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Navy Investigates Lewd Videos

Aired January 03, 2011 - 10:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour. 10:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 7:00 a.m. out west. I'm Kyra Phillips. Here are some of the stories that had us talking this morning.

Some of your co-workers may be a little late to the job if they were using an iPhone for their alarm clock. Apparently a software glitch kept alarms from going off. The problem is supposed to correct itself today, however.

Police in the Dominican Republican say a Baltimore Orioles pitcher was involved in the shooting death of a man. Police could question Alfredo Simon today about that shooting which happened early in the morning on New Year's day.

A ride catches fire at the Islands of Adventure Park at Orlando, Florida's Universal Studios. No one was hurt but the water plume ride was evacuated and closed indefinitely.

Well, Arkansas wildlife officials are stumped after thousands of birds dropped dead from the Arkansas sky just before the ball fell on New Year's eve. Crews are collecting and testing up to 5,000 red- winged black birds and starlings. Most were dead but all of them found within a one-mile area of Beebe.

Here is the theory so far. A lightning strike, high altitude hail, or maybe even extreme stress caused by New Year's fireworks. From dead birds to dead fish, just more than 100 miles away in Ozark, another wildlife mystery likely unrelated. 100,000 dead drum fish washed ashore, floated to the top of the Arkansas River.

Keep in mind fish kills happen every year, but experts say the sheer size of this one points to a possible disease outbreak. So what the heck is going on in Arkansas? Keith Stephens from the state's Game and Fish commission joining us live via Skype from Little Rock.

Why don't we start with the birds, Keith. Witnesses say that it was something out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Do you have any idea, what theory you all are moving toward, the stress of fireworks, hail? What do you think?

KEITH STEPHENS, ARKANSAS GAME AND FISH COMMISSION: Well, we're leaning more towards the fireworks. It looks like that there was a large roost of birds in the area. There were some New Year's eve revelers that were in the area shooting off fireworks just before midnight. And that's when this occurred. The weather issue is probably a little bit on the backburner right now. There wasn't a lot of severe weather in the area at the time, so we're leaning more towards a stress event.

PHILLIPS: So have you ever seen anything like this before because, I mean, fireworks go off at New Year's Eve, fourth of July, and we have never seen anything like this before.

STEPHENS: Well, black birds are kind of unique. You don't see these in the urban areas, in the city. They're more in the agricultural, rural areas. This is a rural part of Arkansas. They roost in the hundreds of thousands, so just one area like this we tend to believe that it was probably stress from the fireworks, but we won't know anything until we get the results from the lab tests.

PHILLIPS: Got it. OK. And how soon could we know, Keith? Sometime this week?

STEPHENS: Yes. We're hoping we may get the results today, but if not today, surely earlier this week.

PHILLIPS: All right. Now, let's talk about the fish. This only affected drum fish, right? So tell us -

STEPHENS: That's correct.

PHILLIPS: OK. So what do we know about this and could there be any type of connection?

STEPHENS: Well, we really don't see any connection at this time. The fish died the day before. We got a call from a tug boat operator that saw a number of fish floating in the river and along the banks. We were able to go up there and get some of the fish before they died. We're going to send them off for testing, too.

We really think it's a disease since it was only one species. We didn't see any numbers of sport fish or any other fish when we were able to do our research.

PHILLIPS: Got it. All right. Keep us posted, Keith Stephens. We'd sure like to figure out what happened here. So many people are talking about this and right now we're just playing a guessing game.

STEPHENS: Right. It's the same we're. But we'll find out something and let you guys know.

PHILLIPS: Great. Keith, thanks so much.

STEPHENS: You're welcome.

PHILLIPS: Now a story that you might find outrageous and offensive on many levels. The U.S. Navy is investigating a series of raunchy video that were shown aboard the aircraft carrier, the "USS Enterprise." Videos complete with "F" bombs and anti-gay slurs. They were being shown while the ship was supporting U.S. troops fighting and dying in combat. But before you dismiss this as a case of boys just being boys, consider this. The tapes shown here from the web site for the "Virginia Pilot" newspaper actually feature the man who now commands the ship.

CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr with more. It's pretty shocking, Barbara. I mean, a lot of times - I mean, we know that they do these skits and they try to have stress relief and entertaining ways, but the fact that these leaked with such insensitive comments just sure doesn't bode well for the Navy right now.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, I have to tell you top Navy commanders are shaking their heads after all the scandals, after all the education, don't do that kind of thing, how could something like this have happened yet again?

The man under investigation, Navy Captain Owen Honors now is the commanding officer of the "USS Enterprise" but was the number two in command back in 2006 and 2007 when he made these videos said to be training videos and showed them to the ship's crew.

Now, you know, the videos show anti-gay slurs, simulated sex acts, all that sort of thing. We're not going to show you a lot of that, but we did clean up a bit of it. We want to show it to you so everyone can see what it is we're talking about.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This evening all of you bleeding hearts and you (bleep), why don't you just go ahead and hug yourselves for the next 20 minutes or so because there's a really good chance you're going to be offended tonight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (bleep). I just (bleep) can't get that. Finally, let's get to my favorite topic and something foreign to the gay kid over there, chicks in the shower. This is certainly the most popular video of any of the ex-o movie videos. It's also the one that's landed me with the most complaints.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Now, apparently he was verbally reprimanded and told to knock it off back then. So why is this such an issue right now? Well, the Navy investigation that is now under way on all of this is really taking a look not just at him, but who else on the ship knew about this and maybe did not speak up as they should have.

The captain at the time, the commanding officer, there were higher ranking officials and admirals on board. The Navy, of course, as you know, Kyra, sails with Navy lawyers on board all of these major war ships.

These videos were shown on the ship's internal television system. Why did people not speak up about this? You know, how did this happen? And how could he have been rewarded with command of the ship now, which again is set to sail for the war zone in just a few days? Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So this in addition to the investigation, what else is the Navy saying about this?

STARR: Well, they're trying to sort it all out. You know, at first when these videos surfaced in "The Virginia Pilot newspaper" here in Virginia, the feeling was that probably they surfaced because some crew members wanted to bring this to light and make complaints about it.

The Navy at first said that they were just humorous skits not intended to offend anyone, but the Navy leadership had not actually seen the videos at that point. So very rapidly after they saw the videos, they really changed their statement and came out with a subsequent statement which said, "production of videos like the ones produced four to five years ago on "USS Enterprise " were not acceptable then and are still not acceptable in today's Navy. The Navy does not endorse or condone these types of actions.

Kyra, think of it this way, what if this was your workplace, my workplace, 5,000 people at sea for six months. The commanding officer's word is law for those people. Is this man now the person that the Navy wants to be in command of that carrier? Kyra.

PHILLIPS: My guess is no. Barbara Starr will follow it. Thanks so much.

STARR: Sure.

PHILLIPS: Well, help is on the way for the 911 emergency crews - or 9/11 emergency crews rather who worked at ground zero. President Obama has signed into law a measure that guarantees government health care for first responders. Many have suffered respiratory illnesses and other health problems. They blame the ash and toxins that enveloped the ruins of the World Trade Center.

And health care reform is moving forward this morning, even as a new Republican controlled House will try to repeal it when they reconvene on Thursday. In the meantime, here is what goes into effect today. Medicare patients will receive free wellness visits and the possibility of half-price name brand drugs. And there's now a requirement for insurance companies to spend more of their premiums on actual health care, not overhead and profits. Republicans say they will do whatever they can to defund health care reform.

We've ushered in a new year and for many states that means a new governor. Today at 2:00 p.m., Jerry Brown will be sworn in as California's new Democratic governor. He replaces Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger but this won't be Brown's first tour in office. He served two terms as governor of California from 1975 to 1983.

Other states with gubernatorial swearing in ceremonies today, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Nevada. On Saturday Democrat Andrew Cuomo became New York's 56th governor, Republican Susana Martinez became New Mexico's 27th governor and the nation's first female Hispanic governor. In Michigan Republican Rick Snyder was also sworn in. Well, for new governors and governor's elect, there's not much time to celebrate. Many are being sworn in amid high unemployment, budget deficits, and struggling economies.

Now here is a look at what just some of them will be dealing with. In California, governor-elect Jerry Brown must grapple with a massive $28 billion deficit and 12 percent unemployment rate. You head down to Wisconsin where governor-elect Scott Walker faces a $3 billion deficit and an unemployment rate of seven percent. Then in Nevada, Ryan Sandoval filed a $1 billion deficit and 13 percent unemployment right. And new Mexico, the governor there, Susana Martinez, must slash the $400 million deficit and battle the eight percent unemployment rate.

Traffic was moving along yesterday, but not today. This is interstate 5 at Grapevine, California. The highway patrol has closed both north and southbound lanes because of the snow there. Snow could reach two feet in the higher elevations and four to 12 inches in lower elevations. And Southern California is getting more rain, something it definitely it doesn't need. Rob Marciano is watching every from the severe weather center.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, they ended their year very wet and they're starting the year very wet as well. But we should start to dry things out tonight. As you mentioned, there's significant snow accumulations expected at the higher elevations. By higher elevations, we're talking 1,500 to 2,000 feet. So just up the road from L.A., very cold air mass overhead. Winter storm warnings remain posted and 4 to 14 inches of snow in immediate areas and then further up the pipe and through the Sierra Nevadas could see again one to two feet.

With this system that continues to spin moisture in the form of rain. This is a dangerous situation in that there are still many hillsides if they haven't slid are on the verge of doing so. sliding. Just a little more rain could trigger that. This should move through tonight, and tomorrow morning we should start to dry things out. Then we'll get into a drying trend. Obviously, it turns to snow in the mountains.

For the first time though, you go east of the Rockies and we're really looking at relatively quiet situations. The upper midwest and the northern plains getting a little bit of a pretty dry system that's going to quickly move across the Great lakes. Will spread some light snow across that area but nothing like what they saw last week and then some lake-effect snows are being triggered by Lake Michigan, also Ontario and Erie and maybe some significant snow just north of Syracuse, heading up the pipe towards Watertown and the (INAUDIBLE) plateau. We could see several inches of snowfall in those areas, actually you could see a foot or two. So lake effect snow warnings are in effect.

There's your weak system. Sunny skies across the southeast. Temperatures in Florida after being one of the coldest Decembers on record finally getting into the 70s across that part of the world. All right. As far as travel delays today. Maybe New York metros. Minneapolis see a little bit of light snow. Los Angeles some wind and rain obviously and clouds. And maybe some snow in Vegas, that's also giving you an idea of just how cold the system is out there. And speaking of cold, today, Kyra, is the closest that we get to the sun during the entire year at 91.5 million miles. So even we're closest to the sun, the northern hemisphere at least is still pretty chilly.

PHILLIPS: We felt it this morning as well.

MARCIANO: Yes.

PHILLIPS: That's for sure. Can't get out of those 30s. All right. Thank you, Rob.

MARCIANO: See you in a bit.

PHILLIPS: Well, four New York sanitation department supervisors could be in a lot of trouble. They were supposed to be out plowing the snow, not on the way to getting plowed. New York is investigating reports that four supervisors were drinking beer in an agency car Monday night instead of cleaning up snow.

The allegation is the latest criticism of the city's handling of last week's massive snowstorm. City council members say that workers told him supervisors ordered a slow down in retaliation for the city's latest cost cutting moves.

Well, it's 2011 and that means along other things a new era for accountability online. We're going to talk about a new law that's bad news for cyber bullies and internet imposters.

And Zsa Zsa Gabor rushed to the hospital to have part of her leg amputated. Glamour queen's health has been touch and go for months. We're taking a closer look at her condition.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right. Let's see what's happening in entertainment. Oscar nominated actor Pete Postalwaite is dead at the age of 64. He passed away in England, reportedly following a battle with cancer. Fans know him from a wide range of movies from "Inception" and "The Usual Suspects" to "Jurassic Park." Steven Spielberg directed that movie, reportedly calling Postalwaite the best actor in the world. But he earned his Oscar nod for his role in the IRA drama "In the Name of the Father."

And Zsa Zsa Gabor in an L.A. hospital. Doctors will amputate one of her legs just below the knee. That's what a representative says. Gabor has cancerous lesions on that leg. She's 93, by the way, and her husband says she has been frail and pretty much confined to a wheelchair since a car wreck in 2002.

And Michael Jackson's oldest son, Prince, may be asked to testify against his father's personal physician tomorrow. That's the first day of a pre-trial hearing against Dr. Conrad Murray, as you know, he is charged with involuntary manslaughter, accused of giving the pop icon too much of a powerful anesthetic to help him sleep. Murray has pleaded not guilty.

And next, we're talking about people who impersonate others on- line. Set up Facebook or MySpace accounts in other people's names and then post all kinds of terrible and false things. Well, in one state, it will get you thrown in jail.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, a new law is now in effect in California. It actually cracks down on people who impersonate others online with the intent to do harm. For example, if you set up Facebook or MySpace or e-mail accounts in someone else's name and then post or send out terrible and false things about them or about others, you will actually get a fine and some jail time. Something like that happened to this guy.

Carl Guardino - he is the CEO of the Silicon Valley leadership group. Someone actually sent out an e-mail in his name apologizing for something awful that Carl didn't even do. There was no law protecting him until now. We want to talk more about this with Hemu Nigam. He is an internet security specialist. Hey, Hemu, this sounds like a real blow to cyber bullies, at least in California, right?

HEMU NIGAM, INTERNET SECURITY SPECIALIST: Yes, thanks for having me, Kyra. This is actually a great new law because - and the result might have been a pissed off politician who is trying to create a constituent of his or her to create a law for the little guy. And is ay that because what this does is it makes it a crime, not just a civil problem, but a crime to impersonate somebody, act like they're somebody like them and then defraud or harm or threaten, and you can do it either in e-mail, either you can do it in a Twitter account, anything internet connected in essence is what we're talking about here.

PHILLIPS: Now, how do you prove the harm?

NIGAM: So in a way you have to look at this just like you do in the physical world. When you think of harm, think of it the way the dictionary would. Intimidating somebody, harming somebody, threatening somebody. All those words are words used in laws today in the physical side. What you're doing is that combining that with the internet side.

So it's actually not so difficult to prove. And that's why it's a great law for the poor kid at home, whose mother goes to the police and says somebody is impersonating my kid and making them look really bad or my daughter and the police (INAUDIBLE) says, "sorry, mother. Sorry, ma'am, we can't do anything to help you. This law is a law for the kid at home.

PHILLIPS: Now what about stopping malicious campaigning against politicians and other famous persons because those individuals, their names are out there, they're celebrities, they're politicians, the law doesn't protect them as much as say someone who is being cyber bullied, but would this law do that?

NIGAM: This law would absolutely do that. So for example, you can create an e-mail campaign pretending to be a senator who is running for office and say that you believe in certain things that they don't in order to damage their political aspirations, and in the old days if you think about it, you had to do that by mailing one letter at a time, by making one phone call at a time.

Now the damage can be permanent, it can be long-term, and it can be far reaching, so in a sense this was also a great new tool for politicians to use, especially during campaign seasons or during those times when there's a heated debate going on and you're trying to damage one cause against another cause.

PHILLIPS: And what's been so frustrating, I mean, a lot of us even here in this business feel it, is that so many of these people can say things about you and put things out there and be anonymous about it, which is so frustrating because it's such an act - it's just cowardly.

So what do you think about this law and how far it could go? Could we see other states passing this law? Could we see it gain more momentum? What do you think?

NIGAM: I think absolutely. If you're a legislator in some other state and for that matter for Congress. Congress is coming back in Washington, D.C., pay attention to this law because what you have here is a great little piece of legislation. It's not 200 pages long, it's one paragraph and what it can do for you, whether you're a politician, whether you're trying to stop cyber bullying, there are so many ways the internet is being used by those who think it is anonymous that this is a perfect tool for you.

So pay attention out there. California might be the first one to do it, but there's 49 other states and the other piece of it that's also good is that even if you are in another state today, many of these internet companies, in fact the majority of the internet companies, actually sit in California. So you could think of a way, especially plaintiffs' lawyers out there, to bring suits against individuals, lawsuits against individuals even if they're not in California because there's a server that passes - the system passes through servers in California before it gets to, say, Arkansas or gets to Texas or somewhere else.

PHILLIPS: Interesting. It will be interesting to see the domino effect from this, that's for sure. Because there's been so many complaints about how gray the law is when it comes to the internet. Hemu, thanks so much for your time.

NIGAM: Thanks for having me.

PHILLIPS: You bet. Someone who works on our team missed the big moment in Times Square. Did we get his picture yet? You really - we got it. This is our A.P. we didn't want to name names but what the heck. We love to call out Allen who actually snoozed and lost the moment, but he says it's not his fault. He set his iPhone alarm and it didn't go off. Bt the way, I like the hat, Allen. You're looking good there, pal. Lots of them, lots of people having the same problem. Did yours go off this morning? Are you late to work? Allen did get here to work on time though.

And you've turned over that calendar page to January 2011. How about turning over a new leaf financially as well? It's "Your Money" and we're giving you a month-by-month plan on how to spend and save in a much smarter way.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right. Stock market opening bell just rang about an hour ago. Looking at the numbers right now. Dow industrials up about 109 points. Well, Expedia goes toe to toe with American Airlines. The online travel site has kicked the airline off its website. Business news correspondent Stephanie Elam joining us. All right. Steph, what's this all about?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think it's all about posturing, Kyra, because what you have here is a bit of a battle going on, and it's one of those things where you're trying to figure out exactly what's going on underneath the story. So we know already that Orbitz and American Airlines were fight being this. And so after that we saw American Airlines decided to cut Orbitz out and now the same thing is going on with Expedia.

Basically American airlines wants people to buy tickets off their website, obviously they can say there's no fees there. They can package other things like maybe where you're going to check bags or not, those kind of fees, they can do it altogether and these third party sites are saying, you know what, this is how we make our money, by you guys paying a fee and then we sell your fares and we how the best fares there. This has become a problem. Expedia and also Orbitz realized this could be a game changer for the industry so because of that, they're fighting back.

Well, you know, it's a matter of who's the one who gets the bigger pain from this one and driving the traffic back to AmericanAirlines.com. If American says they're still making money in the long term and people are still booking fares, then they may not go back and that could be trouble for Expedia and Orbitz. Or it may actually work the other way in which case Expedia and Orbitz would be like, "Ha ha, we win. Come and bring your fares back and pay the fees, and we'll continue the way we were."

So, that's what this is really about. A lot of people watching this one. But really, it kind of makes me think of like peacocks or something walking around puffing out their chests and saying who is going to go down first.

PHILLIPS: Who's boss.

ELAM: Yes. Exactly.

PHILLIPS: We're also hearing about another major glitch with the iPhone. A lot of people missed their New Year's parties.

ELAM: I'm mad about this one. I am with Allen on this one because you know why? There's a baby in my house. She'll go unnamed, who decided to wake up at 3:00 a.m. --

PHILLIPS: That's our baby. That's a picture of our baby.

ELAM: That's your baby there. That's not my baby.

PHILLIPS: Who slept right through --

ELAM: He's a little too old to be my baby.

PHILLIPS: Yes, exactly! Simone is a little younger than Allen, shall we say? Simone should be sleeping, but Allen, my goodness! He's so young and --

ELAM: He should have been out.

PHILLIPS: -- single and available --

ELAM: He should have been out.

PHILLIPS: -- and available.

ELAM: Are you advertising him out for dating?

PHILLIPS: This is a match.com.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: Is this going to get fixed?

ELAM: I'm sure he appreciates that.

PHILLIPS: He's going to kill me.

ELAM: Apparently it is fixed. He's definitely going to get you after the show. You should run.

But the thing about this one is, and it's said it's fixed. And if you take a look, that they had a problem on Saturday and Sunday. People were not getting -- if you set your alarm for just one time, those weren't going off. It was a reoccurring one, those were working. They said it was fixed for this Monday.

But my bone to pick is I normally wake up before my alarm, but because baby cakes decided to wake me up and keep me up all night, I did not. And so, I woke up when my husband got up, and it was 40 minutes late because my alarm didn't not go off. Now, I powered it off and I turned it back on, and it's working fine now. I tested it. But for all the iPhone people out there, be aware. Apple says they're aware about it, but luckily I get up super early so I didn't miss any of my appointments, but I don't think it would have worked if I told you, Kyra, I wasn't hear because like, my iPhone didn't go off. OK?

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Not going to use it. Yes, the dog ate the homework doesn't work anymore. You can blame it on technology.

You're up all around the clock anyway with that adorable little baby. Anyway, happy new year, Steph.

ELAM: She usually sleeps through the night. I don't know -- why tonight? Why the first day back to work in the new year? But whatever. We hugged it out.

PHILLIPS: Good!

ELAM: Happy new year.

PHILLIPS: It's always good to hug it out. Same to you.

All right. It's about 10:30 right now in the East, 7:30ish on the left coast. Today, we're following the mystery bird kill out of Arkansas. As many as 5,000 birds fell out of the sky late Friday in Beebe, Arkansas. The state has launched an investigation. Lightning and fireworks have been mentioned as possible causes.

Four New York sanitation supervisors could be in some big trouble. The city is investigating reports are they were drinking beer in an agency car instead of cleaning up the snow from last week's blizzard. Crews should be collecting Big Apple garbage today. It's been piling up since the snow hit, and it became the top priority.

Lindsay Lohan just one day away from checking out of rehab. The three months of court-ordered substance abuse - ah, work at the Betty Ford Clinic are now up.

Well, it's a new year, new chance to get your finances in order. It can seem like a big chore, but we're taking it step by step for you. Month by month, actually. Taking you through the first half of 2011 so you can make the most of your money, we hope.

Ilyce Glink is a personal finance expert and publisher of ThinkGlink.com. She's joining us live from Chicago. I love how we've laid this out here. It's simple for those that desperately need this help. Starting in January, you say it's time to take stock of your financial situation. OK. So what should we do this month?

ILYCE GLINK, PUBLISHER, THINKGLINK.COM: Well, Kyra, first of all, in January you want to do a state of the state. You're going do it before all the politicians do theirs, but the state of the state of your finances. You want to know exactly what you owe, what you're coming into this year with, what kind of cash you have on hand, what kind of debts you have to pay, and start to map out your year month by month so you really understand where you are. Because until you know where you are, you can't figure out where you want to be.

PHILLIPS: Okay. And then February, we start to deal with this holiday credit hangover, shall we say?

(LAUGHTER)

GLINK: Well, I'm sure that there are a lot of Americans, despite having paid down billions of dollars in debt, a lot of people are still carrying around a lot of debt. We saw the numbers from holiday season shopping seemed to be up. Some of that must have gone on a credit card. So, a lot of people by February, they're going to have a credit card hangover.

And this is the time to really take stock of your debt and start to figure out a way to pay it down. I'm all about paying down debt. Deleveraging is the big, fancy Wall Street term. There's no reason it can't apply to you. And, remember, as long as you're paying somebody else 17 percent or 27 percent on your money, you are never going to be wealthy. And so, getting rid of your debt is the fastest way to get there.

PHILLIPS: Yes. And boy, it's painful when you se the interest rates adding up, and ugh, especially in the bad economy.

All right. Now usually I will start kind of -- because I'm a procrastinator with my taxes -- I slowly start putting it together in January. But you say March is really the month to do it and you just high tail it. Get it in order.

GLINK: Well, all procrastinators will be very happy because their taxes aren't actually due until April 18th this year. You get three extra days, Kyra.

But I want you to start a little sooner. The problem with starting in January, some people, January 15th, IRS opens for business, they're all over that. But the problem this year is remember that huge tax act that got passed at the end of the last year, December? Well, the IRS just announced they're not even going to be ready to take forms until maybe the end of January into the beginning of February. All of the other kinds of programs that are out there, whether you use TurboTax or MackenTax (ph) or Tax Act or Tax Cut, whatever you're using, it's going to take them some time to get the forms rewritten as well.

And so I think by March, early March, beginning of March let's say - even end of February -- you can start to gather all your paperwork together. You'll have your W-2, your 1099 forms, whatever it is. March is a great time to start getting ready and get your tax return in early. Because, remember, if you're going to get money back, the sooner you file your taxes, the sooner that check is going to hit your account.

PHILLIPS: Yes. Good point. I'll need the money this year.

All right. April, you can actually start talking about summer break. But wait a minute, that means spending more money.

GLINK: Well, I want you to take the time, two or three months ahead of time, so you can actually find the best deal possible. Right? And sometime around April we've got airfare deals going on, we've got summer cruise deals going on. There's all kinds of deals that go on. If you wait until the very last minute -- let's say you buy your summer vacation the week before, the weekend before, you're going to probably get a good deal. But for people who like to plan three to four months ahead of time is really the time you want to start maximizing the investigation of those deals so you get the best one for you.

PHILLIPS: Got it. All right. May, insurance checkup. I haven't done this in a while.

GLINK: You know, and you probably are the perfect person to do this because if you haven't checked your auto insurance or your homeowner's insurance -- if you haven't shopped it around in a while, I wouldn't be surprised if you could chop, 10 percent, 20 percent, or even 30 percent off your bill.

I had a friend tell me recently -- this was I think in November we were talking about this, and she said she had just followed that advice, shopped it around. She was going to save 50 percent on her car insurance. She hadn't shopped it around in ten years. She just sort of accepted the little incremental increase year-over-year, and suddenly she was paying way over market for who she was and her credit and whether -- the fact she hadn't had any accidents. So, this is really a worthwhile thing to do.

PHILLIPS: All right. And finally, come June, here we are just trying to get out of holiday debt, you say start holiday savings account in June.

GLINK: I know! Well, you know, if you're planning a wedding in June, this is not going to apply to you. You're going to be focusing on major purchases and expenses and you'll be doing the honeymoon planning in April for your June wedding.

But for everybody else, one of the easiest things to do is to start early planning for your holiday spending and giving yourself six months to put away say an extra $100 a month or $150 a month. Means that when December comes and you're ready to start shop, shop, shopping again, you're going to have a little pile of cash to spend as opposed to having to put it on a credit card.

What we're really trying to do here, Kyra, is some long-term planning, some strategic planning. So that a year from February, you don't have a holiday credit hangover because you paid cash because you started in June saving for the end of the year.

PHILLIPS: Fabulous tips, Ilyce. Thank you so much.

GLINK: Sure. Happy new year.

PHILLIPS: Same to you. Well, January through June spelled out right there. Next week, we're going to take a look at what you can be doing in the back half of 2011 to fix your finances and end the year stronger than you started it.

Well, no fumar. In Spain, they really, really mean it right now, too. Some of the strictest anti-smoking laws have plenty of Spaniards fuming right now and others breathing a lot easier. We're live in Madrid.

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PHILLIPS: Well, Spain is crying foul over its new anti-smoking initiative which basically outlaws lighting up in enclosed public areas like bars and coffee houses.

CNN Madrid bureau chief Al Goodman, not a smoker, but live with the latest. And people -- there are a lot of smokers, however, in Spain and it's sitting out in the coffee houses where they're usually doing it. So, what exactly is in this law, and my guess is people aren't taking it so well, Al?

AL GOODMAN, CNN MADRID BUREAU CHIEF: Well, the 30 percent of the Spaniards who smoke, Kyra, are definitely not taking it well. They're fuming, as you say.

This is an incredible law, if you think of it, for a country that's had a 500-year relationship with tobacco. Remember, it was Christopher Columbus who sailed from Spain who sought tobacco on his voyages to the new world. Spanish sailors brought it to Europe. And now, you've got this ban inside bars, restaurants, discotheques, all these enclosed public places.

It's up to the management of the bars and restaurants basically to be the immediate enforcers, but anybody can make a complaint, and there are some very stiff fines. Forty dollars if you get caught once smoking, and $800 to $130,000 if you get caught repeatedly violating this new law. So, they put a big stick in as well. Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Wow. How does the law compare to other countries in Europe and even in the U.S.?

GOODMAN: Well, Spain four years ago had a law that banned smoking in the workplace. But at the time it let restaurants and bars choose. Now that's done. Now it's banned all across. So, this now has Spain with the strictest of the western European questions. Britain, France, and Italy banning it in the enclosed public places.

According to a group called NoSmoke.org in the United States, 23 U.S. states have similar legislation, not in the workplace, in bars and restaurants. That includes New York, Illinois, Michigan, Washington state. Now, if you add that with local laws in some other states, about half of the U.S. population is now living with these kinds of smoke-free zone laws. Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Got it. All right, Al. Thanks so much. Well, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger leaves office today, and that means an entrepreneur will be shutting down his business. We'll introduce you to the man who actually made the Governator famous.

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PHILLIPS: Arnold Schwarzenegger's term as California governor is coming to an end in just about three hours, and a familiar face will be sworn in to lead that state. Deputy political director Paul Steinhauser talking about that with us out of D.C. at the CNNpolitics.com desk. Hey, Paul.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hey, good morning, Kyra. Let's call this the new governor's edition. Five states you mentioned - California, also Nevada, Wyoming, Wisconsin, and Minnesota all swearing in, all inaugurating new governors.

Let's concentrate on California, where it really is in way back to the future because, yes, Jerry Brown, the man who served as governor of California for two terms in the 1970s and early '80s, he's back and is going it get the old job back later today. Remember, in the midterm elections he beat Meg Whitman, the Republican nominee. She greatly outspent him on campaign cash, but he beat her in the election. Gets the old job back today.

And I tell you, Jerry Brown is a larger-than-life figure. He's got a lot, Kyra, that he's got to deal with. As you mentioned earlier this hour, California $28 billion in the red. Kyra?

PHILLIPS: And a lot of Californians happy to see Schwarzenegger leave office or disappointed?

STEINHAUSER: Well, you look at his approval rating, just about every major poll out in California has the governor, the outgoing governor, in the low- to mid-20s. So, I think at least people don't think he's doing a great job in office. That $28 billion in red that California is facing is one of the reasons. Remember, Schwarzenegger was elected in 2003 in a special election. He had a big re-election in '06, but I think people are ready to see him go out in California, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: We'll have that swearing in live at 2:00 Eastern time. Thanks, Paul.

STEINHAUSER: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Your next political update in about an hour. And a reminder, for all the latest political news, go to our Web site, CNNpolitics.com.

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PHILLIPS: We're talking about Arnold Schwarzenegger just a moment ago. Now we want to introduce to you Ron Trejo. He owes Arnold Schwarzenegger a big thank you. And that's because the governor helped him to a big payday.

Reporter David Bienick of affiliate KCRA out of Sacramento has the story.

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UNIDENTIFIEID MALE: There's the original one.

DAVID BIENICK, KCRA-TV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Now on everything from shot glasses to coffee mugs to ball caps and breath mints. The term The Governator first popped into Ron Trejo's mind seven years ago when Arnold Schwarzenegger announced he was running for governor on "The Jay Leno Show."

RON TREJO, "GOVERNATOR" TRADEMARK HOLDER: And Jay said you know what? Someone is going to make a million dollars on that on that. And I said you're right. Someone always does.

BEINICK: That night, with the Internet and a $435 filing fee, Trejo registered The Governator as an official trademark with the U.S. government. Within months, Governator items were selling in souvenir shops and airport gift stores all across California. Eventually, Trejo says he sold 300,000 T-shirts alone and made enough money to buy this new house in Lincoln.

TREJO: Realistically probably through the seven years, I hit seven figures with it.

BEINICK: In 2005, as Schwarzenegger was preparing to run for re- election, his lawyers approached Trejo, and after a series of negotiations Trejo describes as friendly, they entered into an official partnership. Trejo got the permission to use the official to use the official Terminator movie picture, and Schwarzenegger got a cut of the profits which he donates to his charity for after-school programs.

(on camera): Also as part of the deal, Trejo agreed to change The Governator, adding this "r" right here. He says the governor's lawyers felt that was more gramatically correct.

Governator Bobble Heads are already out of production, and Trejo says he'll probably shut down the rest of the business over the next few months.

TREJO: For me, a fun experience, really has been. I have met a lot of people and put me in areas where I hadn't been before.

BEINICK: A middle of the night idea turned into more than a million dollars.

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PHILLIPS: Trejo says people come up and ask him, are you a Schwarzenegger fan? He says, no, I'm just a profiteer.

And a reminder: CNN will have live coverage of the inauguration of Jerry Brown as California governor. That's today, 2:00 p.m. Eastern, 11:00 a.m. Pacific.

Beasts of burden and the burden of proof. We're going to tell you about a raging debate over wild horses and whether the government should be rounding them up.

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PHILLIPS: North of San Francisco, it appears to be a young gray whale has taken up residence in Tomalles Bay. Much to the delight of local fishermen and sightseers, too. The big guy has been out there for about three weeks now, and it's believed he may have strayed from his mama during a recent migration.

Well, few can argue the majestic beauty of horses running wild and free, but there's little common ground over what's happening to them in Nevada. Government crews are rounding them up, and animal rights activists are circling the wagons. CNN's John Zarrella has all the details.

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JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There is no Secretariat, no Seabiscuit, no Black Beauty. Here, they have no names, none needed. In their eyes, you see who they are -- rugged, powerful, independent. They are the wild mustangs of the American West.

LACEY DALTON, LET 'EM RUN FOUNDATION: Out here, you hear it all the time. A cowboy will say, you know, the outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man.

ZARRELLA: Woven generations ago into the fabric of this land, they've become the focus of lawsuits, even protests as far away as New York.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Help save America's wild horses.

ZARRELLA: The horses are at the center of a tug-of-war between the U.S. government chasing them down with helicopters and animal rights groups who want it stopped.

RICHARD COUTO, ANIMAL RECOVERY MISSION: The round-ups at the wild horses and burros of the United States is a true holocaust of the animal world.

ALAN SHEPARD, NEVADA BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT: We can't let one, say, the horse, impact everyone else by taking all the feed, all the water, all the -- do the damage to that habitat.

ZARRELLA: The disagreement is clear cut. The Bureau of Land Management, BLM, is charged with caring for and managing nearly 40,000 horses and burros roaming on 26 million acres of the West. While this federal land, your land, was set aside for the horses, they don't have free rein. The land is considered multi-use.

SHEPARD: Wildlife, life stock, recreationists, mining interests, whatever.

ZARRELLA: The BLM insists it must reduce herd sizes because the land can't support the numbers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This ain't Kentucky bluegrass.

ZARRELLA: So, it holds round-ups. This year, the goal: remove 12,000 horses. That's right -- 12,000 -- and take them to holding pens.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is our land. We want the horses on here, most of us.

ZARRELLA: Armed with cameras and recorders, the activists document what they see as brutal round-ups. Here, a helicopter chases one single burro, eventually knocking it over. It staggers off. Here, you're looking at steam rising from the backs of chased down, exhausted horses.

The BLM says less than 1 percent of the animal die in these round-ups. Activists say that's 1 percent too many.

(on camera): The federal government says this year it's not going to have to round up as many horses as it has in the past because it's going to try a program where it sterilizes the mares. Activists say this should have been done a long time ago.

John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.

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PHILLIPS: That does it for us. We'll be back here tomorrow. Thanks so much for joining us.

Joe Johns is in the house today from Washington -- or wait, is it down from Washington? No - yes.

JOE JOHNS, CNN ANCHOR: Down from Washington. Yes.

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JOHNS: It's all good and it's warmer here, too, most days. Although a little cold this morning.

PHILLIPS: It will be nice this afternoon. Glad you're with us.

JOHNS: You bet. Thank you, ma'am.