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Public Schools in Pennsylvania Separating By Race And Sex; Nor'easter Re-Buries Northeast; Soldier Proposes to Wrong Woman; Lockdown Lifted at Army Facility; Breaks in Grim Sleeper Case; Marijuana Flung From Mexico to U.S. Border; Arkansas Bird Deaths; Six Minutes Of Segregation; Choosing Gibbs' Replacement; Social Media's Impact on Protests in the Middle East; Mohamed ElBaradei Arrives in Cairo; Kenmore Connect: Hold, Push & Listen
Aired January 27, 2011 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: CNN NEWSROOM continues, right now, with Christine Romans in for Ali Velshi. Hi, Christine.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Carol. Nice to see you.
I'm Christine Romans, in for Ali Velshi, today. It is just a few seconds after 1:00.
Fifty-seven years of racially segregated schools were declared unconstitutional. A public high school in Pennsylvania is segregating some of its homerooms by race. The school is McCaskey East in Lancaster, midway between Philadelphia and Harrisburg.
Faced with a stubborn racial achievement gap, an African-American teacher went to the principal with a thought about mentoring. What if young black men had home room with black, male teachers and young black women were paired with black female teachers? And what if homeroom were more than attendance taking and routine announcements? Principal Bill Jimenez agreed to try it.
Let's look at the data, he said, referring to standardized test scores, as well as research on same-sex classes. Let's confront it and see what we can do about it. So, now, every morning for six minutes and 20 minutes once a week, the junior class in McCaskey East splits into race and sex, and in just a few minutes, we'll hear how it's working out.
This is going to be a hot topic online, and we want to hear from you. What do you think about all black homerooms? Head to Ali's blog, CNN.com/ali to comment on this. And, we really want to hear what you have to say. This is a really interesting subject. You can also post on Facebook, either my page or Ali's page. We'll read your comments throughout the day.
Moving on to our "Two at the Top." It's been the snowiest winter, in a while, in parts of the northeast. The flakes just keep on falling, a foot here, 19 inches there. All the big cities up I-95 were hit by this overnight nor'easter from D.C. on up to Boston. Reynolds Wolf is on the street in Beantown. Reynolds, that's an awful lot of snow again, again, again! REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely, I know. It just kept coming. I'll tell you what, though, we haven't seen the snowflakes since about 7:00 this morning. The wind has been dying down. You look down, though, you see the street looks pretty wet but, for the most part, it's passable. So, if you're wondering where the snow is, I'll show you. The snow is right there. Take a look at it. We've got plenty of it. It's been piled up, here, by earth moving equipment.
They've done a heck of a job, so, now the roads are passable. People are able to get by. We've seen Boston's finest out. We've had all kinds of vehicles been coming through. We've seen, of course, some pedestrians out there, also, enjoying the sunshine because there's plenty of it.
That is, really, some of the good news. We have to talk about some of the bad news. One thing we mentioned, Christine, is that this has been very wet, heavy snow. There was, actually, a building in Lynn, Massachusetts, where there was a roof collapse, there were 18 people that were trapped. The situation's much better, now. People have managed to get out. But, still, a lot of that snowfall is going to remain. Another issue that we've got, about 3,000 power outages. That is another issue that we had in part of the area, but power is being restored to many people which, certainly, is good news.
Another bit of good news is that we had schools -- school canceled for kids in Boston. So, yet, another snow day. Bad in some ways, but for the kids, I'm sure are smiling. That's, certainly some good stuff. City operations are open. A lot of the downtown city hall was open, that's great. Airport is getting back to normal, but there were about 300 cancellations, in terms of arrivals and departures. Amtrak is, now, also open for trains trying to come in and out of Boston and other parts of the northeast.
So, things are better. But, as I mentioned, nearly a foot of snowfall in 12 hours. City of Boston handled it pretty well. However, Christine, there is the possibility we may see more snowfall -- I know, more of this stuff -- coming back to Boston. Thankfully, though, it's going to be light. We're looking at, maybe, one to, maybe, two inches of snowfall, at best, as we make our way through the weekend. But, as it stands, the snow is gone and now, today is a great day for both man and beast. There you go.
Boy, are we a long way from a dog days of summer, or what? Hard to believe that in about three or four months from now, things are doing to be much better. But, still, winter's here -- Christine.
ROMANS: Reynolds, it looks like you're just wearing a fleece, though. How cold is it there?
WOLF: It's not bad. I mean, it's going to well-above freezing. I'd say, probably, about 34 degrees at this point.
ROMANS: So, is all that stuff going to melt? When all that melts, then it's not going to be -- Beantown will be muck town, is that right? WOLF: Probably (ph), would say heavily say so. But, you know, when - you mentioned about temperatures. When it comes to temperatures, everything is -- it's all relative. If you happen to be in Miami, and you hear 34 degrees, that's pretty cold. But if you happen up here -- you happen to be in Boston, break out the Bermuda shorts and the sunscreen. I mean, this is a beautiful day. You've got to love it.
ROMANS: And your galoshes. And your galoshes when all that stuff starts to melt. When all the white stuff becomes brown stuff. All right. Thanks so much.
WOLF: Absolutely.
ROMANS: Reynolds Wolf.
Our "Sound Effect", today, may bring a tear to your eye, unless your name is Samantha and you live in Britain, and you have a boyfriend serving in Afghanistan. If it is, and you do, it may change your life. Last week, a lonely British soldier tried to phone his beloved, Samantha. But, apparently, he misdialed and he left a heart- wrenching message on the answering machine of Diane Pots. A 44-year- old mother of three. Pots does not have a boa (ph) on the battlefield, but knows an urgent message when she hears one.
(BEGIN VOICE MESSAGE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi baby it's me. I couldn't call you last month, but you know what it is like out there and I should be back in three months. I've got one more guy that's just been blown up. I feel so, I feel really sad. I really feel sad that I didn't get to speak with you just now, but I'll speak to you next month hear. I love you with all my heart and I was going to ask you, don't answer, well, you can't answer but, umm, will you marry me?
(END VOICE MESSAGE)
ROMANS: Wow. And it gets better. Samantha, apparently, is pregnant. Her soldier says can't wait until you give birth to my baby.
Checking on some other big stories, today. An overnight lockdown has been lifted at the Army's Dugway Proving Ground. The facility out in the Utah desert tests chemical and biological weapons. The military, abruptly, shut it down last night but wouldn't say why. Well, now we know. During a routine inventory, workers discovered a vile of VX nerve agent was missing. The Army says, dug ways commander immediately ordered the lock down as a precaution. The missing VX turned up early this morning. The folks at Dugway won't say where it was, why it wasn't where it should have been, or if anyone's been disciplined in this incident.
Los Angeles police report some important breaks in the grim sleeper serial killer case. Suspect Lonnie Franklin, Jr., has already been charged in ten murders, pleading not guilty. Now, the LAPD is investigating two more that may be linked to the sleeper. These were women killed in the '90s, who -- some sort of connection with Franklin before their deaths. Meantime, the department says, it's identified most of the women in a huge batch of photos found in Franklin's home. Officers are still trying to track down 62 others.
You got your high-tech drug smugglers with mini submarines and more. Then, there's these guys caught on tape using a catapult to fling packages of pot across the Mexico, U.S. border. As you'd imagine, these caught the eye of the crew on the Arizona border control station. They called Mexican authorities, who raided the scene. The smugglers slipped away, but cops did seize about 45 pounds of marijuana, the SUV and, yes, the catapult.
And it was of the first mysteries of the new year. Five thousand dead black birds littering the ground in Beebe, Arkansas. Well, now, a state report confirms preliminary findings that the birds died of blunt trauma. They, apparently, flew into building, trees, and other obstacles, causing the deadly internal bleeding.
Separating black and white students at a Pennsylvania school. Why some educators think this is a good idea. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Our show began with a story that sounds, at best, like a throwback to the bad old days. Students at a public high school, separated by race. Well, what's happening in McCaskey East, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is far from black and white. It's a mentoring program conceived by an African-American teacher designed to close an achievement gap that was painfully clear in last year's standardized testing. 60 percent of white students scored proficient or advanced in reading, barely a third of its black students did, Even fewer black students aced math. So, now, for a six-minute daily homeroom and a 20-minute session once a week, the junior class, at McCaskey, splits by race, and sex, and talk about the future.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANGELA TILGHMAN, TEACHER, MCCASKEY HIGH SCHOOL: I, specifically, looked at research that focused on African-Americans, what was best for their academic needs. And one thing that some of the studies said, from Maryland, was mentoring. So, we were already running with that idea. And they, actually, emphasized same-gender mentoring. So, I proposed the idea to run an African-American male and female home room to the principal, and he was on board with it.
RHAUNI GREGORY, TEACHER, MCCASKEY HIGH SCHOOL: The first thing we started with was creating a schedule and a list of things and objectives that we need to accomplish. Then we broke it down into how we could do that each day. There's a 20-minute home room once a week and six minutes the other days. So, if we have objectives, then, it's a matter of how we're going to express those, in that time.
HILARIE GBOTOE, JUNIOR, MCCASKEY HIGHSCHOOL: So far, we're learning about (ph) and education, the percentage of black women in high school, college and how much they succeed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what have you found out that's been surprising to you?
GBOTOE: That the black women get more bachelor's degrees than black men.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And has it inspired you to think differently?
GBOTOE: yes, it has.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Or do plan for different things? In what way?
GBOTOE: It makes me want to, like, go to college and be one of those people who become successful in life.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: We invited school officials to join us but they declined. Still, I want to talk about the challenges schools, like McCaskey are facing and the ways that they're trying to meet them with Pedro Noguera, he's a sociologist and professor of education at NYU.
Thanks for joining us. You know, it sounds like something, you know, a school who is on the ground taking a look at what their situation is and trying to fix it, you know, really, from school by school. We hear that so often, that in education, sometimes, it's the school itself that they can figure out what its own challenges are and try to fix it. But it's against the backdrop, Pedro, of very painful memories in this country of segregation. I mean, that's something that is a scar and a historical burden that we still grapple with. So, is this school doing the right thing, do you think?
PEDRO NOGUERA, PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: Well, they certainly sound well intentioned. That teacher, that was just interviewed, sounds like she, clearly, wants to help the students. I think what she needs to be aware of is sometimes when we separate students in this way, we inadvertently re-enforce stereotypes and may, in fact, stigmatize children by suggesting that there's something wrong with them and that, therefore, they need extra help. Clearly, there are white students who also need help. So, I don't see any reason why they need to separate based on race. They should separate based on who needs help and provide them with extra support. It sounds like they're doing a good job with the support, based on what that student said. But I would be wary of an approach that focuses exclusively on race.
ROMANS: One thing that some of the teachers have said there, is that their research shows that when kids have a mentor who is like them, who they can look up to, that that helps them. That that's something that really motivates them. And one teacher, in particular, quoting Martin Luther King Junior to his students and saying that the progress -- even the progress, in such a short time, has been that the men are tightening up their -- you know, buttoning their shirts and pulling up the saggy pants and are starting to act with a little more discipline and -- on the outside, at least, because of some of the teaching from Martin Luther King Junior. I mean, is that something that we've seen in the research that when you -- when you separate children out by race or sex, I guess, is probably more often we see that in this country, that that helps them? That when they're with their peers, such a specific peer , that they do better? Or do we not know?
NOGUERA: No. There is research showing the benefits of mentoring and, certainly, the benefits of having a teacher or an adult mentor who shares your background. And that's not simply with respect to race, but your social experience, someone who you can identify with is certainly beneficial for many students. So, I would say, that's a good thing. And it's a reason why we should have diversity among the -- in the teaching profession and make sure that we're exposing children to diverse role models.
ROMANS: Do you think this school -- I mean, a lot of people are talking about this. You know, we're asking for comments, today, on the blog. A lot of people continue to, sort of, speak out about this. I mean, do you think that this might be misunderstood by people outside of the school district to see this story and say, oh, this is segregation, again, in America, when it might be a little more nuance than that?
NOGUERA: Well, the truth is, we have many, many schools throughout the United States that are still segregated, not by law, but by fact. They're segregate because the neighborhoods they're in are segregated or because the districts have not done enough to make sure that there's equal access to all schools and have taken steps to diversify them. So they should be outraged about what's happening throughout the country.
A program like this is designed to help kids is really of a different nature because it's not done to keep kids apart, it's done to try to provide additional support. That doesn't mean, though, that they might not be making a mistake. As I said before, the stereotypes that send a message to kids that because of their race or their gender, that they're less capable and less smart, are very pervasive in our society. And this could be the message that some kids get. So I would question why they need to segregate kids on the basis of race. If there are white students who also need support, they should be in the program as well.
ROMANS: I mean one thing about it that I think at its surface, you know, you see segregating these kids out and you think -- you know, you just -- you immediately hearken back to some pretty terrible days in this country. But it is six minutes a day with a 20-minute mentoring session every other week or something. Is it -- do you think even on such a small basis, six minutes a day in the homeroom and the 20 minutes every other week, you still think they have to be very careful about how they proceed with this?
NOGUERA: Yes, and I also don't think that's enough time. If these kids are struggling in math and literacy, they need more time than that and they need to make sure they're using after school and finding other ways to give them the additional instruction. So I would say they should search for more time and they should try to make it inclusive and avoid the tendency to stigmatize the students. ROMANS: All right. One thing that's clear, I think, is that schools are looking at test scores and they're looking at, you know, they're looking at what's happening in their own schools and trying to figure out ways to address it. And so I guess that's -- I mean that shows you that there are people who really care about trying to fix education in this country and help kids, I guess. How they do it might be different, different (INAUDIBLE) --
NOGUERA: And they should be commended for that. I think that that's the main point, is that the district and the educators there are trying to do what they can to support the students and they should be encouraged. At the same time, they just have to be careful in how they go about it.
ROMANS: Pedro Noguera, thank you so much for your time. Really appreciate it. And your comments too.
NOGUERA: Thank you, Christine.
ROMANS: We also asked for your comments online today on all black homerooms.
Clint posted this on Facebook. "It sounds like a useful program and that the students have some great mentors. I'm not convinced that separating the black students from everyone else is necessary. This being said, at least the school is attempting to do something."
Stephanie says, "as an African-American educator, I understand the importance of students having role models. This can be done after school. I applaud the effort but it bothers me if it's not being done for all groups who are struggling."
And Joanna says, "I just fear that these kids are being cheated out of learning to work with others and for having mentors that are maybe a little different from them."
Keep these comments coming. We'll read more throughout the show.
The government commission that explored the causes of the 2008 financial meltdown is out with its final report today. Want to know who to blame? We're going to tell you in two minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: The government commission that explored the causes of the 2008 financial meltdown is out with its final report today. The commission says the crisis could have been avoided had the government been on the ball, challenging the negotiation expressed by many on Wall Street and in Washington that the crisis could not have been foreseen. The report faults the policies and actions taken by, oh, just about every major government figure involved in the crisis in both the Bush and Obama administrations. The commission tells the familiar story of banks turning out trillions of dollars with of poor quality home loans that were then bundled into mortgage-backed securities, rubber stamped by rating agencies and sold to unsuspecting investors all around the world. These and other practices were carried out in a, quote, "shadowed banging system" which was almost entirely and completely unregulated.
We're going to talk a lot more about this, this weekend. You can join me on "Your Bottom Line" each Saturday morning at 9:30 Eastern. Don't miss "Your Money" with Ali Velshi Saturday's at 1:00 p.m. Eastern and Sunday's at 3:00. As Ali likes to say, we've got your weekend covered and we are there talking about your money every day during the week, seven days a week.
Checking develops in our top stories today.
The Labor Department says 454,000 Americans filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week. That's 51,000 more than the week before. Much higher than most economists expected. Claims have been on the rise since dropping below 400,000 four weeks ago.
It's NASA's annual day of remembrance when the agency honors its fallen heroes. Tomorrow is the 25th anniversary of the Challenger explosion that killed seven astronauts. Forty-four years ago today, three Apollo One astronauts died in a fire in a test run for the first moon launch. And eight years ago next week, seven Columbia astronauts died when the shuttle broke up on re-entry.
Firefighters are battling a stubborn blaze at the Norfolk, Virginia, naval station right now. It broke out in an empty warehouse a few hours ago. Navy firefighters and city crews are on the scene. No word on what started that fire. So far, no injuries reported.
Travel is treacherous if not almost impossible across much of the Northeast today. A fast-moving storm piled up another six to 18 inches of snow from Virginia all the way up to Maine. Hundreds of flights canceled. Schools and many government offices are closed. Thousands are without power in the D.C. area.
Robert Gibbs said he would leave the White House sometime after the State of the Union. Is the White House getting close to announcing his replacement? Ed Henry is reading the tea leaves. He joins me next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Robert Gibbs said he would leave the White House sometime after the State of the Union. Well, the State of the Union was Tuesday night. Ed Henry was up all night gazing into his crystal ball.
So, Ed, are they getting close to announcing a decision on his replacement?
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Robert Gibbs himself yesterday said the president is very close to naming a successor. And last night I was talking to senior White House aides about it and they're making it sound like it's pretty eminent. And it's sort of interesting because it's kind of like the detective work we try to do when we get these little signals that --
ROMANS: Right.
HENRY: You know it's like looking for the new pope coming out. You know, is it gray smoke coming out of the White House? Is it black smoke, white smoke? What's going on? And what's interesting is, you know, you come in early this morning and we're looking for any signs that something's going on. We're making calls. And you always know when something's about to happen at the White House, when everyone kind of goes dark. Everybody just -- they're not returning calls, they're not returning e-mails, or you send an e-mail and you get this very vague response rather than a no, that's not happening. So it seems very likely.
I bumped into one White House staffer this morning who said, if not today, probably tomorrow, we're going to see a new press secretary. In fact, at 1:30, Robert Gibbs is coming out and doing a briefing. And I wonder, you know, there's always a possibility he may bring a visitor or two, maybe a successor, maybe the president announcing someone. That could happen today. It could happen tomorrow. It could happen very soon is what we're told. And I think there's a pretty interesting cast of characters who are up for this job.
ROMANS: Yes, tell us about those -- and, I'm going to tell you, frankly I'm honored that in three minutes this could happen and you're standing here talking to us. I mean this is Ed Henry of CNN just --
HENRY: Yes, I'm not sure and I'm not predicting that -- I'm not predicting he's going to announce it at 1:30, but I'm just saying, you never know, because we keep hearing it's pretty eminent.
ROMANS: I know.
HENRY: And I think the -- I've heard from very senior Democrats, the president has whittled this down to two finalists and that the person who seems to be the front-runner right now is Jay Carney. He's been the vice president's communications director. Very well respect in the media because he used to be at "Time" magazine, our sister publication, you'll remember. But also, you know, look, Vice President Biden, let's state the obvious, sometimes has communications challenges and Jay Carney's done a pretty good job.
ROMANS: No.
HENRY: Yes, you know, he occasionally puts his foot in his mouth. You know, once in a while. I mean this is really rare. But, you know, Jay Carney is -- in one respect, not just from the media, but, more importantly, because the folks who are going to decide this, the one person is the president. But I'm told that people very close to the president, Pete Rouse and various counselors like that, have very high marks for Jay Carney and they think he's done a pretty good job.
The others in the mix, Bill Burton, who's been Robert Gibbs' deputy. He's certainly in the mix and has done a very good job every time he's filled in for Robert Gibbs. He's the only person I remember ever being at that podium when Robert Gibbs is not around. But he's got one big thing working against him, which is that Rahm Emanuel left and he's very close to Rahm Emanuel and I think if Rahm Emanuel had not run for mayor, Burton would probably be more likely to get it now. Right now he doesn't have that strong advocate like Rahm around. Stephanie Cutter, another prominent Democrat in the mix. Karen Finney, the former DNC spokesperson. And also Josh Earnest, the young White House assistant press secretary. So we're all watching this very closely. Reading the tea leaves. And we could get something as early as this afternoon.
ROMANS: I think we're looking at pictures of Stephanie Cutter there. She's with Tim Geithner in that file photo we were showing. And she's --
HENRY: Yes, you'll remember that.
ROMANS: Yes, of course. I mean she's somebody who, during the crisis, was just right there, you know, with Treasury Department, sort of crafting their response and what the public image was going to be as they're trying to communicate just the craziness that was happening in the global economy, what the U.S. government was doing about it.
HENRY: You're right, the first hundred days, she was a senior counselor at the Treasury Department. That certainly was a baptism by fire, in tough communications and strategy work. But also I think an interesting factor here, there have been a lot of people saying, no, Stephanie Cutter doesn't really want this job, whatnot, but she also is pretty close to the first lady. And she has been an outside adviser. She also worked with the first lady during the presidential transition way back a couple of years ago in Chicago. And I would never underestimate the power of the first lady. And if you want to check on that, see Jarrett, comma, Valerie. Her senior White House advisor. Very close to the president, but also very close to the first lady, and that enables her to wield enormous clout around here. And so I think Stephanie Cutter is somebody still in the mix as well.
ROMANS: Quick question. You know, you mentioned that Bill Burton is one of the only people we've seen stand up, you know
HENRY: -- comma, Valerie. Very senior White House advisor, very close to the president but also very close to the First Lady. And that enables her to wield enormous cloud around here. And so I think Stephanie Cutter is still somebody is in the mix --
ROMANS: Quick question. You mentioned that Bill Burton's one of the only people we've seen stand up when Robert Gibbs is out. That's because this person is never out. This is someone who is working 24/7. There's a reason why you only do this a year and a half or two years at the most because this is a grueling job.
HENRY: That's right.
ROMANS: I mean, you're a charming guy, no question, Ed, but you have to stand in front of people like you who your job is to really be on point with them.
HENRY: Yes. Throw some hardballs at them in the briefing every day. And they're knocked around some days like the pinata when there's something like the oil spill going on. And it's not the president standing there in the briefing room. Sure, he's taking the criticism big picture, but it's you as a press secretary with those incoming missiles.
And I think, you know, I talked to people like Marlon Fitzwater, who, you know had this job back in the Reagan and the Bush 41 days and he'll say it was a tough job then. And that's well more than a decade ago, before the internet really took off at all, before we had all these cable channels. And the bottom line is, this is a 24/7 job and everybody's tied to their BlackBerrys, firing questions to him.
And by the way, I kind of like having you here because you said something about me being charming. I don't usually get that from Ali, so I appreciate it.
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: Well, you're welcome. You are charming. But I'm not sure I'd want to stand every single day on the other side of the podium trying to answer your questions, Ed.
All right, thanks. Ed Henry.
HENRY: Well, that's nice.
ROMANS: OK. Ignoring death threats against him, a major Egyptian opposition leader returns home to join an effort to topple President Hosni Mubarak. More, live from Cairo, coming next.
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ROMANS: Happening now. Much of the northeast is digging out after being hit by a major snowstorm that brought record snowfall to some areas. More than 1,000 flights were canceled at New York's three major airports, while hundreds more were canceled in Philadelphia and Boston.
President Obama is taking his message to the net today. He'll answer questions submitted to YouTube during an interview on YouTube set to air at 2:30 Eastern.
And Mexican authorities are investigating the shooting death of an American missionary yesterday near the city of San Hernando. Officials say 59-year-old Nancy Davis and her husband were trying to drive away from the gunmen when Davis was hit.
Another dramatic twist in the stunning revolt against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei arrived in Cairo today, vowing to join the growing effort to end 30 years of Mubarak's authoritarian rule. He arrived as police fought run-in street battles with protestors for the third straight day now.
CNN's Fred Pleitgen joins me from Cairo.
Fred, what's your reaction to ElBaradei return?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly many people here in Egypt are following this with a lot of interest, Christine. We should say that when he arrived at the airport earlier tonight, just a couple minutes ago, his supporters were actually not allowed to greet him there. However, he did say that he would work for peaceful change in this country. And he also said that he felt that the protests here had gone beyond the point of no return. So clearly he believes that change is about to come about here.
Now the big question here is going to be, is he going to spearhead this change? Because right now, as you know what's going on here, is that most of these protests are being organized by Facebook and twitter groups. So the protest here really doesn't have a face at this point in time. And we'll see probably by tomorrow when he says he'll join those protests, whether or not he'll become the figure, if you will, behind this uprising here in Egypt, Christine.
ROMANS: Well, that's just fascinating that social media plays a part in this, too. We've seen this over the past couple years where people finally getting a voice, they think, and able to communicate with others about these sorts of issues.
Can you tell us about today's protests and what we can expect tomorrow? I guess, big protests are expected after Friday prayers.
PLEITGEN: Yes, yes. Tomorrow is really the day everybody is looking at because a lot of groups have called for protests tomorrow. There have been, again, have been big appeals on twitter and Facebook to make that a day of protests. So certainly we are expecting major demonstrations throughout the country. Of course, the biggest here in Cairo, but also in places like Alexandria and Suez. So expect a lot of action there.
Also, the biggest opposition group has called for its members to take part in those protests and a lot of other groups have done the same, as well. So, certainly we can expect a lot from that.
Today what happened is that Cairo was a little more (INAUDIBLE) than usual in the town of Suez, which is about an hour and a half away from here. There were violent clashes there with people who were injured. I was in that town earlier today and people there were telling me the same thing, that so many people here in this country say.
They say they want change right now because they feel that their economic situation is not what they want it to be. They say there's almost no jobs available for people here in this country. And also that inflation is killing them right now. They simply can't afford to even live here at this point in time. So certainly people say they're fed up. They want change. It's not clear whether or not that's going to topple the government. But there is a very, very angry mood in a lot of places here, Christine.
ROMANS: All right, Fred Pleitgen, thank you so much.
And food prices and inflation in food is something that is really interesting that we'll continue to watch as food prices rise around the world.
Thank you so much, Fred.
Turning now to the latest Middle East country racked by antigovernment protests. Thousands of Yemenis took to the streets of the capital today demanding that the long-time president there step down. They say they've been inspired by the political upheaval that ousted the leader of Tunisia and then spread to Egypt. Protestors also are demanding improved living conditions in a country that's the poorest in the Arab world.
Yemen is a haven for al Qaeda militants and its president is a key U.S. ally in the fight against that terrorist group. For the most part today's protests were peaceful. But one opposition leader says he fierce Yemen is going to be ripped apart.
All right. Appliances of the future. They will talk to you. They will talk to the repair center. They will speak through your phone and speak to the technician and even show you how to save some energy. We have a live in-studio demo right after this quick break.
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All right. If I had to pick one word this year when it comes to technology, I would say connectedness. It's the concept that every part of our lives is being connected by technology. Our jobs, our cars, our home. In today's Big I, we want to focus on homes, and specifically this concept of smart appliances.
And here in the studio we have Martin Olsen from Kenmore. He's the \product development manager. And they've developed a brand new technology called Kenmore Connect. It's won several awards, including a Consumer Electronics Show Innovation Award, and a Popular Science Best of What's New Award.
First of all, tell us about the technology and what it does and how it connects us.
MARTY OLSEN, PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, KENMORE: OK, well thank you for having me here today, Christine.
ROMANS: Sure.
OLSEN: And we have Kenmore Connect and Kenmore Connect is an innovation that allow the machine to not only self-diagnose itself if it thinks it has a problem, but it also will talk to our technical experts sitting back at our call centers. I can give you a quick demonstration.
ROMANS: Sure, please, please.
OLSEN: OK, tell you what. I'm going to give you -- ROMANS: So I take the phone. This is my cell phone -- not mine. It's yours. But we'll pretend it's mine.
OLSEN: That's fine.
ROMANS: This is my cell phone. We'll pretend this is my beautiful set of electronics.
Now what do I do here?
OLSEN: Well, we have a toll free number, 1-800-4MY-HOME that will call the call center. And you'll get on the phone with a technical expert. That technical expert will then say, OK, I want you to put the phone in front of there --
ROMANS: So, I'm going to press this button --
OLSEN: And press that button and hold it. We're going to hold it for about three seconds.
Now you can let go.
ROMANS: It sounds like a fax machine. It's talking to the center telling it this is what's wrong with me.
OLSEN: Yes. What's actually happened now is the machine has gone in and it's surveyed about 100 different points of data and it's actually creating that audio stream. It's data, and it's broadcasting it over your phone to the call center.
ROMANS: Wow.
OLSEN: And what happens -- and I'll give you a little example, just a little screenshot here, of what takes place.
Kenmore Connect again. As that stream comes across, it's being recorded, and it's being analyzed. Once the material -- or once the data has been analyzed, it then gives you an answer. And it says, you may have used an improper amount of detergent. And so there's too much sudsing taking place. And when that happens, the machine is going to go into a way to take care of that problem.
ROMANS: Now, the whole point is to save me money and save me time. I mean, it'll also help me figure out, with my Smartphone, I can figure out when's the best time to run the washer and dryer, for example, to use the least amount of energy. It'll tell me -- I can start and stop it from a remote location, is that right. I can do any of these things?
OLSEN: Well, that's some of the things that we showed at the Consumer Electronic Show just a couple of weeks ago.
ROMANS: Right.
OLSEN: Those are the things that are going to be coming in the future. Today we have the Kenmore Connect so that you get it right the first time when it comes to a repair.
ROMANS: And this saves a guy or a woman coming to my house, charging me $100, or whatever it's going to be to fix it. I mean, this prevents -- saves you time and saves you money.
OLSEN: Absolutely. Absolutely.
But moving forward, what's going to happen is that we're going to have these machines connected to the smart grid. And the word smart grid is going to be on everybody's lips.
ROMANS: Well, what is that? What is the smart grid? If somebody is watching saying what's a smart grid, I just want to wash my clothes. I don't want to worry about a -- I don't have a smart phone, I just want to wash my clothes.
OLSEN: Well, smart grid is going to be a way for the machines to actually talk to the industry, talk to the power industry and say, when is the best time to run this machine. What's going to save me the most amount of money?
There will always be people that need to wash right now, but smart grid will tell the machine when is the best time to actually run and save the most amount of money.
ROMANS: So in your industry, and you guys at Kenmore, you're actively looking for ways to incorporate this explosion of technology where we're all connected constantly all the time. I mean, there's no reason why we shouldn't be connected to the stuff in our house.
And also, as we're busier, two-income families and everything, this is -- I mean, customers are demanding this. They're demanding ease and a simpler way of using their appliances.
OLSEN: That's right. And Kenmore is all about trying to make people's lives simpler, because there is so much that takes place.
ROMANS: Is it going to cost more?
OLSEN: Actually, that's the best part. Under the current Kenmore structure, there is no cost to the consumer for using that system.
ROMANS: And that is because why? Because you're saving money someplace else with it?
OLSEN: Well, it's already built into the machine, so we already have the system in place to, you know, to service people. So now it's just a matter of actually the machine talking. You don't have to sit there and describe, oh, it's clunking and grinding, it's doing this or that. You don't have to do that anymore.
ROMANS: Cause I'm not an appliance repair person, I don't know what's wrong. It just isn't working.
So tell me, are we looking at a day in the near future, in my lifetime, where my whole house is all connected and these appliances are running and telling me when they need to be fixed or just telling the company when they need to be fixed and I'm left out of the loop?
OLSEN: I think that's a reality. I think that's what's going to happen is the machines are going to start being connected, not so much talking to each other, but talking to the power industry and saying, again, how can I save you money. What's the best time to run this machine?
And it won't be just your laundry machines. It can be your refrigerator. It can be your stove. You stove can actually send a text message to a --
COSTELLO: Your banana bread is done.
(LAUGHTER)
OLSEN: There you go. There you go.
ROMANS: And I've my turned myself off and it should be ready the eat in ten minutes.
I love it. All right, Martin, thanks so much, from Kenmore Connect. Very nice to meet you.
OLSEN: Thank you. Nice meeting you.
ROMANS: Thanks for showing us your cool gadgets.
"The Big I," we love doing that here, taking a look at some of the stuff that's going to change your life. Just check out the connect for yourself, head to Ali's blog, CNN.com/Ali.
Checking the latest developments in our top stories, winter storms are keeping much of the northeast grounded. More than 1,000 flights canceled in the New York area alone. Hundreds more canceled in Boston and Philly after some states saw really record snowfall here.
And at the top of the hour, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano expected to announce that this now familiar color-coded terror system will soon become a thing of the past. The new system is expected to take effect in April and will focus on specific threats in geographical areas. The current system was established after the September 11th attacks and was criticized for being too confusing.
A new report says the 2008 financial crisis that caused the recession could have been avoided. The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission said federal authorities failed to curb reckless behavior on Wall Street and bare much of the blame for the financial blowup.
And it seems no one escapes fault. The commission cites policies under both Presidents Bush and Obama and actions taken by the Federal Reserve under Alan Greenspan and current Chairman Ben Bernanke.
Sarah Palin is in excellent shape. John King will have the details next.
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ROMANS: All right, I love this. Time now for a CNN Political Update. CNN chief national correspondent John King joins me now from the Political Desk in Washington.
And John, Harry Reid giving the president an earful when it comes to earmarks, I hear.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Christine. You know earmarks, those are those special projects that members of Congress put into bills. It's the way they bring home -- bring the bacon back home to their districts.
Well, you heard the president in the State of the Union saying he'll veto any budget, any spending proposal that has earmarks in it. The Republicans like that message, because they want to ban earmarks, but a lot of Democrats are saying, wait a minute, including Harry Reid, as you know, the top Democrat in the United States Senate.
In an interview on MSNBC News essentially said, back off, Mr. President. The money's going to be spent anyway, we want to have this power. So a little tension between the president and some fellow Democrats.
Now let's move on to a Republican who might run for president, Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor. Well, if you look at her Political Action Committee, Christine, at the moment, she's in pretty good shape. The most recent disclosure for Sarah-PAC shows about $1.3 million in the bank.
Now it takes a lot more than that to run for president, but she's got no debt, she raised about $280,000 at the end of 2010. Right now, she's just paying a small staff. We'll watch if she raises more money heading through 2011.
And Christine, this one is very important to you because you're a daughter of Iowa. Jim DeMint told our Wolf Blitzer just yesterday, no, no way, I'm not running for president. Jim DeMint is the conservative senator from South Carolina, a big Tea Party favorite.
But some advisers to Jim DeMint are saying he's still going to think about it, even though publically he's saying no way and making a trip to Iowa -- he's making a trip to Iowa, hmm -- to attend an event out there for Steve King, the congressman. And again, some of his advisers say he's keeping the door a little bit open, Christine.
So you'll have competition if you enter the Iowa caucuses.
ROMANS: I don't think I'm qualified. Unlike Rahm Emanuel, I can't say that I went to Washington, I've lived in New York for 10 years.
This is the time of year -- I got to tell you, John, this is the time of year when our spies in the Des Moines Airport and over there in Davenport across from the Moline Airport tell us. They're starting to tell us when they see somebody famous coming through town, right?
KING: We are at that kind -- they're signing up the activists, they're sneaking in to meet with people. If they've written a book, you've written a book, if they've written a book, they're doing book signings. That's the way it goes.
There are at least a dozen people in the Republican side thinking about it. And to raise all that money, Christine, they've got to the decide pretty soon.
ROMANS: I know. I tell you, I first got the taste of this news business years ago when every couple years you would have these people coming into town and it really piques your political activism interest. You know, that's -- it's part of the simplicity of life in Iowa.
All right, John King, thank you so much.
KING: Thank you.
ROMANS: Your next update from "The Best Political Team on Television" just about an hour away.
A tug of war on just who placed that piano on a sandbar in Florida. Can you believe that picture? First two filmmakers said they did it, then came two teens that said not so fast. The answer to who put the piano on the sandbar right after the break.
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ROMANS: An ex-boyfriend is supposed to be an ex-for a reason, right? If you're looking for ways to get them out of the picture, take the high road and avoid them at all costs.
Stephanie Cane (ph) was apparently fed up with her ex-boyfriend, so Florida authorities say she hired a hit man not to take him out, just to cripple him from the neck down for, say, $1,000. Only problem? That hit man she allegedly hired was an undercover police officer. Whoops. Cane was charged with solicitation to commit aggravated battery and booked into Osceola County Jail in Florida.
If you thought you had the right answer to this week's piano bar mystery in Biscayne Bay, guess again. Two Florida teens are now taking responsibility for the stunt that had many of us wondering how a grand piano got to the middle of the sandbar.
Some of you may have heard that a filmmaker took credit, but Nicholas Harrington wants you to know the truth.
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NICHOLAS HARRINGTON, CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR PIANO: Another person came out with the idea that they -- they did it, and that's just not right. I mean, but what people would do for publicity, who knows. (END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Setting the record straight taking credit for a pretty good prank.
Willow Smith, the teen prodigy who has music lovers all over whipping their hair, is taking her talents to film as the new star of "Annie." Music mogul Jay-Z whose record label produced Smith's single "With My Hair" will partner with the stars parents, Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith, in remaking the Broadway classic. The Smith's company, Overbrook Entertainment, made the announcement.
