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Passage of START Treaty Close?; Las Vegas Dancer Missing; Senator Menendez Speaks Out Against Lockerbie Bomber Release; Outgoing Senator Arlen Specter; Reid's E-Mail Tweaked Republicans; Bomb Scare in Rome; Holiday Travel Chaos in Europe; Rules for the Internet; 'On the Case'

Aired December 21, 2010 - 16:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Now top of the hour. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: The Russians are waiting. Will our Senate today take action to cut nuclear arms by a whole lot, their weapons and ours? And why are lawmakers even arguing about this?

I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

(voice-over): From the finance industry to the burlesque stage, now this star dancer goes missing in Las Vegas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like losing of the family. One of the family is missing. Everybody is really worried right now.

BALDWIN: What was in that cryptic message she sent to her mother days before she disappeared and where is the ex-boyfriend?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not her to go missing. It's not her to go take a small vacation like this.

BALDWIN: Her sister joins me live in the newsroom.

SEN. ARLEN SPECTER (D), PENNSYLVANIA: I leave with great optimism for the future.

BALDWIN: Arlen Specter has been in politics since Kennedy was president. Today, he says goodbye.

(APPLAUSE)

BALDWIN: This state not looking so golden, stranded in high water, more rain on the way, the weather wreaking havoc in California. The news is now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Hello once to you. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

A lot of news happening right now. Let's begin with rapid fire and this. Let's take some live pictures. Here we go, live pictures inside the U.S. Senate. At least 10 Senate Republicans are reporting the newest incarnation of the START arms control deal with Russia.

Now, if this treaty passes in a final Senate vote, we will see the resumption of both countries' nuclear arsenals. Ratifying Reagan era policy is one of the president's top foreign policy priorities.

Next, police sound the all-clear in Rome. That's after that bomb squad responded to a suspicious device early this morning. It was spotted beneath a seat on a passenger train. It turns out it was potentially dangerous, this cylinder filled with gunpowder, but police say it could not have exploded. It was a dud in other words. No word yet on who may have placed it there or why.

Next, look carefully with me. I just can't get over this picture today. That's a truck. And obviously the truck is stuck in rapidly rising water. This is really an extreme case of high water blues, as record-breaking rainfall refuses to let up. This is Southern California. In fact, the entire Los Angeles area is drenched with people there very nervously watching out for flash floods, for mudslides.

The same storm system, by the way, is pounding the Sierra Nevada and other higher elevations with several feet of snow. The coming days show even more rain and snow in the California forecast.

Next, why in the world are these people lining up for hours at London's international rail station? Well, it's not just there. Most airport terminals in the Britain Isles look like this as well. You see, frigid temperatures, you've got snow, you've got ice, they're all combining to slow highway traffic to a crawl. Rail traffic is a near standstill.

Look at these lines. And Heathrow Airport is allowing only about one-third of the scheduled flights to actually take off. Whew.

Next, this is a year Toyota Motors would really like to start over again. Even more fallout from the recall trouble that already cost the company millions in penalties for the way it handled a string of recalls. The U.S. government has fined Toyota an additional $32 million in civil penalties, raising the total fines to nearly $49 million. The Department of Transportation says Toyota failed to give adequate notice about several defects that could affect all of our safety.

Next, U.S. drones are seeing more action moving north in Pakistan, according to a Pakistani military official. A series of strikes on suspected military hideaways and training camps killed 57 people on Friday. That's a record for a single day there. A Pakistani official says his country wants more control over the drone program, saying it would save lives.

Next, the U.S. Coast Guard search-and-rescue vessel trying to locate wreckage from that National Guard helicopter that went down in the water just off of San Juan, Puerto Rico. It happened late Monday. And we're told at least one person was killed. Investigators now just trying to figure out what happened. Next, a bill that would provide free medical coverage for 9/11 emergency workers may be stalled, at least for this session. The bill would cover workers exposed to toxins and all those fumes while cleaning up the site of the World Trade Center there on 9/11 and beyond.

Supporters had hoped for a vote before Christmas, but "The Wall Street Journal" is now reporting Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn will use procedural measures to block it. In fact, Coburn says advocates are trying to rush the legislation through Congress without consideration of spending cuts to offset that cost.

Next, check out this rare joint appearance. This is the Reverend Billy Graham. He came out to greet special guests at his library. Former President George W. Bush also there, first lady Laura Bush. The Bushes were in Charlotte for a book signing at the Graham Library and fans who lined up got to see them and the 92-year-old evangelical leader.

Next, the 2010 census results are in. The U.S. population has grown to more than 308 million people. Folks, that is the biggest growth taking place in the South and the Western states since last census 10 years ago. And that's good news for Republicans, who typically do well during elections on those regions. Eight states will see their representation grow in Congress, all thanks to the new numbers, the new figures.

Next, on this date 22 years ago, the word Lockerbie became synonymous with terrorism and grief -- 259 people died aboard Pan Am Flight 103, most of them Americans, when a bomb exploded on board. In addition to that number, 11 people in the town of Lockerbie died when the wreckage smashed there on to the ground. And only one man has ever been convicted of a crime related to that Lockerbie bombing.

He's a Libyan man released from prison just last year on humanitarian grounds. And the reason given was he wasn't expected to survive more than three months because he has some sort of end stage cancer. Well, that man is still very much so alive some 16 months later. His name is Abdel Basset al-Megrahi

My guest right now -- there he is -- good enough to join me from Washington taking very serious issue with the decision to set him free, New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez.

And, Senator Menendez, I have your whole report that was out there. It's called "Justice Undone: The Release of the Lockerbie Bomber."

And, if we can, just talk specifically about how al-Megrahi -- who was released on what they call compassionate grounds. He had cancer, wasn't expected to live as I said past three months. But based upon this report released today, do you think al-Megrahi was as sick as Scottish doctors said he was?

SEN. ROBERT MENENDEZ (D), NEW JERSEY: Well, he was found -- he was convicted. And his appeal was denied. And the bottom line is, is that, as our report elicits from medical cancer experts, that there's no way that a three-month prognosis could have been given, that he would only live three months.

Every expert that came before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, of which I conducted a hearing, even the Scottish experts that were used would not commit to a three-month period. And that's what was necessary to get compassionate release. So, this was a medically unjustified decision. It was manipulated in order to have al-Megrahi freed to Gadhafi, who made it his number-one priority.

And Libya and Gadhafi used enormous political and commercial pressure to get al-Megrahi released. And instead of sitting in a jail, he now sits in a luxury villa in Libya. And that's why we consider it justice undone.

BALDWIN: Senator Menendez, I want to talk a little bit more about those doctors. They were Scottish doctors who determined he had three months to live.

And that was determined as part of his release because he had prostate cancer. And in part of your report you say these were doctors who were -- quote -- "clearly involved in political intergovernmental discussions."

And CNN has been doing our digging on this as well. And I'm just curious, what written evidence do you have that those doctors were in fact linked in those political talks?

MENENDEZ: Well, there are a series of interviews that my investigator who went to Scotland as well as Great Britain and other documents that came out in some of the discovery that was had that has the prison doctor, who is a general doctor, and al-Megrahi's assigned doctor from the prison, who is also a general practitioner, not a cancer expert, who sat in meetings in which Libyan officials made it very clear to Scottish officials that, in fact, having al-Megrahi die in a Scottish prison would be real problems for Great Britain and for Scotland.

And so that had nothing to do with his medical prognosis. That had everything to do with sending a very clear message that Libya, which has a history of retaliating against countries who don't do what they want them to do, used their commercial interests to ultimately force the issue and to get their way.

BALDWIN: Senator...

MENENDEZ: And since the British government...

BALDWIN: Sure.

MENENDEZ: ... had a big contract pending with BP, they used that as their leverage.

BALDWIN: Want to let you know and let everyone know, look, CNN, we're doing our own reporting. We have reached out to the U.K. government, reached out to the Scottish government. We have yet to hear back them.

I'm just curious, since you have released this massive report today, have you heard back from either government?

MENENDEZ: We have not.

And, of course, we don't expect them to agree with our report. But I think, when you look at the facts in the report, the fact that all of the medical testimony says no way could he have been expected only to live three months, and he's lived 16 months, clearly, all of the commercial transactions of BP for a $900 million deal was on the road to being executed and then hit a land mine with the al-Megrahi release.

And once al-Megrahi was released, it was ultimately approved. The British government had powers, even as al-Megrahi was in a Scottish jail, because they have power still with Scotland on any international relations question, on any foreign national in the United Kingdom, not to have let him go. So, there are plenty of facts here to substantiate what the reports say.

BALDWIN: Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, thank you for talking to me after just after hours of releasing this report, "Justice Undone. I appreciate it today. Thank you.

MENENDEZ: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Now look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CELESTE FLORES-NARVAEZ, SISTER OF MISSING LAS VEGAS DANCER: I have to believe that she is OK. I have to mentally believe that she is OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: A missing dancer's sister speaks out. What happened to this beautiful young woman whose star was just beginning to shine on the Las Vegas Strip?

Also, after nearly half-a-century in the halls of Congress, Arlen Specter bidding farewell to his own colleagues today. And our own Joe Johns, our D.C. veteran favorite guy, has a couple Arlen Specter yarns to share with us. Looking forward to that, Mr. Johns.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A beautiful and bright Las Vegas show girl totally vanishes, and her family now desperate, desperate to find her.

Her name is Debbie Flores-Narvaez. And, look, she is not your typical showgirl. She has three degrees, folks. I'm talking finance, international business, and law. But she left that whole high-powered career behind in Baltimore to live out her dream in Las Vegas of becoming a dancer.

In fact, she's living that dream. She's been living that dream at the Luxor Hotel in the show they call "Fantasy." But then suddenly days ago, she disappears without a trace.

And Debbie's sister, Celeste Flores-Narvaez, is in Las Vegas to help search for her sister. At this point, she says -- she told me she is pretty much is running on faith. Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES-NARVAEZ: I have to believe that she's OK. I have to believe that she's OK. I have to mentally believe that she's OK.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: He was charged with battery, domestic violence, coercion. Apparently this whole incident stems from he tossed Debbie's iPhone. And I want to just read part of this arrest report.

Here's what the police officer wrote. After she picked it up, your sister, the iPhone, she stated Griffith ran towards her, pushed her down to the ground. While on the ground, Flores stated that Griffith kicked her, pulled her hair, and had attempted to take the iPhone again.

Did Debbie ever tell you about that, Celeste, that incident?

FLORES-NARVAEZ: No, she didn't. I didn't find that out until I got here to Vegas. I wasn't aware.

BALDWIN: Did she talk -- you were unaware, did she ever talk to you about Blue, about any of his tendencies to act like that?

FLORES-NARVAEZ: No. When me and my sister talked, it was more about my kids and my family. She knew how I felt about domestic violence and things like that. So I think it was more of she was ashamed if something was going on. I'm not sure if there was or not.

BALDWIN: She didn't talk about it.

FLORES-NARVAEZ: I went to court -- yes, she didn't talk to me about it. It was more of my mother and my mother really didn't know about that either.

BALDWIN: This arrest report that I read also states that she told the police officer she was pregnant with her ex-boyfriend's child. Is that true?

FLORES-NARVAEZ: Apparently, she was pregnant. I found out about that when I got here, too.

BALDWIN: Apparently, she texted your mother earlier this month and she wrote this in her text, "In case there's ever an emergency with me, contact Blue Griffin -- not my best friend."

Celeste, what does that mean?

FLORES-NARVAEZ: That's not exactly what the text message said. There was more to the text message.

To me, that text message is irrelevant. I'm letting the investigators handle that. They're following all possible leads and things of that nature. That text message, the way it was technically written, could mean various things.

So, you know, they're working hard, they're following leads, they're talking to the people they need to talk to to get more information as to her whereabouts and to bring her home.

BALDWIN: You say you want to believe your sister is OK. Do you think someone else be involve in the disappearance?

FLORES-NARVAEZ: It's not that I want to believe, I have to believe.

BALDWIN: You have to believe.

FLORES-NARVAEZ: Right now, I don't know if someone is involved in the case or in what's going on. I don' t know.

I have to believe she's OK. I have to believe that she will be found.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Just to follow up here, Las Vegas police did meet with reporters this afternoon and they say that right now there's no indication of foul play in the disappearance of Debbie Flores-Narvaez, but you can imagine they are out there following every possible lead in that case.

Here's one for you, talk about worlds colliding. What would prompt Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to conjure up images of Lady Gaga in that meat dress -- you remember that? -- and Lindsey Lohan at the Betty Ford clinic?

I'm stumped. The answers will be reveal in "Political Pop" with Joe Johns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: You know what we say about this time every show, when we're looking for answers that just aren't getting answered -- looking for questions that just aren't getting answered, we turn to Joe Johns for "Political Pop" who seems to have covered many of these men and women, these politicians countless times, including this guy that we're talking about today -- Senator Arlen Specter.

Joe, he said his goodbyes today, saying goodbye and thank you to his colleagues. Naturally, you know, a lot of kind things -- there he is -- a lot of kind things being said.

But my question to you, Joe Johns, is -- is it all warm and fuzzy there on Capitol Hill?

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, normally, you say great things about a senator who gives a farewell address, he calls it a closing argument or whatever, but that's not the whole story, Brooke.

Yes, people on the Hill tell me Senator Specter has mellowed over the years after bouts with cancer, and the belief is that this is just sort of him confronting his own mortality. But that said, for the record, there was once a day when he was widely seen as a notorious grouch, one of the biggest grouches on the Hill.

BALDWIN: One of the biggest grouches on the Hill who apparently had a nickname, which was?

JOHNS: Yes, I think it's still around up there, too. The nickname that's been used to describe him on the Hill is "Snarling Arlen." One of the people that I talked to on the Hill said, this is a guy who could never resist a verbal battle or showing that he simply was the smartest lawyer in the room.

BALDWIN: Was he the smartest lawyer in the room? Pretty smart guy?

JOHNS: Yes. Pretty smart guy. A lot of times, but it depends. He goes way back. He was a staffer on the Warren Commission that investigated the murder of John F. Kennedy. And I don't know whether it's smart or not, but a lot of people say he's the guy who came up with the single bullet theory. That one bullet injured Governor Connolly and killed the president.

Anyway, the truth is about Specter, he's so smart he knew when to turn it off. He had this way of switching up, especially around election time. I wouldn't say he was all smiles, but when the camera came on during elections, he was a lot more polite back home in Pennsylvania.

I sort of parachuted in on one of the campaign swings covering his reelection race, one reelection race, I should say. Talked to him on the campaign trail, it felt nothing like covering him on the Hill. It's like he was two different people.

BALDWIN: So he wasn't "Snarling Arlen" when you covered him in PA?

JOHNS: No, he was not "Snarling Arlen" when I saw him in Pennsylvania. But on the Hill, I thought he was really tough to deal with. I mean, there's nothing wrong with a guy who gives the media trouble, right?

But I had trouble interviewing him, even asking him questions at news conferences. You know, you would suddenly find yourself being interrogated even if you thought you asked a straightforward question. And it was, it was the prosecutor in him. He never gave that up.

BALDWIN: And you flew past one piece of information, I just want to italicize the fact that he's been on the Hill since under the Kennedy administration.

Go ahead.

JOHNS: Well, just to clarify, during the Kennedy administration, he was actually a staffer on the Warren Commission.

BALDWIN: A staffer.

JOHNS: Yes, right. So that's a little different from being a senator.

BALDWIN: But on the Hill in recent -- semi-recent years, he's switched parties. How was that received?

JOHNS: Yes. Well, it was really his undoing. He had no good choices. He was running against a conservative Republican who he knew he was going to have a tough race against, so he switched to being a Democrat.

I mean, think of the ads that would be generated and actually were generated when you have a guy who in 2004 has George Bush saying what a nice senator this is, and then suddenly he's a Democrat. And Specter said publicly he did it to improve his chances of getting reelected. Still got beat, so it was the Democrats who ended up killing his career.

More than one Republican I spoke to on the Hill back when he made that switch said they were glad to see him go, quite frankly. He was a thorn in their side.

BALDWIN: Well, and away he goes. We wish him well.

And finally, you know, we teased this and a lot of people probably parked a lot of ears. You have Harry Reid and what in the world does he have to do with Lady Gaga and Lindsay Lohan? Connect the dots for me, sir.

JOHNS: Yes, I know, this is pretty funny. This sort of surfaced over the weekend. He heard so much from opponents of the START treaty who said they haven't had enough time to study the treaty that his office put out a note pointing out all the things that have happened since the administration and Russia agreed to START.

And this just sort of shows you the way Harry Reid has been buying into pop culture and sort of linking it to politics. He says, among the things that have happened, the Chilean miners were trapped and released, Lady Gaga debuted in her meat dress, the 2010 baseball season began and ended, LeBron James announced "I'm taking my talents to South Beach."

There are a bunch more here. My favorite two, of course, are Larry King announces retirement and Conan returned to late night.

BALDWIN: That's really funny, Joe Johns. We love how you always -- you always find these fascinating, sort of quirky stories and make us smarter every single day. Joe Johns, I appreciate it. We'll see you tomorrow.

JOHNS: You bet.

BALDWIN: It lasted about 3.5 hours, but the question is this -- Did you see it? I know a lot of you are who are in Twitter tweeting with me through the commercial breaks here. We're talking about the rare lunar eclipse, happened early, early this morning. We will show you that picture, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: And now for what is trending, this is stuff we talk about because you're talking about it. You see how that works, pretty easy.

Earlier, I asked you to send me some tweets about what you were doing, you know, in the middle of the night or maybe for you on the West Coast, not too late, during the big lunar eclipse, and I want to read some of the tweets, because you have been tweeting me a ton.

Let's pull the tweets up. Here is one tweet and it says, "Yes I stayed up to watch the eclipse, difficult to see because the moon was directly above me and it was cloudy."

And we have another one, "Yes, skies over Boise were really clear so it was awesome. I even convinced some neighbors to be moon gazers."

We got another one, "Last night, I went to a Winter Solstice party," that sounds kind of fun, "but sadly did not get to watch the eclipse because it was way too cloudy."

And, "No I did not, but in going to work this morning I noticed many tents set up in yards -- watch parties."

Really? Well, I enjoyed my sleep, but I appreciate hearing about it through you. And also, we got a ton of iReports, you know, videos, photos of the lunar eclipse last night. And this is one of the cooler and clearer -- a lot of you said it's cloudy -- clearer videos. This is from Sheila Hagler in Grand Bay, Alabama. She braved the elements to get us these images of the moon being hidden by the shadows.

Next trending today, singer Shania Twain, she is all over the news and here's why. Her rep is confirming to CNN that she is officially engaged to Frederic Thiebaud. He's some kind of big shot in the Swiss Nestle chocolate company. But here's the interesting part, it gets kind of complicated. Shania's fiance, he was married to the woman who is now married to Shania Twain's ex husband. You follow me? You get it? So two couples, now they've hooked up with each others' exes. The Canadian singer was divorced just two years ago.

And now we go globe trekking and you're coming along. One of our favorites from CNN International joining me is Hala Gorani.

And first, you didn't wake up in the middle of the night to watch the lunar eclipse. HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: I did not. When in doubt, I stay asleep, usually.

BALDWIN: Amen, sister.

Let's talk though about frightening moments this morning for a little bit in Rome. They found what they thought could have been a bomb, but all is clear.

GORANI: Right. Well, they found a black box with wires hanging from it. So obviously, when the train conductor, when he saw that, alerted authorities. Police are saying there's no detonator, however, and there's been no claim of responsibility.

And, of course, Europe is on edge right now. We've had warnings of possible attacks in targets against targets around the holidays, and there's been regular news of arrests of police and authorities saying they're busting rings of individuals who claim to be in some way or another inspired by al Qaeda. So a tense time right now in Europe, and not just because of this.

BALDWIN: Because of the snow. We were talking about this yesterday, this is not going away.

GORANI: It is not going away. Thousands of people are still stranded.

BALDWIN: Not just London.

GORANI: It's not London. It's Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, it's Charles de Gaulle in Paris, it's also train stations. Because the Eurostar train station that links service, that links the United Kingdom to France and Belgium as well. People whose flights were cancelled, they're just trying to get to the continent any way they can and so they're trying to take the train.

Right now, you're seeing scenes from I believe this is Heathrow, if I recognize it. And people just milling around. Yes, they've been given a bottle of water in some cases in two days. Lots of frustration.

BALDWIN: I'd want a little bit more water.

GORANI: Exactly. But let me tell you, this, of course, is important because of the Christmas break. The backlog, however, and this is possibly the headline today.

Hopefully, it's starting to ease. Charles De Gaulle, for instance, is starting to ease. Heathrow Airport authorities are saying they're going to bus people to Gatwick, the other airport outside of London where their flights are almost back to normal.

BALDWIN: Gosh! I think I read something about a third of the flights -- a third of the flights at Heathrow are a go.

GORANI: But it looks like possibly more than that right now. A second runway was open a few hours ago.

BALDWIN: Excellent.

GORANI: But here is the other thing, is the question being asked today in Europe is, you know what? It's snowing. It's not exactly the end of the world. How is it that the entire continent comes to a standstill because it snows for a couple of days? And E.U. transport commissioner is saying this is unacceptable. Everybody shifting blame around, it's the airport's fault. It's the airline's fault.

BALDWIN: Oh, the blame game.

GORANI: So, you know?

BALDWIN: Thank you.

GORANI: They're going to take measures in the future, they say, so that when it snows again, this isn't what happened in Europe.

BALDWIN: Goodness. Hala Gorani, thank you for going "Globe Trekking" with us today. We appreciate it, as always.

And, you know, if you're in California, southern California to be exactly, you're dealing with this, maybe not snow there but a lot of rain. And apparently, it has not let up. We're going to have a report from California ahead on that.

And, the Senate goes to end debate on the START Treaty. Is the final vote here on this imminent? We'll get a live report from Capitol Hill.

"Reporter Roulette" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Welcome back to the NEWSROOM.

We have a nuclear treaty vote, a wipeout on the West Coast, and pedophile author. Time to play "Reporter Roulette." And I want to begin with Dana Bash there for us on Capitol Hill.

And, Dana, we know the test vote is over. Where do we stand now?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, stand in a place of basically waiting -- waiting for the final vote of approval. The drama seems to be gone in terms of whether or not the president will get the 2/3 majority needed. It seems as though he's going to get that. We have personally talked to or seen public statements for -- from at least 10 Republican senators that gives the president some -- a majority for sure, a supermajority.

The question now, Brooke, is going to be: how many more Republicans? And does that potentially include his formal rival, John McCain, who is skeptical of the treaty, critical of this process, but now in play -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Might there be, Dana -- might there be amendments before they try to vote?

BASH: Yes, we do expect there to be, in fact, the person who's heading this up for the Democrats, John Kerry. The Senate Foreign Relations chairman just announced there will be nine amendments. But what's important to note is that these amendments will not change the text and the terms of the treaty.

What these amendments would do would simply be to effectively state U.S. policy, what we call kind of a nonbinding sense of the Senate. That's kind of the best way to -- best analogy. But the important thing is that if these pass, they won't change the treaty, but they could help assuage some Republican concerns about the fact that the U.S. -- the concern about the U.S. position in this especially when it comes to missile defense in Europe and elsewhere.

BALDWIN: Dana Bash for us on Capitol Hill -- Dana, thank you.

Next on "Reporter Roulette," we have Casey Wian for us in Ventura County, California, with the rain not letting up five days in a row -- Casey.

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, this 20-mile stretch of Pacific coast highway north of Malibu, California, remains closed today after a mudslide that brought down boulders according to Caltrans as big as an SUV.

Elsewhere in the state, there have been significant flooding issues, including a hysteria where a man was trap in the pickup truck and raging waters, swift water. A rescue crew got him out safely. Crews like that have been deployed throughout southern California over the last couple of days, rescuing people from these storm waters.

In higher elevations, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, we've seen snow as much as 13 1/2 feet since Friday. And we've seen wind gusts as high as 150 miles an hour in the higher elevations. Other problems include major traffic snarls, lots of accidents, power outages, and we have not even seen the worst of the storm yet. That is expected to hit southern California later tonight -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Wow. Casey Wian, thank you.

And, finally, on "Reporter Roulette," Preston Rudie from our affiliate WTSP in Bartow, Florida.

And, Preston, you're following the arrest of that pedophile author. What's the latest?

PRESTON RUDIE, WTSP REPORTER: Well, after waving his rights to fight extradition yesterday, he arrives here in Florida early this morning, actually flew into Orlando and then arrived here in Bartow, to be booked in to the Polk County jail just before noon today. Now, of course, he is charged with distribution of obscene materials after he sent a copy of his controversial book called "The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure" to an undercover detective here in Florida.

Now, before he's actually booked into the jail, he took about five minutes. He fielded 35 different questions from reporters. And he told us that, number one, as an adult, he's never had sex with a child. He also said that his book is not a how-to guide to rape children, as the sheriff has described this book. He says that this is a book that's actually to help pedophiles rehabilitate themselves.

He also says he's going to fight this case and he'll get that chance starting tomorrow when he has his initial appearance in court at 1:00 in the afternoon, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Wow. Very willing to talk to reporters. Let me follow up this: is there any chance he might, you know, Preston, get out of jail on bond tomorrow? Maybe try to head back to Colorado?

RUDIE: Very unlikely, Brooke. This is a guy who is living in a house with three other adults, a very small rundown home. He says he doesn't have a job. He's basically very poor. So, we expect that he's going to be sitting in jail while this case plays itself out.

BALDWIN: And, finally, what about the defense? What do they say?

RUDIE: Well, he hasn't hired an attorney. And in all likelihood, he's probably going to have a public defender. A lot of people have asked the question of, well, isn't this entrapment? Well, the sheriff has maintained that this was a guy who was selling this gook on Amazon.com while Amazon was actually offering this book for sale. He was out there peddling the book to anybody who wanted to buy it.

So, they said that's not going to be a defense in this case. And they also say that those people that want to hide under First Amendment, freedom of speech, they say, the sheriff argues that, you know, this is no different when you walk in to a theater, you can't yell "fire" or yell "bomb" on an airplane. There are certain things that you can't do.

Again, this is a Florida law. It might be different in some other states. And they say this is a law that pertains to obscene materials, not pornography. That's going to be a big difference in this case. So, they say -- and they believe that their case is pretty locked tight.

BALDWIN: Bottom line here is sticking to his freedom of speech no matter how disgusting the rest of us may find his book. Amazon.com, by the way, pulled the book from the sales on their Web site after the public outcry.

Preston Rudie, I thank you -- from our affiliate WTSP out of Florida.

And that is today's "Reporter Roulette."

Did you hear what the Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour said about the civil rights era? It wasn't that bad. His words, not mine. He's clarifying them and they're making the Political Ticker this hour. We're going to be checking in with Ed Henry -- next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: This hour, we are taking the Political Ticker on the road, to the beaches of Hawaii. We want to bring in Ed Henry, joining me now with the latest news from the Political Ticker. There he is. Oh, I like the music.

But just for you Hawaiian --

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I love the theme music.

BALDWIN: But here's the thing, Ed. I mean, as the White House correspondent and the fact is the president is not there yet. So, how did you wangle your way into already heading to Waikiki?

HENRY: You know, one of my colleagues in the media sent me an e- mail a short time ago that basically said, I hate you for being there before the president with nothing to do. Now, I think this live shot shows I actually do have something to do. And we've been working, along with my colleagues.

You know, bottom line is: we already have plane tickets. We know the president is going get here sooner or later. If you stay in D.C. and keep waiting and waiting, the prices are only going to go up. And, look, we're trying to save the company some money. That's what it's all about.

BALDWIN: Aren't you sweet?

HENRY: We're trying to help everybody out.

BALDWIN: Helping the company out, saving the big bucks. Yes, I'm not buying it. I'm not buying it, Ed Henry. I'm not buying it at all.

But I will listen to you. Give me -- give your 50 seconds, your big work for the day. Tell the Political Ticker, why don't you (ph)?

HENRY: Yes, after this, I'm taking the day off.

Bottom line is, as you mentioned, Haley Barbour in some hot water over the comments he made to "The Weekly Standard," suggesting that the civil rights movement -- some of the strike was not so bad in his home state of Mississippi. He's now put out a statement and clarifying, saying, look, they accurately said that there was community leadership in his hometown. They did not tolerate violence, rejected the KKK.

But he's clarifying that the leadership also were not -- these leaders were not saints. In his words, this group, the Citizens Council, was clearly, their work and racist work was, in his words, quote, "totally indefensible."

So, Haley Barbour, a potential 2012 candidate trying to clarify there. Secondly, Maria Cino, a former Bush official, who has now gotten into that race for chairman of the Republican National Committee race. She's sort of a long-shot candidate, but she's now putting out a series of action plans. Number one, she's going after current RNC chair, Michael Steele, for lavish spending ahead of the 2012 Republican national convention in Tampa. She's proposing that Republicans pull out of Tampa. One of Steele's aides is already there, making about $15,000 a month to set up the convention and there's an emergency -- there should be an emergency audit of all of the expenditures.

Finally, we've got a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll on a potential government shutdown. Midnight tonight, government's going to run out of money. What does a public think of that? It sounds like only 13 percent of the public in this poll believes that it would be a crisis if there was a government shutdown.

But if it dragged on for weeks, about 33 percent of the public says it would be a crisis. Another 38 percent say it would be a major problem.

The bottom line is that it appears that both parties are going to avoid a government shutdown. In fact, that's one of the reasons President Obama is still in Washington and they're going to probably have what they call continuing resolution that was likely to pass later today that will keep the government running at least until March, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Ed Henry, go enjoy your pina colada, mohalo.

HENRY: Thank you. You, too.

BALDWIN: Thanks, Roge. I like the music.

All right. You can get the latest (AUDIO BREAK) at Political Ticker.

And we had talked a bit about this bizarre hazing story. You remember this, out of Ohio. We talked about it yesterday. I talked to the -- Idaho, talked to the school superintendent. Well, yesterday, could teenagers go to prison for life for something they allegedly did in high school? Sunny Hostin is on the case in just a couple of minutes.

And, a shark-feeding frenzy like you rarely see.

Stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: You know, we talked a lot about snow, some of the mudslides, the weather issues. And some of you may be out there cursing that. But there are some people who actually enjoy it. "You Gotta See This!"

Some people or penguins. Let's go to Japan for this. Oh. Snow means one thing for them -- freedom. The penguins, 17 in all, taken for a stroll around the zoo grounds every day during the winter. And look at them waddle on along. Is that what penguins do? Do they waddle?

Every year, visitors come out to watch the birds take on their daily walk.

Next, things got a little heat at this playoff game in St. Pete over the weekend. Check this out.

A fight broke out between a Caliente player and a Breeze player. The referee blows the whistle, but the two ladies on the screen -- and you can kind of see it there -- they're not playing so nice.

Ladies, not very ladylike.

Next, on to the Caribbean, where this fearless fisherman -- wait for him, you'll see him -- treating some hungry sharks to lunch. Look how close to shore these sharks are. Look how close he is to the sharks.

He tried to lure them in even closer, apparently, but they were not biting. Thank goodness, Mr. Fisherman

Maybe you've heard the phrase "net neutrality" today. Do you actually know though what that means? Coming up, we'll explain how it could change the way you get the information you want from your laptop to your smartphone.

Stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Now to tomorrow's news today. Let's "Fast Forward" and begin with President Obama. He is scheduled to sign the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." That should happen tomorrow morning. And at his side will be Navy Commander Zoe Dunning, who has fought very hard for this repeal, and she will be my guest, live, here in the NEWSROOM during our first hour.

And author of the pedophile's how-to guide -- we were talking about him just a couple of minutes ago -- Philip Greaves, he will be in court in Florida tomorrow. Authorities there arrested him on an obscenity charge after he sent a copy of his book from Colorado to Florida. Greaves defends his book and says the police in Florida entrapped him.

It is that wild and wooly frontier right on your desktop, maybe even your cell phone. It's the Internet, land of no rules, until now. The Federal Communications Commission, FCC, has now approved the first set of rules designed to guarantee net neutrality.

What does that mean? Ali Velshi explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: The Internet comes to you through a pipe like this. Right now, it's a fairly good sized pipe. And everything that goes through the pipe is equal.

So if you're tweeting, it goes through that pipe. If you're watching -- if you're Skyping with somebody, it goes through that pipe. If you're looking at pictures on Facebook, it goes through that pipe.

Now, watching video on YouTube, goes through that same pipe. And if you're streaming videos from Netflix, it all goes through that pipe.

Generally speaking, the pipe is pretty good. It all gets through there and through to the other side.

Now, here's what some people are suggesting might happen, that if there's a two-tiered system, there'll be this big pipe if you are going to have services that use a lot of that video, and then there'll be a smaller pipe like this one, that's for things that use less. And clearly, it's a little harder to get some of that big bandwidth stuff into that little pipe.

So, if I want to just surf the Web and write e-mails, I probably just need this smaller pipe. But if I'm going to do what we increasingly do these days, watch more video and have richer content, I'm going to need that larger pipe, and some people say you should have to pay for that. You'll get better access, so pay for it. Some say the division is censorship and will kill innovation in this country.

A lot of interesting arguments on both sides of this.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Ali Velshi with his props on set trying to explain net neutrality. And obviously a major decision like this from the FCC will have its fair share of legal challenges. We'll get into that in just a moment.

Also, reports of what allegedly happened in Idaho to student athletes at this high school. They are disturbing. I'm talking sexually-depraved attacks on underclassmen. But could some of the older students involved here face life -- life in prison?

And we ran out of time to go through this with Sunny Hostin yesterday. She is back "On the Case" with that and more when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Before the break, my friend Ali Velshi showed us what net neutrality is all about. And I want to dig a little deeper on that, talk about the legal challenges, possible legal challenges to come here, some opponents are predicting will follow today's vote by the FCC. I want to bring in Sunny Hostin, who is always "On the Case."

And Sunny, let's just delve a little deeper into the possible legal issues involved.

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, there's no question that there are legal issues involved here, Brooke. And I think what is most fascinating is the legal issue is whether or not the FCC even has the legal authority to implement these rules.

The commissioners themselves said they expect legal challenges to their authority. And so both sides are definitely bracing for a legal showdown here. There is no question this will go to court.

BALDWIN: So, when it goes to court, Sunny, who may be bringing it? Who will be bringing these challenges?

HOSTIN: I think we'll see suits from various groups, from public interest groups. But most importantly, from those Internet service providers that just don't want the government involved in their field, don't want the government involved in their industry.

I mean, interestingly enough, you know, I've been speaking to a couple of people in the telecom industry, and lawyers have already allegedly been retained to take part in this legal battle. And so no question in my mind that the Internet service providers will certainly be probably the first to the courthouse steps.

BALDWIN: What may happen, Sunny, in Congress with this?

HOSTIN: Well, I will say some Republican members of Congress right away decried the new rule. They say that it's an excessive display of governmental regulation.

And the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, signaled that his colleague would push back next year. And so we know the House is a Republican House going forward. And so we're going to see some pushing back from the Republicans, certainly on this. BALDWIN: OK, Sunny. I want to move on to this case that got a lot of us talking here. It's this case out of Idaho, allegations of hazing at this high school there. And this goes way beyond a student saying mean things to another student, maybe smacking someone around trying to get in a club. These allegations, when you look at the charges, it's rough stuff.

So, for people who don't know the story, Sunny, what are the charges we're talking about?

HOSTIN: This is a terrible story. And hazing, the term "hazing," really doesn't do it justice.

The allegations are that there are five teen basketball players, and they forcibly, allegedly, penetrated fellow members of their basketball team, battered them, and restrained the victims, not only in the school locker room, but on the school bus over a three-month period. So they're looking at a range of charges, Brooke, from false imprisonment to battery.

But I think most importantly, a felony charge with just the forcible sexual penetration using a foreign object. These are serious charges. And again, hazing, I don't think the term does it justice.

BALDWIN: I agree. I agree.

When you look at some of the charges, what could they be facing? I mean, in Idaho, specifically, are we talking a couple of years in prison if convicted or way beyond that?

HOSTIN: Sure. You know, some of these are misdemeanors, certainly. But the felony charge carries a life sentence. Again, that is that forcible sexual penetration with a foreign object. In Idaho, life sentence, so these kids could very well end up spending their lives in prison.

BALDWIN: Now, the school says -- and I spoke with the Blackfoot school superintendent yesterday. He told me all this came to light -- I think it was September -- when, you know, the schools were going over their anti-bullying policies with students.

In fact, I want to read you specifically what the school said. They say " -- in the course of our review and emphasis of these policies, students came forward to report incidences of harassment, intimidation and bullying."

And police say, Sunny, some of these young people are still coming forward, some of these alleged victims. So might this be turning out even bigger than the school initially thought?

HOSTIN: I think there's no question it could even be bigger. The investigation is ongoing.

And as you mentioned, Brooke, these victims are coming forward. And that is typical in a case like this.

When a victim learns that he or she is not the only one, there is strength in numbers. They get the courage to come forward. So, without hazarding a guess, it is possible that this scandal could get larger and larger.

BALDWIN: And we'll be watching it along the way.

Before I let you go, 30 seconds, parents listening. Perhaps they're cringing a little bit. What do you tell -- what does the parent tell the child if something like this is happening to them?

HOSTIN: Sure. You tell a child, tell an adult. Report, report, report. You are a victim. You do not have to be embarrassed.

You must tell an adult if you have been the victim of a crime. Do not be ashamed.

BALDWIN: We are going follow that story in Idaho all the way through, most definitely. Sunny Hostin "On the Case."

Good to see you, as always, ending our show last, but not certainly least.

Sunny Hostin, thank you.

And now to Wolf Blitzer. He is back in Washington hosting "THE SITUATION ROOM" -- Wolf.