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Winter Storm Spans 2,000 Miles; Egypt's "March of Million"

Aired February 01, 2011 - 10:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We start this hour with a monster storm stretching more than 2,000 miles from Arizona to Maine. Heavy snow predicted along a sweeping line from central Texas to Connecticut. Take a look at these live shots. We've got New York, Dallas, Washington. Blizzard conditions in seven states. Winter storm warnings, watches, and advisories in effect for some 30 states.

Our weather people say, well, this could be among the top five storms ever for several cities. The Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport is closed. Ice accumulation across the midwest could bring down power lines and trees. Winds gusting to 40 miles an hour. Will make those subzero temperatures seem even colder.

And a lot of people, something like 100 million folks, going to get hit by this massive storm. Jacqui, all morning, I see you back and forth, back and forth. You have got so much going on right now.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I know. It's hard to get it all in in a short period of time. So we're going to bring it to you in bits and pieces so watch us all day long. Because this really is a massive monstrous storm. To put it into perspective for you, yes, this is affecting millions of people. This is the worst storm of the year by far at least in terms of affecting the most people, and travel is really crippled already in many areas.

This is a blizzard. This is an ice storm. This is a severe weather event. We just got a tornado watch that was issued that includes parts of Louisiana, as well as Mississippi, into this area. That's going to be a problem through 3:00 today. Tornadoes possible here. The worst of the winter weather is coming down at this hour right along the i-44 corridor where the snow is accumulating as much as an inch to two inches per hour. Just below that, we're seeing the freezing rain. There you can see the wind speed in the 20s, 30 miles per hour. That's the sustained wind of the three-minute average, we're seeing gusts beyond 40 miles per hour now, and we're getting reports across parts of Oklahoma that there are between one and three- foot snowdrifts pretty much all over the place.

St. Louis, you're getting the freezing rain. This is going to be accumulating. We are real worried about power outages there. That's where we find our meteorologist Reynolds Wolf for the latest. Reynolds, how are conditions down in St. Louis?

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Things are interesting, Jacqui. You're looking at the big picture of what's been happening around the country. It's kind of funny when you look at Chicago, not a lot of activity there. To the west, we've had a lot of snow just beginning to pick up. Right here, in St. Louis, it's a little bit of a dividing line. We've seen the big transformation especially over the last three to four hours.

First we've had a bit of freezing rain. Now it's come again in terms of these little sleet pellets, and then the snow and then the heavy winds will soon follow. There's the possibility we could see over a foot of snowfall here. And right behind me, we got CNN photojournalist, John Person. John, can we get a shot of some of those threes.

Jacqui, we're showing people across America that we got a nice coating of ice. Not nice at all. But a destructive coating of ice. It has really been one of the big things we're kind of concerned about. Because the trees are coated with ice, and when the wind picks up, there's the possibility that we could see some branches break. And I'm telling you, the ice it's not just on the trees, it is on signs, it's on roads, it's on sidewalks. It has been everywhere.

Now as we pan a little bit towards the freeway, you can see the cars are having little difficulty getting around. They have done a heck of a job on the roadways putting down some salt, some sand and all kinds of chemicals keep things safe. Drivers have been pretty good. Haven't had any accidents for the time being but the problem is as the snow begins to pick up, the ice certainly will take its toll. The snow certainly will take its toll. The snow will certainly take its toll and the freeways and all the chemicals will lose their effectiveness.

Now, although travel is good for the time being, we do expect it to get worse on the roadways. As you mentioned, the airports, it has been just a nightmare. They do expect again some 600 cancellations for today or rather 6,000 cancellations for today and tomorrow in terms of flight, and I would imagine the numbers will go up significantly.

I tell you the airport is about at least 60 percent operational over at Lambert. That's the good news. But as the storm gets closer as it intensifies, we expect more delays, more headaches and certainly whipped out the possibility of widespread power outages. For the time being, the power outages not that bad, all things considered, only about 100 or so homes without power but those numbers again will come up as the snow comes down as the wind also increases.

That's the story from St. Louis. We're going to kick it back to you in the studio, Jacqui.

JERAS: OK. Thanks, Reynolds. We will continue to check in with you. Reynolds mentioned those airports and we do have problems in places outside of St. Louis, Dallas, Ft. Worth runaways Thank you. Reynolds mentioned the airports. We have problems in places outside of St. Louis. Dallas-Ft. Worth runaways closed at this hour. That's what the FAA is reporting. 45-minute ground delays in Philadelphia, as well as San Francisco, Atlanta, low clouds there (INAUDIBLE) 30 minute delay there. In Boston, you got the snow this morning, 30-minute arrival delays, departure delays at Houston International and also at Houston Hobby Airport. The snowfall accumulations aren't going to be a big story. In fact, this could be a top five snow maker for places like Chicago where we could potentially get as much as two feet of snow before all is said and done. You add the winds on top of that, we are not going to have just power outages in St. Louis, but we're going to have it all across the Ohio Valley in the midwest. This will be a major storm affecting everybody across the country, Kyra. Even if you don't live in the path of the storm, you have it earlier in the week out west, and you're going to get it later in the week across parts of the east. And those airports, especially, Kyra, just a big mess. Nobody is getting anywhere today. Planes are stuck. They can't get where we need to be and all of the Super Bowl fans. What a bummer for them.

PHILLIPS: Yes. Now, teams trying to make some concessions on where they're going to practice.

JERAS: Right.

PHILLIPS: We'll keep tracking it all. Thanks, Jacqui.

JERAS: Sure.

PHILLIPS: All right, Oklahoma right in the middle of the monster storm. Most of the state under a blizzard warning right now. Amy Padilla is actually holed up in her home and expecting at least six to eight inches of snow. She has been sending us pictures of what it looks like. She joins us on the phone. Amy called in. So all right, describe it, Amy, how bad is it?

AMY PADILLA, CALLER: Well, the winds are blowing pretty fast. I mean, there is no way anybody can really get anywhere today. The snow is just up to my knees pretty much, and it's just coming down really hard.

PHILLIPS: And so do you think that there's been enough preparation to handle the massive amounts of snow?

PADILLA: I think that they have, they've done well. The news prepared us days in advance. Everybody went to the grocery store. You know, last night about 7:00 if you wanted a loaf of bread, it probably didn't happen. But I think everybody is ready as best as they could be.

PHILLIPS: What's a normal day for you and what's your day going to be like today?

PADILLA: A normal day would be getting up, going to work and I do travel a lot with my work as far as within the state, so, you know, that's definitely not going to happen today. I'm just going to be staying inside. I don't plan on going anywhere at all today.

PHILLIPS: All right. Amy, keep us posted. Appreciate you calling in. PADILLA: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: And now our other major story this hour, the crisis in Egypt, a nation on edge, a presidency on the line. Live pictures now of Tahrir Square in Cairo. In Arabic, Tahrir means liberation. These protesters are demanding that and they're demanding that Hosni Mubarak surrender his power. It's day eight now of a possible revolution and a national revelation. This is the human face of the uprising. People here have discovered the power of their voice and the strength of their numbers. They have also witnessed the dangers of a desperate government trying to hold on. Those flashes of violence mostly contained, but the stakes and the tensions rising.

You're going to see here just a second an Egyptian soldier panicking in the face of a growing crowd.

There he is right there. And yet the anger seems to be giving way to optimism, however. The emerging leader of the opposition says that change is inevitable and the White House needs to take a stand for democracy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMED ELBARADEI, OPPOSITION LEADER: You need to review policy. You need to let go of Mubarak. You shouldn't be behind the curve. You need to start building confidence with the people and not with the people who are smothering the people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, CNN has deployed its vast resources to cover all the angles of this developing story. We got a number of crews standing by across Cairo and Alexandria, and we also have correspondents in London and at the Pentagon. We are following millions of points in between the internet, the social media sites that have become a huge player in this uprising.

CNN's Ivan Watson has actually been on hand as the crowds have grown. He joins us now live right there in the center of Tahrir Square. Ivan, you can hear us OK?

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra. We are in Tahrir Square here where you can see it's becoming not only is this a historic demonstration, huge numbers that we haven't seen over the course of more than a week of protests, but also there is also an element of a sit-in here, with people who have built tents and they've been camping out here since last night saying that they're going to stay here and use this place as a symbol of opposition to the government of Hosni Mubarak.

I would like to introduce to you this gentleman here named (INAUDIBLE). I just met him. He's a consultant. Why are you here today? And it seems like you're here with your family?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I'm hear to stand with the people on a historic moment of demanding the president peacefully to leave. 30 years, he had time enough to give all of his thoughts and all of his ideas, and this is not enough for the people's expectations.

WATSON: And Kyra, that is the sentiment that this gentleman has just expressed that many people around us say over and over, carry signs (INAUDIBLE) Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

WATSON: They carry signs that say "Game Over." There are signs with Hosni Mubarak's face in it with a red cross through it, and the people are just going on and on as saying that they want to have a choice in who their next leader will be. At a very important point here when they hear I'm an American citizen, they say over and over again, send a message to your government. Tell your government to stop supporting this man. We want to choose our next leader. Why do they say that? Because the U.S. provides $2 billion in aid to the Egyptian government year after year.

It is perceived to be the strongest supporter of a man they no longer want to lead their country, and, Kyra, I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave it at that because I can no longer hear you in Atlanta. Just to say that many of the people here are calling this a revolution.

PHILLIPS: All right, Ivan. We will keep trying to check in with you. And just to double check, I want to make sure, can you hear me? No, we did lose communication with him.

WATSON: I can hear you now.

PHILLIPS: You can hear me.

WATSON: I can hear you.

PHILLIPS: Fabulous. I have been following you on twitter, and I think you have your Blackberry in your hand. Are you able to tweet from there or has that been cut off, Ivan?

WATSON: The only communication we have with the outside world via internet when we use the satellite phone that my signal is coming to you right now. The government's decision to shut down the internet with Facebook and other social networking sites being used to help start this protest movement by the youth here - the only way people can communicate with the outside world via internet is with satellite phones.

That is really a dramatic decision because what they have effectively done is cut off a significant portion of the Egyptian economy and the global economy as you can imagine. How can you conduct credit transactions? How can you do banking if there is no internet? The stock market has been closed for days, and even the newly designated vice president estimates that Egypt has suffered losses of more than $1 billion just in the past week alone and it will take some six months at this rate to recover.

There is a war of attrition right now between the demonstrators, who are demanding to keep this demonstration going for Hosni Mubarak to step down, and the president himself, because these people are suffering as a result of these protests. The price of food has gone up. The price of cigarettes have gone up. 40 percent of Egyptians live on less than $2 a day, and if they can't go out there and earn money, their children do not eat, but many of these people say they are just not going to stop until this president steps down. Back to you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Yes. I am seeing a time line that they want him out by this Friday. Well, it looks peaceful and it has remained calm. Our Ivan Watson right there in the middle of the square where those thousands of protests have shown up today demanding that Hosni Mubarak leave power.

Ivan, thanks so much.

And now, let's travel from Cairo to the other Egyptian city that has thousands of protesters as well. CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is in Alexandria, and he joins us by phone. Nic, I have been following you too on twitter. It seems like you've been able to get more tweets out than Ivan has. Bring us up to day on the protests there, how many people do you think are participating? And are you able to communicate, still, via your Blackberry?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (ON THE PHONE): You know, today, the Blackberry is not working as well as it has been, and my iPhone is working better than it has been, that is, been able to get some data out but it's been really sporadic, up and down. One hour one phone works, one hour the other phone works. I have been communicating by making phone calls to my wife and she is tweeting for me on my tweet page. That's how I'm staying connected, and that's how people here are doing it as well. They're calling friends on the outside who can send messages.

What we're seeing here in Alexandria today is by far the biggest single demonstrations so far. We've seen demonstrations moving in to collect one square just away from the city center close to a large army base her but not on top of it. Very close to it. People there are coming in from many different directions. It's very hard to put an exact figure on how many people would be here, but they are filling several large, wide, city streets. In excess of about 20,000, possibly tens of thousands more than that still making their way to that square even though the curfew is already in place. What's interesting to listen to today from some of the young activists who were behind the Facebook, Twitter efforts to get people out beginning these demonstrations a week ago now.

They are saying they are a little concerned about the different groups that they thing are coming out and sort of hijacking the leadership. They're pointing at the Muslim Brotherhood and they're pointing at other opposition leaders saying "why didn't you organize these demonstration and why are you coming out now"? But most people are telling us that the main thing is just to remove President Mubarak. That's what they want and I said, OK, what next? They say, that really doesn't matter, but we are also hearing voices of people saying, OK, we're getting a clearer idea of what should come next. There should be elections within a couple of months. We should have international - they're even saying that, perhaps, the vice president who has been appointed could stay as an interim power as long as he says that there will be elections in the future. So beginning to hear some sort of clearer ideas of what people want beyond President Mubarak's remove.

PHILLIPS: Nic Robertson calling in to us from Alexandria. Nic thanks so much..

Well, straight ahead, what would thieves want with $5,000 worth of candy? Well, either pretty big sweet tooth or they're making cash somewhere. We'll tell you what's happening.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Let's go cross country with some sweet little gut bombs, shall we?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoopee pie, whoopee pie. I love a whoopee pie.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Who doesn't love a whoopee pie. If you're a Mainer, you sing its praises. And it means legislators now back to whoopee pie the state's official dessert but critics say why would glorify anything that uses lard as its main ingredient. All right. Check out the security camera, near Richmond, Virgiani, five finger discounts? No, not here. These candy thieves are taking a whole load of boxes. Police figure these guys stole about $5,000 worth of sweets from several convenience stores. That's a lot of Skittles, the three were arrested and they're not snickering anymore.

Fletcher, North Carolina, Baptist Church on Sunday, no less. Some members want the long-time pastor to leave over money issues, others want him to stay. Well, at some point, words turn to blows.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) to come in here to fight. Don't you understand, this is the house of god. Don't you understand? This is god's house. They don't understand. This is so wrong! This is so wrong!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, it took 30 cops to break up that Baptist brawl. No one was hurt or arrested, thank goodness.

Up next, Charlie Sheen's network has to do some fancy footing around now that their tar is back in rehab.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: Well, more trouble for TV's number one comedy. Filming "Two and A Half Men" has stopped while its star, Charlie Sheen, entered rehab last week. We're told the CBS ordered two additional episodes of shows sit-coms like "Mike and Molly" and rules of engagement to fill that programming gap. Still no word on how long Sheen may be absent from the show or how many episodes will be affected.

Halle Berry's custody battle getting a little nasty. The actress announced that she is quitting her upcoming film "New Year's Eve" to fight here ex for custody of their daughter. Her rep told CNN that Berry "has attempted to resolve these custody issues but her daughter's father, Gabriel Aubrey, directly but given his lack of cooperation, Halle has no choice but to seek swift judicial intervention. Reports say that Katherine Heigl has been hired to replace per.

And actress Christina Applegate is a mom. Sadie Grace was born January 27t in Los Angeles. This is the first child for Applegate and her fiancee, musician, Martyn Lenoble.

Egypt's treasures, King Tut artifacts, a wealth of world gems tucked inside a museum at the heart of the Cairo protests. Looters have already made their way inside. We are talking to Egypt's antiquities' chief about what's on the line.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Stock market opening bell rang just about an hour ago. Dow industrials up almost 90 points.

Some people would rather give up food than the Internet. And if you think I'm kidding, I've got back up on that. CNN's business correspondent Stephanie Elam in New York. I wonder what Steph thinks?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Me and food are friends. I'm not giving up my food.

PHILLIPS: I'm telling you. That is the last thing I'm going to give up. I'm eating for three right now.

ELAM: Exactly. You definitely need your food. But would you take a look at this, Kyra, if you have to choose, which one would you give up? Would you give up your cable, would you give up your internet or would you give up your cell phone service? Which one would you pick?

PHILLIPS: Oh, boy, out of cable, internet and cell phone? I'd give up cable.

ELAM: Yes, me, too. We get it at work. Yes, 49 percent of people said they would give up cable as well. Mobile phones, 37 percent, and then there's food and then there's the internet, which I thought it was pretty interesting there. But some people who said they would give up cable say "hey, I can still see my shows. I can go online and see them. There are other ways to do that. They can get around not seeing those cable shows they like. But for a lot of people, I just thought it was surprising though, food. Like, you can't go on the internet if you are dead. Someone should tell them that. I don't know.

PHILLIPS: All right. We're hearing about - this is really random how we transition to this. Bathroom mirror ads.

ELAM: Yes, well, you know, things you need, you need a bathroom. I guess, it's kind of like that, Kyra. But yes, these are new ads that are going to be put in starting in O'Hare Airport, which based on the amount of snow they are going to get, this may be entertaining for some people who may be stranded there. But take a look at this - this is a company that you may have heard of. Clear Channel Outdoor, and they are working with a company called Mirrors. And they are putting these special mirrors with an advertisement. It will take up the whole ad, either still pictures or video and then as the person comes close to the mirror, the video or add going to put still pictures or video, and as a person cups close to the mirror, the video or ad goes up to the top right corner like that.

So, you can see it up there in the top right corner. They are planning on taking them nationwide to airports and also to some sports venues. But imagine that. They will have sensors to determine how long people stand in front of the mirrors. So, Kyra, be aware you're being watch.

PHILLIPS: That's a little too much for bathroom, all right. Steph, thanks.

Well, a massive winter storm in the nation's midsection, blizzard warnings and now tornado threats in the south and a 2,500 mile long storm that could impact 100 million Americans. Rob Marciano joins me now from Chicago. The storm hasn't hit there yet, right, Rob?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Not officially. But, you know, you could say that the storm hasn't hit places like New York or Boston yet but they are still getting winter weather. The size and scope of this thing is truly remarkable, and the expanse. I mean, it is reaching out from the southwest to Colorado Rockies all the way up to the Canadian Maritimes, and everyone is slowly getting a piece of this.

It is biting cold right now in Chicago. It is snowing right now. We got about two or three inches of snow from the initial pulse last night, kind of the front-runner of this storm, but that so far is about it. We're not into a blizzard warning until 3:00 this afternoon.

So, you know, right now, Chicago is up and running. A matter of fact -

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll be tracking it. That's for sure, too. Thanks, Rob.

In Egypt, we are watching a possible revolution. A sea of protesters washing over Cairo's Tahrir Square again this morning, calling it the March of Millions although they didn't march. They stayed there in Liberation Square. They are demanding that their president, Hosni Mubarak, surrender his power. Violence has come in flashes but the army says there will be none of that today.

Cairo's a city where the past and present collide. Soldiers stand guard outside the Egyptian Museum, home to thousands of historical treasures, including 3,000 year-old artifacts from the reign of King Tut. Looters actually got in there. And it is not just a nation's heritage. It's a people's history. This picture shows that Egyptians are willing to stand and protect it.

Dr. Zahi Hawass is a renowned archaeologist who has been appointed Egypt's minister of antiquities. We've talked to him a number of times here on CNN. He is joining us once again from the phone in Cairo. Doctor, the last time we talked, it was exciting news surrounding King Tut's discoveries - around King Tut.

But today we are talking about a rather more disappointing story, and that's the fact that looters actually went into the museum during all of these protests. What did you see, and what did you observe that was pretty heartbreaking to you?

DR. ZAHI HAWASS, EGYPT'S ANTIQUITIES MINISTER (via phone): You know, I want to tell you, two things happened on Friday. The first, that some people entered the Cairo museum at night. About nine people. Those nine people actually were so lucky that the museum was dark. They could not see cases full of gold and things like this. They were looking for gold, and actually they did open 13 showcases, and they stole 70 objects in the gallery.

When they were trying to go out, the objects, they were caught. Guess by whom? By young people who protected the museum and the army. We opened the museum yesterday, and we looked at the objects. The objects can be restored, and nothing is stolen from the Cairo Museum --

PHILLIPS: That's the good news.

HAWASS: The second thing is that another store in Siani (ph), (INAUDIBLE)that was full of antiquities, the Bedouin attacked it and took objects. But the good news, today, we returned the objects back. The Bedouin brought the objects back.

And I want to tell you that the fights in Luxor, which has the Tomb of King Tut and contains the objects, (INAUDIBLE), and also the pyramids of Giza are safe. Twenty-four museums in Egypt, completely safe. The (INAUDIBLE) museum and the Islamic museum.

And I want to tell you, who protects this (INAUDIBLE)? And the people have to know that the monuments of Egypt are safe. The Egyptians, the young people, the students, men everywhere, they did hold the sticks, and they defended the monuments. And that really makes me very happy, and I want to assure you that Egyptians antiquities are safe now. PHILLIPS: That is so good to hear, because it was really hard to see those photos of these antiquities being thrown on the floor, broken. We saw, in particular, Dr. Hawass, the statue of the king on a panther --

HAWASS: You know, my dear --

PHILLIPS: Yes?

HAWASS: -- if you come and enjoy my excavations one day and see the objects that they discover from the tombs, they will be in ruins. We restore them and put them in museums. What you saw in the photographs of the 70 objects, and that statue of King Tut above the tiger will be restored. And they will go back inside the cases, and things will be safe. I always say to people, if Cairo museum is safe, Egypt will be safe.

PHILLIPS: And that would be an absolute honor to join you at some point --

HAWASS: Thank you very much.

PHILLIPS: -- as you go out on a dig. That would truly be a fantastic experience for me. I'm going to take you up on that!

Great news to here that the security is in full force and that you are able to restore what was broken. Dr. Zahi Hawass, it's always great to hear from you. Thanks so much for calling

HAWASS: Thank you very much.

PHILLIPS: OK.

The government urging Americans to shake the salt. But is that even possible? Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to tell you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: The average American consumes about 3,400 milligrams of sodium a day, but new government guidelines say that most people should reduce their sodium intake to 1,500 milligrams, or about a half a teaspoon per day. The problem is, it's hard to measure it. Ninety percent of that sodium that people consume comes from restaurants or packaged food, not a salt shaker. Chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta shows us what to look for.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: There's a study that came out that said if you get down to two grams per day, we could potentially save about 150,000 lives a year simply from that one thing.

Frozen foods. They're going to have a lot of sodium in there for lots of different reasons, but mainly because sodium is a good preservative. That's why it's in there. But also canned foods. You know, a lot of parents, again, like me, will go to canned foods. The problem is you get about 950 grams, almost a gram of sodium just from something like this, far too much for an adult and far too much for most kids as well.

Cereals, also, obviously an important food choice for -- for many homes. Make sure to read those labels again.

One thing about reading labels as well, when you're reading labels, try and find foods or foods like this that have less than five ingredients. That's really going to help.

But when it comes to that sodium again, one thing that we do in our house, we never leave crackers or cookies just sitting out in a big box. We'll pour a little bit into a small table, and that's really important to -- to try and find some salt substitutes as well.

We don't leave saltshakers out there. But if you find a substitute like this, no salt, for example, or just some flavorings, you can both cut down on your sodium, increase your potassium and possibly solve a lot of those problems.

Simply put, the Institute of Medicine, the scientific arm of the National Academy of Science, is urging the FDA to start regulating how much salt is in all of our foods. Foods you buy at the grocery store, like you just saw there, food in restaurants, as well. Saying we should come up with a national average, sort of trying to predict how much salt people are getting in any particular day and start to slowly bring that down in an incremental way.

They say, look, we have known about the relationship between salt and hypertension, stroke, heart disease, all the things just mentioned, for a long time, decades now. And public education campaigns simply haven't worked. So it's time for the FDA to get more involved. That's what the IOM, the Institute of Medicine is sort of saying.

Now, again, for some of these average products, like the can of soup you saw, it may mean a significant reduction overall in the amount of sodium because as things stand now, that single can of soup has your entire day's sodium, so you start to really need to bring that down because you're going to eat other foods throughout the day. Overall, they want to get people more to the level of about 1,500 milligrams to 2 grams per day, depending on your health history, some sort of medical problems you may have had in the past.

Most people seem to be buying into this. The FDA is sort of going to mull it over for a time being, then have public, open hearings about it. There is a Salt Institute, which we talked to as well. They say, look, this essentially comes down to regulating what are lower levels of salt, they say. And carrying it out is sort of like conducting a clinical trial on all of society, so they are not supporting this.

But again, that Stanford study just not that long ago, last month, said if you simply cut down the sodium across society, across the United States -- about half on average, you could save 150,000 lives a year. And that's something that a lot of people are paying attention to. So, some interesting news there possibly coming out of the FDA. We'll keep tabs on it and bring it to you.

Back to you now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Our Sanjay Gupta.

And if you live in the Midwest or up North, hitting the road will soon be a bad idea if it isn't already. This poor guy in Oklahoma City is learning that lesson the hard way. We're going to take you there live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, possible presidential candidate Mitt Romney is taking a swing at president Obama as well as Republican critics of his Massachusetts health care plan.

Peter Hamby has that story from the CNNpolitics.com desk. But first, we've got some breaking news. Peter?

PETER HAMBY, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: We do. This is just in from our senior political editor, Mark Preston. Charlotte, North Carolina will be the site of the Democratic National Convention in 2012. Charlotte was one of four finalists Democrats had on the table, along with St. Paul, St. Louis and Cleveland, Ohio. Charlotte has been picked. This is a very important state for Barack Obama's presidential map in 2008. They do want to win it again, obviously, in 2012. So, this is a sign they are going to be competitive in that state. And this is obviously big news for Charotte. They haven't hosted a convention before.

Also, just so you know, the Republicans are hosting their convention next year in Tampa, Florida. But, as you mentioned, Mitt Romney in the news today on the Republican side. He's doing a round of media interviews, including tonight on Piers Morgan here on CNN. He told ABC this morning when asked about Romney-care, his health care plan in Massachusetts that he implemented - this is a big liability for him because it sort of mandates people purchase health insurance.

He says he's not apologizing for his health care plan. He's saying that, you know, he went in one direction. There are other possible directions. He is going to have to keep answering questions on this as he moves toward the Republican primary. So, we'll have to watch what he says about that.

If Romney runs for president, New Hampshire will be a beachhead for him. This is a state -- he has property there, campaigned there for many years, has a robust network of support. Well, New Hampshire could be the site of a big presidential forum in a couple of months. The conservative group Americans for Prosperity announced late last night they are going to have a big presidential forum. They've invited the likes of Sarah Palin, Jim DeMint, Mitt Romney, Haley Barbour, all of these names in this wide-open GOP field. That will be in April. We will see who commits to do that because it's still sort of early in this delayed nominating process, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Peter Hamby, thank you so much. And of course, we'll have your next political update in just about an hour. And a reminder, for all of the latest political news, you can always go to our Web site, 24/7, CNNpolitics.com.

A hundred million people getting sucker punched by this massive snowstorm. It is even affecting Dallas, the city that's hosting the Super Bowl. I'm sure they're glad that stadium is covered and heated. We're covering the snowstorm. We will also check in with our reporters in the field. Actually, in the snow. That's next.

(COMMERICAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Got a lot to update you on with regard to this powerful winter storm that could impact 100 million people. Heavy snow and ice spreading from New Mexico to Maine. High winds bringing down power lines.

We've got reporters out in the field all across the country. We will check in with them for just a moment. More than 4,000 flights have been cancelled. Also, Jacqui Jeras, 600 National Guard members on alert right now in Illinois.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, that's just in Illinois, not to mention hundreds of others in other states. We have four states that have declared states of emergency already. That's Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas and Illinois. We have blizzard warnings in effect for eight states, and you can see about 30 states now are under the warnings.

The worst of it right here into the nation's heartland where blizzard-type conditions coming down, heavy snowfall accumulations, as well as freezing rain, the kind that coats everything and causes power outages.

We'll go ahead and show you the radar picture. We have a tornado watch, too, by the say, for parts of Mississippi as well as Louisiana. The I-44 corridor right here between Oklahoma City and St. Louis, the worst location in the nation, and a place you should not be traveling right now. We've heard some rumors parts of it are closed down. We are trying to confirm that for you right now. The snowfall accumulating an inch or two per hour. And the ice -- those of you seeing the freezing rain, including in the St. Louis area, that's accumulating about a tenth of an inch an hour.

Let's go to our CNN's Ed Lavandera, who's been in Oklahoma City all morning long, where the wind is just whipping everything sideways! Ed, I see you are bundled up. That's good to see. How are conditions there in OK City?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Doesn't matter how much you bundle up today, you will still feel cold. I can promise you that. And Jacqui, what's interesting, in the last hour or so, we really kind of felt the temperature, and just feeling colder. The wind chill clearly kind of starting to below minus 10 degrees. And when you come out in the cold, it doesn't take long for your face and cheeks to start freezing up.

But it's the wind that's we're talking about. It is rolling through here in the downtown area as snow has fallen. But what really gives you the best indication, I think we can finally get a good shot of it -- it gets obscured -- but check out the American flag and the flag just below it, the Oklahoma City Thunder basketball team flag. And you can really see how the flags are whipping around in this wind.

Believe it or not, we've just a little while ago we spoke with officials from Oklahoma Emergency Management Office, and they were saying that they have a number of stranded motorists along roadways across Oklahoma that they've had to use the National Guard to go rescue some of those people.

Jacqui, as you well know, being caught out in the weather in cold temperatures, if your car breaks down or you run out of gasoline, it is a very treacherous and dangerous situation. Jacqui

JERAS: Thank you very much. Again, we are getting reports across Oklahoma, of snowdrifts between one and three feet. That wind really whipping things around. The snowfall accumulation is going to be heavy all across the nation's midsection. Here you can see that forecast snowfall totals. And it's really this big strip here from just outside Oklahoma City up toward Chicago and Detroit, where we could see 10 to 20 inches of snow.

Now, the other big story with the storm is the ice accumulation or the freezing rain that comes down and coats everything, making it impossible to drive and causing those power outages and bringing down trees. And St. Louis has been getting that freezing rain and sleet for a couple of hours now. And that's where we find our CNN's Reynolds Wolf. Reynolds, how bad are things getting there in St. Louis?

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEORLOGIST: It is getting progressively worse hour by hour. I can tell you that we are indeed in St. Louis, and if you want proof, take a look here. We've got the arch for you. From the arch, we have all kinds of freezing rain coming down, in fact, some of it right on the lens. Our CNN photojournalist John Person might have to give a little dipsy-do on the lens for the moment.

And the rain obviously not just also affecting the lens, also affecting, well, limbs. Not lenses. Take a look. This pine tree just coated with tons of this ice, and this is only a small sample of what we are seeing across the region. What's amazing about this stuff, if you happen to be tuning in say, from Miami or even parts of southern California and you've never been in a place where you have this type of precipitation, what happens -- you have these water droplets that fall from the shallow layer of the atmosphere, from about a thousand feet to the surface, it's freezing! So, by the time they hit something like a tree branch, it bonds instantly. And it's not just branches. It's power lines, it's the roadways, street signs, all kinds of stuff and it's going to cause many issues. As we walk over here, you can see the roadways; cars are fine for the time being but Jacqui, as you know very well - you spend a lot of time in the Midwest -- when you have this stuff continuing to come down, we will see some issues piling up on the roadways, and obviously, as you mentioned, at the airports as well.

That the quick story of what's happening here in St. Louis. Jacqui, let's kick it back to you in the studio.

JERAS: All right. Thanks, Reynolds. Yes, we are getting some reports of accidents all across the St. Louis area and we've also heard of a bunch in parts of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.

Speaking of Dallas, airports there right now still remain closed according to FAA Web site. We have delays in San Francisco, Atlanta and Philadelphia. About a half an hour. And Houston Hobby looking at some departure delays, around 40 minutes. There you can see flight tracker of all the planes in the air. They are not flying through that freezing rain. That's going to be one of the biggest concerns. And the winds are going to be gusting and whipping as much as 40s miles per hour. Chicago will probably see no flights in and out of there later on tonight.

We will continue to keep you up to date. The latest on this winter storm. You can also track it on CNN.com. Kyra is right back in the NEWSROOM after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, this story will literally take your breath away. A Chinese military training drill starring Maverick, Slider, Goose and Iceman. The only thing missing were the cheesy power ballads and the funny outtakes. Here's Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Take off those sunglasses, Tom Cruise, and look where you might have ended up. China's state television, CCTV, was showing a training drill of Chinese fighter planes doing maneuvers, but someone online noticed that missile strike looked awfully familiar.

TOM CRUISE, ACTOR (acting): Taking the shot!

MOOS: It sure looks like the final dog fight in the movie "Top Gun." "OMG! Tom Cruise has defected!" said one post. "The Wall Street Journal" grabbed the footage before it was taken down from the CCTV Web site and slow-mo'd it to show the debris patterns matched. Maybe CCTV just need a glitzy shot, fast.

CRUISE: I feel the need - the need -- for speed! Oww!

MOOS: CCTV did not feel the need for speed when we asked for comment but gave a "no comment" to others. (on camera): "Top Gun" backfiring on the Chinese reminds us of another doctored missile photo that blew up on the Iranians.

MOOS (voice-over): Iran's Revolutionary Guard's Web site first published a site of four missiles going up. Then bloggers noticed one of the four seemed to be a composite of the others. The Iranians later updated the shot showing three missiles. One theory was they put in an extra missile to cover up a dud.

At the time, CNN did its own demo.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: We put this picture in Photoshop to sort of show you how easy it is, smoke from the bottom of another missile over here, which it looks like they did because this cloud matches over here. And then you just grab up here some of the missile there. And you sort of add that in --

MOOS: Even if it doesn't add up, these days you can't believe your eyeballs even when they're seeing great balls of fire.

Jeanne Moos, CNN --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!

MOOS: -- New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Maybe CCTV will use all of the right moves to flush out its Super Bowl highlights.

Now we take it over to Suzanne Malveaux, who picks it up from here.

What a movie, Suzanne. A colt classic.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, yes. Absolutely. Love that movie.

Thanks, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right.