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Blizzard Blasting Northeast; Snow in the Sunshine State; Teena Marie Dead at 54; Did Lincoln's Assassin Get Away With It?
Aired December 26, 2010 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR: A blizzard hits the Northeast, stranding travelers and making for a very miserable weekend and a rough start to the week ahead. We have a live report from Newark Airport, along with a check on the commuter trains and road conditions.
Meanwhile on the South, the sight of snow this weekend was a surprising sight, especially in Florida.
And we'll have all those stories and more in a moment. But first, breaking news from the entertainment world.
R&B singer Teena Marie is dead at the age of 54. Marie was a Grammy nominated artist and protege of late funk legend Rick James. She began her career with Motown Records in the 1970s and had a hit later with the song "Lover Girl" in 1984. Marie was notable for her success as a white performer in R&B music. We have more on Teena Marie's passing and her legacy later in the show.
Meanwhile, this is not how anybody wanted to finish the Christmas weekend. A blizzard bearing down on the Northeast as we speak. A live look here for you at the snow whipping around Providence, Rhode Island tonight. This is the reason so many people are making it or not making it home tonight, and many more could have to miss work in the morning as well. Officials throughout the Northeast are begging people to stay off the roads as well. Buteau from our affiliate WPRI tells us there is a very good reason why.
WALT BUTEAU, WPRI REPORTER: The highways are plowed but still slick. 295 down to one lane in some spots according to state police with everyone here staying to the right.
This accident involving a car at a DOT plow is one of about a dozen blamed on the snowy conditions. The car ended up on its side. The plow came to a stop in the snow-covered median. The plow was actually behind the car. The car spun out on this Route 37 off ramp, and the plow just clipped the rear end.
LT. DAVID TIKOIAN, RHODE ISLAND STATE POLICE: Fortunately, there were no injuries.
BUTEAU: Are we seeing these scattered across the state today?
TIKOIAN: As I'm speaking to you now, just got another report of a rollover, Route 102 in the West Greenwich area. I'm understanding that that one is with some injury. I don't know how substantial that one is, but for the most part, we're seeing cars off the road, striking barriers or guardrails.
BUTEAU: And as we said, EMA is up and running. The concern for tonight is the wind, sending snow sideways in this video, and freezing rain, teaming up to knock out your power.
J. DAVID SMITH, RHODE ISLAND EMA: There's freezing rain mixed in, and maybe could take some power lines down as high winds, and so if the power goes down, they brought in some extra crews to be ready to respond and try to get power up as soon as possible. But it could be out for an extended period of time.
GORANI: Walt Buteau reporting there.
And let's go to Bonnie Schneider. She's at the weather center there with more on this storm.
Still affecting so many parts of the Northeast, and for the coming hours, of course, people are going to have to look out for this blizzard.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's true. And Hallow, we are just getting in some snowfall totals. I've tabulated them. You have to realize these numbers will go up a lot by the time you watch "AMERICAN MORNING" tomorrow because it's still snowing in many of these locations. Cape May, New Jersey, 18 inches already of snow. Philadelphia, so much less, 4.8. Wilmington, 1.7. Plainview, New York, that's in Nassau County, 6.5. Up in Boston where the blizzard is really going to get cranking tonight, 6.5.
OK, let me pull out right here. I want to show you why this is so interesting. Take a look, you can see on the map here, this is where Cape May is located. We have Wilmington and Philadelphia, and each of these cities are under 100 miles from Cape May, and we saw a difference of a foot of snow plus in terms of accumulation.
It really is one of the things about Nor'easter. You get these narrow intense bands of snow and, depending where you are, you either going to get hard hit or not so much. And not to mention the fact that cities like Washington, D.C., for example, only saw a few inches, and that's even that far from Philly.
Another phenomenon we've been watching with this intense Nor'easter is thunder snow. Reports of it in Manhattan. A lot of reports coming in. I saw that on Twitter. People have been talking about this phenomenon where you have an intense snowstorm, you get thunder and lightning, flashes of lightning, just like in a summer thunderstorm, except it's all happening in the winder.
So the blizzard warnings continue not just through tonight but through tomorrow afternoon -- tomorrow evening. Many of these don't expire until 6:00 p.m. tomorrow as that low pressure center works its way up the Delaware coast. And then by later tonight into the overnight hours, it's going to really tighten and intensify off the coast of Nantucket, and that's where we're going to see winds that could be as strong as 50 miles per hour or stronger. Snowfall rates 2 to 4 inches are possible per hour. That's incredible. And some of the winds have already been clocking at really intense speeds. We've had one wind gust in Bridgeport, Connecticut, of 58 miles per hour. Blizzard warnings up and down the Jersey shore into parts as far south as Virginia.
Now as we take a look at areas southward, we are going to see some improvements. But look what's happening in the Northeast. A little bit of rain moving in, mixing at times with sleet and snow in Boston. That will all change to snow, especially as that storm pulls away and you get the back side and the strong winds. It will be windy everywhere tomorrow.
And across the South, snow flurries have been falling across Atlanta, Columbia, into Savannah. It's important to note accumulations not expected even though here in Atlanta we did see the first white Christmas. We are just going to see flurries tonight, but watch out for icy roads.
More coming up in just a bit -- Hala.
GORANI: Right. We're going to have to look out for that a little bit later when we drive home, don't we, Bonnie?
Now, Providence, Rhode Island, here are some live pictures coming to us from there, and we're seeing what? Windy conditions, a bit of icy snow, it looks like. Well, that looks blizzardy to me, actually.
SCHNEIDER: Yes. Providence is under a blizzard warning straight through tomorrow evening so that's why you see that sideways motion of the snow, with the intense winds at 35 miles per hour or stronger.
GORANI: Great. Philadelphia?
SCHNEIDER: Philadelphia is under a winter weather advisory. And Philadelphia saw less snow and less intensity than areas just a little bit further north. A little over 4 inches of snow on the ground. You're still facing very dangerous and strong, windy conditions out there. That will persist through tomorrow.
GORANI: And Michael Nutter, the mayor of Philadelphia, was telling us that if the cy is under a weather emergency, it just means they are advising people not to park out on the street and that, of course, they are saying if you don't have to drive somewhere, look at the conditions there, don't do it.
SCHNEIDER: Yes. Visibility is just less than zero in some places.
GORANI: Bonnie Schneider, thanks very much. We'll talk to you a bit later.
The blizzard is blasting the East Coast as far down as Virginia but snowy conditions are reaching way down south of that, as we discuss there with Bonnie. It is a very rare, very welcome sight for some people in Florida as Vic Micolucci tells us from our affiliate WJXT.
VIC MICOLUCCI, WJXT REPORTER: The calls from viewers started coming in just before 9:00 this morning reporting snow flurries all over the place. I stepped into our station's back parking lot near downtown Jacksonville and I, too, saw the smallest of flurries, and it's been the first time in a very long time around here.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's snowing in Jacksonville. Snowing in Jacksonville on the day after Christmas in 2010. Look at this.
MICOLUCCI (voice over): It's pretty obvious Robert Ellison (ph) couldn't believe his eyes when he woke up this morning on Jacksonville's West Side, and neither did Edward Buys (ph) on the South Side.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at all that snow on you, girl. Oh, my gosh.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holiday weather here. Holiday weather.
MICOLUCCI: Flurries fell all across the area.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Channel 4. Yes?
MICOLUCCI: And reached up more than 100 calls all morning from Brunswick to St. Augustine to the beaches.
At the Ramona flea market off Interstate 10, it was business as usual, except it's not usual to be this cold.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My face is cold. This helps to keep it warm here.
MICOLUCCI: This morning, shoppers and vendors got to see some of the white stuff fall at the West Side swap shop.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was white all over my jacket and the windshield, and it was coming down pretty good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. Freezing out here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: All right. There you have live pictures. On the left, Providence, Rhode Island with winds, Bonnie was telling us there, about 35 miles an hour and blizzard conditions. And on the right, that flickering signal we're getting is from Newark, New Jersey. We'll have a lot more coverage of this winter weather and how it's affecting travel and how it's affecting flights, even train service from New York to Boston. A lot more ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM.
And up next, we'll take you live to D.C. for a check of the weather and politics. Our Paul Steinhauser will be here to tell us what to expect when the New Year brings with it a new Congress. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) GORANI: All right. That's a view of our nation's capital this hour. Washington appears to have escaped the worst of the winter storm blasting the East Coast. But it won't be quiet for long when Congress and the president return to town. Republicans will have control of the House and bigger numbers in the Senate.
I'm joined from Washington by our deputy political director Paul Steinhauser.
All right, Paul, thanks for coming in Sunday night. Let's look ahead to the new year and the new Congress in a moment, but first, this lame duck Congress where nothing was going to happen. Well, we had a flurry of votes there, and at the end, who is getting credit for what was accomplished? I know we have new poll numbers. What do they -- what do they reveal?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, a lot of political pundits, Hala, are saying that it was a December to remember for President Barack Obama and why? Because so many things were passed through that lame duck Congress, from the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, which prevented gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military to the ratification of the approval of a major nuclear weapons treaty with Russia, to that tax cut compromise.
And our polls indicate Americans feel the same way -- that it was the president who really was the winner. Take a look at this.
You mentioned our national survey and this is from CNN Opinion Research Corporation. At the top right there. Do you approve or disapprove how these people handled the lame duck session? President Obama, 56. So a majority approved of how he handled the lame duck. Democrats and Republicans in Congress, the majority, disapprove.
And here's one of the reasons why. Take a look at the next number here. And we asked in this question, do you think -- did President Barack Obama do enough to compromise with the other side? The Republicans in Congress, well, yes. Most Americans say yes, six out of ten. But they do not feel the same way about Republicans.
So the fact that the president was able to reach out to Republicans, Americans think that he was able to compromise, and that's what made him a big winner, I guess.
GORANI: You know, I find interesting that the percentage of Republicans and Democrats who approve of the job Barack Obama did this December is within one percentage point of each other. So they are very close regardless of what party they belong to.
STEINHAUSER: Exactly. Both sides thought that he was quite productive. Now, one of the big questions, Hala, is will this -- I guess you can call this holiday spirit here in December last into the New Year?
And I don't think so. I mean, there's a -- sure, anything can happen, but here's a couple of things that are working against it. First of all, when we get this new Congress coming up in about a week, week and a half, remember, the new Congress on the House side, it will be run by the Republicans. And in the Senate, there were Democrats coalition there. They will still be in the majority but it will be a weaker majority with a stronger minority by the Republicans that are more conservative minority by the Republicans as well.
And look at some of the big issues that this new Congress is going to have to deal with. The budget. Remember this temporary budget, it was passed by the lame duck. Well, the lights run out on the government in early March. So, there's going to be a big battle over that, as well as the deficit, as well as the debt ceiling, raising the debt ceiling for the country. And the Republicans in the House may try to -- try to repeal the new health care law.
There does not seem to be some areas here on these issues where there's going to be a lot of common ground between the White House and Democrats in Congress and the Republicans, but we'll see.
GORANI: All right. We will see, because some of the predictions for December certainly didn't come true, so that was interesting.
STEINHAUSER: Exactly. Exactly.
GORANI: Thank you.
STEINHAUSER: You never know.
GORANI: You never know. Paul Steinhauser, thanks very much, live in D.C.
Still ahead, Amtrak has canceled all train service between Boston and New York because of the weather. When we come back, I'll talk to an Amtrak spokesman about what that means for travelers. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Let's check some of our top stories. R&B singer Teena Marie is dead at the age of 54. Marie is best known for her 1984 hit "Lover Girl." Her storied career began in the 70s with Motown Records and included several Grammy nominations. CNN's Don Lemon will share his memories of the soul singer with us in a moment.
Meanwhile, a brutal winter storm is slowing travel to a crawl in the Northeast. Combined cancellations for American, Continental and Delta Airlines are totaling more than 1,300 flights so far. Many airlines are waiving penalties for travelers who have to reschedule. Amtrak has also cancelled service in some areas. And the NFL postponed tonight Eagles-Vikings game.
Well, take a look at Lincoln Financial Field, and can you probably see -- I can't take a look at Lincoln Financial Field because I can't see it. And here you have Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There again, the mayor of Philadelphia, Michael Nutter, telling us just a little bit earlier that weather emergencies have been issued for Philadelphia. That means not being able to park in certain streets and discouraging travel by car especially for Philadelphia residents.
The blizzard you just heard about is also pummeling Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. Tonight, Amtrak has cancelled all trains, regional and express service, between New York and Boston. Joining us by phone is Cliff Cole, a spokesman for Amtrak.
All right. Thanks for taking the time, Cliff Cole, to talk to us. What does that mean in terms of how many passengers are affected the tonight, Cliff?
CLIFF COLE, AMTRAK SPOKESMAN (via telephone): Well, from Boston to New York, we cancelled a total of eight trains between those two end points. And most of them, if not all of them, I'm not exactly sure, it was sold out or close to being sold out. That's close to 1,200 people on each train who were impacted by the cancellation.
GORANI: And are some people stranded? Or has everyone been able to sort of leave the terminal or leave the train station and find someplace else to spend the night?
COLE: Well, what we did was we, you know, as soon as we figured out that we were not going to run the trains, we have a system whereby we contact the passengers through our reservations department by phone or by other means electronically to make sure that they are aware that the train has been cancelled. The hope there is that they don't show up to the station then and then have to find other ways to get home.
So, looking around at some of the -- as far as we see at the stations, a lot of people apparently did get the word that the trains were cancelled because we don't have crowding conditions there. So, the good news is that the people who cannot travel by train by Amtrak between Boston and New York, at least conceivably are in some place safe and warm waiting for the storm to pass.
GORANI: I imagine some people did show up. Now, we have New York- Boston cancelled, but what about New York-Washington?
COLE: Well, that's the good news is we haven't had to cancel any service between those two points as the storm moved off the coast. And as it moves away from the Atlantic region, it becomes less and less likely that we have to do so. So, we are running normal service between Washington and New York, at least at this point, and we anticipate that to remain the case throughout the night and into the morning.
GORANI: Well, let me ask you. People rely on Amtrak, of course. Tomorrow is Monday. How early will you start services again tomorrow?
COLE: The first trains out in the morning, I'm not exactly sure when the first one would be out. The customer service people would know better than I would because we're trying to formulate what equipment would be available, but the best way and the best advice I gave everyone is to call 1-800-USA to find out specific train information.
We are running a limited schedule, and we were running a limited schedule even before the storm came up the coast because of the Christmas holiday, but again, we are very hopeful that we'll be able to get folks between Boston and New York starting tomorrow morning.
GORANI: Cliff Cole, an Amtrak spokesperson joining us live there. Thanks very much for the update and, of course, telling passengers out there who are booked on train journeys between either of those major points on Amtrak to call ahead and make sure that their train -- that their train journeys haven't been cancelled.
Well, we're talking about trains here. So many people whose flights were cancelled might have wanted to rely on train service. Well, flights are cancelled tonight, stranding thousands of travelers. Newark International Airport is, in fact, completely shut down.
Debra Alfarone from affiliate WPIX is standing by live outside one of the terminals.
All right. What's going on where you are there? I mean, no flights taking off, no flights landing, and people sleeping in the terminal, right?
DEBRA ALFARONE, WPIX REPORTER: Yes. People are sleeping in the terminal at this point, Hala. I mean, the thing is that we started off with delays, then we had cancellations, now, I mean, you really don't hear about that often, but Newark Liberty International Airport is completely shut down.
I'm going to ask Christian (ph) to pan off a little bit and show you what the scene is like here. I mean, we've seen plow trucks trying to keep this lot clean, and it is just a losing battle. So, we went inside and talk to some people, and they are going to have to just sack out here for the night because some of these hotels are actually packed.
GORANI: And we're talking about hotels, these are the airport hotels, so people stranded had to find some place to spend the night. How long could people be stuck there in and around Newark?
ALFARONE: That's a good question, Hala. I spoke to a couple of people who told me they had flights today, and they are not getting out for two days, maybe even three days. Now, again, we don't know if they are going to change things. I mean, everything you hear here at Newark, it kind of changes a little bit throughout the day, but just look at these conditions right now.
We left here to go check on some of the roadways near our hotel, and I don't even think we're going to get to our hotel tonight. It is pretty bad out there. The visibility is down. This airport is entirely shut down. It's just difficult to drive. Treacherous even.
GORANI: All right. Debra Alfarone, thanks very much. A live report. We can see you there, battling the elements and possibly looking at a night in the satellite truck. Good luck to you and your crew.
ALFARONE: Well, there's worse, Hala, there's worse.
GORANI: We've all done it. OK. Thanks. When we come back, remembering Teena Marie. Don Lemon will join us to talk about the life and legacy of the award-winning singer and songwriter who many people remember as Rick James' protege. We'll be right back. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: The music world is in mourning tonight. R&B singer Teena Marie died in her sleep last night at age of 54. Her career included multiple Grammy nominations and spanned decades. Marie was booked to play Atlanta's Fox Theater next Saturday and CNN's Don Lemon joins me now with his memories of the soul singer.
Don, so what kind of legacy is Teena Marie leaving behind?
DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): It's probably, Hala -- good evening, by the way, it's probably a bigger one than most people realize. I've seen people saying who is Teena Marie. But, of course, it's going crazy on the social media.
Teena Marie was really a woman. She was a white woman who sort of crossed over, not sort of crossed over, she crossed over into soul music very early on in the late '70s and early '80s and, of course, she was Rick James' protege and everyone remembers Rick James, if not from the time he was there, but definitely from the "Dave Chappelle Show" and that skit that he did.
But Teena Marie, it's so -- it's so circuitous, Hala, when we talk about -- we always say the news business is a small business, I would say the music business, the entertainment business is probably a smaller one because Teena Marie started out at Motown and worked with Berry Gordy and worked with Richard Rudolph, who was Minnie Riperton's husband. Richard Rudolph was a producer at Motown and, you know, "Loving you is easy coz you're beautiful," that was Minnie Riperton.
And so, she worked with Minnie Riperton and Maya Rudolph who was on "S&L" sang on one of Teena Marie's early albums -- Maya was 7 years old and so Maya's dad and her mom produced many of Minnie Riperton's first songs, and now Mini -- I'm sorry, Teena Marie's first songs, and Teena Marie is actually Maya Rudolph's godmother.
GORANI: Oh, interesting.
LEMON: She ushered in that and then there's a song that you have -- I think you have "Lover Girl."
GORANI: "Lover Girl," yes. Let's play that.
LEMON: Let's listen to a little bit of it and I'll tell you about that.
(MUSIC)
GORANI: Don, Don, what's interesting is this is kind of a whole era there. LEMON: That was -- that's a whole era of rap. She actually helped to usher in the whole rap, hip hop era. That was from 1981, but 1980 -- that was from 1984, that song, but 1980-1981, she actually did "Square Biz," which was one of the first rap songs ever that she rapped on.
I remember her during this era. We waited and waited and waited in Louisiana at the Fair Grounds for hours for her and for Rick James to show up, and they were late. It was hot in the summer. The Fair Grounds were over capacity. And then I remember -- I remember -- and this is a picture that you're looking at now from the Jazz Festival when she played in New Orleans. She's a huge, huge -- huge among people who liked R&B.
So I remember waiting for her and then when the helicopter -- helicopter flew her and Rick James in, and the crowd went crazy, and they were handing out water and pouring water on people. This was during the "Fire and Desire" era. I don't know if you guys -- people who are listening remember, but us old heads, people in their 30s and 40s remember "Fire and Desire," from both of them. Just amazing, amazing music and the music industry is going to miss her.
I talked to an old-time deejay, a longtime deejay, Herb Kent, who is in the Radio Hall of Fame. When these reports started coming out and one of them was from his radio station WVAZ in Chicago and he said she was one of the best vocalists ever, one of the best people in the business. And actually, actually according to Troi Tyler, who is also a longtime deejay there, she started this -- created this initiative called the Brockert Initiative. She tried to get out of her contract with Motown that eventually helped all members of the music profession, those who are under contract.
If you are under contract with someone and they weren't releasing your music or paying you, this initiative allowed you to get out of that contract. So she allowed many people in the business people like Luther Vandross, among others, to be able to get out of their contract and make money by going to other publishing companies.
A huge loss for the business.
LEMON: All right, Don Lemon, great insight. I'm filling in for you tonight, so I think we're going to see you next weekend. Good talking to you there about Teena Marie, her death, very young, age 54, and her legacy as well.
Still ahead, did history -- did the history books get it wrong? We'll dig deeper into the debate going on right now about whether Abraham Lincoln's killer actually got away with murder for decades.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: If you are in the Northeast tonight, we hope you're safe and we hope you're warm inside because this is what is waiting for you outside. Snowy conditions as far as the eye can see in New Haven, Connecticut. Many who would thought train travel would be a better option in Connecticut and elsewhere tonight are learning the hard way tonight as Marc Robbins from affiliate WTNH tells us that train passengers are going to need all their leftover Christmas cheer to deal with this one.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARC ROBBINS, WTNH REPORTER (voice over): With the snow blowing around outside, it's a winter wonderland. Inside, too. Everyone is full of wonder. Wondering if the schedule board is accurate.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When we got here, we had heard that they were already cancelled -- cancelled the trains, but not yet. We're getting home hopefully.
ROBBINS: Metro north trains are still running on a normal Sunday schedule. Amtrak has said it's shutting down its train service between Boston and New York. This long day could turn into a longer night, even if you are able to board.
COLLIN CASCIA, PHILADELPHIA RESIDENT: I'm not sure. I didn't look at weather before I left, so hopefully it's not too bad when I get down there.
ROBBINS: Do you think you're going to make it?
JOAN BLAKE, GLENCOVE, NEW YORK RESIDENT: Sure, I'm an optimist. I'll make it, one time or another.
ROBBINS: So you're prepared for a long trip?
BLAKE: Yes, and I have friends in Clinton so if anything goes terribly wrong I can pop over there and spend the night.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Well, let's get to Peter Boynton who is standing by for us on the phone. Peter is the commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.
What is happening in your state tonight, and how are emergency services responding to the weather conditions?
PETER BOYNTON, CONN. DEPT. OF EMER. MANAGEMENT (via telephone): Well, good evening. Governor Jody Rell held a conference call earlier today with over 200 officials from all towns across the state of Connecticut to review preparations for the storm, and she ordered the state emergency operations center opened at 3:00 p.m. today, and they will be open through the night and tomorrow helping to coordinate response throughout the state for this storm.
GORANI: All right. So, we're talking here about places staying open. Will cities and towns be able to ask in this particular case, because this is such a severe storm, it happened very early in the season, for state help in this case?
BOYNTON: Well, state help is already being provided at the direction of Governor Rell. Over 600 Department of Transportation trucks are on the road with additional contractors already beginning the plowing operations. We're expecting 12 to 20 inches of snow across the state, and Governor Rell has encouraged residents to stay off the roads tonight to help with that clearing, and, of course, it's much safer to stay at home. Conditions on the roads are poor.
GORANI: But people are going to eventually have to leave their homes. People are going to have to go to work. What about tomorrow morning?
BOYNTON: We met this evening at 2:00 p.m. in the state emergency operations center. Governor Rell met with her unified command there, and we briefed the governor again at 8:00 p.m. tonight for preparations for the morning rush hour. Tomorrow is a furlough day for state employees and many schools are off, so we expect the traffic will be lighter than normal. But the Department of Transportation and the Connecticut state police will be prepared for rush hour.
GORANI: OK. And how do you prepare for that? I mean, I'm sure in Connecticut, you've seen weather conditions similar to these before, but this must have come as a surprise so early in the season, right?
BOYNTON: Well, we have storms here, and we've actually been tracking this storm since Wednesday and Thursday of last week, briefing the governor and state agencies and local communities that there was a potential for a major storm. So we feel like we've had time to prepare.
The National Guard, Connecticut National Guard has pre-positioned equipment at armories throughout the state. The Department of Public Health has communicated with hospitals across the state in the event they are needed. And as I mentioned, the DOT has got all of their equipment out on the roads. So we think we're in fairly good shape in terms of the preparations.
GORANI: All right. Is it going to be a long night for you? Where are you now, Peter?
BOYNTON: I was in the emergency operations center earlier this evening. I think it will be a long night for all of us, but that's what we're here for, and we're very pleased with the preparations so far, and we'll be briefing Governor Rell again at 5:30 in the morning prior to the rush hour to make sure that we're on track.
GORANI: All right. Peter Boynton, the commissioner of Connecticut's Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security joining us on the line there. Thanks very much from Hartford, Connecticut.
You can find out about the travel delays in your area online if you go to cnn.com/travel. Click on the link airport delays, and you'll find the status update on the busiest U.S. airports, the average delay time and what is causing it, and some of those airport closures as well in the New York area.
We'll be right back. Stay with us. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Checking some of our top stories. A new CNN Opinion Research Corporation poll shows how the weak economy is adding to holiday stress for many this year. 44 percent of respondents say this holiday was more stressful than in past years, and 58 percent of those surveyed said they had been forced to cut back on their charitable giving.
An Arizona state lawmaker is hospitalized, in stable condition today, after he was attacked on Christmas day. Frank Pratt was checking on his swimming pool store when he was confronted by a person already inside the building. Police say the attacker knocked Pratt unconscious and bound him inside his business, then stole his SUV. Pratt's wife found him about four hours later, and the suspect in this case is still at large.
No Amtrak trains are running tonight from New York to Boston due to the huge winter storm. Amtrak says it hopes to resume service tomorrow. Officials say the lines from New York to Washington are for the most part not affected with a few exceptions in southeast Virginia. So check before you head to the train station.
Now to a new debate on a piece of history many of us don't even know is at question. The textbooks say the man who murdered Abraham Lincoln was shot to death by Union troops 12 days after the assassination. But his family's legend says John Wilkes Booth got away with it, killing himself 40 years after he killed the president.
Now Booth's descendants want to exhume the body of his brother. They hope by digging up Edwin Booth's grave they will unearth the truth, comparing Edwin's DNA to the DNA of the body now buried in John Wilkes' grave in Baltimore.
To explain it all, Brad Meltzer is here. He hosts the History Channel's "Brad Meltzer Decoded," which just debuted an episode on John Wilkes Booth.
Thanks for being with us, Brad.
And joining us by phone from her home in Rhode Island is the most direct descendant to Edwin Booth living, Lois Trebisacci.
To both of you, thanks for joining us.
Lois, your (INAUDIBLE) had appeared on Brad's program Thursday explaining how she first learned of her bloodline from her mother.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOANNE HULME, BOOTH DESCENDANT: Without skipping a beat, she said you're going to be learning this in school. They are going to say that he died in the barn. He did not die in the barn. He lived for many, many years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So she told you that blockbuster piece of information right away?
HULME: Yes, yes. I had no idea that John Wilkes Booth had survived.
(END VIDEO CLIP) GORANI: All right, Lois, what did your family -- did you hear the same story from your family about John Wilkes Booth?
LOIS TREBISACCI, BOOTH DESCENDANT (via telephone): No, I did not. I never heard the escape theories. My grandfather actually would never allow John Wilkes's name to be mentioned in the house. And our family basically concentrated on Edwin's accomplishments.
GORANI: OK. And now, why dig up Edwin Booth's grave?
TREBISACCI: Well, we do not have an unbroken matrilineal line for DNA testing. So the next step would be to, you know, have Edwin at some point exhumed. It's in the very preliminary stages of pulling the scientific components together. And it's also, you know, very important that our efforts be done properly, scientifically, taking into consideration all the sensitivities involved.
GORANI: So, Brad, obviously, there's enough doubt out there that you dedicated an entire episode to John Wilkes Booth. Now, the idea is to test Edwin Booth, his DNA, compare it to the DNA of one of the vertebrae that are believed to belong to John Wilkes Booth to see if there's a relation, right? And if not, then what? What are some of the theories out there?
BRAD MELTZER, HOST, "BRAD MELTZER DECODED": Well, the theories and the reason this story starts is as you heard because some family members have heard these stories passed down. And one of the stories that started was that John Wilkes Booth, when he escaped, didn't die that night, but escaped and took on the identity -- the alias John B. Wilkes, which let's be clear is the worst alias of all times.
GORANI: Yes. I was going to say.
MELTZER: A guy smart enough to evade capture, that's not the name you would take. But the name that everyone sticks with is this guy John St. Helen. And the reason everyone sticks with this story is that John St. Helen toward the end of his life, on his death bed, confesses this one secret that nobody knows and says I am John Wilkes Booth.
GORANI: Why not just dig up...
MELTZER: And if you're on your death bed and it's your last moment in this planet.
GORANI: Go ahead.
MELTZER: So why not just dig up John Wilkes Booth?
GORANI: Yes, yes.
MELTZER: The reason no one wants to dig up John Wilkes Booth's body, there's a couple of reasons. One, you can't disturb a body. It's against the law. And it's a family plot. So, some people don't know where it is. Some people say I know exactly where it is but there are three supposedly babies buried on top of them. They are worried that the DNA that would come out of that test might not be the actual DNA of John Wilkes Booth because you might get somebody, other people who are buried with him. So, you are left to rely on -- you just want to know who is in there.
GORANI: The bone fragments that are...
(CROSSTALK)
GORANI: Do we know for sure -- do we know for sure they belonged to John Wilkes Booth?
MELTZER: They belong to who was thought to be John Wilkes Booth. The problem with the bone fragments, that's in Walter Reed and I've been there. I know the guys there. They are incredible. I've seen their work. They are incredible, what they have there. The problem is, is that we don't know if the DNA in there is still good. That's the one problem.
But I will say that whoever they brought up, whoever they captured at Garrett's farm, that's whose bone fragment they do have. That's the best test we have. Whoever they captured that day is the person who we think is John Wilkes Booth. You'll get your answer if the DNA is good.
GORANI: Lois, do you think that Edwin Booth's DNA would match that of John Wilkes' DNA if it's possible to extract it from these bone fragments?
TREBISACCI: You know, I really -- I do not know, and that's why we would like to continue, you know, looking for the DNA samples. And my feeling is that whatever the outcome is I would be fine with it. It's just history should be as accurate as possible.
GORANI: Brad, I mean, is it possible that John Wilkes Booth actually got away with it, lived 40 years after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, a happy and free man, happy, we don't know, but a free man at least?
MELTZER: Listen, if it were impossible you wouldn't have all his family members on national television saying, listen, my family told me a secret or I believe it. And what we have to realize here is this is the greatest story -- one of the greatest stories in all of American history. This isn't just a conspiracy theory. This isn't some dreamed up idea.
You saw the clip from Dakota that we aired on History Channel this week, and you see a family member saying my family told me a secret and the secret is John Wilkes Booth lived and you can't tell anybody.
And we all know we all have our family secrets, not like that one, and you realize this is changing history if this happens. This is rewriting the history books. And to me that is absolutely -- as Lois said so well, that is a question that is worth asking.
GORANI: All right. It's a question that's worth asking. Your episode aired last Thursday on History Channel. Brad Meltzer of "Brad Meltzer Decoded," thanks for being with us. And Lois Trebisacci, who is the most direct descendant to Edwin Booth living, joining us from Rhode Island. Thanks very much to both of you.
A complicated story. It is complicated but very interesting, potentially putting a question mark there next to one of those things that we thought were fact there regarding John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln.
You're watching CNN. Up next, a Christmas scene is destroyed and now a reward is being offered for anyone who can help catch the vandals responsible.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Well, the nativity scene, we'll get to that in a moment, but first, these live images from Providence, Rhode Island, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as well. You're seeing there snow, blizzard conditions, heavy snow and also some strong winds, at least as far as Providence is concerned there on your screen.
Now moving on to that nativity scene I was talking about. Well, of course, it's a sacred Christmas tradition. In Michigan, however, one display received some pretty unholy treatment. Tia Ewing from our affiliate WNEM has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WAYNE BRONNER, BRONNER'S CHRISTMAS WONDERLAND: Utter sadness.
TIA EWING, WNEM REPORTER (voice over): Let us show you why.
BRONNER: This is just a portion of it.
EWING: Rudolph, Dasher and Prancer aren't going anywhere, completely knocked off course.
BRONNER: Somebody would do something like this, especially on Christmas eve. This is the worst destruction we've had in 65 years of being open.
EWING: Destruction like you've never seen. The elf we all love beheaded. Nutcracker laying now in the snow and the devastation doesn't stop there. The nativity scene was vandalized, too.
(on camera): Normally, this time of year, we are wishing you a merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, something festive like that, but as you can see, bandits, they came here completely destroying the figurines, even toppling over baby Jesus.
BRONNER: Just really almost sacrilegious.
EWING: Michigan state police brought out the canine team hoping to sniff the vandals out. The damage done, around $40,000.
We walked the grounds and discovered even more destruction.
BRONNER: We can do some repair on it. It's going to take a long, long time. EWING: And some of the figures you see here are irreplaceable.
BRONNER: some of these figures have been out here for probably 20 years.
EWING: These aren't the tracks from Santa. These are the tracks from the culprits responsible. Wayne Bronner hopes it doesn't take long to track them down.
BRONNER: We're going to offer a reward that leads to the prosecution of the individuals responsible.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: $40,000 in damage there.
Coming up, we'll check in with meteorologist Bonnie Schneider to see how much snow has already fallen in the Northeast and how much more we can expect from the blizzard now hitting the region.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Well, it's almost 8:00 p.m. in San Francisco, and here is a night shot of the Bay Bridge with traffic and those twinkling evening lights just as we approach the 8:00 p.m. hour, and, of course, they're a very different, different scene on the East Coast. Bonnie Schneider is here with more on that.
It's pretty though. We thought we'd show it because it was nice and twinkly.
SCHNEIDER: It is. And if we're showing a bridge, you know, somewhere in the Northeast, you wouldn't see it because the visibility is less than a quarter mile due to a major blizzard that's hammering the region.
Take a look at some of the snowfall totals. Now you have to realize that these totals will be revised very quickly because it's still snowing. But it's fascinating to look at the contrast. We have 18 inches in Cape May, Philadelphia and Wilmington, 90 miles or just a little bit more than that from Cape May, and, wow, what a lot less of snow, because the snow bands have been intense in the areas of Cape May and also the water around Cape May.
So, Plainview, New York, Nassau County, 6.5. It's still snowing there. And it's snowing in Boston. This blizzard will get cranking, as you can see, across the Northeast.
Let's show you New Jersey. That's one place where we're getting big- time snow totals. I mentioned Cape May, that's right down here. Philadelphia to the north. Long Branch, visibility is terrible there.
The winds are fierce, too, so they are really slamming into the coast as low pressure tightens and works its way up towards Nantucket. Overnight tonight, we're going to see the worst of it in the Boston area, coastal Massachusetts. The winds will climb to 50 miles per hour or stronger.
And if that's not enough, you may see a flash of light in the sky, even though it's dark out there and if you listen closely, a rumble of thunder. It happened in New York city earlier this evening. Thunder snow, a phenomenon that occurs when you have intense snowfall and really a volatile dynamic system, and that's what we normally see in the summer with a thunderstorm when we have strong loud bolts of thunder, but we can see it in the winter, too.
Now in Massachusetts, you're getting a lot of -- kind of a mixed happening here. So the storm will bring rain, sleet mixing with snow and all snow at times.
I want to show you how it's all going to shape up by the time we get to Monday at 6:00. The storm is almost north of Massachusetts but we're still looking at heavy snow for interior and coastal New England.
All right. Well, the fun side of all of this is that the animals like to get out and enjoy the snow. We have some great I-reports as can you see from Jack Rigger (ph). This is in Iowa. He's got a golden doodle. I've never seen one of those dogs, looks very happy in the snow, doing a snow angel.
And if that's not enough, this little kitty likes this as well. So the animals love the snow. Just be careful. You know, it's interesting. As a safety word, I want to mention that often people lose animals a lot in the winter because they can lose their perception of where they are, especially in a storm. So if you take your animal out in the storm, just keep a close watch on them.
GORANI: Right. Keep a leash on the dog.
SCHNEIDER: Yes.
GORANI: My dog doesn't like this weather.
SCHNEIDER: No?
GORANI: Goes out.
SCHNEIDER: Southern dog.
GORANI: Spends about eight seconds outside and comes dashing back in. Yes, a Southern dog, exactly. Thanks, Bonnie.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
GORANI: Looking ahead this week, cnn.com wants your help in choosing the most intriguing person of 2010. All you have to do is go to our website, cnn.com, narrow down the list of 20 to your favorite 10.
You think, for example, that -- I remember the JetBlue flight attendant who quit his job by jumping out of an airplane, escape chute. Do you think he's more intriguing than, say, the trapped Chilean miners and the one who ran in the New York City marathon? Do you think that?
OK. If you do, you can go ahead and vote. Voting ends at midnight on Tuesday and the final winner will be announced on CNN on Thursday, December 30th.
I'm Hala Gorani at the CNN Center in Atlanta. More news ahead on CNN. Have a great night.
