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Rain, Snow and Ice Storms Affects Thanksgiving Travel; Marine Vet Catches Woman Leaping from Oakland Coliseum Stands; Report Claims Animal Abuse Monitors Too Chummy With Movie, TV Industry; Pope Calls for Changes to Catholic Church; Obama Speaks at Dreamworks Animation

Aired November 26, 2013 - 15:30   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Just in: A Connecticut judge has ordered the release of 911 calls from the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. This is according to court documents just obtained by CNN. This judge upheld a decision by the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission to release these calls from that December 2012 mass shooting; 20 children, first-graders, and six adults were killed in that elementary school.

The judge has granted time for the other side to appeal. If no appeal is granted, the 911 audio recordings will be released on December 4 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern. That is 10 days before the one-year anniversary.

Millions of Thanksgiving travelers hope to reach their destinations today, maybe tomorrow, if the rain, if the snow and the ice do not stop them.

Buffalo, New York, for example, already has mobilized plows and salt trucks to handle the snow and the ice expected there later today. I can tell you that this wintry weather has caused already at least 12 deaths. In Atlanta, rain, as you can see in this live shot here, has been a bit of an issue.

Alina Machado been standing out in it for us all day long.

And, Alina, I see traffic behind you, slow-moving.

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Definitely slow moving, Brooke.

This has been a very wet day here throughout Atlanta and throughout parts of the south. You can see the traffic. This is pretty typical from what you would see during rush hour traffic here in Atlanta.

But the roads are wet, and this, again, is what we're seeing throughout some parts of the country.

Now, if you head north, we know that there have been -- there's sleet, there's icy and snowy roads, but here in the south, this is what we're seeing.

Now, more than 43 million people are expected to travel for the thanksgiving holiday. This is according to AAA. About 90 percent of those people are going to be getting into their cars and driving somewhere. So, Brooke, if you're planning to head out for the Thanksgiving holiday, whether you're leaving tonight or tomorrow at some point, be prepared to have plenty of company out on the roads and also deal with some treacherous conditions, depending on where you are going.

BALDWIN: Take your time. Watch for that visibility.

Alina Machado for us in Atlanta, Alina, thank you very much.

And, Chad Myers, we've been talking here about the worst possible time. So you're saying essentially after tonight, when it gets dark, that's the worst.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, I'm 50, and my eyes don't work like they used to.

I don't like driving at night, and I don't want you really driving at night in this because there will be icy patches that you don't see out there.

When you come up on them, the bridge is icy and it's too late because you're already going 55- or 60-miles-per-hour.

This is a rain event for the northeast, and for all the way, i-95, all rainfall. The snow is behind it into Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, into Pennsylvania.

Here's tomorrow morning, all the way up into Wednesday. It's snowing, Ontario, Quebec, Montreal, Toronto, all the way back down south, even into Georgia.

There will be snow coming down, probably not enough to stick to the roads, but some on the roadways. At least some on the grass.

There's the low right there over New York. That low is the wind maker, and that wind maker could put a damper on air travel tomorrow. Not that there's going to be not low clouds.

There will be at LaGuardia, but the wind delays could be a few hours as we've been talking about now.

There goes the low, all the way past Halifax, Nova Scotia, and on up toward (inaudible) Newfoundland up there.

Here's the snow from Buffalo, (inaudible), Cheektowaga County, south towns, big, that's a foot of snow.

All the way back down to the northeast of Pittsburgh, that's a foot of snow.

And then down to the southeast, there's nothing. It's just a rainfall event.

Another thing we're worried about, sustained winds, 23, gusts, 34, for the Macy's parade, and they can't fly those balloons. There's the forecast gusts for parade time, 36. That's two-miles-an-hour too fast. BALDWIN: Huh-oh.

MYERS: I know it can go plus- or minus-two-miles-an-hour any time, but I want to see those balloons.

BALDWIN: Got to see the big Snoopy balloon and whatever other tricks they have up their sleeves there in New York. Love that so much, so hopefully it's A-OK by Thanksgiving morning.

Chad Myers, thank you very much.

MYERS: You're welcome.

BALDWIN: And let me just tell you this. The CNN.com team, they're amazing. They have this fantastic piece online showcasing the world's busiest airport. That is Atlanta.

So they spent 24 hours at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International, documenting the lives of the people working there and just passing on through.

I want to show you just a small portion of their reporting. And it shows how human and canine teams are keeping our planes safe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She takes one step. I may take two. In that place together is just like a song and dance.

(Inaudible) and I, we became partners in 2010, and we have been together ever since.

A daily life with (inaudible) is a great thing. The dog is highly intelligent, and I am always driven by that fact.

We screen cargo that is uploaded to passenger aircraft. It may seem chaotic. It's symphony to me. It's the play of music.

When we do get to that point where the dog encounters odor, that's the fun of the game.

You're looking to see if that dog will actually sit. You want that dog not to nudge it or not to touch it. It could be very sensitive.

It could literally, you know, trigger something that you and I don't want to be here today talking about.

What's most important is ensuring that we're doing every single thing that we can do to ensure that nothing harmful is being uploaded to any of these aircrafts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That is just a piece of our reporting.

Go to CNN.com/ATL24. Again, CNN.com/ATL24, and you can see all that fascinating reporting yourself, behind the scenes at Atlanta's airport.

Coming up, the pope once again bucking tradition and declaring changes are coming to the Church.

And he's pretty specific in his criticisms, which include greed and capitalism. That is coming up.

Also a segment you will be talking about tonight, listen to this, a mother telling her college-age son, text before sex.

That's right. She says have the women give proof that she is, in fact, willing. That mother will join me live, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right. Let's pop these pictures up, Glendale, California. You see the crowd watching, waiting for the president of the United States to speak.

This is DreamWorks Animation. This is where the president and White House has chosen to him have speak specifically about the economy, how things are getting better.

As soon as we see the president, we will bring it to you live as part of his West Coast swing. This is the final day. Stay tuned for that.

Also, the Marine vet who jumped into action and saved a woman who leapt from the upper deck of a football stadium says nope, he's not a hero.

Sixty-one-year-old Donnie Navidad spent the night in the hospital, is still suffering from severe bruises.

He was leaving the Oakland Coliseum on Sunday when he saw a woman just falling from the stands.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONNIE NAVIDAD, SAVED WOMAN FROM FALL: As she started to descend, I braced myself to catch her.

I was hoping I can -- when I caught her, is lock my arms around here so she could absorb the impact with me.

But unfortunately, she hit and she bounced off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That woman is still in the hospital. Navidad, a season ticket holder, was visited by several former raiders at his home yesterday. They delivered team memorabilia and the game ball.

"No animals were harmed in the making of this movie." That line may be comforting to animal lovers who like a night in front of the silver screen, but guess what? A new report says that credit doesn't mean a darned thing and animals were put in danger in some of your favorite movies. That's coming up, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Did you know they nearly killed the tiger while they were filming the movie "Life of Pi?"

It turns out that is what an animal rights monitor claimed in an e- mail sent from the set.

Remember "Life of Pi?" It's about a boy, a lifeboat and this big Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.

Well, quote, "One take went really bad." This is according to this e- mail. "The tiger got lost trying to swim to the side and damn near died."

Here's another e-mail. Quote, "We almost f'ing killed King." That's the tiger's real name, King. "We almost killed King in the water tank."

Let's hold it right there, because this claim here is not merely alarming, it is also in dispute.

Also in dispute, the bottom line of this expose from "The Hollywood Reporter," which says that this animal rights group that watches the film industry has gotten way too chummy with the industry, and because of that, they say, animals are dying.

Bob Ferber is with us now from Los Angeles. He is a former L.A. city attorney, also a former animal abuse prosecutor.

So, Bob, welcome. Nice to have you on.

BOB FERBER, FORMER ANIMAL ABUSE PROSECUTOR: Thank you for having me.

BALDWIN: On the one side, you have this animal rights group. Let's be precise. This is the American Humane Association. These are the folks who give that stamp of approval to movies that you don't hurt animals.

You see it right here. They tack it on to the credits.

On the other side, you have "The Hollywood Reporter," this expose, and it says that the AHA approval doesn't mean that much anymore because animals are dying on movie sets and that they are simply looking the other way.

What's your opinion?

FERBER: Well, I actually couldn't agree more with "The Reporter" and the Hollywood story.

It's something that actually is kind of a dirty dark secret in Hollywood, but just about anybody who works in the industry knows that there's virtually no real, meaningful protection for animals in the movies.

As an -- I have been a prosecutor for 13, 14 years. I just retired, and I was the first animal cruelty prosecutor in the country. You -- I was part of -- my area was Los Angeles.

During that time, we were never able to get any reports, to get any information about what was happening on movie sets.

Over the years, I grew more and more suspicious about whether there really was monitoring.

I learned more and more that they were not on the set when they would say they were --

BALDWIN: But what's happening on the set? Be specific.

What's happening on these sets through, you're saying, maybe more than a decade.

What is happening to these animals you've seen?

FERBER: Well, actually, it's been going on, on and off, since the movie industry began. This goes back to the 1920s and '30s when Johnny Weissmuller in a Tarzan movie was sitting on top of a rhinoceros and killing it. And they went through one after another rhinoceroses.

And, as a result of actually no monitoring at all, eventually the American Humane Association, and this is really to their credit, stepped in and, many years ago, negotiated an arrangement where the studios would allow them, and it wasn't -- they were given permission to monitor, on certain terms, to watch what animals -- how animals were being treated.

At that time, it's important for the viewers to know, we didn't have real law enforcement handling animal abuse cases at all, so they were a very valuable part of helping animals and creating -- setting minimum standards, 40, 50 years ago.

But since then, it's changed. And I've seen -- I had personal involvement in the movie "Flicka," where we were absolutely unable to get information about the two horses that died. One horse died from what I would consider criminal neglect.

But we were unable to get any information. What goes on in these movie sets with animals is closed to the public. And the tragedy is -- I'm sorry. Go ahead.

BALDWIN: No, just let me jump in, because I'm hearing all these examples. And let's just be fair to the other side of the story. Let me just make sure I quote.

This from the American Humane Association. This is what we're hearing from them, specifically.

They are saying, quote, "Far from allowing abuse and neglect to occur, we have a remarkably high safety record of 99.98 percent." Let me also cite two field reports. This is from AHA monitors. The first one says, "Fish and squid wash ashore near one movie set after some kind of underwater demolition."

The second one talks about this chipmunk guy. So it says, "Chipmunk guy was carrying his chipmunk while walking across some rocks. He dropped the chipmunk, stepped on it and killed it."

This is all part of this "Hollywood Reporter" reporting. So you could see how one side -- and, obviously they are standing up behind their monitoring and these are chipmunks and squid, for example.

So they're keeping track of some of it, no?

FERBER: Well, I think it's important what you just said. They're keeping track of some of it.

What the Humane -- American Humane Association seems to believe is abuse, and I don't mean this sarcastically, is basically if somebody intentionally tries to kill an animal on the set.

Anything where an animal is killed accidentally or short of being killed, like the tiger, King, in "Pi," that's not something -- I'm quite sure that's not in their statistics and they don't count that as an animal being harmed.

You know, as the first cruelty prosecutor in the country, I can tell you there's laws in all 50 states and federal laws that define animal cruelty.

Animal cruelty is not just killing an animal. It's being negligent or failing to do what you need to do, and it's neglect, also.

he stories and the incidents that came out in that report, I would encourage your viewers to go online and check out that "Hollywood Reporter" story.

BALDWIN: Yeah, I'll tweet it out to make sure everyone can be the judge here.

And again, AHA, standing up behind their monitoring, but I hear you loud and clear. And it sounds like perhaps, perhaps something really needs to be done.

Bob Ferber for me in Los Angeles, Bob, thank you very, very much. I appreciate your perspective.

FERBER: You're very welcome.

Coming up, the pope raising eyebrows yet again after attacking capitalism and saying changes are coming to the Catholic Church.

This as we learn whether Americans are fond of Francis and his blunt assessment of the Church.

Stay right here. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: In just the latest example of Pope Francis' striking difference from the popes before him, he is calling for big changes within the Roman Catholic Church.

In his first official written document, the church leader addressed several issues, including the growing gap between the world's rich and those in poverty.

Joining me now from Denver is CNN's senior Vatican analyst, John Allen. And, John Allen, nice to see you today.

You are the perfect person to talk about all this with, because there are more than one billion Catholics, worldwide.

What types of things do you think Catholics will see here, change- wise, and when?

JOHN ALLEN, CNN SENIOR VATICAN ANALYST: Well, Brooke, fundamentally, I think they are going to focus on the dream that Francis presented in this document.

I actually, in a piece for my paper, "The National Catholic Reporter," called this his "I have a dream" speech, because what he says is he has this dream of a Church that is more missionary, that is more focused on reaching out rather than collapsing in on itself, and that is more merciful, that is, rather than focusing on what he calls "rules that make us harsh judges," he wants a Church that's more compassionate and tolerant.

And everything we know tells us that that message is resonating tremendously at the Catholic grassroots all around the world.

BALDWIN: Is that kind of message really, though, much of a departure from previous popes, or is it just the way in which he's writing, the way in which he's speaking that is the difference?

ALLEN: Well, I think part of it is his personality, which is very beguiling. You right. It's not as if previous popes didn't want a missionary church or a merciful church.

But I think the difference is Francis has indicated a willingness to put his money where his mouth is, that is, to embrace real change.

Now, he did take a couple things off the table in this document. He said no to women priests, and he said that church teaching on abortion isn't going to change.

But beyond that, he said he's open to what he called a conversion of the papacy, a kind of decentralization and democratization of the church.

He wants to empower women in laity and he wants a more generous position on access to the sacraments, especially communion, which could have huge consequences not just for divorced-and-remarried Catholic, but also for pro-choice Catholic politicians have been threatened with being turned away from the communion wine.

BALDWIN: Wow.

ALLEN: So, people look at that and they say this isn't just rhetoric. That's real change.

BALDWIN: That's big.

And then you have, John Allen, Pew Research analysis this week that found this so-called "Pope Francis effect" hasn't had any impact on the number of Catholics here in the U.S.

The number of people who identify as Catholic is unchanged really since he has become pope.

Does that surprise you? Why do you think that is?

ALLEN: Well, not really. Look, you know, what religion somebody chooses to belong to and whether they go to church services is a kind of long-term process.

But we should say this. We also have a lot of data from the United States indicating that Francis has approval ratings in this country, both among Catholics and non-Catholics, that celebrities and politicians would probably sacrifice their kids to try to obtain.

There was also one recent study in Italy that found that, at least in that country, half the parish priests in that country say that they have seen increased attendance at mass which they attribute to the pope.

So, you know, I mean, it's going to be uneven, but the big picture here is that Francis has kind of captured the imagination of the world and seems to be reinvigorating the Catholic Church at the base.

BALDWIN: In a way that perhaps we haven't seen in quite some time, John Allen.

Thank you so much for joining me from Denver.

And before I let all of you go, we have promised to see the president of the United States, and here he is, speaking at DreamWorks Animation in Glendale, California.

Let's eavesdrop.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: You helped shape the world culture in a way that has made the world better.

They might not know the Gettysburg Address, but if they're watching some old movie, maybe "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" or "Will and Grace" and "Modern Family" they've had a front row seat to our march towards progress.

Even if their own nations haven't made that progress yet, and young people in countries all around the world suddenly make a connection and have an affinity to people who don't look like them and maybe originally they might have been fearful of, and now suddenly they say, this person's like me, which is one of the powers of art.

But that's what you transmit. And that is a remarkable legacy.

Now, it's also a big responsibility. When it comes to issues like gun violence, we've got to make sure that we're not glorifying it, because the stories you tell shape our children's outlook and their lives.

Now, earlier this year, leaders from this town sat down with Vice President Biden to talk about what Hollywood could do to help keep our kids safe. This was in the wake of Sandy Hook. And those conversations need to continue.

The stories we tell matter. And you tell stories more powerfully than anybody else on the earth.

But I want to make clear, even as we think long and hard about the messages we send, we should never waiver from our commitment to the freedom that allows us to tell those stories so well.

Protecting our First Amendment rights are vital to who we are, and it's also good business, because in the global race for jobs and industries, that thing we do better than anybody else is creativity.

That's something that can't be copied. It's one of the reasons why, even with new markets and new technologies, there's still no better place to make movies and television and music than right here in the United States.

Entertainment is one of the bright spots of our economy. The gap between what we can do and what other countries can do is enormous. Yeah, that's worth cheering --

BALDWIN: He just said it there for you. This is really the reason why the president of the United States, part of his West Coast swing, specifically at DreamWorks Animation in Hollywood, and his point just being in talking about the economy, that the entertainment industry itself is really one of the bright spots in bringing our economy up here in this country.

You can keep watching the president. Go to CNN.com/live.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. Great to be with you today. I'll see you tomorrow.

Meantime, John Berman in for Jake Tapper. "THE LEAD" starts now.