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Blizzard Warnings; Health Care Summit; Americans Charged in Haiti

Aired February 10, 2010 - 10:59   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. It is Wednesday, February 10th. And here are the faces of the stories driving today's headlines.

Dave Rothschild, Washington-area snowplow driver. Back-to-back blockbuster storms stimulates a lot of overtime.

Rosnie Plaisidor, a mother in Haiti. Her claims fuel new allegations against American missionaries.

Jessica Markowitz, a Seattle teenager and humanitarian. She is reaching out to girls in Rwanda to help them learn.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris, and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

You know it is bad when it's your snowiest winter on record. Baltimore-Washington and nearby Dulles Airport in Virginia just passed their old records.

You are sending us great iReports of just how bad it is. And today, the snow is piling up again. Blizzard warnings from Washington to New York.

CNN's Reynolds Wolf is live from the National Mall.

And Reynolds, give us a look around, if you would, sir.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely.

Well, Tony, this is one of the major streets that we have. This is 3rd Street in Washington, D.C. You're familiar with it. Many people from across America happen to be. But if you aren't familiar with this part of the world, let me tell you, this is not as it should be.

This should be extremely busy this time of the day, in the middle of the week, but right now it is just a -- really just a frozen tundra, if you will. That's what we're seeing.

A few trucks have been making their way through here. We've been told by law enforcement that this may be one of the better streets in the city. Some of the other back streets that we have are described as being treacherous. So, bottom line, if you don't have to get out on the streets, by all means don't. And there really is little reason if you do get out on the streets.

Of course, the federal government is closed today. All the schools are going to be closed. Most businesses are closed.

But if you do make that decision to get out on the roadways, you have an accident, you get stuck, whatever it might be, it's going to take a very long time for someone to come help you dig out or help remove your vehicle, or possibly rescue you. But people who do decide to get out and move along, it's slow going, like you see this here -- this minivan moving right on past. And then even beyond this minivan, beyond the rest of the Mall, if you look this direction, out towards the Washington Monument, what you see is a giant void.

The sky full of snow, everything brushing back towards the rotunda. And this should continue through a good part of the morning, into the afternoon, and perhaps into the early evening.

A blizzard warning remains in effect for the region until 7:00 tonight. As you can imagine, roadways are slow and go, but same story with Metro travel.

Metro travel, the trains above ground not operating today. Below ground they will be operating, but only every 30 minutes. So, again, you're going to have a bit of a wait.

Very quickly, airport travel. As you can imagine, all major airports, they are open, but no one is flying in or out. That's what happens when you have a storm of this magnitude, the second one, Tony, in less than a week.

Let's kick it back to you in the studio.

HARRIS: Reynolds, appreciate it. Thank you.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: President Obama says he wants a genuine give-and-take, not political theater. He has called Republicans to a televised summit two weeks from tomorrow to get their ideas on health care, but Republicans want the president to scrap the reform bills in Congress before they agree to show up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), MINORITY LEADER: We would like to attend the meeting. We're interested in having these bipartisan conversations and look forward to continuing conversations with the administration.

We outlined our concerns about this conversation that the president wants to have. We certainly want to have a bipartisan conversation, but we need to know where we're going to start from.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: OK. Let's bring in our senior congressional correspondent, Dana Bash.

Dana, what am I hearing here? Are Republicans putting conditions on this meeting?

DANA BASH, CNN SR. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sure. They're absolutely putting conditions on the meeting. And you heard the House Republican leader say pretty blankly and flatly that if Democrats want and the president wants to start with the position that they have been in, that you and I have been talking about for nearly a year, which is the framework of the Democratic bill, then that's not something that they can agree to.

And look, the bottom line is, Tony, that they have not been involved in the discussions. They have almost entirely voted no on the Democratic legislation throughout the past months, primarily on a philosophical level because they disagree with their approach. And, of course, politically, let's face it, Republicans feel like they are very much winning opposing the president's plan, especially on health care.

And, you know, to be real here, we know that the reason why the president is even calling for this summit is because of simple math, because in the Senate he no longer has that 60-vote supermajority among Democrats and also because of the message that he and Democrats got from voters in Massachusetts, that they are sick of people not working together. And the president is trying to call the Republicans' bluff here. But at the same time, Republicans know that.

And, look, I had breakfast with John Boehner a couple of weeks ago. In fact, the day of the president's State of the Union. And he was talking about the fact that he believes the reason why they have been succeeding politically, in the message war, that that actually started at the moment that they opposed the president's stimulus package. Because that, from the perspective of Republicans, showed the American public that they are willing to grow the government, and so on and so on. And the Republicans believe that that is just not a winning message, and they feel that they want to stay on that, because if you look at what's going on and you look at what happened in Massachusetts, look at the polls now, they believe they're still on that track.

HARRIS: They may have been led to that messaging by the efforts of the Tea Party folks.

But I'm curious -- realistically, look, there is some good work in this legislation that's being crafted right now that's been done by Republicans, as you know. I'm thinking of in the Senate Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, who says, look, I can't vote for it, but my job is to work to make this bill better.

Realistically, is there any way Republicans can back out of this meeting? BASH: In terms of the leadership, it's funny. I have actually been asking that question, because John Boehner, who you saw there, and the number two Republican in the House, Eric Cantor, they wrote a letter to the president on Monday, after the president announced that he wants to have this meeting on Super Bowl Sunday, with a whole long list of questions that sounded like preconditions. It sounded like they were looking for a way out.

I have been pressing the aides to both of these Republican leaders, saying, you know, is there any way they're not going to do this? And the answer I've gotten is almost certainly no.

They feel that they know the politics, they know the optics of this, they know that the president is calling their bluff. But they're probably going to have to go and do this meeting. But it is very much an open question, what kind of format it is going to be, how they are going to approach this.

And you heard the concerns from the Republican leader there. And there are just as many concerns that we're hearing from Democrats, because you know this -- they have got their own differences. And some of them apparently happened in this private meeting yesterday. And I don't think that they are all that enthused about their differences spilling out into the open either.

HARRIS: Well, we've got some polling on the polarization in Washington and who Americans blame and in what kind of numbers. We'll get to that a little later. We're just so heavy in this segment.

Dana, appreciate it.

BASH: Thanks, Tony.

HARRIS: Thank you.

CNN teams remain in Haiti four weeks after the destructive earthquake. Hear from some parents who say American missionaries tried to take their children.

We are planning several trips to the Severe Weather Center, obviously. Blizzard warnings are in effect for much of the Mid- Atlantic and the Northeast.

But first, here's the latest on the Dow, the New York Stock Exchange right now.

And we are selling off. The Dow, as you can see, is down 47 points.

We're following these numbers throughout the day with Stephanie Elam, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Let's move to Haiti. More than four weeks now since Haiti's earthquake, and here's the latest.

A machine used to clear rubble caused a secondary collapse at a market, trapping at least one person. Haitian officials say at least 212,000 people died in the quake and more bodies are being found.

Actress Angelina Jolie is in the earthquake zone. She is meeting with survivors and U.N. officials in her role as a Goodwill ambassador for the U.N. refugee agency.

New allegations now against 10 Americans jailed in Haiti. They're charged with kidnapping 33 children. Parents say the missionaries collected other children from a tent city days before their arrest.

CNN's Karl Penhaul investigates.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Children play in the dirt with the few toys they salvaged. It's not hard to imagine that any future would seem brighter than staying here.

Rosnie Plaisidor's husband died in the quake. And, since then, she says she's had a hard time feeding 5-year-old daughter Erland (ph) and 2-year-old son Lucson (ph) at this tent city in Petionville. So, when a group of American missionaries showed up two weeks ago, offering a better life for the youngest, she was tempted.

"When I heard they were taking the children, I was about to give them a bath and put some clothes on them, so I could take them to the bus," she says. That was allegedly these Americans' first attempt to gather up Haitian children. It was stopped when a Haitian police officer stepped in.

Three days later, the missionaries would be arrested on the Haitian border with a separate group of 33 children. They're in jail, charged with kidnapping. They deny the charges, saying they wanted to take youngsters to a pleasant orphanage in the Dominican Republic.

Plaisidor says she changed her mind about handing over her son and daughter at the last minute. That same day, 8-year-old Wensley Sanjose (ph) says his dad put him on the bus without even telling him where he was going.

"He was forcing me to get on the bus. I was crying. I didn't want to go," he says. He said the Americans gave him water, candy, and even two stuffed animals. His aunt, who says she's looked after Wensley since he was a baby, realized he was missing and came running.

"I started crying and said, I will kill myself if they give my child away," she says.

A Haitian police officer has testified in the case against the Americans that he pulled up to 40 children off the bus. He says he told the Americans it was illegal to move the children without permission from the Haitian government. An attorney for the 10 Americans told CNN he was not aware of the attempt to gather children at a tent city. Last week, team leader Laura Silsby made no mention of trying to collect kids from that camp.

LAURA SILSBY, ARRESTED IN HAITI: We were really, at that point, just meeting with people and talking with them and seeing, you know, the needs of the children and trying to assess where were the needs the greatest and where was God leading us.

PENHAUL: That path led them to Haitian quake survivors tempted by the prospect of a slice of paradise for their children far from this hell.

Karl Penhaul, CNN, Port-au-Prince.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: OK. Before the quake, corruption and greed. Hundreds of millions of dollars vanished. We're following the money. Anderson Cooper reports live from Haiti, "Stealing Haiti," a special "AC 360" investigation tonight at 10:00 Eastern Time.

We were going to take a break, but I believe we have the mayor of Baltimore, the new mayor of Baltimore on the line with us, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

And Ms. Mayor, it's great to talk to you. First of all, congratulations.

MAYOR STEPHANIE RAWLINGS-BLAKE, BALTIMORE: I was just about to say, Tony, don't you miss us?

HARRIS: Well, I do. You know, I'm calling my mom a lot because it is insane what is happening there in my hometown.

Tell us about the latest step you have taken to protect public safety in Baltimore.

RAWLINGS-BLAKE: Yes. We just got a national weather alert saying that the conditions are life-threatening out on the streets, so we've gone into phase three. And that means only city-authorized emergency vehicles are allowed to be on the city roadways.

HARRIS: So what has it been like over the last, what, four or five days now for the city? Boy, it's hard for me to keep track of where you guys stand in terms of power outages, people who are in trouble right now maybe needing some kind of assistance. Maybe you can give us a general overview of what the last five days have been like for Baltimore.

RAWLINGS-BLAKE: I'm sitting here at the emergency ops center, and it's a very advanced -- technically advanced strategic operation. We are in touch with people in need -- that's people with disabilities, our elderly citizens that need help.

We've answered every single fire and police call. We have the capacity to be mobile even in these treacherous conditions. So it has been a challenge. This is the worst two-day blizzard since 1922, but we are handling it.

HARRIS: You only want emergency vehicles on the road. Now, that makes perfect sense.

Any fines, any consequences for folks who aren't paying attention, aren't heeding the warning here?

RAWLINGS-BLAKE: Absolutely. I hope that our citizens are kind enough that we don't have to do that, but there will definitely be consequences.

I mean, this is an actual weather emergency, life-threatening conditions. We have trees that are coming down. You know, we need to make sure that our fire and police can respond to all calls, so we need people to get off the roads.

HARRIS: OK.

Madam Mayor, it's good to talk to you.

RAWLINGS-BLAKE: Great to talk to you.

HARRIS: Yes. Congratulations once again.

The new mayor of Baltimore, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, on the line with us, where things are getting bad, going from bad to worse in a hurry, in Baltimore and along the Eastern Seaboard, certainly the Mid- Atlantic states.

Madam Mayor, I appreciate it. Thank you.

RAWLINGS-BLAKE: OK.

HARRIS: Let's take a break.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Here's the thing -- planning for retirement may be getting a bit easier. The 401(k) match is back, and there are some specific things you need to do to take advantage of it.

Let's get to our personal finance editor now, Gerri Willis. She's in New York.

You may be there for a while, right there in that position there, Gerri, in that chair. Welcomed news here indeed, that the match in...

(CROSSTALK)

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: It's kind of crazy out there.

HARRIS: Yes, it is.

WILLIS: Well, it is good news, Tony.

According to a new survey from Hewitt Associates, 80 percent of employers that suspended or even reduced their company match in 2009 plan to restore it this year. The survey also showed that half of employers that don't already offer automatic rebalancing are very or somewhat likely to add that to their plan this year.

Now, automatic rebalancing, it sounds fancy. It simply just resets your portfolio when one type of investment shoots up in value so that you maintain the mix of investments appropriate for your age.

And nearly four in 10 are very or somewhat likely to add automatic contribution escalation. That simply is making your contributions automatically rise when your pay does.

It's always important to continue contributing to your retirement fund. Most of us are under-prepared, frankly, for retirement, Tony. The median balance in a 401(k) plan with folks for a history of investing was less than $45,000. And the median for all of us, less than $13,000.

In other words, we've got a long, long way to go to get our money together for a retirement, whether or not your employer is contributing -- Tony.

HARRIS: Yes. That's not going to get it done.

So what should I be doing right now to make sure I'm making the most of my money, Gerri?

WILLIS: Well, you know, Tony, of those who do have a 401(k) plan at work, only 75 percent are contributing. So if you're not already investing, you have to ask yourself what's holding you back.

You're missing out on free money. So if you're already making contributions, keep investing. Even if your employer isn't one of those who recently reinstated their match, you'll still want to keep putting money away for retirement. In fact, in that case, you'd want to set even more money aside.

And get diversified. Keep in mind 401(k) investing doesn't just mean stock investing. Of course, it means a balanced portfolio of stocks, bonds, commodities, even a little real estate. You need to pursue a diversified approach -- Tony.

HARRIS: Yes.

What decisions, aside from not participating, could really hurt me here?

WILLIS: Well, you don't want to tap your 401(k) for non- emergencies. The cost of using your retirement money before retirement is high.

If you're less than 59.5 years old and you take a hardship withdrawal, you'll pay a 10 percent penalty, plus you'll pay income tax on what you take out. If you take out a loan against your 401(k) and you lose your job, you'll have to pay the entire loan back and you'll be on the hook for the 10 percent penalty if you're less than 59.5 years old.

HARRIS: Ouch.

WILLIS: Ouch, right?

HARRIS: Yes.

WILLIS: And don't leave your 401(k) behind if you change jobs. If you're laid off, you leave the company for any reason, it makes sense to roll your money over to an IRA. Not only are you likely to have more investment options, but you'll also have more control over your money. Remember, 401(k) loans are only available to folks who are actively employed.

And if you've got a question about your finances, send me an e- mail to Gerri@CNN.com. We answer your questions right here every Friday and we love to hear from you.

HARRIS: That's awesome. Gerri, stay safe up there. Appreciate it. Thank you.

So, another winter blast is hitting much of the eastern part of the nation right now. Schools are closed, the federal government is shut down for another day, and people are just tired of the snow.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Blizzard warnings from D.C. to New York. You are sending us some terrific iReports of just how bad it is. And we're going to get to some of those a little later in the hour. I'm hoping, anyway.

And today the snow is piling up again. For New York, there is no escaping it this time. The city lucked out last weekend, but it is getting slammed with the latest blizzard.

Rob Marciano live from Manhattan.

And do a little walk-and-talk and show us around there, Rob, if you would, sir.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: All right. There's a stark difference, Tony, between what happens on the side central park south slushy and wet, so not a problem. They got over 300 sanding trucks that are in force now, 1600 plows also. So they have got a pretty good leg up on this storm. You notice you don't see the snow so good right now. It has changed a little bit, at least temporarily, to more of a fine snow and sleet type of mixture, pretty high moisture content with this snow. You see how it packs like that. It's perfect for snowballs but it's a little bit more treacherous to have to shovel it away.

That is going to change as we start to get colder air in here that will make the snow lighter and it will blow it around a little bit more and so the shoveling and the clearing is going to be more of a problem to go to tonight and tomorrow when the winds really start to pick up.

Flights out of all the airports, well, a lot of them -- most of them have been cancelled. The airports are open, but most of the airlines have cancelled the flights, at least in through the afternoon. As far as power outages go, there aren't any storm-related outages yet, the power companies have certainly overstaffed for this sort of plan.

It costs about a million bucks an inch, Tony, to clear the roadways here in New York City, 6,500 miles of road and interstate in the New York area here in New York City proper that has to be cleared. So quite a job to do. About three or four inches here in and around Columbus Circle, higher amounts when you got in the suburbs and a blizzard warning in effect until 6:00 a.m. tomorrow and that I think is going to be the bigger story.

We'll probably get a foot of snow here, but when you get those winds at 30, 40, 50 miles an hour, that causes drifting and it will cause some power outages by the time wake-up call tomorrow. So that's the deal here. Kids are out of school and some businesses are closed, but a lot of businesses are open and the bosses are just saying, hey listen, use your best judgment. Which would mean to me if I'm looking for a promotion, I'm coming to work. So rush hour home for these folks are going to be a bit treacherous as things begin to deteriorate throughout the afternoon.

HARRIS: All right, Rob, appreciate it. Let's get you over to Jacqui Jeras. Jacqui, I tell you, if I'm -- you know, if I'm at home and I'm looking at this forecast here, I'm wondering when does it get to me and how long do I have to deal with that? I want to mentally prepare for this. How long do I have to live with this before it moves on?

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, this time tomorrow, pretty much everybody is going to be good in terms of the snow ending and the winds beginning to calm down a little bit. But of course it's going to take quite some time to recover and clean up this mess. So Rob is going to work, I'd be staying home by the way in New York City. But if you are out and about and you're watching us right now and you are thinking what time do I need to be getting home, for example, in New York, I'd say 3:00, you've got to get out of there because after that the winds are going to be so strong, visibility so poor, you're not even going to want to walk.

I know you can walk around in the city but you also have all those buildings and that wind gets channeled through those buildings and can really accelerate and so it's going to be brutal and you're going to want to cover up every little piece of skin that you have, your face, your hands, everything because of those winds. You don't even want to imagine it's so bad. D.C. has been seeing the worst of it this morning, OK.

You're starting to taper off now a little bit. You know, as we round past the noon hour, watch for some gradual improvement throughout the day. We're going to be expiring with our warnings by this evening. Snowfall totals, about 6 to 12 inches. OK, Philadelphia, we're just getting started here. We've got a long way to go this afternoon. Advisories and warnings expire about midnight-ish, 12 to 22 total. New York City, like I just mentioned, say mid-afternoon through mid-evening will be the height of the storm, winding down early tomorrow morning, 10 to 18 inches expected.

A little iffy on some of those totals by the way in New York City and Philly especially, because we're going to get a little sleet mixing in, so it could be lesser for those of you that get the sleet. Boston, you're going to be doing a lot better than a whole lot of people. We're just starting with the light snow right now, kicking in probably late afternoon in terms of the heaviest. Mid-morning tomorrow, say by 9:00ish you should be winding down so things will look a whole lot better for tomorrow.

But in the meantime, there you can see those blizzard warnings posted. I mean every single city under the blizzard warning with the exception of Boston but you're under the winter storm warning certainly. The winds have been intensifying into the Washington, D.C. area as well as Baltimore. We just heard that even the snow plows aren't going out in those areas. So certainly stay home, stay home. Why go out there. You know, why risk this, I'm telling you.

iReporter sending us some great stuff from their backyards because they're staying home like they should. Check out this one, this is one of my favorites, this is Jill from Fredericksburg, Virginia, and this is from our iReporter Jill Harrison. She took this video this morning. There it goes. Take a look at how heavy that snow is coming down, 2 inches per hour this morning, 2 inches per hour. That's crazy stuff.

The last thing I want to show you, Tony, this is kind of a just for fun because not everybody lives in the northeast and is being impacted directly by the blizzard unless you're trying to travel there. This is our snow depth map and so this is the snow cover across the continental United States, 47 states, and 47 have snow on the ground somewhere. You know, we're not seeing it in South Georgia, but you're seeing it in North Georgia so that's amazing. Can you guess the three states that don't without looking?

HARRIS: Yes. I'm trying to figure out how to get to Miami.

JERAS: Miami is good; Louisiana is clear, like they don't have enough to celebrate about already, and Hawaii.

HARRIS: Good stuff. Jacqui, appreciate it. Thank you.

Toyota's recall causing you problems, but how much is it hurting the company?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Adding up the cost of Toyota's troubles. The recall involving millions of vehicles is sure to put a dent in the company's bottom line. Then there's the damage to Toyota's reputation and lawsuits. Boy, CNN's Ines Ferre is joining us with details. Why don't we do this? Why don't we start with the cost of repairs? What is Toyota looking at here?

INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Toyota thinks it's going to cost about $2 billion. And this means recalls for the accelerator problems, also sale losses and also the decrease in value of leased vehicles. But it doesn't include the Prius. Remember the Prius is one of their best sellers.

HARRIS: So that price tag is going to go higher. What about the cost of litigation? We can start with the lawsuits that have already been filed and the possibility of more to come.

FERRE: Exactly. There's over 30 lawsuits filed in the U.S., just on the gas pedal problem alone and the experts are expecting even more lawsuits. Some are saying that this could cost them up in the billions.

HARRIS: Wow. There is one other issue that we talked about this morning that I'm glad you looked into for us. This issue of jobs. So we're now talking about an economic impact to Toyota in the billions. In my mind I'm wondering when that starts to impact jobs here in the United States.

FERRE: Exactly. OK. Well, we can look at it in two terms, short term and long term.

HARRIS: OK.

FERRE: Short term, when we're talking about dealerships, some people are saying, well actually some dealerships are going to see up ticks because they're servicing these cars that are coming back so they're fixing them and they are getting paid for their warranty work by the company, so they might need mechanics to work overtime, they might need more mechanics.

As far as long term is concerned, well it really depends on how long sales, you know, go down for the company. But one person said to me, look, if anybody can weather this storm, its Toyota, they have got a lot of cash reserves.

HARRIS: Pockets are deep with this company.

FERRE: Deep, billions. They have this culture of being really loyal to their employees. And that's apparent with auto companies from Japan. And in fact I spoke to one person from their plant in Georgetown, Kentucky. It's their biggest plant here in the U.S., it's got 6600 employees. You're seeing it right there. And their spokesperson said to me since this plant started in the 1980s, we haven't laid off people. Even last year during the economic downturn. We don't layoff people. What we do is we put them to work in other areas; we put them to do maintenance work, whatever it is we can to keep them on board.

HARRIS: Let's hope that remains the story moving forward. Ines Ferre, appreciate it. Thank you. Let's do this again next hour. We've got a dedicated page on our Website if you'd like to get the latest information on all the various recalls and vehicles involved. Here's what you do, just log on to CNN.com/toyota.

Let's get to our Jeremy Harlan. Jeremy is a photo journalist; he is making his way through the Washington, D.C. area, sort of northern Virginia. Jeremy, I believe you're in Fairfax County right now, and you've got some video to show us. Talk us through what you've seen so far and then show us your video.

JEREMY HARLAN, CNN PHOTOJOURNALIST: Actually I live in Fairfax, Virginia. I had to drive into D.C. to get to my assignment here on the National Mall. When I get out of my house, it's pretty simple. The video explains it. It's very windy, a lot of snow. I think the difference between this storm and this weekend's storm is definitely the wind and that's going to create a lot more snow drifts and a lot more problems.

HARRIS: Any traffic? I mean in making your way in or just sort of getting around, what's the traffic situation? We're seeing some vehicles on the road now. My guess is folks are being told, look, that's a bad idea.

HARLAN: Yes, it is a bad idea. To be perfectly -- it's ironic, actually my commute into D.C. today was about 20 minutes less than it usually would be with normal traffic because there just aren't that many people on the road. And pretty much I would say 60 to 70 percent of the vehicles on the road are the snow plows. And they're working tirelessly to keep at least the main roads, the highways and the main thoroughfares clear.

Certainly in the neighborhoods, it's just not going to happen. And the problem is, you have a lot of snow and ice from the previous storm this weekend that is creating a lot of ridges in the neighborhood and it is making it extremely difficult, whether you have an SUV or any other kind of vehicle to get in and out.

HARRIS: Just talk to me about your neighborhood. How much snow is on the ground?

HARLAN: A lot of snow. To be honest and I can say I'm from Denver, Colorado. When I say it's a lot of snow, it's a lot of snow. You know, you get the 24 to 30 inches and then people when they are shoveling sidewalks or shoveling roads, you start creating more mounds, snow piles start piling up from the snow plows and you have to weave your way through the piles and eventually there's not enough room in smaller neighborhoods to put the snow.

And you've got to give credit to the snow plow guys. They're doing a heck of a job, they're going non-stop but they're running out of room to put all of this snow. It's going to be extremely difficult for people to get in and out of these smaller neighborhoods.

HARRIS: Jeremy, just personally, did you have enough time, because I'm assuming if you did, a lot of folks did as well, did you have enough time between this last storm and the one that's in your neighborhood now to sort of restock on supplies?

HARLAN: You know, we stocked up pretty heavily before the first storm. I actually had to go to Colorado this weekend, but my wife was there with my dog and I made sure she was perfectly supplied. You know, the grocery stores are doing -- I drove by our local grocery store. They were plowing the parking lot. I don't know if they're open or not. But they have done a pretty good job of resupplying the grocery stores and helping people out.

I was able on Monday night to stop at a grocery store and get everything that we needed for the next couple days. You know, it's really hard for the grocery stores because they also have to get their big trucks in to resupply and they were emptied out on Wednesday and Thursday of last week. And in order to have food now, they have got to get their big rigs in and that is even more difficult for those 18- wheelers to get in and out of small parking lots to unload.

HARRIS: Jeremy that is a great point. Is that your dog we're seeing in this video?

HARLAN: That is our 8-month-old golden retriever, his name is Truman. He pretty much sits and whines at the door every minute of the day because he wants to get out to the snow as soon as possible. My wife is happy to take him out because it wears him out completely and he hops on the couch and is done for the rest of the night.

HARRIS: Hey, Jeremy, how long before this snow turned from being fun -- you know, hey, snow in D.C., to something that is a real pain in the neck? How long did that take?

HARLAN: Well, for me, again, as a Colorado native, it could snow a lot and it's not bad to me. But people in D.C., this doesn't happen very often. I've lived here for six years.

HARRIS: Oh, we didn't lose Jeremy, did we? We did. Oh, doggone it. That's Jeremy Harlan, our photojournalist from his home in Fairfax, Virginia. We've got to go to a break here in the CNN NEWSROOM. We're back in a moment.

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HARRIS: A Japanese automaker announces an expanded recall, this time it is Honda. The company is recalling more 2001 and 2002 models because the driver's air bag can inflate too forcefully and new concerns today about Toyota. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it has received more than 80 complaints about steering problems in 2009 and 2010 Corollas. Fixing more than eight million cars and trucks is a big job, but the bigger repair ahead for Toyota might be on its banged-up image.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): In recent days our company hasn't been living up to the standards that you have come to expect from us or that we expect from ourselves. That's why 172,000 Toyota and dealership employees are dedicated to making things right. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Will TV ads like this and hundreds of others on Websites and in newspapers sell consumers on Toyota? Let's ask crisis and media adviser Robbie Yorhaus of Yorhaus Communications, joining me live through Skype. All right from Sag Harbor, New York.

Robbie, good to see you. You know, some critics say an ad like the one we just showed folks is a little, well, too little too late, that the focus for Toyota should have been on getting ahead of the problems. What's your view of the ad campaign now?

ROBBIE YORHAUS, YORHAUS COMMUNICATIONS: Well, it's a little bit too soon, Tony. You know, it's kind of like having a heart attack and then reading a self-help book to get better. This is a major event on many levels, and one of the things that in our business to help a company like Toyota at this point is to really say, number one, what is the truth? Truth is the ultimate spin.

So what happened, how is it going to be fixed, can it happen again? Then you need to look at the different audiences. We think about just in terms of the consumer. But there are fleets with thousands of Toyotas. There are governments with thousands of Toyotas. There are a lot of industry insiders who rate and review Toyotas. They all have to have a comfort level that not only is the problem fixed but it's not going to happen again.

HARRIS: Hey, Robbie, you mentioned that the campaign may be too soon. Is that to suggest that maybe it might have been more prudent for Toyota to take a moment, to take a deep breath here and really get a handle on the problem? That it may not have the right fix for the right problem, or have its arms around the very problem itself?

YORHAUS: Well, that's right, Tony. I mean, they're rushing to a solution here. There's -- there's a lot of pressure here. The U.S. government secretary of transportation, Secretary LaHood, is putting a lot of pressure on them, because the public is putting -- and the Congress is putting a lot of pressure on him and his department, because they're saying, did you know about this?

HARRIS: Right, right.

YORHAUS: Is this something that you could have prevented? There are a lot of people covering their butts right now, including Toyota.

HARRIS: Right.

YORHAUS: And they want to know -- and, again, it's the right intention to make sure that nobody gets hurt from driving a Toyota.

HARRIS: Any evidence in Toyota's response to this crisis so far to indicate to you that it -- it had either crisis-management procedures in place or a corporate communications team in place? I asked that, because you're making a lot of sense here.

YORHAUS: Well, first of all, in -- I'm not involved with this, so -- but I do know that they have a wonderful corporate communications department. What concerns me, and I think everybody watching this, is that there was no preparation. But, Tony, crisis communication is very much like insurance. You never really think -- you never really hope that something like this is going to happen to you. So, the people who spend a lot of money, a lot of time, who always sound like they're reactionaries, to prepare upfront, they're the ones who usually either avoid a crisis or come out of it much better.

HARRIS: Yes.

YORHAUS: Toyota was caught on this one. There is no way that they could have anticipated this intensity of a crisis --

HARRIS: Right.

YORHAUS: If they were keeping their eye on the ball on every aspect of the business.

HARRIS: Robbie, that's good stuff. Robbie Yorhaus with us, that is good stuff, appreciate it. Thank you for your time, sir.

YORHAUS: Good Tony, good to see you. Happy snow day.

HARRIS: The Skype thing might stick around for a while.

More on the snow situation when we come back.

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HARRIS: Well, you know, we're trying to get -- give you the best perspective we can on all of the snow in the Mid-Atlantic States right now. Kate Bolduan is on a beeper line with us, and she's traveling somewhere. Kate, I think I was told you are in Tacoma Park, Maryland. That's one of those D.C. suburbs.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Uh-huh.

HARRIS: Where are you en route to? And what are you seeing?

BOLDUAN: It's actually really hard to figure out sometimes where we are and where we've come from, Tony, because visibility is so bad at the moment. And pardon me, but there's a fire truck that's actually passing us at the moment, so if you hear that in the background.

HARRIS: OK.

BOLDUAN: We've been catching up with some of the utility company crews, Pepco they cover D.C. and big parts of Maryland. We've been catching up with them as they've been trying to take on these very difficult tasks in this -- in this huge storm, of trying to get the power back on in some of the places that have been without power since the first storm. Really since Friday.

And what -- when we came upon one of the crews, they were trying to do the best they could and actually just pulling some of the electrical wiring to get it in place, but they can't get the big buckets up, Tony, with the high winds that have been sweeping through the D.C. Metro area. And to get into some of these places where these crews have had to go, we actually had to strap on some snowshoes.

HARRIS: Right.

BOLDUAN: Because the drifts were so deep and so high. We went knocking on the doors of all the houses, in one of these neighborhoods, all the people had actually left. And Pepco, the people we were talking to, thought they really decided to get out and get into a hotel before the last onslaught came, because many of these people have been without power since Friday.

HARRIS: Wow. Can you describe what some of these side streets in Tacoma Park, what they look like? I mean, how much snow are we talking about? And not just the snow still on the sidewalks from the storm over the weekend. What's starting to accumulate now, and how high are some of these drifts?

BOLDUAN: Some of the drifts, I'll tell you, and, you know, I'm not one of the tallest human beings you've ever met, I'm probably about 5'5", and some of the drifts were well past my hips, up into my chest as I was trying to get into some of these locations. The drifts are really high, because these winds are really starting to pick up.

HARRIS: Right, right.

BOLDUAN: And that's really the challenge. There's definitely accumulation. The roads are not easy. It's not a good situation on the roads, as the big plows are trying to make it through. But at the same time there's very limited visibility, as I said, Tony, and as we're trying to get from location to location in our very, very big crew car --

HARRIS: Right.

BOLDUAN: People are walking just right down the middle of the street, because honestly, they can't see where the sidewalk would be and they think it's the best path to get from point "a" to point "b," but it's not smart, because visibility is so bad at this point.

HARRIS: Kate, help me here -- slap myself for not knowing this off the top of my head and being from Maryland. But Tacoma Park is that in PG or Montgomery County?

BOLDUAN: We're in -- it's in Montgomery County.

HARRIS: It's in Montgomery County?

BOLDUAN: That's where in PG and Montgomery County, that is where a lot of the outages are.

HARRIS: OK.

BOLDUAN: I actually just got off the phone with Pepco and they are seeing it tick back up. They're making some progress when there's that lull of a day or two.

HARRIS: OK.

BOLDUAN: They're making some progress in getting power back on. Ooh, big gust pushing our car. Sorry, Tony. They are seeing it pick up with more outages as the winds and the ice are starting to weigh on some of these power lines and they're starting to see it increase into the afternoon and the evening. We're trying to offer some perspective for our viewers as we try to get there ourselves.

HARRIS: I asked the question because in just a couple of moments we're going to talk with Isaiah Leggett, he is with the Montgomery County, I guess he's the county executive, and we're going to talk to him in just a moment or two. Kate good to talk to you, stay safe.

And we're back in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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