is tracking all the ice, the snow and, of course, those pesky airport delays.

That snow is keeping plenty of kids out of class.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Well, it's nice to play in the snow, but I miss seeing -- I'm missing my teacher.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I'm meteorologist Reynolds Wolf in the CNN weather center.

We're watching all the elements come together for a major winter storm. We've got a lot of cold air that is shuffling in from the north. (INAUDIBLE) moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. And that could spell a tremendous mess for millions of people.

Right now we're looking at just the beginning of that action way down in parts of the central plains. But later on, into the afternoon, evening and into tomorrow, there's the potential that places like Chicago could get a great deal of snowfall, up to a foot in some locations. Also there is the potential of up to a half inch of ice in many spots.

CNN's Chad Myers will be here through the rest of afternoon to steer you clear. We're going to have more coming up with CNN next hour after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)