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DC's Snowiest Winter Ever; NYC Back to Back Blizzards; Iran Celebrates Revolution; On the Offensive; How You Saved a Life; CitiGroup's Foreclosure Plan; Watching Wall Street; AIG Revamping Bonus System; Black Leaders Push for Jobs; Stimulus Desk

Aired February 11, 2010 - 09:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: I'm still trying to figure out -- I didn't bring boots.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. And you're going to need them.

HOLMES: That sounds so -- yes.

CHETRY: Yet another storm heads south.

HOLMES: Then Atlanta. I'll get back, I'm sure. That's it for us here. We can hand it off to Atlanta right now.

(CROSSTALK)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: But T.J., you're in New York City.

CHETRY: Hey there.

WHITFIELD: And you don't have boots, you can find them in New York. You can find anything in New York, right, Kiran?

CHETRY: You know the craziest part, though, is this time of year they clean it out. I mean I had to buy my husband accidentally two left-handed gloves. That's all that was left.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: Well, then you'll have to get creative with perhaps some trash bags or something. Just, you know, tape them around your feet.

CHETRY: Exactly.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: Anything will do. Right? You all have a great day trudging through the snow.

HOLMES: See you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Good morning, everyone. It is 9:00 in the East Coast, 6:00 a.m. out west. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in for Kyra Phillips. Here's what we're working on.

Lovely coming down but brutal to clean up. Historic removal after record-breaking snows.

And a decision could be announced today. The 10 Americans accused of child kidnapping in Haiti could learn their fate.

And a teenage girl repeatedly punched and kicked in the head on a bus platform. Why didn't the security guards there intervene?

But first, blizzard, revolution and war. Our correspondents covering it all. Reynolds Wolf is in Washington for the mother of all cleanups. Reza Sayah is monitoring two ways Iranians are making a world-changing anniversary. And Frederik Pleitgen is in Afghanistan where U.S. troops are about to launch a major offensive.

Let's begin with the snow. Blanketing much of the northeast. Snowmageddon before and after. The snow may have stopped but big problems still blanket much of the East Coast. Flights are canceled. Roads are impassable. And millions of people now have to dig out and in some cases actually get power restored.

We have CNN correspondents covering all the angles. Let's begin just outside of Washington. CNN meteorologist Reynolds Wolf is in Alexandria, Virginia where the cleanup is under way. But is it slow going?

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: For the time being, they've been working around the clock doing everything they can to help remove a lot of the snowfall. I'll tell you, one of the things that we've got going on in this particular spot is we happen to be underneath the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.

This bridge constructed back in 2009. Spans Maryland, across the icy reach of the Potomac River, and back here to the Old Dominion state of Virginia. And this is not only the Old Dominion, it's also the home of all the swept-over snow that amazingly enough, Fredricka, was at one point in people's front yards right along major thoroughfares and streets, on sidewalks, and now you see it here almost -- looking like a small version of the front range to the Rocky Mountains.

Now the reason why they put it in this particular spot is because the hope is when temperatures begin to warm up, all this is going to melt and this is going to find its way right back into the Potomac River and then eventually go right out to the Atlantic Ocean.

Now I have to tell you, though, this is really going to be a tough process because we've got a lot of snow in many places. Here in Virginia, of course, a lot of the side streets especially choked with snowfall. But then back on the other side of the river, in Washington, D.C., many of the roads in the downtown area still impassable.

It's certainly a rough thing. But I'll tell you, they are really looking forward to temperatures going up and getting a little bit of assistance from Mother Nature.

That's the latest we've got. Let's send it back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Reynolds Wolf from Alexandria there.

Well, now let's get to New York which is digging out from nearly a foot of fresh snow there.

CNN's meteorologist Rob Marciano is in Lower Manhattan. Rob?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Fredricka. Well, New York getting about 10 inches of snow. So on the lower end of things when you look at what Baltimore and D.C. got, and of course, Manhattan started out with barely any snow.

So they were one step ahead of the game. So the streets, the main thoroughfares there at least, this morning, just a little bit slick, and slushy and wet. But that is about it. They were able to retreat the roads yesterday. They were able to keep on top of it with plows and that has allowed the commuters -- buses and pedestrians to go about their daily business across lower parts of Manhattan.

So it's like yesterday during the height of the storm, the day after the storm here, Wall Street and the markets is going to open for business. Business as usual. And the kids, after getting the first three snow days that they've only seen the past six years, are heading back to school today.

As far as power outages with winds that we had, gusting over 40 miles an hour time, there haven't been a lot, to be quite honest. There's just few hundred of them. So that's the good news there. There's not a lot people in the dark or the cold this morning.

That's a good thing because it is cold. The winds are brisk, gusting over 30 miles an hour. So we have windchills that are down in the teens. So business goes on here in New York -- in Lower Manhattan, Fredricka, but the expanse of this storm is still very, very impressive from Chicago.

You know, 17 of 20 states really affected by this and tens of millions of people. It's been quite a winter season. And as you know, it's not even over yet.

WHITFIELD: Not over yet. All right, thanks so much. Rob Marciano in Manhattan.

Let's, in fact, go to Jacqui Jeras. What is next as it pertains to this storm and the east coast?

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The cleanup. You know that's going to be the big deal. It's going to take days and days for some of those side streets certainly to get cleared out, Fredricka.

The best thing I can tell you is that the only weather woe we're still dealing with in terms of current things happening is that the winds are going to stay a little blustery. So that in it of itself could be enough to cause a little bit of problem going on across the northeast.

But the good news is dry weather expected at least through the weekend. So hooray on that. New storm system that we're watching today across the southern plains states, and this is going to be the one we'll be watching, Fred. It's going to bring some snow across parts of the south that don't normally get it.

And we could see some very interesting snowfall totals with that as well. I'll you're your complete weather forecast coming up in just another few minutes.

WHITFIELD: All right, we'll look forward to that. Thanks so much, Jacqui.

All right, as it pertains to this big blizzard we're getting a lot of your iReports on what you experienced, including this one from Montclair, New Jersey.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANK SALVAGGIO, CNN IREPORTER: That New Jersey Transit Bus right now is just sliding all over the roads.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And you can see it's hard to drive in the snow. Cars, buses, creeping along. Slipping and sliding. It's the kind of day that you'd be better off just staying home. In fact that's what we're hearing from -- particularly a lot of officials in the D.C. area, as federal businesses continue to be closed. They're saying, you know what, just simply stay in. It's too dangerous to venture out.

So this icy cold grip is being exemplified this way. This iReport coming from outside of a hotel in Herndon, Virginia, about 30 minutes from D.C. and as you can see, it's a mess. Tons of snow. Nothing moving at all. We're told some people have been staying in the hotel for four days now because of power outages in the surrounding area.

So this time yesterday, we were telling you about thousands of flights that were being canceled. Well, let's quickly update you on air travel today.

In Washington, Dulles International Airport is back up and running this morning. But we are still awaiting word if Reagan National Airport will reopen. Snow crews are still trying to clear the airfields there. Baltimore-Washington International Airport just reopened -- just minutes ago -- at 8:30 Eastern Time.

And already today thousands of flights have been canceled in Washington and New York. And almost all the airports from North Carolina to Massachusetts are reporting significant delays.

We'll have more airport updates later on in the hour. We are now a nuclear state. That was the declaration from Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad this morning. He was talking to supporters during celebrations marking the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. Opposition supporters also marked the day in a much different way.

CNN's Reza Sayah is live this morning from Islamabad, Pakistan.

Reza, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke this morning. What exactly was the message?

REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the message was a typical Ahmadinejad message. But the president and Iran's heartland leaders have every reason to be worried about Iran's opposition movement. Perhaps hijacking and disrupting this very important holiday, the anniversary celebration of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

But based on the information CNN has gathered it looks like the regime has avoided that scenario. And it looks like they did it by calling out just a huge number of security personnel to the celebration. One witness telling CNN he has never seen this many security personnel in the streets of Tehran.

Let's go ahead and tell you about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech. The Iranian president with another vintage speech. Once again praising the Islamic Revolution, praising the values of the Islamic republic, and railing against the west and what he calls western imperialism.

The president today saying the days of the arrogant world powers is over.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, PRESIDENT (Through Translator): They do not have the power to confront the Iranian nation, although they tried to create tension in various regions of Iran as well as in our -- region, they cannot. These are the last remnants of the capitalist world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAYAH: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also talked a lot about Iran's controversial nuclear program. Of course Washington very concerned about Iran possibly one day being able to build a nuclear bomb. A defiant President Ahmadinejad today announced that Iran is expanding its nuclear program. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: And Reza, you mentioned the security personnel in place. What about impending protests? What's the expectation?

SAYAH: Well, the protests did happen but again, based on the information we have from our sources, they -- they did not happen on a wide scale. The celebration took place at Freedom Square. That celebration was peaceful. We did see some clashes in surrounding neighborhoods. Once again, we saw supporters of the opposition movement tearing down picture, bearing the picture of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Khomeini. We also saw some protesters throwing rocks.

One of the biggest developments today was an attack on opposition figure Mehdi Karroubi. We spoke to his son in Tehran and he said he was planning on coming to a rally at a neighborhood but he was attacked by plain-clothed militia members and tear-gassed.

But I think, Fredricka, the Iranian leadership is going to look at this day as a success. They're going to point to this event that it relatively went peaceful and they're going to say the Iranian government is still in power.

WHITFIELD: Reza Sayah, thanks so much for that update. Coming from Islamabad this morning.

All right, getting out of the line of fire. People afraid of the upcoming offensive choose crowded refugee camps instead leaving their homes. And U.S. troops preparing to attack the Taliban.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, U.S. troops stay standing at the ready in Afghanistan, ready to advance on a Taliban stronghold in the volatile Helmand Province. While those troops had been preparing for action, local people have left the area.

CNN's Frederik Pleitgen has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The children are cold. And weak. Their father, not sure they'll survive. But Abdul Khaliq says the appalling conditions in this refugee camp outside Kabul are safer than his hometown Marjah, which he fled in anticipation of a massive NATO and Afghan Army offensive against the Taliban.

"I borrowed some money and just took my family," he says. "I left everything I own in the village."

He shows us photos of family members he says were killed in preliminary skirmishes between NATO forces and the Taliban.

(On camera): NATO is urging the people in Marjah to stay in their villages but many are not willing to take their chance. They are making their way to refugee camps like this one.

(Voice-over): The Afghan government says more than 100 families have already fled the Marjah area since the U.S. began advertising Operation Moshtara, which NATO says will be the largest offensive conducted against the Taliban since the beginning of the war in a bid to win back control over the strategically important town of the Helmand Province. And more are piling into the refugee camp every day. Even as cold weather, snow and rain are softening the mud wall structures turning the entire place into a mud pit. This man, who only goes by the name Besmullah says he fled his village outside Marjah 10 days ago.

"The Americans should not bomb and shoot Muslims for no reason," he rages. "First, they should investigate whether they are Taliban or civilians. They are oppressing the Muslims for no reason."

The refugee camp's elder says he's trying to help the new arrivals.

"The main problem is they don't very tents or food," he says. "All we can give them is some firewood."

Abdul Khaliq has escaped the bullets and bombs. And yet he sits in a mud hut in the cold wondering if his children will live another day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And Frederik Pleitgen joins us now live from Kabul.

So, Fred, with the offensive under way, what are the biggest dangers for the Marines?

PLEITGEN: Hi, Fredricka. Yes, when the offensive does get under way, one of the things that we've been talking about for the past couple of days was the U.S. has done for the first time, really, in this war in Afghanistan is that it has announced that this offensive is going to happen. That it's going to come.

And of course, that has given the Taliban time to dig in and also to dig in ask improvised explosive devices. And that really is the one thing that the Marines themselves see as the biggest danger to their operation. Hit-and-run operations by the Taliban, by the Taliban that are still there.

Not only with improvised explosive devices but also surprise attacks with things like rocket propelled grenades. Things like machine guns. That's the thing that they're most worried about.

And one thing that we have to know about this area that they're going into, the town of Marjah, is that it's a fairly big town for that part of Afghanistan. About 100,000 people are still in that area. So what you could be looking at for the Marines there is some massive urban warfare. And that is certainly something where the Marines say they have to be extra careful, fighting the Taliban, trying to prevent civilian casualties and also of course protecting themselves. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: Fred Pleitgen, thanks so much from Kabul.

Now from North Carolina to New York, the big dig is under way. Millions of people are shoveling out from the blizzard. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is probably the worst I have seen it, you know, in my lifetime. You shovel up, just comes right back in your face.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The winds just up pretty heavy. We heard 40, 45-mile-an-hour winds. We had whiteouts out here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Well, communities are also reaching out to anyone physically able to actually pitch in and dig out. Some governments offering paychecks to snow shovellers. Others sought volunteers to rescue stranded cars and clear sidewalks, particularly for the elderly.

So let's now go to the weather center and CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras.

This really a potentially dangerous storm because while people are being urged to stay inside, it means -- it's very difficult to get to the more vulnerable people who really do need some assistance especially emergency crews trying to get around.

JERAS: Yes, and that's why the National Guard was called out there yesterday in D.C., Virginia areas to help those people, you know, who might need medical help, to help emergency crews, and that type of thing.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: Isn't that odd?

JERAS: Yes, it doesn't happen all the time that way.

WHITFIELD: This has been a tough winter for just about everyone, it seems, across the country, hasn't it?

JERAS: Oh yes.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jacqui Jeras, appreciate that.

All right, let's talk your stimulus dollars. Hard at work creating a virtual world to the tune of $2 million. Our Josh Levs will tell us if it's creating any jobs.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Checking your top stories right now.

Former Texas congressman Charlie Wilson has died. He served 12 terms in the House starting in 1973. But he became better known for the movie "Charlie Wilson's War." He was played by Tom Hanks. It told a story of Wilson getting the U.S. involved with Afghan rebels in their war with the Soviet Union. Charlie Wilson was 76 years old. And the shuttle astronauts are taking it easy this morning as they prepare for a spacewalk tonight. It will be the first of three planned spacewalks during their mission while they are up there. The crew will install a new room on the International Space Station.

And today marked the 20th anniversary of Nelson Mandela's release from prison. Thousands of people are gathering to celebrate in South Africa. Mandela spent 27 years as a political prisoner. He was later elected as the country's first black president.

We will take you live to Capetown next hour for more on the celebrations.

A man who suffered severe burns in the Haiti earthquake is airlifted to a U.S. hospital. It is a recovery story you should see because you are paying for it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Some new information now on those 10 Americans detained in Haiti. A judge could rule today on whether to release them.

The Americans are accused of kidnapping 33 children. They say they were just trying to take the young earthquake survivors to a better life.

And some sad news out of Haiti. A college student from the U.S. has been confirmed dead. Courtney Haze was part of a group from Lynn University doing aid work when the quake hit.

And concern for the hundreds of thousands of Haitians living in tent cities and makeshift camps is growing with the coming rainy season. Rain actually pounded the capital of Port-au-Prince earlier today. And here's how it looked afterwards. These images right now.

Now with another concern for quake victims, medical care. Here now is our Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The story is common. Too common.

JEAN CHERY, HAITIAN QUAKE VICTIM IN MIAMI HOSPITAL (Through Translator): OK. Yes, I was wearing my shirt burned -- you know, the back of the shirt burned. I just closed my eyes ask and asked God, are you going to let me die?

GUPTA (on camera): The nightmare started here at a gas station in downtown Port-au-Prince. 39-year-old Jean Chery was driving in a truck down this street when this power line fell and hit a propane tank. There was a huge explosion and just like that Jean Chery was burned over a quarter of his body. His friends scooped him up and drove him quickly to a hospital two blocks down the road. (Voice-over): The care at this Doctors Without Borders hospital is good, it's very good. But burns are notoriously difficult to treat and they are deadly if that treatment doesn't come fast.

(On camera): All this to say that even in the best of times Haiti wasn't the place for him.

(Voice-over): And that meant a transfer. In this case to the United States. Since the earthquake, hundreds of patients have been brought to the U.S. like Jean Chery. As things stand today their medical costs are paid for through a program called the National Disaster Medical System.

Think of it as a special relief fund. And this is the first time it's ever been used for a natural disaster outside of the United States.

And here's something that might surprise you. The plan is the hospitals that take these patients are reimbursed at 110 percent of Medicare costs.

Why 110 percent? And not just 100 percent, you ask, but we wanted to know as well. A government spokesperson told us it was set up as an incentive.

"We don't want hospitals to worry about extra costs or the extra manpower required to treat patients after a disaster."

(On camera): You know, as things stand now, there really is no end in sight. You see, there's a lot of critically ill patients in Haiti, a country that can barely afford the basics. As for Jean Chery, doctors say that he's going to do very well.

And there's another thing to all of this. His wife hasn't spoken to him or seen him in over a month. So we tracked her down, Eula, to this particular marketplace.

I wanted to show you a picture of your husband. Is it good to see him? Yes? You want to talk to your husband? There you go. This is the first time they've spoken almost since this all happened.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello?

GUPTA (voice-over): He asked about the kids, said I love you, and that he is coming home soon.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Wishing the best on his recovery.

A new report on the labor market is out today. And we are watching to see how Wall Street will react. That's because last week's report helped send the Dow tumbling more than 200 points.

Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange with details on that.

So, Alison, what are the new numbers? And how are investors taking it?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'll tell you what, Fred. Unemployment claims are finally moving in the right direction. So we are expecting stocks to move modestly higher today. We found out that new jobless claims plunged by 43,000 last week to 440,000. And that's the lowest level in more than a year.

We're also getting news out of Europe. That is also helping. European leaders met today to discuss (INAUDIBLE) massive debt problems. No word of a bailout just yet but the EU president says European countries are going to take what they call coordinated action if needed to safeguard financial stability.

And that's that doing is easing the concerns that pressured stocks in the U.S. and around the world in recent weeks.

Citigroup is launching a new foreclosure program tomorrow. And what it's going to do is allow homeowners who are on the verge of losing their homes to stay in it for six months. They still have to turn the property deed over to the bank but the borrower's credit will take a less of your hit and it's cheaper for the lender.

And finally, another blow for Toyota. Kelly Blue Book says that 27 percent of drivers who were thinking about buying a Toyota before the recalls began are no longer considering the brand at all. Definitely a bad sign for future sales. We are getting a few bad signs. We thought the market would open higher. Checking the numbers on Wall Street right now, the Dow is lower by 4, the NASDAQ off by 2. We will see how the day goes after investors digest the jobless numbers -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Alison Kosik, thanks so much on Wall Street.

KOSIK: Sure.

WHITFIELD: All right. We've heard a lot about the bonuses paid out at AIG. Millions of dollars promised to underperforming employees. Now, the company is finally ready to revamp their way of doing bonus business.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Here's a noble idea, reward employees for good work. That apparently is a new concept at AIG. The financial giant is rethinking their policy of paying millions of dollars in the retention bonuses. CNN's Stephanie Elam is live in New York this morning with more on this -- Steph.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fred. Yes. They're changing the way they're doing things at AIG. Obviously, the company has come under a lot of fire after getting over $180 billion in taxpayer money for those bailouts just to help the company out. So now, they're saying they're going to change things and focus on rewarding people for performance. Let's take a look at what they are saying they are going do here.

Employees are going to be graded and compared to their peers and that will determine the salaries and their bonuses. They will be graded on a scale of one to four. So, if you're on the top 10 percent, you'll be getting a one, and they will have more meaningful pay. It's how they put it there for that top 10 percent. Now, the second here if you get a grade of 2, that will be 20 percent of the employees who are eligible for bonuses and they will have meaningful pay. Same story there for the grade of 3 and 50 percent of the employees will get that marking, and then the bottom 20 percent will get lower amounts as they come into that lower rank now.

This is something that the CEO of the company, Robert Benmosche, has been pushing for. He is saying that it's really important to have compensation that makes the people feel like they are being rewarded for all the hard work they do, but at the same time, to ease some of the issues that have been going on with the pay czar, Kenneth Feinberg. As you may remember for the last year or so, he has been battling it out with the pay czar about having the right compensation for his top executive.

Saying that if they don't compensate them then they aren't going to have the talent they need that will stay with the company, and they won't be able to attract it. These people will just go to different companies, so this is a change here. One other thing I want to point out is that AIG still has to pay out hundreds of millions of dollars in bonus money because they had already promised this to employees under previous pay plans, but going forward, they were no longer do this. This will be the change that they are making so that what people do will be in line with the pay that they get.

It's a very different structure on Wall Street than most other jobs that we see, Fred. Lot of people on Wall Street, most of their money actually comes from the bonuses. I know we use the term bonus and makes it sound like all completely excess, but a lot of their salary is really quite low, and then they get their money through the bonus. That's pretty much how Wall Street works, so this is why they're hoping this performance aspect will help people feel better about things at AIG.

WHITFIELD: All right. Stephanie Elam, thanks so much from New York.

All right. We've been getting tons of iReport on the blizzard. Just like this one. Good luck on finding your car.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK WAKEFIELD, CNN IREPORTER: Clean off his car yesterday, but he said no. He's like -- not able to find it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Somewhere in the mix there, iReporter Mark Wakefield (ph) sent us this video from Baltimore. He just moved there from Atlanta, and Wakefield says that he's had his fill of weather already after dealing with Atlanta flooding last year and now two blizzards in a row. They are in the mid Atlantic. He's had it.

New York is trying to get back on its feet after being smothered by snow. The transit system is getting back on schedule. Schools are re-opening, but there's still a lot of digging out and cleaning up to do, of course. The blizzard dumped about ten inches of snow in and around New York City. Wicked winds accompanied it, but some people just simply shrugged it off.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN MALE: I was in Brooklyn in 1969 when there was a blizzard, and the blizzard was four, five feet of snow, snowdrifts, up to six. That was a blizzard.

UNKNOWN MALE: So, this isn't impressive?

UNKNOWN MALE: This is a joke.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Oh, really. All right. Still, it was quite a bit of a storm. Ten inches is nothing to sneeze at. Not for New York City or anywhere else. Let's check in with our Senior Correspondent Allan Chernoff. He is La Guardia Airport in New York. So, Allan how is it looking for passengers right now who just simply want to get out of town?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, you know, the snow certainly was enough to essentially shut down the airport. Even though it did remain open through the entire storm, yesterday, the place was filled with very frustrated passengers. This morning, it was virtually empty at 6:00 a.m. when it's normally hopping, and as you can see, it is now finally coming back to life, but a lot of passengers, well, they have had to put off coming to the airport.

Most of the flights this morning were delayed. Now, we're just beginning to see flights being listed as being on time. You know, we did have some flight earlier today listed as being on time, and those flights actually had been canceled. Flights for American airlines to Chicago, Detroit, Columbus, so with a little bit of confusion, but the vast majority of passengers called ahead, checked online, and they stayed at home and the cancellations they number in the hundreds.

Let's just have a look. United, 290 cancellations nationwide; Delta, 450; US Airways 606. These are numbers for today, mind you. American 382; Jet Blue, 66. Fact is it's going to take several days to get the entire system back the way it should be because you got planes out of place, crews out of place, and they've all got to get realigned, and hopefully, we are not going to have a major storm that will mess things up yet again; although, I understand that is a possibility -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Yes. I understand there just might be more snow on the way. Hopefully, you won't get as much as you just did. Allan Chernoff, thanks so much, appreciate that.

All right. Remember, the big winter storm that hit the Southern Plains a couple of weeks ago? That headache still hasn't gone away for some people. The electricity is actually still out for parts of Oklahoma, and it could be another month before it's restored. The man that you are about to see in the video, he actually is a utility supervisor and not even he can get his power turned back on. Right there. It's pretty frustrating for a lot of folks there. More winter, in fact, is on the way for the southern half of the country. Storm warnings and watches including Texas, Alabama and beyond. Jacqui Jeras, who will be spared?

JERAS: Yes. The northeast. OK.

WHITFIELD: So, Allan will be all right then.

JERAS: I know. That is a good thing because, you know, we get these type of weather patterns, Fredricka. The storms really developing across the southern tier of the country and then they'll come here and go right up the coast, and we will get those nor'easters. The good news, our latest storm is just going keep plugging east, so everybody in the northeast is going to continue to look a lot better, so that's some great news, but of course, it's going to take a while to shovel all of this stuff up.

By the way, check out these pictures from my friend Greg Woods. He was Wilmington, Delaware, yesterday and took these pictures. Doesn't that look like a mushroom? Look at all that snow on top of that gazebo. This is outside of the hotel that he was staying at, and then you can see some of the accidents along the interstate in the area. He's estimating there probably about two feet of snow that has fallen in the last two days in Wilmington, Delaware, and they did break, by the way, as of yesterday; their all-time seasonal snowfall record.

All right. Let's talk about the next storm system, what we are dealing with here. Right along I-20 is where we've been seeing the heaviest of snow coming down. West of Dallas, through Dallas, and now it is coming down into the Shreveport area, and we're likely going to see some accumulations here in the range of one to four inches. You could see some locally heavier spots, so it's going to be a real rough travel in this area for today.

The storm is on the move and notice the big hole. We talked about that before. We called the friendly folks there at the National Weather Service in Shreveport, and they say they're in the process of upgrading this here to a winter storm warning, so we might start to watch some of these forecast numbers go up a little bit, but somebody in this area, we think, could get four to eight inches.

Overall the average, we think, is going to be more like one to three. You can see those watches extending here into Alabama as well as Georgia even the panhandle of Florida, so yesterday, we told you that 47 out of the 50 states have snow cover. We could make that to 49 by the end of the weekend -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: OK. We will have to take it, won't we? Thanks so much, Jacqui.

JERAS: Sure.

WHITFIELD: All right. It's a snow and ice don't find you, maybe the lava will. One man is ready to leave his home if the hot stuff comes any closer.

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WHITFIELD: Checking our top stories right now. Good news, bad news on the foreclosure front. The numbers went down slightly from December to January, but foreclosures were still up 15 percent compared to one year ago.

Tug of war over a sex tape. The legal battle over John Edwards' alleged sex tape goes on. A former Edwards aide testified yesterday that he complied with the court order to surrender the tape, but attorneys for Edwards' former mistress and the mother of his child argued that he should be held in contempt of court. Edwards' former aide, that is.

And a cloud of smoke marks the spot of a surge of lava on the big island of Hawaii. You can't see it from these pictures and that lava is just 150 yards away from one man's property. Jack Thompson is the last guy standing in the neighborhood. The rest of his subdivision was destroyed by the Kilauea's previous flows.

Washington virtually shut down, but record snowfall and a blizzard couldn't stop a White House meeting about unemployment and how it's hitting black Americans hardest. We will tell you what message some leaders took to the oval office.

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FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: Jobs in communities that seem to be hit hardest by the recession, that's what African-American leaders told President Obama they want when they met with him yesterday in snowy Washington. The president hosted what was dubbed an urban economic summit.

One of those attending was Benjamin Jealous, the president of the NAACP and he's joining us now from Washington. Good to see you.

BENJAMIN JEALOUS, PRESIDENT, NAACP: Great to see you.

WHITFIELD: Ok, well, I wonder, you know, while the national unemployment rate dropped slightly, unemployment among African- Americans has increased and is still almost double that of whites. So in your meeting with the president was it asked whether the president can do something very specific about changing those numbers?

JEALOUS: We talked about the places that have been hardest hit. The places like the -- rural south, places like -- cities like -- Detroit. You know, poor people are concentrated in areas and black people are concentrated within the poor. And so -- if we help those places and we'll help people of all races but we also make sure that people who have been disproportionately impacted are disproportionately helped.

WHITFIELD: And so how will the president do that? I heard that going into the meeting an idea was going to be pitched by your group that perhaps some of the money that would go to bailing out banks be redirected to some of these communities that you just mentioned.

Was that one of the suggestions? Or was there something else that you all entertained alongside the president?

JEALOUS: We think that, you know, TARP funds can be redirected to help small banks and get, who are -- frankly in these areas, they are close to the ground. They will get the funds out the front door to the small businesses that need them.

But we also -- you know, frankly, you know, realize that it's the Senate Republicans who are holding up the jobs bill right now. They're talking about it's too much too fast. Where were those comments when TARP was being pushed through under Bush and Paulson, just sort of handing money fist over fist to the big banks?

Now it's about Main Street and back street and just plain old regular folks and they're saying that it's -- that's it's too fast, that we've got to slow down? It's crazy. They've held up 200 bills and now they're holding up the jobs bill and they've got to stop.

WHITFIELD: And I understand that that is next. That you, Mark Murray (ph), Reverend Al Sharpton, and maybe Dr. Dorothy High (ph) will also try to meet with members of Congress to push for the same kind of dialogues that you have with the president.

But meantime, yesterday Reverend Sharpton said that he was happy to hear the president underscored that he wants to make sure all Americans have an opportunity and doesn't want anyone excluded. But at the same time it doesn't sound like the objective.

You all were going into this meeting, talking specifically about how this is impacting the African-American community and the president reiterated that he's not looking for a program to address just African-Americans.

JEALOUS: Nor are we --

WHITFIELD: But one -- that would address everyone.

JEALOUS: -- yes. Nor are we. This is a time when the country quite frankly is coming together because people of all races keep seeing each other in the jobs line. This is a time when -- when we all have to be focused on getting as many jobs out there for everybody as possible. The -- you know, we were there to talk about the poorest places.

Places like Detroit, places like Dayton, Ohio. Places like the -- you know, rural South Carolina and Mississippi. Places like Raleigh, North Carolina, where we will have 12,000 people rallying this Saturday.

You know, and so -- it was about cities, it was about world places, it was about getting jobs out.

This is a president who started off, you know in his 20s going door-to-door, in one of the poorest places in the country -- the south side of Chicago -- talking to jobless people and getting them focus on getting jobs. You can't sit across from them and get the sense that he doesn't get it.

Our focus is getting Republicans in the senate to get out of the way, get this jobs bill through. We were there yesterday to be heard by the president, to hear him and we left reassured that he gets it and he's pushing as hard as he can.

WHITFIELD: And quickly, when is that meeting going to be with members of Congress that you are pushing for?

JEALOUS: As soon as they --

WHITFIELD: Do you have another vote yet?

JEALOUS: Well, no, no, no. As soon as we get out of the snow and people get back to work. We are pretty much in the frozen tundra in D.C. right now.

WHITFIELD: All right, Ben Jealous thanks so much for the NAACP. I appreciate your time.

JEALOUS: Thank you very much.

WHITFIELD: And this programming note, CNN continues its investigation of the most challenging issues facing African-Americans. With "BLACK IN AMERICA 2" Soledad O'Brien reports on people who are using groundbreaking solutions to transform the black experience. That is this Saturday and Sunday 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

All right, well, what do you do when a mountain lion unsheathes its claws and starts attacking you? Unsheathes that samurai sword in the garage really? And run into battle? That's what one young man says he did to save his dog.

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WHITFIELD: All right.

That samurai sword sitting in the garage is good for something after all. A young California man says that he used it to fight off a mountain lion. He was in a nature area near his house when he says a big cat jumped out and started tearing into his dog.

He had to do something. He says he ran into the garage, grabbed the sword, ran back and fought off the cougar. The dog will be ok, we understand. I'm not sure exactly what happened to the cat, however.

And just outside Atlanta, take a look at what happened inside a Wal-Mart store. You see a man, he actually has a baseball bat and yes, he is actually going at it on the flat screen televisions. So, just bashing one after the other, 29 televisions in all worth about $22,000; no explanation for the battery of the television sets. And apparently the bat actually came from the sporting goods department of the store. The man was arrested. Unclear exactly what charges he now faces.

It's a busy morning in the CNN NEWSROOM and CNN crews are in place to bring you all the latest details.

Let's check in with our correspondents beginning with Poppy Harlow in New York -- Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (AUDIO GAP) details plus, the White House trying to clarify just exactly where the president stands on compensation. We're going to have all of that coming up in the next hour.

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. We're here at the Iran desk. We're monitoring state-sponsored demonstrations in Iran and attempts by opposition protesters to voice their dissent despite being attacked by tear gas and security forces with clubs and guns -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Ivan thanks so much. We'll check back with you, Poppy as well.

Also next hour, 20 years ago today he stepped out of prison and onto the world stage. We'll take a closer look at Nelson Mandela and a remarkable journey that reshaped his nation.

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WHITFIELD: All right. It's a new wave in virtual reality. Researchers say you'll be able to explore Mars without going anywhere near there. And should that get two million very real dollars from the stimulus? Our Josh Levs follows technology and the stimulus.

Josh, this is coming together or it's a coming together of two worlds.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Two worlds for me, you know I love following technology for you and love following the stimulus -- it's what we're breaking down right now. This is an interesting one.

What we've been doing at the Stimulus Desk is looking at that $862 billion stimulus program and what projects are actually being funded by it from the amounts that actually went to grants out there.

Well, this is one of them. We have some video for you. Brown university has a virtual reality system already. What we're seeing here is what it already does. It's really interesting. They let you go inside arteries. They can also use it for archaeology. You can explore all sorts of ancient structures.

It is a really interesting system that they have and now they're building the next generation of virtual reality, Fred, and they're going to try to create something far more advanced. So we're just seeing some of the things they have achieved so far. So the question now, should they get $2 million from the stimulus. We have a graphic here for you that summarizes the money; we're trying to break down each project. The Brown University virtual reality program has gotten -- look at that, I love that figure -- it's $17 under $2 million. So technically not the $2 million mark.

WHITFIELD: Just shy.

LEVS: Just shy. Someone give them 17 bucks, people. So basically it's $2 million. No jobs -- they don't know so far how many jobs will be created. They know that construction is going to take some jobs. And they'll have to see how huge a project it is but that Fred is the amount that they have so far at this point from the stimulus.

WHITFIELD: Ok. Meantime you do have some other numbers that related to jobs and the stimulus. What are they?

LEVS: Yes, we do. You know yesterday the stimulus -- recovery.gov updated the number of jobs that it had -- I'll just show you the Web site really quickly. We can take that.