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"Letters to Kurt"; John Edwards in Court; Navy SEAL Wife Talks Loss; Investigators End Etan Patz Search; Storms Hit Northeast

Aired April 23, 2012 - 11:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips. It's 11:00 on the East Coast, 8:00 out West. We've got a pretty busy hour ahead. Let's get straight to the news.

We begin with live pictures at Rochester, New York, a spring snowstorm barreling across the Northeast bringing heavy winds, rain, and wet heavy snow, up to 16 inches of that stuff expected in some areas.

Here's a look at where the storm is now. As you can see, the storm stretches from West Virginia up the coast to Western New York. The April storm comes after a mild winter. March was also the warmest on record.

Snowstorms of this magnitude rare for late April and forecasters believe it could bring record snowfall for this time of year.

Coming up, we'll head to Dubois, Pennsylvania, one area expected to be hit pretty hard with that snow. We'll also have the latest on that storm's impact on communities and transportation.

Well, the weapons are new, but the battle is as old as humankind. Today, they're the subject of President Obama's visit to the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.

He just signed an executive order allowing sanctions against, quote, "those who commit or facilitate grave human rights abuses via information technology." Case in point, Syria's tracking of dissidents through the cell phones or Web posts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: In short, we need to be doing everything we can to prevent and respond to these kind of atrocities because national sovereignty is never a license to slaughter your people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: The president is also creating an atrocities prevention board to watch and respond to crimes against humanity, wherever they happen.

Well, the slow and salacious downfall of John Edwards enters a new phase today as the jury is being seated and opening statements are coming in to the six-count federal trial of former Democratic senator and 2008 contender for president.

Edwards, as you probably know, is accused of breaking campaign finance laws in a scandal involving with his campaign videographer. Much more on that case and the context and the politics in our next segment.

Right now, in Chicago, the trial is getting underway for the alleged killer of Jennifer Hudson's mother, brother, and 7-year-old nephew. William Balfour is the estranged husband of Jennifer Hudson's sister.

Prosecutors charge that he went out a murderous rampage out of jealousy. The defense says that there's no forensic evidence linking Balfour to the crimes. Actress and singer Hudson is expected to testify.

And the man charged with Trayvon Martin's murder is out of bail. George Zimmerman posted bail and was able to walk out just after midnight, a few days after a judge set his bond at $150,000. It's unclear where he's being taken.

Zimmerman's benefitted with a GPS monitoring device so authorities can track his location. An attorney for Martin's family says it was, quote, "tough" to see Zimmerman walk free again.

And investigators have ended their search of a New York basement this morning. They were looking for the remains of Etan Patz, a 6- year-old New Yorker who disappeared more than three decades ago.

Authorities are acting on new and old information. They discovered a possible blood stain on a concrete wall in a basement about a block where he lived, but tests indicate that that stain is not blood. Other evidence will be tested by the FBI.

The man who met Patz a day before he disappeared owns that home. That man is still under investigation.

An FBI spokesperson says that the search was suspended for operational reasons.

Etan Patz disappeared in 1979 on his way to a bus stop in Manhattan.

Let's head overseas now. North Korea threatening, quote, "special actions" against South Korea's president and government. North Korean demonstrators burned the South's president in effigy.

State television warns that the unspecified action would be carried out by the military and would only take three or four minutes. The North has often described the South Korean government as "rats."

The latest tirade follows last week's announcement by the South that it's deployed a cruise missile capable of striking anywhere in North Korea.

On Capitol Hill, two lawmakers are suggesting that if the Secret Service had more female members, the prostitution scandal in Colombia may never have occurred. That's the opinion of a Republican senator, Susan Collins. Also Congresswoman Carol Maloney weighing in.

Maloney, in fact, says that she discussed the idea of adding more women to the ranks with Director Mark Sullivan. She says that he told her that 11 percent of the agents are women.

You'll recall that 12 agents have been implicated in the scandal and five are on administrative leave. A Senate investigation continues this week.

In Tucson, Arizona, FBI-trained dogs are searching the home where a 6-year-old girl vanished over the weekend. Isabel Mercedes Celis was last seen Friday night in her bed. She was reported missing the next morning when a family member went to wake her and she was gone.

Police are tracking more than 100 leads in this case now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF ROBERTO VILLASENOR, TUCSON POLICE: At this point, we haven't focused on anyone. We're still trying to determine where Isabel is. That's the primary concern and focus, to try and find her and bring her home safely.

Obviously, we're following up on all of the leads that we've received. We've received over 100 leads and we're making sure that our investigators check each and every one of those.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Police say they are investigating a broken screen in Isabel's bedroom as a possible point of entry in that home.

Walmart is responding to explosive allegations that its top executives in Mexico tried to hide a widespread practice of bribing officials. Walmart says it's been conducting a, quote, "extensive investigation" since 2011 into its compliance with federal law.

This comes after "The New York Times" published a report detailing allegations that executives at Walmart's headquarters were more concerned about damage control than correcting the situation.

The claims of alleged bribery date back to 2005 when a former Walmart exec in Mexico e-mailed one of its senior lawyers about how Walmart had paid more than $24 million in bribes to secure construction permits throughout Mexico.

Well. who knew world peace could hurt? After making this dunk in overtime, Los Angeles Lakers basketball player, Metta World Peace, former known as Ron Artest, threw some elbows.

He was ejected from yesterday's game after decking Oklahoma City's James Harden.

World Peace apologized, saying he was just celebrating the dunk and that it wasn't intentional. Harden was left with a concussion.

Here's what World Peace had to say on Twitter:

"I just watched the replay again. Oooo. My celebration of that dunk really was too much. Didn't even see James. OMG. Looks bad."

The NBA is currently reviewing the situation and the playoffs start this weekend.

Well, the stakes are high in the criminal trial against John Edwards. If convicted, he could face up to 30 years in prison. Which side will have more of an uphill legal battle? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Five short years ago, the Democratic race for president was taking shape and John Edwards was riding high. He was rich, successful, telegenic and sympathetic with a wife battling terminal cancer.

What we didn't know then is about to come out again in federal court as the former senator, former V.P. candidate and former candidate for president stands trial on six criminal charges, four counts of taking illegal campaign contributions, one count each of conspiracy and making false statements.

The money, almost $1 million, went to hide and support Edward's pregnant mistress and campaign videographer, Rielle Hunter. Edwards says that they were not campaign contributions at all, but rather gifts from friends.

CNN senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, on the phone with me now. We're also joined in Washington by Melanie Sloan of the watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

She actually thinks that Edwards is being treated unfairly. Interesting look into this.

But, Jeff, let's go ahead and start with you. It's pretty hard to feel sorry for this guy.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, see, that's really the issue in this case, is that his personal story is so distasteful that his lawyers worry that that will certainly overcome the legal issues in this case which are actually quite complicated and difficult and not at all a slam dunk for the government.

The facts here are not really in dispute. Everyone agrees that almost $1 million was paid by these two supporters, but the question is, what was Edwards' intent? What was in his head? Did he think he was violating the campaign laws or was he simply trying to pay off his mistress which is maybe contemptible, but certainly not illegal.

PHILLIPS: Which leads me to you, Melanie. You think this case never should have been brought. Why? MELANIE SLOAN, CITIZENS FOR RESPONSIBILITY AND ETHICS IN WASHINGTON: No, it never should have been brought, Kyra. This is a case that's literally without precedent. No one has ever been prosecuted on even remotely similar fact and that alone is a problem. John Edwards would have had no notice that this conduct was criminal.

In the United States, we're supposed to punish conduct, not character. Yet, it's really because John Edwards is so reprehensible that the prosecution's going forward with this case and I think that's proven by the fact that it's the prosecution that insisted on a jury trial here when Edwards asked for a bench trial.

PHILLIPS: So, Jeffrey, let me ask you, because politicians have been, you know, caught fudging campaign funds in the past many times over. If you were still a federal prosecutor, would you have brought this case?

TOOBIN: Boy, that's a really hard call and I can't say that I have the mastery of the facts to make a difficult judgment like that. It is certainly true that this is a very unusual, if not unprecedented case because this was not a traditional campaign contribution.

The money that he received from these two supporters was not used for television commercials or flying him around the country. It was used to cover up his involvement in extramarital affair.

And his argument is, I was acting as a bad husband, but not as a politician and that is an argument that, if the jury can get past his distasteful conduct, they might find a receptive audience.

PHILLIPS: See, and that leads me to saying that anything will happen to him or should happen to him?

TOOBIN: Well, if he's convicted, I expect he will get a prison term. I don't know if he will be convicted, but this is really -- you know, this is serious stuff. These are felonies and he will go to prison if he's convicted.

PHILLIPS: Go ahead, Melanie.

SLOAN: Well, he'll absolutely go to prison if he's convicted because he had already rejected a plea deal that involved some prison time and reportedly that was part of the reason that he rejected the plea deal.

But in any event, I think this case is unlikely to stand on appeal if he is in fact convicted because, again, there's literally no precedent for such a prosecution.

One thing to keep in mind is that under the prosecution's theory of the case, even if John Edwards had supported his mistress himself, those expenses would have also had to have been reported as campaign contributions because he would have been trying to hide the affair still from the American people.

So I think all members of Congress really have something to worry about here. This really, under this case, almost anything would be a campaign expenditure and would have to be reported, so anybody with a mistress could have a problem here.

PHILLIPS: And I know we're talking private campaign money here as well, but, Melanie, there's a lot of taxpayer dollars paying for this trial.

SLOAN: There's an awful lot of taxpayer dollars paying for this trial and I think the public integrity section is likely to face just another black eye.

This comes on the heels of the Stevens case, the prosecution of former Senator Ted Stevens that ultimately the Justice Department had to dismiss and it was a disgraceful case and I think this is looking to be another one.

And millions of taxpayer dollars are going to support this at a time when the Justice Department has had spending cuts and budget freezes and there are many, many other cases that should have been far more important than this one.

PHILLIPS: Melanie, Jeffrey Toobin, thanks so much.

Spring snow buries parts of the Northeast. Some areas getting up to 16 inches. We'll tell you how long it could possibly last, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: You are looking at live pictures now of a massive storm barreling across the Northeast. In some areas, wet, heavy snow covering the ground and trees. It looks like winter across New York and Pennsylvania, even down the coast to West Virginia.

But wait a minute. It's supposed to be spring. And didn't the Northeast just experience warm, summer-like temperatures?

Brian Todd, got the lucky assignment in Dubois, Pennsylvania where it's a white spring, I guess you could say, Brian. What the heck is going on?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's what we're asking. We came up here looking for some sunshine, Kyra, but not in the cards today. Wet, heavy snow pounding this area for probably more than 12 hours now.

Part of the problem here is the foliage that you see behind me on the trees. It's very green. A lot of the foliage has completely popped out. That means that the snow is going to be heavy on the trees, limbs are going to snap. They've already started doing that. They've come down on power lines.

Our latest update from the power and electric provider, Penelec, is that more than 20,000 customers in this area of North-central Pennsylvania are without power, that they have crews fanning out all over the place to try to restore it, but this will go on for a while. This could hit historic proportions in this area. The previous record for this period past April 15th in this area is about four inches. They believe now, forecasters believe, this may get more than twice that amount, maybe up to ten inches before the system moves completely through here.

We're on Beeline Highway, which is a corridor that goes to Interstate 880 here in Pennsylvania. That's a major route for trucks. There is a truck coming towards me right now. Trucks are coming through here constantly. Officials are worried that the truck traffic may be disrupted a little bit.

But we're also looking at major delays at some airports. One in particular, Philadelphia, getting a delay because of wind conditions from this system. Also, lesser delays at New York, D.C., Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit, from this system.

Some of the delays due to wind. Some of them due to low clouds from this system, Kyra, but you can tell this storm is taking a toll all over this general region.

PHILLIPS: And my guess is, you were set to cover politics and now you are political reporter/meteorologist for us today. You've also got news on flight delays, right? A lot of people trying to get into that state.

TODD: That's right. Flight delays. There was a major one we just talked about in Philadelphia. That is a delay of more than an hour. and due to wind conditions there, again, from this system.

But delays are up and down the East Coast, mostly from wind and low clouds from this system, but the snow is also disrupting traffic in this area, truck routes, school closures.

One of school systems that closed, one of the many school systems that closed in this area, Kyra, was the Punxsutawney school system. Yes, that of Punxsutawney Phil. He must be doing head spins because of this weather. This can't be what he predicted.

PHILLIPS: No way. Brian, thanks.

Well, straight ahead, soldiers on the frontlines dying not by terrorists, but drugs. A scathing Army report on substance abuse and overdose in Afghanistan, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, in Afghanistan, our troops are dying from IEDs, ambushes, suicide bombers. Now, there's another enemy that's killing them. Drugs.

This is a country that is estimated to supply more than ninety percent of the world's opium and now it's gotten a hold of our men and women in uniform.

The Army reports that, in just one year, eight of our soldiers have died overdosing on heroin and morphine and more than four dozen soldiers were investigated for using, possessing, or selling drugs.

And, on top of those disturbing numbers, the Army also reports that the use of heroin among its soldiers is on the rise.

Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, a conservative legal group, joins me now. Tom, "Afghani dip" is a term used by these soldiers. What happened to the discipline?

THOMAS FITTON, PRESIDENT, JUDICIAL WATCH: Oh, I think the Army is very well disciplined. The question is, is this problem associated with being deployed in the opiate capital of the world being handled appropriately by the military leadership?

And are those being deployed understand the access to drugs that they will have and do the family members of those being deployed understand that it's a risk factor as well and are people on the lookout for the problems that result from drug abuse and addiction?

You know, if you think drug addiction is going to be solved by going into the military, it's not. If you're deployed to Afghanistan, it's probably going to get worse.

PHILLIPS: Are you saying that this investigation found that these were soldiers that already had some sort of addiction to drugs and heroin was the next thing to try?

Or is this something to do with repeat deployments, being in a warzone, and looking -- being tempted by a quick fix to feel high?

FITTON: Well, one can only speculate, but my guess is it's a combination of all of those factors and the military needs to be forthright about this.

And we have to understand that the source for some of these drugs is directly from the Afghan national police and the Afghan army.

So the guys that we're working with over there, our supposed allies, are dealing drugs to our deployed forces there and talk about undermining the relationship.

And this is something that we need to be on the alert for, drug- use in the military has had devastating consequences in the '70s and we just want to be able to nail this in the crib to make sure it doesn't get out of control and one of the first steps is by asking for it through the Freedom of Information Act.

Kyra, we would not have known about these deaths, but for Judicial Watch's Freedom of Information Act requests earlier this year, asking about what is going on there in Afghanistan with respect to opiates.

PHILLIPS: We did reach out to DOD and did not get a comment by the start of our program. We also reached out to the Army over the weekend, did not get a comment.

So there's a couple of lingering questions that I have with regard to, could these guys be charged? What can you tell me about that?

And, also, you have some rehab that is going to have to take place now, so who's going to cover that? The V.A. is already overwhelmed with so many other issues.

FITTON: In terms of the charging, the investigation documents we have are just that, investigation documents. How the cases have been resolved, they did not give us information about.

The rehab is an open question. That's a good question for the military. Certainly if there's criminal charges associated with misusing the prescription medication or heroin, which is easily available in Afghanistan, folks are going to be relatively hesitant to turn themselves in.

This is a dangerous situation. Some of these documents show that some of these young guys were smoking hashish at their forward- operating base and so these are dangerous situations that they are in and you want them to be 100 percent ready and, obviously, if they are on drugs, they are not 100 percent ready.

PHILLIPS: It's disturbing and it's pretty heart wrenching.

FITTON: It is.

PHILLIPS: It puts a black eye on all of the men and women that are doing such a good job over there.

Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, a conservative legal group, thank you so much. Appreciate your time.

FITTON: Thank you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: You bet.

Kurt Cobain, the Nirvana front man who defined grunge rock, his suicide left his fans wanting a lot more. Well, now, unreleased music from Cobain surfaces and that's not all.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, they set out to conquer the world and more or less did. Now the so-called baby boomers are facing a new world, a world after kids, after career, after making their dreams come true. And this week, the CNN NEWSROOM is telling their stories in a series that we call "Age Against the Machine." Now, on Thursday, I'm going to take you backstage with some raging aging rockers, a band you know as Stix. And I learned you're never too old to windmill. But most of us should probably leave it to the pros. See, that's what it's supposed to look like.

Tommy Shaw makes it look so easy. "Age Against the Machine" airs all this week right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Well, now to a rocker who died way too young. The front man of Nirvana, Kurt Cobain, still making headlines 18 years after his suicide, his unfulfilled potential, and all of that inspiration of Cobain. The muse behind this new book, "Letters to Kurt."

The author is Eric Erlandson and he joins me live from L.A.

You're a songwriter, a musician, it makes sense that you would express yourself through something like this titled "Letters to Kurt." Let me ask you 18 years later, what are you writing to your friend Kurt Cobain?

ERIC ERLANDSON, AUTHOR: I'm writing my frustration at the time and everything that had been going on in my life. I started writing the letters in 2010 and I was going through, you know, some financial issues and some contractual issues that were broken and I felt that he would be the only person that would understand where I was coming from. So I began writing those postponed letters to him just reflecting on my past. You know, it's like you have this -- you carry with you all these people that have affected your life and your experiences and people that are now gone and eventually the burden becomes unbearable and you have to express yourself and I guess that's how art happens.

PHILLIPS: It's fascinating, just thinking about the concept here. I can't even imagine the personal journey. I'm curious, as you were writing these letters and thinking about him and thinking about his demons, your demons and everything that both of you struggled with, did you get inspiration? Did you hear him? Did you feel him? Did anything happen within the decade you were working on this book?

ERLANDSON: Well, I had been trying to write like a standard rock memoir for those 10 years and it wasn't working so I discovered this book by Jim Harrison, a great writer who wrote "Legends of the Fall" and a great poet, and I was inspired by his book who -- which was his postponed letters to a Russian poet who committed suicide in the 1920s. I started writing my own letters to Kurt as a muse and, sure number, like the strong voice came through me and, yes, I began feeling his presence because I was reflecting so much on the past and where I had been and my life in a hole and being around him as a creative genius.

What about Courtney Love, Eric? Have you had a chance to talk to her about this book or receive feedback from her?

ERLANDSON: She -- I received some feedback. I haven't really spoken to her about it. But, you know, the book is not really about my relationship with her and doesn't really concern -- I'm more concerned with the bigger issue of -- you know, which is suicide, putting suicide the topic of suicide back on the table and starting -- trying to end the stigma around it and really get people to reflect on it. You know, somebody sent me an e-mail, fans sent me an e-mail like a few weeks ago, they had just finished reading my book and then they just got word that their best friend had committed suicide, this 19- year-old girl and, I mean, that's really what the book is -- those are the people that the book is for. It's not really concerned with Courtney. But I think she's supportive of all my artistic endeavors as I'm supportive of hers.

PHILLIPS: Well, let me ask you about this -- I don't know if it's just music, recording for fun or if these were actual songs. But you know the buzz out there now about these unreleased songs that Kurt Cobain had been working on before he died. Do you know anything about that? Were you there? Were you part of those jam sessions?

ERLANDSON: Yes. I mean, I think I was misquoted and words were taken out of context, but he was not recording a solo album per se. He was not going in the studio and recording. I mean, he was working out ideas on, you know, like a hand held cassette recorder. This is still the way I work out ideas and that's how he was working out his ideas in his bedroom. He'd have like a cassette, recording him.

PHILLIPS: Any gems, Eric? Any gems in there?

ERLANDSON: Yes, and I think there's moments where he did a cover of an old moment from his childhood and it's really sweet and heartbreaking and --

What's the cover?

ERLANDSON: I've heard a lot of --

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: Can you tell me?

ERLANDSON: No. It's a secret. But --

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: We want to know.

ERLANDSON: But it -- it's just -- I think mop tops. And he's like -- it wasn't actually recording a solo album. I never said that. It's just he was working out ideas and I was lucky to be around him right before he went missing. And I actually recorded something with him working on one of his songs that was called "Do, Ray, Me as it appeared on the Nirvana box set. It showed that he was going in a different direction and I loved that direction. But the real point that I was trying to make with that comment was that when someone commits suicide, they are not only cutting their life short but they are cutting, you know, their music and their gifts and talents, they are cutting them out of the big book. We're all writing together with all of our creative endeavors. And so then the world suffers for it. And that's really the point I was trying to make of the -- how tragic suicide is and how we should be talking about that more and rather than this obsession with fame and I was speculating, you know, where he would have gone and speculation is kind of empty. It's not really what's really important is that he is gone and this week is the 20- year anniversary of the L.A. riots and gist memories come back to me about that all the time. The world is just, you know, we're missing -- we're still missing him greatly, you know, and you can tell by the state of music right now.

PHILLIPS: I think a lot of fans would love to hear those cassettes. Before I let you go, Eric, is it possible that those cassettes will be released? Will fans be able to hear them? ERLANDSON: I hope that some day somebody puts them together. Unfortunately, I think I'm one of the few people on the planet that has heard them.

PHILLIPS: Wow.

ERLANDSON: And I think that -- I don't own them and I don't control them but there is -- there are little gems that I think people would appreciate if they could hear them.

PHILLIPS: Thanks for sharing a big part of your heart with me this morning, Eric. I appreciate it.

ERLANDSON: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, knock on the door that changed her life forever. Kimberly's husband was killed on a mission and she tells us her unforgettable story, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, he was a member of the elite SEAL Team 6. He left behind a wife and two young children and a family broken.

Barbara Starr got to speak to his wife.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A NATO helicopter has been shot down by the Taliban last August. Among the 17 Navy SEALs who perished, Aaron Vaughn. Soon after, half a world away, Kimberly Vaughn got the dreaded knock at the door.

KIMBERLY VAUGHN, WIFE OF KILLED SEAL TEAM 6 MEMBER: He wouldn't want to leave this earth any other way than how he did.

STARR: but eight months after the presidential salute and headlines fade, I wanted to know how she's doing.

VAUGHN: This isn't a day a month a week even a year. This is the rest of our lives.

STARR: Aaron was part of the top secret SEAL Unit that killed sew psalm ma bin laden. He wasn't on that raid but much of the time she didn't know where he was.

VAUGHN: You do know at any given moment your husband could walk out the door and not come home. I don't mean in the sense of being killed. I mean what you think is an average day at work all of a sudden you realize he's not coming home from dinner.

STARR: She recalls realizing what it meant to be married to one of these men.

All of a sudden, he came to the bedroom door and he said, hey, I'm going, I've got to go back to work. I was like, OK, he nodded and I said, OK. I'm still talking on the phone and then he walks out and then I'm thinking, oh, why didn't he come home? I'm looking at the clock. He meant, he's going.

STARR: Kimberly wants people to know that for the families of the fallen, many days are still very tough.

VAUGHN: I loved being a Navy SEALs wife. I loved being Aaron's wife. So it is hard to give up and walk away.

STARR: She moved her wedding ring to her right hand trying to stop the question, where is your husband?

VAUGHN: When I go to the mall or grocery store or something like that and I see people making a big deal about something that now seems so trivial, but, again, it's not for me to force down their neck. I don't want to have to shake someone and say, hey, do you realize that my husband died for you? I'm just grateful that he was willing to do it for people who don't even know or care.

STARR: Barbara Starr, CNN, Washington.

PHILLIPS: Unfortunately, the Vaughn family is not alone. Far too many of our military families have been devastated by the loss of a loved one -- combat, suicide, roadside bombs. To date, we have lost more than 6,000 men and women in uniform due to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. That's why I'd like to take just a moment to tell you about TAPS, the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors. This is the annual TAPS gala that I have the privilege of emceeing for kids on call 24/7. It's an incredible assistance resource for anyone who has suffered the loss of a military loved one. I hope that you'll take a look at our web site, taps.org.

So you having car troubles, dread going to the shop for repairs? I know, how do you get somebody to trust? We have tips for you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Car repairs. Who the heck can you trust? We have all been there, especially women like me and Alison Kosik.

However, Alison is here to ease your next stressful trip to the mechanic.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, you know me. As so many women who don't know their car in and out, you feel like you're getting ripped so, yeah, you usually take your car in the mechanic to get it fixed, about you many drivers are saying it's their mechanic that needs fixing. There's a new survey from "Consumer Reports" that finds that 27 percent of car owners are unhappy with their repair shops. The most common complaint was high prices, especially at dealerships. 28 percent campaigned that mechanics didn't fix their cars properly.

18 percent say they actually had to bring their cars back because their repairs didn't hold up. Drivers complain the repairs took too long and cost more than the original estimate. "Consumer Reports" says try to describe the problem in as much detail as possible because it helps to talk to the mechanics, and especially talking to the mechanic who is actually going to be working on your car.

Explain the symptoms and be sure to note when they happen and if the problem happens when you're moving ask for a test drive with the mechanic. "Consumer Reports" warns you should stay away from trying to make your own diagnosis because if the solution you suggest doesn't fix the problem, guess what? You may be stuck with the bill -- Kyra?

PHILLIPS: What about when we look at that bill and the mechanic says you need this fixed, this fixed, and this fixed, and you know that you don't believe him or her. What do you do?

KOSIK: OK. So "Consumer Reports" found that in the last five years one-quarter of drivers actually switched repair shops. That's always an option for you. 30 percent of the women who switched said they felt staff took advantage of them because they're women. If you're not satisfied with your mechanic's diagnosis, "Consumer Reports" recommends that you actually ask to see the pieces in the car that could be the problem. Those worn out parts, they can be easy for anyone to spot. And don't let your mechanic trick you by saying that their insurance rules prohibit customers from entering the work area. Be sure to get an estimate for any repair job and have your mechanic contact you to improve budget increases. Some helpful. Hints for us not to skilled mechanics ourselves -- Kyra?

PHILLIPS: I'll tell you what, sometimes it's easier just to pay a little more and go to where you bought the car.

KOSIK: I'm with you. I hear you.

PHILLIPS: Yes. But I'm all about negotiating a good deal.

Alison Kosik, thanks so much.

We have more news from the CNN NEWSROOM straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Investigators have ended their search of a New York basement this morning. They were looking for the remains of Etan Patz, the 6-year-old New Yorker who disappeared more than three decades ago.

Deborah Feyerick has following the story all morning. She joins us live from Soho.

What can you tell us, Deb?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You can probably see a lot of activity just behind me. Someone from the NYPD, the spokesperson for the NYPD, right now briefing all reporters. Here is what I can tell you. No obvious human remains were found during that search of a workshop basement. Etan Patz remains a missing persons case. The family was notified about 3:30 yesterday afternoon, moments after agents and investigators wound up their search. Has to be heartbreaking for them. They didn't want to comment until they knew for sure exactly what the status was. They didn't want to get their hopes up again because there have been so many leads that have just turned out to go nowhere.

Etan Patz still a missing child. Law enforcement source tells us that there was no skeleton, no bones, no clothing. Again, no obvious human remains found in that workshop basement. The reason, Kyra, it was so interesting, such a promising lead, is because a concrete floor was poured just days after the child went missing.

It was never dug up at the time, but after an investigator from the FBI renewed the case, they thought that this was a lead that hadn't been tapped. That's why they decided to dig it up. There was a cinder block -- they thought there was blood on it. It was tested in the field. It was field tested. The NYPD did not find any trace of human blood. The FBI, which tests a wider range of blood, they didn't find any blood, nothing conclusive, but this is a field test.

They're still going to take that to Quantico to the FBI lab there to do some further investigation, further analysis. But right now a bit disappointing. They really thought they would have something this time. Think about it, Kyra. I'm looking at the Patz home right in this direction, just half a block away is the workshop that was under investigation. So what this family has gone through just really just heart rendering -- Kyra?

PHILLIPS: I can't even imagine.

Deb, thanks so much.

Another story that we've been following all morning, that snowstorm that's hit in the northeast.

Chad Myers, OK, what happened to spring? Please explain.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It left the south. I can guarantee you that this morning. Temperatures in the 40s and even 30s across the Carolinas and Georgia. But it was snowing up north into New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia. Some spots over a foot of snow. Laurel Summit there, that is in Summit County, Pennsylvania, if you're in like Somerset area, that's where they picked up about six inches of snow. But it's been very windy.

The airports are slow. Some airports don't appear to be slow, but some cancellations are coming through where every plane is on time if it's flying. The ones that are canceled aren't on time because they're not going anywhere. So kind of get ready for that if you're traveling across the northeast. It's a big trough of low pressure in the east. Almost, almost call it a nor'easter, but because we're so much now into warmer air or into spring, call it a coastal low. It ran up the coast and it dumped all of that snow back out to the north and to the west of that area and there you go. We're still piling up snow because in many spots it is still snowing. I know I have ground stop some delays in San Francisco, but the bigger stories really will be in the northeast. I expect D.C. with some wind, Philadelphia already, Newark at about an hour or so. All these airports will get into it later on today as we get all of this volume trying to get in and out of the big northeast cities. That's what happens in the afternoon. We start to get bigger delays from Buffalo all the way back here. A couple areas around Cattaraugus County in the five-inch range. Through the spine of the Alleghenies to the east of Pittsburgh. Notice Pittsburgh proper is out of the warnings and out of the advisories for now.

Here is a live shot from Cleveland. This is the wind. We talked about that a little bit ago. The wind just taking Lake Erie and slamming it up against the break walls. This is not that far from the airport. This is what's happening now across all -- we want to call it a gale warning. We want to say don't go on the water today literally anywhere on the Great Lakes. Pretty amazing shot there though. Those winds had to be 40 or 60 miles per hour and the waves at least 10 feet there barreling through Cleveland, Ohio. And then the snow all the way down even through some of the higher elevations of West Virginia where the ski resorts are and into garret County, Maryland, as well.

PHILLIPS: Chad, thanks so much.

Thanks for watching. You can continue the conversation with me on Twitter @KyraCNN or on Facebook. CNN NEWSROOM continues now with our Suzanne Malveaux.