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Repealing Health Care Reforms; Health Reforms Now in Effect; $330 Million Lottery up for Grabs; Villagers vs. Leopard; Luck Leads Stanford's Orange Bowl Rout; Miami Heat on an 18-1 Roll
Aired January 04, 2011 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, guys. Good morning.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR, "AMERICAN MORNING": We'll still see you back here tomorrow.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR, "AMERICAN MORNING": That's right.
PHILLIPS: OK. Good. I don't know. You two are up to no good. I'm getting this vibe.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: All right. Well, it's 9:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 6:00 a.m. out west. Here's some of the stories that have us talking this morning.
Tensions high in Pakistan after the assassination of a prominent politician. Police in Islamabad said the governor of Punjab Province was shot to death by one of his own security guards. That guard apparently outraged by his boss's opposition to Pakistan's blasphemy law.
Police in Delaware investigating the death of this former Pentagon official. His body found in a landfill. Sixty-six-year-old John Wheeler not only worked under three Republican presidents, he was a driving force behind the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Actress Lindsay Lohan, the famous train wreck, facing legal troubles yet again. Police in California say she violated probation when she tussled with a staff member at the Betty Ford Clinic.
Countdown on Capitol Hill. That's where we begin because tomorrow Republicans take control of the House and launch their mission to repeal health care. They're planning a rousing debate. Heated rhetoric and a critical vote all by next week. But here's the bottom line for you. The repeal has just about zero chance of succeeding.
Congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar following all the maneuvers, shall we say?
If this is a lost cause for Republicans then why would they waste so much time and effort, Brianna?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Because, Kyra, they promised to do this, and they say they're going to make good on this campaign promise to have a vote to repeal health care. So here's what we're going to see.
Friday, a procedural vote that would lay the groundwork for Wednesday, we're expecting a vote on this full repeal of health care reform. And even though there are votes in the House, there are not votes in the Senate, Kyra. We talked about this. Democrats still hold the majority and certainly this would never get past President Obama's veto pen -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Well -- like we all know, there's always a plan B, right?
KEILAR: There is a plan B. And House Republicans have been talking about this for some time. I kind of think of it as death by a thousand cuts. They look at this piecemeal and there's a couple of ways that they would do this.
Of course, Congress controls the power of the purse so they would attempt to defund parts of health care reform through the appropriations process. The other tool they have, congressional investigations. Both of these tactics, Kyra, aimed at delaying at the implementation and maybe getting rid of parts of health care reform.
PHILLIPS: Well, and this could backfire and actually help Democrats, right?
KEILAR: Well, Democrats are hoping and, you know, this is interesting because we saw them run away from health care reform in the midterm elections. They didn't want to talk about it but what they're talking about right now is, hey, you know, there are some popular things that are going to -- going into effect this year and a lot of the Democrats feel that the reason health care reform was so unpopular is because there was this kind of boogie man effect.
This fear of what could be and so now they feel like maybe in this debate they have some tangible things the people are going to like, that they can point to and maybe win over some people, win back some people on health care reform.
PHILLIPS: We're talking a lot. Brianna, thanks so much.
KEILAR: We will.
PHILLIPS: And the Obama health reforms not only face a challenge on Capitol Hill, they also face the skepticism of the American public. According to this recent CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, the law remains unpopular. Fifty-four percent of those polled oppose it, 43 percent in favor of it.
Now it's worth noting that many of those who now oppose the reforms say it's because the new laws don't go far enough. So let's take a closer look at some of the benefits that went into effect just yesterday and among those who stand to gain, the young and the old.
Chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta here to kind of break it all down.
I guess that covers everybody. Yes. That was sort of broad. Well, do you want to start with seniors and talk about --
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
PHILLIPS: -- the gap will impact --
GUPTA: Right. You know one of the big costs of seniors, especially if they're on a lot of medications, is the cost of those drugs and one of the terms that gets bandied around a lot is the doughnut hole. Most of you know what it means by now. But basically, it means that you get through the first part of the doughnut, there you're getting some help from the government. You're paying about 25 percent of the cost of your prescription drugs.
You get to the middle of the doughnut, you're not getting any help until you get to the other side of the doughnut. And those are the thresholds. So once you spent $2800, you don't get any help anymore until $4500, then you start to get help again. It's that hole in the middle that people have been focused on for some time trying to shrink it, trying to make the impact of it less significant for seniors.
So what they're saying now is that if you're spending a lot of money on drugs, once you get to the doughnut hole, the prescription drugs are going to cost 50 percent of what they cost instead of 100 percent. So you get help especially if you're some who's on a lot of medications.
Ultimately they want to get rid of the doughnut hole altogether so have some sort of cost that you pay each time you get drugs, whether that's 25 percent or some fraction, but there's not these thresholds that have been set up that have prevented people from continuing to buy medications as they need more and more of them.
PHILLIPS: All right. And of course the other part that we've been talking about is the whole not being denied the coverage because of a preexisting condition.
GUPTA: Here's what I find so fascinating about this. For children, that's been in effect for some time. For adults, this idea that insurance companies cannot discrimination based on preexisting conditions, that is going into place 2014.
In the meantime, there's something known as the preexisting condition insurance plan. About 5 to 7 million people who have a preexisting condition, had a hard time getting insurance as a result of that, are eligible for this plan. How many people have signed up so far? About 8,000 out of 5 million. So, you know, it's been a little bit surprising I think that more people haven't rushed to this who've been wanting health care insurance.
It could be a couple of reasons. One is that you have to qualify by having gone six months without insurance. A lot of people can't do that if they have a significant illness. And it could just be that it's kind of complicated still. People don't know to sign up exactly. Each state might be a little different so that could be part of it.
But again 8,000 people only out of 5 to 7 million who qualify for this sort of insurance.
PHILLIPS: All right. So just step aside from the journalist in you for a second, I'm throwing you maybe for a loop here.
(CROSSTALK)
GUPTA: You, Kyra?
PHILLIPS: Yes, you'll never know what I'm going to say, right. But you know, you are also a doctor.
GUPTA: Yes.
PHILLIPS: I mean, you wear two hats. OK? So you're still doing brain surgery.
GUPTA: Right, right.
PHILLIPS: As this is all kind of coming down to the wire here, is there something that's on your mind that you keep thinking about as a doctor?
GUPTA: Well, I think one of the biggest issues that's coming -- I mean, you know, is this plan going to -- you know about 30 million people potentially could benefit from this in the long run. And I think, you know, obviously there's a lot of people who need health care insurance, who should have it. And I think most people are in agreement on this.
What I think potentially could derail this entire plan without an obvious plan B right now is this idea that, can you force people to buy health care insurance? Is there a way that this mandate that comes up? It's still sort of being tossed around, you heard about it in Virginia last month where it was ruled as unconstitutional.
That's a big deal. And I think a lot of people are thinking about that because if it is unconstitutional, I think it has a significant ripple effect for the entire affordable care act.
PHILLIPS: So that's what you and the doctors are talking about outside the operating room?
GUPTA: Yes. Yes. The idea that, you know, ultimately, is this plan going to go through or not? And there's certain things that it hinges on.
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Sanjay.
GUPTA: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: All right.
GUPTA: All right. PHILLIPS: Well, later this morning on Capitol Hill, Nancy Pelosi is going to hold her last news conference as speaker of the House and she's going to be joined by other Democratic leaders to discuss their legislative goals in the upcoming session. That begins tomorrow.
Republicans will officially take control of the House and Pelosi will be regulated to minority leader.
And President Obama is back in Washington today. His focus will be on the safety of your food. He's expected to sign into law the most sweeping overhaul of America's food safety in more than 70 years. It will give the government more power when it comes to issuing and enforcing food recalls.
All right. Let's take a look at the snow covered neighborhoods, shall we? Can you believe this one in Las Vegas? Our iReporter Keith Lehman actually took these photos of the rare snow fall in the Desert City. Vegas receives an average about one inch of snow per year.
And then there's more snow and snowmen this time in Southern California. This is Santa Clarita Valley. Parts of the area have four inches of snow on the ground. It's not all fun, though. Hundreds of travelers still remains stranded by snow and ice on Interstate 5. That's -- it's between northern and southern California.
So how's today going to shape up? Rob Marciano, you've been a busy guy, my friend.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
PHILLIPS: From the end of the year to 2011.
MARCIANO: I tell you what, last week was crazy, that's for sure. And we started things off especially across the southwest in a rather crazy form but things are calming down. At least for a couple of days. Relative to what we have been seeing.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MARCIANO: And I will end with this. For our friends in twitter. This is Dahar (ph). He sent this in from --
PHILLIPS: Wow.
MARCIANO: The Netherlands. That, my friend, is a partial --
PHILLIPS: It doesn't even look real.
MARCIANO: I know. It's a solar eclipse. They're pretty rare. They got a partial one last night or I guess early morning for the folks in Europe and the Middle East. But it was cloud covered in a lot of spots so just a little sliver of the sun covered up by the moon.
We had our lunar eclipse a couple of weeks ago, I guess. That's a little bit more common than this. Eclipse of the sun is something to see. That's for sure.
PHILLIPS: Beautiful celestial pictures. All right, so now be serious. Give me a serious answer here. You're given $330 million. What's the first thing you would do?
MARCIANO: Well, I certainly would give a couple of bucks to everybody in the studio.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: He's --
MARCIANO: And -- I have no idea. I can't even --
(CROSSTALK)
MARCIANO: I can't even put my head around that. I haven't bought a ticket yet so you're out of luck there. You know, if I were to win.
PHILLIPS: So --
MARCIANO: Is that what it's up to now?
PHILLIPS: $330 million.
MARCIANO: Wow. So really, you don't know what the first thing is that you would do?
MARCIANO: No. I have no idea.
PHILLIPS: OK.
MARCIANO: I wouldn't be one of the guys who quit the job. I'd take a long vacation.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: He lays it out.
MARCIANO: And certainly focus on some good charities to give it to. But I can't even put my head around that kind of money.
PHILLIPS: Yes. It's pretty mind boggling.
MARCIANO: Yes, good luck to everyone participating.
PHILLIPS: And Allan Chernoff also trying to figure out how much that's going to be once you get that money. There we go. There's the winning ticket right there. Robert's got the winning ticket.
Allan is joining us from a store actually in New York where the tickets are selling like crazy. Right, Allan?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Actually, Kyra, right now they are selling at the rate of better-than-half a million per hour. Here in New York state alone. Then consider the tickets are being sold in 41 states. Plus the District of Columbia. So hmm. The odds may be a little tough. How about 1 in 176 million to win that jackpot?
But I think I've got the winner here. We've got somebody here at the Port Authority of New York bus terminal, Jamie?
JAMIE, LOTTERY PARTICIPANT: Yes.
CHERNOFF: She's just bought some tickets and she thinks she's got the winner for a very special reason. Why?
JAMIE: Yes. 3/30 is my son's birthday.
CHERNOFF: And $330 million, of course, is the jackpot.
JAMIE: Yes, yes so --
CHERNOFF: So how are you and your son and your husband going to spend that money?
JAMIE: Travel. Travel, travel, travel. Lots of travel.
CHERNOFF: Lots of travel?
JAMIE: Yes. Yes. Travel.
CHERNOFF: OK. My wife and I were discussing it last night. Her plan is actually to have a maid for every room in the house and then create a foundation for world peace. How's that sound?
JAMIE: Do you have a lot of room in your house?
CHERNOFF: Not that many but, you know, we'll have a little extra left over.
JAMIE: Yes. That's funding a lot of rooms.
CHERNOFF: Kyra, I'm sure you've got a few ideas, as well, huh?
PHILLIPS: I've got many ideas. But have you crunched the numbers yet? The whole payout versus payments?
CHERNOFF: Yes. The way it works out is that actually they assume you're going to take it over 26 years. $330 million. If you take it right away, well, it's only $208 million. And of course, that's before taxes. So Uncle Sam's going to get a piece of the action. Whatever state you live in, they'll take a little. But it's still not a bad payday, huh?
PHILLIPS: Yes. Not bad at all. It's like Rob said, can't even imagine that amount of money.
Allan, thanks. We'll keep tracking the numbers.
All right. What's happening in the skies over Arkansas? We have thousands of dead or dying birds. Not a whole lot of answers. And now it's raining dead birds in another state.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: A minivan does some major damage in a smash and grab robbery that's caught on tape. Vancouver, Washington tops our look at Cross Country this morning. Police reviewing the surveillance tape of a local bowling alley hit by a pair of robbers who used a minivan to heist an automated teller machine out of the lobby. The owner says the damages to his business, far more than the cash that was taken from that ATM.
Firefighters in New Jersey got an early start to their workday, about 1:30 this morning. Condominium complex under construction went up in flames. No injuries reported.
Commuter traffic this morning in southern California has improved immensely since yesterday. Sunday's rain and snow helped close Interstate 5 and other roadways, leaving some motorists to spend hours, if not the night, freezing in their vehicles. As the weather improved, roads were finally reopened.
Well, we can't stop talking about the great dead bird caper of 2011. The mystery thickens. Several hundred dead red-winged black birds, starlings, sparrows, and grackles have now turned up in Louisiana near Baton Rouge. It's not clear what killed them just yet.
So far, no one will say this bird kill is related or linked to one just 360 miles north of Beebe, Arkansas. But the similarities are right there. Up to 5,000 of the same types of birds pretty much fell out of the sky over the weekend in Beebe. It's not clear just yet what killed them, either. Early reports say that massive trauma, not disease. But people in the town aren't buying some of the theories. Here's CNN's Ed Lavandera.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kelly Mayo still can't imagine what caused this bird to fall out of the sky and nosedive into his backyard.
KELLY MAYO, BEEBE, ARKANSAS RESIDENT: We haven't touched them. That's the exact way he's been since the 1st.
LAVANDERA (on camera): You can see what looks like maybe like a little bloodstain on one of these brown leaves.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Arkansas livestock officials say some birds showed signs of massive trauma, but no evidence they were poisoned. But what caused the trauma? Some officials suggest it was New Year's fireworks or lightning from a storm. Residents here aren't buying those theories.
MAYO: Fireworks? I can't imagine fireworks would strike, you know, 4,000, 5,000 birds and drop them in a one or two-square mile area. It just doesn't sound feasible to me. LAVANDERA (voice-over): Beebe, Arkansas has developed a love/hate relationship with these black birds. Just ask Charles Moore, who lives right next to a wooded area where tens of thousands of the birds live.
CHARLES MOORE, BEEBE, ARKANSAS RESIDENT: To go out and do a simple thing to get a paper, sometimes we'll take an umbrella with us. The sky is just black with them. Then, there's going to be a lot of droppings.
LAVANDERA (on camera): And you've just got a target on your head, right?
MOORE: Oh, yes. Exactly.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): We walked through the wooded area behind Moore's home. Dead birds are still everywhere. And Moore says the ones still alive are acting strange. Some even struggling to fly.
LAVANDERA (on camera): I think I see one over here.
MOORE: Is he alive?
LAVANDERA: It's a bird that probably should have flown away.
MOORE: Yes. I can't imagine a bird letting us get that close. That bird is sick, as well.
LAVANDERA: Can you see it?
LAVANDERA (voice-over): We tried to get a better vantage point of the wooded area where these birds flock to when we came face-to-face with one of the dying blackbirds.
LAVANDERA (on camera): I feel terrible. All of a sudden, I'm driving and I see the bird just kind of flop up onto the hood of the car here and just fluttering up this way, and it went over the back and now, it's sitting over there on the side of the road.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): The little bird couldn't get off the road.
LAVANDERA (on camera): Pull him off over here.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): As I stood there, the little black bird died in my hands.
(on camera): It's terrible.
(voice-over): Ed Lavandera, CNN, Beebe, Arkansas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, Brett Favre, he'll make it into the NFL Hall of Fame, but probably won't make it to the text messaging hall of fame. A couple of plaintiffs using some texts he allegedly sent them in a new lawsuit. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Brett Favre. He knew how to throw a football. His cell phone skills, well, they might need a little work. A couple of massage therapists now suing Favre and his former team, the New York Jets. They claim Favre sexually harassed them and saved some text messages to prove the point.
This all made for a lively discussion on CNN's "American Morning" among radio host Stephen A. Smith and defense attorney Paul Callen and the two anchors.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR, "AMERICAN MORNING": All right. Well, let's take a look at what the messages are. One says, "Brett here. You and Chrissy want to get together? I'm all alone." The other one says, "Kind of lonely tonight. I guess I have bad intentions." What do you make of this, Stephen?
STEPHEN A. SMITH, NATIONALLY SYNDICATED RADIO HOST: I think it's a complete waste of time. I think it's absolutely ridiculous that this is --
CHETRY: But people lost their jobs over this.
PAUL CALLAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: What do you really think, Stephen?
SMITH: Well you know what? Listen. First of all, we don't want to make light of sexual harassment, that's a very, very serious thing. But I think it's important to notice and to recognize that the people making light of it are the actual accusers.
Because Brett Favre -- this happened in 2008. Well, what on Earth took you so long? It's 2011. Now is when you come forward with this? There's a 2008 season, a 2009 season, a 2010 season. You are talking about waiting until what happened, the fallout of the Jenn Sterger situation? Well, guess what? Deadspin.com printed that a few months ago, not a few years ago. You had ample time to address this particular situation.
And then, let's get into the particulars, here. OK, he sends a text message. Let's assume that they're absolutely correct and truthful in what they're saying that he sent them. OK. He's a married man, he certainly has questions to answer to as it pertains to Mrs. Favre. There's no denying that.
But the reality is, is that if he indeed sent them and you didn't accept his advances, and you don't have more ample evidence that shows that he sent you additional text messages, well, then, the reality is that he made a pass at you, you turned him down. What in God's name is your husband doing calling him up demanding an apology?
I don't know what world you all live in, but if you got a gorgeous woman, OK? Usually, men make passes at them. CALLAN: All right, well --
SMITH: You don't call them up and say, "Well, you know what? How dare you make a pass at my woman?" It's ridiculous.
CALLAN: I think we're hearing some common sense, here, as opposed to what the law probably actually says --
SMITH: Yes, absolutely.
CALLAN: With respect to this stuff. So, normally, if --
CHETRY: But they're saying that when they complained, they lost their job. Now, the timing may be, as Stephen's saying, suspect, but they're saying that they -- their careers suffered because of it.
CALLAN: Yes, there is a statute that says even if you're an independent contractor, if you lose your job as a result of sexual harassment, you can bring a lawsuit.
But Steve raises a very legitimate point, here, about the accusers. I was reading this complaint this morning. Do you know what they did? They attached pictures of scantily-clad women from Jets calendars to the actual complaint that was filed in court. This is one of the most salacious, sexually provocative complaints I've seen filed in a case.
SMITH: Right.
CALLAN: That's been done for one reason, to attract press attention, and so there'll be pictures of scantily-clad women in the newspaper.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Just recently, the NFL fined Favre for not cooperating with another investigation. That one centered around nasty text messages he allegedly sent to a former game day hostess for the Jets.
Michael Jackson's doctor heads to court today. Conrad Murray facing involuntary manslaughter charges. And just wait until you hear one possible defense.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
PHILLIPS: Right now, it's 9:30 on the East Coast, just about 6:30 out West. Here are some of the stories that have us talking.
Lindsay Lohan's 90 days of court-ordered rehab are up, so she's free to leave the Betty Ford Clinic. But the troubled starlet is not out of the legal weeds just yet. Apparently she violated her probation in a fight with a former rehab worker. It'll be up to the DA to decide whether to file charges.
You know, those 5,000 birds that rained from the Arkansas sky in the last minutes of 2010? Well, they hit something very hard according to an early report. It says they probably died of massive trauma, not disease, bot infection. But blackbirds don't usually fly at night and the odd behavior has experts stumped.
A wave of Republican lawmakers hit Capitol Hill tomorrow and the number one issue on their agenda -- repealing health care reform. The House might hold a vote on it next week, but it could prove to be largely symbolic. Democrats will still control the Senate. Leaders say they'll block any real attempt.
Got breaking news for you out of Los Angeles, California. Pictures coming to us from affiliate KTLA. Here's what I can tell you right now, LAPD and its S.W.A.T. on the scene as a woman in her 20s was fatally shot and the man who allegedly did it is still barricaded in the apartment building right here in Los Angeles.
It's on Hollywood Boulevard if you're familiar with that area. Not far from the -- well, that's where the Hollywood Walk of Fame is and this is a stretch of Hollywood Boulevard, actually. Apparently the shooting happened about 3:00 a.m. inside this multi-story apartment building that you are looking -- it looks like the 6500 block of Hollywood Boulevard. And then the S.W.A.T. team arrived after the gunman refused to come out of the building where that woman was found shot to death in the hallway of the apartment building.
So right now, he's barricaded himself in the apartment. The S.W.A.T team is trying to negotiate him out of there. We're following it for you out of Los Angeles, California.
Michael Jackson's personal physician heads to court today facing charges of involuntary manslaughter. The king of pop died, as you may remember, of a drug overdose in 2009. He had too much of the powerful sleep drug Propofol. But now a potential bombshell. The prosecution tells us the defense may argue that the king of pop actually killed himself.
Our Casey Wian is live in Los Angeles.
So, Casey, what are you learning?
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this morning, Kyra, later this morning, prosecutors are going to try to persuade a judge that they have enough evidence to put Dr. Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson's former personal physician, on trial for manslaughter.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JERMAINE JACKSON, MICHAEL JACKSON'S BROTHER: My brother, the legendary King of Pop, Michael Jackson, passed away on Thursday, June 25th, 2009, at 2:26 P.M.
WIAN (voice-over): More than a year and a half later, the cause of Michael Jackson's death is clear - acute intoxication of Propofol, a powerful surgical sedative. But who caused the death remains the subject of Los Angeles criminal court case focusing on Dr. Conrad Murray, Jackson's personal physician. Murray was treating Jackson with the drug and several others to help Jackson sleep as he prepared for a grueling series of performances.
ANNOUNCER: Hold for applause.
WIAN: Hours after Jackson died, investigators had Murray's car towed from the estate where the singer drew his last breath. They searched his offices in Las Vegas and Houston as well and home. An autopsy reported concluded that proper procedures were not followed in administering Propofol to the 50-year-old singer.
SANDI GIBBONS, LOS ANGELES D.A.'S OFFICE: Today, the district attorney's office filed one felony count of involuntary manslaughter against Dr. Conrad Murray in connection with last summer's death of Michael Jackson.
ED CHERNOFF, MURRAY'S ATTORNEY: Dr. Murray did not cause the death of Michael Jackson. The fact that the circumstances may be unusual, may be demonstrated to be unusual does not make it egregious.
WIAN: A judge released Murray on $75,000 bail and ordered him to discontinue administering heavy sedatives.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't want you to sedating people.
WIAN: He was however allowed to continue seeing patients.
CHERNOFF: There's no way that Dr. Murray would pump Michael Jackson full of Propofol sufficient for major surgery and walk out of the room. It's not going to happen.
WIAN: If ordered to stand trial and convicted, Murray faces a maximum four-year prison sentence.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIAN: Dr. Conrad Murray has pled not guilty. His defense attorneys have indicated that they're going to focus on a mysterious syringe found near Jackson. They're trying to determine if someone else, perhaps even Jackson himself, injected that fatal dose of Propofol -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. We'll follow it. Casey, thanks.
The NTSB is issuing urgent safety calls now in the aftermath of that big gas pipeline explosion. You remember the scene of the blast four months ago in San Bruno, California. Eight people died. Dozens of homes were destroyed. Well, the NTSB is concerned about recordkeeping at utility companies and wants emergency reviews to ensure all pipelines are being operated at safe pressure levels.
And a former Pentagon official who helped build the Vietnam wall was found dead at a Delaware dump. We're going to get the latest as police ask the public for help trying to retrace what happened to John Wheeler.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: Well, Washington is reeling this morning with news of an unlikely murder victim; a well-known veterans advocate. This was John Wheeler, 66-years-old, former Pentagon official who served three Republican presidents; Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush. But the West Point grad was best known as a driving force behind the construction of the Vietnam Memorial wall.
Now, Delaware police are asking for the public's help as they try to figure out what happened in the days leading up to New Year's Eve. Wheeler's body was found jutting out of a trash truck at a Wilmington landfill. He lived with his wife a few miles from that landfill in Newcastle, where he was involved with a property fight with his neighbor. But Wheeler's lawyer says the dispute over construction never crossed the line with confrontation.
His family is asking for privacy right now. But the president of the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial had this to say, "It is only fitting that we pause now and remember Jack Wheeler, who served his country honorably, then dedicated himself to ensuring that our nation's service members are always given the respect they deserve."
Unbelievable video out of India that you just got to see. Take a look at the villagers take on a leopard, and with the battle scars to prove it, too. That's ahead in your Morning Passport.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(VIDEO CLIP, PUNCHLINE)
PHILLIPS: Well, President Obama sent out a message to Congressional Republicans today, as he headed back to Washington.
Peter Hamby is following for us at the politics.com desk.
Hey, Peter.
PETER HAMBY, POLITICAL PRODUCER: Hey, Kyra. How are you? You and Brianna talked earlier about the new repeal and replace health care bill that House Republicans hope to pass sometime next week. President Obama, on his way back from vacation in Hawaii told reporters on Air Force One overnight that he hopes Republicans won't be playing politics and he hopes to capitalize on some momentum out of this successful lame duck.
He sent something of a warning shot to House and Senate Republican leadership on the flight back. He told reporters, quote, "My expectation, my hope is that John Boehner and Mitch McConnell will realize that there will be plenty of time to campaign for 2012 in 2012." So we'll see if Republicans take that message. They're obviously looking to start some momentum of their own as the new Congress gets sworn in tomorrow.
Speaking of health care, down in Florida, a new governor is being sworn in today -- Rick Scott, the millionaire, former health care executive. Somewhat controversial figure. During the campaign you might remember he used to chair a health care company that settled the biggest fraud settlement in history with the government. Spent over $70 million of his own money to win the governorship in Florida. He is being inaugurated today. It's all day festivities. And the cost -- the price tag of this is drawing some critics. It's costing over -- roughly $3 million, this inauguration. So some critics are attacking him for, you know, having somewhat lavish festivities during these difficult economic times.
So we are watching that today here at the Ticker Desk -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, you guys are watching Michael Steele's re-election chances looking pretty grim heading into a debate.
HAMBY: Right.
Yes, well, yesterday afternoon here in Washington Michael Steele appeared for the first time as a candidate for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee. He is of course the current chairman but -- committee members, 168 of them -- a lot of them are fed up with Michael Steele's tenure there. He had a debate yesterday, four challengers, nothing really changed.
You know, I talked to committee members, I talked to the candidates afterwards, e-mailed with some of them today, you know they -- Michael Steele still an underdog, it doesn't look like he's going to have the votes to win re-election.
So a big debate yesterday, he got a lot of attention but didn't turn out to be much of a game changer as they like to say in politics. So it -- we're not quite sure yet that Michael Steele is going to be chairman of the Republican National Committee for another two years.
That election is next Friday -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Got you. Peter Hamby thanks so much.
HAMBY: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: We'll have your next political update in about an hour. You can also logon to our Web site, CNNPolitics.com 24/7.
Goldman Sachs and a Russian investor have reportedly invested $500 million in Facebook. The move would make Facebook worth more than media companies such as Time Warner, the company of CNN as well as eBay and Yahoo!
Now CNN's "Parker-Spitzer" tech experts explained that the investment is a bet on the company's future.
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HENRY BLODGET, EDITOR, BUSINESS INSIDER: The bold story is this company with 600 million users worldwide probably headed to a billion or two billion. People are building their lives around it. It not like a new site, you visit and you leave. People are actually building their entire lives about it. So the bet is not only advertising revenue but commerce revenue and other opportunities will flow out of that. Obviously we're very early they only have about two billion of revenue now.
ELIOT SPRITZER, CNN CO-HOST, "PARKER SPITZER": Ok -- ok that's good two billion of revenue somehow that's the number circulating. How much profit?
BLODGET: A small amount of profit, probably $100 million, $200 million. So on a PE basis it's absurd.
SPITZER: Right.
BLODGET: But obviously Goldman is looking forward.
(CROSSTALK)
SPITZER: Ok but here is my --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: You can also catch "Parker-Spitzer" every night 8:00 p.m. right here on CNN.
Discovering previously unknown planets without a telescope; we're going to tell you about some out of this world advancement by an amateur astronomer. The "Morning Passport" is next.
But first, who can forget this image? Yes John, Paul, Ringo and George strolling across a pedestrian crossing outside the Beatles recording studio in London. This picture made its way into the cover of their album, "Abbey Road" and into the history books. It's one of the most iconic photos ever taken but someone now wants a piece of that history, the white suit worn by John Lennon in this photo just sold for $46,000 in an auction.
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PHILLIPS: Some pretty unbelievable video out of India where villagers facing off against a leopard and it's all caught on tape.
CNN's Zain Verjee, live, in London with the play by play on this incredible footage. Now we see the big cats behind the glasses at the zoo, Zain, but in the wild these animals are deadly predators.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They really are Kyra. Just take a look at that video again. I mean it is so dramatic. You see that leopard coming out of the bushes and chasing these villagers. There are about seven of them, got injured. They picked up six and they have five and they try and get it away but the leopard just refuses to go and continues to attack. They say that this came from a nearby forest.
They also have decided to have night time patrols with six but just look at that video, Kyra. It's so dramatic. They were so terrified. They did everything they could but it just kept coming. Fortunately nobody died but that was a pretty scary situation.
PHILLIPS: No doubt. No, it's amazing that everybody ended up being ok.
All right. The stargazer that you are, this amateur stargazer --
VERJEE: I'm looking at you. I gaze at stars all the time.
PHILLIPS: You always have stars in your eyes.
But two computers, three years of research and this guy discovered four previously unknown planets. Are you serious?
VERJEE: Yes. It's an amateur astronomer that is -- well I mean we can say it's over the moon Kyra. That's exactly what he did. He didn't have a telescope, right? And what he did was that he worked off two home computers and he analyzed space measure. He looked at data. He drew grafts and he looked at them for a number of years and he was able to pinpoint, specifically outside of our solar system where these four new planets -- they're called exo-planets are actually located.
And then a journal of astronomy has published them and said, hey, you know what? He's right.
And the weird thing is, some really powerful telescopes that exist, can't even see the planets that he's discovered. So it's a pretty cool thing.
I was actually trying to reach him. Hopefully I'll get a hold of him. But you know, we had a partial solar eclipse here so he may have been busy with that.
PHILLIPS: Well, let us know if you touch bases because we'd love to hear more from him. It's pretty cool stuff.
Ok. All right. Now, I know what a great athlete you are and you're always looking sort of creative ways to keep yourself nice and fit and trim. But this record-breaking bicycle who kind of -- I guess steps up to the challenge shall we say; pedaling the staircase of story hotels.
VERJEE: Well, you know my motto, Kyra. No pain, no pain.
But this guy actually did something pretty amazing. He was on a bike and he went up the fire escape of a building in Barcelona. It was actually a hotel and there you see him go. And he goes up 2,700 stairs in this hotel. That's 25 floors so what he did was, he went up the stairs and then he took the elevator down and he did that six times. And the record was one hour, forty-two minutes and nine seconds.
Not bad, huh.
PHILLIPS: So, he had nothing else better to do?
VERJEE: She wasn't stargazing looking at last year.
PHILLIPS: Obviously. I'm just thinking of Barcelona and all the beautiful museums there. And yes, this guy is cleaning up twenty-five stories big time.
Verjee: Ok. But it is pretty amazing Kyra because the record was like 50 or something. And you did 150 floors, so it really surpasses all that.
PHILLIPS: Pretty amazing. Yes. All creative exercise, I guess. Zain great to see you. We'll see you back here tomorrow.
VERJEE: Yes. Thanks Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right.
We're following lots of developments in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM. Let's check in first with senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen. Hey, Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey Kyra. There's a new cancer test that can detect cancer early, really early. Could it be part of your annual physical in the future? I'll have that at the top of the hour.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Brianna Keilar on Capitol Hill where House Republicans are set to take on President Obama right out of the gate this new Congress. I'll have details coming up.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS NEWS CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Stephanie Elam in New York. "I quit" -- ok, I don't. But a lot of you are saying that and I'll explain why. That's coming up in the next hour Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Oh, perfect segue. Brett Favre is kind of saying the same thing, ladies. We're going to take a closer look at the athlete and the womanizer. Now two massage therapists suing him for sexual harassment not long after the NFL slapped him with a big fine over another texting incident.
Now, we're going to talk about what, if anything, this will do to the future Hall of Famer's legacy.
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PHILLIPS: So close first half turned into a blow out at the Orange Bowl and it could have been the last game for a future star.
Jeff Fischel from HLN sports has all the highlights for us. Hey, Jeff.
JEFF FISCHEL, HLN SPORTS: Kyra, it took a lot of luck but that doesn't mean Stanford was lucky, it means they have Andrew Luck. The quarterback dominated Virginia Tech last night. 287 yards passing, four touchdowns; he is the guy every NFL team wants. Only a sophomore but if he turns pro, Andrew Luck is expected to be the number one pick in the draft. Sure star.
Stanford won the game, in large part, thanks to him, 40-12. And since Luck's at Stanford, you know he's also a smart kid. A 3.5 GPA in architectural engineering; those classes cannot be easy, right?
Stanford band though banned -- they weren't allowed to play on the field at half time because Orange Bowl officials were afraid they'd to something really embarrassing. And history says they're right. The Stanford band always does something crazy and sometimes goes too far. The most infamous incident at Notre Dame one time, a band member dressed as a nun and conducted the band with a crucifix instead of a baton.
Yes the Orange Bowl is in Miami and there were hints that this time the Stanford Band was going to make fun of Miami's newest superstar, LeBron James.
And speaking of King James, NBA just announced LeBron and team mate D. Wade, Dwyane Wade will share player of the month honors. They combined to dominate last night. The Heats win over the Bobcats.
There's Wade and of course, getting some help from LeBron; LeBron 38 points. The other teams coach saying, "You know when they're playing well, you just have to call it a day." Thanks coach, you're already packing it in. What are the players supposed to think? Big win for the Heats.
By the way, LeBron just turned 26. Check out Kyra, his birthday. That is LeBron's birthday cake.
PHILLIPS: All about LeBron.
FISCHEL: Wow. I'm not sure if Cake Boss would -- if he'd be impressed. But I'm pretty impressed, hoping there was a piece for everybody in attendance at the party.
All right. Well, NFL season's over. It's time for the play-off where if you didn't make it, time to fire your coach right? Yesterday Cleveland dumped Eric Mangini. That's how it works in the NFL. Make the playoffs or you start hearing the rumors you're on the chopping block. The 49ers, the Broncos, Panthers also looking for new coaches. They're not the only ones. There are rumors. Other teams, the same. That's life in the NFL for head coaches.
PHILLIPS: All right. Jeff, thanks so much. I thought we were going to have a little bit more there. I was waiting for a little something-something. But, you're right. And so it goes, right?
FISCHEL: Time to move on, I guess.
PHILLIPS: All right. Thanks so much.
