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Storms Cause Damage in Alabama; Could Embryonic Stem Cells Cure Blindness?; L.A. Severed Head Identified; Campaigns Move To Florida; Romney Takes on Gingrich; Sen. Rand Paul's Encounter with TSA; Supreme Court on GPS Tracking; Joe Paterno in his Own Words; Tracy Morgan Collapses at Sundance

Aired January 23, 2012 - 15:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: It's top of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Here's what we're watching for you on this Monday.

First, Mississippi's controversial pardons could possibly come undone. Also this vision study could breathe new life into embryonic stem cell research and some pretty powerful storms hitting the southeast. Time to play reporter roulette.

Ed Lavandera, I'm beginning with you in Jackson, Mississippi. We know there is an incredibly important hearing happening an hour from now involving some of the convicts recently pardoned by the now no longer governor, Haley Barbour, of Mississippi. So just set me straight. Some of the people released, Ed, may have to go back to prison.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is a possibility we suspect and really some of the people, the closest people we're taking a look at are five people in general.

Four of them were convicted of murder. Those were the four murder convicts that were working as trustees on the governor mansion grounds that were pardoned by former Governor Haley Barbour. We anticipate to see three of those today, but the attorney general here in Mississippi says that that fourth murderer, a man by name of Joseph Ozment, they believe to be someone who is on the run and will not be showing up today. They haven't been getting any cooperation from his family.

But that is the question as to how this judge will decide, if that judge will decide what to do with those pardons at this point today. So there is that likelihood that they could be taken back into custody if these pardons are somehow overruled.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Now, you mentioned the attorney general.

I want you to just specifically explain to me the argument here on behalf of the Mississippi A.G. to overturn the governor who had overturned -- the pardons -- why he would want to overturn them. Forgive me.

LAVANDERA: No problem. What the A.G. is going to argue is that he says according to Mississippi state constitution, that these people who apply for these pardons have to announce these, that they're applying for this for 30 days, in newspapers, wherever these crimes might have occurred, and what the A.G. is saying happened in the vast majority of these cases that insufficient notice was given, that in some of these cases, the murder suspects only published these announcements for 28 Days, instead of the required 30 days, and the A.G. is going to argue that because of those lack of those two missing days, that those pardons should be overturned.

BALDWIN: OK. We will be watching for it, or I know Wolf and you will be watching for it come 4:00 Eastern time, when that hearing happens.

Ed Lavandera for us, Ed, thank you.

Now to this: a possible boost for embryonic stem cell research from the first study that shows these particular stem cells may actually help people.

Next on "Reporter Roulette," senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen, who I know was just about to board a flight today, hopped off to sit here with me to tell me the news.

What did the study find?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Embryonic stem cells are really controversial because it involves, at least in this case, destroying the embryo, which a lot of people have trouble with.

But this is the first time that they have done this and actually helped people. These are two women who are blind and after the surgery had results that they could actually see. One of them woke up one morning and looked at a piece of furniture across her room and said, oh, there's carving in that furniture.

BALDWIN: That's amazing.

COHEN: It's amazing.

Another woman, she was walking through the house and said to her husband look at all the scuff marks on that floor. And that picture is too titled. And he said, I don't know if I like this surgery. This is a honey-do listen you're giving me.

BALDWIN: You're seeing all these things now.

COHEN: Exactly. And this is preliminary.

It's only two patients. And that's important to remember. When they try it out on more, it might not work, but it might work. We're talking for things like macular degeneration, which millions of people have. This is really quite exciting. It is sort of going towards a proof of principle that these embryonic stem cells may actually work. BALDWIN: Could help.

COHEN: Right.

BALDWIN: Do we know where the embryos are coming from?

COHEN: Yes. In this case, the study was done at the Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA.

And the embryos came not from them, but from a couple somewhere else in the couple who were using IVF to start a family. They made these little embryos that were in the lab, and they took them, they used them, put them in the woman's uterus, and she had her kids and they were done. But they had leftovers.

So they said, here, take one of them do a study on it. The embryos we're told would have been destroyed anyhow, so she decided to use them for research, which in this case destroyed them. Some people think this is murder. Some people think this science is murder and they don't care that these women have better vision. It will be interesting to see if the voices get louder as the research goes on.

BALDWIN: So because of embryos that would have been destroyed from IVF, this woman now has happy, healthy kids, that enabled two people to see.

COHEN: To see better. I don't want to say that they see perfectly, but to see better.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Got it.

COHEN: Correct.

BALDWIN: Wow. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you.

COHEN: Thanks, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Next here on "Reporter Roulette," we're going to take you to Alabama. Reynolds Wolf is standing by for us in Clay. This is one of the towns that has been really devastated by the severe storms.

And the damage left suggests, I know it suggests a tornado hit.

Reynolds, just walk around and show me what you see.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. We are in, as you mentioned, Clay, Alabama. This is the community of Georgebrook (ph), where less than 24 hours ago, you had a lot of families in this small valley behind me.

They were watching the NFC/AFC championships on TV, enjoying themselves. It was a quiet, somewhat rainy Sunday. And now look, the skies are blue and wreckage is everywhere. It all happened this morning around 3:45 to 4:00 a.m. These people did have warning. There were tornado sirens. Most of the people here had at least an hour's notice before this tornado came through this valley and caused this problem.

Georgebrook is a community that has roughly than 100 homes. We spoke with law enforcement earlier. They believe anywhere from 25 to 30 homes completely obliterated, the others suffering incredible damage. But the amazing thing about this, only one severe injury, but that person now in the hospital expected to recover.

One amazing thing about this, Brooke, and I know you have seen this firsthand in tornado coverage, is the randomness. We have got CNN photojournalist Mike Calloway with us.

You will notice on one side we see a lot of wreckage, but over here to our right, you will notice there are several rows of houses that are left completely unscathed. But the cleanup is under way. This is again just a snapshot of a lot of the wreckage you see around this community.

A lot of people have been coming through and we're in this little street behind me. A lot of people are homeowners, friends, relatives, and they have actually been coming through this checkpoint that we over here behind us. Not so easy to get in.

If you're a relative or if you have a direct connection of this neighborhood, law enforcement will let you through. If you're news media, it tends to be a little bit tougher, but, hey, we're in here. But I can tell you, we can hear in the background helicopters overhead surveying the damage, and a lot of chain saws out there, too, to clean up the roadways. Certainly a mess, watching this tornadic activity, this devastation, second time in less than a year here in my home state of Alabama -- back to you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: I know. I remember talking to you when you were in Tuscaloosa last time.

Reynolds Wolf, we appreciate it there on the ground in Clay -- Clay, Alabama.

And that is today's "Reporter Roulette."

Big changes at the company that makes BlackBerry. See what they may mean for your business.

And then CNN's in depth this week. We're looking at money and politics focusing on a behind-the-scenes man. He's rich and he puts his moneys where his values are, Sheldon Adelson.

And later this hour, they were men you probably didn't know. But their purpose in life was a heck of a lot more important than some of the other people making news today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWS BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

BALDWIN: Coming up: brand-new developments here in that murder mystery involving body parts found near the Hollywood sign. We are now learning where the victim worked and the suspicious noises a neighbor inside the same building heard inside the victim's building.

We're back in 60 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: This story we have been covering the better part of the last week really sounds like something out of a Hollywood thriller movie.

A woman just so happens to be walking her dog in the park near the Hollywood sign. She discovers a severed head in a bag in some nearby bushes. A day later, police find two hands and two feet scattered around the park's deep terrain.

Friday, authorities identified the victim as 66-year-old Hervey Medellin.

I want to bring in Andrew Blankstein, staff writer for "The Los Angeles Times."

And, Andrew, let's just begin with the victim because this is news here. What can you tell us about him? Where did he work?

ANDREW BLANKSTEIN, "THE LOS ANGELES TIMES": He worked at Mexicana Airlines.

And the big thing is trying to figure out his last days and who his associates were. Los Angeles police are really trying to obviously spend a lot of time at the building where he lived, but also trying to build this backstory on who he might have associated with.

They have said definitely that this is a domestic-related murder. I won't say definitely, but that's the direction that they're going in now, as opposed to, you know, a gang or that he was targeted some other way.

BALDWIN: OK, so you say domestic because obviously you think when you find a severed head, I think drug cartels. You mention he worked for a Mexican airline. Are you saying investigators are ruling out any kind of connection there?

BLANKSTEIN: I think what they're doing is -- they don't rule out anything for sure, obviously, because things can go in any direction during an investigation. But they have said that early indications, based on their evidence, are that it is related to something domestic.

Now, they're not saying exactly what that is and who the person or people that that would be related to. But definitely that's kind of a key strand of the investigation as it now stands.

BALDWIN: Now, in your paper this morning, I read the article where you hear this neighbor, what was it, on the second floor hearing some commotion on the floor above him some three weeks ago. Tell me more about that.

BLANKSTEIN: Yes, we have this neighbor saying that the only issue at this point is, is that related to any kind of homicide? Because, as you know also, that police said they believe that the body parts that were found, that it was a recent killing, maybe within 48 hours of when those parts were found.

But, clearly, it suggests that maybe something was going on in the lead-up, and that's another thing. Police have been really talking to neighbors and really trying to get -- build this timeline out.

BALDWIN: OK. As soon as you find out more. Obviously, we're reading your paper every morning. Andrew Blankstein, let us know, "L.A. Times." Appreciate it.

Now this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He and Gingrich met in the mid-'90s in Washington. It was kind of an accidental meeting in a hallway. They have since bonded.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: We're going to introduce you to Sheldon Adelson. He's the eighth richest person in America. He's also very good buds with Newt Gingrich. CNN is taking a look at how Adelson's money and power are influencing the Gingrich presidential run.

Back in 70 seconds with that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: As we look in depth at campaign 2012, we're going to look at some of these money guys and gals, some of the millionaires and billion unleashed by the nation's highest court to toss money, just toss it at the election and help determine a winner, at least for today, Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, big buds, as we mentioned a moment ago, with Newt Gingrich.

As you may have perhaps already heard, Adelson ponied up $5 million to aid the Gingrich effort just this past primary in South Carolina. Didn't give it directly, funneled it through a pro-Gingrich PAC, as allowed under the rejiggered campaign law.

Now, stand by because we are going to vaporize conventional wisdom which suggests Adelson may have won South Carolina for Gingrich by throwing those millions at his campaign. But here's what happened. The pro-Romney PAC shelled out more than $2 million in South Carolina, and add to that the Romney campaign itself dropping 1.92 million, so the total there just over $4 million. To the Gingrich side, to pro-Gingrich PAC, they spent about one and three-quarters million -- remember, these are all on ads -- and the Gingrich campaign parted with $640,000, total there, just about $2.4 million. The bottom line, Gingrich didn't buy his campaign and Sheldon Adelson didn't buy it for him.

Be that as it may, these big money brokers could play an unprecedented role in electing our next president. And let's start today with Sheldon Adelson. Who is this guy?

Casey Wian tells us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sheldon Adelson may be the wealthiest man you have never heard of, and he likes it that way.

SHELDON ADELSON, CHAIRMAN, LAS VEGAS SANDS CORP.: And if you change the status quo of any business, success will follow you like your shadow.

WIAN: Adelson is the son of a Boston cabbie who has risen to number eight on the Forbes 400. He founded, then sold the COMDEX trade show, and through a number of casino real estate deals now has an estimated net worth of $21.5 billion.

So, why is he giving $5 million of that fortune to the political action committee supporting Newt Gingrich's presidential bid?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a personal favor to Newt Gingrich. He and Gingrich met in the mid-'90s in Washington. It was kind of an accidental meeting in a hallway. They have since bonded.

WIAN: They first bonded over Israel, where Adelson has poured tens of millions of dollars into charity, while opposing the peace process and a Palestinian state.

When Gingrich said this on Jewish television last month...

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have had an invented Palestinian people.

WIAN: ... Adelson agreed. In Israel, Adelson's politics are very are public.

ADELSON: For those of you who know me, you know that my political dealings are far to the right, at least -- on a scale of one to 10, at least a six. Attila the Hundred was too liberal for me.

WIAN: Adelson publishes his own far-right-leaning newspaper, "Israel Hayom," which backs conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and has become Israel's most widely read newspaper.

Also no secret, Adelson's shared distaste with Gingrich for the political power or labor unions. Adelson has poured money into county commissioner races, funding ads attacking pro-union candidates and fought successfully to keep his Las Vegas non-union.

Adelson is often accompanied by armed guards, even at this deposition in a lawsuit by a former employee. Adelson's wealth and politics make security concerns understandable. During his union battles, someone vandalized his home, writing "dead Jews" in soap.

And during the construction of this casino, the culinary workers union apologized for a picket sign reading, "This is Sheldon's Wailing Wall."

Adelson, who declined to speak with CNN, has given more than $10 million to various national political campaigns, mostly to Republicans like Gingrich, George W. Bush, and Sharron Angle. He's also donated to John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, and Harry Reid.

As for the $5 million donation to Gingrich's PAC, a close source says Adelson hopes it will help his friend do well in the primary.

Casey Wian, CNN, Las Vegas, Nevada.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Casey, thank you.

And we want to hear from you this week as we go in depth on both money and politics. Question, have you donated to a campaign? Then what do you want to get from that investment? That's the question we're asking. We want you to record your thoughts. And please send them in. Go to iReport.com. We will be airing these throughout our newscast this week right here on CNN.

Mitt Romney calling Newt Gingrich a lot of names today, erratic, lobbyist, even compared him to a duck, yes, a duck. We will tell you why next.

Plus, a little commotion this morning inside Nashville's airport, as Senator Rand Paul refused a pat-down. You will hear from him and why an incident like this was a long time coming. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: As the world moves faster and faster with all our technologies, one man is asking everyone to slow down. And he is getting help with all the genius grant.

Here's a sneak peek at CNN's "THE NEXT LIST."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm Ubaldo Vitali, and I am an alchemist.

I believe in alchemy not because I want to make gold. I believe in theoretical alchemy. It is the power to study nature to the finest, most minute essence and be able to reorganize it recombine and transform it. One of the misunderstandings about metalworkers is that their ways use a traditional metals of working. They actually were the cutting edge of technology.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Don't forget to watch CNN's brand-new show. We're calling it "THE NEXT LIST" featuring some of America's brightest minds. And the very bright Sanjay Gupta hosts the show. You can watch it Sundays 2:00 p.m. Eastern only here on CNN.

Now to politics. You have Newt Gingrich slamming Mitt Romney, Mitt Romney slamming Newt Gingrich, of course, Republican candidates are covering turn now in Florida ahead of the Florida primary two Tuesdays from now.

Remember, Gingrich beat Romney in South Carolina this Saturday.

And Jim Acosta is live with our America's Choice 2012 update.

You're there in Tampa, beautiful Tampa, where Republican candidates are certainly wooing Florida voters or hoping to do so. Tell me about Romney. What has he said so far today?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, basically, we have got a Florida-style war of words going on between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.

No surprise because Mitt Romney is really licking his wounds after South Carolina's primary. It was a big defeat for the former Massachusetts governor. But he opened up a new line of attack, kind of an old line of attack with a new sheen on it, I guess you could say.

He went after Newt Gingrich's ties to the mortgage giant Freddie Mac, the fact that Gingrich made $1.6 million advising that mortgage firm over the years, and Romney basically said today Newt Gingrich should not call this advising or consulting or any of these other things. He should call it lobbying, Mitt Romney charging Newt Gingrich with lobbying for Freddie Mac.

Here's how he put it earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Saying that Newt Gingrich is a lobbyist is just a matter of fact. He indicates that he doesn't fall within the narrow definition of lobbyist that he might have in mind.

But if you're working for a company, getting paid for a company through one of your many entities, and then you're speaking with congressmen in a way that would help that company, that's lobbying. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a duck.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ACOSTA: Now, Newt Gingrich did not duck the question, I should say, when we tried to ask him a few moments ago about this new charge from Mitt Romney. I asked him point blank. I said, Mitt Romney, "Mr. Speaker says that you were in fact lobbying for Freddie Mac." And he said back to me, Brooke, it was a pretty short reply. He said, "Now we know why Mike Huckabee and John McCain both said that Mitt Romney was dishonest back in the 2008 campaign."

So they're not holding back. And it's just a sneak preview of the -- what we're going to see tonight at tonight's debate.

BALDWIN: OK. So that's one of the new attacks. I do want to ask you. I know Gingrich, you know, as we know, he unveiled his income tax records. What was it? It was right before our debate last Thursday, and now Romney has responded to the calls by Gingrich, right, to release his, and that's happening when, tomorrow?

ACOSTA: We're expecting that tomorrow. He says he wants to put his 2010 return on line and his estimated 2011 return, so we're going to get a chance to look at all this stuff.

But keep in mind, a lot of the information about Mitt Romney's personal wealth is already available online. He's got a financial disclosure form which you can find on a variety of Web sites. I was just taking a look at it actually a few moments ago, because what a lot of critics of Governor Romney are pointing out today is that he has personally invested in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae over the years. It's right there on his personal disclosure form, his financial disclosure form.

So I think once those tax forms come out, it's going to churn up a whole bunch of news stories about Mitt Romney's personal wealth. And obviously, he's going to be prepared for it. He's had a few days now to think things over in terms of how he's going to respond to the questions once these things come out. But wisely, though, he is putting them out tomorrow, you'll notice. Not today, before tonight's debate. Putting them out tomorrow. So getting him a little bit of time before the CNN debate in case any big questions come up before Thursday's debate that's CNN is holding here in Florida. Brooke?

BALDWIN: Jim Acosta, thank you.

You mentioned the debates. Let me just remind all of you. We're hosting the remaining Republican candidate this Thursday night in the very crucial state of Florida. That will begin at 8:00 Eastern.

And on our show, sort of personal note, I'm going to Florida. I'm very excited to be covering politics of course for the primary next week so we'll be there. Taking the show on the road, live, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. So you must definitely tune in for that.

Senator Rand Paul had a little bit of an encounter this morning with the TSA agent in Nashville as he was apparently going through security. He went through a body scanner and he set it off. And according to a spokeswoman, Senator Paul requested to go through the scan again instead of getting a pat-down, but TSA officers refused. So according to TSA regulations, when there is an irregularity, passengers have to go to a secure area and complete the screening process. The Kentucky Republican was not detained. He did leave willingly. He did actually catch a flight later on to Washington. No problems.

Here is the senator in D.C. just a short time ago talking about this very incident.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: I got on the plane early, and some kind of scanner went off and I offered to show them my leg. In fact, I did show my leg, repeatedly, but they didn't really care about my leg too much. And I said, can I go back through the scanner? And they said no. And I said I was going to talk on my phone, they said if you talk on your phone, you'll get the full body treatment. So I don't want the full body pat-down, but I do need to call somebody to tell them I'm not going to be coming to Washington.

I suspect that was part of a random pat-down because the machine -- they finally did let me go back through the machine after making me miss my flight and waiting for an hour and a half. I went back to the machine and there wasn't anything that seems to be the problem.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BALDWIN: I do want to let you know the senator will be interviewed on "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer next hour. Wolf will be asking him about all of this. That happens again at 4:00 Eastern Time.

Coming up next, a stunning case of a father who claims it was just a joke when he forced his daughter to curl up inside a dog cage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: It makes me so sad to say this, but sometimes child abuse cases are so common they're hardly what you would consider news. Just ask any teacher. They all know a student who suffers, a parent who doesn't behave the way a mother or a father should. And sadly, we live in a broken system that has many, many cracks.

Take for instance, hear this case of a little girl in Ohio. I want you to take a look at this man. This is her father. This is James Tapke appearing before a judge.

Now his rap sheet shows he's certainly no stranger to police in his community. Most recently, he was arrested on child endangerment charges. Investigator say he tied up his 12-year-old daughter with duct tape, put her in a dog cage to punish her. For what? We don't know. But I think we could all agree whatever it was, it certainly didn't warrant being put inside a cage. When she tried to get out, police say Tapke put her back in the cage, and then enlisted the girl's big brother to fish an electrical jump starter out of the garbage so he could threaten her with an even more fierce form of punishment.

An affidavit says that while she was inside, Tapke would drip water on the girl's face until he finally let her out. Her grandmother helped her get the duct tape off her hands and her feet, oh, and the brother who was forced to help dad try to electrify the thing? Do you know what else the brother did? He took pictures of what was happening to his sister and he uploaded them to Facebook.

They're not on the site anymore, thank goodness, but Tapke's attorney says the pictures prove this was all just a joke. And I'm quoting, quote, "Not the best joke in the world," he told us, "but a joke." Kids living with adults who think isolation in dog cages is funny? Yes, that's no joke. That's abuse, and we can do better.

Coming up next, police put a tracking device on a suspect's car, and today the nation's highest court deciding whether it violated the constitution. The decision impacts the future of catching criminals. Sunny Hostin is "On the Case." She's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: "On the Case" now. The Supreme Court just ruled unanimously that the FBI and Washington police should have gotten an extended warrant when they put a tracking device on a man's car and then followed him around for a number of weeks. Sunny Hostin is "On the Case."

And, Sunny, before we get into the future and how this impacts, you know, tracking, I guess, a criminal, tell me a little more about the decision.

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I got to tell you, they didn't really address the issue that all of us legal geeks were waiting for, which is the big brother issue.

Can the police or can law enforcement attach GPS onto your car and track you for 28 days, track all of your movements, without a warrant? Instead of sort of addressing that issue head on, which was really the issue at oral argument when I covered this story, at that time, they basically said that under the fourth amendment that the police sort of searched the car by just attaching the GPS and that in and of itself required the case to be overturned.

And so, interestingly enough, I mean, many people are saying they sidestepped the issue. We wanted more. We wanted them to address that particular argument. Do we have this expectation of privacy anymore as citizens in this social media and digital age? And unfortunately, Brooke, we just don't have an answer to that yet.

BALDWIN: So if we don't have an answer, how will this impact, you know, looking ahead and police, you know, using GPSs in their investigations. Will it be tougher to track criminals? HOSTIN: You know, I hope so. I think that the spotlight was really on the practice during oral arguments, and there is some discussion in the opinion especially the court of concurrent opinion by Justice Sotomayor which does address this GPS tracking in this digital age and the big brother age. And so I think prosecutors and law enforcement officers are going to be loathe to use this kind of tracking device without having a warrant. But we don't have now a clear cut, you know, rule of law coming from the Supremes this time around. It's unfortunate, I think. I think it's a missed opportunity.

BALDWIN: I hear disappointment in you, Sunny Hostin.

HOSTIN: I am. You know, I'm a legal geek.

BALDWIN: I know, and we love you for it. Sunny Hostin, thank you so much, "On the Case" with us.

Now to this. Just think of this. It was just three months ago, Joe Paterno stood on the sidelines at Penn State. Then his coaching career came to an abrupt end. Now Paterno is gone. You have heard how many, many others reflecting of course on his career today. But we wanted you to hear Joe Paterno in his own words. You're going to hear him next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: As you certainly heard by now, the winningest coach in major college football died Sunday. The official cause was lung cancer, but many would say that Joe Paterno died of a broken heart. We all know the story that ended his storied career at Penn State University.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE PATERNO, DIED OF LUNG CANCER: There's absolutely no fun involved. It's just drive, drive, drive and you've got to do it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something that's unheard of in college football.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, as similar as these teams are they do have some significant --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Of the shift and play better. We need to get better on all fronts. He credited the play of --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joe paterno.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joe Pa, Joe Pa, Joe Pa! They started it, though.

PATERNO: Thank you, thank you. I can't tell you how exciting it is. I look around and I know what Custer felt like. Thank God, you're on our side, that's all I got to say. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll take you to your car here. We're going to put you in the right rear passenger seat and then we'll put him on the side of you and I'll sit in the back (INAUDIBLE).

CROWD: We want Joe! We want Joe! We want Joe!

PATERNO: And I want you. And I want you, guys.

It's hard to tell you how much this means to me. You know, the kids that were the victims, whatever they want to say, I think we ought to say a prayer for them because, you know, tough life when people do certain things to you. But anyway, you've been great.

Get a good night's sleep, all right? Study, all right? We still got things to do. I'm mad of it maybe now. A phone call would put me out of it, but we'll go from there, OK? Good luck, everybody, and thanks for coming.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you for everything!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We love you, Joe!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you for everything.

PATERNO: One thing, thanks and pray a little bit for those victims.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coach! Coach! We are Penn State! Penn state!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Penn State, Joe Paterno in his own words.

And now to this, Senator Rand Paul. He was turned away this morning in Nashville TSA checkpoint after he refused a pat down. And Wolf Blitzer has the senator on "THE SITUATION ROOM," coming up, next hour.

Wolf Blitzer, what's question number one for the senator?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'll have him walk us through exactly what happened when he was over at the airport. He went through the full-body scanner. You know that's -- you got to put your hands up, stand still for a few seconds and then you continue to walk through. And you know, he, obviously, was called back for a pat-down and he decided, you know what, I'd rather go through the scan again. And that's when the disagreement erupted, if you will and there were problems. So he's going to walk us through exactly what happened.

As you know he's been a critic of the TSA, thinking it's an invasive procedure, what they're trying to do pat down passengers and he's going to explain where he stands on this. His dad, Congressman, Ron Paul, who was the Republican presidential candidate, he issued a blistering statement about all of this so we're going to go in depth on this. It affects everybody that travels. And we're going to go through it. We got the reaction from the TSA, of course, so it will be a full report.

We've got all the political news. We're going to take a look at the major developments involving Iran. We'll speak to Arwa Damon. She's on the ground for us in Damascus. As you can see, Brooke, we got a big two hours coming up.

BALDWIN: We'll see you in eight minutes. Wolf Blitzer, thank you so much.

And while combat operations are officially over in Iraq, U.S. service men and women are very much so putting their lives on the line each and every day in a very dangerous, very volatile Afghanistan.

And last Thursday, six marines lost their lives while supporting combat operations in southern Afghanistan. Their helicopter went down in Helmand Province. The case of the crash is under investigation but initial reporting indicates there was no enemy activity at the time of the crash. The Defense Department over the weekend, released the names of those marines and we just wanted to take a moment today to remember them. And to honor their sacrifice today. Captain Daniel Bartle, 27. Captain Nathan McHone, 29. Master Sergeant Travis Riddick, 40. Corporal Jesse Stites, 23. Corporal Kevin Reinhard, 25. Corporal Joseph Logan, 22.

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BALDWIN: Let's take a look at tomorrow's news today. We're going to fast forward beginning with a big night for the president. President Obama giving his state of the union address tomorrow at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time. He will be speaking as you know before both houses of Congress, the Supreme Court justices, cabinet members and members of the diplomatic corp. We'll take that live for you here on CNN tomorrow night.

Also, film lovers, getting up very early tomorrow, including, I imagine the gal sitting next to me. Oscar nominees is going to be announced today at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. We get up early every morning. What am I talking about? The ceremony for the 84th Academy Awards is at the end of February.

And finally, you cannot miss my interview with a real-life sex surrogate. I know, I had never heard of sex surrogates. We're going to introduce you to one tomorrow. In fact, Helen Hunt plays Cheryl Cohen Green in this new movie out at Sundance. Cohen-Green will be live on the show tomorrow so please, stay tuned for that.

Meantime, turn in today, Tracy Morgan is rushed to the hospital after collapsing at the Sundance Film Festival. Now he's tweeting, multiple tweets that he's OK. Let me just read one of his tweets. Humorous, of course. All out Tracy Morgan, quote, "Superman ran into a little kryptonite. The high altitude in Utah shook up this kid from Brooklyn." He also says he's going to be back at work tomorrow on the set of "30 Rock." And thanks the hospital staff in Park City, Utah. Now we don't know if he's actually left the hospital, though. Jenn Hobby, entertainment reporter who I wake up to. I am part of the 5:30 club, by the way, in the morning. I'm bright and early.

Jenn Hobby, so first with Tracy Morgan, what happened?

JENN HOBBY, ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Well, you know, he went to this premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and is getting presented with an award which sources say was an incoherent acceptance speech, left the ceremony and actually collapsed. They called the ambulance, got him to the hospital and his reps come forward as we've all heard by now saying exhaustion and altitude.

BALDWIN: And we thought at first, exhaustion? What?

HOBBY: Right. Everyone's rolling their eyes a little bit at first, but on further investigation, you know, he is diabetic and he did get a kidney transplant just two years ago. So it is quite possible that he's sick, maybe having a reaction to some of the medication he's taking. Maybe it is that exhaustion that they'll really said. But at first everybody wanted to roll their eyes at that one.

BALDWIN: Did you -- have you seen the speech? I mean, how incoherent was he?

HOBBY: No, I haven't seen the speech.

BALDWIN: OK.

HOBBY: But sources that were there in the room, they say they couldn't understand what he was saying.

BALDWIN: Oh, wow. Do we know, is he still in the hospital?

HOBBY: What we know so far is he's going to be back to work and that he's tweeting to his fans that he's doing fine, thanking the hospital staff for getting him back stable again.

BALDWIN: To quote one of my veteran writers, "I've been exhausted for 25 years and I'm not in the hospital," but different strokes, I guess.

HOBBY: Exactly. Exactly.

BALDWIN: A lot of people today are also talking about Seal and Heidi Klum, right.

HOBBY: Yes.

BALDWIN: They now announced they're splitting, and so let me get the statement we got. CNN got the statement, quote, "While we have enjoyed seven very loving, loyal and happy years of marriage after much soul-searching, we have decided to separate." They've also asked for privacy for the sake of their four kids.

But it's so surprising.

HOBBY: It is.

BALDWIN: But maybe not. I mean, no one knows the intricacies of anyone's relationship.

HOBBY: Exactly. I think this couple just further proves that you don't know what's going on behind closed doors with people. You really don't. They were seemingly very happy. All of the photos we saw of them on vacation and with their kids and at Halloween parties dressing up together, this couple even renewed their vows several times on their wedding anniversary, seemingly very happy. You just don't know what people are going through so it's not for us to judge, right?

BALDWIN: Seven years of marriage.

HOBBY: Seven years. And they say in that statement you just read, very loving and loyal seven years, too. So I think that's an interesting part of their statement because the speculation is certainly going to be infidelity on someone's part but loyal, I think, is the key word in that statement they released to all of us.

BALDWIN: All right. Jenn Hobby, come back. We love having you.

HOBBY: I would love to, thank you.

HOBBY: Thank you very much. And thank you very much for watching as always. I'm Brook Baldwin here at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. Now to Wolf Blitzer. Your "SITUATION ROOM" starts right now.

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Brooke.