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Protests Escalate in Egypt; Mohamed ElBaradei Remains in Egypt; Hillary Clinton Calls for Restraint Against Protestors; Storm Headed to Nation's Midsection; Communicating Without Internet Access

Aired January 30, 2011 - 18:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Thanks for joining us. I'm Don Lemon at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

Topping the news tonight: Egyptians again are filling the streets of Cairo in large numbers. Day six of a national uprising.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

LEMON: You can see overhead, Egyptian F-16 streaked over the high rises of the capital -- a visual warning of the approaching curfew.

On the ground, open defiance as demonstrators refused to leave the streets and public squares. A report from the scene is just ahead.

Also, in the thick of it today: the man in the glasses who some believe will become Egypt's next president, Mohamed ElBaradei, diplomat and former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency made his way through the crowd. His message to them and the world: President Mubarak must leave today.

The Egyptian president shows no indication he will heed that advice. Mr. Mubarak today visited a military operation center to get an update on the security situation.

CNN's Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr reports, Defense Secretary Robert Gates talked by phone with military leaders in both Egypt and Israel about the chaotic situation.

And, in the U.S., a delicate balancing act, walking a fine line -- a fine diplomatic line of backing the Mubarak regime, a longtime Washington ally and major recipient of U.S. aid, and supporting the demonstrators' demands for freedom and democracy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: We want to see this peaceful uprising on the part of the Egyptian people to demand their rights, to be responded to in a very clear unambiguous way by the government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: And in just a few minutes you will hear more of what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had to say today as the U.S. tries desperately to keep Egypt from collapsing into anarchy. Let's go right now to CNN's Ivan Watson. He was among the crowds of protesters today in Cairo as the curfew approach, accompanied by the ominous sound of jet fighters overhead.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is an unmistakable show of military force, fighter jets flying low over Cairo's Tahrir Square, Liberation Square, which has been a symbol defiance for days now against the Mubarak presidency and the people here are still chanting. Curfew is supposed to have begun minutes ago but they're refusing to disperse.

I've been talking to this professor.

What do you think when you see the fighter jets overhead?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we are not going to be afraid (ph) -- we're not going to be intimidated by all of this. This is a sign of weakness. It's not a sign of strength. If he's strong enough, he would (INAUDIBLE), he would have changed the constitution, he would drop down the assembly which has been halted.

WATSON: You think the fighter jets are a warning?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, not at all. As you can see the people here, are gathering more and more. It makes them stronger and stronger. These people are strong because they are strong from the heart. Their hearts are strong. They're strong by holding onto each other, by helping each other out. And that's the spirit of the Egyptian that has been (INAUDIBLE).

(CROSSTALK)

WATSON: So, there you hear it. You hear it there. Defiance ongoing from the people here, demonstrators who are gathered here despite a curfew that the outgoing defense minister called for on state television saying please adhere to a curfew that is supposed to have started moments ago and will continue until 8:00 in the morning.

Ivan Watson, CNN, Cairo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right, Ivan.

It is now early Monday morning in Egypt and CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson has been monitoring this crisis in the ancient port city of Alexandria.

Nic, it's after 1:00 a.m. there. What's the security situation? Are police supposed to be back on the streets tomorrow?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They are. And it's hard to imagine how they would come back to this city. Many of the main police stations have been destroyed, even the sort of small place where the traffic police are set up have been burned out because people picked on the police because they don't trust them. The traffic cops, they said, were always intimidating drivers and extorting money from them.

So, it's hard to see when the police were driven off the streets barely sort of 72 hours ago that they could really come back here. And the situation now is really vigilante neighborhood watch groups and all the different back alleys in the center of the city here, moving away to the suburbs and the other neighborhoods. They are providing security. They are incredibly angry with the police.

If the police were walking down the street right now, he would literally be taking his life in his hands. So, it's very hard to imagine how the police can be back on the streets here. But what we have seen tonight that we haven't seen recently is the army who's been parked outside government institutions actually driving around in their armored personnel carrier a few times, chasing down either vigilantes that we've seen chasing cars or chasing those cars down. It's impossible to tell exactly what they're doing.

It's a very uneasy tense relationship between the vigilante groups and the army. Ostensibly, they seem to be quite friendly, but no one knows. And they're not sure which way the Army is going to go, support the people or support the president. So, it's a very, very uneasy, tense situation here tonight, Don.

LEMON: All right. CNN's Nic Robertson -- Nic, thanks very much.

The U.S. is sending a tough message to Egypt on how to treat its residents. But what's the next move? We'll ask our State Department producer.

And, a bank robbery-turned-hostage drama is played out on camera. You'll see it, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody will be here. We have also good choice. The first choice, Mubarak leave, and the second choice, we die here. We have no choice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: The United States gives billions of dollars every year to the Egyptian government, a government that's now seen as being on the wrong side of a political uprising. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" with Candy Crowley, a program seen all around the globe.

And I'm joined by our senior State Department producer, Elise Labott.

Elise, so Secretary Clinton is walking a fine line here, isn't she, with her comments? ELISE LABOTT, CNN SR. STATE DEPARTMENT PRODUCER: She really is, because she has to show support for the protestors. But at the same time, she doesn't want to do anything to suggest regime change for President Mubarak right now because they're very uncertain about what that future might bring.

So, let's hear what she told Candy Crowley on "STATE OF THE UNION." She signaled, though, that the end for President Mubarak could be near.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: We have a calendar that already has elections for the next president scheduled. So, there is an action-enforcing event that is already on the calendar.

Can there be efforts made to really respond to the political desires of the people so that such an election is free and fair and credible? There are many steps that can be taken by reaching out to those who have advocated a peaceful, orderly transition to greater democracy where the Egyptian people themselves get to express their views.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LABOTT: And, Don, what does that mean? The U.S. wants to see President Mubarak lift that emergency law which allows him and security forces to arrest anybody at any time for any reason.

Also want him to start some job creation programs and also just start up this national dialogue with the people as they move toward the election in September. Not saying he should go tonight, but signaling that it's the end of the line for him.

LEMON: And, Elise, being the State Department producer, you would know the answer to this question. The State Department has been busy helping Americans inside Egypt.

LABOTT: That's right.

LEMON: So, can you give us the latest on that?

LABOTT: Well, today, they said that not only are they allowing kind of their non-emergency personnel and their families to leave because of the situation, but they're also going to start help evacuating Americans. And they're going to get their flights together tomorrow. We're going to put that information on our Web site so our viewers can look at that and also tell their families in Egypt that they want to get out.

They're going to start organizing flights. Any American that needs to get out should contact the embassy, and they're going to help them.

LEMON: All right. And that's the information right there on your screen. We'll put it up for a little bit at least, but that's the information again. Contact the State Department. It's Egyptemergencyusc@state.gov. Or here's the phone number, 1-202-501- 4444. And as Elise said, we'll put it up on our Web site.

Thanks, Elise. We appreciate your reporting.

Clearing the air, that's how Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described the U.S. position on handling Egypt right now. The United States has a tough line to walk, how not to alienate an ally, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, while supporting the American ideal of democracy.

And for more on U.S. strategy, former Defense Secretary William Cohen, he joins us again from Washington, from our Washington bureau.

First, Mr. Secretary, I want to ask you the question that I mentioned yesterday to you. In the 24 hours that have passed, have you made any new conclusions about the situation in Egypt?

WILLIAM COHEN, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: No, I haven't. And I think we have to be careful here. You indicated earlier on your program, that Secretary Gates has been in touch with his counterpart. That will be an important conversation to certainly repeat to the administration, throughout the administration, coordinating that with Secretary of State Clinton, talking to our intelligence personnel, to see what kind of intelligence they're gathering, what is taking place on the ground, what are President Mubarak's intentions. All of this has to be factored into exactly what either President Obama will say in the future or what Secretary Clinton is saying now.

We ought to take care here, so -- and calibrate our message as she is calibrating hers, to make sure that we walk that line. I think things are starting to unfold. There's going to be economic consequences coming a as a result of this turmoil. The longer it goes on, more people are going to want to leave. We'll have businesses who will make different calculations now whether or not they should continue to invest in Egypt, or whether they should pull their personnel out. All of this will continue to unfold day by day.

And so, some of this will resolve itself, hopefully, peacefully, but we ought not to make judgments from this seat here or from Atlanta without knowing what the full intelligence is.

LEMON: OK. And as we mentioned, this uprising has put the United States in a really difficult spot. Secretary, officially it looks like we're avoiding taking sides. So, that was pretty clear from Candy Crowley's interview with the secretary of state on "STATE OF THE UNION" this morning. I want you to listen to this and then we'll talk about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CANDY CROWLEY, HOST, CNN'S "STATE OF THE UNION": If you are walking, we are seeing signs that say, "U.S., stop backing Mubarak." What side is the U.S. on? Mubarak or the people in the streets?

CLINTON: Well, there's another choice. It's the Egyptian people. We are on the side, as we have been for more than 30 years, of a democratic Egypt that provides both political and economic rights to its people that respects the universal human rights of all Egyptians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: OK. I know you don't speak for her, but you have held that position. What do you make of her response?

COHEN: Well, I think she's exactly right, that we support democratic ideals. There are times when we have to also take into account our strategic interests, and I think that is implied in what Secretary Clinton is saying. We have a strategic interest in that region as do many other countries. If there is greater instability, that certainly could jeopardize the future of Egypt, but affect many of the countries in the region and worldwide, to the extent that oil were to spike in price and stay there for any length of time, that will have a major impact globally.

So, there are interests as well as are ideals involved and I think --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Can I ask you? Can I jump in and ask you a question?

COHEN: Sure.

LEMON: You talk about the prices of oil globally. Can you -- I mean, what is more important? Is it the democracy and freedom for the people of Egypt, or how much money we pay to drive around in our SUVs? Which --

(CROSSTALK)

COHEN: If you have a collapse of the world economy, would you say we were making right choice if we should take steps which help precipitate that? I think we have to be very careful in what we do. It's not a question of our SUVs. The question is oil does fuel the global economy and we have to be concerned about what the global economy will do in reaction to what takes place there.

We want to promote an orderly transition. We want to see free elections. There are steps as Secretary Clinton has said that can be taken.

We could have international monitors. We could have a candidate -- a slate of candidates run in the coming election. We can do all of those things.

But the most important thing right now is to try to have some calm and then have a process which is put in place that allow this free expression of democratic ideals.

LEMON: OK, I got you, I got you.

Let's move now to the man who is considered the opposition leader, Mohamed ElBaradei. He spoke with CNN's Fareed Zakaria today, Mr. Secretary. And he had a hard line about what Mubarak should do. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMED ELBARADEI, OPPOSITION LEADER: I think this is a hopeless, desperate attempt by Mubarak to stay in power. I think it is loud and clear from everybody in Egypt that Mubarak has to leave today and it's nonnegotiable for every Egyptian. People have been saying or demonstrating for his -- for him to leave. Today, the demonstration is that he should be put to trial. If he wants to save his skin, if he has an iota of patriotism, I would advise him to leave today and save the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: He said that and he also said, Mr. Secretary, that the U.S. is losing credibility with the Egyptian people because it has yet to take a hard line on the situation there. What do you think of his comments?

COHEN: Well, obviously, he's also interested in becoming president of Egypt and he may very well do that in the future. Whether or not President Mubarak steps down today remains to be seen in terms of whether a power vacuum will be created, whether he or someone else tries to move in and fill it on a temporary basis, whether the military would take charge, whether that would be considered a military dictatorship, et cetera.

So, I think there has to be a process put in place. He may very well be a viable candidate. There may be others who will challenge him for that leadership position.

But the most important thing is to make sure that it doesn't simply evolve into a state of chaos and then someone try to assume a leadership position in that kind of chaotic situation.

So, I think we're seeing it unfold. There are measures being taken. There are discussions being held. I think that it's very important that all of that information with fully integrated into our administration so that we can make the appropriate decision.

LEMON: All right. William Cohen, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

COHEN: Pleasure.

LEMON: Detroit police releases surveillance video to police -- to the police shooting that we broke on this show last week. If you were watching, it was our breaking news.

And, a dramatic bank robbery unfolds on camera. You'll see both amazing videos.

Make you sure you stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Young professionals working together to create growth in one of the oldest towns in the West. They got together once a month, party a little, and may plan a lot to try to shape what they want their community to be and to look like.

Tom Foreman traveled to Santa Fe, New Mexico, to see how it's working in this week's "Building Up America" report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Santa Fe is one of the oldest settlements in all of the West, and it draws thousands of older tourists interested in all that history. That's good for some businesses but not so much for some young professionals.

DANIEL WERWATH, MIX SANTA FE: You know, I've been here about seven years and, you know, every summer see around a dozen friends move on for jobs and more opportunity often and, you know, more exciting places like New York or Portland, Oregon, or places like that.

FOREMAN: And that's where MIX comes in. These are the founding members and this is MIX, part reform social club, part business networking group, part town hall meeting. MIX is a once-a-month party in which young people are urged to meet, have fun, and share ideas about what they want their community to be.

LACIE MACKEY, MIX SANTA FE: And the idea is if you do get people involved in that, they feel more invested in the community and they do want to stay and they do want to invest their time here.

FOREMAN: To make that happen, MIX, which has the backing of the city and the Chamber of Commerce, poses a question or challenge which participants answer on video. The best answer get as prize.

Ciaran Clark hopped up one night to explain how he'd use a $200 prize to help disadvantaged teens with job training, particularly in green industries.

CIARAN CLARK, YOUTHWORKS. And with $200, I would start a t-shirt company for youth who can help --

FOREMAN: He got the money, his group, YouthWorks, used it to make t- shirts to sell at the next MIX event to raise more money to provide more training. Everyone wins.

ZANE FISCHER, MIX SANTA FE: All it takes is a little nudge to get people together and realize that their work can transform or --

FOREMAN: Or even keep notoriously restless young workers happy and here.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Santa Fe.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS) LEMON: Oh, that is harrowing surveillance video from inside a police precinct. A gunman walks in, opens fire, wounding four officers. This is just a week ago in Detroit, an attack that came out of nowhere. Police returned fire and kill the gunman. His name is Lamar Moore.

And as we dig more into his background, the story only gets stranger. Our Susan Candiotti has been gathering the details for us. So, Susan, what did you learn about Lamar Moore?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A lot more than we knew before certainly.

I can tell you this that, Don, Lamar Moore raped someone. More than a week before his rampage on police, investigators say he kidnapped a 13-year-old girl at knifepoint and sexually assaulted her.

Now, there's even more. Investigators say Moore kept the girl tied up in his basement at times and also handcuffed her to a toilet. She managed to escape in her underwear, still wearing those handcuffs only hours before Moore launched his tirade on police.

And I think right now, let's take a look again at that shooting video captured on police security cameras last Sunday.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

CANDIOTTI: Now, as the action unfolds, he's now starting to shoot fire as he walked past some vending machines. He doubles back, he starts firing at police, all of this from the first shot to the last shot takes only 39 seconds.

Now, watch from the left-hand side of your screen. You're going to see him eventually and onto the right, you're going to see him eventually jump over that police desk. Here he comes. And you see him jump over from the other side.

Now, he's going to stand up, look to the right, and you see him shooting at the police officers. Look, they're diving underneath that desk, the table. It's amazing that those officers weren't shot dead.

And then you see this one who's on the ground. He gets up and exchanges gunfire with him face to face before finally the gunman is fatally wounded.

Now, all four wounded officering survived and, as the chief said, remarkably everyone remained calm.

Now, as I said earlier, that girl who was attacked by Moore escaped hours before the shooting occurred. Police say at the time of the attack, they had Moore's house surrounded, waiting for a search warrant to go inside. They had no way of knowing that Moore was about to come after them.

So, in the end, there's no clear-cut motive behind what Moore did, we may never know. The chief puts it this way -- his motive, he said, was evil.

LEMON: And, Susan, there's yet another twist to all of this. Many of our viewers may be aware that this -- after this attack, that Moore's house burned down. Do you know anything about that? Burned down right after the attack?

CANDIOTTI: Can you imagine? It happened two days after the attack in the middle of the night. Someone burned down his house. There's currently an arson investigation going on. Whodunit? It's yet another twist to this case, Don.

LEMON: All right. Susan Candiotti, thank you very much.

Now for some of the stories that caught our eye happening across the country right now.

The FBI has joined the investigation of a dramatic bank robbery in Maryland. It happened Friday at a Capital One Bank in Tacoma Park. The suspect ran outside holding a gun to the head of a teller he'd taken hostage. He slipped on the ice when a dye pack exploded. Look at that. As the teller tried to escape, six police officers opened fire, killing the robber.

The officers had been put on leave while the incident is being investigated. It was all caught on camera by a TV news helicopter.

Police say a 3-year-old Oregon boy's 911 call helped save his dad's life. Little A.J. Hayes knew exactly what to do when he saw his father got hurt. Aaron Hayes was working in the kitchen in the kitchen last Friday when he impaled himself with the wood chisel. It served, it severed, I should say, a main artery in his arm. He was bleeding profusely. Little A.J. called 911.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

DISPATCH: Hello, 911.

A.J. HAYES: Daddy needs help.

DISPATCH: Sir, do you need an ambulance?

HAYES: Right away! He's been hurt. You have to come. He really needs help.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, paramedics rushed to the house and took Hayes to the hospital. He is back home now and he is going to be OK.

Police in California are expanding their search for a missing 4-year- old boy and the man suspected of kidnapping him. On Friday, police pulled Esteban Rodriguez's Toyota Corolla from the waters of the Delta-Mendota Canal. There were no bodies inside or in the water nearby. Police say Rodriguez snatched little Juliani Cardenas from his grandmother's arm 13 days ago and fled.

Coming up next on CNN: the latest on the activity in Egypt. We'll go to Cairo for a live report.

And ahead, can you get around the government shutting your Internet down? Can what happened in Egypt happen here in the U.S.?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED EGYPTIAN MALE (through translation): Security forces fired at us and shot more tear gas at us. Then 15 people lost their sight and vision. One was shot at, right here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Protests escalating across Egypt on day six of a national uprising.

Overhead, Egyptian F-16s streak low over the high-rises of Cairo, a visual warning of the approaching curfew on the ground. Open defiance as demonstrators refuse to leave the streets and public squares. A report from the scene is just ahead.

Also in the thick of it today --

(SHOUTING)

LEMON: The man you see right there in the glasses, who some believe will become Egypt's next president, Mohamed ElBaradei, diplomat and former head of International Atomic Energy Agency, made his way through the crowd. His message to them and the world, President Mubarak must leave today.

The Egyptian president shows no indication he will heed that advice. Mr. Mubarak today visited a military operation center to get an update on the security situation. CNN's Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, reports Defense Secretary Robert Gates talks by phone with military leaders in both Egypt and Israel about the situation.

The U.S. is walking a fine line between backing the Mubarak regime, a long-time ally, and supporting the protesters' demands for freedom and democracy. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is urging Egyptian security forces to show restraint. And she called on the country to make a true commitment to reform.

CNN has several reporters covering all of this on the ground in Egypt.

Arwa Damon is standing by right now for us in Cairo.

Arwa, it is after 1:00 a.m. What's happening there now?

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, as we're standing here, very close to Tahrir Square, where those demonstrations have been concentrated, we can hear some of the tanks being moved around. And just a short while ago, for around an hour or two, we were hearing sporadic but fairly intense gunfire, an indication of how tense the situation remains here. A lot of people that we have been talking to, still reiterating that point that they want to see president Mubarak step down.

There has also been a fair level of frustration directed at the international community and at the United States, because of their failure to openly back the demonstrators' demands. They're also frustrated at the fact that they believe that many internationals and the United States believe that, in Egypt, it either has to be a Mubarak-style military dictatorship and, if that is not going to happen, the alternative will be some sort of Islamic regime. And that, they say, is not the case at all. This is not an Islamic movement. This is a popular movement that is demanding true reforms that are going to bring about economic and social change.

Now, earlier, CNN spoke to Mohamed ElBaradei about this very point and this is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMED ELBARADEI, EGYPTIAN OPPOSITION LEADER & FORMERLY OF INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY: This is a myth that was sold by the Mubarak regime, that it is either us, the ruthless dictators, or a Muslim al Qaeda type. You know, the Muslim Brotherhood has nothing to do with it. The Muslim Brotherhood has nothing to do with extremism, as we have seen it in Afghanistan and other places. We need to include them. They are part of the society, as much as the Marxist Party (ph) here. I think the myth that has been perpetuated and sold by the regime has no iota of reality here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAMON: The demonstrators here really want to see the international community backing their demands that President Mubarak step down. They're emphasizing the point that the way he right now is trying to reshuffle the leadership, bringing in other well-known military commanders, is not what they're looking for. They're saying that this is the time to end military rule. It is the time to bring about true democracy. And that this is the people of Egypt speaking, trying to take control of their own country, of their own lives, and bring about a long awaited better life -- Don?

Arwa Damon. Thank you, Arwa.

Coming up on CNN, we'll go to Cairo live for the latest on the uprising in Egypt, again.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. Our viral video segment has a theme this hour, things that get trapped. That's a theme. A gimmick you usually only see in the cartoons.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED KID: Daddy.

RYAN CLARK, FATHER: Ooh, piece of candy. Ooh, piece of candy. Ooh, piece of candy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: You've seen this a thousand times on Road Runner. And it was views of episodes of "The Family Guy" to trap James Woods (ph). Ryan Clark, in Alberta, Canada, decided to try it on his 20-month-old niece. As you can see, it worked perfectly. No toddles were harmed in the making of this video though.

Next up, a victim of the frigid cold in New York.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a car in front of my building that somehow froze.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Right. It's not exactly clear how this happened. The ice is several inches thick, several inches thick. No chance it's going to move until there's a thaw. This sort of thing often happens when a water main breaks during subzero weather, but no other cars were affected. As we said, our hunch is, it's probably a prank. Someone must have poured buckets and buckets of water over the car as a mean old trick. Oh, well.

Finally, everyone loves the highflying slam dunks by exhibition teams at pro basketball games. But no one at a recent Phoenix Suns game was expecting this one.

(SHOUTING)

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: All right. That's what you call too much air. Too much air. This member of the Suns Soul Patrol got so far above the rim that he came down head first right through the hoop. His mother tells Phoenix affiliate, KPNX, that she doesn't think her son planned to dunk himself. It just sort of happened. He was not hurt. It may have hurt his pride. I think it's cool. He's a video star, viral video star.

A major winter to storm is headed toward the nation's midsection and we're talking a blizzard, sadly. It's packing a punch that could cripple many mid-western cities.

Jacqui Jeras is here to tell us all about it.

Not again.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I know. This is a different type of storm.

LEMON: OK.

JERAS: We're not talking a nor'easter, but an impact across the nation's midsection. This is going to impact millions of you and have a huge effect on your travel. You may not be able to do that at all in some of these cities.

We'll be watching Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Cleveland. And we'll probably see the winter storm watches and warnings move up into the northeast for later in the week. So the higher the storm, we think, things are going to get started on Monday night, continue through Tuesday and go into Wednesday as well. So this thing is, you know, not really started just yet.

They're canceling flights and telling you, you can have travel waivers ahead of the storm as well. United Airlines, it says all flights for Chicago, through February 1st through the 3rd, they say they want charge you if you want to change those flights. I would definitely recommend it. You don't want to get stuck. So plan ahead with this one, folks.

A storm way out west, it's across California, bringing rain showers as well as snow into the higher elevations. This is going to be diving down toward the south and heading into the northeast. The heaviest accumulating snow, we do think it's going to be in the middle Mississippi River Valley, the Ohio River Valley. Somewhere in this purple stretch. We're talking 10 to 20 inches of snow. It's going to be easy. We're expecting also, to the south of there, Don, freezing rain that could accumulate enough to cause power outages maybe for days for a few of these people. So timing and a little bit of uncertainty still ahead with the storm.

Stay tuned as things might change. We think it's going to be a real monster for a whole lot of people. May be the worst storm in a decade or so.

LEMON: Possibility of 10 to 20 inches?

JERAS: Yes.

LEMON: All right. Thank you, Jacqui.

JERAS: Sure.

LEMON: The government shut down the Internet in Egypt during the uprising. Could that happen here in the U.S.? Think about it. That conversation, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED EGYPTIAN MALE: We need food, good education, good people. We need freedom. All these people need freedom. We need you to support us and our situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: There's word in Egypt that Internet and mobile phones are working again, but many people still are having trouble connecting. Observers say when those lines were cut off, it only fueled the dissension. Protest organizers were still communicating, but not by the usual text and tweet. How do you make contact when the Internet goes dark? Pay attention.

Cyberpedia expert, Gregory Evans, is here with some answers.

Logic tells me, Gregory, you have to resort to some old-fashioned ways in order to do it.

GREGORY EVANS, CEO, LIGATT SECURITY: Old-fashioned. We laugh at it today.

LEMON: Yes.

EVANS: You've got to go back to dial-up.

LEMON: Ah.

EVANS: Dial up, who still uses dial-up? I even see commercials for it sometimes, I'm like, for real? Dial-up is the way to go. Right now, they're in the country, where they shut off the Internet and they even shut down cell phones, how do you get back on the Internet to communicate? What they didn't do is they didn't use dial-up. and they can set up an Internet connection outside of their country.

LEMON: So you dial a phone, right?

EVANS: A phone number, yes.

LEMON: And that connects you to another country or something that's working.

EVANS: Correct. And then you just get connected. Just like we used to use dial up.

LEMON: It's slow. It's slow.

EVANS: It's very slow.

LEMON: But it does what you need to it to do.

EVANS: It works. The same thing happened, I remember, during the blackout in the fall of 2003. Everyone who had -- cell phones were tough to work. And if you had a cordless phone, it didn't work. But the old analogue phone with the cord --

EVANS: There you go.

LEMON: -- the best thing you could get.

EVANS: Don't get rid of your landline.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: I don't even know my home phone number.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: I have it for security -- for the alarm --

EVANS: That's it.

LEMON: So besides dial-up, there's another way. It's a little bit more expensive.

EVANS: Correct. What they can do is use satellite. They can set up an Internet cafe using satellite dishes and they can set up numerous computers but they may be charged $5 a minute to use a service like this.

LEMON: OK. That's very expensive.

EVANS: Yes.

LEMON: Satellite phones. Contact for everything. Very big during Hurricane Katrina.

EVANS: Yes.

LEMON: And the big satellite phones.

(CROSSTALK)

EVANS: They work. You can get phone and Internet all in one.

LEMON: All in one.

EVANS: Remember, very important. When they take out your Internet, your Internet is gone also on your cell phone also as well. So a lot of people think I can still do Twitter or Facebook on your cell. No, you cannot.

LEMON: Gone. OK.

EVANS: Yes, that's correct.

LEMON: Do you know how the protesters in Egypt were able to communicate after the Internet and their cell phone service went down?

EVANS: Well, a lot of them were using landlines, because it looks like a regular telephone call to the government. So they were using that to communicate outside of the country.

LEMON: OK.

EVANS: So that's a big way. And they may just be making phone calls to get updates and have people outside of the country actually post.

LEMON: Let me ask you this, because we always say, could it happen here. Could it happen in the United States? I think it probably could happen in the United States. EVANS: Oh, yes. It could happen here. And it will happen. When? You know that emergency broadcasting system that everybody never pays attention to.

LEMON: When I'm watching my favorite TV program and it comes on, I'm like, ah, yes?

EVANS: Yes. Yes. That right there. If we were in a state of emergency, a civil war, the government could then seize all communications. And since Internet is part of this communications, yes, they can take over your TV, your radio, and your Internet.

LEMON: All right. So how do you get your voice back when you're losing it like you?

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

EVANS: Yes, my voice is going. I have to give speeches. Forgive me.

LEMON: Cyber expert, Gregory Evans.

EVANS: Appreciate it.

LEMON: Take care of that voice. Drink tea, lemon, and honey.

EVANS: I've been doing that all day. Thank you.

LEMON: And stop talking.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We've gotten into contact with an American student in Cairo. Her name is Lauren Bohn, and she's a Fulbright Scholar from American University in Cairo.

Lauren, thank you for joining us. Tell us where you are right now and what you're doing and what you're seeing.

LAUREN BOHN, FULBRIGHT SCHOLAR IN CAIRO: Sure, Don. It's about 2:00 a.m., here in Cairo. I am in Tahrir Square, which is Arabic for Liberation Square, in the epicenter of the protests all week. Right now, it's 2:00 a.m., but many people are gathered around. They have camp fires going. They are talking, of course, about politics. Talking about what's going to happen next. What did happen? People are making signs. People are singing the national anthem. There is some dancing going on in the streets. By and large, it's peaceful out here. People have a positive attitude. There's a lot of optimism in the air. And it's very, very interesting to see.

LEMON: We have been seeing from some of our correspondents, there have been police actions on the streets. We've seen F-16s in the air. It's 2:00 a.m., so they are defying the curfew. By your estimation, where you are, it's peaceful?

BOHN: It is completely peaceful. Many people are walking around the square right now, saying they feel like they are in the "Twilight Zone." They have never walked so freely in the square. They're saying the level of political discourse that's going on in the square right now hasn't happened in 30 years. They are finally able, they say, to talk freely in open air in Tahrir Square about politics, about how they feel. They say this is freedom of speech personified in the streets.

LEMON: How long have you been there? Since August? Am I correct?

BOHN: Yes, I've been here since August, Don.

LEMON: Is it a marked difference between now and then?

BOHN: You have no idea. I've only been here for four months, so I can't claim to have a firm grasp on what's been going on in the past 30 years in Egypt. (INAUDIBLE). But I haven't been confronted with people who have been struggling, saying how they can't stay afloat. Today and this week have been some of the first times I've heard hope in their voices. And I've seen such great action and such loud chants and everybody is united, you know, for one goal, and that is to see change.

LEMON: Lauren, let me ask you this.

BOHN: Sure.

LEMON: How you had any -- have you seen the military on the street there?

BOHN: Have I seen the military? Course. They are everywhere.

LEMON: OK. How are they dealing with the people? We're getting reports that the military is backing of and is not being confrontational with the people and just going along with what they are doing.

BOHN: Right. As I said, people right now are walking peacefully, quietly around the square. You hear chants from all corners. Everything is very peaceful. The army is letting people roam freely. There is no uproar right now going on. There is no --

LEMON: Do you feel safe, Lauren? Do you feel safe?

BOHN: Do I feel safe?

LEMON: Yes.

BOHN: Of course. I'm here as a journalist, so I have, you know, my eyes and, you know, ears on the ground, trying to really pick up the pulse here. LEMON: Yes. Towards Americans, what's the sentiment? How are they treating Americans there?

BOHN: Sure. I say I'm from America and they instantly engage me in political conversation. Listen, by and large, most of them love America and what we stand for. But, of course, they have their crumb. They want to know why our foreign policy is what they think is favoring Mubarak. Why Obama hasn't come out strongly in their perception. There are some crumbs. By and large, they say we love the American people, but the government, we have some issues there.

LEMON: OK. Listen, Lauren, anything -- the Muslim Brotherhood, have you seen anyone out on the street or anyone that represents them?

BOHN: Sure. I'm sorry. I'm not letting you ask your question.

LEMON: Go ahead.

(LAUGHTER)

BOHN: I just spoke with a member of the Muslim Brotherhood right now, actually. He's a dentist. He told me that, you know, the Muslim Brotherhood, he feels that they are not portrayed accurately in the media. They have no plans, he says, to take over the government. They just want to do what they have been doing, he says, for the past few decades and that's providing services on the ground to people, giving them access to health care and education, that they are not getting under the current regime, not getting under the current system.

LEMON: All right, Lauren Bohn is at American University in Cairo. She's with the New York office there. But she's at the American University in Cairo. She's a Fulbright Scholar and wants to CNN Internet here.

So Lauren, take care of yourself and thank you for --

BOHN: Tell my parents I'm OK.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: I'm sure. Let's hope they are watching. And we will. We'll make sure we call them.

BOHN: Thank you, Don. Thank you. Stay tuned.

LEMON: Thank you, Lauren, thank you. All right.

BOHN: Hopefully, I'll be able to Tweet soon. Good-bye.

LEMON: So, men locked away in prison, despite evidence that could clear them. We'll take you inside the justice system for a CNN special report. That is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: What happens when officers charged with fighting crime don't play by the rules? This Sunday in his documentary, "Rogue Justice," CNN's Drew Griffin investigates a North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations whose policies put an innocent at least one innocent man behind bars.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIVE UNIT CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): For 17 years, Greg Taylor (ph) sat behind bars for a murder he didn't commit. For much of that time, he slept here on bunk 23.

GREG TAYLOR (ph), PRISONER SAYS HE'S INNOCENT: In the beginning, there was almost a constant hope. Then there was that periodic hope. Then there was no hope.

GRIFFIN: This was his world, this was where he ate. This his only recreation.

TAYLOR (ph): I can remember the first birthday I missed of my daughter, it was her 10th birthday. And that first Christmas, I can remember thinking when she was 16, you know, that she's driving now. And I have to worry about her being on the roads and whatnot. She graduated high school.

You just want so much to get out. You have to sit there, and you're helpless.

GRIFFIN: Then, Chris Mumma came into his life.

CHRIS MUMMA, NORTH CAROLINA CENTER ON ACTUAL INNOCENCE: We get, you know, 750,000 claims a year. We reject about 95 percent of them.

GRIFFIN: Mumma runs the North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence, a last resort for those who claim they have been wrongly convicted.

(on camera): In 2007, Chris Mumma brought the case to the newly formed North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission.

It was the first and only government panel in the country created to free the wrongfully imprisoned. And it was here in this unassuming room that Greg's bid for freedom would be heard.

(voice-over): It meant Greg would have one last chance to clear his name.

TAYLOR: To the very essence of who you are, you just hate, just absolutely hate being accused of something like this.

GRIFFIN: What he was about to find out would rock the justice system; evidence that would have changed everything that had been buried for 17 years.

MUMMA: We had Greg's innocence in our hands.

(END VIDEOTAPE) LEMON: Now after Taylor's case came to light an audit of the State Bureau of Investigation found there are potentially over 200 similar cases. To learn more about Taylor's case and the others make sure you watch "Rogue Justice" tonight 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.