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Taliban Commander Captured; Climber Falls into Volcano; Iran Will Put them to Shame; Second Stroke Study; Southern Afghanistan Offensive; Ice Skating's Free Spirit

Aired February 16, 2010 - 09:00   ET

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

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Kyra.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, guys. Great to be with you all on this Tuesday morning. It's 9:00 a.m. in the east, 6:00 a.m. out west.

Another hour or so until the sun comes up over Mt. St. Helens. Rescuers need that light to find a hiker deep in that volcano. How much longer can this guy even hold up?

And remember being a senior in high school? Prom, graduation, the excitement of taking that next step? Stuff memories are made of. So why is there talk of killing senior year altogether?

If polygamists were planets, he'd be Jupiter and you got to wonder if he's living in another world. This guy doesn't have a family, he's got a population and police say he took advantage of them in a sickening and criminal way.

All that's coming up over the next couple of hours, and in just a second we're going to head up Fred Pleitgen for the latest word on the prize catch in Pakistan. The guy said to be the Taliban's number two guy. Can't talk about that without talking about what U.S. officials hope to learn from him. Barbara Starr will update us on that. And Ivan Watson will tell us about the latest round of threats from Iran's president.

We begin now with the Taliban taking a big hit. Fighters on the run in the middle of a major offensive in southern Afghanistan. And now we're learning that a top Taliban commander is in custody captured in Pakistan.

CNN's Frederik Pleitgen joining us now live from Kabul, Afghanistan.

So, Fred, how did they catch this guy?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra. Yes, what we're hearing from Pakistani intelligence sources and also from U.S. intelligence sources that he was caught several days ago in the southern city of Karachi. That's a very, very big city there in southern Pakistan. It's said that it was a joint raid between the CIA and the Pakistani intelligent service, the ISI. Now we do have to say that we've actually contacted the Taliban here in Afghanistan. They deny that Mullah Baradar has actually been caught.

However it seems evident from the sources that we're getting within the intelligence community in the U.S. and in Pakistan that it is true that he has been caught. And as you said, this of course comes as the Taliban gets under a lot of pressure from the U.S. during this major offensive in southern Afghanistan -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, what about the progress of the offensive there in Afghanistan? Is this a sign that this is definitely working?

PLEITGEN: Well, it appears to be working in southern Afghanistan. I mean what's going on right now is that this offensive is in day four. We know this is probably the biggest offense that the U.S. has ever launched against the Taliban in the 8-year-old long war.

Now what's been going on is that the NATO soldiers say that they are making progress down there in southern Afghanistan. They say their biggest issue that they still have is those improvised explosive devices that were planted there by the Taliban in advance of this.

And they also said they are taking small arms fires to (INAUDIBLE). Progress is being made. They are sweeping the area and they say they're getting closer and closer to being able to implement an Afghan civil administration -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Fred Pleitgen, thanks so much.

Now for more on the captured Taliban commander, let's get straight to CNN Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr.

So, Barbara, who exactly is interrogating this guy? And what do they hope to learn?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, by all accounts, interrogation is taking place by both Pakistani and U.S. officials. What they want to know, of course, is everything that he knows.

This man, Baradar, clearly at the center of a nexus here. He knows about the command in control, the communications, the strategy, the plans, the operations, perhaps, of both the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as al Qaeda, because he is said to have had contact with Osama bin Laden as well as Mullah Omar, of course, the figure head leader of the Taliban.

So this guy is very crucial. Very crucial to find out, you know, what he knows. He is someone that's been on the U.S. list for a long time. Somebody they've wanted to get their hands on.

And when you look at the map, when you look at Karachi, that may be the most critical intelligence clue that they got him there, because the feeling is now that the operations on that Afghan-Pakistan border have been succeeded in a pushing a lot of the key leaders out of that region and into the cities.

We reported as far back as December that there was some even intelligence reporting -- not confirmed, but reporting that Mullah Omar himself could be in Karachi. Kyra?

PHILLIPS: So this guy is such a big deal. You really think he's going to give up information that the military wants, for instance, bin Laden's whereabouts?

STARR: Well, you know, that's what they hope for. Now of course when you undertake these types of interrogations, the Pakistani involvement may be critical. The Pakistanis certainly go by different rules of interrogation than the U.S. military or the U.S. intelligence community.

So how much they coerce pressure or even, you know, physically coerce him into confessing something remains to be seen, and then that information, of course, has to be vetted, verified, confirmed, get additional reporting on it, but it's a lead -- it's a lead and they'll see what they get from him -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll follow-up. Barbara Starr, thanks so much.

Well, this time a picture may be worth more than a thousand words. Rescue crews trying to reach a hiker who fell into Mount St. Helens, you know, the volcano. He fell 1,500 feet into the crater while posing for a picture.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE COX, SKAMANIA COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT.: It was pretty much snow free, lots of boulders, lots of rocks. It would have been a very significant injurious fall on the way down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: But now there's the big three. High winds, falling rocks and darkness. It halted earlier attempts to find this hiker. The hiker, by the way, who has lots of experience out there. He's actually made this climb around 60 times. And we've also learned he wasn't even wearing a jacket.

CNN all-platform journalist, Patrick Oppman, is at Mount St. Helens this morning. He joins us on the phone.

So, Patrick, when do we expect to see the rescue effort resume?

PATRICK OPPMAN, CNN ALL-PLATFORM JOURNALIST: Kyra, they rushed through the meeting in about an hour to figure out when and if the rescue efforts can begin again today. They were very frustrated. They got very close actually for the rescue down that crater floor yesterday afternoon, about 500 feet from this fallen climber.

But just unable because of weather conditions to do anything at that time. So they're hoping to get down to him again today. They are hopeful that he is alive, and the initial fall was only about 100 and 200 (INAUDIBLE).

Dave Cox told me yesterday they did hear a whistle several times throughout the afternoon. Perhaps coming from that fallen climber.

This all began as you said, Kyra, yesterday when climbers were reaching the top of the small (INAUDIBLE) from the edge of the crater to take a picture and the ground literally dropped out from underneath him, so you can just imagine (INAUDIBLE) that climber has --

PHILLIPS: And you can imagine it's just kind of hard to hear Patrick Oppman just due to the conditions there and where he is. We lost him there via cell phone, but we will be talking to him throughout the morning as this rescue does start up again looking for this hiker that fell into the volcano.

Rob Marciano, how does the weather look for today? And, you know, this is -- you used to work in this neck of the woods, more or less. What is your take on the survivability? I mean if he doesn't have a jacket, you know, what could it be like down in that volcano for him at this time considering the weather conditions?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, I've climbed this, but I've climbed it later in the winter, early spring, and when conditions are much more tranquil.

The good news with this particular weather scenario is that we are not looking at drastically low snow levels, so snow levels of about 5,000 feet, that's kind of above average for this time of year.

As you know it's been warm across much of the pacific northwest. There was a front that came through last night and it probably dropped snow in the order of six to 10 inches in this area, winds 20 to 30 miles an hour.

Deidre, if you want to take Google Earth we'll give folks a kind of geographical plan as to what this guy is dealing with.

And if someone could tell me if these are live pictures or pictures from yesterday? Probably pictures from yesterday, I'm guessing. Yes. So that's a look from inside the crater.

GR113 (ph) would be great, too. And he fell on the upper northern fringe of it.

PHILLIPS: So let me -- hey, Rob?

MARCIANO: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Let me ask you this. So if he fell inside the volcano, does he have more of a chance of sort of finding a nook and cranny in hope -- where he sort of bury himself into where it might be warmer, he might be protected? I mean you've been there. I haven't. Is that even a possibility or is it pretty much wide open where he would have fallen over?

MARCIANO: Well, we're -- what we're looking at right now, and this is a good point, Kyra, is that you are protected from at least where the winds are coming from right now which is south southwest. So you're looking from the north to the south so basically the southern flank and the southern edge of that rim which is the one that's most intact from the 1500-foot cliff that -- which he fell off of.

That is what's protecting him from the wind. From what I'm hearing from rescuers yesterday, winds are swirling in that crater as they often do, so he's not completely buffed up, protected from the wind but he's protected from the direct wind.

And conditions certainly could be worse. Conditions will be improving throughout the day today. So this front is through. It did cool down temperatures just a little bit. And with all the warm air that they've seen in the past few weeks that has made the ground unstable, it makes those cornices unstable.

And that's probably one of the reasons why that one broke loose when he was posing for a picture unfortunately. So I suspect that the rescuers would get back up there later today as this front clears and visibility has become a little bit more -- a little bit better and they'll be able to get in there and get at him.

It sounds like as of last night he was alive, and I suspect he should be OK, although he did not have a whole lot with him. As you know, his jacket was off and it's not like he had a survival pack. So we'll just have to wait and see and hope for the best.

PHILLIPS: Yes. And a lot of questions as to why he wasn't more prepared if not. It's --

MARCIANO: It's not a very technical climb.

PHILLIPS: OK.

MARCIANO: A lot of guys do this, and -- you know they get up there in the day and they'll, you know, glissade or ski down.

PHILLIPS: Got it.

MARCIANO: And have some fun on the way down, so you wouldn't be looking to spend more than one night up there if that. So that's one of the -- non-technical climbs are fun in that regard but they often lead to people not packing all the necessary survival gear.

PHILLIPS: Right.

MARCIANO: So that's probably the reason there.

PHILLIPS: Well, and Patrick Oppman said that possibly they heard some whistles coming from down that volcano. So we'll track it. Let us know if you hear anything, Rob. Sure appreciate it.

MARCIANO: You bet.

PHILLIPS: The push for more jobs is at the top of President Obama's to-do list today. He's actually going to visit a job training center in Maryland. And talk about creating more energy related jobs. President Obama's speech is expected to start in just about two hours. And we of course carry it live for you when he begins.

Another day, another warning from Iran's president. Ivan Watson watching it all for us from the Iran desk. He's going to tell us what the latest tough talk from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is all about.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: It's a nuclear program pushed back. Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warning other nations not to impose tougher sanctions.

CNN's Ivan Watson has been monitoring it from our Iran desk.

He's always got to say that's pretty controversial.

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, he was somber, sober and of course defiant, saying that the era of hegemony and expansionism is over.

President Ahmadinejad also went on -- and by the way, he's still speaking now. He's been speaking live in this press conference for more than an hour and a half. He insisted that Iran is still open to doing a uranium fuel swap with western countries. And he added even with the U.S., this despite the fact that Iran went ahead and began enriching the uranium to a level of 20 percent last week, which has attracted a lot of criticism.

Final bit he responded to statement by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday during which she said that she is seeing that the government in Iran, the president and the parliament, is being supplanted -- this is in Hillary Clinton's words -- and moving towards a military dictatorship.

Let's take a listen to his reaction for those comments from the U.S. secretary of state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, IRAN (Through Translator): The government in the U.S. is (INAUDIBLE) worth military interventions, and today, too, over 500,000 -- let's say 300,000 troops equipped to their -- you know, armed to their teeth are stationed in the region and they're involved in three wars.

I think -- what, what is the name? Clinton. These comments that she is making, they are not wise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: So there he's playing a little bit -- pretending that he didn't remember Hillary Clinton's name. And a typical tactic on the part of President Ahmadinejad, whenever asked -- whenever criticism comes he turns around and focuses it back on the U.S. Kyra? PHILLIPS: All right. We'll still monitor it with you. Ivan, thanks so much.

And it's a crippling sanction against Iran that Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, wants. And he looked for support from Russia's president.

Russia had trade and energy ties with Iran and has previously used its U.N. veto rather to protect Iran. But recently the Russians have shown signs of backing tougher sanctions to keep Iran from advancing its nuclear enrichment program.

Driving in the snow. Pretty dangerous in parts of Ohio right now. A series of crashes involving more than 50 vehicles shut down a stretch of Interstate-71 near Columbus. No one was seriously hurt. The highway patrol was expected to work throughout the day to clear some of the semis that are still blocking the lanes there.

More snow for the east coast, too, right, Rob?

(WEATHER REPORT)

MARCIANO: Back over to you.

PHILLIPS: All right, thanks, Rob.

Big love nothing. A guy in Israel trying to put all polygamous to shame. He's got 21 wives, 49 kids, but he's leaving them all behind for a nice cozy jail cell.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Pennsylvania Senator John Murtha is being laid to rest today in John's town. Just about two hours from now. Former president Bill Clinton is expected to attend. Top military brass including Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs chair, Mike Mullen, will also be there. Murtha, who is the first Vietnam vet elected to Congress, died last week at the age of 77. He died of complications from routine gall bladder surgery.

New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg could be released from the hospital sometime this morning. He fell at his home yesterday. Lautenberg, who's 86, was taken to the hospital just as a precaution. We're told that he's in great spirits and actually joking around with his doctors.

One thousand trucks moving rubble for 1,000 days. Haiti's president, Rene Preval says it's going to take three years to clear the earthquake debris before that country can rebuild. Like many Haitians, Preval is concerned about another quake. He's been living with friends since the presidential palace and his private residence were destroyed.

Have you had a stroke? Are you like to have another one? Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins me with what you need to know so you don't become a statistic. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Your health at risk. If you've had a stroke you're more likely to have another, even more likely to die within a year. That's according to a new study.

And CNN chief medical correspondent -- and neurosurgeon -- Dr. Sanjay Gupta here to talk about it.

So, Sanjay, tell me about the new study.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, it was interesting. For a long time, the question has been if you have a stroke how likely are you to have a second stroke within a year? And could you possibly prevent it?

We've known for sometime people who have strokes, Kyra, about 1 in 4 of them do die within a year of various related causes. But the question about a second stroke seems to be around 1 in 12 people will have a second stroke within a year.

This was a study on 10,000 people in South Carolina. They looked at all sorts of different things but what they found was that people who had that second stroke were more likely to have been less diligent about follow-ups, less diligent about taking medications, and also not as good about recognizing symptoms of stroke in the first place.

Take a look this mnemonic. An important mnemonic here. It's FAST. That's the name of it. Face. You look at somebody's face, and ask them to smile, see if their face is drooping on one side than the other.

Have them raise their arms and see if the arms are moving or drifting. Have them just simply speak and say their name, but also time is of essence, Kyra. We've talked about this a lot.

Simply recognizing those symptoms, getting someone to the hospital a lot faster, they could give certain medications that can sort of bust up the blockages to the arteries, to brains, so it can really reverse the sort of worse parts of stroke, the devastating parts of stroke. But again, recognizing those symptoms are critical -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, be my doctor right now then. Tell me what are the symptoms, what -- could they be that we're ignoring?

GUPTA: Well, you know, some of them are -- you know, again, simply recognizing some of those things. So, you know, what happens with a stroke is that part of the brain simply isn't getting enough blood supply. And that could affect the brain and the body in different ways.

They may have weakness. And it may come on as a sudden headache or sudden onset of dizziness, something that seems rather vague. But again, if you do those things, check their face, check their arms, check their speech, you might get some clues pretty early on. And Kyra, again, you know, when I say speed is the essence, calling 911 and trying to get them to the hospital and even get those medications on board within an hour and a half or so really seems to be key.

PHILLIPS: All right. Sanjay Gupta, appreciate it so much.

GUPTA: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: All right.

Well, name brands, giving way to house brands in some big stores. Imagine the headlines -- Chairman, squeezed out in favor of the house brand. Hidden Valley Ranch put out to pasture for generic blue cheese dressing. Could be happening on a shelf near you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Kyra Phillips.

PHILLIPS: Well, the Dow finished just higher last week ending a slide for four straight weekly losses. As Wall Street gets set to open a holiday shortened trading week.

Want to get a preview of today's market action from Alison Kosik in New York.

Hey, Alison.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra. We are looking at a positive start to the trading week, thanks to some optimism out of Europe. European stocks are gaining after finance ministers there moved to force Greece to slash the debt that's put the global economy on the edge for more than a month now.

On the home front, we have upbeat earnings from a pair of big companies. Drug giant Merck posted a profit of almost $6.5 billion on more than $10 billion in sales.

Those results got a big boost from the company's purchase of its long-time partner, Schering-Plough.

And Kraft Foods said profit more than tripled last quarter. Despite that, the food maker said consumers continue to trade at the grocery stores to generic brands which has forced Kraft to lower its prices to compete. Here's an example for you, Kyra. In the cheese business, price cuts pushed revenue lower by more than 13 percent.

On Wall Street right now, we're seeing a bit of jump here. It's a nice way to start the day. We are starting in the green. The Dow industrials up about a fraction and now that can positive up about a fraction as well.

Kyra, back to you.

PHILLIPS: All right, Alison, thanks. If there is a poster child in this recession, it's going to be Michigan. The vice president is actually in Saginaw this morning. He's talking about how Washington's plan and your tax money are helping pull the state out of the abyss.

Let's talk about it more with Josh Levs. He's working for us. He's on the stimulus patrol for us. Hey, Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, you know, we've been hearing for long time about how rough it is in Michigan, but as you are saying, posterior child. I mean, if there is any place to look at in this country to understand the debate over this giant $862 billion stimulus, it is Michigan. Keep in mind, by the way, it was one year ago.

What we are doing at the Stimulus Desk is tracking down all those dollars for you. Where did it go? Did it help you? How it's playing out? What I want to do first is show you the figures we have for Michigan. So, let's just go right to there, I want you to see unemployment in Michigan. Here you go. It is right here. Take a look at this. This has gotten so much worse over the last two years. This is December 2007, it was at 7.3 percent right here. In over two years, look at that, it exactly jumped to 14.6 percent.

So, in that amount of time, you are seeing unemployment go a lot higher, and this is a good example of the battle over the stimulus. You got the people who opposed and saying, you know what, if the stimulus was doing what it was meant to do, why would unemployment have gotten so much worse throughout 2009? But then you have the other side saying, you know what, it would have gotten even worse if it were not for the stimulus.

I have another couple of figures here for you. We have Detroit. Let's just go to that. I want you to see Detroit because among all major cities in the entire country, Detroit has been the one that struggling the most with unemployment. You got there, 15.4 percent of cities or more than 1 million people by far the worse.

So, let's take a look now what the stimulus is down, that's on the next screen for you. How many jobs has it saved? What did it actually achieve? How many billions of dollars have gone in from that stimulus to Michigan where the Vice President is going to be today? That's it right there, $10.9 billion in the stimulus have gone to that state, and the government, Michigan right there, is saying that it created or saved basically 17,000 jobs with that money.

So, Kyra, a really good example of the back and forth that we're seeing right there. You got the government saying it'll be way worse. You have the opponents of that big package saying, you know what, why is unemployment still so bad if the stimulus was doing what it was supposed to be doing? Michigan wouldn't be struggling that way. That's what is playing out today when the vice president goes there.

PHILLIPS: So why Saginaw?

LEVS: This is an interesting one. Yes, you know, we always looking back because when the president and the vice president go somewhere to try to highlight one city, we're always thinking, OK, what do they want people to see there. We got some pictures for you, take a look at what they have.

In Saginaw, this is one example of what's been going on. You are seeing young people here being trained to work in solar technology. What happened there is there are a lot of students who decided to go back to school and be trained for jobs that they could actually get in this new economy. So, the stimulus has made a lot of money available to be trained to work in solar technology and locally right there, in the Saginaw area, they actually have a solar plant, Kyra.

So one thing the vice president will be pointing to today is hundreds of students who have gone back to work or getting jobs now because of stimulus money that is leading to solar technology which the administration says is a way of advancing America.

And all of this is a really good example of a chance for you to weigh in. Let's see what we have to weigh in because guess what, tomorrow, the stimulus turns one year old. President Obama signed it one year ago. So, we are asking on the blog this morning, cnn.com/josh also cnn.com/kyra. Also, I got a Facebook and Twitter, JoshLevsCNN, what has the stimulus done for you. And Kyra, as you know, we can expect some very interesting answer as always.

PHILLIPS: I know. It's always debatable. Thanks, Josh.

LEVS: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: The president is also talking about jobs, energy- related jobs to be specific. We're going to dip into that speech in Maryland as soon as it starts. It should be about 11:00ish Eastern time.

A big love nothing. A guy in Israel, trying to put all polygamists to shame. He has 21 wives and 49 kids, but he is leaving them all behind for a nice, cozy jail cell.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Twenty-one wives and 49 children. One Israeli man now facing some serious charges in connection with his large family, and I used that term loosely. He supposedly had the wives tattoo his face on their bodies. That's not even close to the worst of it. He is accused of sexual assault and rape of his daughters.

CNN's Kevin Flower joins me now live from Jerusalem. Kevin, it's one of those stories that is pretty shocking, I must say.

KEVIN FLOWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's very shocking, and this is a story of a 60-year-old man named Goel Ratzon who Israeli police say was the leader of a cult-like harem. As you mentioned, he had 21 wives and 49 children, but what's most disturbing about this case are the allegations of sexual abuse of the women in the house, both the wives and the daughters. Now specifically, he is charged with the rape of two of his daughters, and there are various other charges of sexual abuse against the other women in the house.

Now, the prosecutors have said that Ratzon was a master manipulator and charismatic manipulator of women. In his statement against him, they wrote specifically that he captured the women in a pseudo-family structure. They were revolved around the worship of his image, making the birth of his children a supreme goal that women must aspire to, and all this was to glorify him while serving and fulfilling all of his needs. Now, among the glorification of his image, as you mentioned, he had his wives tattoo his image on their arms, and all of the children are named after him. They have derivations of his name.

Now, the statement also reads that he abused his wife by trampling themselves worth and cut them off from any outside social contact with their families, and basically, made them slaves. That's what the statement says (ph). Now, beyond the mental and emotional control, he also controlled them financially. Any social benefits some of these women who were able to have, all of that went into his bank account. Those who did have jobs of some sort, that money went in to his account, too, paid for the house that they lived in, and anything that he desired.

So, Ratzon for his part has denied these charges. He says he loved all of the women who he lived with. He denied that he had any forced sexual relations with any of them, but as you can imagine, this is a case that has caught a lot of attention here in Israel and now globally -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So Kevin, how did police even find out about this guy and what led to this arrests?

FLOWER: The funny thing is, is that police have known about this man for almost a decade. He's actually a sort of a well known figure in Tel Aviv. There is a documentary that was done about him, but the problem was the police did not have enough hard evidence to press any charges. The fact is that no women would come forward to give the goods, to get this guy -- to get this guy in jail. So, ultimately what ended up happening is that three women did come forward complaining about not getting social security checks, basically.

They were not getting the money that they were entitled, and that gave the opening the police needed, and so last month, he was arrested and just this past weekend indicted -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Wow. We will definitely follow the story. Pretty disgusting to say the least. Kevin, thanks.

Checking other top stories. Senator Evan Bayh's decision to not seek re-election has Capitol Hill buzzing. He said the Partisanship is getting in the way of the people's business. Just a short time ago, in CNN's American Morning, Bayh says that he believes he can help Americans more outside the dysfunctional Congress rather than in it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. EVAN BAYH (D), INDIANA: Maybe shocking that, you know, someone in public office would actually decide to voluntarily step down, but I reached the conclusion that if I could help to create jobs by growing a business or help educate our children in the university or college or help a philanthropy or charity, I would be getting more done to help people in their daily lives than Congress is currently doing. And so for me, I have always been about helping people, and I think I could do more for that in the private sector right now than remaining in Congress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Bayh is the third Democratic fender to recently announced his retirement joining Chris Todd and Byron Jordan.

A New Hampshire hotel employee poisoned at work, still in the hospital this morning. He was knocked unconscious by a carbon monoxide leak, and all 11 people got sick. The gas leaked up from the boiler room in this hotel in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The hotel, by the way, was evacuated.

Last call for partying in the French quarter. It's Mardi Gras, and the final parades will roll through New Orleans. At midnight, cops actually close down Bourbon Street for the beginning of lint and a lot of craziness.

There is a certain brand of soap, mouthwash, TP that you just can't live without. Be prepared to live without it unless it's shelve superstar, you might have to settle for the store's house brands. What is the deal with that, Gerri Willis?

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Not enough for a moment show. Hi there, Kyra. I know there's plenty of room. It's just the Wal-Mart has decided it's going to use it differently. Here's what's going, consumers out there being more discriminating. They're shopping less. They're spending fewer dollars when they do go to the store, so Wal-Mart is saying, hey, we're going to give less space to brand name products. They are typically more expensive than house brands, so they're going to boost the number in the amount of house brands on the shelf.

And you might want to take a look at the list of types of products where the brand name products will get less or no shelf space. Toilet papers, mouthwash, bar soaps, salad dressing, we're talking all the basic stuff there. Experts in the retail say, hey you know, we got to cut out the clutter. Some of these brand extension going on and some of these consumer products, in particular, is just crazy.

As a matter of fact, Kyra, I was counting the numbers of crests extended products. The number of crest products, 42 different kinds of toothpaste out there. Some experts say it's too much, but there is a bit of a disagreement with this, I have to tell you. Some experts are saying this is just one way Wal-Mart can actually squeeze more money out of its suppliers. Not long ago, Arm & Hammer liquid detergent was cast off the shelves, but guess what, it's spent a lot of money advertising, and now advertising with Wal-Mart's name, and the product is back on the shelves. So, I think we have to wait and see how this plays up, but in the meantime, you Wal-Mart is going to look a little bit more like one of those warehouse club store where you'll see maybe one brand name good and then the house brand next to it.

PHILLIPS: All right. I don't mind. Just try them all and see what works for you.

WILLIS: Right. I tell you, there's -- you know, consumers agree the house brands about 77 percent of them that try it and they like it, so consumers are voting with their fee and their dollars.

PHILLIPS: There you go and save a little money. All right. Thanks, Gerri.

More in the CNN Newsroom straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right, for a number of days now we've been following that joint offensive out of Afghanistan in Marjah in particular. Atia Abawi is actually embedded with the troops there and when she calls we take her because we like to get the latest update on what's happening taking down those terrorists specifically embedded in that area.

Atia, what do you have for us?

ATIA ABAWI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, I have to say that this morning did start off pretty quiet, but the fighting began late in the afternoon and it's going on at night. And this is unusual, because for the past few nights since the operation began in the City of Marjah, the Taliban have not been attacking at night. They've been waiting until the sun rose until their targets were actually visible.

We were on our way back talking to some Afghan civilians in the area when we suddenly saw lights in the sky. We saw fire coming from certain compounds in the area it looks like they were shooting from civilian homes. And we saw the Marines were fighting back.

And right now it seems that one of the RPGs that the Taliban did fire toward the U.S. forces has landed near a U.S. position and there is a fire blazing at the moment, the smoke billowing up in the sky. The question that remains is just how -- how long this operation will go?

I know many have been saying that the fighting has died down but the operation is (INAUDIBLE) there but I can assure you right now Kyra, the battle in Marjah is still going on.

PHILLIPS: All right, continue to keep us updated, I appreciate it, Atia Abawi.

We'll have more from the CNN NEWSROOM straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: It's a whopper of a story, but this one is actually true. A 60-year-old Wisconsin man has snagged himself one really big old fish. It's a 212-pound sturgeon. And check this out, (INAUDIBLE) just think it's about 100 years old, that means it was born before William Taft even became the 27th President.

The sturgeon was caught in Lake Winnebago, by the way. And the fisherman who got him says, well, he'd like to get it mounted but he is not willing to pay the four grand that it would cost.

I don't know Rob Marciano, would you pay four grand?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, only if it included a mechanical mouth and that song you know, "Take Me to the River".

PHILLIPS: Of course, you had one of those flacks in you where you pushed the red buttons.

MARCIANO: That's about as much fishing that I've ever done, just look at the wall and nudge the fish thing. That's quite a good fish story there Kyra.

Hey, I want to talk about this storm and not the best of fishing weather in Wisconsin or anywhere really east of the Rocky Mountains unless you dress warmly because it continues to be cold.

We're looking at storms that are or snow showers that are pretty intense in places like Detroit, rotating down through Cincinnati. This is all coming from -- pretty much a stubborn area of low pressure -- the highest level of the atmosphere. And why that's significant, it's because it's a cool pool of air and it's really not moving out to sea very quickly. So we're kind of stuck in it for a little bit of a chunk here.

All right, looking at some snow across parts of the I-95 Corridor from Philly up to New York, you see everything kind of rotating around this low right here and it's not really making much progress off towards the north, so that's why we're a little frustrated with this.

But the snowfall rates aren't that great and temperatures aren't that cold. So we're thinking two to four inches in this shaded area and maybe an inch or two in places like Philadelphia.

All right, this is affecting travel in some spots; New York seeing an hour 15 minute delays at LaGuardia, Philly seeing 40 minute delays and San Francisco also seeing 40-minute delays.

One other note as far as what we're seeing with this is cold air down across the south. It's 25 currently in Atlanta. Even a couple of snow flurries as reported across parts of north and central Georgia so that will be the ongoing theme with cold air rolling through around that area of low pressure.

And one other item of note, I mentioned Cincinnati, there you go WLWT snow on the rooftops there. They saw a record for the most in a 24-hour period yesterday and so far they have had a record for the month of February with over 23 inches in the Queen City and we're not even halfway through. So everybody getting a piece of the action as far as the snowfall records go this winter -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, thanks, Rob.

PHILLIPS: Well, did you ever try to pull a fast one with a license plate? You know, to get a vanity tag that spelled out something nasty or offensive in a subtle way? We tried to think of something G-rated to make the point but we failed. States are usually pretty good at red flagging that stuff so an Oklahoma man wanted "Im Gay" on his tag. Noting subtle there but what do you think? Is it too much?

Oklahoma says the general public might be offended so request denied, so he's suing. Said there's nothing obscene about his request and feels like his free speech rights are getting thrown under the bus. We'll let you know where the whole thing goes.

Here's something else that's not too subtle. A big old billboard in Oshkosh where someone wants the president impeached, by gosh, we'll check out the bottom line. America's small businesses are failing. Help us spread the message.

All right, so who's paying for it? A group of small business owners? No. A lawyer; $6,000 to keep it up for six months.

And how much Febreez (ph) does it take to get the jet fuel smell out of your shorts?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And it was really strong. It's like driving with an open can of gasoline in your car. They told us to take it home. They gave us some plastic bags and take our luggage home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And hopefully not light up. Well, a bunch of friends got home to Denver from a trip to Puerto Rico and discovered their luggage had been marinating in jet fuel. And it had gotten into their clothes. And it's one of those times where you might wish your bags had been lost. Delta actually told the passengers the soaking probably happened on the ground in Puerto Rico. The airline offered to reimburse them for their losses.

Now for some really cool video. It actually shows John F. Kennedy in color on November 22nd, 1963. Take a look of this, that's the President and the First Lady getting off Air Force One at Love Field in Dallas. You haven't seen color footage before this. It was actually donated to the Sixth Floor Museum by the guy who shot the video. He was 15 years old at the time.

There's President Kennedy, Jackie, you can see Lyndon Johnson there all close up. That footage was taken just hours before the assassination as we all remember.

PHILLIPS: One hour down, one to go and a lot more to tell you about, from Toyota to Iran to energy. Start us off, Suzanne Malveaux.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, President Obama is going to be visiting a job training center for electrical workers in Lanham, Maryland. He is also going to be making an announcement $8.3 million in federal loan guaranties to build two nuclear reactors in Georgia -- Burke, Georgia. All of this to try to prove that his economic stimulus package is creating jobs and that he is trying to work with Republican interests. I'll have that at the top of the hour.

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ivan Watson reporting from the Iran desk. Iran's president says he's still open for a nuclear swap deal even with the U.S. And he talks about three American hikers in jail in an Iranian prison since last summer. I'll have that for you next hour.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And we are live at a Toyota dealership in Brooklyn. Kyra, we're talking about what else: the recall, the mounting complaints, the reports of more deaths because of that unintended acceleration problem. And this is the fix, believe it or not, this little piece. We're going to tell you all about that and how they're fixing the Prius. All of that coming up at the top of the hour -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Thanks guys.

Also next hour a story that I want your feedback on. Is it worth getting rid of high school senior year if it saves the state a lot of money? Can you live without those memories? We've got a couple of guests here to talk about it but send me your two cents, cnn.com/kyra.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: A free spirit. Usually that's a good thing for ice skaters but American Olympian Johnny Weir just seems to rub some people the wrong way. He's on the ice today and our Mark McKay is live at the winter games in Vancouver, British Columbia. What's all the drama, Mark?

MARK MCKAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There's a lot of drama when it comes to Team USA Kyra, for sure. Let's begin with a guy, one of his teammates, one of Weir's teammates, Seth Wescott (ph), yesterday up at Cypress Mountain, the reigning Olympic champion had to come from behind in the snowboard cross event and tip the Canadian Mike Robertson in the second place. So Team USA has two gold medals in their pocket, one thanks to Seth Wescott.

You mentioned Johnny Weir. He certainly has a flare for the dramatic. His teammates will tell you that. He makes his own costumes. This is a guy who taught himself how to skate. He'd like to skate away from Vancouver with a medal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHNNY WEIR, US. MEN'S FIGURE SKATER: I'm a rebellious person. I'll make a debacle out of anything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Johnny is a production. I mean he's really -- he's funny and he's interesting and there is never a dull moment when he's around. You just kind of have to sit back and see what happens with him. You never know what he's going to say, you never know what he's going to do, you never know what he's going to wear.

WEIR: There's nothing that's a show in my life. I just am me and if that means I'm a show to some people or a production, then I am. But I am also a figure skater. Figure skating is a production and we're all a part of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKAY: What an interesting irony. This is a guy that grew up in Pennsylvania Amish Country Kyra. He learned how to skate and he skated when the cornfields there used to snow over with ice. Great layers of information in store behind this young man who certainly is -- he moves to his own beat, don't you think?

PHILLIPS: Most definitely. That's what contributes to the interesting discussion when it comes to lives like this.

All right, so I heard this joke. How many Zambonis does it take to clean a speed skating oval?

MCKAY: You know they're at least not having problems at the figure skating venue with a Zamboni. This place, Vancouver organizers really have to be just hitting themselves up against that.

Now it's the Zamboni at the Richmond speed skating venue. Over the weekend we had issues with the machine not functioning correctly. Long delays in the women's event. Yesterday, Kyra, they go out to lay a new layer of ice on the track. What does the Zamboni do? It puts hot water down. So they had an incredible delay.

They finally got that event finished last night, but can you believe it, just another slight setback for Vancouver Olympic organizers here at the games, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll be talking more tomorrow. Thanks so much.