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Earthquake in Indiana; California's Floods & Mudslides; Jobless Claims Down Dramatically; Eat This, Not That: 3 Simple Tips to Lose Lots of Weight; President Obama's Challenges in 2011; 24-Hour Hockey Marathon
Aired December 30, 2010 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR, "AMERICAN MORNING": Hey, Alina.
ALINA CHO, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, there, guys. Good morning.
JOE JOHNS, CNN ANCHOR, "AMERICAN MORNING": Hi, there.
CHO: I guess who's going to buy "In Touch" magazine after the show?
All right. Thanks a lot. Happy New Year.
JOHNS: Yes.
CHO: Happy new year to you both.
JOHNS: Get it online.
CHO: All right. 9:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 6:00 a.m. in the West.
Good morning, everybody. I'm Alina Cho in for Kyra Phillips this week. Here's some of the stories that have us talking this morning.
First up, a developing story out of Indiana. Almost exactly an hour ago, a 4.2 magnitude earthquake rattled the area just north of Indianapolis. No reports of damage but residents report feeling shaking for five to seven seconds. We'll have a live report coming up.
New York is still digging out from the snow and its airports are still wading through the backlog of canceled flights but the good news. All the runways are back in service at JFK, LaGuardia and Newark airports. Officials, however, say it may take another day or two to get really back on schedule.
And the NFL has slapped Brett Favre with a fine over his so-called sexting scandal. The league says it can't prove that it was actually him who sent those sexually explicit text messages but he failed to cooperate with the investigation. The fine is $50,000, relative chump change given his $16 million salary.
But we begin with more on our breaking news into CNN, that earthquake in Indiana. The epicenter was about 13 miles southeast of Kokomo. We have no reports of damage but residents say they felt a whole lot of shaking. Joining me now by phone is Gabrielle Sauce. She's from Noblesville, Indiana.
Gabrielle, I understand that you were sitting on your couch doing a little bit of work. What did you feel at the time of the quake?
GABRIELLE SAUCE, FELT EARTHQUAKE: Hi, good morning. Yes. I was sitting on the couch working, and the house began to shake a little and there were some noises. And then it began to get stronger and stronger and the China in the cabinets began to shake and rattle, and lasted for a few second and then it just kind of died down. So it was very interesting.
CHO: Now let me ask you this. Have you ever felt like anything like this? And did you know immediately what was going on or what did you think?
SAUCE: Well, yes, we've been through -- we had one a couple of years ago and at that point in time we were sleeping and it woke us up during that particular earthquake. This morning, when it first began, I wasn't sure what it was. But then, after a few seconds, I did realize that, yes, it was an earthquake. And the rest of family was sleeping and it woke all three of them up.
CHO: Oh, wow.
SAUCE: So -- yes.
CHO: Did you sustain any damage to your home other than maybe a few broken plates?
SAUCE: No, no damage to the home. No damage to any China but it was shaking in the cabinets and things were rattling around a little bit so it did give us a little bit of a shake, yes.
CHO: Well, your voice sounds a little shaky so I hope you recover from this and enjoy your holiday.
Gabrielle Sauce from Noblesville, Indiana, joining us for more on the earthquake in Indiana which struck about an hour ago there, 4.2 magnitude. No reports of damage thankfully and no reports of injuries.
Gabrielle, thank you.
Out west, southern California is reeling from its wettest December on record. And that means another round of flooding and mudslides. Rivers of mud have swallowed dozens of homes in the town of Highland. And sandbags circle homes and businesses.
We'll have more on that in a moment.
Check out this close call in the San Francisco area. A 100-year-old tree topples over and crushes the cab of a semi. The driver had just stepped out, thankfully, to round up some cattle.
CNN's Casey Wian has the latest from California.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mud and water everywhere, up to five feet think in Leslie Best's Highland, California, backyard and inside her house. She was starting to clean up from last week's storms when more rain hit Wednesday.
(On camera): Do you think the house is salvageable? I mean you guys are --
LESLIE BEST, FLOOD VICTIM: I have no -- I have no idea. I'm not an expert in this. I'm just -- I know that I need to do as much as I can when I can and that's why we're here today.
WIAN (voice-over): Along with her 74-year-old father and a cleanup crew consisting largely of state prison inmate volunteers. They've helped lay 150,000 sandbags in Highland the past week and cleaned out choked storm drains to try to contain the damage. The rain may be tapering off but the danger remains.
BILL PETERS, CAL-FIRE: I've lived in California all my life, for 57 years, and the one thing that I've learned is that -- once you start moving earth like this, any little bit of rain over the next few weeks can trigger it all again.
WIAN: Farther north in stormy Santa Rosa, a woman camping was killed by a falling tree. Rain, ice and several feet of snow covered much of the west and heavy winds posed an additional danger.
As heavy snow fell in Washington state, a state trooper says many residents were not prepared.
KEITH LEARY, WASHINGTON STATE PATROL: We need to have a full tank of gas. We need to have proper traction tires, or at least make sure you've got tread on your tires, enough to -- if you're in a snow situation or carry chains.
WIAN: In Arizona, the main artery between Phoenix and Flagstaff was closed because so many big rigs slid off the road.
The Department of Public Safety recommended no travel to northern Arizona.
(On camera): Back here in Highland, officials say it's a miracle they have had no fatalities and no serious injuries during these series of storms. Rescuers have had to pull more than two dozen people out of the raging floodwaters.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: Casey Wian doing Yeoman's work out there in California.
We're going to get the latest now on the storms out west and actually watching the weather across the country, CNN meteorologist Reynolds Wolf. So are they going to get a break in California there, Reynolds?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
CHO: OK. Good.
WOLF: A little bit of a break. But see the weird thing about when it comes to mudslides and things like a clear day, not cloud in the sky. Can be kind of one of those factors that comes into play days after a major rain event. Sometimes weeks after.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WOLF: As we wrap things up, one big delay to share with you. That would be in Chicago. A ground delay of 1 hour and 55 minutes. All things comparatively -- just, you know, in comparison in the northeast, comparable what they have in Chicago, much, much worse.
CHO: It's nothing.
WOLF: People in New York that would see that and laugh.
CHO: An hour, 55. That's nothing.
WOLF: It's nothing. Absolutely.
CHO: Well, you're busy. I'm glad you took a couple of days off, Reynolds. Because now you're really busy watching the weather.
WOLF: Absolutely.
CHO: Thanks so much. We'll check back with you later.
In New York, the streets are getting cleared but the blame is still piling up. That's for sure. Mayor Michael Bloomberg is now admitting that the city's response was inadequate. But things are getting better. City officials say crews have worked around the clock and finally cleared the last of the streets a short time ago.
New Yorkers have been outraged that they were snowbound days after the storm. Earlier on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING," the man in charge of New York's road cleaning says it was a perfect storm. For problems.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN DOHERTY, NYC SANITARIUM COMMISSIONER: The biggest problems we ran across so far was the depth of the snow in many places and snowplows getting stuck and not being able to get into streets along with a tremendous number of abandoned vehicles.
People did not listen and went out with the vehicles and got stuck. Even after the storm, they tried to go through some of the blocks and the snow was anywhere in the city from 16 to 29 inches.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP) CHO: Wow. All right. Well, that may be one explanation. Mayor Bloomberg says he's looking into reports that the clogged streets may have caused deadly delays in emergency responses. In particular, they're looking into the death of one woman and a newborn baby.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK: We take our emergency lifesaving responsibilities very seriously. And I'm extremely dissatisfied with the way our emergency response systems performed, and as I announced yesterday we're going to take a look at everything we did to see if it could be done better, starting with the communications and dispatching system.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: And the New York City council will hold a meeting on January 10th.
Meanwhile, one woman says it took emergency workers three hours to reach her elderly mother who was having trouble breathing. By the time the medics reached her home, she says, the woman's mother was dead.
Well, this week's massive storm was not only bad timing for air travelers. It was bad news for retailers, too. At least in the eastern half of the country. The storm kept people indoors, of course, when they normally would have been out shopping chasing those after-Christmas sales.
Christine Romans, part of the CNN Money team, but first, Christine, I want to get to the breaking news which is about jobless claims and finally a little good news?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Finally. For two years I've been sitting here at 9:00 every morning on a Thursday telling you how many people filed for unemployment benefits the most recent week.
For the first time in two years, it's below 400,000, Alina. 388,000 people filed for the very first time for unemployment benefits in the most recent week, and that is the lowest number since -- get this -- July 2008.
So that shows you that the job market getting a little bit better on the very front end. This is -- again, this is people who for the very first time, this is not the 99ers, it's not the people who are farther out, who've been getting extensions for unemployment benefits.
These are people who just recently lost a job and are filing for those benefits for the very first time, 388,000. The best that's been the lowest number that's been, Alina, since July 2008.
CHO: Well, that's great to close out the year, right?
Let's talk a little bit, not-so-good news for retailers. I mean this massive storm obviously had a huge impact on air travelers, but as I mentioned.
ROMANS: Yes.
CHO: You know, it's kept a lot of people inside when they normally would be shopping. And so are we talking a billion dollars? Is that really true?
ROMANS: A billion. If you look at Shopper Track -- it's an organization that tracks shoppers and traffic into the malls. The two days after Christmas are very important. They forecast how much traffic dropped off around the country and say that it's about a billion dollars in retail losses.
You look here in the northeast, traffic was down some 40 percent. These are sales that now didn't happen in those important days. The question is, how much of that, Alina, is postponed? Will they get that back? Are they going to have to stage some new kinds of sales and promotions to people in the door?
I think the answer is, yes. As a consumer, you should be watching particularly for apparel to see if there are new store sales to get you in as retailers try to recoup some of that billion dollars. Because don't forget, the spring merchandise is ready do get on the floors.
And, Alina, as you well know spring merchandise is the stuff that the retailers want to sell at full price.
CHO: Yes, right.
ROMANS: After Christmas, with your gift card.
CHO: Yes.
ROMANS: They don't want to mark that stuff down so they need to get the Christmas stuff out of the way.
CHO: Yes. I mean, are you getting a sense, though, Christine, that people are -- maybe they're staying indoors but maybe they're shopping online instead? Because online sales have been really strong.
ROMANS: Yes. And online is this trend that's also been so fascinating. More than $30 billion in online sales this year. I mean breaking records for online sales and it doesn't matter what the weather is like to shop online, quite frankly.
That's one way the retailers and the big brands can try to harness some of the lost sales over the -- from the bad weather is they can go out there and target you with promotions online.
CHO: That's right.
ROMANS: And try to figure out how to get you to spend your hard- earned money. So -- but remember, they're going to try to recoup as much of that money, as they possibly can.
CHO: Yes.
ROMANS: That billion dollars.
CHO: Well, you don't need to tell me about online shopping. Thank you. Or you, by the way. I think you do it every now and then.
ROMANS: I know. You and I are -- soul sisters in that matter, aren't we?
CHO: Anyway, well, we've got New Year's resolutions to keep, right, for next year.
Christine, thank you.
ROMANS: That's right.
CHO: All right. If you can't trust your textbooks, what can you trust? What are teachers and students to do? That's the big question in Virginia now that experts have found, well, some big mistakes in the very books that are supposed to teach kids. We'll explain.
And a special tournament of roses tribute for the late President Ronald Reagan. We'll tell you why images of him will roll through Pasadena on New Year's Day.
We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: It's time now to travel across the country. First stop, Washington state, where a 92-year-old man literally took a bite out of crime. Lester Matteson chewed through duct tape to free himself after being tied up by two men who, apparently, broke into his home. He quickly called police, but not before the thieves got away with $400 in cash and Matteson's Ford pickup truck.
Next stop, a state park on a Michigan lake where an apparent piece of maritime history has washed ashore. Hikers discovered a curved chunk of wood filled with six-inch iron nails. Experts believe that the wood may be from the hull of an 18th century steamboat or the side of a schooner used for shore trips.
And finally, in Pasadena, California, the late president Ronald Reagan is getting a special honor at this year's Tournament of Roses Parade. Reagan's images will adorn a float to mark 2011, when he would have turned 100 years old. The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation is sponsoring the centennial float.
Well, Winston Churchill once said, "History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it." Well, don't tell that to people in Virginia, where the writers of some history textbooks have found that they're riddled with mistakes. Critics have been anything but kind. Here's CNN's Martin Savidge.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The United States entered World War I in 1916.
(BUZZ)
SAVIDGE (voice-over): No. It was 1917. There were 12 Confederate states.
(BUZZ)
SAVIDGE (voice-over): Actually, there were 11. In 1800, New Orleans was a US port.
(BUZZ)
SAVIDGE (voice-over): No. It was still under Spanish control.
These and dozens of other errors can be found in the textbook handed out to thousands of Virginia fourth graders. Problems with the book "Our Virginia: Past & Present," published by Five Ponds Press, first surfaced last October, as reported by "The Washington Post," when the mother of one fourth grader, a college history professor, spotted several lines on page 122.
CAROL SHERIFF, PARENT OF A VIRGINIA FOURTH GRADER: It was particularly jarring when I got to this one passage that was so at odds with what historians have been saying about who participated in the Civil War.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): The book says thousands of blacks fought in the Confederate ranks, something not supported by mainstream Civil War scholarship. But it's the next line that's just plain wrong. Quote, "including two black battalions under the command of Stonewall Jackson," unquote.
SHERIFF: Textbook actually does note that it wasn't until 1865 that African-Americans could legally serve in the Confederate army. It also tells children that Stonewall Jackson died in 1863.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): The error about blacks serving in the Confederate army was outrageous to many in academia.
JEREMY MAYER, GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY: It is the equivalent of Holocaust denial being taught in the public schools. But worse, it's also the equivalent of saying that the Jews helped the Holocaust.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): The textbook's author, who is not a historian, said she found the information while researching online. The publisher defended the author, saying she used real books, as well.
LOU SCOLNIK, OWNER, FIVE PONDS PRESS (via telephone): I don't think the author could necessarily be accused of being stupid and doing internet-only research.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): Because of the outcry in November, the Virginia Board of Education hired five historians to review the textbook. They were the ones who found the dozens more mistakes or misrepresentations, leading one to ask, quote, "How in the world did these books get approved?" He recommended they be pulled from the classroom immediately.
SAVIDGE (on camera): As to who selected those books in the first place, that was actually done by the individual school districts in Virginia that are now using the books.
To fix that problems of the wrong information regarding blacks serving in the Confederacy, the publisher came up with this idea. Stickers. That would be with the right information placed over the wrong information. The problem is, now there are so many errors in the textbook, everyone agrees that they don't have enough stickers.
The publisher says the second edition of the book will correct everything. But those school districts with the first edition, well, they're going to be meeting after the first of the year to determine what to do. Martin Savidge, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: Well, they'd better do something.
It was one of those movies that helped set the tone for the '80s, and it produced some of Hollywood's biggest stars. Remember the Brat Pack? What's the cast of "St. Elmo's Fire" doing now? Find out next.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Welcome back. They came to be known as the Brat Pack, young stars who burst onto the screen -- and the scene -- with now-familiar names. But after debuting in the movie "St. Elmo's Fire," you might ask, Where Are They Now? CNN's Brooke Anderson has a report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: It was 1985, and seven college graduates left the halls of Georgetown and entered the hearts of a generation. Twenty-five years later, Kirby, Billy, Kevin, Jules, Alec, Leslie and Wendy have gone their own way.
EMILIO ESTEVEZ, ACTOR: I encourage young people to get in life, man. And get involved and reengage.
ANDERSON: For his part, Emilio Estevez, son of Martin Sheen and brother of Charlie Sheen, wrote, directed, and starred in the biopic "Bobby," about the life and death of Robert Kennedy.
ROB LOWE, ACTOR: It's St. Elmo's Fire.
ANDERSON: Rob Lowe, DC's ultimate frat boy, went on to a thriving career in television, including a seven-year stint on "The West Wing," and a four-year run on the hit drama "Brothers and Sisters."
ALY SHEEDY, ACTRESS: It is like a yearbook, I guess.
ANDERSON: Aly Sheedy, Andrew McCarthy, and Judd Nelson all starred in a series of 80s Brat Pack movies before evolving into smaller roles in Hollywood.
JUDD NELSON, ACTOR: It's hard to believe it was 25 years ago.
ANDERSON: Mare Winningham went on to have five children and, in 2002, converted to Judaism. She also continues to work on the small screen with recent roles in the TV dramas "24" and "Grey's Anatomy."
DEMI MOORE, ACTRESS: You break my heart.
ANDERSON: Finally and, perhaps, the most famous, of the "St. Elmo's" alumni, is actress Demi Moore.
MOORE: I really love you.
PATRICK SWAYZE, ACTOR: Ditto.
ANDERSON: Her subsequent roles in box office hits like "Ghost," "Indecent Proposal," and "Charlie's Angels," as well as her highly- publicized marriages to actors Bruce Willis and, now, Ashton Kutcher, have made her a fixture in the public eye.
Brooke Anderson, CNN, Hollywood.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: So who are the most intriguing people of 2010? We asked you to weigh in on cnn.com and, in the next hour, we'll show you how you voted, and we'll reveal your top ten picks.
Making a change in the new year, if you plan to start that change by slimming down, what diet do you choose? Or is "diet" just a four- letter word? We'll have some advice from the man that wrote the bestselling book "Eat This, Not That," just ahead.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
CHO: Here are some of the stories that have us talking this morning.
More bad weather for California. Already suffering through its wettest December in history, monsoon-like rains, flash floods, and mudslides caused millions of dollars in damage. Expect more high winds today and freezing temperatures in some Los Angeles suburbs.
The Broward County sheriff's office in Florida has found a woman strangled to death in her home under should bizarre circumstances. Instead of looking for a killer, investigators are pointing to an electric neck massager. That neck massager somehow got tangled in a necklace that the woman was wearing and choked her.
Ford is making some new upgrades in some of its family cars aimed at teenagers. Listen to this. The changes will allow parents to control both speed settings and satellite radio programming. So those days of fast cars and rock 'n roll may be coming an end, at least for teens whose parents drive a Ford.
Four days after a blizzard slammed into New York City, city officials now say all of the streets have been plowed. The man in charge of the effort made that proclamation earlier on CNN. New Yorkers have been outraged that their streets were impassable days after the storm.
And the runways are open at all three main airports in the New York City area, but that doesn't mean the headaches are over. Just take a look at those pictures. The airlines say it will take another day or two to clear the backlog of canceled flights and get back on schedule.
Well, if you're one of the thousands of air travelers inconvenienced by that massive snowstorm, you may not know that Twitter could have helped. It already has, providing a lifeline to those trying to rebook flights but no look at the airport or on the phone. Consider it the power of Twitter.
CNN's Josh Levs is here to tell us how they're doing it.
So, how exactly does it work, Josh?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. I mean, a lot of people don't realize this is a possibility. Even people inside of the airport waiting for their flights or on their cell phones trying to book reservations if they can't get through the line. And what people are discovering now is that new technologies can actually help speed that process up, including Twitter.
Let me show you a couple examples of what's going on over the last couple of days. This is the Twitter page for Delta Airlines called Delta Assist and they have been interacting with passengers on Twitter trying to help them rebook.
For example, here's a Tweet that Delta Assist just sent out to someone just minutes ago today. This is from someone who works at Delta, that says, please allow me to check your luggage status. And it says follower DM, Delta Assist, your bag reference number, sorry for the inconvenience. This, folks, is someone inside Delta communicating on Twitter with someone who is concerned about their luggage.
Here's another one at JetBlue. JetBlue has been interacting with all these passengers, as well. I pulled up an example here. This is someone writing from JetBlue, writing to a passenger this morning saying, please follow us so we may DM to assist you. Thank you.
Now, if you're new to Twitter you probably don't know what DM is. So, what I want to do is, I want to talk you through how to use Twitter to help you if you're trying to change your reservation and you just can't get it done on the phone.
Here are the basic steps. First of all, what you need it do if you're not already on Twitter, you sign up. If you already are, you sign in. Then, this is the key. The first thing to do is to go to the Twitter feed for your airline and click follow, to follow them. That will allow you to communicate with them and it will show you everything that they've said so far about all sorts of flights. Then, a couple steps more to know. You can send a Tweet to them but don't include personal information about you because that's public. And after that, once you've signed in, there's something called a direct message, a AM. Send a direct message to the airline. You say, here's the problem, here's what I need.
I know it's a bunch of steps, it can get complicated. That's why I'm posting the info for you at my pages. Go ahead, take a look. I'm at Facebook and Twitter @JoshLevsCNN. I'll talk you through this, what it takes to rebook your flights through Twitter. The more people that can do that, the fewer people on the phone lines, then the phones can be freed up for just those who need it.
So, Alina, this is the direction things are going in.
CHO: Clearly.
LEVS: Fewer middlemen, fewer waits, and hopefully more people are getting help faster.
CHO: You're going to have to walk me through that again after I get off the air.
LEVS: I will. You got it.
CHO: But, thank you.
LEVS: No problem.
CHO: Those are great tips. And, you know, if you're sitting there in an airport and you can't get on the phone, good way to rebook your flight.
LEVS: That's right.
CHO: Thanks, josh.
LEVS: You got it.
CHO: Well, New Year's Eve is almost upon us and many of us are thinking about those we're new year's resolutions. One of the most popular, of course, is lose weight. Weight Watchers just announced its new Points Plus where most fruit now counts for zero points, meaning you can eat as much as you want.
Then there's that Atkins diet, of course, which pushes high fat and high protein. So many choices, but which ones really work?
Joining us now from New York City is Dave Zinczenko, my friend and Editor in Chief of Men's Health magazine.
Hi, Dave.
He is also the bestselling author of the book, "Eat This, Not That," and "Cook This, Not That" Dave, good morning. So, let's talk about Weight Watchers first, this new rule with fruit being free. But doesn't fruit have a lot of sugar? And doesn't that turn into fat?
So is this actually a good rule?
DAVID ZINCZEKO, EDITOR IN CHIEF, MEN'S HEALTH MAGAZINE: Yes. It's actually a great rule. It's a good step in the right direction for weight watchers. They're making it harder to live entirely on nutrition-free junk free. The fact is, an apple is fewer than 15 grams of sugar. You got to consider that a large soda is over 80 grams of sugar and it's also that the apple has a lot of key nutrients and studies show that people -- dieters who have the highest levels of key nutrients lose weight and a half times more weight as those who don't get the key nutrients.
So, this is an important step in the right direction where you don't have a couple of apples with the same value as a packet of Oreos.
CHO: That's right. And there's also that old adage, an apple a day keeps the doctor away. So that's good. All right. So what about Atkins? You know, something I often hear and I sometimes practice is, don't eat anything white. No bread. No rice. No potatoes. High fat, high protein, of course, that's the mantra for Atkins. But then there's the heart.
So, is this something you preach? Is a little bit of Atkins? Does that work?
ZINCZEKO: Well, I'm not a huge fan. I don't think it's necessarily sustainable. You shouldn't eat that many refined carbs, like white bread, because it is easy to overeat. The problem is, again, it goes back to the key nutrients. You need the complex carbs, the fiber, you need the vitamins and minerals. These are the things that are going to help you lose weight. And the different tastes and textures that you get really help to make life pleasurable.
So a restrictive diet is not going to work. Ninety-five percent of diets fail. And the problem is, you go on a diet, you lose a lot of weight, but a lot of that is muscle. When you gain the weight back or more, it's almost entirely fat. So now your metabolism slows down, you feel sluggish. That's no fun, which is why with "Eat This, Not That," we've been really pushing people to be calorie conscious, have all of their favorite foods and still lose a lots of weight without dieting.
And the way to do that is look for the most nutritious of your favorite foods. Whether that's pizza, burgers, pasta, chicken, whatever it might be. That's what's important.
CHO: And I know you say that diet is a four-letter word. So all right. So we can't all remember so many rules. So give us those down and dirty tips.
Do you have two or three easy ones that we can follow in the new year if we're making that new year's resolution to lose weight? ZINCZEKO: Of course, Alina. What you want to do is make the small change that have the biggest payoff.
First thing you do is get rid of the empty calorie beverages that dominate most people's diets. We're drinking 450 to 500 calories a day. Soda makes up seven percent to ten percent of our diet. If you knock 300 of those calories out a day of the 450 to 500, in 2011, all things -- everything else being equal -- you're going lose more than 30 pounds. So that's one thing to do right away.
CHO: Wow.
ZINCZEKO: Easy change. Big result.
The other thing you can do is try to eat at home a little bit more often. Studies show that you're going to save 500 calories every time you do that. If you do that a couple times a week --
CHO: Really, Dave? Really? Is that what you do a lot.
ZINCZEKO: Not as often as I would like. But that's 18 to 20 pounds in 2011. So now you are up to almost 50 pounds and you haven't really done anything.
And then the last thing is just to become more calorie conscious, as I mentioned, because you can walk into a restaurant and there are two burgers there. One's 600 calories, one's 1,600. There's a thousand calorie difference and people don't know. And that's why, of course, "Eat This, Not That" has been really popular.
So, those three things, I think, would pay enormous dividends in the new year.
CHO: Dave, I'll give you a crack P.R. team some props, because guess what arrived on my desk at 8:55 a.m.?
ZINCZEKO: All right.
CHO: Yes. I got the books.
Thank you so much.
ZINCZEKO: They're the best. They're the best. Thank you. Happy New Year.
CHO: Thanks for postponing your holiday for me. Now, get to your family.
ZINCZEKO: Why aren't we in St. Bart's?
CHO: I don't know. Let's go. All right. I'm done on Friday.
Dave Zinczeko. For more advice from my friend Dave, check out his bestselling books "Eat This, Not That 2011: The No Diet Weight Loss Solution," and "Cook This, Not That: Easy and Awesome 350 Calorie Meals." I'm all flustered now.
So aside from dieting, what are the new year's resolutions in go to CNN.com/kyra. I will read some of them on the air in the next hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: President Obama has some significant challenges in the new year, starting with working with that incoming Republican-controlled Congress.
CNN's senior White House correspondent Ed Henry has that tough assignment of traveling with the President in Hawaii.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Alina, White House officials believe that the President is ending this year on a high note after all of those victories in that lame duck session of Congress but the big question heading into 2011 is whether there's this new found bipartisanship is really going to last.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY (voice-over): To hear the President tell it, bickering with Republicans is so 2010.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A lot of folks in this town predicted that after the midterm elections Washington would be headed for more partisanship and more gridlock. And instead, this has been a season of progress, that's a message that I will take to heart in the New Year. And I hope my Democratic and Republican friends will do the same.
HENRY: But with Republican John Boehner taking the speaker's gavel, that rosy scenario will be tested immediately in 2011 because both parties will now have to agree on a long-term budget after kicking the can down the road on all those spending cuts the Tea Party was demanding and the President's own debt panel was proposing to no avail.
OBAMA: I expect we'll have a robust debate about this when we return from the holidays. A debate that will have to answer an increasingly urgent question and that is how do we cut spending that we don't need while still making investments that we do need?
HENRY: With the federal cash register tapped out, it will be especially difficult to tackle the President's biggest challenge of all.
OBAMA: My singular focus over the next two years is not rescuing the economy from potential disaster, but rather, jumpstarting the economy so that we actually start making a dent in the unemployment rate.
HENRY: Mr. Obama also may face resistance to his economic plans from both liberals still smarting from the tax deal he just cut and conservatives determined to repeal his health reform law. An independent-minded Republican is urging both sides to give the new balance of power a chance.
SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI (R), ALASKA: Let's figure out how we deal with some of these very, very difficult issues, whether it's tax policy or whether it's going to be what we're going to be doing on -- on spending. We've got enough that we need to do that we don't need to get weighted down in the partisan politics.
HENRY: Music the ears of White House aides trying to hammer the message that Republicans now have a responsibility to govern.
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: They can't afford any longer to just simply sit and say, no. They have to be part of a constructive conversation.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY: White House officials say the President has already started some work on his state of the union address which should be at the end of January. And we should expect a big theme to be exactly what you just heard from Robert Gibbs. Now that Republicans are running at least half of Congress, they have an obligation to meet the President halfway on some of these big issues, especially the economy -- Alina.
CHO: All right. Ed Henry, thank you.
A marathon hockey game, players on the ice 24 hours straight. What's this all about? We'll tell you coming up.
But first, our "Flashback": on this date back in 1953, the first color TV sets went on sale in the United States. It was an RCA TV with a 15-inch screen it's sold for selling for $1, 175. That was a lot of money back then. In today's dollars it amounts to $9,500. That will get you several flat screen HD TVs today, with much bigger screens and a much better picture.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Scanning our "Morning Passport", we begin in Australia, where 13 townships in Queensland State have been evacuated due to record flooding. More than four feet of rain has fallen this month. In Queensland, rivers are rising, roads and homes under water, forecasters say many areas will still be at flood stage in two weeks.
Now to Northern Ireland where some 40,000 people have been without running water for 11 days straight; today, ministers are holding an emergency meeting to help figure out how to help these residents. Eighty villages and towns lost water when the pipes burst in cold weather. Unfortunately, the government warns that the water may not be back on for several more days. Ouch.
And in Canada, a day to play a hockey game; 24 hours? That's right. Players take to the ice in a marathon game in winter, all for charity. The Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Black Hawk started playing at noon yesterday and they don't plan to stop until noon today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KEN MCCORMICK, ORGANIZER, 24 HOURS OF HOCKEY: There are some real ugly hours in the middle of the night. If you are good to your feet and you keep your hydration up, you'll be fine but it catches everyone off guard -- a guy off guard every time for sure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: The money raised will go to the Canadian Cancer Society and to local charity. It's the third 24-hour hockey game played in that area.
Well, we're following lots of developments in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM. Let's check in first with CNN's Susan Candiotti -- Susan.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Alina. Well, I'll tell you what, I am standing in a snow pile, a very big snow pile. And if you're a kid, you'd love to play in something like this, but if you are New York City and you're trying to get rid of all this in advance of New Year's Eve, it's a huge hassle.
I'll tell you what the city is doing to get rid of all this stuff coming up in a live report.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, my goodness.
I am Josh Levs here inside and warm, and we invited you to tell us who the most intriguing people in the entire world are. And now we get to announce your results and I'll have those for you in the next hour.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Elizabeth Cohen in Miami. Just in case you overdo it tomorrow night, I reviewed some common hangover remedies: Alka Seltzer, an Aspirin, and every college student's favorite, a hair of the dog that bit you. Do they really work or are they just old wives' tales? I'll have that at the top of the hour.
CHO: Elizabeth, not that we need them, but just in case.
All right, thank you.
Also ahead, what would you do to spread a little good will? Would you mail money to complete strangers? We're going to meet one man who's doing that. He's willing to give away his hard-earned cash to people he doesn't even know and he wants nothing in return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: It's time for "The Big Play". We're going to start with off -- off with an amazing shot. Jeff Fischel from HLN Sports is here to show you. Hey, Jeff good morning.
JEFF FISCHEL, HLN SPORTS: Alina, good morning.
It was a fantastic finish between the Kings and Grizzlies last night. Here it is: final seconds, the Grizzlies trailing by one. O.J. Mayo in and of itself, this is a fantastic shot. Throws it up falling away, good, to give the Grizzlies a one-point lead. You think that does it, 1.5 seconds left. But, no, Tyreke Evans (ph) from half court, yes, he got it. The Kings win 198 -- watch him again.
Now, Tyreke Evans just a couple of days ago said, you know, my foot is hurting, I might have to have season-ending surgery. Clearly he is healthy and he gives the Kings the win.
Big night for Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat last night. Dwyane Wade takes the bloody lip. Ouch. You know what? He would come back and gets up. Not only would he finish, he would be fantastic. 45 points, Alina, this guy continues to put up great games for the Heat.
Everybody talks about LeBron James but Dwyane Wade, fantastic. Leads the Heat to the 125-119 win. Miami now on fire, 10 straight wins on the road. Arguably the best team on the NBA right now (INAUDIBLE).
You know, Alina, Miami Heat, there's all this talk about dissension early in the season but not right now. Right now, they're beating everybody.
CHO: Yes. Well, they have a great line up of players, don't they?
FISCHEL: They do. It's hard to stop them. Pick your poison with those all-stars.
CHO: All right. Jeff, thank you so much. I'm sorry, you have one more little thing that you wanted to share with us?
FISCHEL: Yes. I can keep on going. It was great last night in college basketball. Coach Mike Krzyzewski, Duke head coach, win 890 all time, makes him number two at all college basketball history at Duke UNC Greensboro. Coach Krzyzewski, four national championships, number two all-timer wins.
And you know that list of the top wins -- it's like his personal biography. Number one all time is Bob Knight, his former college coach and then number three all-time, the guy he just passed, his fierce former rival, North Carolina coach Dean Smith. So Coach K, doing it, doing it right. He could break the all-time record sometime around the NCAA tournament.
And I have to finish with this Alina. Check out this Jordan basketball player, not the Jordan you are thinking of. This is 12- year-old Jordan McKay from Seattle. The kid is amazing. First of all, the beautiful three-point shot -- look at him handle a basketball.
CHO: Wow. Oh, my gosh. How old is he?
FISCHEL: Twelve.
CHO: I can do that.
FISCHEL: There goes two basketballs right here. This is a sign you have some serious game. You are never going to play a game with two basketballs but the fact that the kid can do this is incredible. Clearly, his family must have known when they had him that he was onto something with the name Jordan.
CHO: Komo. That's Seattle, right?
FISCHEL: It is. In Seattle -- Seattle kid and the kid has serious game as the Beastie Boys might have said, he has game like he worked at Hasbro.
CHO: That's great. All right. Jeff Fischel, thank you so much for that update and those great pictures.
