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Travel Plans Wrecked by the Weather; Christmas in Bethlehem; Attacking the Pope
Aired December 25, 2008 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALINA CHO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. Holiday on ice, the passenger jet slides off the runway and travel plans across the country hit the skids.
A message of peace, a moment of fear, a woman jumps a barrier and charges at the pope.
Oh little town of Bethlehem celebrating the birth of Jesus in the cradle of Christianity. Good morning, everybody. Heidi Collins has this Christmas day off. I'm Alina Cho, today is Thursday, December 25th, and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Merry Christmas, everybody, we begin with the weather many people in the western U.S. are waking up to a white Christmas. That's nice. More snow and icy rain falling from the pacific to the Rockies. Winter storm emergencies declared in western Washington and it is still a slushy mess in Chicago where icy conditions there have frustrated a lot of holiday travelers. Imagine being stuck at the airport on Christmas day.
And the winds could be a factor for anyone still trying to get into or out of New York.
What's in store for your area? CNN's Chad Myers in the weather center today on this Christmas day. Merry Christmas, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Merry Christmas.
CHO: If you're flying from Chicago, you're one of the lucky ones if you got out and to your destination on Christmas day. A lot of people are stuck there.
MYERS: Absolutely, about 2:00 yesterday afternoon, people wanted to get some place on time, by 2:30, they were saying ok I'm lowering my standards, just get me there period. Look behind me. You think we're the only ones working, there are 2,200 airplanes already in the sky, average 100 people per plane, that means 200,000 people in the air already this morning still trying to get to wherever they were trying to get to yesterday and maybe the day before and the day before that, just depends on where you were. There were some airport delays earlier, they're really not too bad right now, about 10 to 15 minutes any place. The warm air in the northeast, 42 right now in New York City. 30 in Buffalo, 21 in Cleveland, and 21 up in Detroit. The big story, good morning west coast and rocky mountain state. If you picked this week to go skiing, you chose wisely. It is going -- maybe too wisely. There'll be so much snow out there, probably be closing some of the runs as they need to go out there with the (INAUDIBLE) and use the snow cat to pack some of that snow down. We are talking feet of snow out west. And then tomorrow, we'll bring in some rain, maybe a slight area of wintry mix across parts of the Great Lakes. But this is your day to stay home any way.
Everywhere that you see purple on this map, that's 10 inches of snow or more, and through the Sierra, through the cascades, I'm talking 24 inches of snow and the wind could be blowing through Utah and Colorado. Some of the areas down here could pick up 2 to 3 feet of snow. The only problem, blow that snow around, Alina, you could get avalanche danger. We know you want to be out there playing in it, we just want you to be out there playing in it safely.
CHO: Hey Chad, we may be working on Christmas and I don't want to make you jealous, but on Saturday I'm headed to Colorado to go skiing.
MYERS: Fantastic.
CHO: It's going to be good stuff out there.
MYERS: My wife and child will still be in Cincinnati.
CHO: Have fun there. Thanks Chad, we'll check back with you later.
Hey, all that snow and ice has been especially hard for travelers in Chicago. One runway at O'Hare airport was shut down last night after a plane hit a patch of ice. Everyone on board is ok, but dozens still stranded. Here's the very latest from Regina Waldrop with CNN affiliate Chicago Land TV.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REGINA WALDROP, CLTV REPORTER (voice-over): A holiday scare for passengers aboard American Airlines flight 1544. The MD80 aircraft bound for Reagan National Airport was taxing into take off position at Chicago's O'Hare airport just before 7:00 on runway 22 left say aviation officials, it hit an icy patch, slid off the runway, and came to rest in the grass. None of the 54 passengers and crew members aboard were hurt, the runway, temporarily closed. The National Transportation Safety Board is now investigating the incident. American Airlines passengers we spoke to this morning say they're not phased by this incident or others. They're still looking forward to flying.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm pretty confident because there's always stuff happening, but it always works out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel confident that the pilots know what the heck they're doing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing that we can control, it's out of our hands.
WALDROP: But this latest mishap comes during a bad week for travelers. Some of them are still stranded at O'Hare for Christmas, holiday plans, on hold.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm just tired. I'm exhausted tired. But it's Christmas time, it's ok.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought I would actually be at home on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas day, but it'll work out.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: Regina Waldrop of CLTV. And some scary moments also for some passengers heading from Seattle to Burbank, California. You may have seen this story unfold right here on CNN at this time yesterday. More than two dozen people sought medical treatment after deicing fumes entered the cabin of an Alaska Airlines jet. Passengers were treated for eye irritation but thankfully nothing more serious. Those passengers, by the way, chose to continue on aboard another plane. It was Christmas Eve, anyway.
A charred plane still beside a runway in Denver as federal aviation inspectors try to figure out what happened in that incident. 38 people were hurt Saturday when the plane veered off the runway and burst into flames. So far no problems have been found with the brakes or two main landing gear. The captain and three others are still in the hospital.
Seeking a man in a Santa suit who may be armed. It is true and there he is. Police in Covina, California say Bruce Jeffrey Pardo is a quote, "person of interest" in a deadly shooting just before midnight. Now it happened at this house there, which then as you see caught fire. Witnesses say the man burst into their holiday party dressed as Santa and opened fire. This is true. Three people were killed, three others wounded, including an 8-year-old girl. Doctors say they should be ok.
President Bush is spending Christmas at Camp David with his family where they will feast on a traditional holiday meal. Also a tradition, the president spent part of Christmas eve calling members of the armed forces around the world. The White House says he thanked them for their quoted continued sacrifices that they are making and serving our country overseas and away from family.
President-elect Barack Obama also released his own holiday message thanking members of the military and their families for their sacrifice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Many troops are serving their second, third, or even fourth tour of duty, and we are reminded that they are more than dedicated soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and coast guard. They're devoted fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, sisters and brothers. This holiday season, their families celebrate with a joy that's muted knowing that a loved one is absent and sometimes in danger. In towns and cities across America, there's an empty seat at the dinner table and distant bases and on ships at sea. Our servicemen and women can only wonder at the look on their child's faces as they open up a gift back home.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Yesterday, Obama visited a marine base in Hawaii. He got in an early morning workout too. Hit the base gym and also posed for pictures with marines and their families.
U.S. troops in Iraq are no doubt missing their families back home. They are celebrating the holiday with some special meals and chapel service. CNN's Jill Dougherty is there she joins us from Camp Liberty in Baghdad. So Jill, 146,000 American troops still in Iraq this Christmas. How are some of them spending the day?
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've actually been here since yesterday, Alina, and I can tell you that really a lot of them are thinking exactly what you were talking about. Thinking about their families, I talked with one soldier who has actually spent five Christmases away from his family. So there are a lot of people in that boat. And here, just to set the scene, we're at the D-Fac, that's the dining facility here at camp liberty. We're west of Baghdad. And this has been a beehive of activity. They're back again, dinner is starting at this point, but all day long, especially at noon, they had a special meal for all of the troops, and they actually according to the statistics they gave us, they made 4,407 turkey dinners. And the turkey dinners were complete with all of the fixings. They even had eggnog.
So it's been a moment where people are focusing on their families. And last night, for instance, we went to a party, very small, kind of a get together with some of the soldiers. They stood around, they had some food, they reminisced, they sang Christmas carols, and they gave each other gifts. And then after that, we went to the chapel to a nondenominational Christian service, and they sang Christmas carols and lighted candles. A very beautiful and quiet celebration.
And the one thing that I have noticed, Alina is not everybody can stay for a very long time. This is not a holiday. They are actually working. So the soldiers are going off to whatever task they have on the given date. And they're also packing up the meals here and convoying them out to some of the soldiers who actually haven't had a chance to come in here to the D-fac.
CHO: Well, if they can't spend the holiday with their family, at least they're with their fellow troops. So Jill Dougherty joining us from camp liberty in Baghdad, Jill thank you.
Transition to power today, President Bush is spending a final Christmas at Camp David, but his successor, he is vacationing in Hawaii. President-elect Obama basking in the sun and the glow of popular support, the gut wrenching and divisive challenges await him. A closer look now from CNN senior white house correspondent Ed Henry.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Call it the Hawaiian honeymoon, President-elect Barack Obama riding high with the American people. And it's easy to see why. He scored an historic election victory, moved swiftly to pick a high-powered White House staff that's basically run a mistake-free transfer to power so far, and assembled a relatively centrist cabinet. That's won rave reviews from even leading conservatives.
STEPHEN F. HAYES, SR. WRITER, THE WEEKLY STANDARD: He's made some interesting and I think wise cabinet choices. But I think the real proof will come when he has to make policy choices and then, I think, we run into this question of how is he governing and how do people react to that?
HENRY: Indeed, the challenges ahead are enormous. With President Bush handing off a mountain of problems, starting with the deepening global financial crisis. So the transition team is scrambling to craft an even bigger economic recovery package than expected.
JOE BIDEN, (D) VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT: Over 10 million people are officially unemployed, and millions more are unable to find enough work to keep their paychecks from slipping from what they've been. And this deterioration in the nation's unemployment situation has led the president-elect to instruct our economic team, some of which are assembled here today to raise the goal of our stimulus plan from 2.5 million jobs to 3 million new jobs to be created over the next two years.
HENRY: And on national security, Obama's so-called team of rivals will be grappling with a long list of international hot spots.
DAN BENJAMIN, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: The tasks ahead are quite daunting. If you look at Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Middle East peace process, financial crisis, you know, we could continue for quite a while. This is not a set of tasks for the, you know, for the faint of heart. And so I'm pleased to see that the president-elect is assembling a capable and dynamic team.
HENRY: Another round of golf for President-elect Obama. This is really his last chance to recharge the batteries before eventually heading back to Washington where the inbox in that oval office is just bursting with all kinds of challenges. Ed Henry, CNN, Honolulu.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: Ed thank you.
An update now on that series of highway shootings in the Dallas area. Two people were killed in four separate shootings, and now police say the main suspect has died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Brian Smith is his name. He was a former state trooper in Utah and a married father of two. He lost his job, apparently, with the highway patrol after going on a drinking binge and threatening suicide. Police say six hours after the shooting spree, he turned the gun on himself as authorities closed in to arrest him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first one went boom, the second one went boom and that was it.
In a blink of an eye and then it just went bam, and it was like took your breath away.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: That's for sure.
A Christmas eve tragedy near Sacramento, California, a house explodes, and at least one person is dead, four others were injured in the blast. The suspected cause, a natural gas leak.
And awash in a sea of sludge. This is one of 15 homes damaged when a wall gave way and unleashed 500 million gallons of waste from a coal plant in central Tennessee. What a mess. The sludge is a byproduct of burning the coal. Initial tests show that no threat to the drinking water is there, but environmentalists fear that the sludge could pose health risks to nearby residents. The clean-up could take months. At least three of the homes are uninhabitable.
75 percent off, it has been a Christmas wonderland of discounts for holiday shoppers. But how about for retailers? Well, it's been more like bah humbug for them. How much lower can prices go on the day after Christmas? We'll tell you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Welcome back on this Christmas day, a Christmas tradition around the Washington area, Santa Claus straps on a pair of skis and hits the Potomac River with a little help as you saw there. From his reindeer friends. This is the 23rd year for the annual event. It also includes a jet skiing grinch and frosty the snowman in a dingy. That must be cold.
No doubt about it, it has been a dismal holiday shopping season. A recent survey shows a whopping 81 percent of consumers cut back on spending in December. That's despite unprecedented discounts that appeared right after thanksgiving and in some cases before. How are retailers staying afloat? And how low can they possibly go after Christmas? Joining me this morning, corporate cost-cutting expert, Jack Lyles. Jack, thank you so much for joining us. No doubt about it, it has been bleak out there. The shopping season for retailers has not been good. But someone suggested that the day after Christmas could be the new black Friday. What do you think about that?
JACK LILES, RETAIL INDUSTRY ANALAYST, NPI: I think it's really more of a calendar issue than anything else. The one good little thing for retailers this year later in the season here is that this day after Christmas is a Friday. Most of us are not going to be working that Friday, so it is a black Friday-like shopping day --
CHO: Speak for yourself.
LILES: They'll have this little post Christmas surge that may be a little larger than they expect, but it's mostly due to the calendar.
CHO: But I was out there, a lot of people were out there sort of looking around. I noticed in some cases, things were 75 percent off well before thanksgiving. So my question is, how can retailers make money? Maybe more people are in the stores buying, but the profit margin is slimmer, isn't it?
LILES: It's very slim. And that's a lot of what our small firm does is help retailers focus on their costs, particularly we like to look at the big Ts, transportation, technology, telecom, those are very expensive, but negotiated costs that retailers have. We work with them to help trim those costs down so they can, again, help their margins stay healthy by spending less to do business.
CHO: Right, but if you're 75 percent off before thanksgiving or say just right after thanksgiving, how low can you go? What's in store for holiday shoppers out there?
LILES: It's tough. 75 percent off is a big cut-in to those margins. Think about too, starting tomorrow will be the big returns day, as well. Returns bring up a lot of issues for retailers. Of course they don't like to have to refund money back, but there are also a lot of issues around how easy they've made the return process. And there's a lot of opportunity for retailers to deliver a good customer experience for those customers who do have returns whether they're mailing things back in from online purchases or going into the stores. A lot of opportunity there.
CHO: There are also people out there who are going to be spending their gift cards that they get today on Christmas, right? But from what I understand, those gift card sales don't show up for a little while, right?
LILES: They may not. They may not. It's different for different industries and specialties within the retail market.
CHO: So what's the outlook, then? It has been so bleak on so many different levels, and not just for retailers, but for everybody. So six months from now, a year from now, how does it look for retailers?
LILES: It's tough. And it's about scalability, which is a technical term we use, usually to talk about how companies can grow. In this case, I think scalability may apply to how well they can sort of readjust their models to a smaller set of consumers. That's a lot of what the focus is on. And this year is going to be cost discipline, managing those negotiable costs, bringing your model down to fit what the marketplace is delivering.
CHO: Cost discipline, sounds like a good buzz word.
LILES: It is.
CHO: Jack Liles, cost cutting expert. Jack, thank you for coming on this Christmas Day and Merry Christmas to you.
LILES: Thanks, Merry Christmas.
CHO: Thanks so much.
A security scare at St. Peters, it came as Pope Benedict XVI was leaving after midnight mass.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: We hope you're having yourself a merry little Christmas. Pope Benedict XVI began Christmas with a midnight mass at St. Peters Basilica. A bystander jumped the barrier as he headed down the aisle. She was quickly tackled by security. The Vatican has no word on her identity.
To Bethlehem, traditionally held as the birthplace as Jesus. This Christmas despite the rains and the unrest of course, the city is once again crowded. Here's CNN's Ben Wedeman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN (voice-over): Midnight mass in the church of the nativity, an annual tradition culminating a day of pageant and celebration. The one day of the year when the normally quiet town of Bethlehem comes alive. Palestinian scout groups representing Christians throughout the West Bank did as they always do on this day, march, bang their drums loudly. And in a way, make a point.
(On camera): Christmas is the one time of the year when Palestine's small and shrinking Christian community reminds everyone that they're still here.
(Voice-over): Tourists in record numbers this year were on hand braving an unusually cold, gray, and windy day. It was an eye-opener for first-time visitors.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was expecting, I guess, bag pipes seem kind of a western thing so it's kind of neat to see it in the middle east too. And they're playing Christmas carols and songs that we know.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm loving it. It's been an incredible atmosphere and a wonderful learning experience.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): Their presence, a welcome gift to Bethlehem's economy says the town's mayor.
MAYOR VICTOR BATARSER: This is much better than last year, number 1,250,000. All of our hotels are full, we have around 30,000 tourists and visitors coming in.
WEDEMAN: The Latin patriarch in Jerusalem also came as he does every Christmas Eve, to the birthplace of Jesus, allowed through normally tightly shut gates by Israeli troops. The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians as always lose over everything here.
MUSTAFA BARGHOUTI, PALESTINIAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER: My Christmas wish is that we will have real peace based on justice and freedom. My Christmas wish is that the justice that Jesus Christ gave his life for will happen sometime in his birthplace in Palestine.
WEDEMAN: As the carol goes, the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Bethlehem.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: And in Great Britain, a Christmas observance for the royal family. Queen Elizabeth II attended the morning service at the St. Mary Magdalene Church in Norfolk. She was joined by the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles, Duchess of Cornwall and her grandsons Princes William and Harry.
This just in to the CNN NEWSROOM, word that Nobel prize winning play write Harold Pinter has died. That confirmation coming into us from his widow. The 78-year old Englishman wrote 29 plays and directed almost as many stage productions. His style lifted the coining of the adjective pint of rest. Which means having an err of menace. Pincher won the Nobel prize in 2005 and a huge array of other prestigious awards throughout his career.
No Christmas miracle, just a cruel reality of the nation's mortgage crisis. It hits home for a couple evicted on Christmas Eve.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Good morning, everybody, and merry Christmas. A white Christmas for some, a slushy mess for others, ski resort owners are smiling as more snow falls across the mountains, but another story in the city. Places like Seattle are under a winter storm emergency, a week of snow there and ice has made traveling dicey.
Also slow-going in the Midwest, stranding passengers and motorists in Chicago. Imagine spending Christmas at the airport. What about today, Chad Myers in our weather center this Christmas. Merry Christmas, Chad. That picture is amazing to see. All of those flights in the air at this moment. You'd think everybody was at their destination, but not so.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Twenty-five hundred planes in the sky already right now, Alina. The good news is, the planes aren't this big because you'd never see the sunshine. So and they'd all kind of be bumping into each other. They're teeny tiny really on the map. 2,500 planes in the sky already. So if you think you're the only one at work, out there doing something, you are not, pilots are out there as well, trying to get people from place to place. Heavy snow across parts of the west. This is the story today. It's going to be from Seattle through Portland and all the way down to the Sierra, the spine of the Sierra could pick up 2 feet of snow. That's great news to a point of the avalanche danger that is going to build later on today on those windy slopes.
Not only is it going to be snowy, but it's going to be windy, and 1 to 2 feet of snow and the wind, is Portland and here's Seattle, you're not going to get snow all day, Portland, it'll be kind of mixing in and out, your temperature will get up to 34. You're not going to start piling up a lot of snow, but still you are getting some especially above about 300 to 400 feet in your city. That's about 200 feet but just a little bit down below the snow level. A wintry mix across parts of the Great Lakes for tomorrow, but the snow continues. Everywhere that you see purple, from Spokane all the way up here to my favorite place, I'd be fishing right there if I could. Other than that, snow coming down on those higher elevations. Maybe if you're going up to the mountain, you'll be getting good powder up there.
CHO: That's great news. There's a silver lining, isn't there, Chad?
MYERS: If you can get there, there is a silver lining, that's right.
CHO: There always is.
MYERS: You may not be able to see your skis, but there's a silver lining there somewhere.
CHO: All right, great, Chad, thank you.
Some people are still trying to get home in all of this ice and snow. One runway at O'Hare Airport was shut down for a while last night after an American airlines plane taxiing for takeoff hit a patch of ice, it ended up in the grass. Everyone on board was ok, the passengers were taken back to the terminal where some are still trying to get to their destination, Washington.
Dozens of others spent their second straight night stranded at that airport. Our update now from reporter Michelle Gallarde with affiliate WLS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHELLE GALLARDE, WLS REPORTER: Well, O'Hare has had a lot of excitement this week and certainly not the good kind. First we had hundreds of flights that were canceled earlier in the week due to some pretty bad weather. Then yesterday, there were incidents with two American Airlines flights. First, one of them skidded off the runway, apparently when it hit a patch of ice. Another one had to make an emergency landing when it ran into some engine trouble shortly after takeoff. Now, fortunately, nobody was injured in any of those cases. But it really just added to the stress and to the number of stranded people already here at O'Hare Tuesday night, some 500 people had to spend the night. Then yesterday night, 75 people slept on cots here at O'Hare. Really not the way any of these passengers were hoping to bring in Christmas day. But, you know, this morning, the weather looks good, and even though it is unusually crowded for a Christmas morning at O'Hare, no doubt a lot of people still trying to get out from canceled flights earlier in the week. It does look good and hopefully most of these people will be able to reach their destinations and salvage at least part of their holiday. For CNN, I'm Michelle Gallarde, back to you.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE) CHO: Michelle, thank you.
In a message to the troops on this holiday. That's one of the i- Reports we've received and our Josh Levs joins me with more on that. Josh, what do you have? A family message, right?
JOSH LEVS: Exactly. It's beautiful. We're getting a bunch of these. I want to show you this one. It comes to us from Joel Vetsch. He's one of our superstar i-Reporters, he's in New Haven. I believe he's now visiting family over in Montana. Joel's brother is serving in Iraq and he sent us this for his family.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOEL VETSCH, IREPORTER: We'd like to offer all of you in Iraq, the men and women serving in the armed forces something from us here in Montana. We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year. Good tidings we bring to you in Iraq, good tidings of Christmas, can't wait till you get back. We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, and a happy new year. Merry Christmas everybody.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: And we know a lot of people want to wish a merry Christmas to the troops out there. You can send them along to i-Report.com. And Alina, a couple more things I want to show you. Let's zoom in on the board here. That was the one I was just showing you. But we have also been getting pictures of celebrations all over the world, some really stunning pictures. Take a look at this one from Beirut. Look at that, it's beautiful.
CHO: Wow.
LEVS: This is over in Bethlehem. And then we have this one here, I like that one, winter in hill country Texas. Everybody's getting hit. And one more thing Alina that's just really getting a lot of traffic on dot com today. You heard a lot of holiday choirs out there. You've never heard a choir like this. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
The parking signs in the city confused me.
I hate men who make comments on my hairy legs.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: This is called the complaint choir. And it's the most watched i-Report that we have today apparently at the holidays instead of singing traditional Christmas carols, they work out their frustrations over parking and other issues by going around and singing their complaints. The complaint choir at i-report.com.
CHO: Nothing like spreading a little holiday cheer on this Christmas. Josh, you're watching it all for us. I know you'll be checking back with us later. Josh, thanks.
LEVS: Next hour, thanks.
CHO: And more fallout now from the Bernard Madoff investment scandal. Some Jewish foundations say they can no longer give to charity because they lost millions of dollars in the alleged ponzi scheme. CNN senior correspondent Allan Chernoff joins us now with details. So we've heard so many heart-breaking personal stories and now the foundations are hit too, right, Allan?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Alina. We've heard so much about many American Jews, wealthy American Jews putting millions and millions of dollars with Bernard Madoff. Turns out that many of these people are extremely charitable and they've been giving generously to organizations that benefit Americans of all backgrounds.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF (voice-over): City Harvest picking up food donations, one of hundreds of daily collections that help feed 1/4 of a million New Yorkers of all faiths. City Harvest received $150,000 last year from the Pick our Family Foundation, which is now closing its doors because nearly all of the family's investments were with Bernard Madoff.
HEATHER WALLACE, CITY HARVEST: That's a significant blow for City Harvest, they're one of our top 10 funders. They've been a six figure supporter of our work for nearly 10 years now. And this is funding that's going to be difficult for us to recoup.
CHERNOFF: Clowns from the Big Apple Circus visit critically ill children, another program made possible through the pick hours and other Jewish philanthropists.
GARY DUNNING, BIG APPLE CIRCUS: We make about 280,000 bedside visits each year. Their money supported those general operations in 19 hospitals across the country.
CHERNOFF: The Pick Hour Foundation which has donated more than one quarter of a billion dollars over the years may have been hit the hardest. But dozens of other Jewish charities and foundations have suffered millions in losses because of Bernard Madoff's alleged ponzi scheme. Like the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation of Boston. It has given millions to improve health care, helping to fund the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association. Brigham and Woman's Hospital and The Dana Farber Cancer Institute. The Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles says it invested $18 million with Madoff, last year it granted $14 million to groups having no affiliation with Jewish causes, including a new support group for victims of gang violence in Los Angeles.
MARK CHARENDOFF, JEWISH FUNDERS NETWORK: Unfortunately, the impact is going to be on the average American not for profit out there. And the fact that, you know, the American Jewish community gives disproportionately to their, you know, to their percent of the population. So unfortunately, the impact is going to be disproportionate, as well.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF: The full impact may not be known for many months if not years because foundations are hoping to recover at least some money from Madoff and charities of course are seeking new sources of funding. Alina?
CHO: That's so sad Allan. These charities do such good work and particularly around the holidays when you see charities like City Harvest hurting, it's so sad. Allan, thank you very much.
CHERNOFF: Many tragedies here.
CHO: That's right. Evicted on Christmas eve, a night of joy and hope turns to brutal reality for a California couple caught up in the mortgage crisis. We get details now from reporter Bob Lawrence of CNN San Diego affiliate KGTV.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOB LAWRENCE, KGTV REPORTER (voice-over): -- putting up lights for the holiday, Scott who doesn't want his last name used is taking them down. Fact is, he's taking down all of his holiday decorations because on this Christmas eve, he's losing his house.
SCOTT, EVICTED HOMEOWNER: It's sad, you know, taking down the few ornaments and not planning to have a tree and there's definitely no gifts this Christmas. But we definitely, you know, put our trust and faith in God that things will get better.
LAWRENCE: While, pretty harsh that all of this is happening on Christmas eve, Scott knew this was coming. He got caught up in the subprime lending mess when his adjustable rate mortgages doubled.
SCOTT: Just on the first mortgage alone it had gone from just over $1,200 a month to almost $1,700 a month just on the first mortgage. And that wiped us out.
LAWRENCE: And all of this happening after he got hurt on the job. He says he tried working with different lenders but to no avail. So the home is being sold at auction to pay off creditors. But there is a silver lining. A neighbor in the complex has offered and his wife a place to stay. And despite everything that has happened, his optimism hasn't waned.
SCOTT: This economy cannot stay down forever. I've got a wonderful education, my wife has a wonderful education and together at some point I think we're going to really make a great turn around.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: Bob Lawrence from our San Diego affiliate. From Florida to Russia to Peru. How Christmas is being celebrated around the world. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Take a look at that shot. That is New York Central Park and that is Wilman Rink. It is 42 degrees, it's warm in New York City today on this Christmas. Just a couple of people out there skating. Popular thing to do on Christmas. And it's beautiful, beautiful shot. No snow, though.
Did you decorate your home for the holidays? Perhaps a simple elegant string of lights and soft music, or maybe it's something like this. Take a look. Take a look at that home in Callahan, Florida. Ireporter Tim Lizotte tells us it has 60,000 lights driven by 352 computer-controlled panels. It is all synchronized as you saw there, or you're looking at there, to some rocking Christmas favorites like God rest ye merry gentlemen.
To Lima, Peru for this living nativity scene commemorating the birth of Jesus at the Lima Zoological Park. There is something a little unusual though about this nativity scene. Normally it features the traditional donkey, sheep, and ox, but this Baby Jesus is being kept company by indigenous animals such as a south American rodent called a Pacarani(ph) and a parrot.
From Peru, we head to Russia for some last-minute trimming on Moscow's main Christmas tree. They worked on it through Christmas eve hoping to draw festive crowds to the heart of the Kremlin Cathedral Square. According to Russia's news agency, this particular tree is about 108 feet high and 109 years old.
Well, you could call it a white Christmas in Australia if by white you mean the sandy beaches of Sydney. Imagine being on the beach on Christmas day. Christmas is special to the majority of Australians because it falls during the summer holiday season. Students are wrapping up their school year and getting ready for some sun, surf, and maybe some shopping. Hopefully the shopping is done by now.
U.S. troops celebrating Christmas in Iraq. Not only did troops gather to sing throughout Iraq, U.S. military personnel were served special Christmas meals and many gathered for church services. Great shot.
Home for the holidays. A dog lost hundreds of miles away from home makes it back in time for a Christmas reunion.
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CHO: You know what, if you have to work on Christmas, I want to be with you. Chad Myers, merry Christmas.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I bought you something. Well --
CHO: As did I.
MYERS: Well, that's kind of a rude thing to say I bought you. But just so you remember us.
CHO: What is this?
MYERS: That is the short straw. You can remember us by.
CHO: Merry Christmas, Chad.
MYERS: I have to be here but you don't.
CHO: That's great. And this is a little something for you. You can eat it, share it with the staff, do whatever you want.
MYERS: I can eat it?
CHO: Well, what's inside.
MYERS: Of course, merry Christmas.
CHO: Merry Christmas to you.
MYERS: I'm going to set this down.
Look at that map behind you, just stand there just for a second. That's everyone that got a white Christmas. Better than 50-50. Every place that you see a color, there's some snow on the ground.
CHO: You know what, I grew up in the northwest and I have to say, all that snow there, it wasn't like that when I grew up there. It's crazy.
MYERS: It is going to be one of those years where you tell your grandkids that it snowed every day and I went to school without shoes on and I walked uphill both ways. You get that from your grandma. But the map behind me came out of NOAA. I want to show it to you. Every place that you see a color -- some of these colors in the Sierra, that's purple in the bottom there. So you have to kind of follow this all the way down into the 60-inch range. Already 60 inches of snow on the ground there, along the cascades as well. Even a few spots here around Telluride, Wolf Creek, over 80 inches of snow.
I would say there's probably no snow here all the way down into the eastern parts of Colorado. Right there that will be the front range. Then farther out to the east, very thin, very -- maybe a little bit of light ice every once in a while. This is actually a sensor. It looks down and looks for sensing of ice that's still on the ground. This was taken just a little bit earlier this morning. Detroit, a little bit still left on the ground for you. Everyone else -- that rain kind of ate it up. There was quite a bit of snow on the ground in the east. Then the rain the last couple of days just kind of really washed it all away. So what you have left is what you get. Snow out west. This is still coming. This is what the computer models are putting down for the ski areas. Everywhere that you see purple, that's 12 inches of snow or more. There is some dark purple in there. There are spots in there that will pick up more than 20 inches of snow in the next 48 hours. Driving through it is going to be tough. I just checked truckee, that's the I-80 corridor there, this is only a quarter mile of heavy snow, get ready for real difficult conditions as you get to those tops of the hills. They'll pass eventually and all the way through all these passes north and south with all this heavy snow.
CHO: Talk about drawing the short straw.
MYERS: Thank you for my gift, I didn't open it, but Merry Christmas.
CHO: You're welcome. This is going in my office, Chad. Thank you so much. Merry Christmas!
The guilty pleasures of the holidays. Too much food, too little discipline and exercise but the key to weight control goes beyond any one season. A lot of people know that, hard to practice it though. It begins with getting off the couch. And CNN medical correspondent Judy Fortin takes a look at the many ways to move to a healthy weight.
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JUDY FORTIN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a Tuesday evening at Joe's Movement Emporium and everyone at the center is, well, moving. Joe's offers a little bit of fitness for everyone. The idea is to get everyone from kiddies to seniors up and on their feet. Noelle Powers is a hula hoop aficionado. Her class looks like fun but it's also a great way to exercise.
NOELLE POWERS, HULA HOOP INSTRUCTOR: If you move around your waist it's activating all kinds of core muscles like you would in yoga and pilates and dancing in general.
FORTIN: Why is movement so important? Moving burns calories which burns fat. You don't have to be a runner or cross-country cyclist to stay trim, especially as you get older.
DR. DAVID JOHNSON, WASHINGTON HOSPITAL CENTER: Want to be a moderate exerciser. What moderate means is that you're exercising up to the point where you can still carry on a conversation, but not much more than that.
FORTIN: In your 30s, your muscles and bones are beginning to lose their mass. If you don't exercise, you can go from fit to flabby fast.
JOHNSON: What happens as we age, we lose strength at a rate of about 15 percent per year over the age of 25.
FORTIN: Want to keep lean pump it up. Lightweight lifting can burn up to 200 calories an hour while keeping muscles taut and strengthening your joints. Remember the hula hoop class? Give it a try. Moving muscles, especially in the midsection can help the abs and burn unwanted pounds. Depending on how fast you hula, an hour of hoping can burn up to 500 calories. Got a lot of stress? Kickboxing can keep you toned. Ease your anxiety and burn up to 700 calories an hour. If you're in your 40s and 50s, be good to your aging joints. Think cha cha. A good way to stay trim and add some zip to your exercise routine is to dance. Rumba, ball room, hp-hop. Dancing with burn up to 200 to 400 calories an hour. It also help ward off arthritis which usually develops in our 40s. JOHNSON: If you strengthen the muscles around the joints that has the authorities, you're going to have less pain with arthritis. You need to keep your joints mobile and flexible.
FORTIN: Can't handle all the twists and turns? Think more fluid movement. Try tai chi or tai dancing. Less stress on the tendons.
JOHNSON: A younger tendon wouldn't have it. A younger tendon would be much more pliable.
FORTIN: Like the tranquility of the water? Rowing is good for the upper body and vigorous rowing can burn up to 600 calories an hour. Doctors say swimming is probably the best fat burner for the older generation burning up to 700 calories an hour with very little stress on the body. Judy Fortin, CNN, Atlanta.
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CHO: Dirty, rotten scoundrel. A thief strikes. Store employees watch, and you will laugh.
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CHO: Merry Christmas, everybody. Home for the holidays. A Texas family reunited with their dog just in time for Christmas. Dog disappeared during a 19-hour drive from Wyoming over thanksgiving when the family made a rest stop in Wichita, Kansas. 2 1/2 weeks went by. Then a woman found Bentley and handed him over to the humane society. They then called the Texas family.
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LYNDA GILDER, FOUND BENTLEY: They called and they got a hold of Thomas. Jonathan's dad.
THOMAS FREEMAN, BENTLEY'S OWNER: And said, we've got your dog here. I said, is this -- is this a joke or --
GILDER: So I said, excuse me, I'm going to be in Ft. Worth in three days. I could take him.
FREEMAN: And I believe God has his hand in all aspects of our lives.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Hand delivered on top of it. That is a Christmas surprise, if I've ever heard one. Bentley by the way was reunited with his owner thanks to a microchip identifier that was under his skin.
A Christmas caper. A shady character bursts into a store and dashes off with the stolen treats. So what's dirty, rotten scoundrel would do that? The answer is on a store surveillance tape, something you just have to see from John Hollinghurst to CNN's Salt Lake City affiliate KSL.
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JOHN HOLLINGHURST, KSL REPORTER: At Smith's Food and Drug in Murray, a popular place these days is the manager's office. Where they have the surveillance video.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have to see to believe it but it happened. It's crazy.
HOLLINGHURST: A suspicious character entered through the front door.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've never seen him shop before. Brand new customer. He didn't even have a stress value card.
HOLLINGHURST: What happened next is already becoming legend.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How likely is that for a dog to walk into a store, go down a pet aisle, get his bone and walk out?
HOLLINGHURST: Let's reconstruct the crime a step at a time. Entering at the checkout area he approached a young girl.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He just kind of sniffed the customer out, then he headed down the aisle.
HOLLINGHURST: At that point he had a decision to make. Left, no dog food. Right, dog food. He turned right and went straight to aisle 16.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The dog food aisle. He knew where he was headed.
HOLLINGHURST (on camera): There are so many fun Christmas presents he could have picked. I mean look at this. This one even lights up. But he seemed to know exactly what he was after. He grabbed a raw hide bone like this and headed down the aisle. Only to be confronted by the manager.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I looked at him, I said "drop it." I decided I wanted to keep all my fingers. So I didn't try to take it from him. And he looked at me and I looked at him and he ran for the door and away he went. Right out the front door.
Look at that dog go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Expert Marshall Tanner says the culprit's sense of smell is 100,000 times better than the typical crook.
MARSHALL TANNER, ALPHA DOG TRAINING: Smell the raw hide bone, grabbed it, and walked out of the store. Thereby being a shoplifting dog.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At last word, he was still at large, presumably enjoying his Christmas gift.
TANNER: He's enjoying the heck out of it. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John (inaudible) Eyewitness News, Murray.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
