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More Rain Threatens California; High Winds Derailed Ski Lift; Stuck on the Tarmac for Hours; The Haqqani Network: Another Threat to U.S. Forces in the Middle East; NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg Expected to Hold Press Conference on Response to Blizzard Cleanup; NJ Mayor Shoveling Residents Out; Longest-Serving Female Senator; On the Night Shift

Aired December 29, 2010 - 11:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Live from Studio 7, I'm Tony Harris. The big stories for Wednesday, December 29th.

The West is taking another big weather hit today. This one, an arctic blast from Alaska, will bring an inch of rain or more and wind gusts at 75 miles an hour.

Downtown Los Angeles has seen its wettest December since 1889. Several towns in the region are still cleaning up from last week's floods and mudslides.

The number of international flights stuck on the tarmac at JFK Airport in New York snowballed again overnight, three days after the big blizzard. At least four arriving flights sat six to nine hours. A Cathay Pacific flight waited 11 hours for a gate. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The airport and the airlines couldn't tell us anything. That sounds highly inefficient.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We got really hungry and cold and thirsty. At one point they gave us noodles.

I teared up a little bit, I'm not going to lie. I was just so tired. I wanted to get off the plain, I wanted to get home.

And I'm supposed to fly to Houston tomorrow, but I'm just going to do that later this week. I'm too exhausted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Bear in mind thousands of passengers are still stranded inside JFK's terminals. Officials say it may take until New Year's to clear the blizzard backlog.

Ski lifts at Main's Sugarloaf Resort are closed for safety inspections today. At least eight people were hurt yesterday when a cable came loose, sending several chairs tumbling 25 to 30 feet to the ground. Some 200 skiers were stranded on the lift. One, a CNN employee. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBB ATKINSON, CNN EMPLOYEE: Well, they got to the rope, and there was, like -- I was describing earlier, there was a system of ropes and pulleys with a swing above it you climb into once you get on the chairlift. And then once you're safely on, a rope was secured over your arms, tightened, and then they lowered you down very easily and safely. And they did a remarkable job getting everybody off the mountain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Robb Atkinson talks more about those scary moments on that ski lift just ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

At least two people are believed to be trapped after a furniture store exploded in Wayne Michigan, today. A third person was pulled from the rubble and has been taken to an area hospital. Wayne City's manager says the blast was probably cause bide a natural gas leak.

Just what the West Coast doesn't need, more rain, with folks there already trying to clean up from flooding and mudslides.

CNN's Casey Wian is on the phone with us now, and he's in Highland, California. That is east of Los Angeles.

Good morning to you, Casey. And with the ground so saturated, the fact of the matter is any additional rain will only mean more flooding and possible mudslides.

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And that's the concern here in Highland, Tony.

So far, though, it is a good news story. There are no new homes evacuated. Several hundred homes were evacuated and red-tagged after last week's devastating storm. But since then, the California State Department of Correction inmates have been working to place sandbags around in vulnerable areas, place k-rails out to divert the water flow.

In fact, they've placed 150,000 sandbags in the town of Highland since last week. Part of the problem here last week is that the storm drains were clogged, and they've been working and are still working where I'm at to clear those storm drains.

The water is moving a lot better now, authorities tell us, and the rain, it seems to have tapered off a little bit. We don't know how much more rain is going to be coming through here, but we think the heaviest of this morning's rain has gotten through here, and we have seen no significant new mudslides.

Now, of course, this ground is very, very saturated from over a week's worth of rain. It's been the worst disaster that's hit his town in its history. So the concern is still there, that as this rainstorm continues to move through southern California, that these residents remain vulnerable. But- for right now, everything is OK here in Highland -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK, Casey. Appreciate it. I think we're going to get you in front of a camera for next hour.

Casey Wian for us in Highland, California. That's just east of Los Angeles.

Let's get the latest on the conditions for our friends in the West.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: A ski lift starts to rock, then chairs crash to the ground. A CNN employee who was on that lift has an update on what may have gone wrong.

Let's look at the New York Stock Exchange now. We are better than 90 minutes into the trading day. Stocks are trading in positive territory. We're up 24 points.

We're following these numbers for you throughout the morning and throughout the day, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: A preliminary report blames high winds for derailing a ski lift in Maine yesterday, and those winds were very high. Five chairs crashing 30 feet to the ground. At least eight skiers were injured, 200 others were trapped on the Sugarloaf ski lift for about an hour and a half.

CNN employee Robb Atkinson was one of them. He describes the scene to me as it was happening yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ATKINSON: When the derailment happened, all of a sudden there was a gust of wind, and it was a bump. We felt a little bump, a strange bump you don't feel on chairlifts.

And we looked up and we saw the five chairlifts fall to the ground, and a big puff of white powder snow came up. And people then started screaming in horror. They couldn't believe what they saw.

And, of course, we were worried that we were five chairs behind the tower. Everything after the tower collapsed, so we weren't sure if our section was going to hold or not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Robb spoke with CNN's Joe Johns just a couple of hours ago with more details on the possible cause of the accident.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ATKINSON: From what I understand from Ethan Austin (ph), the spokesperson here at Sugarloaf, it seems that the most serious was transported to Portland Hospital via helicopter immediately after the accident. I don't have a condition on him, but I do have some breaking news.

After speaking to Ethan, he did give me the preliminary report on this accident and the investigation. The preliminary report says that wind was the cause of the derailment. A final report will be put out some time later today, but it kind of goes to what I was saying when I was on the chairlift.

I felt a gust of wind. There was the bump, and then the screaming and people falling to the ground. So that kind of makes sense to me.

JOE JOHNS, CNN ANCHOR: So, Robb, this lift, we're told, was something like 25 years old. But we're also told it had recently gotten a clean bill of health. Is that your understanding?

ATKINSON: It's regularly inspected. Sugarloaf itself does weekly inspections, and sometimes daily inspections, on these lifts, according to the spokesperson here.

I'm not sure when the last yearly inspection was done. But again, this is a total freak accident.

You know, I was reading that since 1973, there have only been 12 fatalities on ski lifts. And it's an amazing number when you figure 12 deaths out of 40 billion rides on ski lifts. So, really, this is just a freak accident, and nobody up here as every seen anything like this before.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And you said it's going to be business as usual. I mean, that lift may be closed, but people are still going up the mountain, people are still skiing.

What if there are other wind gusts like this today? I mean, is there -- are they making any changes?

ATKINSON: It doesn't appear to be making any changes at this moment.

I'm going to step out of the shot for just a moment, and you can see the lift is fuel. This is the Super Quad. This is one of the newest lifts they installed here at Sugarloaf a few years back. And it's running at full capacity.

I can tell you, it is crowded here today. The accident is not keeping people away from the mountain at all.

And, you know, they just had 22 inches of snow up here. It's incredible skiing. Sugarloaf is really one of the gems of the Northeast, so people are coming up to experience it.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HARRIS: Boy, I tell you, Robb and his wife Maureen were fine, not injured at all in the incident.

Nice job reporting, too, Robb.

Stuck in an airplane on the tarmac for six hours, nine hours, even 11 hours. A real nightmare at New York's JFK International Airport for a lot of passengers, particularly the international passengers. A life report straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: The big blizzard of 2010 doing a number on New York days after the snow stopped falling. At John F. Kennedy Airport overnight, hundreds of international passengers waited hours to deplane. A Korean Air flight stuck on the tarmac for nine hours and 20 minutes. Six and a half hours, that's the wait time for a Lufthansa flight, an Aeromexico flight, an Air France flight.

Other international flights arrived without delay. So who can figure?

CNN National Correspondent Susan Candiotti, live at JFK.

And Susan, give us an update. What is happening now?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Boy, I wouldn't want to be on those planes, would you, Tony?

HARRIS: No, not at all.

CANDIOTTI: Forget it. For all of those hours, six, seven, eight, nine hours? Who would, right?

Well, evidently, what has been happening over the past 48 hours is still going on. At least it happened last night again at JFK Airport involving overnight flights, involving several airlines who landed -- which landed at JFK but could not find any open gate space. So, once again, that meant that the planes were stranded out on the tarmac for several hours before they were able to get into some open gates.

So we're asking, why is this still happening? A lot of finger pointing going on and explanations, including the Port Authority is explaining that, we keep telling the airlines that they are not supposed to take off from their point of origin, wherever they are leaving from, unless they are assured and have confirmed gate space at JFK. They said we keep telling them that, but apparently it isn't working.

So, they keep talking to the airlines and asking them to make those clearance available, make sure that they have the assurance of a gate before they come in. Nevertheless, we are hearing at this hour that many of the flights are able to land with minimal or no delay at all here at JFK, at least at some of the terminals. We're making rounds calls to make sure that that's the case everywhere. We can tell you that there is one additional runway open here, and so the authorities are saying they hope to start to get more planes in and out more quickly. But one of the main problems seems to be a lack of personnel, enough people to be able to service these planes and get them in and out so that those gates can be cleared up more quickly.

We can only hope that as these delays and the backlog is alleviated, that that will take care of the problem. But until then, it's not clear sailing just yet. That's clear, Tony.

HARRIS: Let's see if we can get to the bottom of this. I know you've been working diligently on it, and one of the people that you've been speaking to, Steve Coleman, he's on the line with us now. Susan, appreciate it.

And Steve is a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

And Steve, I can understand the problem, say, ,two nights ago. But why are we still talking about flights last night, an Aeromexico flight, Air France? Why are we still talking about flights on the tarmac for six, seven, eight, nine hours?

STEVE COLEMAN, SPOKESMAN, PORT AUTHORITY OF NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY: That's a good question. You know, the problem two nights ago should have sent a clear signal to all the airlines that they need to check ahead before they depart their point of origin to make sure that there is gate space available for them. Apparently, none of these airlines did that, and that's why we're continuing to have problems.

HARRIS: Steve, do they do that under normal circumstances? Is this a regular procedure where, before you take off from Charles de Gaulle, you check to see if you're going to have a gate at JFK, or is that always assumed under normal circumstances and this is the protocol when the weather is bad?

COLEMAN: I think understand normal circumstances people just do this entirely by rote. You know, they talk of from point A, they get to point B, and they assume that they're going to have the gate available. And in normal circumstances, it is available.

However, you have a blizzard of this magnitude and an extraordinary event of this magnitude, you know, things are going to change. And you're going to have planes that are at gates that can't get out of those gates and take off to some other place.

HARRIS: Right.

COLEMAN: So, therefore, those gates are occupied and you can't put another plane in that gate. And further complicating matters is that these are all international flights. And with international flights, they need to find a gate somewhere that can accommodate international travelers.

You cannot just empty these passengers out on a tarmac like you could do with domestic passengers. And there's limited international gates available anywhere at JFK.

HARRIS: Now, that's a good point, so let me explore that for a second here. You're talking about international flights. Some of them were already in the air. And they landed and they had problems finding gates.

Are we talking about flights that ended up being stuck on the tarmac, without a gate? Were they all scheduled to land at JFK, or was this a situation where you had flights that were perhaps scheduled to go into Newark, that were trying to find a gate anywhere and looking, and ended up at JFK?

COLEMAN: No. I think it's my understanding these are flights that were all destined for JFK and came in without available gates at any terminals that are equipped to handle international flights.

HARRIS: Yes. All right.

So what meeting needs to happen? I'm look at your note here, and you're indicating that there needs to be a couple of meetings here to work this out. What needs to happen? What needs to be said? If you're sitting across the table from some of these folks from these international airlines, what are you saying to them?

COLEMAN: Well, I think we need to sit down with all the stakeholders at JFK and kind of discuss what's happened over the last couple of days, and talk to them about, how do we handle things like this in the future, should we have another blizzard -- and I'm sure in the Northeast we will -- to make sure we don't have similar problems either later this winter or in subsequent winters?

HARRIS: Are you responsible for Customs? Because one of the lines we keep hearing repeated that for a period of time there, there weren't enough Customs agents available.

COLEMAN: We're not responsible for Customs, but it's my understanding that Customs operates around the clock there, but only at certain terminals which involve having space at certain gates available and certain terminals available. So -- but the primary issue here isn't Customs, it's availability of gates, because even if Customs people were available, you couldn't bring that plane up to a gate, then the Customs function is irrelevant at that point.

HARRIS: Well, we're trying to find an area where you might be at blame here, or at fault here, and we haven't been able to nail it down just yet. I'm going to read you the statement from Air France and see if there is anything here you would add.

"Air France, like other airlines operating at JFK Airport, experienced longer waiting times on the JFK Airport tarmac on December 28th and 29th due to saturation of aircraft parking stands" -- we're talking ability gates there -- "caused by the bad weather conditions. Air France sincerely regrets the inconvenience incurred by" -- so on and so forth.

So, it does sound like from the statement, even, that this is an airline problem.

COLEMAN: That's what it sounds like to me. But I think, you know, it was difficult circumstances. This was an extraordinary event. It's one of the worst blizzards that we've had in the New York region in decades.

HARRIS: Yes.

COLEMAN: And, you know, I think everybody's trying to do the best they can. The airlines are trying to do the best they can. Obviously, the Port Authority has had people at the airports nonstop for 48 or more hours, consecutive, trying to do the best we can.

Today, I can tell you that at JFK, we have all four runways on operation. We're in much better shape than we have been since this whole thing started. We have only had maybe a little over 100 cancellations, which is far, far better than the thousands of cancellations we were getting earlier in the week. So hopefully things can start to get back together, and then hopefully we can sit down with the stakeholders involved and come up with a way to make sure this doesn't happen in the future.

HARRIS: And Steven, just one final point. You're telling me that you absolutely spoke with -- or someone in your office -- absolutely spoke to the air carriers and told them, look, you need to understand the conditions here, and you need to be mindful of that when you leave your point of origin?

COLEMAN: Yes. We're in constant communication with the carriers out there on a variety of issues, including this. And we want to make sure that in the future, if planes come to JFK, there is a gate for them so passengers don't have to be inconvenienced.

HARRIS: Well, I would love to slam you over the head with some of the anger and frustration from some of the passengers, but it doesn't look like I can do it.

Steve, I appreciate your time. Thanks for talking to us.

COLEMAN: Thank you.

HARRIS: Yes. My pleasure.

A computer technician uses his skills to catch his wife cheating. The husband now facing criminal charges for reading her e-mail.

A look at the legal and moral rules of online conduct highlighted by this particular case.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

HARRIS: Some heavy-hitter movies are getting the nod from the Library of Congress. Remember this?

(MUSIC)

Yes, yes, yes. Of course you do. That's John Travolta in "Saturday Night Fever." How many years ago was that. This film, one of the 25 selected for the National Film Registry. Here are others you might know; "The Pink Panther," and Denzel Washington's "Malcolm X."

We will have more movies on the list in 75 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Once again, the Library of Congress is releasing its selections for the National Film Registry. Among the 25 movies; "The Exorcist." Man, that scared me. Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman in "All the President's Men," and "Airplane."

(VIDEO CLIP, "AIRPLANE")

With these selections, the registry has a told of 550 films.

Now for today's big play, the Minnesota Vikings beat Michael Vick, MV7 (ph) and the NFC East champions Philadelphia Eagles, 24-14 in Philly. This was the NFL's first Tuesday night game since, what, 1946. Of course, the Eagles will still be in the playoffs anyway. Michael Vick got hurt but stayed in, finished it off. Brett Favre was a bench warmer.

Rumors are certainly flying now that Penn State's 84-year-old coach Joe Paterno may retire for health reasons. Paterno says, no way. He is coming back and insists his health is fine. Paterno is in his 45th year as Penn State's coach. He shot down the retirement rumors in a news conference in advance of Saturday's Outback Bowl.

You've heard of al Qaeda and Taliban, but there's another group killing American troops in Afghanistan. We will look at the Haqqani network. That's next in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: The number of coalition troops killed in Afghanistan has topped 700 this year. That makes 2010 the deadliest year of the war. Most of the deaths can be linked to al Qaeda or the Taliban, but CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr reports now those groups aren't the only ones at work.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In eastern Afghanistan, U.S. troops hope to start coming home in months. But the reality may be different. Here, attacks are rising, but it's not from the Taliban or al Qaeda. The number one threat, fighters loyal to this man Jalaluddin Haqqani, the leader of the group known as the Haqqani network. The top U.S. commander in the East has Haqqani in his cross hairs. MAJ. GEN. JOHN CAMPBELL, U.S. ARMY: We focus on the Haqqani network as one of the most important insurgent networks here in Afghanistan. I believe it's the biggest threat to Kabul because of their location, how close they are to Kabul, and the objectives they want to get out.

STARR: Haqqani fighters have stayed out of Kabul lately, but their overall success at trying to control territory and attack the Afghan government could risk the U.S. war plan.

CAMPBELL: They have no issues with recruiting. They go into the madrassas inside of Pakistan and they can come in very large numbers.

STARR: A major problem: the Haqqanis also operate inside Pakistan, sending a constant flow of weapons and fighters into Afghanistan.

They control a region running from Khost in eastern Afghanistan, across the border into Miranshah, and then into Pakistan's North Waziristan region. Last week, Pakistani intelligence officials said they arrested Nasiruddin Haqqani, the leader's son, on a road from Peshawar, into North Waziristan.

It would have been a huge intelligence coup. Nasiruddin is considered the money man. But a U.S. official says there's doubt the incident ever happened, telling CNN there's been no indication that Nasiruddin was detained recently.

A senior U.S. Military official tells CNN there's every reason to believe the Pakistani. They tell us there is every reason to believe the Pakistani intelligence service, the ISI, protects the Haqqani network, something Pakistan officially denies. But some believe there's easy proof. The arrest may have been an effort by the Pakistanis to show they were cracking down.

FRANCES FRAGOS TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR: The Pakistani intelligence service at a minimum turns a blind eye because if they were actively fighting against them, we would have been more successful by now.

STARR (on camera): General Campbell says every time Haqqani fighters attack U.S. troops, those fighters are defeated. But, U.S. intelligence also believes that the Haqqanis are protecting Osama bin Laden and his close associates inside Pakistan, underscoring the dilemma, can U.S. troops win in Afghanistan unless something is done about those safe havens in Pakistan.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: So much of the East Coast is digging out of the big blizzard. The forecast with Jacqui Jeras, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HARRIS: You know, I think we're actually going to try to get this on today. The mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, is scheduled to hold a briefing, an update today, in just a couple of minutes. Actually, it was scheduled for 20 minutes ago. He's running a little late. Ha, ha, no, not stuck in the snow. I think there were other meeting or something going on. But, this is the shot. A hardware store in the Bronx. And we're expecting the mayor in a minute. And I think we're going to take this today and get an update on conditions in New York.

So, days after the blizzard dumped a couple of feet of snow on the city of New York, much of the city is still stuck. People remain stranded on streets that have yet to be plowed. They're pretty upset about it, too. Some bus lines are not running. Even the normally reliable train service has been affected by all of this. There is growing frustration over the city's slow response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're going down, look, they're passing through that block and it's already done. Look how clean that street is and they want to do it again. Come bound this block. You see what I mean? They're cleaning streets that are clean already. And now we got to do this on our own. If not, I'll stay here all day. I can't leave my car because there's people are behind me -- you see -- beeping their horn. They don't want to get our and help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sanitation is not doing their job. They got plow trucks stuck in the middle of small blocks. No buses running, no nothing. I mean, years ago, all this would have been done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Yes. I think that guy hit on it. We'll talk about it with Jacqui in just a second.

But, how about this? A very different story in neighboring Newark, New Jersey. That's Mayor Cory Booker himself, digging his city out of the snow and apparently he's just a Tweet away. Stranded residents have been sending the mayor rescue requests via Tweet, Twitter. Folks have been Tweeting the mayor, saying, come get me out and he's been showing up and helping folks get out.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR CORY BOOKER, NEWARK, NEW JERSEY (via telephone): We have gotten diapers to people, delivered food. One pregnant woman who was going into labor, or at least thought she was, we were able to get there before the ambulances could. And we actually got an ambulance unstuck.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(WEATHER REPORT) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Checking top stories for you right now.

No one seems to have any answers for why international flights landing at JFK Airport had to sit for hours on the tarmac with passengers cooped up inside. A Cathay Pacific fight from Vancouver waited 11 hours for a gate.

Bolivians are absolutely feeling the pinch from a big spike in gas prices. The government ended subsidies, that sent prices skyrocketing from about $1.97 to $3.42 a gallon.

And Australia's prime minister is promising aid to flood ravaged towns in the country's northeast. Half of Queensland has been declared a disaster zone. A town of 300 people had to be evacuated.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: A Capitol Hill milestone: Barbara Mikulski from Maryland is on the verge of becoming the longest-serving woman ever in the U.S. Senate. CNN's Dana Bash talked to the Maryland Democrat about the Senate's glass ceiling.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Barbara Mikulski remembers what a man's world the Senate was when she came 24 years ago.

SEN. BARBARA MIKULSKI (D), MARYLAND: There's this place called the Senate gym, the locker room, and that just couldn't accommodate me and I'm not much of a jock anyway.

BASH (on camera): And a lot of business was done there, right?

MIKULSKI: Well, that's where they networked and that's where they bonded.

BASH (voice-over): The first female Democratic senator elected in her own right, Mikulski was only one of two Senate women in 1986.

MIKULSKI: What you wore became a very big deal.

BASH (on camera): In what way?

MIKULSKI: I'm most comfortable wearing slacks. Well, for a woman to come on the floor in trousers was viewed as a seismographic event. I had to alert Senator Byrd that I was going to do it. The Senate parliamentarian looked at the rules to make sure it was OK. And I kind of walked on that day and you would have thought I was walking on the moon. It caused a big stir.

BASH (voice-over): The girl who dreamed of being a scientist, not a senator, became the first woman on key Senate committees and in leadership by showing she is as smart and tough as the men. MIKULSKI: That's a question you needed to know from day one, Miss Jackson.

When I came, it was very clear that we were -- I was going to work twice as hard, do my homework.

BASH: Mikulski is about to become the longest-serving female senator ever. She is already known as the dean of Senate women.

MIKULSKI: I take it very seriously. I see that it's my job to be able to organize the women in a way where their talents are served.

BASH: When four more Senate women were elected in 1992, she took it upon herself to show them the ropes, something she still does for new female senators in both parties.

MIKULSKI: There is no training program when you arrive here. Usually, it has been every man for himself, but I'm going to be every woman each one teach one. So I organized the power workshop. The media said, are you having the tea? I said, no, it's about power.

BASH: She is quite proud of this pen.

MIKULSKI: It was the first bill that President Obama signed.

BASH: A bill she pushed through the Senate giving women equal pay for equal work.

MIKULSKI: He said, this pen is yours. So I have the very first pen of the very first piece of legislation signed by the very first African-American president of the United States. It is indeed a national treasure.

BASH: She shows us other prized possessions, pictures with fellow female senators, now 17 in all, who still meet monthly for off- the-record dinners.

MIKULSKI: And there are more women sitting on this chair than have served in all of American history when I arrived.

BASH: She calls that a stunning accomplishment in contrast to a stunning statistic, there have only been 38 female senators in history. Mikulski now becomes the woman to stay the longest.

Dana Bash, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Some of the stories we are working on for the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM.

New research ties the length of a man's fingers to prostate cancer? CNN's senior -- yes, everybody in the studio is doing that. CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen will explain. And check out this washed out road in Southern California. The West Coast bracing for more flooding and possible mudslides. We will take you live to Highland, California.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Working all night to get fresh produce out by day, it is part of our favorite "In Focus," CNN's look at stories behind the headlines.

Our photojournalist Deborah Brunswick gives us a revealing look at one man's commitment and sacrifice.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BURT BIFULCO, HEAD SALESMAN, RUBIN BROS.: Let's open it up. Look at it.

We sell Napa, Bok Choi, peppers, cucumbers, squash.

Make sure it looks green.

You get like a rush. Like when people get to Atlantic City, they get a rush? This is a rush. There's always something to do.

My name is Burt Bifulco. I've been down in the market for over 30 years.

Hunts Point Market basically is a receiving area for most of the produce that's distributed up north. It's really a different world than maybe a lot of other night businesses.

We talk different. We sit and argue over prices. We curse out a buyer, he curses us out and five minutes later we start all over again.

Sometimes you hear a lot of words you don't want to hear, but it's part of our business and it's meaningless. That's what makes it fun. Makes the night pass and makes our business what it is.

Anyone who works night, it affects you physically, mentally, your home life, everything. Your health is probably all screwed up. You know what I mean? I sleep (INAUDIBLE). I have high blood pressure, I have it all. So, you know, but a lot of it is from the business, but this is what I chose.

Home life? Listen, I have been divorced once.

You are not home, you're not around. You don't see the kids grow up. You miss out on a lot of things.

You don't give them your time. But listen, you know, you make a good living that you can afford to give them what they want. Just they don't have you. I have been doing this so long, I don't think I can workdays. Just in the habit of working backwards. I'm like a vampire. I don't know how else to explain it.

But I enjoy it. I mean, I like the produce business.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: "FAVORITES IN FOCUS" brings you the stories behind the headlines. And don't miss this compelling hour of television hosted by Tom Foreman at 2:00 p.m. Eastern New Year's Day, it is quality storytelling the award-winning CNN journalistic team is known for.