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Prince William Engaged; Boycotting Airport Body Scans; Michael Vick's Big Plays; Opryland Hotel Back From Flood; Rangel Convicted of Violations
Aired November 16, 2010 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Kyra, you have a great day. Thank you.
Good morning, everyone. Live from Studio 7 at CNN world headquarters, the news and information you need for Tuesday, the 16th of November.
Thanksgiving travel chaos. Calls for airline passengers to refuse body scans and pat-downs the day before the holiday?
Six months after Nashville's historic flood, the Opryland Hotel reopens with a glitzy multimillion-dollar facelift.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have put our heart and souls into this place, and to see the devastation from this rainfall and these floods is something that just tears your heart in half.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: And we go whale watching. Our CNN iReporters capture one of the best videos of the day off the coast of Mexico.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris. Those stories and your comments right here, right now in the CNN NEWSROOM.
New video right now, is that true, of Kate Middleton's parents? Let's roll that in as I tell you, love is in the air.
A royal engagement. Prince William, heir to the heir of the British throne, plans to marry longtime girlfriend Kate Middleton. There you see her parents.
Our Richard Quest is in London.
Richard, I understand that this is a joyous occasion, but come on. You don't interrupt a cabinet meeting for this news. These are serious times, my friend.
This is an era of austerity. There is not time for banging on the tables in unadulterated joy.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm going to throw this right back at you and straight down your throat. HARRIS: Uh-oh.
QUEST: If this isn't such a nice, good, happy-feeling story, Tony Harris, would you tell me why you are leading your 11:00 Eastern bulletin with the story of Prince William marrying, being engaged, betrothed to Kate Middleton?
The two have been together for the best part of eight years. When they tie the knot next year, sometime spring or summer, it will be three decades to the year, of course, since Charles and Diana.
The symbolism, also, he proposed in Kenya recently, in October. It was in Kenya that the queen found out she had acceded to the throne after the death of her father. So it's a good story, and you need to just live it.
(LAUGHTER)
HARRIS: I will answer your question, Richard Quest. We're leading the show with this story because I was overruled in our morning meeting. So there.
All right. So I think America really likes this couple. I really do.
They seem to be in love. Here's the question: Do Brits like this couple or do Brits love this couple?
QUEST: Good question. That's the first one so far in this interview.
Firstly, Brits do not know enough about Kate Middleton to make that judgment. But what they do love is the sense that this is a true, natural, loving relationship.
They met at university. They have fallen out. They've broken up. They've gotten back together again. It's a modern couple.
It's the exact opposite of that stilted, young girl/older man that we saw with Diana and Charles. This is all about the next century.
HARRIS: I think she's stunning. I really do.
QUEST: Oh, yes.
HARRIS: Does she have any of Diana's star qualities? Because the comparisons will come. You know it.
QUEST: Yes. And it's a different type in a different era.
The two are virtually living together as man and wife anyway, so it's not as if it's all hush-hush, nod-nod, say no more. The truth is, the British people will enjoy this wedding next year, as indeed will everybody else except you, who will be sitting there on your own watching some other -- lord knows what program. But the rest of the world will watch this because it's that mood of the nation. It speaks to love, it speaks to romance. And, yes, it speaks to a princess who has made good.
HARRIS: You have got people over there storming the Conservative Party headquarters because you're cutting funding to education for kids who can't afford the kind of education that Middleton and the prince were able to afford. These are serious times, I tell you, Richard Quest.
But here's my last question for you. What is the protocol for an announcement like this? Kate says yes, and then who gets the next couple of calls, and in what order?
QUEST: All right. Kate obviously says yes. That's key and core to the whole proceedings. And then, I would imagine, obviously, they told Charles, William's father, and her parents.
Now, remember, Charles -- despite what has happened before, Charles is the epitome of a loving father, no question about it. The way he's brought up these boys is absolutely perfect.
In that sense, he will have been interested in one thing and one thing only, and that is William's happiness. Then they will have gone to the queen and told her.
She has been informed, and next month, the Privy Council, which is anarchic institution, will give their approval because the royal marriage -- and history requires the approval. The prime minister, all of that banging on the table this morning, and the cheering, the prime minister, who also has to give his approval, will then of course -- spoke to William this morning and said William was very excited.
It is a bit convoluted. It is a bit cumbersome. But you know something? Tradition is what's made this country.
And, frankly, it's tradition. It's what people like you spend good money coming to see. So get your wallet out.
HARRIS: All right, done.
Richard, as always, a pleasure. Thank you, sir. And see you on ail Ali's show a little later in the day.
Let's get to Josh Levs.
Josh, anything more on Kate Middleton? She's stunning. She's a great-looking gal. They seem to love one another, and we're happy for love.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, I heard that conversation between you and Richard. You are so going to watch this wedding.
HARRIS: I am.
LEVS: I remember being a little kid and seeing it. It's amazing.
Look, and since we all want to know a lot about her -- everyone's talking about her around the world today -- I'm here with some facts.
So, who is this woman that has won the heart of one of the world's most desirable bachelors? Of course you want to know.
Well, first of all, she is not a royal or even aristocratic lineage. Let's get a little more information here.
Catherine Elizabeth Middleton, born January 9, 1982, she's the oldest of three children. Her father Michael is a former airline pilot, and mother Carol a former flight attendant. They run a successful mail order business that sells toys and party paraphernalia.
Look at this. You know, once in a while you hear a story like this. Kate had a school girl crush on him.
HARRIS: Yes. Yes.
LEVS: But, I mean, what school girl in the country didn't, right?
HARRIS: Well, that's the Tom Cruise story, right? And Katie Holmes, right?
LEVS: Yes. You hear something like that. I once heard Melissa Gilbert say the guy she married to, she had his poster up in her locker once upon a time. So once in a while you see one of these things come true. She was dubbed "Princess in Waiting" because she had the poster of him back on her wall.
A lot more information, as always, at CNN.com. But obviously, Tony, she's the woman that the world's talking about today.
HARRIS: Oh, yes. Yes, I'm having a little fun, but, yes, I'll be watching it.
LEVS: You'll be watching. We'll all be watching.
HARRIS: It will be glamorous and gorgeous. And they're a great looking couple.
All right, Josh. Appreciate it. Thank you.
LEVS: You got it.
HARRIS: Let's get a market check.
We're better than 90 minutes into the trading day. Let's take a look at the numbers on the Big Board.
The Dow Industrials down. Oh, boy, we've got a pretty steep sell-off here. We may have to get to our Money team a little early to find out what's going on with stocks. And the Nasdaq down as well. We're following these numbers throughout the morning, throughout the day for you, in the CNN NEWSROOM.
And we are online this morning, just like you, watching Jennifer Grey's stock soar. Take a look.
She is making it happen. The "Dirty Dancing" star and her partner earned two perfect scores on last night's "Dancing With the Stars" semifinal.
Watch for more hot stories trending online in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: OK. Time to go cross country now.
We begin with a pretty sad story out of Arizona. A hero dog rescued from Afghanistan is accidentally euthanized at an animal shelter. How did this happen?
The dog, Target, saved dozens of soldiers by alerting them to a suicide bomber. The owner, as you would imagine, is devastated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SGT. CHRISTOPHER DUKE, RESCUED DOG FROM AFGHANISTAN: That dog and I went through so much over there. When you go through such an intense experience with somebody, albeit a dog, you just grow a very, very strong bond.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Boy. But what happened here?
To Chicago next, where a coyote was spotted running through the streets. But don't bother to call animal control on this one. A supervisor says the coyote is no threat and actually performs a service. He wears a tracking collar and helps deal with rats and mice.
And they're decking the halls and hanging out the "Help Wanted" signs at a Florida mall. When is the last time you actually saw this sight?
Retailers there say holiday hiring is off to a good start. They expect to increase the number of workers by 25 percent. More than a dozen stores at the mall are hiring right now.
So, the holiday traveling rush is facing a new challenge. A Web site calling on Americans to opt out of certain security procedures. Really? The boycott is being called for one of the busiest travel days of the year.
Josh is here with this one.
And Josh, what is the site actually calling for? LEVS: Yes. Well, let me tell you. It's OptOutDay.com, and they are talking about this taking place next week, the day before Thanksgiving.
They have all sorts of information on here. They post some videos as well about what security is like at different airports right now and what their views are.
Let's go to the video in General of the security that people are facing. I want people to understand what this is about.
HARRIS: Thank you.
LEVS: This was started by one guy, and you're going to hear from him in just a moment. And he's frustrated. He is one of the people around the country who feels that things have gone too far, and specifically has a problem with advanced imaging technology.
So he's created a thing called National Opt Out Day. He's asking anyone who is asked to go through the advanced imaging technology -- and Tony, that's what we keep hearing about, is these machines that they use that can create basically an image of your body. You have the right to opt out, and he is telling people, encouraging people to opt out of using those, and instead, go ahead and accept the pat-down, but do it in public, in front of everyone. He says he wants over the Thanksgiving table Americans to be having a conversation about what those pat-downs look like, about how much is too much.
His name is Brian Sodergren. I spoke with him a little this morning. Here's what he told me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN SODERGREN, NATIONAL OPT OUT: I thought what was happening with the new procedures, with the body scanners and with the enhanced pat-downs, are really a gross invasion of privacy. And there's got to be some reasonable standard that we can apply that keeps us safe, but also doesn't violate people's privacy in the way that it's currently being done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: And, in fact, he told me that he thinks it would be fine to go through the metal detector. He says he actually thinks it would be fine to have people go through these special machines that can see if you have some kind of chemical on you as well. But the current system, he feels, goes too far.
Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SODERGREN: If you set off some bells and whistles, and you need a secondary screening, and they need to get you in one of these, I think that's fine and I think that's a reasonable position to take.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: All right. So he's getting a lot of people talking right now, Tony. He put this online, and I'm seeing a bunch of Web sites out there posting this on their main page, more and more people talking about it.
One of the concerns, obviously, is what it will do to the whole travel process. You have all these people flying the day before Thanksgiving. And will this procedure get all these people to kind of slow down the process because they are going to be opting out of one thing, going for another thing?
You're going to need extra TSA workers for all that. We'll see over the coming week how big this goes. But if this boycott really takes off, then it could add to some people's hassle out there that day.
HARRIS: OK. Keep us posted on this. Will you, Josh?
LEVS: You got it.
HARRIS: All right. Thank you, man.
Two teams with history and a lot of bad blood, the Eagles against the Redskins. Oh, boy, we have got the big plays, and there were several.
Where's Rafer? There he is, from "Morning Express" with Robin Meade.
The Michael Vick show, let's talk about that in a minute. All right?
RAFER WEIGEL, SPORTS ANCHOR, HLN: One of the most amazing stories we've seen this year.
HARRIS: And do we believe in redemption or not in America? We will talk about it in just a minute.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: OK. So, Michael Vick on the biggest stage -- Rafer, on the biggest stage of football, short of the Super Bowl, right, and the conference champion games and the Super Bowl?
WEIGEL: Right.
HARRIS: "Monday Night Football."
WEIGEL: Right.
HARRIS: He really performed like a man possessed last night.
WEIGEL: Oh, and that -- HARRIS: Walk us through this.
WEIGEL: This is an understatement, Tony. I mean, regardless of how you may feel about Michael Vick.
HARRIS: And there are people who will never forgive Michael Vick for what he facilitated with respect to animals and dogs. Right? OK.
WEIGEL: Understandably so.
HARRIS: Understandably.
WEIGEL: Put that aside, we are seeing the greatest comeback in sports that I have seen in my lifetime.
HARRIS: Are you kidding me?
WEIGEL: In my lifetime.
HARRIS: That's not an overstatement? Come on, Rafer.
WEIGEL: What we saw was a record-breaking performance last night. The first play from scrimmage was a touchdown.
HARRIS: Yes. Yes.
WEIGEL: He threw for four touchdowns, he ran for two. He became the first quarterback in history to pass for over 300 yards and run for over 50.
We have not seen a performance like this on "Monday Night Football." The only thing close to rivaling this might be when Brett Favre came out and beat the Raiders after his father died. But, statistically, is nowhere close than this.
HARRIS: Why is he seemingly so much better now than he was during his days here in Atlanta when he was playing quarterback with the Falcons?
WEIGEL: That's literally the $100 million question.
HARRIS: What is going on?
WEIGEL: This man, 18 months ago, was in a federal prison.
HARRIS: He was in jail.
WEIGEL: Eighteen months ago in federal prison. If you told me two years ago Michael Vick will become the most exciting player in the NFL, I would have laughed at you. Everybody would have.
This man doesn't even have a shoe contract. Nike is giving him free shoes, but he doesn't have a shoe contract. You're not seeing his commercials. That's about to change.
HARRIS: Is it possible he is the best football player on the planet right now at this moment? He beat Peyton Manning last week.
WEIGEL: Last week.
HARRIS: A guy recognized as the best quarterback, and some will say the best quarterback ever.
WEIGEL: They're saying the best NFL player right now in the league.
HARRIS: Yes.
WEIGEL: And that's astonishing considering this man's history. This man is now the face of the NFL. I mean, think about that.
HARRIS: How can that be when this is a guy who went to prison for doing something that was absolutely horrible?
WEIGEL: It has to --
HARRIS: And again, folks will -- so what do we think about redemption stories? What do we really think about second chances? Will America embrace this guy again under the auspices of we believe in second chances and we believe in redemption stories?
What do you think?
WEIGEL: I think we will. Are you kidding? We are a forgiving country. The only way this guy can perform on this level if is he was truly a changed man. He cannot go back and change the past, but at 30 years old, to be this good --
HARRIS: Dogs were dead on his property.
WEIGEL: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Unforgivable in many, many ways. But he has taken accountability for his crimes. He appears to be a changed man.
HARRIS: He's performing community service in the Philadelphia area.
WEIGEL: I mean, it's -- look, regardless of how you may feel about him, it's an incredible story. And it's just getting started.
We're still in the middle of the season, and he plays the Giants on Sunday. If he keeps going, he's the NFL Most Valuable Player. And that's --
HARRIS: That is possible for him?
WEIGEL: That is possible.
HARRIS: Could the league ever embrace a guy with this kind of baggage as its poster boy? Do you understand what we're talking about here?
WEIGEL: It's astonishing, I know. You and I understand it, man, but it is absolutely astonishing.
HARRIS: There are more games he's got to perform, this, that and the other. At the end of this could be a literal pot of gold for him. Right?
WEIGEL: Literal. He's a free agent after this year. He's making -- and after that, it's open season to get Michael Vick. And the Eagles, boy do they look like they traded the right quarterback, sending Donovan McNabb to Washington.
HARRIS: So you know there is a new study out that says that teams that fist-bump a lot, right, they perform better as individuals, as teams.
(LAUGHTER)
WEIGEL: They actually sat down and they actually watched 30 teams for much of last season, counted how many times people did fist- bumps, chest-bumps, high-fives, and so on and so forth, and co-related that to a team's success.
HARRIS: We've got to do it.
WEIGEL: And they said the guys who fist-bump more were passing the ball more.
HARRIS: Right.
WEIGEL: But they think it will translate to other sports. Not recommended in an office setting.
HARRIS: Look, NEWSROOM can be a full-contact sport.
WEIGEL: That's right. You can do the chest bump. But we want to leave it at that, otherwise you're going to HR.
HARRIS: We're back in a moment.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Nice.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BUSINESS REPORT)
HARRIS: Let's get you caught up on top stories.
AAA predicting a nice rebound in holiday travel this year thanks to the improving economy. Forty-two million Americans are expected to go by plane, train or automobile this Thanksgiving, an 11 percent increase over last year.
President Obama's new children's book is in stores today. "Of There I Sing" is written as a letter to his daughters. It tells the stories of groundbreaking Americans like George Washington, Georgia O'Keefe, and Jackie Robinson.
Sotheby's says a 24 carat pink diamond should fetch as much as $38 million at auction today in Geneva. That would be a new record. The diamond was once owned by Harry Winston, New York's jeweler to the stars.
OK. So many of you are online, possibly ordering your favorite Beatles songs through iTunes. We thought we'd help you out by giving you the top 10 most played Beatles song.
Number 10: "Here Comes the Sun."
Number 9: "Something."
Number 8: "Help."
Number 7: "All You Need is Love."
Number 5: "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Oh, I love this, "Come Together." Oh, this is good here.
We're checking your memory on Beatles tunes. Here are the top five most played songs.
Number 5: "Hey Jude."
Derek, you like that one? That's a good one? What's your favorite?
DEREK DODGE, CNN PRODUCER: "Come Together."
HARRIS: "Come Together"? OK.
Oh, that's how this ended up being the music for the segment. Very nice producing.
Number 4: "Eleanor Rigby."
Number 3: "Yesterday."
Number 2: "Come Together."
And the number one top Beatles song, "Let it Be."
All right. Everybody is still buzzing about the Beatles and this announcement today. Right?
DODGE: Yes, a big announcement. They teased is yesterday by saying it was a day you would not forget.
HARRIS: Right.
DODGE: OK? So it's a long time in coming.
HARRIS: OK.
DODGE: Here it is. The Beatles now on iTunes.
Why is this a big deal?
HARRIS: Tell me why it's a big deal, because we have been talking about it forever, and now it's finally happened. But why was it so talked about for so long? Why is it a big deal?
DODGE: A big deal because Apple controls 90 percent of the online music share. And then you have the Beatles, who, last year, in 2009, sold the third largest number of album sales in the United States.
HARRIS: OK. OK.
DODGE: So, the Beatles selling a lot of music, Apple selling all of the online sales. Why weren't they online?
HARRIS: Yes.
DODGE: Well, they have been trading lawsuits since 1978. OK?
HARRIS: Do we know what was at issue. What is this? What did you pull up here?
DODGE: This is a trends map. We're looking at where people in the world are tweeting about the Beatles. And clearly, you can see, probably no mistake, over in Europe everyone's talking about it.
HARRIS: Virtually everywhere, yes. OK. I'm wondering if it's a bigger story than the engagement announcement today, but it's pretty hot.
DODGE: It's pretty hot.
HARRIS: What else are you finding, Derek?
DODGE: Well, I wanted to look at the tweets and see what people are saying.
HARRIS: OK.
DODGE: So, here's a tweet from Austin saying, " One cool thing about this Beatles iTunes thing, you can watch their first U.S. concert in its entirety."
So, not just music, but, also, there's video on iTunes from Beatles.
HARRIS: Yes. Oh, that's good.
DODGE: But I've got to tell you, there are a lot of cynical tweets out there. Some saying, well, what's the big deal? I already had the Beatles music. I don't need to pay Apple now for it.
But -- including a tweet from Stephen Fry, the comedian, saying, "So Prince William is finally available in the iTunes store and Paul McCartney is at last getting married." A little joke there.
HARRIS: OK.
DODGE: But here's another tweet from T.J., who is saying, "This is a great day for Steve Jobs and I'm happy for him. It's a cynical world, but he's filled with childlike wonder over the Beatles."
HARRIS: Oh, boy. OK.
DODGE: Yes, right.
HARRIS: All right.
DODGE: And here's a little observation for you, though. If you want the CDs, the complete Beatles box set on iTunes is $129.
HARRIS: Yes.
DODGE: If you want it in digital format from iTunes, it's going to cost you $149. Just a little observation there.
HARRIS: Good deal. Good deal.
And this is --
DODGE: Of course you can read all about it at CNN.com/tech.
HARRIS: Good stuff. All right, Derek. See you next hour. Thank you, sir.
And still to come, back from the flood. A landmark Nashville resort reopens after months of repairs and renovations. A live interview from Music City, next, in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: You know, we have several stories developing right now. Let's bring you a bit of a bird's eye view from our tower cams.
At the White House, preparations are underway for the Medal of Honor ceremony. President Obama awards the medal to the first living recipient since Vietnam.
In Dallas, the groundbreaking ceremony gets underway this hour for George W. Bush's presidential library. The center is on the campus of Southern Methodist University.
And in Los Angeles, county supervisors voted today on whether to ban plastic grocery bags. The proposed ordinance would also include a ten cent surcharge on paper bags.
The floodwaters that washed through Nashville, Tennessee in May shutdown one of its most popular tourist destinations. The flooding left up to 10 feet of water in some parts of the Opryland Resort and Convention Center. The hotel reopened yesterday -- how about this for a good news story? -- reopened yesterday after months of repairs and renovations.
Colin Reed is Chairman and CEO of Gaylord Entertainment, which owns the Opryland Resort. It is good to see you, sir. Thanks for your time this morning.
Got to tell you, it took, what, six months, but you managed to reopen. How much business did this flood cost you?
COLIN REED, CHAIRMAN & CEO, GAYLORD ENTERTAINMENT: Well, it cost us about 325,000 group room nights in Nashville, plus a whole bunch of transient business. It was a big hit not just to our company but the whole of the community.
But the good news is we have booked a lot of business over the last few months and particularly over the week we've booked a lot of business for our Christmas program.
So we are very excited about being open as of yesterday morning, and it's going to culminate in a very big grand opening celebration this weekend and it's going to be a lot of fun.
HARRIS: Oh, that's terrific.
Colin, if you would, take us back through the first few days when you were taking in the scope of the damage. How bad was it, really?
REED: It was awful. I remember that morning of May 3rd on Monday morning, from my office at 5:30 in the morning, and looking at this just massive amount of floodwater that engulfed not just our wonderful assets here in Nashville but most of downtown Nashville as well. And we took on our ground floor and subterranean areas about an 80 percent hit. So all of our technology systems, all of our atriums got smacked.
So our folks have worked very, very hard here over the last 6 1/2 months to get everything up and rung.
HARRIS: Colin, did you ever for a moment consider shutting it down?
REED: Shutting it down permanently?
HARRIS: Yes.
REED: No, no, no. This hotel is -- it's the finest convention hotel in America bar none, and, you know, so it's cost a couple of hundred million dollars plus of money, about $70 million for preopening.
But, no, no, this hotel is a fabulous, fabulous asset, one of the very best in the world and no, that thought never crossed our mind for a second. HARRIS: Yes. What about your employees? I know you had to lay off something in the neighborhood of 1,700. How many are back?
REED: Well, what we did is we kept those folks on the payroll for two months, and then we said to our people that we let go, if you want to get temporary work through the summertime, we'll deal with your health and welfare plans the way we did. And so we tried to encourage them to come back to us.
We recruited about 80 percent of those 17,080 folks and then we've re-recruited another 500. So it's very good for the city of Nashville.
HARRIS: Colin, the best this weekend with the grand reopening. It should be glorious for you and it's a good news story for us.
REED: Thank you very much. And I want to thank CNN for the way you covered the story. It was a big hit to the city of Nashville, you guys and Anderson did a fabulous job. Thank you.
HARRIS: Terrific. All right, Colin, the best this weekend. Thanks for your time.
REED: Thank you a lot. Thanks for having us.
HARRIS: A rare sighting for some of our iReporters in Mexico. They were hanging out in a boat off Cabo, when a group of breeching whales decided to show up and decided to show up for their photo op.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: -- they go through the investigation process.
HARRIS: Did you watch the football game?
MARCIANO: You know, I turned on the second quarter, and I was like what happened?
HARRIS: Yes, it was like 35-7, right?
MARCIANO: Something crazy and then it got even worse.
HARRIS: He looked like -- Vick looked like he was playing were I kids.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Hey, Rob, look at some of these pictures here.
So we go from, what, blustery one day and cleaning up the next and this mangled mess. North Seattle, a scaffold just collapsed here. That took place yesterday, knocking down some cable and phone lines. Good news here, no one was hurt.
MARCIANO: Yes, they had themselves in wind. HARRIS: Puget Sound?
MARCIANO: West part of Seattle down through Tacoma, especially. Port Angeles area got it as well, higher amounts along the coast. But they got hit pretty hard. And this is the time of the year, Tony, October, November, where the Pacific Northwest gets their wind storms. And this didn't look so bad comes in, but obviously packed a bit of punch there. A lot of people without power as well. Obviously, scaffolding is easy to come down, but some of those big trees, you know, takes some doing.
HARRIS: And that system moves east, right?
MARCIANO: Yes, it is and a lot of wind warnings up. Pretty strong onshore flow with this, so there's going to be some rain, there's going to be some wind as well. And we have onshore flow warnings -- wind warnings that are up for parts of the interior mountain west and also some winter storm warnings. We could see from six to maybe eighteen inches of snowfall on top of what these folks have already seen. And some spots have seen 15, like Red Mountain Pass and Colorado. Telluride, Colorado has six inches.
And just to share the love here, this is Steamboat. They're not open just yet, but -- when I was a kid, I would look at the picnic table on the back porch and think, no school tomorrow. Why do the homework? Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?
All right, this is what's going on on the East Coast. We have got a pretty big storm system. It's not that potent, but the back half of this is starting to get some energy and we're starting to see some storms packing bunch in through Memphis and Tennessee and Huntsville, and this storm will gather itself and get into the East Coast.
There might be areas of localized flooding. Not down south, this is where we need the rain, but across the northeast the ground is more saturated so you might see some localized flooding. But generally speaking, it will continue to be kind of wet and damp and kind of Novemberlike, which also happens this time of year across parts of the East Cast.
HARRIS: You want to see some cool video?
MARCIANO: Yes, what do we have today?
HARRIS: We have some more pets losing their minds.
MARCIANO: Love that.
HARRIS: But take a look at this, pretty amazing off Mexico. Some of our iReporters were sailing near --
MARCIANO: Whale watchers.
HARRIS: Yes. Whales getting really close to the boat, too. Take a look at this. Did we see them pop up here in a second? Where do we have this cued in?
MARCIANO: Oh, nice, nice.
HARRIS: That's pretty good, huh?
MARCIANO: Sometimes I feel like the whales are in cahoots with the boat owners. Give them a piece of the pie.
HARRIS: They know we need this video.
OK, you heard the phrase, let sleeping dogs lie, right? Check this out, the same apparently applies to cats. One parrot finding that out the hard way. Have some. Little guy just doesn't get the hint. Enough is enough, finally kitty has had enough. Wait for it. Have some. C'mon.
MARCIANO: Eat yourself out, PacMan. Yesterday was the kitty against the gators. I love it.
HARRIS: We got to go. Look at the parrot, you're so mean.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Let's get you caught up on "Top Stories" now.
China's state media report, eight people, some of them welders, have been detained in yesterday's high rise fire in Shanghai. The building was being renovated; 53 people were killed, at least 70 others injured.
There is going to be a royal wedding in Britain next year. Prince William and his long-time girlfriend Kate Middleton are engaged, and we have just learned -- listen to this, this is an aw moment. William gave Kate his mother's engagement ring.
And ground is being broken this morning for the George W. Bush library being built on the Southern Methodist University Campus in Dallas and expected to open in 2013.
We have some new poll numbers just out on Nancy Pelosi. Paul Steinhauser part of "The Best Political Team on Television" joining us live from the Political Desk in Washington.
And, Paul, good to see you, good morning. What's crossing right now?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Good morning, Tony. Brand new stuff.
As you mentioned, brand new poll from CNN/Opinion Research Corporation, a national survey. Check out this first number, this is of Democrats only and it's about Nancy Pelosi. As you know, she's running for House minority leader, the top Democrat, they will soon be in the minority in the new Congress.
And look, Democrats are divided on this. You know, her move is a little controversial, some Democrats are pushing back, 45 percent say, yes, we would like to have Nancy Pelosi as our leader in the minority. Another 47 percent say let's pick another Democrat.
Here's why, go to the next screen and check this out. Among all Americans, only one out of three, Tony, have a favorable opinion of Nancy Pelosi. Fifty-two percent say they have an unfavorable opinion of her and 15 percent of unsure.
I'm going to ask Jerry Moorhead (ph), our cameraman, to zoom right in here. You can see, Nancy Pelosi in our brand new poll is at the top of the CNN Political Ticker.
Tony, we also have numbers about John Boehner, the House minority leader right now who will become the next speaker of the House. And check out these numbers, this is interesting as well. Three out of ten say they have a favorable opinion of Boehner, 22 percent unfavorable opinion.
But check that out at the bottom, 48 percent, 48 percent of those we questioned say they don't know enough about Boehner yet to form an opinion. Something tells me that when he becomes the House speaker, that 48 percent is going to drop, Tony.
HARRIS: Yes, OK. What do we Americans think about the Senate party leaders?
STEINHAUSER: The Senate party leaders were just reelected just a few minutes ago on Capitol Hill. Let's start with Mitch McConnell, he was the Senate minority leader, he will continue to be the Senate minority leader.
What do Americans think? Well, 26 percent, give him a thumbs up, 23 percent unfavorable. And look at that, 51 percent don't know enough about Mitch McConnell to really form an opinion.
What about Harry Reid? Was the majority leader, going to be the majority leader in the next Congress? And you can see right there that an unfavorable opinion. Only 28 percent say they think of him in him in a positive light, 35 percent unfavorable, and only 37 percent say they don't know enough about Harry Reid to form an opinion.
Tony, there you go, the latest right here.
HARRIS: There you go. All right, Paul, appreciate it, thank you, sir.
Your next political update in an hour and for the latest political news, you know where to go, it's CNNPolitics.com.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: OK, the committee that's been hearing the allegations against Congressman Charles Rangel is back in session. Let's listen in.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS) REP. ZOE LOFGREN (D-CA), CHAIRWOMAN, STANDARDS OF OFFICIAL CONDUCT COMMITTEE: Count II, Conduct in Violation of Code of Ethics for Government Service, has been proved by clear and convincing evidence.
Count III, Conduct in Violation of the House Gift Rule, the committee was unable to reach a conclusion by clear and convincing evidence and is divided on a four to four vote.
Count IV, Conduct in Violation of Postal Service Laws and Franking Commission Regulations, the committee found violation by clear and convincing evidence.
Count V, Conduct in Violation of the Franking Statute, the committee found that that conduct was completely covered by the conviction in Count IV, and the interpretation of the statute was more properly for the executive and judicial branches.
Count VI, Conduction in Violation of the House Office Building Commission Regulations, we found a violation by clear and convincing evidence.
Count VII, Conduct in Violation of the Purpose Law and Member's Handbook, we found a violation by clear and convincing evidence.
Count VIII, Conduct in Violation of the Letterhead Rule, the committee found that was proven by clear and convincing evidence.
Count IX, Conduct in Violation of the -- of the Ethics in Government Act and House Rule XXVI, the financial disclosure provisions, we found a violation by clear and convincing evidence.
Count X, Conduct in Violation of the Code of Ethics for Government Service Relating to Lenox (ph) Terrors (ph), the committee found conviction by clear and convincing evidence.
Count XI, Conduct in Violation of the Code of Ethics for Government Service Clause II, we found a conviction by clear and convincing evidence.
Count XII, Conduct in Violation of the Code of Conduct: Letter and Spirit of House Rules, the committee found that to be proved by clear and convincing evidence.
Count XIII, Conduct in Violation of the Code of Conduct Reflecting Discreditably upon the House, we found -- the majority found that to be proven by clear and convincing evidence on a vote seven to one.
I would note that that does conclude the deliberations of the Administrative Subcommittee. I would note that our deliberations are covered by Rule 7 of the committee on standards of official conduct, which prohibit discussion of our deliberations publicly and require us to keep the confidentiality of our session. I would ask members of the public to respect our obligations relative to the rules. Before asking the ranking member if you would like to make a brief comment, I would just like to conclude by saying that none of the members of this committee are volunteers. This has been a difficult assignment, time-consuming, and we have approached our duties diligently, and that includes every member of the subcommittee.
We have tried to act with fairness, led only by the fact of the law. And I believe that we have accomplished that mission. I do give thanks to each of the members, who've worked so hard to do the right thing, as well this as staff, who has -- have worked extraordinarily hard and many, many hours to present this case to us.
With that, I'd like to turn to the ranking member, Mr. McCaul, for any brief comments he may have.
REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL (R-TX), RANKING MEMBER: Thank you, Madam Chair.
Just let me say first that, as you mentioned, no one asked for this assignment. Sitting in judgment of a fellow member, a colleague, is a very difficult, but I -- I believe that you, Madam Chair, and all the members of this subcommittee have handled yourselves in a very nonpartisan, professional manner and dignified manner, which I hope will restore credibility to the House of Representatives.
As you mentioned, Madam Chair, we were able to reach consensus on 12 of the 13 counts, with Count III being a split vote, four to four. When we look at Count XIII, it talks about reflecting credibility on the House and discussing dishonor. I'm hopeful, as we move forward with this matter into the next phase, that at the end of the day we will be able to begin an era of transparency and accountability, a new era of ethics that will restore the credibility of this House, the people's House.
And with that, I yield back.
LOFGREN: Thank you.
The gentleman yields back, and I would note just technically it was 11 of 13, because we ruled the V into IV.
I would just like to note the next procedures. We will be meeting briefly just to approve the brief report that goes to the full committee. After we recess from this session, I will be contacting the ranking member of the full committee so that we can schedule the sanction hearing that is the next step in this process under our rules. And we will certainly give notice of that.
MCCAUL: Madam Chair, may I just make one clarification?
LOFGREN: Certainly.
MCCAUL: We did achieve consensus, though.
LOFGREN: We did. We did.
MCCAUL: I think that's --
LOFGREN: We did achieve consensus. You are correct.
With that, we will recess to the closed session this afternoon to briefly go through the language. And thanks to all of you.
HARRIS: OK. The Ethics Committee has come back with its decision on Charles Rangel. As you know, he was facing 13 allegations including failure to pay taxes on a home in the Dominican Republic, misusing a rent-controlled apartment in New York for political purposes, improperly using the mail service and his congressional letterhead.
Let's get to our congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar, she is on the Hill. And, Brianna, I just sort of laid out some of the allegations, 13 in all. How did the Ethics Committee find?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, 13 allegations having to do really with four different incidents. And what they decided on is that he is essentially -- they don't use the word guilt, Tony, but this plays out very much like a trial and they have, in essence, found Charles Rangel guilty of 11 out of 12 counts, if that makes sense, because they rolled one of the counts into another one. So in the end, there were really 12 counts and they have found him guilty of 11.
This is how this will play out. You just heard the Zoe Lofgren, the chairwoman of this subcommittee, saying that they're going to prepare a report for the full House. And then they go to something called the sanctions hearing. If you were looking at a trial, this would be like going to sentencing.
So we're waiting to see exactly when that is going to be, but that is the -- where we're going to see exactly what is Charles Rangel up against here, is it -- the worst thing that could happen is expulsion, but no one's expecting that to happen, because that's normally reserved for a member of Congress who has been found guilty of criminal activity in a court of law, and Rangel has not been.
So there are differing levels of rebukes he could face. Perhaps it would be a censure, perhaps it would be just a letter of reprimand, some sort of slap on the wrist, maybe he would pay a fine. And depending on the level of rebuke, the full House may or may not have to sign off on it. But that's the next step really, the sentencing phase here.
HARRIS: Hey, Brianna, do we have any more clarity today as to why Charlie Rangel decided not to mount a quote/unquote "case" for himself? And why the committee decided to move forward without a formal presentation from the congressman?
KEILAR: No, I mean, we have to take him at his word yesterday. He said that he wasn't mounting the defense, that he was boycotting these proceedings because he didn't have counsel.
Remember, he said yesterday that his counsel, when he told them that he wouldn't be able to guarantee payment of legal fees anymore, that they withdrew. And that law firm, Zukerman Spader (ph), did sort of run counter to that saying that they tried to maintain the relationship with him.
But the committee proceed, we can only presume, because they felt as if they had a lot of facts before them. We heard the chief counsel who is really here the chief prosecutor saying that he felt like these facts were complete. That subcommittee, that ethics subcommittee met behind closed doors after Rangel said that he was going to really not stick around. And discussing between the four Democrats and four Republicans, they decided they had enough to proceed here, Tony.
HARRIS: And I would suppose the next thing is to hear something from Charles Rangel. Still early, this news just happening, but that's something that we would anticipate to come at some point today, correct?
KEILAR: And we're outside of his office waiting for that. You know, he tends to --
HARRIS: Yes.
KEILAR: He tends to speak. So we're going to be waiting to see if he's going to comment on that. Even if he's going to tell us that it's just that he doesn't think he should comment on that, I think that we should expect that he'll probably say something today.
HARRIS: I think you're right. Rangel has called his actions maybe stupid, maybe negligent, but not corrupt.
KEILAR: But not corrupt, he said. And actually, the chief counsel agreed with him on that point. And yet, the sloppiness is what the chief counsel said got him in trouble. You have to be accountable and do things in a less than haphazard way if you're a member of Congress.
HARRIS: OK. Keep us posted on this, Brianna. Thank you. Appreciate it.
