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Stranded Travelers Frustrated; New Yorkers Angered by City's Response; Julianne Moore Makes a Difference; Man Arrested After Bag Explodes; Overcrowding at Disneyland; Airline Backup Could Last for Days; Budget-Busting Blizzard; Remembering the Miracle on Ice

Aired December 29, 2010 - 10:00   ET

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

ALINA CHO, CNN ANCHOR: It is 10:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 7:00 a.m. on the west. Good morning, everybody. I'm Alina Cho, in for Kyra Phillips this week.

Here are some of the stories that have us talking this morning. Anger is building in New York City where residents are outraged over impassable roads. They are asking three days after the storm, where are the snowplows? You'll hear from the mayor and his critics live.

Also airline rage - Las Vegas Police say this 68-year-old man struck a teenaged passenger on a flight because the boy wouldn't turn off his iPhone before takeoff. The man was charged with battery. Said he did it to protect the plane.

And Disneyland may be more crowded than the airport these days. Just listen to this, the California theme park actually had to turn away customers yesterday for the second day in a row. Disney officials say overcrowding is not that unusual during the holidays.

But, first, the Christmas blizzard of 2010. The wind has stopped howling, but stranded airline passengers certainly have not and who can blame them. Just take a look at these pictures. Nearly 10,000 flights have been cancelled since Saturday, and, believe it or not, more than 1,300 cancelled just yesterday, long after the storm, and, today, more misery.

Passengers aboard several international flights were stuck on the tarmac at JFK Airport in New York. Just look at your screen there. One Korean Air flight from Seoul sat nearly nine and a half hours waiting for a gate, and three other international flights from Germany, Mexico and France sent six and a half hours on the tarmac. We want to get the latest now from CNN national correspondent Susan Candiotti. She's live for us at JFK Airport with more. Susan, good morning.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alina. It's a head scratcher, isn't it? They just can't seem to get this problem resolved at least not yet but for the second day in a row, terrible, terrible delays here where airplanes have been landing but they got no place to go.

No gates have been open. So, as you indicated, some airlines spent up to nine hours on the tarmac here at JFK before they were able to pull up to a gate, and in one odd situation, one plane sat there so long, it was a plane coming in from China that the flight crew actually ran out of hours, so they couldn't pull the plane up to the gate when one became available. So they had to get a truck to tow it in. Imagine that.

So the problem seems to be this, according to the Port Authority, airlines have been told repeatedly that they should not be taking off from wherever they're taking off from unless they have a gate assigned to them here at JFK and despite the fact that the Port Authority says we've been telling the airlines this, it keeps happening.

So they're saying apparently their warnings aren't helping, at least not yet. And so, they are, in fact, calling for meetings to be held to try to resolve this issue. You recall, Alina, there was this passenger bill of rights where no one can stay on a plane on the tarmac for two to three hours but that applies only to domestic flights, not international. And so the airport is saying here we can't just pull a truck up or a bus up to an airplane on the tarmac and bring them into the terminal if it's an international flight because we can't just herd people into an open space somewhere in the terminal without any security because these people have to go through customs.

So clearly there needs to be better communication they're saying with the airlines so that this problem can be avoided in the future. They do have another runway open here at JFK, so they are hoping that the delays will subside as the day goes on, and we're hearing that a bit anecdotally from some of the flights that are coming in now.

Alina, back to you.

CHO: I mean, listen, when you've got passengers on the ground for 11 hours waiting for a gate. I mean, there are exceptions to every rule. They have got to fix this.

All right. Susan Candiotti, live for us from JFK Airport. Susan, thank you.

There are certainly plenty of problems on the ground as well. New Yorkers are furious that streets are still clogged and entire neighborhoods are snowbound three days after the storm. In fact, they said they have seen worse storms. I certainly have, but it never witnessed a more dismal response from the city.

Chris Knowles is live for us again in Brooklyn, New York, where the complaints just seemed to be getting louder. So just how bad is it there, Chris?

CHRIS KNOWLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here is one of the most serious situations that can happen after a snowstorm in New York City when you can't get to the streets to plow them. You can see behind me, firefighters are here on the scene. Down the block, they received a phone call, and, take a look.

The plows were only able to get about so far down this street and then they couldn't. There are at least one and I think now two taxi cabs that are blocking the plows. So what's happening here is the firefighters got off from their engine unit and walked all of the way down the block. We're not sure what type of emergency situation they are responding to but they couldn't even get their trucks close to the home where there was a problem.

So they walked down the block now with shovels, some of them - oxygen tanks, carrying all their heavy equipment all the way down the street to see if they can get to the home. Of course, if we find out what kind of situation, we will certainly report on that as the day progresses but the bottom line is this is what happens two days after the last snow fell. That was Monday morning, about quarter after 6:00, the last flakes. They got 24 inches here in Brooklyn.

The other issue is with the snow now, as they are making their way down the side streets, you can see what happens to the cars. On top of the car, the blowing snow. As you can see, this is lighter. This is not the big issue on getting off but it's the stuff that is packed in down around the engine and the wheel wells. These cars aren't going anywhere fast.

In New York City, we have alternate side parking. That has been suspended, and we have no word on when they're going to lift that. Hopefully they'll give these drivers time to get their cars out. We have seen some drivers able to dig out their individual cars only to have them plowed in time and time again as these plows begin to make their way. The good news is we have seen plowing activity here in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

The bad news is down the street and not only this street, the cars that are stuck, there is no way for the plows to come through until those cars dig themselves out. Alina.

CHO: Well, the silver lining is the man you spoke to in the last hour who couldn't get to work, at least he has a legitimate excuse.

All right. Chris Knowles live for us in Brooklyn, New York. Chris, thank you.

New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg first defended the city's response to the blizzard. Then as the nightmare stories piled up, he conceded that there were, indeed, some shortcomings. Bloomberg says he'll find out what went wrong but New Yorkers just need to recognize how massive the challenges are.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK CITY: We won't get to everybody every time. We will make mistakes, but we have to continue plugging ahead. Yelling about it and complaining doesn't help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: Well, that's for sure, but as far as blame, there's plenty to go around. New York City council speaker Christine Quinn usually sides with the mayor but in this case, she calls the city's response to the storm, "the worst in memory." Chris Quinn joins me now from New York. Chris, good morning to you. Nice to see you.

CHRISTINE QUINN, NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL SPEAKER: Thank you.

CHO: I know you called this response to the storm unacceptable. What do you think happened this time?

QUINN: Well, I don't think we know exactly what happened. That's why we're going to have emergency oversight hearings in the city council in January. Clearly what happened didn't happen right. We have a situation here where streets haven't see plows, some for days. Main parts of Manhattan were not plowed 24 hours after the storm.

So this was a big storm, it was a tough storm. The snow came down fast. The wind blew hard but almost every other storm in memory, the city has done so much better than this. We need to figure out exactly what happened so we can change what happened so it never happens again because it's just not acceptable for people in Park Slope today on Wednesday to just be seeing plows coming by. That's just not the level of service we give in New York City.

CHO: If I know you and I do know you a little bit, I know you have been out on the streets talking to those New York City residents, and what are they telling you? Is there one particular nightmare story that sticks out?

QUINN: You know, people are mad. I mean, people are patient and they understand storms are tough, but people are mad and they have every right to be mad and I really understand that anger, and they're also confused because every other storm we've had in recent memory, the Department of Sanitation and the city have done yeoman's work.

Last February's storm, we had more snow than this and we didn't have really any significant problems at all. So people are angry and they're confused and they just want to make sure this never happens again and they want their streets cleaned so they can go about their lives.

CHO: So have you seen sanitation trucks out on the streets? I mean, what in your estimation is the biggest problem right now?

QUINN: You know, I think in hindsight we started too late probably. The snow may have come down quicker than people anticipated. Why we didn't know that from a meteorological perspective, we need to get an answer to that question. But clearly, when we started plowing, we appeared to have been already behind the (INAUDIBLE).

There's also this question of cars, and why are there so many cars stuck in the road and I think that really requires us to do an analysis of our snow emergency rules. Are they triggered at the right time? Are they the right kind of regulations? How do we deal better with cars? We also have to understand what has happened that now snowplows are getting stuck. I have no memory of that ever happening before and we also need to do a real analysis with the MTA. 1,000 buses. That just shouldn't happen even in a storm like this.

CHO: The mayor of New York, as you know, Chris, normally responds really quickly and really well. Those streets are plowed so quickly, you know, overnight, and it just boggles the mind. But anyway, I appreciate you coming in. I know you never take more than a day off. So try to take a day off this week, if you can. Enjoy the holiday. Happy new year.

QUINN: Thank you. You too.

CHO: New York City Speaker Chris Quinn, thank you for joining us.

Meanwhile, New Jersey's governor is also taking some heat largely because he was vacationing in Florida while his state was buried under snow. That has rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, as you might imagine. They say Chris Christie should have cut his family trip to Disney World short.

Christie's lieutenant governor was also vacationing, and that left the state senate president to deal with the blizzard and all of its challenges. The governor's office says the response to the storm was not affected. Here's part of the response, "We are a northeastern state, and we get plenty of snow including heavy hits like this, and we'll get through this just as we always have."

Two coasts and two types of severe weather. While people are digging out of the snow in the east, they're digging out mud in the west. And after last week's terrible storms, California is getting another round of rain. Jacqui Jeras in the CNN weather center with a look at that. So both coasts are getting socked, Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, I think things are much better in the east today. I mean, the snow is on the ground and you have to deal with that kind of cleanup but the weather event certainly over with and some nice warming expected across parts of the east. So our focus today then remains out west where rain will be a huge issue and snow into the higher elevations.

This is a live picture to show you out of Los Angeles where the temperature is 51 degrees, moderate rain coming down. You're under a flood advisory and a wind advisory. We could get a good inch or more of rain in downtown Los Angeles, making for wet streets. Sunset Boulevard is what you are taking a look at there. We are concerned about travel and the threat for more mud slides, landslides and rock likes across the area into the hills.

Now take a look at what's going on in Salt Lake City this morning. What a beautiful picture of the Wasatch Range there. You are 37 right now in the city but you are going to change over to snow within the next couple of hours, and you can see four to 10 inches in the valleys with more than a foot into the higher elevations.

Boy, this is really a very potent storm system and we've got that subtropical connection, not quite the pineapple connection that we had last week but still plenty, ample moisture moving into the region. You are done already in San Francisco so our focus then into southern parts of California and then moving into the inner mountain west. Winds will start to become a huge problem. We're seeing gusts over 100 miles per hour last night in Nevada. Today we could see some winds around 75 miles per hour gusting into parts of South California and so we will be concerned about that. And talk about accumulations. Well, we could see several inches of rain. We're going to see several feet of snow, two to three feet expected into the Sierras, one to three feet expected into the Wasatch and about one to two feet in the Colorado Rockies. This is supposedly in your neighborhood by tomorrow.

This is going to be the storm system that we will continue to watch. It's going to move into the nation's midsection. The only good thing that I can tell you guys about this as it makes its way towards the east is going to start to pick up a southerly wind and bring those temperatures up, up, up. We have to watch though Alina for the potential of flooding in the northeast. If we melt too much too fast and get rain on top of that, it could be a rough weekend. So well, you know, we'll keep you posted as that storm continues to progress.

CHO: It just piles on, Jacqui. Jacqui, thank you so much. We will check back with you later.

Well, actress Reese Witherspoon has some exciting plans in the works, and we're not talking about work. We will tell you what's ahead for the Oscar winning star next in your "Showbiz Update."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: 17 minutes after the hour. The show reportedly will not go on for at least one actress in the new "Spiderman" musical on Broadway. Seems to be cursed that musical. She is quitting. According to the "New York Times," Natalie Mendoza is still shaken by an accident that injured her during the shows first preview performance back on December 20th. She is one of four actors injured during aerial stunts during the show.

In fact, most recently, lead stuntman Christopher Tyranny was injured when he fell more than 20 feet after his safety harness came loose. The "Times" said Mendoza herself sustained a concussion last month when she was struck in the head by a rope while standing off stage. "Spiderman" has delayed its opening for a fourth time until February 7th.

Well, boy, love is in the air right now in Hollywood. Natalie Portman, Leann Rimes, Hugh Hefner all recently announced their engagement, and another big star can be added to the list now. Entertainment correspondent Bijoux Wright is here to fill us in. So Reese Witherspoon, it seems like yesterday she was dating Jake Gyllenhaal and now she's getting married to somebody else.

BIJOUX WRIGHT, ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: I know. Jim Toth, he's actually an agent for CAA -

CHO: Her agency right?

WRIGHT: Well, yes, he works for their agency by he is not her agent. Yes, conflict of interest.

CHO: But they have dating for a little while.

WRIGHT: Yes. They've actually been dating for a year. She started dating him after Jake Gyllenhaal.

CHO: They got serious pretty fast.

WRIGHT: They did. She tells "Us Weekly" that they are extremely happy and they are going to have the best wedding ever. And she's just happy. They seem like a very normal couple. Very, very normal.

CHO: As normal as you can be.

WRIGHT: I know for Hollywood, right?

(CROSSTALK)

CHO: And then love is in the air for Kelsey Grammer, who is just getting out of a contentious relationship himself but he's getting married again?

WRIGHT: He's getting married again. This is his fourth marriage.

CHO: Yes. It's number four for him.

WRIGHT: It's fourth but he's still married to Camille.

CHO: Oh, yes.

WRIGHT: That can't be finalized until January 6th.

CHO: Well, listen, she's had her own fame recently, right? On "Housewives of Beverly Hills" -

WRIGHT: Oh, yes.

CHO: Which I hear is a great show. I haven't seen it.

WRIGHT: Did you see the dinner party?

CHO: No. I haven't seen it.

WRIGHT: You have to see the dinner party.

(CROSSTALK)

CHO: - to look it up on YouTube or something.

WRIGHT: But even after that, through their divorce she is reportedly supposed to get an estimated $50 million from that settlement. Can you believe that?

CHO: Wow! That's incredible.

WRIGHT: $50 million.

CHO: Meanwhile, "Forbes" is out with its Celebrity 100 list, and Oprah is back on top.

WRIGHT: She is. She is always. Oprah is just doing her thing. The Oprah Winfrey Network, she is reportedly at an estimated $315 million. She tops the list.

CHO: Just over the past 12 months.

WRIGHT: Yes, isn't that ridiculous. That's actually crazy.

CHO: Who else is on the top five?

WRIGHT: Well, rounding out four, we have -

CHO: Beyonce.

WRIGHT: Beyonce is number two with 87 million.

CHO: Right.

WRIGHT: And three is James Cameron.

CHO: Of "Avatar" fame.

WRIGHT: Exactly. And we have Lady Gaga, she went down to number four. But you know, don't cry for her, $62 million. She's going to do OK.

CHO: She's debuting on the list at number four, and then rounding out the top five, shockingly, is Tiger Woods at number five and then Will Smith drops off the top five.

WRIGHT: Yes.

CHO: Anyway, all right. Thank you so much, Bijoux Wright. We appreciate that.

WRIGHT: Thanks so much for having me. Appreciate it.

CHO: Thanks for coming in.

Well, you know, Julianne Moore is an actress but did you also know that she has taken on a real life role helping children in need. My interview with her is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: In my special series "Big Stars Big Giving" for actress Julianne Moore, it's impressions from her childhood that inspired her to give back. She moved around a lot as a kid and saw things she just couldn't forget. Bad schools and poor neighborhoods and children living in poverty. An experience that now inspires her to work with Save the Children to help lift kids out of poverty, you could say, one book at a time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JULIANNE MOORE, ACTRESS: You know, when people say, how did you become involved? Are you acting as a mother? What you see as a mother? I say, no, it's what I saw as a child.

CHO (voice-over): Before she was a glamorous actress, Julianne Moore was just Julie, an Army brat.

MOORE: We moved a lot, and every time you move, you know, you change schools, you're in a completely new environment, and I think, you know, what you learn pretty quickly as a kid moving around the United States is that, you know, it's not all created equal. Everybody should have the same opportunity.

CHO: She moved around so much it was hard to keep friends, so books became her constant companion.

MOORE: The one thing I say about reading to the children is you can do anything if you can read.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You do it, you did it!

CHO: That passion for reading has inspired her work as an artist ambassador with Save the Children where she spends time working on educational programs for the poor.

(on camera): You were very focused on helping people here in the United States.

MOORE: Well, it's not that I don't believe that there are many, many needy causes all over the world, but I do believe that just in terms of poverty in our country, often people hide in plain sight. Because we have so much in the United States, sometimes it's a refusal to acknowledge what's going on right here.

CHO: One in five children lives in poverty.

MOORE: Yes, one in five children in the United States lives in poverty. When you tell people that, they're shocked, absolutely shocked.

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who is just like everybody else.

CHO (voice-over): For Moore, one key way to lift kids out of poverty is through education.

(on camera): You mentioned literacy. I know that's something very close to your heart. You have written two books which I have read.

MOORE: It didn't take very long, a quick read.

CHO (voice-over): Children's books about freckle-faced Strawberry, the nickname she hated as a child. The moral, look beyond what you see on the surface.

(on camera): You're obviously so well known. How do kids respond to you? I mean, do they -

MOORE: Oh, kids don't care. I mean, if I were Justin Bieber, for example, that would be exciting.

CHO (voice-over): But she's a celebrity who can and wants to make a difference.

MOORE: If we are going to set an example, we need to help everybody here. We need to bring everybody to the same place and then we can really be very effective in the rest of the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHO: Just a lovely woman doing great things in the world. In our series "Big Stars Big Giving" continues tomorrow. Hollywood powerhouse Edward Norton creating what he calls the Facebook of philanthropy and inspiring a new generation to give back by doing it their way - on the web.

Do you believe in miracles? Well, back in 1980 giddy Americans everywhere answered yes. Team USA stunned the Soviets and charmed the world. It was more than a hockey game. It was the miracle on ice.

We'll talk to the man who scored the winning goal, find out what he's doing now, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: Bottom of the hour now. Here are some of the stories that have us talking this morning.

In Miami, Florida, police arrested a man when some small explosions went off inside a bag as handlers unloaded it. The bomb squad was called in. It turns out primer caps for bullets ignited slightly injuring a baggage handler. Police have charged the man with transporting hazardous materials.

Overcrowding at Disneyland. The California theme park had to turn away customers yesterday for the second day straight. Disney officials say overcrowding is actually not all that unusual during the holidays.

No surprise here, it's going to take some time to break that logjam of stranded travelers following the blizzard that battered the northeast this past weekend. Major airlines cancelled nearly 10,000 flights since Saturday. Worst hit, JFK Airport in New York where some international flights sat on the tarmac for 11 hours before passengers could get off.

Well, that holiday blizzard along the east coast is certainly a budget buster for cities. The huge snowstorm is the last thing cash-strapped cities needed to button up 2010. Snow removal overtime, it all adds up. CNN's Poppy Harlow is here to talk about that.

Yes, I mean, you know, we are all trying to pinch pennies these days, including cities and so, yes, this is the last thing they need, isn't it?

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: It is exactly right, Alina. The last thing they need. A few more days left in the year and then this snow storm happened. I mean, look this happened on a Sunday, so they had to pay all of their workers, most of them overtime, anyway.

And it happened on a holiday weekend, so cities that are already cash strapped paying a lot to get this snow cleaned up. In fact, here in New York City, watching the coverage, they were actually asking anyone at home who had a snow plow to come help.

They were hiring private contractors, but I want you to take a look what this is causing cities across the northeast. Let's take a look first at the map and Danbury, Connecticut, the mayor there calling this blizzard clearly a budget buster.

Eighteen inches of snow they got at Danbury. They're expecting it to cost almost half a million dollars then look at Rhode Island. They got less snow, 10 to 12 inches, but they're still saying it will probably cost that city along $150,000.

But the worst hit in all of New Jersey was a town called Rahway, New Jersey. They got 32 inches of snow and what the officials there are saying, Alina, is they have no idea how much this is going to cost them. What they're hoping for is to get federal aid because no matter how much snow falls or how little money these cities have, they have no choice.

They have to clean up the snow and they have to pay people to do that, but this isn't just happening along the northeast. Of course, it is from the blizzard, but take a look at my home state, Minnesota there. We're used to the snow.

This year already, since November, 40 inches of snow, six snow emergencies in just the past two months, Alina. They budget $2 million a year for snow removal. They have already spent $1 million over that budget, and it is only December. And I can tell you it snows in Minnesota until April.

CHO: Meanwhile, I know that everybody is scrambling at the end of the year just sort of change your health care plans and your 401(k) plans and all that stuff. Saving always a big focus so what do we need to know about our 401(k) this year right now?

HARLOW: Right, the city budgets strapped and your personal budget possible strapped going into the New Year. Some things that you really to know to focus on in terms of your saving, take a look at the 401(k), specifically, this is one of the best ways that you can save if you don't contribute already, you should heading into next year. That should be your new year's resolution.

Look how much you can contribute. If you're under 50 years old, you can give $16,500. That's the same amount as it was this year. If you're over 50 years old, they let you sort of play catch up. You can donate or put in 22,000 a year. Also you can do it and your spouse can do it.

When you look at company matches, let's pull that up because this is very important, if your employer matches, you want to always contribute up to at least the amount that they match. This is essentially free money for you. What this lets you do is increase your income in a sense without paying more taxes until you take this money out at the end and, of course, you get a tax break on your 401(k).

Three to five years, so that's what it's going to take for your money usually to invest in terms of - to invest from the company match. So if you leave your job after say two years you may not get the full company match, but you'll get a lot more than if you didn't meet that company match.

Finally, we asked the experts when are you supposed to start contributing and what they say, and this is a little shocking, is start contributing to your 401(k) in your 20s. You may not feel like you have a lot to give, but if you start then, you can contribute 8 percent to 10 percent of your income a year and you will be all set to retire by age 65, which a lot of people can't do. If you start in your 40s, you're going to have to contribute, Alina, 20 percent or more in order to retire on time. Alina --

CHO: Good tips. Poppy Harlow joining us from New York. Poppy, thank you.

It was February, 1980. To say it was a time of uncertainty is an understatement. Just three months earlier, 52 U.S. citizens were taken hostage in Iran. We watched the news night after night feeling helpless.

An oil embargo led to a severe gas shortage and long lines at the pumps, and after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, there was talk about the boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow then the miracle on ice, the U.S. Olympic hockey team took on the Soviet Union in the semi-finals of the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid.

Their opponent, the team that had won Olympic gold every time since 1964, the Soviet Union. Taking a shot at the impossible almost no one thought they could do it. That is, until they did. The score Team USA beat Team USSR 4-3, a game that's been officially recognized as the number one sports moment of the 20th Century.

And joining us now is the captain of that legendary Team USA, Mike Eruzione. He also scored the winning goal. He lives in the Boston area right now and he joins us from there to tell us what he's up to.

So I have to tell you, Mike. It's just a thrill to talk to you. My dad played hockey in high school and college. I've actually never been on the ice, but don't hold that against me.

Having said that, you know, this was probably my first Olympic memory, but there are a lot of people maybe too young to remember this. It was 30 years ago. Take me back to that moment. What do you remember about it today? MIKE ERUZIONE, CAPTAIN, MIRACLE ON ICE TEAM: I think I remember most the atmosphere in the arena and in the locker room as a team, enjoying it and really cherishing the opportunity we had to represent our country and to compete in the Olympic games.

At the time, we had no idea what was going on around us. We had no idea the country was watching the way they were and you know, even 30 years later, somebody will come up to me and tell me a story about what it meant to them. It's still been a pretty special moment for a lot of people.

CHO: Yes, and I mean, I think we need to remind our viewers this was so much more than a game, wasn't it? I mean, this is really -- I don't think it's an understatement to say this was freedom versus communism. This was just a little sliver of the Cold War being played out on a sheet of ice. Did you feel that when you were playing the game?

ERUZIONE: Not really.

CHO: Really?

ERUZIONE: I mean, we knew the atmosphere in the arena was patriotic and we knew as an Olympian, it was such a great honor like I said earlier to represent your country, but to us it was a hockey game. It was an opportunity for us to capture one of greatest medals you can achieve in sports, and that's the gold medal.

CHO: Tell me what you are up to right now. I do know a little bit. You are the director of Special Outreach at Boston University. You know, I'm B.C. grad so I'm not going to hold that against you. You also coach high school hockey at your alma matter too, don't you?

ERUZIONE: Yes, I help out with at (inaudible) high school where I grew up. I actually had a first win last night so that was kind of nice, but, you know, I've been doing a lot of things over the years, Alina.

I continue to do a lot of motivational speaking. I'm an ambassador for Ritz Carlton Properties and Dan Jansen, Bonnie Blair, Olympic speed skaters and I just started our own company. We partnered with a company called "Kevana".

It's natural products company that deals with nutrition and weight loss and we're looking to start our own team. I have never been in this venture before. It's kind of exciting for Dan, Bonnie and I to getting into something that helps people as you get older put the right products in our system. We're looking forward to that next step and the next challenge for us.

CHO: Well, talk about three iconic sports figures partnering up. That's sound pretty good to me. Tell me, do you play hockey still? Do you play a lot?

ERUZIONE: Once in a while, I'll play on a Monday night with my buddies, but it's kind of a young kid's game and it's not fun chasing 22-year-olds around the ice.

CHO: What about your former teammates? Are you in touch with them?

ERUZIONE: Yes, few of the guys. I keep in touch with Jack Owe Callahan probably the most. Jack's close friend, I played college hockey with Jack. I played against Jack and with Jack in summer league games in high school.

Actually they have a daughter getting married in two days, and Jack's coming in for the wedding so I'm looking forward to spending some time with Jack and you know, reminiscing a little bit, but it's funny.

When we get together, and it's hard to get everybody together, we don't talk that much about the Olympics. We talk about what we're doing now, where we're going and what's happening in our lives.

CHO: You know, I have to ask, is it tough for you because, you know, I know you go out there and you're a motivational speaker. You go out there and you talk to people all over the country, but is it tough sometimes when you hear, gosh, you're a man known for that one goal? Do you still get that?

ERUZIONE: Yeah, once in a while I get it, but you know what, I tell people, it's a big goal. I think everybody in their lives gets an opportunity, and it's what you do with that opportunity that counts and my teammates and I had an opportunity to do something special.

During the game, I had an opportunity to contribute and help out and I was able to score a big goal that led to our victory, but it wasn't about me and it wasn't about Herb Brooks. It was about 20 guys that really believed that we could accomplish something if we worked hard at it.

And I think maybe that's part of the reason that the country rallied around us and thought that moment was so special because they saw in us, and I've said this before, the kid next door, you know, the neighbor, the kid shoveling snow or playing street hocking in the street and we were that.

You know, Herb Brooks called us a lunch pail, hard hat group of guys and we really were and that's parts of the reason why America was caught up in and captured and enamored with that hockey team.

CHO: Well, Mike Eruzione, I know that you say if that pocket being three inches to the left, you would be painting houses today. I know that gold medal is in a safe deposit box along with the jersey you wore in that game.

So I thank you so much for joining us. I wish you the best of luck and the best of luck to your daughter.

ERUZIONE: Alina, thank you very much. If anybody wants to get involved with Team Jansen and Team Bonnie Blair, they can go to www.goldmedalchampions.com and they can join our team so a lot of good things are happening. CHO: You got it. All right, Mike Eruzione. We thank you for joining us. Happy New Year. Coming up, men, take a look at your hands. Believe it or not, you may find a clue about your chances of getting prostate cancer. Some interesting research findings ahead.

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CHO: We are following some breaking news. Just into our CNN NEWSROOM. An explosion in a building in the Detroit suburb of Wayne, Michigan. It apparently happened at a furniture company. We are waiting for Wayne City Manager John Zech to get on the phone with us. In fact, he's there right now.

Thank you so much for joining us. Tell me what is the situation like right now?

JOHN ZECH, WAYNE, MICHIGAN CITY MANAGER (via telephone): This morning around -- shortly after 9:00, there was an explosion at Frank's Furniture, a long-time business in the city of Wayne. The roof caved in onto the building. We believe it to be a gas explosion.

There are a couple of people still in the building. One has been removed, and taken to the hospital with injuries. The other two people are working to free at this moment. We've got the assistance of our neighboring cities, which we appreciate very much.

Fire departments and police departments from our neighboring communities have come to assist us with this incident.

CHO: Mr. Zech, tell me again how many people are still trapped inside the building.

ZECH: We think two.

CHO: Two, OK. And how serious was the injury of the person who was removed and taken to the hospital? Do we know?

ZECH: I'm not certain.

CHO: Or the nature? Is it smoke inhalation? Is it burns? Is it both?

ZECH: I don't believe it's the smoke inhalation, but I am not certain. But the one person was freed, and was taken to -- was taken to U of M Hospital and so --

CHO: Has the area been evacuated?

ZECH: The surrounding businesses have been, on that side of the street. There's damage to other businesses from the explosion. Pardon me, but the area has been cordoned off by our police department, and we're, you know, controlling as best as we can, so they can do their work.

CHO: When did this call come in this morning? When did this happen to the best of your knowledge? ZECH: About 9:00, shortly after 9:00. There was a large explosion because it was felt throughout town.

CHO: Did you feel it?

ZECH: Say it again.

CHO: Did you feel it or did you hear anything yourself?

ZECH: Yes, I did.

CHO: What did it sound like to you?

ZECH: Well, you know, I was about two miles from the scene when I -- and I could feel the explosion and I thought that like somebody had maybe hit -- had an accident or something.

It was like a large thump, and I was two miles from the scene. The people much closer to the scene heard it much stronger. City Hall is about four blocks from the scene, and the people of city hall, where I am now. It was clear, clearly, they knew something serious had occurred.

CHO: Well, it must have been something if you felt it two miles away.

ZECH: Yes.

CHO: What has the response been like? How many people do you have in terms of manpower on the scene right now?

ZECH: As far as the count of people, I don't know that, but we have the assistance of our neighboring cities, both police and fire. Westland, Garden City, Inkster, Canton, Romulus, and as I understand, the Michigan State Police have not come to assist.

The Salvation Army is here setting up a post so that food and coffee and that sort of thing can be given to the workers as they work to clear the debris and get control of the situation. The utilities have been contacted, consumer energy and Detroit Edison, and, of course, our police and fire are now called in to assist.

CHO: Wayne City Manager John Zech, we thank you for joining us.

If you are just joining us here on CNN, we are following breaking news. There's been an apparent gas explosion at a furniture company in suburban Detroit, in Wayne, Michigan. Two people apparently still trapped inside the building, one person removed and taken to the hospital. We are following this breaking news and we're back with more news after the break.

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CHO: For centuries, people have read their hands to find out their fate. Now a rather intriguing study from the United Kingdom has found an improbable link between the length of your fingers and prostate cancer risk. Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins me now from Miami with details.

So, Elizabeth, it's something about your index and ring finger, right?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. Alina, I want you to take a look at your hand. I know you're not a man. I'm aware of that, but still I think this will help - it will help you and I explain this. Do you notice that - OK, you look at your ring and your index finger.

CHO: Looking.

COHEN: And, you know, on either side of your middle finger, in some people, the ring finger is longer than the index, and in other people, the index is longer than the ring, and in other people they're about the same.

CHO: My index is longer.

COHEN: There you go. That's true for me as well. So there you go. So what they - you know, this is basically not really been interesting to anyone up until recently when people have started to see if there is any kind of a correlation, any kind of a connection between the length of your fingers and the chances of getting certain diseases later in life.

So what these British researchers found is that with men, and I'm going to show you a picture of a hand that looks like this. With men, when the ring finger is longer than the index finger, they have a higher chance of getting prostate cancer later in life. When the ring finger is longer than the index, a higher chance of getting prostate cancer later in life compared with men who have the opposite configuration.

CHO: So I don't understand how they figured this out, and is there anything that you can do if you find out you are at higher risk.

COHEN: Well, let's talk a little bit about why this might true because it is kind of a bizarre finding. Here's what we know about prostate cancer. What we know is that men who have high levels of testosterone in their body have a higher chance of getting prostate cancer during their lifetime.

There's also some suggestion that the length of your fingers isn't random. It has to do with how much testosterone you are exposed to in the womb. Women, moms have testosterone in their bodies. Their fetuses are to that testosterone and little boys who are in the womb, when they are exposed to more testosterone might tend to develop this ring bigger than - ring finger - the index finger configuration.

To put it simply, lots of testosterone seems bad for prostate cancer and lots of testosterone also seems to influence your finger length. That's the theory. Now you asked also, Alina, about what you can do with this.

You know what? This is just sort of intriguing and interesting kind of a fun, you know, cocktail party game to compare your finger with other people. But really when it comes to our health, there's not much that you can do with this information.

I mean, first of all, your finger lengths are what they are. You can't do anything about it and second of all, it doesn't really matter. So what men need to do is they need to talk to their doctors about what the best prostate cancer screening is for them.

Go to cnn.com/empowerpatient. We asked prostate cancer experts what they do to screen for prostate cancer.

CHO: Well, if it encourages screening and makes men more mindful that they might be at risk. Certainly, that's a good thing. So, Elizabeth Cohen, I don't know why you are in Miami. I hope you're on vacation. I don't know why you are not here in Atlanta with me. But anyway, happy holidays to you and thanks.

COHEN: Happy holidays, Alina.

CHO: Coming up, do Americans want President Obama's policies to fail? We'll have results of a new polling in the Political Ticker next.

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CHO: A new CNN poll asks Americans if they want President Obama's policies to fail. Our deputy political director Paul Steinhauser has the results from the cnnpolitics.com desk. Paul, good morning.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Good morning, Alina. Yes, brand new poll from CNN Opinion Research Corporation national numbers, we ask this, do you think the president's policies will fail or succeed?

Take a look at this, in plurality now say they think his policies will fail, 47 percent think his policies will succeed. That's a very big differences you can see from a year ago.

Also, we asked Americans about the new Congress, is it good that the Republicans are in control of the House as they will be next week. They say yes, but will the Republicans, Alina, do a better job than the Democrats did in running the House of Representatives?

Look at the top there, only 1 in 4 say the Republicans will do a better job than the Democrats. Most people say, it won't make a difference. Talking about that new Congress, Senator Lisa Murkowski is going to make history next week when she's sworn in for her seat in Alaska.

She will be only the second person in history of this country to win a Senate election as a write-in candidate. Remember, she lost the primary to Joe Miller who's backed by the Tea Party, but she ran as a write-in candidate.

Beat him. He contested the election. He lost court battles in the state courts and yesterday a federal district judge said, you know what? He's throwing out that law suit and he's allowing the state to certify Murkowski as the winner. History made in Alaska. Alina --

CHO: You squeezed a lot in there in one minute. Paul Steinhauser, thank you so much. We'll see you later and for all of the latest political news, go to our web site cnnpolitics.com. That does it for me today. I'm back again tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. Eastern, but CNN NEWSROOM with Tony Harris continues after a break.

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