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Hundreds Wounded, One Killed in Cairo Violence; Snow Blizzard's Next Stop New England; 11,000-Plus Cancelled Flights; Chicago Snow Breaks Records; White House Press Briefing; Mubarak Government Speaks Out; Super Bowl Wow Recipes
Aired February 02, 2011 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Suzanne, thanks. Great coverage.
It's kept us riveted on the situation, in Egypt, and our weather situation, here in the united states. So, we're go going to continue both of that -- both of those stories. It's 1:00 pm in the east. Take a look at what I'm showing you, on the screen, right now.
On the top left of your screen is the White House briefing room. We are expecting the White House briefing, the daily briefing, to start just moments from now, and we know there will be a lot of discussion about what is going on at the White House visa-vi this fast-moving story, this ever evolving story in Egypt. That is the top of your screen. On the right side, that is our live shot of Tahrir Square, the central square, in Egypt, where, as you just heard, there are reports of violence.
Earlier we saw police on camels and horses storming in there, and there are battles, at some points through the course of the day, that have been going on between pro and anti-Mubarak protesters. We're check in in Cairo to see where that's going.
And right in the middle of your screen is Chicago. Now, still getting snow as a result of the storm. Twenty-five hundred mile storm that has affected 30 states hitting about 100 million people. We're going to bring you up to speed on what's going on in that storm, where the dangers lie, where it's going, and how it's affecting your travel.
This storm has brought various forms of misery to three quarters of the nation. I'm talking one in three Americans. It's crossed the Midwest, it's racing toward New England, now. And that, by the way, is the good news. If you're going to blizzards and ice storms and thunderstorms and thunder snow, you at least want the storm to move quickly. That bad news, of course, is all around.
Take a look, O'Hare Airport in Chicago, technically open, but don't expect air traffic. More than, I don't know, 2,000 flights have been cancelled at O'Hare, alone, just for today. I think, I read that it was about 10,000 flights over today and tomorrow, in total. Since yesterday, Chicago has, officially, picked up more than 19 inches of snow, and a blizzard warning is in effect for three more hours. The same blizzard brought almost as much snow to Oklahoma and was followed by plummeting temperatures. Even now, wind chill readings are well below zero. Actual temperatures are in the single digits, not something you always associate with this heavy a snowstorm.
I want to start where the worst might still be ahead, however. Boston bracing for snow and sleet and freezing rain.
My colleague Allan Chernoff is there, now. Allan, what are things looking like in Boston?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Ali, we're getting a momentary -- I would say, momentary respite, right now, because it's just spitting us on just a little bit. It had been raining for four hours straight, real cold rain. But at least it wasn't freezing. The problem, now, is the temperature is dropping rapidly, and, so, if you look over here, this is very typical of what you've got throughout the streets, a slushy mess. And you know that is turning to ice.
And on top of that, we've still got plenty of snow piled up all over the city. Come with me over here and you'll see a pile five feet high. The next block has a pile that's ten feet high. All over Boston, big piles of snow, a big problem here, especially, because some of the streets are fairly narrow. Now, what they've been doing is they've been bringing lots of this snow to what they call snow farms, basically, just dumping it there. They've got six of them. They've added a seventh now. There has been talk of dumping it into the Boston Harbor. That is not permitted by environmental regulations. The city has not made that request.
But one state senator has said, you know what? We've got to get rid of this snow. Throw it into the water, but, of course, that would add pollutants. This is not entirely clean snow. And, Ali, by the way, this stuff has been here for a good long time. You've got ice over here at least a week. Ali, they've gotten over 70 inches of snow in Boston over the past 32 days, and people are sick of it, frankly.
VELSHI: All right, Allan.
CHERNOFF: A deep freeze could be treacherous, tomorrow -- Ali.
VELSHI: All right. Well, we'll stay on it with you. Allan Chernoff in Boston with us. Tell us what Allan can look forward to.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I have news for him. When that melts, it's going to go into the harbor anyway. I mean, so is all that stuff. You know, that's why you hate to put all the salt and stuff into your snow when you don't have to because it, eventually, goes into your water source.
Boston is, essentially, done. OK, it has warmed up to 32, 33 degrees, but, tonight, it's going to refreeze. That's it. No more additional precip for Boston. The additional precip is Bangor, New England, back up farther and farther and farther to the north. And then the lake effect snow machine is kicking in here, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, for sure. This wind (ph) is going to be right along the lake, right into Buffalo. The biggest spot, right there, is now about east Chicago, not quite to Gary, Indiana, but there's a band coming off of Lake Michigan.
VELSHI: So, we missed -- we're by the airport, now. We're done.
MYERS: Chicago's done. Now, it's all clean-up. That's the -- that's the thing. We are talking about clean-up. What do you do about the clean-up? Can the airports get back on their feet?
VELSHI: They'll have to.
MYERS: Philadelphia is slowed down. That ground stop doesn't mean everything's stopped.
VELSHI: Right.
MYERS: That ground stop means, that if there are planes, from a certain location, trying to get to Philadelphia.
VELSHI: They can come in.
MYERS: They have -- if they're on the ground, at their departure, they have to stay there.
VELSHI: Got it.
MYERS: As soon as all the planes that are in the air get out and the congestion -
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: This is a congestion management. It's their traffic control management problem.
MYERS: Yes, exactly. Milwaukee, New Haven, those are the ones that are -- and, you said, O'Hare, yes, OK.
VELSHI: The airport's open, but nothing's happening.
MYERS: But you can come in and have a hot dog.
VELSHI: Yes.
MYERS: That's, basically -- that's what it means when it -- when it says open. The snow is to the north. Notice, all the way through Boston, Scranton, Pittsburgh, nothing. Nothing, really, for them at all.
Here are the numbers, and they are astounding.
VELSHI: Wow.
MYERS: When you think about the spread of this, we had 12 inches in Tulsa. We had 17 inches in Springfield, Missouri. We had 20 inches in Mexico, Missouri. We have 21 inches in Racine, Wisconsin. So, the breadth of this as it goes across the country from the southwest, where it had ice in Dallas, now all the way up into New England --
VELSHI: That's a big storm. MYERS: A big storm that remained as strong all the way through. It didn't fizzle out.
VELSHI: Tell me, because Allan said Boston's having snow, it's accumulated snow over 30 days now. Is there something behind this?
MYERS: Yes.
VELSHI: Yes?
MYERS: Yes, there's more.
VELSHI: All right. We've been talking a lot about Chicago where it's not over, but the -- it's on the east side, right now. Let's go to Chicago. Take a look at that live picture in Chicago. Looks pretty clear, right now, but, I guess, at this point, Chad, it's about where our cameras are, because if you're east heading towards Indiana, southeast of Chicago, you're probably still getting it.
MYERS: If you're on the turnpike in Indiana or Illinois, you're trying to go south of Chicago, you're going to be in sunshine. Sunshine. It's going to be beautiful. And, then, for five miles your visibility is zero. If you get stuck there and you can't move, you might be there all night. Remember, we had this story in Ontario not more than two, three weeks ago.
VELSHI: Yes, that's right, that's right. Trying to get across the border to Sarnia, and everybody just, like, stay home and stop, you can't get there. Sandra Endo, whenever I see her and it's a weather story, I know it's a problem, because it means people are stranded somewhere or they can't get out from the airport. Sandra is in Chicago. Where are you at, Sandra, and how does it look?
SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ali, I'm right here on Michigan Avenue. I can tell you the snow has finally, finally eased up just a little bit, but it's been slamming Chicago, which is really the epicenter of this whole blizzard, for hours. And, already, 19.5 inches of snow has fallen here. And that makes this the third worst storm in the city's history. And Michigan Avenue is slowly getting cleared out because the plows have been working furiously all morning long.
We're, finally, being able to see some of the black pavement on Michigan Avenue. Cars are slowly making their way across which was very dangerous conditions, yesterday. Lake Shore Drive was shut down because of so many stranded motorists and vehicles because of the severe snow drifts up to waist high. And, finally, officials, here, say that the fire department, actually, rescued all 100 people who were stranded.
And I can tell you that there are major snow drifts all around downtown Chicago. Some people are waking up, coming out, taking pictures to see all this snow blanketing their city. But, clearly, very dangerous conditions. And we have one report of a death for one person watching the frozen waves from the lake and got caught up in those monster waves. Yes, so, tragedy, but, of course, now the big cleanup and the dig out begins -- Ali.
VELSHI: All right. Sandra, we'll check in with you. Glad to hear that the worst has passed in Chicago, but a lot of digging out to do. We'll continue to follow this story for you as it develops, as the storm moves northeast.
Here's what we're looking at, right now. The White House briefing room. We're expecting that briefing with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs to begin moments from now. Why is this important? They have the briefing every day. Some days we dip in and look at it, some days we don't. It's important, right now, because the ever-changing situation in Egypt means the White House and the president are constantly evaluating the situation and deciding, do they take a stronger position than they did? What we heard, yesterday, was that the president's envoy had sent a message, delivered a message in person to President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, to say he needs to do something, and he needs to do something fast and publicly. That resulted in last night's announcement that he will not run for election, again, in September.
But, as you can see from our developments today, in Egypt, it may not be enough. Egyptians are now turning on each other. We're getting word that at least one member of the Egyptian security forces has been killed in violent protests. More than 400 have been wounded.
Just to show you some of the images coming out of Cairo, today. CNN cameras captured supporters of the president throwing Molotov cocktails into the crowd of anti-government demonstrators. You can see them there. Anderson Cooper was on reporting about this.
Now, take a look at this. Horses and camels -- men on horses and camels. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are people on horseback charging in. Oh, my God.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: That was the scene, earlier today. There are still protesters in the square. There are clashes ongoing between pro and anti-government protesters in Egypt. Fred Pleitgen is in Cairo, right now. He joins me on the phone. Fred, what are you -- what can you tell us about what's happening now in Cairo?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Hi, Ali. I'm, sort of, in an elevated vantage point above Tahrir Square, and there, certainly, still is a lot of action going on there. I would say the crowd has gotten a little bit smaller, but they're still sort of pelting stones at each other -- throwing stones at each other as well as sticks and other things. And those Molotov cocktails are still being thrown from a roof. They're, seemingly, being thrown by pro-Mubarak demonstrators onto anti-Mubarak demonstrators. So, certainly, there is still a lot of violence going on there even though it seems as though the crowds are thinning out somewhat. Since it's getting dark, now, and getting late, now.
The other thing that I'm seeing a lot of, Ali, is ambulances who are picking up a lot of people who seem to be injured. Just ambulances coming in and out at some point. There's over a dozen right near where I am. So, certainly, the situation, here, remains very, very volatile in this area. And, at the same time, you still have some of these pro-Mubarak demonstrators actually coming in here and joining in the action -- Ali.
VELSHI: Fred, what -- is there some sense of what this is -- what's going to happen here? Is this, sort of, a petering out of pro and anti-government, pro and anti-Mubarak forces? How much of this is being fomented by either police or the military?
PLEITGEN: Well, I mean, it's really hard to say what's going to happen next. I mean, one of the things that we've been looking forward -- that we've been looking to is to see what the military is going to do. And, quite frankly, they haven't done anything, so far. They're sitting in their tanks. Those tanks are still out there. They haven't, really, tried to do anything. They're standing by. The police are still nowhere to be seen. However, there are a lot of people who believe that a lot of the pro-Mubarak demonstrators are, actually -- some of the police officers.
I had one interesting meeting, earlier today, when I got into one of these pro-Mubarak demos that people were yelling at me, and they were screaming pro-Mubarak slogans, and they were saying they would shed their blood for Mubarak. And three guys came up to me, all of a sudden, and told me that they were workers for the National Petrochemical Company and that they'd been ordered to come here and protest. So, it appears as though some of these people have actually been ordered by their higher-ups and whatever government companies, government institutions to actually come out here and do this -- Ali.
VELSHI: Fred, we are not going away from this story. We have been following in since these protesters first started. So, when you have new information, you've got an open line to our control room, just let us know what is developing.
PLEITGEN: Sure.
VELSHI: Because, as we know, there is a lot of confusion as to who is doing what in that Tahrir Square.
Right now, you are looking at live pictures. It continues. People are still out there. That square has not been emptied, at any point, for days.
Now, today, online, I asked the question. For what would you be willing to protest in the streets? You. What would make you so angry as to participate in violent protests? I'm going to read you some of your responses, in just a moment.
Let's go back to the White House where press secretary Robert Gibbs is beginning.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
QUESTION: We got your statement earlier about developments in Egypt, but I'm wondering if you could start off by telling us the president's personal reaction to the bloody chaos in the streets.
GIBBS: The president has been updated throughout the morning on this, both as a part of his PDB, as well as some written updates throughout the morning on some of these images.
The president and this administration strongly condemn the outrageous and deplorable violence that's taken place on the streets of Cairo, that's taken place on the streets of Cairo today. We have said that throughout this process. Obviously, if any of the violence is instigated by the government, it should stop immediately. That is -- has been our message throughout this.
I think this underscores precisely what the president was speaking about last night, and that is, the time for a transition has come, and that time is now. The Egyptian people need to see change. We know that that meaningful transition must include opposition voices and parties being involved in this process as we move toward free and fair elections. But that process -- that process must begin now.
QUESTION: He said last night that -- that I want to commend the Egyptian military for the professionalism and patriotism that it's shown thus far in allowing peaceful protests while protecting -- protecting the Egyptian people. What is he -- what are his thoughts this morning about the way the military is handling itself?
GIBBS: Well, again, we are -- we're watching, as -- as people are throughout the world, what is -- what is happening today. We continue to urge restraint. We continue -- I will say, what the president said last night, I do think -- I do think that the role that had been played by the military was exceedingly important in what I think many people thought might happen late last week. Again, it is imperative that the violence that we're seeing stop and that the transition that was spoken about last night begin immediately.
QUESTION: On that point, just two others, when he talked about that the transition must be meaningful, peaceful, it must begin now, a phrase that you repeated today.
GIBBS: Sure.
QUESTION: Can you explain how this situation moves from President Obama talking about change now, President Mubarak talking about change in September. Is President Obama powerless to actually make that happen?
GIBBS: Well, let's be clear that these are very fluid and dynamic events. I think what we've seen happen over the course of the past many days, quite honestly, Ben, are events that many people have not seen -- nobody's seen in their lifetime. I think you heard the president last night pretty clearly. And I'm certainly here to say that the conversation the president had with President Mubarak was direct. It was frank. It was candid. And without getting into exactly what was said, I think the message that the president delivered clearly to President Mubarak was that the time for change had come.
QUESTION: I guess I'm still trying to get at that core question of what the president, this president, can do about that.
GIBBS: Well, I think that -- I think change in all of this -- in all of these instances. What we've seen transpire, Ben, over the course of the past many days in Cairo and around Egypt has taken place as a result of change that's need to happen from within the country. You know, I think you have seen statements from throughout the world in both in the region and outside of the region where the -- where President Obama and leaders have been clear about what needs to happen. Many of these changes are going to have to happen on the ground in Egypt, and only those in Egypt will -- can determine when those demands have been satisfied. But it is clear that the Egyptian people need to see progress and change immediately.
QUESTION: And, finally, it's -- we have not had a chance to ask President Obama any questions since this crisis began. There have been at least a couple occasions that could have been open to the press but weren't. Can you explain why we haven't been able to talk to him?
GIBBS: Ben, I think you'll get a chance likely to talk to the president later in the week when Prime Minister Harper is here. We have had a couple of occasions that have been still photographers only. It's -- was -- that those were part of the coverage plans that have been in place for a bit now in terms of those events.
I will say this, Ben. I, you know, I think we have, like you all watched, a series of rapidly moving events. You've heard from the president in what's happened in Egypt. We'll continue to keep you up to date as best we can on what goes on, knowing, quite honestly, that some things in foreign policy are -- have to be done away from TV cameras. Those are the types of direct and frank talks that the president had last night with President Mubarak.
Yes, sir.
QUESTION: So it was to avoid questions on Egypt?
GIBBS: I said that it was not.
QUESTION: The president, just like the protesters on the streets in Egypt, are clearly -- is clearly unhappy with Mubarak's insistence on staying in power until the elections in September. To put pressure on him, what are the specific steps that the administration is considering? Could that include a cutoff or curtailing of aid to try to push this along?
GIBBS: Well, let me -- I want to peel these questions apart slightly. First and foremost, these are very quick, rapidly moving events. And we are watching them like you are.
The question specifically on aid. As I said, I believe last Friday, we will evaluate the actions of the government of Egypt in making and reviewing decisions about aid. That continues.
QUESTION: Secretary Clinton said that that was not under discussion as of this -- the weekend.
GIBBS: No, that's not --
QUESTION: Is that now under discussion?
GIBBS: No, no, no, that's not what she said. I think she -- go back and read the transcript. She said, had a decision been made to cut off? And she said, no. And I would say that no decision has been made. She also said later in that answer that we certainly review our assistance posture, and that's what we're doing.
QUESTION: OK, but the president says he wants Mubarak to begin the transition now.
GIBBS: Yes.
QUESTION: Is he asking him, with those words, to say that he's leaving before September, to announce his resignation, or to speed up the election process?
GIBBS: Well, man, I -- some of these, obviously, are decision that are going to be, as you heard the president say, need to be made in concert with a whole host of -- and full range of voices on the ground in Egypt. I am not going to get into a greater level of specificity as to the direct nature of the conversation that was had except to reiterate what the president said in terms of that transition beginning now.
QUESTION: And what's the level of contact right now? Is the president going to be speaking to Mubarak?
VELSHI: And we'll continue to monitor the White House press briefing with the press secretary, Robert Gibbs. Mostly, in fact, all of it's been about Egypt so far. You're looking at live pictures on the right from Tahrir Square in Egypt.
We're going to take a quick break. Our coverage of the developments in Egypt and the developments in this massive storm that we've got here in the United States continues right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right, these are pictures coming to us from our affiliate WTMJ in Milwaukee. Take a look at that. On the left side, it seems that traffic at a complete standstill. An aerial picture. A helicopter picture coming in for us. I don't know what road that is, but you can see the mess.
Here's WISN also in Milwaukee. Plows working the roads, trying to clear things out. Probably dropping a little bit of salt behind that. But you can see how much snow there actually is in this monster winter storm.
All right, more now on the incredible events unfolding in Egypt today. Reporters on the scene have heard back from pro-Mubarak supporters that their voice isn't being heard. Now, CNN strives to cover all aspects of any story, especially this one. So to that end, joining us from Cairo now is the Egyptian foreign ministry spokesperson, Hossam Zaki, who -- Mr. Zaki, welcome to the show. Thank you for being with us.
HOSSAM ZAKI, EGYPTIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON (via telephone): Thank you.
VELSHI: At the beginning of this discussion, when the protests first started, after the Tunisian events had happened, you were on our air, on CNN, saying this is not Tunisia. This will not go out of control. It appears things have gotten out of control.
ZAKI: Well, unfortunately, when you take things to the street, you don't really know what will happen next. It is true that all the government and everybody in Egypt, even the public, thought that things were going to remain under control and that even with heavy protests, things would remain under control.
It is unfortunate that things went out of control at a certain points. Not only today, by the way, but last Friday also.
VELSHI: All right, well let me ask you --
ZAKI: Nevertheless --
VELSHI: We are looking at these live pictures. We've seen the clashes today. It does not appear to involve the military. We did see police on horseback and camelback, but there are all of a sudden thousands of what the government is calling pro stability protesters. What the rest of the world is calling pro-Mubarak or pro-government protesters. Where did these people show up from? Who are they?
ZAKI: Well, I will try to explain to you as an Egyptian citizen, of course. Those people that you saw on horsebacks and camels, those are people who you would normally find in the vicinity of the pyramids, and they have been severely harmed by the destruction of tourism and the prospect of the destruction of tourism for the coming months. And they will suffer tremendously economically because of those events.
What you have seen today are not -- is not an ordinary scene. This is a scene -- a combination of very raw emotions that have been boiling for several days now. A lot of people have been watching the protests going on in Tahrir Square and following the events.
And then the president spoke last night. And his speech was a very emotional speech in which he said very important things and announced that he will not run again. I guess the explanation that we can come up is that those raw emotions with this type of speech by the president have touched a lot of people in a very spontaneous way. I know what has been circulating in some of the media, that this is instigated by the government for Mubarak.
VELSHI: Well, let me ask you this, Mr. Zaki. We have -- we obviously are working to confirm everything because we hear all sorts of things. But one of our reporters has got a picture of a pamphlet that is being distributed around the square, which says, protesters stand between you and starvation. In a city of as many millions as Cairo has, in a city where homeless people live in a cemetery, millions of them, in a city where there's great disparity between poor and rich, is the government instigating -- are they -- are you playing into the hands of people who are economically desperate in order to come up with a mob to match the anti-government mob that we've seen for the last week?
ZAKI: OK. That's a valid question. But let me answer it by saying the following. First of all, I need to clarify that I speak on behalf of the foreign ministry and we only deal with international events. But because I'm with you on the phone, I can explain to you, even as an Egyptian citizen, how it is viewed by people here.
I don't know, and I really don't care who is behind whatever pamphlet that your correspondent found.
VELSHI: Right.
ZAKI: You can find lots of them.
VELSHI: Sure.
ZAKI: Saying this or that. Saying this type of warning or warning against President Mubarak and his stay in power and so on and so forth. We -- you, as media, I think, should not focus on those little things. The bigger picture is what? The bigger picture is, we had protests in Cairo for about a week now. Those protesters called for constitutional change, government change. They had very legitimate demands.
The president, yesterday, made clear-cut, crystal clear announcement about his unwillingness to present himself for another term. So October will be the last date he will stay in power, in his post.
Second thing, two crucial amendments in the constitution that have been called for, for about five or six years now by protesters has been responded to. And other amendments to follow.
VELSHI: Right.
ZAKI: This is a road map for the future.
VELSHI: Yes.
ZAKI: Now, what the president said was, I want to take the country into stability.
VELSHI: Right.
ZAKI: I do not, and I cannot, as a son of the armed forces, cannot leave my country in anarchy or chaos.
VELSHI: OK. ZAKI: And he intends to do that. And we think this is good for our country.
VELSHI: Mr. Zaki, thank you for coming on. I hope you'll make yourself available to at least give us a different perspective on this as this situation continues to evolve. It seems like it will continue to evolve. We appreciate hearing from you.
Hossam Zaki is a spokesman with the Egyptian Foreign Ministry joining me by phone from Cairo. We'll stay on top of this story.
Well, with states drowning in debt, how far do they go to raise money? How about corporate ads in student lockers? Or selling the State Capitol building? More on the after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right. One thing that we know. We see this across the country. States are drowning in red ink. They can't balance their budgets. They've got deficits because of number of people and businesses not paying taxes. Now, it's a concern that may be affecting this nation for years to come.
Christine Romans, my good friend and the anchor of "YOUR BOTTOM LINE" joins me with some innovative ways that states are raising money.
I mean, here's the thing, Christine, there's actually been an increase in state revenue, but it's not an across the board problem. There are some states that are managing to do OK and they're a lot, including New York, and California, where these deficits are just beyond reason.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Right. In New York they have to cut $10 billion out of the budget. And you can only cut so far. You can only have furloughs and consolidate agencies and cut programs for a certain amount of time. They need to start raising revenue.
So what are the things they're trying to do? Well, the outgoing executive director of the National Governors Association, somebody who has state budgets, Ali, for more than 30 years, this is what he says. You basically have had revenues fall off a cliff. The financial meltdown and the great recession was a huge game changer. And I think it's going to last a decade in terms of state impacts.
He said, revenue in general will not recover to pre-recession levels maybe until 2014. Every year you have like six percent revenue growth for the past 20, 30 years since the '70s. And then over five quarters in 2009/2010, it just fell off a cliff, as he said.
So, how do you fix a deficit? You can rename highways for cash as they're proposing in Florida. Imagine the Disney Florida Turnpike. That's one thing you can do. You can increase toll roads. How about this, Ali? In a place with really a lot of congestion, you pay extra to drive in the HOV lane. Think of that. VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: Slashing school and Medicaid funds. You've got some places, like in Minnesota, where you have ads on the lockers. You've also got ads being painted on the top of schools in some places so that traffic overhead sees advertisements on the sides of school buses. Paying for -- I mean, Ali, it's now time to get innovative. They're going to come up with ways to raise money. You're going to feel it.
One of the things I wanted to be really clear about, when we're talking about state budget cuts, you're talking about prison populations that are going to be let go. I mean this is a story we'll be talking about the for the next several years. Cutting pre-K, cutting school bus service, cutting, you know, retirement plans for state workers.
This is just -- the financial crisis is still here on the state level.
VELSHI: Yes. And that, by the way, filters down to the city level. We'll talk about this a lot more over the coming weeks and months.
ROMANS: Sure.
VELSHI: Christine, great to see you. Be sure to tune in to "YOUR BOTTOM LINE" each Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. Eastern with Christine. "YOUR MONEY" airs Saturday at 1:00 p.m. Eastern and Sundays at 3:00.
OK. A big move today at making our drinking water safer. After the break, I'm going to tell you what the Environmental Protection Agency is up to, to make your drinking water better.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Thirty-nine minutes after the hour. Time to check developments and our top stories.
The worse storm is decades is close to -- is now pushing into the northeast. Take a look at this image from NASA. One in three Americans is feeling its effects. Parts of Illinois are already buried under record snowfall and it's still coming down. Eleven thousand flights have been grounded, three states are facing blizzard conditions. Stay with us throughout the day for detailed updates on the storm.
In today's other major story, chaos and bloodshed in Egypt. Egypt's health minister says more than 400 people have been wounded, one killed in Cairo, in clashes of pro-government forces and anti- Mubarak protesters.
People are armed with machetes, razors, and clubs. Molotov cocktails, you can see here, have been flying. Gunshots have been heard in Tahrir Square in central Egypt. And in medical news, a big move today aimed at making our drinking water safer. The Environmental Protection Agency will set a limit on the amount of chemical per chlorate as well as other toxic contaminants in our water.
Perchlorate is both a naturally occurring and man-made chemical used in fireworks, rocket fuel. It could affect proper development of fetuses and infants. Researchers say it can also affect people's thyroid function. An estimated four percent of public water systems contain the chemical.
Well, much more on the day's incredible events unfolding in Egypt just ahead. A live report on what's happening right now in Cairo.
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VELSHI: More now on the dramatic violent events in Egypt. As I mentioned, anti-government protesters fought pitched battles with supporters of President Mubarak today. At least one person was killed, more than 400 wounded in Cairo. We're looking at pictures of Tahrir Square right now.
CNN's Ivan Watson is at the heart of the demonstration. He joins us now.
Ivan, what's going on now?
IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ali, I'm coming to you from inside Tahrir square, behind the barricades of the opposition protesters who have been camping out here for days and calling for the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Now the scene is a tale of human drama that I really have not witnessed in -- perhaps ever. I mean, you have thousands and thousands of people within an area about a square mile of territory. They have barricaded themselves in.
At one end of the square, a little bit past the image of a clock tower that I'm showing you if you're watching the feed from our vantage point, there are barricades erected where periodic Molotov cocktails are thrown back and forth between the opposition demonstrators and the pro-regime supporters who have been clashing now for hours.
And amid the crowd that's milling around, that you can see hopefully in the image, are men walking around with bandages on their heads, slings on their arms. There are, I would estimate, hundreds of people who have been wounded before my eyes over the course of a battle that has been raging at the fringes of this square, really for at least six hours now. We just heard what sounds like a gunshot.
There are ambulances at the northern edge of the square that are coming in, presumably to treat some of the wounded. There's a man on loudspeaker whose been calling for victory, telling the hundreds of women who are here to stay back from the front lines. They have been predominantly helping to treat the many wounded people we've seen with wounds from the stones that are thrown back and forth, from the Molotov cocktails, and the clubbing that has taken place here.
A colossal street battle, which is amazing because very few incidents of gunfire considering how many people have been trying to beat each other to death here for the past six to seven hours. Just an incredible battle for a vital piece of territory at the heart of the Egyptian capital -- Ali.
VELSHI: Ivan, it's 8:45 at night now. Looking back to last night, are things likely to die down? We're seeing live pictures, we're seeing a lot of people there. Do they go away and come back when it's light again?
WATSON: No, they can't leave the perimeter of this area, Ali. You -- we can't leave, we're trapped right now. We're barricaded inside our location right now because events are fluid, because, basically, the reason we got into this area, we were chased by pro- regime supporters. They were assaulting journalists this morning. People chanting "Long live Hosni Mubarak" for the first time today that we've seen in more than a week of protests.
Regime supporters, they chased us, we ran in the direction of this square, and that is exactly when the street battles erupted with people hurling hundreds of stones at each other, complete pandemonium.
There was a moment of calm, Ali, where both sides were able to come to put their rocks down. They stood side by side. And then we can maybe roll the video that we filmed from this vantage point of men on horseback and camels charging into the crowd, whipping people, and then the battle erupted again.
And these demonstrators, we've talked to them, they say they're going to stay here and fight to the death to defend Tahrir, or Liberation Square -- Ali.
VELSHI: Wow, wow. And I know you've been in a lot of tough situations before, Ivan. You're used to it, you can handle it more than most, but stay safe, you and the team out there. I know it's not friendly for anybody right now.
Ivan Watson in Tahrir Square in central Egypt. We'll stay on that story.
Another major story we're following, one of the most powerful cyclones on record slammed into Australia's coast today along northern Queensland state, the same area devastated by flooding last month we were telling you about. Packing very strong winds and driving rain, the storm uprooted trees, ripped roofs off buildings, and threatened deadly storm surges.
These pictures you're looking at were taken by one of our iReporters. Cyclone Yasi is a category 5 storm. That's the highest designation on Australian's classification system. We want to give you an idea of the size of the storm, which has drawn comparisons with Hurricane Katrina, you remember the one that devastated New Orleans in 2005. Our map shows the image of the gigantic super storm imposed over the United States. Take a look the size of it. So far police report no major damage or deaths miraculously.
More than 10,000 people die in this country in crashes involving drunk drivers in a single year. Check out this number, a third of all people killed in car crashes die at the hands of drunk drivers.
In today's "Big I," a possible solution for drunk driving. How about a car that tests for blood alcohol levels? There are breathalyzer tests in the cars of convicted drunk drivers. Now one company wants to put similar tests in everyone's car.
The Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety, or DADS, was developed by a company called QinetiQ North America. It uses breath sensors or the skin of drivers. Breath sensors could be built into your car to get samples from the air. Another possibility is sensors installed on your steering wheel and on your door locks. So basically, if your blood alcohol content is higher than the legal limit, your car wouldn't start.
Now the Department of Transportation is all for these alcohol detection systems, but they won't say -- but they say we won't see anything like this for at least a decade. Check out the technology for yourself. Go to my blog, CNN.com/Ali. And then go to Facebook and Twitter and tell me what you think of this kind of idea.
All right. The Super Bowl only three days away. Coming up after this quick break, we've got a former "Top Chef" contestant, Richard Blais -- there he is, in studio -- to give us some out of this world recipe ideas. Look at that, I'm getting hungry.
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VELSHI: The Super Bowl is this Sunday. Millions people already thinking, what am I going to drink, what am I going to eat. Right now, we want to help you out in a brand new segment we've got on the show called "Eatocracy" with Richard Blais. This is him, you know him. Richard has come to us with some ideas, the first of which is Buffalo -- cause we're used to Buffalo things for sporting events --
RICHARD BLAIS, CHEF: Sure.
VELSHI: But they're not wings.
BLAIS: So, you know, I have some chicken wings. You know this is a modern version of hot wings, chicken wings, something people -- a lot of people eat on Super Bowl Sunday.
So, of course, chicken wings, a little too easy. But I do have some here, the recipe will work with chicken wings if you want to do it at home.
VELSHI: But you're using something other than chicken.
BLAIS: But we're using sweetbreads. So now sweetbreads, now I know you're a gourmand, so you know what they are.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: I like the idea of FLIP Burger, I don't know nothing about sweetbreads.
BLAIS: So these are sweetbreads. So this is a piece of meat right here from veal, these are veal sweetbreads. So it's the thymus gland actually of veal.
VELSHI: Nice.
BLAIS: But it sort of has this chicken sort of neutral sort of flavor that picks up a lot of other flavors.
VELSHI: That's what you guys always say, right? Tastes like chicken?
BLAIS: Tastes like chicken. But this really does taste like chicken.
So it's a nice way to be really creative, a sort of a nod towards fine dining.
VELSHI: All right.
BLAIS: So right here we have the sweetbreads and they're in this little plastic pouch, and this is called sous-vide cooking. And sous- vide -- this is actually the first actually sous-vide appliance for the home cook. So this is something you can do at home.
VELSHI: So basically this is hot water, but this is sealed in a bag?
BLAIS: Exactly. This is a controlled hot water bath so we can cook things perfectly and very precisely.
So we cook the sweetbreads and/or the chicken wings --
VELSHI: Is this a healthy way of eating or a healthy way of cooking?
BLAIS: It is a healthy way. It actually because none of flavor or the nutrients can actually escape the bag.
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VELSHI: You do whatever you need and then you seal it. You get this little sous-vide thing, you do it yourself.
BLAIS: So we cook them first sous-vide, that means under vacuum. And then, of course, like that sounds fun and really "cheffy," but we've got to fry it.
VELSHI: Of course, it's the Super Bowl.
BLAIS: Of course, it's the Super Bowl.
So over here we have the sweetbreads that have been fired. So just dunked in a deep fryer or even cooked in a pan, right? And we've made this sort of hot sauce. And when I say homemade, of course, that means I've used a jar, kind of.
And this is one of my favorite ingredients, sriracha, it's a Vietnamese hot sauce. And it's something really if you're not even going to make sweetbreads for the Super Bowl, you can go out and find a bottle of this. This on your table really makes anything else better.
So the sauce we've coated the sweetbreads in has a little bit of this sriracha, some fresh lime juice and a little bit of butter to give it a little bit richness.
Now we're moving to our plate. That's of course chicken wings.
VELSHI: Chicken wings with veal --
BLAIS: With veal sweetbreads, exactly. But we have all the ingredients going on here on the plate that you would have in a traditional chicken wings dish. We have our veal sweetbreads --
VELSHI: It is a little precious for a Super Bowl.
BLAIS: It is a little too precious.
VELSHI: Most of the stuff I eat for Super Bowl needs to be in a bowl, but go ahead. Don't let me interrupt.
BLAIS: Yes, I agree, but I can't stop myself. You can put it in a little plastic cup like we do at FLIP Burger. That would work.
All right, so we have our sweetbreads and then a little bit of pickled celery. Because I love chicken wings, you have the carrots and the celery, but they're just raw. There's like nothing to them. So this is a little sweet and sour pickling, some celery leaves.
And then really my favorite part of this dish is -- you've heard foam, right? This could be a little dangerous, I should go right to the counter. But this is bleu cheese dressing basically. And it's as simple as taking bleu cheese, putting it in this canister, charging it with little bit of nitrous oxide -- that sounds scary.
VELSHI: Cause we've all got that.
BLAIS: But this is something you can find at a local market.
VELSHI: Well what is it called?
BLAIS: This is a called just a cream charger. Now you go to your coffee shop and get a drink with a little whip cream, this is how they're making it. But instead of just putting whip cream in it, I put bleu cheese dressing in it. So that's going to kind of be an element of our wing dish. The neat thing, you asked about the healthy cooking with the sous-vide, because this is aerated, you're actually getting a lot more volume of the ingredient but less calories. More flavor, less calories.
VELSHI: I have to tell you, for all this stuff, I gravitate toward that. That's sort of my -- sort of my kind of Super Bowl food.
BLAIS: You know, chicken wings, chips, right? That's another big Super Bowl dish. So same thing we've got going on here. We have our beautiful -- these sweet potato chips.
VELSHI: These are your victory chips, right? You won "Restaurant Wars" with this.
BLAIS: I did win "Restaurant Wars," and we did do chips. We didn't do sweet potato ones. But wow, you watched, I'm impressed.
You haven't been to my restaurant yet.
VELSHI: I haven't. I need to come.
BLAIS: So we have our bleu cheese, whipped blue cheese. And this is simple, too. You get this and then you just can kind of fill up this little side container with this dip. It's kind of a modern version of chips and dip.
If you want one of those, go ahead.
VELSHI: Thank you, I was waiting for the invitation.
BLAIS: And, of course, Super Bowl a lot of people like to drink on Super Bowl Sunday as well. So I hear, not me.
VELSHI: That is outstanding.
BLAIS: It's good, right? And it's light. Like dip tends to be heavy, but --
VELSHI: It's like a little whipped -- it's very nice.
BLAIS: Lightens it up.
So we're going to do a drink. So I think beer, of course, very popular for the Super Bowl, but doing a signature cocktail for an event, I think, is a great way to impress your friends, impress people coming over.
So in the mixture here I have basically a margarita.
VELSHI: OK.
BLAIS: And then I can't stop but bring my favorite ingredient, liquid nitrogen.
VELSHI: I've seen this used in restaurants. It's crazy. It's smoke -- see this, Mark (ph). Take a look. Liquid nitrogen, watch this, I've seen this happen before.
BLAIS: It's actually a key ingredient to my hair. If anyone is asking.
(LAUGHTER)
BLAIS: So we have our margarita mix, and then it's as simple as I'm just going to pour the nitrogen in here. And if you come to my web site, richardblais.net, I can even show you how to do this without nitrogen.
But the neat thing about the liquid nitrogen is it's cold enough that it freezes alcohol. So you know, I know it's cold in a lot of parts the country, maybe you could have a tropical theme.
VELSHI: It's icy.
BLAIS: It's icy. You've heard of obviously a frozen margarita, but this a way to do it sort of in front of your guests. Throw a sort of --
VELSHI: Show that to Mark real quick.
BLAIS: Show a theater aspect to it.
VELSHI: Like a frozen margarita. Look at that.
BLAIS: It's a beautiful sort of sorbet there. I know you're in the middle of the day, but --
VELSHI: This is good. I know, it's a little early for me to be dipping into all this stuff.
Richard, great to see you. You're going to come back and do this a lot for us.
BLAIS: I'm going to be here every Wednesday.
VELSHI: All right, good. I'm going to learn a thing or two from you and I'm going to go to the restaurant.
Good to see you, as always, Richard Blais. You want to see more about these recipes, Richard was saying he's got it on his web site. Go to mine, CNN.com/Ali, we'll link you to his where you can learn how to do this. This isn't really all that complicated.
We're taking a quick break. We're coming back in just a second.
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