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Winter Storm Slams 15 States; Weather Causing Delays at the Airport; U.S.-China Tensions; Walmart Readies for Black Friday Frenzy; CNN Poll Shows NFL Fans' Disconnect
Aired November 27, 2013 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Huge storms slowing millions on their way home.
Also breaking this morning, a new CNN poll saying the majority of Americans still have an open mind about Obamacare. The big question, though, will the government make its November deadline?
Plus, shoving, screaming, and sales. Ah, yes, the Black Friday bargain battle blast has begun. Online or in the store, where is the better deal?
And trick shot. Alex Tanny scoring a contract with the Cleveland Browns. After the Browns saw his YouTube videos. We have one word for Alex this morning. Goal.
You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me.
Brace yourself, more than 40 million people traveling for Thanksgiving could be bombarded with heavy rain, strong winds, snow and possibly flooding.
You're looking live at Buffalo, New York, this powerful storm slamming the East Coast right now causing a ripple effect of travel problems. It's already delayed more 6,000 flights and canceled hundreds more. And for millions of people driving home the roads are slick and dangerous.
You're looking live at Pittsburgh now. Whew, that's nasty. By tomorrow, every state in the U.S. except Hawaii will reach below freezing temperatures, and up to a foot of snow could fall in some areas like Buffalo, Syracuse, and Pittsburgh.
CNN's team of correspondents and meteorologists are stationed all over the place this morning, but let's start in Pittsburgh, shall we? Shannon Travis is there.
Good morning.
SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: Good morning, Carol. Yes, we're not seeing any -- significant snowfall right now, we're seeing a little few flakes starting to fall but that doesn't mean that we're in the clear, the temperatures are low here. Transportation officials tell me that they're worried about all the rain that fell yesterday, actually slicking a lot of these roads, as you mentioned, a lot of millions of people are going to be traveling, a lot of them are going to be traveling throughout Pennsylvania on some of these roads behind me.
Carol, we've been watching these interstates that kind of intersect right here all morning, they have cleared, they have traveling, but it seems at least that people are driving pretty slow.
I want to give you a little information that I obtained, Steve Cowan over at the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation tells me that although they didn't get much snowfall last night and they're not seeing that much this morning, but they do have about 64 trucks out on the road. It's not clearing some of the problem spots, some of the slick roads, ices, bridges, overpasses.
He tells me that in two other counties, in Beaver and Lawrence Counties, not that far from here that there was more significant snowfall, about 8 to 12 inches and that they do have about 24 trucks there. And obviously a lot of people want to know what about air conditions, travel conditions for the airports. We're not that far from Pittsburgh International.
I spoke with Joanne Jenny, she tells me that all operations are pretty normal there right now, no significant delays or cancellations due to weather -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, so far so good. Shannon Travis, thanks so much.
Here is a look at what those of you in the northeast will battle on the roads today. Snow from Charleston, West Virginia, up to Syracuse, New York, that's in New York state, and the East Coast, of course, will continue to be slammed by cold rain and the winds are going to pick up later this afternoon and that may cause real problems.
CNN's Pamela Brown is traveling on one of the busiest interstates in the nation, if not the busiest, I-95.
Sounds like big time fun, Pamela.
PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Carol. We've been on the road since 5:30 this morning and we've seen some traffic snarls, we've seen flooding, we've seen pooling on the roads.
Right now we're on 95 south in New Jersey and it's smooth sailing at this point but don't let this deceive you. There are expected to be 39 million Americans hitting the road for this holiday season, and this is the busiest travel day of the year, in fact, there have been some accidents this morning. We've passed some accidents and also we've learned that the westbound lane on I-76 in Philadelphia is closed due to an accident there, where one person was killed and there's only one lane open on the other side due to flooding there. So we're seeing these issues all over, Carol, and it's expected to get only worse. The rain is expected to pick up later this morning, and that's when a lot of people will likely hit the road, so people need to really just exercise patience.
You know, it's already pretty miserable traveling the day before Thanksgiving and the weather is just compounding the situation -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, we'll be careful. Thanks, Pamela.
The storm is moving slowly across the country, very slowly. So many of us will feel its full effects later on today.
CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray live in New York to tell us what to expect.
Good morning.
JENNIFER GRAY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning to you, Carol. And that's right, we are seeing mainly a rainmaker right now. We have seen a lot of snow in interior sections, but right along the coast, it's been mainly rain. We're seeing rain anywhere from D.C., Newark, all the way to Boston. And so while we've seen anywhere from 8 to 10 inches of snow interior, we've seen rain along the coast and even severe weather along the coast.
We even had a possible EF2 tornado reported around Atlantic beach during the overnight hours, and so we've seen a severe component to this, we've seen an icy component to this, anywhere from 10 inches of snow in portions of Pennsylvania, 6 to 7 inches of snow from New York, Ohio, and the snow continues to come down.
We're going to see an additional three to eight inches of snow possible, in upstate New York, two to four inches of additional snowfall in West Virginia, and that's during the next 48 hours, as far as the rain is concerned. A lot of you are traveling along the I-95 corridor, one to two inches of rain across southern sections, two to four across northern, and this low will continue to push out.
Good news, Carol, the worst of it should be over by tonight. We should dry out here in New York City. Tomorrow the wind is what will be a factor.
COSTELLO: All right, Jennifer, we'll keep a lookout, thanks so much.
Some of the biggest and busiest airports in the world are in the storm's path and people across the country are trying to get home for Thanks giving dinner before they get stuck.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nothing will keep me from that table.
(LAUGHTER)
Not from Thanksgiving table.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're very happy.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because we don't -- as much as we love O'Hare, we'd like to not spend Thanksgiving here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just looking at that weather, that big green, pink slop coming our direction, time to get out of the way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: We're taking a look at airports up and down the coast, so let's start in Atlanta, with CNN's Alina Machado.
Good morning.
ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. It is a windy and cold day here in Atlanta, but that is not causing any real problems here. We did see some sleet a few hours ago, crews spent some time deicing planes this morning. They are also keeping an eye on the weather, but so far thankfully there are no widespread delays or cancellations to report.
Even traffic here at the North Terminal Departure Area seems to be moving smoothly, all in all, things are looking great.
Now let's go to Rene Marsh in D.C. at Reagan National Airport.
RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Well, we could tell you that the delays and the cancellations, they are stacking up here at Reagan National. We're starting to see cancellations pop up for places like LaGuardia, in New York, also Chicago O'Hare, and we're seeing delays between 20 minutes to an hour and a half.
Looking at the full picture nationwide we know that there are about more than 500 delays, but not all of those are necessarily having to do with weather. Getting to some specific airports for you, Philly, we know they're seeing delays on some arriving flights, averaging about an hour and 55 minutes. Also LaGuardia, also seeing some delays on arriving flights, 59 minutes.
Right now we're seeing the most delays at O'Hare, Atlanta's Hartsfield, Charlotte, as well as Philly. Bottom line is, you know, if you're flying you need to simply check with your airlines and also be prepared to know that things may not go as they were originally scheduled.
We're going to send it over to Margaret Conley, who's live at LaGuardia Airport.
MARGARET CONLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: LaGuardia put out an e-mail alert saying that weather conditions have caused disruptions to flights. A representative here said there are scattered delays and cancellations. So check those airlines before you come to the airport. Most flights are on time out of LaGuardia but there have been at least 50 cancellations so far and the airport says that they are doing everything possible to prepare for the worst in case people do get stuck here overnight -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Thanks, Margaret.
Whether you're hitting the road for Thanksgiving dinner or lighting the menorah at home because, you know, tonight is the first night of Hanukkah, so happy Thanksgivukkah. Your local weather and airport conditions on the lower part of your screen all day long just in case you need to know right now.
Despite the disastrous rollout of the Obamacare Web site the majority of Americans still believe the law could work. That's according to a new CNN/ORC Poll which shows that 53 percent of Americans say it's still too soon to call Obamacare a success or failure, 39 percent, though, say it is a failure, while just 8 percent declare it a success.
When asked if the problems with the new health care law will eventually be solved, 54 percent said yes, 45 percent said no.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, while you're at home making all that stuffing, Wal-Mart workers are busy stocking the shelves, getting ready for thousands of frenzied Black Friday shoppers.
Christine Romans is on that story.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Carol, last year on Thanksgiving, Wal-Mart sold 5,000 items every single second on Thanksgiving Day. This year, it is even bigger, bigger holiday push.
I'm going to show you what it takes to keep Wal-Mart running on Black Friday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Checking our top stories at 14 minutes past the hour.
China's move to declare a new air defense zone over part of the East China Sea is prompting a swift response from the United States, which sent two unarmed B-52 bombers to fly through the area. The action came despite China's previous warning that it could take military action against planes that don't identify themselves or their flight planes.
David McKenzie is in Beijing.
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The message from Beijing is we're watching you. The Defense Ministry here saying that they closely monitored the two U.S. B-52 bombers, which flew through China's unilaterally declared Air Defense Identification Zone.
The Chinese said they were aware of the type of the plane, where it went and how long it was through that disputed area. This comes just days after they announced this plan to monitor this part of the ocean east of China to try and protect their sovereignty, according to China, though, the U.S. says that this is a dangerous move that could escalate tensions in an already tense region -- Carol.
COSTELLO: David McKenzie.
Tensions, by the way, have been on the rise ever since Japan purchased this string of islands from a private owner in the East China Sea last year. And that angered many Chinese officials.
A hazmat lake putting an Ohio town on edge. Willard, Ohio, is the town I'm talking about. A 26,000 gallon tanker car derailed there late last night and a highly flammable chemical started flowing from a hole in the car. More than 400 homes have been evacuated.
Officials say the spill is now contained and being cleaned up. People are expected to be allowed back in their homes over the next few hours.
Scary moments in New York this morning, two people injured when a small building collapsed in the Bronx. They were treated at a local hospital. The collapse happened just before 8:00 during the morning commute. The fire department is investigating.
Pope Francis issuing a stinging criticism of the free market this week, slamming capitalism as, quote, "the new tyranny." The remarks are part of an 84-page report bit as the pope's platform and he writes, in part, quote, "How could it be it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure but it is news when the stock market loses two points?" The pope who held an audience today in St. Peter's Square went on to call for greater action to help the poor.
Unfortunately for the pope, these next few days are all about the door-buster, all about capitalism. You know, those incredible deals spark scenes like this one in stores across the country. We're talking about the hot holiday toys like the Furby Boom at Toys "R" Us. It will cost you 30 bucks. Best Buy, you can pick up a 39-inch flat screen TV for just $169.
Target is getting a lot of buzz on this one -- the new iPad air for $479 plus a $100 gift card and Walmart had its own Apple deal. The iPad Mini for just $299.
And making sure thousands of Walmart shoppers get what they want, well, as you know, they're opening really, really early this holiday season.
Christine Romans has that side of the story.
Good morning.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Millions of people, tens of millions of people will be going to the stores Black Friday and these retailers are doing everything they can to lure you in. We go behind the scenes of the nation's largest retailer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome to Walmart.
ROMANS (voice-over): One-point-three million workers in 4,000 stores around the country building up to one event, Black Friday. The world's biggest retailer says it's the most important shopping day of the year.
STEVE BRATSPIES, WALMART U.S.: We call it the Super Bowl of retail.
ROMANS: Say good-bye to tomatoes and hello to toys and televisions.
BRATSPIES: You go into a supercenter 2:00 or so on Thanksgiving Day, it looks like a food store. Two to three hours later the largest food store to the largest G.M. store in the world.
ROMANS: Walmart can't sell what it doesn't have. So, it's buying more to keep up with demand.
BRATSPIES: We bought 65 percent more TVs, five times as many sheet sets, two times as many tablets.
ROMANS: And customers won't need to wait for the deals. Thanksgiving Thursday is the new Black Friday -- Kmart, Best Buy, Target and Walmart all opening earlier this year. Walmart's Black Friday deals start at 6:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving.
Walmart says its customers bought nearly 5,000 items a second during its four hours of Thanksgiving Day sales last year.
BRATSPIES: We did over 10 million transactions. That was about 1.3 million TVs, 1.8 million towels, 1.3 million toys.
ROMANS: Keeping the product flowing will take all 600 of this store's employees.
BRATSPIES: So it's a simple seamless move from off the truck to the back room. Every store is mapped out for an exact location of where all the products are going to be.
ROMANS: And when it's all over, it starts again.
BRATSPIES: Black Friday is actually a 52-week planning process for us. We literally start the day after Black Friday one year and start planning for the next year.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: And that, Carol, is the retail trick -- all the retailers have for a year been planning on these sales and doorbusters today. So it's all incredibly, incredibly choreographed and strategized.
There are six days fewer days to shop in between Thanksgiving and Christmas, so they're really pulling out all the stops to make sure they have big, big shopping days to make up for the extra six days of revenue. This is very big business for these companies.
COSTELLO: I just can't believe how many people are willing to shop on Thanksgiving Day. It seems that Americans say they care but they really don't.
ROMANS: They vote with their wallets every year, Carol, by going out. Last year, the retailers tried a few hours and you saw in the case of Walmart, 5,000 items every single second. People left the dinner table, went right to the mall and so this year retailers are saying, consumers have spoken, they want to shop on Thanksgiving and on Friday and on Saturday and Sunday and on Monday, all the way through the holidays.
The question is, are the best deals today, carol or are they in two weeks when strapped consumers haven't lived up to the expectations of the retailers, they have to cut prices some more?
COSTELLO: Well, I never shop until the day before Christmas, so for me the deals are there whatever.
ROMANS: That's why you always forget my present.
COSTELLO: I know, I'm sorry. This year, I'm not going to forget, I have something special planned.
Thanks, Christine. Happy Thanksgiving.
ROMANS: You, too.
COSTELLO: It is decision day for President Obama: We're not talking about Obamacare or executive orders, we're talking about turkeys. Specifically caramel and popcorn, which turkey will he pardon today?
This has to be one of the dumbest Washington traditions ever. I'm sorry, I just have to be honest with you but the public has voted on Facebook, both birds will actually live on into retirement at Mt. Vernon. It sounds nice, but you know, after the president pardons these turkeys he'll go into the White House and eat a turkey.
Anywho, you can watch the pardoning ceremony about four hours from now right here on CNN.
Still to come in THE NEWSROOM: concerns about concussion, bullying and intentional injuries in NFL but Americans still love them some football. Surprising new poll results for you next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Oh, I ask you, what is Thanksgiving without turkey and football? The NFL has a schedule to fit with your feast, early birds can get the lions traditional holiday home game, Detroit hosts Green Bay and Detroit better win.
Your second pigskin course served from Dallas versus the Raiders and for dessert dig into the Steelers and the Ravens, that's what I'm going to do all day. ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: Me as well.
COSTELLO: Standing here with Andy Scholes because we're going to talk about this poll that CNN did. It's strange poll.
Concussions and bullying, you know, were not part of the Thanksgiving football tradition, but they have certainly the talk of the NFL this season. Fans may say they want fixes for the league's troubles but they really don't care. They love their football.
Andy Scholes is here to show us the numbers.
SCHOLES: That's right, Carol.
And when we asked people these questions whether concussions or the bullying scandal made them think less facial about the NFL, and about 30 percent yes but an overwhelming 70 percent said know.
And there was another question asked to fans that we polled, were players intentionally causing injuries to other players, did that make you feel less facial toward the NFL? You would think that would be a no brainer, yes, but 50 percent of the people we asked said no. So --
COSTELLO: I don't know why that surprises you.
SCHOLES: It surprises me because that's how much people love the NFL. It doesn't matter that -- and the intentional part of it. If someone was intentionally going after someone no brainer, of course that would mach me think less favorable. But no, 50 percent say I love my football that much and it seems no matter what happens in the NFL, whether it would be concussions, the bullying scandal, the lockouts, bounty gate, no matter what, people are going to watch their football, right -- Carol.
Tomorrow, Thanksgiving, we're going to eat turkey. We're going to watch football.
COSTELLO: Well, actually, the concussion number surprised me the most because people care about concussions and they want the NFL to fix that problem but concussions won't stop them from watching football.
SCHOLES: Exactly and this year that's been a big issue, it's been in the news nearly every day. Half way through the season, Carol, what have been 19 out of the 20 most watched programs --
COSTELLO: Football.
SCHOLES: NFL football games.
COSTELLO: It's all I watch.
I know we have this conflicted, because I think that we look at most players and their faces are covered, right, so we know a few players that are famous, the quarterbacks and the running backs, but the rest of the players are kind of anonymous like hurting machines and we like that in our culture. SCHOLES: That's exactly right. I think that's exactly what we want them to do. What do we want our defensive linemen to do, go kill the quarterback, right?
So, when I guess we're watching the game, we like watching game. We don't really think about the repercussions that come from people getting hit in the head.
COSTELLO: I'm going to try to be a gentler fan just for you. but those Lions better win.
Thank you, Andy.
Still to come in THE NEWSROOM, Buffalo, New York, bracing up for a foot of snow. CNN's George Howell is the lucky one today, he's there.
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, snow is on the ground, the roads are slushy, it's a mess out here. We'll have a live report from Buffalo, New York, next as THE CNN NEWSROOM continues.
