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President Obama to Sign Tax Cut Extension; 'The Big Play'; Troops Armed With Holiday Cheer; Tax Compromise Bill Passes; Capitol Hill Chase Crews; Storms Targeting West Coast; Sick Teen Gets Help From a Friend; Hackers Target Public Wi-Fi

Aired December 17, 2010 - 11:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Live from Studio 7, I'm Don Lemon, with the big stories for Friday, December 18th.

North Korea is threatening to attack Seoul. That's because South Korea plans military drills off Yeonpyeong Island this weekend. North Korea shelled the island three weeks ago when the South held exercises. The new threat comes as U.S. troubleshooter Bill Richardson visits North Korea.

CNN's Wolf Blitzer is with Richardson, and he will be reporting live from Pyongyang today in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is sequestered at a country estate in Suffolk, England, today. He's out on bail. He's accused in a sex crime in Sweden, and Assange calls the criminal charges a politically-motivated smear campaign. WikiLeaks has publicized hundreds of secret U.S. documents, some of them embarrassing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIAN ASSANGE, WIKILEAKS FOUNDER: It's very nice to be out in the sun and amongst (INAUDIBLE) and courageous praise. But we should remember that this is not the beginning of the end. Rather, it is merely the end of the beginning. We gave (ph) credible reports today regarding (INAUDIBLE), confirming what we heard yesterday, that there is something like an espionage indictment secretly against me in the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: A federal judge in Florida is hearing another challenge to the health care reform law today. Twenty states brought this case. The hearing comes days after a federal judge in Virginia ruled a key plank of the law unconstitutional. That's a mandate requiring all Americans buy health insurance or pay a fine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NANCY-ANN DEPARLE, DIRECTOR, WHITE HOUSE OFFICE OF HEALTH REFORM: It's an important part of ensuring that we can ban this practice that insurance companies have had in the past of saying that, if you have a pre-existing condition, you can't get insurance. That's something that you saw as a surgeon, I'm sure. You have patients coming in who might need surgery that can't get insurance because they had a pre- existing condition.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right.

DEPARLE: In order to do away with that, which most people want, this requirement that everyone who can afford has insurance is an important piece of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: You can bet we're going to be talking a lot more about that. Make sure you watch Dr. Sanjay Gupta's CNN special this weekend. It's called "Challenging Health Care." It's Saturday and Sunday mornings at 7:30 a.m. Eastern.

Now our lead story here on CNN.

Your taxes will not be going up in 2011. President Obama will sign a bill extending Bush-era tax cuts, and he'll do it this afternoon.

CNN's Brianna Keilar is covering it from the Capitol for us. Dan Lothian is at the White House. He's on the beat there.

Dan, a victory for the president? When do we expect him to sign it?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It is a big victory for this president. In fact, I was talking to a senior administration official that told me they are feeling pretty good about that vote last night. The president is expected to sign that bill at 3:50 this afternoon and then make some remarks.

You know, you just rewind the last few days or so -- in fact, into last week -- when the president and his top advisers were expressing confidence that they could actually get a win on this particular tax cut deal, this agreement with the senior leaders in the Republican Party. There were a lot of doubts, though, because there was so much division within the Democratic Party.

And I describe it this way -- you know, it's a football game, and you look up at the scoreboard now. The president does have a win, but he does come away and the team comes away with a lot of bruises, because there are a lot of Democrats out there who are still unhappy because they feel that this is something that this country simply can't afford.

And frankly, it's a temporary victory, if you will, because, as you know, this extension is for only two years. And so, during the midst of the 2012 elections, or campaign season, this will have to be revisited again, Don. So, yes, a victory for the White House, and we'll be hearing from the president this afternoon.

LEMON: Dan, stand by.

Brianna, after all of that blustering, most House Democrats, they fell in line, didn't they? BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A lot -- I mean, most did. One hundred thirty-nine House Democrats voted for it, but it's pretty interesting when you look at how many didn't. One hundred twelve House Democrats voted against that -- against this tax cut extension, and that's a very large number. You had an equal number of Democrats and Republicans in the House voting for this.

And just taking a look at the leadership in the House and how they voted, Speaker Pelosi did not cast a vote. That's somewhat customary. The number two Democrat, Steny Hoyer, he voted for this. And James Clyburn, the number three Democrat in the House, voted against it, Don. So, even in those leadership ranks, you saw the disunity that you were seeing in the Democratic Caucus.

LEMON: Brianna, you've been following this. Remind us how this all affects us.

KEILAR: You know, bottom line, there is an extension here of the Bush-era tax cuts for all Americans, whether they are low income, middle class, or they are wealthy. There's also a two percent reduction in the Social Security payroll tax, which is something that folks are going to start seeing.

And Republicans did prevail on that estate tax language that they wanted. It's lower than a lot of Democrats wanted. What it says is that the inheritances will be taxed at a rate of 35 percent for inheritances that are $5 million or above, and then inheritances up to $5 million aren't going to be taxed at all. That was the big issue that really created so much disunity among Democrats yesterday -- Don.

LEMON: Brianna Keilar and Dan Lothian, in Washington, thanks to both of you.

You know, the deal will prevent your taxes from going up. But for many Americans, it's not as good of a deal as it was this year. One prominent tax group says 51 million households will actually get a smaller tax break.

CNN's Josh Levs shows us how this breaks down -- Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Hey there, Don. Let's talk this out, because a lot of people are seeing a headline about this.

We're talking about this on CNN Money, and this is the basic idea right here, that 51 million households will face higher taxes. And it's an important distinction here.

Look, people's taxes will go down because something passed at all. But compared to what is currently going on, about 51 million households will be paying a little bit more. Here's why. Let me talk you through this.

Under this tax deal, the Making Work Pay tax credit has been dropped. And that's a matter of hundreds of dollars.

If you look at what it has been this year, basically $800 per couple, $400 for individuals, that's going away. So that tax credit is disappearing.

And instead, what you're getting is something Brianna just mentioned. Social Security taxes are going down a little bit. They've been at 6.2 percent. They are going down to about 4.2 percent.

So, basically, what you've got to do is, based on how much money you make, you might be coming out a little behind under this new deal. The Tax Policy Center, which is a nonpartisan group that tracks all this stuff, determines that about 51 million households indeed will be facing higher taxes this year.

Now, what I've done is to help you figure out how you're being impacted by all of this, there's a couple of tools that are helpful online, and I've posted them for you at Facebook and Twitter. I'm at JoshLevsCNN.

You can go ahead and take a look there. And the one thing that's there is called the Tax Calculators. You can have a little fun with that.

You take a look there, plug in some basic information, and it can give you an idea of how you might be impacted. Plus, we have got this story from CNN Money that really does a good job of breaking down the new tax deal, where that money's going, how you could be hit.

Hopefully, Don, that will be enough to empower everybody to figure out how you're going to shake out in 2012.

LEMON: All right, Josh. Good stuff.

LEVS: You got it.

LEMON: Thank you very much.

After 25 years, Larry King has made a lot of friends in show business, no doubt. And seems like most of them -- all of them -- dropped by to say good-bye last night.

My personal favorite was really not a superstar. Probably your personal favorite as well. His 10-year-old son Canon was amazing. He did a spot-on imitation of his dad, "The King."

Larry has conducted 50,000 interviews. He's won an Emmy, a Peabody, and he's in "The Guinness Book of World Records" for having the longest-running show with the same host in the same timeslot.

I want you to check out this iReport. It's from Chris Morrow. He dropped by the set of "LARRY KING LIVE" just a few months ago. Look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS MORROW, IREPORTER: I think of him as one of the most creative, curious, insightful people. And I admire him very much. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I really congratulate you for the issues that you've tackled, the people that you've talked with, and the awareness that you brought to many issues to all the people who watch your show. So I think you will be missed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Larry, you're the man. You're the man. You're the man.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: A bad move by Justin Smith, the defensive tackle with the San Francisco 49ers. He was thrown out last night's game with San Diego after he made contact with one of the refs.

Rafer Weigel joins me now with "The Big Play."

Rafer, what happened exactly? We saw the high school kid who made contact, but that was --

RAFER WEIGEL, HLN SPORTS: Yes, and that was much more extreme. But the bottom line is, is the point remains, you cannot have contact with a referee.

They are hot about this in San Francisco. Let's show it to you.

Justin Smith was being separated by the umpire, Garth DeFelice, from Chris Wilson, the Chargers' tight end. And it gives him just a little-bitty shove. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough to send the umpire over the top, throws the flag, throws him out. And then San Diego would go on to win this one, just barely gets in -- 34-7 was the final score.

Smith could get fined. It remains to be seen about that, though.

LEMON: All right. Some would say it's bad action. This is something that is really good.

WEIGEL: Well, it's better news. The Rutgers defensive tackle, Eric LeGrand, who was paralyzed on this play, playing against Army (ph) back in October, a bit of good news. He now has some feeling in his hands. That, according to a school spokesman.

He was taken off of a ventilator last month, and his injury has been reclassified as an incomplete spinal cord injury. Originally thought it was a complete spinal cord injury.

And they say he's attacking his rehab with the same passion that he attacks his play on the field. And he also got a very distinguished award, the Discover Orange Bowl Courage Award, given out by the Football Writers of America. And let's hope that he can be there to receive it on January 3rd, coming up, whether it's in a wheelchair or whatever the case may be. LEMON: We've got a big arena right next door where the Hawks play and the Thrashers play. Imagine he's sitting here and he says, hey, Don, can you help us out? Rafer, can you -- that happened to one guy, right?

WEIGEL: This is an amazing story. This guy's name is Tom Fenton. He works at Manhattanville College as an assistant coach, and works in an office.

The Phoenix Coyotes are in town playing the New York Islanders, and their goalie, Ilya Bryzgalov, had the flu. So they needed a backup goalie.

They called this guy who's -- he's never played professional hockey. He hasn't played hockey since college, at American International College two years ago.

LEMON: How did he do?

WEIGEL: And they say get to the Garden as fast as you can. He never saw any action.

LEMON: He didn't see -- ah.

WEIGEL: They assigned him to a one-game contract, but he actually didn't take the call. He first screened it because he didn't recognize the number. And he almost didn't make it down.

But can you imagine? Yes, get down to the Garden, we need you.

LEMON: Too bad not to see any action.

OK. Let's talk about something else, more hockey we were talking about.

WEIGEL: Yes.

LEMON: The cute teddy bear.

WEIGEL: The teddy bear toss. It's a really nice bit of video.

In hockey, there's a lot of traditions of throwing things on the ice. There's hats, there's even octopus in Detroit.

But here, 23,000 teddy bears were thrown onto the ice. This is in Calgary.

They've been doing this for about 16 years. After the first goal is scored, they throw these onto the ice. This is all for charity.

So, after all of the teddy bears and the stuffed animals are on the ice, the players scoop it up. It took about 45 minutes to get them all, and then they are distributed to children's charities in Alberta. And the Calgary Hitmen would go on to win the game 2-0.

But it's incredible. This goes on and on and on for, like, five minutes, just stuffed -- there's 23 stuffed animals, there's 16,000 people in the arena. So more animals than people.

LEMON: I've been wanting to ask you -- we reported on it this week in Minnesota (ph). We were actually live, one of the first groups -- networks live inside of the Metrodome. The video was amazing.

WEIGEL: When it collapsed.

LEMON: Yes. Do you have an update for me, Rafer?

WEIGEL: We are going to be seeing this game played outdoors at TCF Stadium. That's the home of the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

A couple of problems with this. Sixty-three thousand tickets have been sold. There's only 50,000 seats. They're going to be turning people away.

There is no alcohol going to be served at this because it's a college stadium. There are no beer taps, so people are going to be sober and cold.

It's going to be subzero -- subfreezing temperatures. So it could potentially be a nightmare.

And the other thing is, the field is not heated. Most NFL outdoor stadiums have a heated field.

LEMON: This one isn't.

WEIGEL: This one doesn't. It's a college field. They are not playing into December, at least not at home, anyway. So the field could be hard as a rock. We could see more injuries. It's going to be like a throwback to, like, the '60s and the Ice Bowl in 1967.

LEMON: Great stories. And you cheered us up. You cheered us up. The guy -- paralysis -- going well. We love it.

WEIGEL: I'm just the messenger.

Thank you, Rafer. Have a great weekend.

WEIGEL: You too.

LEMON: All right.

LEMON: Thousands of troops on the move. A live report on the holiday homecomings.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Of course everybody likes to be home for the holidays. And that means our U.S. troops as well. They are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and other forwarding-operating bases all over the world.

Our Reynolds Wolf watching it from the Atlanta airport, Atlanta Hartsfield.

It must be warming your heart to see this. Very nice, sir.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, it's incredible. Absolutely.

We've had about 2,000 that we're expecting today, but just a handful coming up. And they come up in kind of a -- it's kind of sporadic. You will see them come up in twos and threes. Every now and then you'll see a larger group, but it has been kind of sporadic.

We talk, of course, about the service members, but then you have to always remember the families.

We have got a couple of families over here.

I'm Reynolds. Your name is, sir?

DAVE CLARK, FATHER OF RETURNING SERVICEMAN: Dave Clark.

WOLF: Dave and?

DAWN CLARK, MOTHER OF RETURNING SERVICEMAN: Dawn.

WOLF: And listen, you just got back from overseas yourself, didn't you?

DAVE CLARK: That's correct, yes. I just got back from Afghanistan about two weeks ago.

WOLF: Thank you so much for your service.

How is the adjustment coming back?

DAVE CLARK: Oh, it's pretty good. It's great to be back.

WOLF: I understand a huge part of your family is there. Well, actually, coming back today. That is?

DAVE CLARK: Yes, my son Brad. He's coming in today.

WOLF: Does Brad have any requests from mom, anything he wants to eat, anything he wants to do?

DAWN CLARK: A lot of home cooking.

WOLF: Totally understandable. Totally understandable.

We also have someone who happens to be waiting for their husband.

Your name is?

ANGEL HATTAWAY, WIFE OF RETURNING SERVICEMAN: Angel Hattaway (ph).

WOLF: And you spoke with your husband just a short while ago, didn't you? He's on the tram?

HATTAWAY: Yes.

WOLF: OK. This could get really interesting. Well, if you happen to see your husband, forget formality. You just want to go be in love.

HATTAWAY: Not worried.

WOLF: It's been how long since you guys have been apart?

HATTAWAY: Ten months.

WOLF: Ten months is a very long time. And he was stationed in?

HATTAWAY: Iraq.

WOLF: Iraq. Well, thanks so much for your sacrifices and that of your husband.

And, you know, guys, we've seen this scene play out. All eyes are pointed over here to these escalators, waiting for people to come off.

LEMON: And Reynolds --

WOLF: It's happy, it's kind of bittersweet. Most of these people are going to be coming -- yes?

LEMON: It's amazing. I know exactly where you are standing. When you come up that escalator --

WOLF: Well, what I was saying is that many of the people that happen to be here are going to be here for just two weeks or so.

LEMON: Yes.

WOLF: Oh, it's amazing. And as a matter of fact, we actually see a couple of them coming up right now. And it's the reunion.

There you go. It's an amazing thing to see. That's what it's all about.

LEMON: Do you think he'll talk to us?

WOLF: You know what? I'm going to let this one go. I think this is a private moment. We're going to let the family enjoy -- they haven't seen each other in about 10 months or so.

LEMON: That's a good call, Reynolds.

WOLF: I think this is private time.

LEMON: That's a good call. That's a good call. The cameras are enough. And I know exactly where you're standing, and it's always nice when you come up that escalator and you see people there applauding. If you happen to be coming up the escalators with a service member, and they applaud. The USO is always there.

And I think that's a very good call, Reynolds, to let them just have their moment.

Reynolds, you're right. This is what it's all about. We're going to check back in with you throughout the day here on CNN.

WOLF: We're going to see this play out -- absolutely.

LEMON: We have a bit of a delay there inside the airport. So pardon that.

But again, you saw it live here on CNN. And as he said, it's an amazing time. It's an amazing time. Everyone wants to be home with their families, and our troops are coming back from Iraq, Afghanistan, and beyond to be home for the holidays. Good for them.

(BUSINESS REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: And CNN's digital producer, Derek Dodge, is tracking what's trending.

OK, Derek. Take a swig at this one.

DEREK DODGE, CNN DIGITAL PRODUCER: Hey, Don. We found this video on LiveLeak. It's going to make you do one of either two things. OK? It's either going to put you in the holiday spirit or it's going to make you want to have a beer.

Take a look.

(MUSIC)

DODGE: OK. That's the so-called Bowen Beer Bottle Band. This video was up two days ago, and it had over 30,000 views since then.

I'm not really sure why. I guess it takes a lot of talent to do something like that. I certainly have no musical talent.

LEMON: It's very interesting. And they are in tune, and there are some ladies there. I would think this is such a guy thing, Derek, but everybody is taking part. Very nice. Very nice.

All right. Derek Dodge, our digital producer.

We appreciate it. We'll see you in just a little bit here on CNN.

You know, it is a professional life on the run. We'll spend a day with the CNN chase team coming up. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right, a look at live pictures there of San Diego, beautiful right now. U.C. San Diego gets a generous gift from the widow of Dr. Seuss, author Theodor Geisel. Audrey Geisel has donated $2 million to help renovate the chancellor's private residence. It's called University House. No one's lived in it since 2004 because of roof problems and other conditions.

Live pictures now of Washington. The tax cut bill passed the House last night. It now goes to President Obama. He is expected to sign the measure into law this afternoon. The legislation extends Bush-era tax breaks and unemployment payments.

Almost every American will see a bump in take-home pay. The bill cuts the Social Security payroll tax by 2 percent. It got final House approval around midnight when a majority of the Democrats gave up the fight to increase the estate tax.

The debate spilled over to CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: If we take a look at how the vote went down, you have nearly as many Democrats in the House voting against it as those who supported it, including you. You were very vocal in your criticism of this. Why could you not support this?

REP. LLOYD DOGGETT (D), TEXAS: Well, the moment of truth was the very appropriately entitled name of the president's bipartisan debt commission. It took barely a moment before that commission report came out about the problems of our national debt before he blew right through another trillion dollars in this side deal with Senate Republicans. I think you can talk about cutting taxes, and that's great. We all like less taxes. But this came at an immense cost and with the efficiency of our essentially having stood at the front of the Capitol and shoveled cash out. That's about as efficient at job- producing as some of these provisions in this bill are.

CHETRY: Congressman Doggett, though, I mean, when we look at it, our -- I mean, what's your take on this? Are average Americans better off today because this passed?

DOGGETT: Well, I think that average Americans -- I think about it in my area, in central Texas. The average central Texas family, the median income of a central Texas family for an entire year is less than what the top 1 percent will get in a tax cut here. That won't produce jobs, but it will add an immense amount of debt, with our borrowing from the Chinese and others, that we'll eventually have to pay. You say, It's our money. It certainly is, but it's also our debt, and now we have much more of it. I think if you increase the debt and you don't have a good job-producing program, that's a real problem.

CHETRY: We know that the bill cost $860 billion. About $800 billion of that is in tax cuts. The $60 billion is extending unemployment benefits, as well as other things. When are we going to see budget cuts that offset some of this? Because right now, we have the sweeteners, but not necessarily the pain.

REP. MARSHA BLACKBURN (R), TENNESSEE: Kiran, I think it is so important that we realize this. First of all, this is the American taxpayers' money. Yesterday, what we did was to extend the Bush-era tax cuts. And you know, and as you have said, this is letting taxpayers keep their money. This is money they are not going to send to Washington. If you send the money to Washington, they're going to spend that money.

Now, what we have seen the Democrats and Speaker Pelosi do is to up that spending. When she took the gavel, the federal debt was about $8.5 trillion and now it is about $13 trillion. So what we are going to do come January 5 is reset those spending levels back to the 2008 spending levels, and then begin a process of across-the-board spending reductions.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Covering a high-stakes political story like the tax cut bill demands on-the-go thinking and a "Feet, don't fail me now" attitude. Producer Larry Laza (ph) shows us a day in the life of a CNN Capitol Hill chase crew.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FLOYD YARMUTH, CNN PHOTOJOURNALIST: Working in Washington, D.C., is unique by itself. But covering the Hill, covering the U.S. government, has its own challenges, and it's a completely different kind of assignment. Covering the Hill is its own animal.

OLIVER JANNEY, CNN PHOTOJOURNALIST: Being on a Capitol Hill chase crew is different from other assignments because you have to be mobile and you have to be ready to move at a moment's notice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We should try East Drive.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... actually get a spot this time of day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No one's taken it yet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See what we can do.

JANNEY: On the Hill, you've got crews from every network. Depending on who is in town, you might have foreign press that you're dealing with. The D.C.-based network crews are all pretty respectful of each other. We all have a job to do. We all need to get the shot. Why make it harder than it has to be? So we're pretty cordial. We work together. If you're running low on tape or battery, it's not unheard of to have a crew from NBC or CBS or ABC, you know, help you out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Or even Fox News. JANNEY: Or even Fox News. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, here we go, turning into East Drive. Hopefully, we can get some parking this early. This is a pretty convenient spot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let the fun begin.

YARMUTH: Capitol Hill is more than just the dome and the two houses of Congress. The actual senators and congressmen are only in there when they're voting. Their offices are across the street in a series of six different buildings. In order to get to these buildings, there's underground tunnels underneath the Capitol that go under the street.

JANNEY: News may be breaking on the House side and you go off to cover that, and then a development happens on the Senate side, and you've got to jump over to the other side of the Hill. You know, in one shift, you might be shooting an interview, a sit-down interview with a senator. You might be staking out someone's office. You might be doing live shots in one of the rotundas.

DANA BASH, SR. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Mobility is the key. There's no question about it. The crews that are running around with us have to be ready at the drop of a hat, but also informed.

DEIRDRE WALSH, CNN CAPITOL HILL PRODUCER: And the greatest thing about the photojournalists in Washington is a lot of them recognize all these members of Congress. I mean, that's a lot of people to remember. And they're up here a lot, so they know who all the key players are.

YARMUTH: There are different rules that you have to play by that you don't necessarily have to worry about when you're on the street covering news. I mean, they have very strict rules on where you can be, when you can shoot, what you can shoot. And you have to be aware of where you're standing and what you're shooting at all times, or you can be reprimanded by Capitol Hill police or the press gallery.

When you see one camera go, you've got to get that shot, too, and especially when your reporter is heading in that direction. I got to follow my reporter. So I got to get the shot. I deal with the consequences later.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Connor (ph) here takes off running. He's with Fox News Channel. And we're going to take off running, too. We're going to get the same shot, even if it means bending the rules. You know, they're not going to arrest us all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The whole point is for our footage to make it on TV. And at the end of the day, when we're -- the cables are wrapped, the cameras are off, we can turn on that TV and we see the material that we provided to the network on the air, we know we've done our job.

(END VIDEOTAPE) LEMON: A day in the life of a chase crew on Capitol Hill.

A big mix of miserable weather. The Pacific Coast braces for rain, snow and powerful winds. We'll check out the forecast with Karen Maginnis.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: ... leave it running a little bit. Does that work, do you think?

(CROSSTALK)

KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Allegedly, yes.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Really -- I mean, all over, we've been dealing with this. Especially here in Atlanta, the deep South, you don't expect temperatures like this.

MAGINNIS: Yes. And the original long-range outlooks where it's going to be a milder than normal winter.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: And everybody's been talking about the weather. Even our meteorologist and I, Karen Maginnis, has been talking about it, busted pipes, all of that. But that was in the Midwest, South and the East. Now the West Coast has some bad weather, too.

MAGINNIS: Getting slammed with back-to-back storm systems. This one is one to watch, and the next one, where we could see feet of snowfall and winds that in some cases could gust as high as 90 miles an hour. They're saying now in Yosemite, we could see those high winds, perhaps 60 to 90 miles an hour.

Already, the rainfall occurring right around the LA basin. Most of this is light, but it's going to be very persistent, so this could produce mud and landslides, especially across those denuded areas. What I mean by that are those areas that have areas that have had fires, that don't have anything really to retain the water, so it just kind of runs off very easily.

San Francisco Bay area -- I want to show you real quickly, as long as we're talking about that, some of the delays. We've seen very persistent, lengthy delays at San Francisco's international airport. It had been, until -- it had been for about two hours. I see now they're saying until 9:30 Eastern -- or Pacific time.

But what we're looking at is quite a bit of wet weather. We have a live picture here coming out of San Francisco, KGO. They can see the storm clouds that are lingering on the horizon. But if you were to whip up into the Sierra Nevada mountains, it looks like a couple of feet of snowfall anticipated there. This is going to be a huge system with the forecast expected for the LA basin very heavy rainfall. Where you see this pink-shaded area, that's where we're looking at the significant snowfall. You can see that as we go to the forecast snowfall totals over the next 48 hours. But not just across the Sierra Nevada. Not just here. But into the Wasatch and Uintas across northern Utah. The Salwatch (ph), the Wind River, into the Siskiyous and into the Cascades. That's a lot of territory, Don, to be talking about. Pretty much every major mountain chain is expecting snowfall, especially the Sierra Nevada because this system comes in, next system comes in, and we'll talk about that until Christmas.

LEMON: One behind the other.

MAGINNIS: Yes.

LEMON: Welcome to winter.

MAGINNIS: Exactly.

LEMON: All right. Thank you very much, Karen Maginnis...

MAGINNIS: Thank you.

LEMON: ... our meteorologist.

You know, and later, if you9 think what you look at on line stays private, I want you to think again. We'll have more on our CNN special report. It's called "The End of Privacy." It's in the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Each week here on CNN, our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta introduces us to someone that has overcome major obstacles and then has gone on to do remarkable things. Today we meet a teenager who is coping with a life-threatening illness, and with the help of a friend, he is learning how to overcome the struggles of living with a chronic disease.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's 5:30 in the morning, and Kiwane Clay is arriving at the hospital for his dialysis.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning, everybody.

GUPTA: The 16-year-old has been fighting an uphill battle with his kidneys since he was born.

(on camera): He needs a kidney transplant.

KEIONNE CLAY, KIWANE'S MOTHER: Yes. I lost 30 pounds so I could give him a kidney. GUPTA (voice-over): Like most moms, she wants to do everything that she can for her son, but just paying for treatment is a real struggle.

KEIONNE CLAY: Just do what I have to do for my son. And I've been doing it for 16 years. I fear that I'm going to get (INAUDIBLE)

GUPTA (on camera): What about financially? How hard has this been on your family?

KIWANE CLAY, DIALYSIS PATIENT: It's real hard.

GUPTA: This is the sort of physical, emotional and financial hardship that -- he's just 16 years old. This is what he's had overcome. But he was about to get help from a pretty unusual source. In fact, his friend, Kyle over here -- come on in, Kyle -- 14 years old. Have a seat. How do you guys know each other?

KYLE COBB, KIWANE'S FRIEND: I met Kiwane at the dialysis clinic.

GUPTA: So you were right here, as well?

COBB: Yes, I was also on this machine, as he was, for about three hours on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

GUPTA (voice-over): Kyle Cobb looks like any healthy teenager, but it wasn't always the case. In 2009, Kyle's kidneys failed, and it took months of dialysis and a new kidney to save him. But Kyle never forgot his friend, Kiwane.

(on camera): What made you decide that after all that you'd been through, that you wanted to give something back?

COBB: I just want to help him in any way that I can. It just gives me a sense of joy, makes me think that I'm thinking outside of myself for once in life. Just to help someone else is a blessing to me also.

GUPTA (voice-over): So far, Kyle's raised $3,100 for Kiwane and his family with some help from the local motorcycle club.

KEIONNE CLAY: It helped (INAUDIBLE) everything that Kiwane needs.

GUPTA (on camera): He didn't really get a Christmas last year.

KEIONNE CLAY: No.

GUPTA: He's going to get a Christmas this year.

KEIONNE CLAY: Yes.

GUPTA (voice-over): Kiwane continues his fight with Kyle by his side, both agreeing that a kidney would be the best gift of all.

(END VIDEOTAPE) LEMON: Very nice, Dr. Gupta. It is important to mention how much dialysis strains patients like Kiwane of their energy. He wasn't feeling well, and it was a strain for him to talk to Dr. Gupta. While dialysis does have patients like Kiwane feel better, it doesn't cure the kidney disease, which means he'll have to be on dialysis his whole life unless he gets a transplant.

On now to top stories here on CNN. The bill extending the Bush- era tax cuts is awaiting President Obama's signature right now. He is expected to sign it this afternoon. The measure, which passed the House last night, also extends jobless benefits for 13 months. It cuts the payroll tax by 2 percentage points for a year, restores the estate tax at a lower level and continues a series of other tax breaks.

NASA is testing space shuttle Discovery's external fuel tank. It will help engineers decide when Discovery can launch on its final mission. It's already been delayed several times.

And farewell to a television icon, talk show host and so much more. Larry King ended his quarter-century run on CNN last night.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": When I started 25 years ago at a little studio in Washington, D.C., I never thought it would ever last this long or come to this. I -- I -- I don't know what to say, except to you, my audience. Thank you. And instead of good-bye, how about, So long?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Time to check the news out of Washington, D.C. Jessica Yellin, part of the "Best Political Team on Television," live from the CNN political desk. Hi, Jessica. What's crossing right now?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Don. A big bill died in Washington last night, the omnibus spending measure that was supposed to fund the government and keep the lights on for the next fiscal year. Harry Reid had to pull it because he just didn't have the votes, after all. Instead, the Senate is going to introduce a temporary extension of the current spending so that they can just keep working and punt it to next year.

Remember -- here's why this all matters. This was the major bill that included $8 billion -- with a B -- worth of earmarks for both Republicans and Democrats in it. After the last election, the Republicans decided, we cannot back this anymore, because they took a pledge to have no earmarks. So even some of those Republicans who put the earmarks in, they said they weren't going to vote for it.

Now, who is cheering today? The Tea Party groups who oppose this because they are so against new government spending. So expect this to be another major, major fight over -- one of major fights over spending measures in the next year.

OK, looking at later today, President Obama -- he is going to sit down with some labor union leaders. Remember, he met with CEOs earlier in the week to talk about job growth and the economy. Well, you did one side of the aisle, you kind of got to do the other. He's meeting with the people who represent the workers today to talk also the same issues. Representatives from the SEIU, teachers union, AF of L-CIO and many others will be there.

And then you just talked a little bit about Larry King and his last show. Well, on that show last night, he had former president Bill Clinton on, and he asked Bill Clinton, How did it happen that you ended up going to the press briefing room with President Obama last week to talk tax cuts? So a lot of the talk in D.C. was that maybe it was former president Clinton's suggestion because he does seem to like to sell the Democratic positions and talk to the press.

No, Bill Clinton said, when he was in the Oval Office, it was Obama's suggestion, and he said, You want to go on over there and meet some reporters? Clinton says he told the president he's out of practice and he wasn't sure he'd be good at it. And the president reassured him that he'd be just fine. And he ended up talking for, I don't know, 40 minutes, almost an hour.

LEMON: Yes, he said it's like riding a bicycle. He said, What do you want me to do? Do you want me to call some -- Bill Clinton said, the former president -- Do you want me to call some to Democrats and try to get them on board? He said, No, I want you to go out there and sell it to the press. It was an interesting moment.

I liked Bill Maher's response. He said the president was, you know, a secure man to leave the podium to Bill Clinton. Not many people would do that.

YELLIN: No, not many people would. There was a lot of observation about that. Other people saw it differently, Bill Maher gave him props for it.

LEMON: All right. Jessica Yellin, thank you very much.

YELLIN: Good to see you.

LEMON: Your next "Political Update," one hour here on CNN. And for the latest, political news, you know where to go, CNNPolitics.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The popular drug Avastin, used to treat breast cancer, is yanked by the FDA. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta tells us why the drug is no longer a viable option and what this mean for current breast cancer patients. It's the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM.

Plus: They are watching, tracking your every move on line. What lawmakers are doing to protect your privacy, especially kids, and the pushback from Internet companies.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The use of public Wi-Fi in restaurants, malls and airports -- well, it's convenient, and also it's risky. Hackers target places like that, trolling for personal information that they can use to steal your identity.

CNN's Ted Rowlands sat down with a former hacker to show you how easy that is to do.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Inside terminal 5 at the Los Angeles International Airport, dozens of people are on their computers. Gregory Evans is a former hacker whose resume includes two years in federal prison.

GREGORY EVANS, CONVICTED COMPUTER HACKER: We were doing almost a million dollars, if not more, a week against some of the biggest corporations in the world.

ROWLANDS: We set up at a corner of the terminal so that Evans, who now owns a cyber-security company, could show us just how vulnerable people are to hackers.

EVANS: I will go and set up a fake Wi-Fi and watch everybody connect to it. And once they connect to it and they start surfing the Internet, now what I'll do is just grab all their traffic.

ROWLANDS: We launched a fake network named LAX Free Wi-Fi. Within minutes, people started connecting to it. Evans then showed us how a hacker can record everything off a computer that joined our network by tracking what I was doing on my laptop.

EVANS: So if they go to their bank, it'll grab all their banking information. If they go to their Facebook, it'll grab all that. And their Twitter accounts, if they're writing love letters, I can grab all of that.

ROWLANDS: Or Evans says, even worse, if a hacker has enough time, spyware can be installed which stays with the victim.

EVANS: You get on the plane, you go to one country, I go to another. But everything that you do, as long as you have that computer, is going to be e-mailed back to me.

ROWLANDS: During our experiment, we stumbled across what appeared a real hacker at work. Along with our fake network, there was another one called Free Public Wi-Fi. Airport administrators told us T-Mobile is the only authorized Wi-Fi provider.

(on camera): So you think that there could be a hacker here right now?

EVANS: That's correct.

ROWLANDS (voice-over): Catching and prosecuting a hacker, especially at an airport, is extremely difficult. E.J. Hilbert is a retired FBI agent who specialized in cyber-crime.

E.J. HILBERT, RET. FBI AGENT/ON-LINE INTELLIGENCE: It's virtually impossible to catch them. Law enforcement's aware of this. And there's always the next piece. You steal the cards, you steal the information, you got to use them somewhere. And that's when you start getting the real investigations going.

ROWLANDS (on camera): Experts say there are a few things you can do to protect yourself. If you're at an airport or a public spot, find out who the Wi-Fi provider is and use that. If it costs some money, pay the money. They also say change your password every now and then, and use different passwords for different accounts. Another tip, turn your computer off when you're not using it.

(voice-over): And if you do go on line using a public Wi-Fi, keep in mind that someone may be watching you.

EVANS: You don't know if you're getting on a true Wi-Fi or you're connecting to some hacker's network. Like, you don't know if you're connecting to me or if you're really connecting to the airport.

ROWLANDS: Ted Rowlands, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)