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Helicopter Crashes into Pub; Brutal brawls on Black Friday; Christie, Clinton Surge in New Poll; White House Aims to Get Past Obamacare; Celebrity Chef Scandal; American War Vet in North Korean Prison; Professional Sports and Cheating; The Future of Shopping; Homeless Man with Amazing Talent
Aired November 30, 2013 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Straight up, and he said, mom, do you see that light? No, I don't see anything. He said, but it's there. Can you see it? And he told me that it made him feel really good, and he thought it was an angel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN ANCHOR: "TO HEAVEN AND BACK," an Anderson Cooper special report airs tomorrow night at 7:00 and 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time right here on CNN.
We have much more ahead in the NEWSROOM, and that starts right now.
Hello there. I'm Miguel Marquez in for Fredricka Whitfield. Here are the top stories we're following in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Just a day after Thanksgiving thanks, we saw brawling. Black Friday shoppers. We'll bring you the worst of the violent shoppers shoving and screaming trying to snag a deal.
Eight people dead so far after a police helicopter crashes through the roof of a pub. Now the search for survivors. Coming up, what witnesses saw moments before impact.
A chilling video of an elderly U.S. tourist dragged off a plane and held hostage for more than a month inside North Korea. Details on his suspicious confession, next.
At least eight people have died after a police helicopter crashed into a pub in Scotland. The pub was packed for a concert when part of the roof came down last night. Police say three victims were on the helicopter and the other five were inside the pub. More than 30 people were rushed to hospitals and police say about 14 are still there seriously injured.
Richard Quest has the latest from Glasgow.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Miguel, according to one of Scotland's most senior politicians, this was the news they had been dreading but expecting. Having spent most of the day with only one person confirmed dead, everybody knew that the number of fatalities would rise, and now they're saying eight people perished last night.
Nor are they able to say whether that is the final total because, as the head of Police Scotland put it, the helicopter is in the middle of the building, and until they can remove it, they don't really know what's underneath. Removing the helicopter will be an extremely difficult, complex, and intricate operation. The building is unstable, and they want to ensure that maximum safety before they try any further operations.
Finding out what happened and why the helicopter fell out of the sky in such a disastrous way last night, again, the police describe that as a sensitive and complex investigation, one that will take many weeks if not months.
Tonight, though, in Scotland, the people are mourning the fact that eight people perished. The number may go higher. And flags in the country are at half-mast -- Miguel.
MARQUEZ: Awful. Thank you very much there, Richard Quest.
One witness says the helicopter came hurdling oust the sky looking like a huge rock. We'll get his firsthand story coming up at 3:00 p.m. Eastern.
North Korea's government claims a California man detained for a month has apologized for crimes during the Korean War. In a new video, 85- year-old Merrill Newman says he's sorry for killing civilians and troops. In the alleged apology, Merrill says the U.S. isn't telling the truth about North Korea. He's one of two Americans being held in North Korea currently.
The U.S. won't recognize China's newly created air defense zone over the East China Sea but it is advising air carriers to stay away. Just last week China declared the area off limits. Both China and Japan have claimed ownership of several islands in the East China Sea. Some fear the standoff could lead to violence intended or not.
A shooting, a stabbing, a mob brawl. Just another Black Friday, right? With chaos reported from North Carolina to Nevada.
Alexander Field is not brawling. She's following the Black Friday brawls, though.
Alexandra, tell us the worst of it. Do we want to know?
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miguel, fortunately, the shopping scene is feeling a little more sane today. Aren't we all thankful for that? Because yesterday those Black Friday shoppers came out with their claws and really a whole lot more. It's getting downright dangerous, that hunt for deals year after year.
Now check out this video. It was shot in New Jersey. This is a mall where two women went after each other, one of the shoppers pulls out a stun gun. That's right, a stun gun. In Las Vegas, police say it was more than a stun gun. That's where officers say there was a shooting when one shopper tried to steal a deal from another shopper. In Virginia, police say there was a stabbing. They say that one man threatened another man with both a knife and a rifle. In Texas, pepper spray was unleashed on the shoppers. It goes on and on across the country. You can see those crowds of people mobbing the stores in California.
A police officer says he broke his hand trying to break up a fight. All of this raises two questions for us, Miguel. One, is any of this worth it? And, two, should I just shop more online?
MARQUEZ: Well, Alexandra, I was out getting your Christmas gift at Lenox Mall here in Atlanta last night, and it was perfectly fine. It was packed, traffic was kind of, you know, heavy, but it was fine getting in there. Big crowds, festive crowds. So it didn't happen everywhere.
The big question, though, are people spending the cash? And I won't tell you what I'm getting you either, Alexandra.
FIELD: Miguel, good to point out, it did not happen everywhere. People are spending a lot of money, most of them are doing it in a pretty polite way. It's expected that in the months of November and December, consumers will spend more than $600 billion, $80 billion will spent online, 140 million shoppers are expected to come out this weekend. And, again, most of them are behaving well -- Miguel.
MARQUEZ: Well, that is good to know. Let's hope we continue with peace and joy into the holiday season.
Thank you very much, Alexandra. Thanks very much.
The clock is ticking and a lot is on the line. We're talking about the Obamacare Web site. The president promising that by midnight it will work properly for most users. Will it? That's next in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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MARQUEZ: It is still three years until the 2016 presidential election, but new CNN poll numbers are already suggesting at least two potential early frontrunners.
CNN's political editor Paul Steinhauser has more -- oh, Paul.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Hey, Miguel. So far this month Chris Christie won a landslide reelection victory in New Jersey. He took over as chairman of the Republican Governors Association and now he apparently has another honor.
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GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: 2016 is a long way away.
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STEINHAUSER: Chris Christie is right. It is. But let's be honest. The early moves in the next race for the White House are already under way. And for the first time, a frontrunner appears among the possible GOP presidential contenders in our new CNN/ORC Poll. 24 percent of Republicans we questioned said they'd be likely to support Christie as their party's nominee. He's 11 percentage points ahead of Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky who's at 13 percent.
Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin last year's Republican running mate and freshman Senator Ted Cruz of Texas are the only others in double digits in our new poll.
Christie says first things first. He's got his mind on next year's midterm elections, not 2016.
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CHRISTIE: We've got 2014 to deal with. That's what we're going to deal with.
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STEINHAUSER: When it comes to the Democrats, our poll, like all the rest, indicates that Hillary Clinton would be the overwhelming frontrunner for the nomination if she runs.
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HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: When women participate in the politics of their nations, they can make a difference.
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STEINHAUSER: But what if she doesn't make a second run for the White House? Our survey suggests Vice President Joe Biden would be the frontrunner right now with 43 percent of Democrats saying they'd be likely to support him for the nomination, with freshman Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts a distant second.
One thing, though. The next race for the White House really doesn't start kicking into gear for another year, so this early date, these polls, are partially a reflection of name recognition -- Miguel.
MARQUEZ: Thanks, Paul, for making sense of it all.
One thing that could affect those poll numbers is how Americans respond to the president's health care program. We are just under 11 hours before the deadline kicks in for healthcare.gov to be up and running smoothly for the vast majority of users.
CNN's Tory Dunnan reports a lot is at stake and the clock, it is ticking.
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TORY DUNNAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's been a frenzied race to fix healthcare.gov and today, November 30th is the day when President Obama promised the Web site would be running smoothly for the vast majority of users.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: By the end of this month, we anticipate that it is going to be working the way it is supposed to, all right?
DUNNAN: It's been two months since the botched rollout on October 1st. Sparking a firestorm in Congress and forcing the administration to set a self-imposed deadline.
KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: The assessment that we have made is that it will take until the end of November for an optimally functioning Web site.
DUNNAN: The latest from Jeffrey Zients, the man the president brought in to turn things around, is that the fix is on track, that the Web site should be able to handle 50,000 users at the same time, double what it once could, and overall more than 800,000 users per day. But there's a caveat.
JULIE BATAILLE, SPOKESWOMAN, CENTERS FOR MEDICARE AND MEDICAID SERVICES: To be clear, November 30th does not represent a re-launch of healthcare.gov. It is not a magical date. There will be times after November 30th when the site, like any Web site, does not perform optimally.
DUNNAN: And too many people trying to log in could still spell trouble. The administration says they'll be put in a virtual queue and will get an e-mail with a better time to sign on. Troubleshooters have been working around the clock, including at this command center in Columbia, Maryland.
One expert we talked to says even if the 50,000 concurrent users' goal is met how much time they're spending on the site could be a headache.
LUKE CHUNG, PRESIDENT OF SOFTWARE DEVELOPER, FMS: And so the challenge isn't how many lanes do you have on the highway, it's how fast the cars can go down the highway. Because if there's a breakdown, you'll have a big traffic jam and pileup behind you.
DUNNAN: Republican critics like Congressman Fred Upton aren't letting up. He's taking aim at the administration's claim that running smoothly for the vast majority of users means an 80 percent success rate, saying, quote, "The situation is so bad that a 20 percent failure rate is the goal."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ: And that was CNN's Tory Dunnan. She says some insurance insiders tell us there are still problems with the backend of the Web site. They say some customers' information is being lost or destroyed in the system.
So what does this mean politically? Is it just another day or another deadline? Are there other lasting implications for the president? What about the Republicans who oppose Obamacare?
Ron Brownstein joins us from Washington. Ron is the editorial director at the "National Journal" and CNN's senior political analyst.
Ron, if it all goes well and the healthcare.gov starts working, are the Obama administration problems over at least for now?
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Not -- you know, I think the -- producing a functioning Web site is clearly going to be a journey, not a destination. You know, this is -- this is not something that is going to turn around in a single moment.
And, you know, Miguel, in some ways the most important political impact of the very difficult, rocky rollout has been that it has really re-emboldened all of the Republican opposition, both at the federal level and the state level.
After the shutdown and the party was reeling, the president, you know, had an opportunity to kind of take command of the political debate. But I think what has happened in these two months is its very difficult to start has made Republicans very confident in continuing to advocate for repeal.
And we're going to see that pushed I think through the 2014 election and probably into the 2016 election. So this debate is far from over.
MARQUEZ: So let's focus on 2014. The shutdown took the -- the wind out of the sails of the Republicans early on, now health care has taken the wind out of sail of the Democrats. What could all of this -- it's so hard to read the tea leaves.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
MARQUEZ: But could -- with so few seats really up for grabs in this next congressional turn, could it really make a difference, any of these issues?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think -- I think, you know, obviously the Republicans were -- you know, we've seen an extraordinary month where both parties shot themselves in the foot to really an incredible degree, something that we haven't seen with the GOP ratings at the lowest level they have ever been in a number of polls but then immediately the health care rollout kind of trumping that.
And I do think that in the long run the health care issue is more of a challenge particularly in the Senate. Because in the Senate you're looking at Democrats defending a series of states in red leaning states like West Virginia, South Dakota --
MARQUEZ: Yes.
BROWNSTEIN: -- Alaska, Arkansas, North Carolina, where the health care plan is likely to face significant skepticism. And that is going to be, in many way, the key legislative dynamic. How do the red state Democrats position themselves vis-a-vis the health care plan over the next few months especially if they can't iron out these kinks on the Web site.
MARQUEZ: All right. But another possible pitfall for the Republicans, I suppose, the Web site issue may look small with the next issue facing the Congress and the president, and that is a big budget deadline, yes?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
MARQUEZ: Yet again, if you haven't had enough, we have another one. By December 13th, negotiators have to come up with a plan to fund the government. Does this all sound familiar?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
MARQUEZ: If they don't by January 15th it shuts down again. Then the next debt ceiling vote is expected to take place February 7th, just in time for St. Valentine's Day.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
MARQUEZ: How is this going to go down, Ron?
BROWNSTEIN: You've got to think that after the last shutdown all indications are that there's very little appetite for a repeat performance. And so the expectation in Washington at least is there will be some kind of minimally acceptable deal to keep the government from reaching that precipice but not really making progress on the long-term problems.
You know, part of the challenge we face is, you know, we've got two coalitions that have very different visions for where the country should go and what the federal government should be doing, neither one has the strength to simply impose their answer on the other but neither really has the flexibility to negotiate a big deal.
And the weakness that has been exposed by the Obamacare difficulties will make the Republicans less likely to look for compromise because by and large they're expected to do pretty well in 2014 and have a better hand to negotiate in 2015.
MARQUEZ: And across the country, Ron, how does Obamacare play out across the country?
BROWNSTEIN: Right.
MARQUEZ: Does it depend if you're in a blue state or red state? Does it depend on the reporting in individual towns? What's the split we're seeing?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
MARQUEZ: Are we seeing any definable splits with this?
BROWNSTEIN: Absolutely. I mean, I think, look, in many ways we're seeing red states and blue states hurdle apart on a number of issues like gay marriage, like abortion, like taxes. And Obamacare is going to be another one. I mean, you know, part of the story is that the blue states are beginning to see some momentum on the law, particularly places like California, Kentucky, New York. The states that's are actively and supportively implementing it are beginning to make some progress.
Half the country, though, are not expanding Medicaid and they are relying on the federal Web site for the private coverage and in those places you're seeing Texas, Georgia, Florida, you're seeing much more minimal progress.
I suspect that as we go into 2014 and especially 2016 we're going to see a house divided on health care where essentially the blue states will have a reasonably positive story to tell but in the red states there's going to be very -- there may be very little evidence of progress.
MARQUEZ: The reporting has also been all over the place on this, whether it's "The Washington Post" or the "Wall Street Journal." Are people basically going into their -- you know, their camps and they are not budging on this issue?
BROWNSTEIN: Right.
MARQUEZ: Is there really room to move on this?
BROWNSTEIN: Right. No. I think that's right. I mean, I think you're seeing a lot of polarization in the polling on this, as there's been from the beginning. Every Senate Democrat voted for it, every Senate Republican voted against it. That really is almost unprecedented on a major bill of this magnitude in our history.
And the reality is with the president in the White House through 2017, it's going to be very difficult for opponents probably impossible to significantly retrench this bill while he has the veto pen. And the core question is whether in this time he can right the ships, stabilize it and put enough people into the program where it can be defended after he leaves office. Where there is a political and economic constituency that believes in this. And to do that, they've got to sign up people at a lot faster rate than they've been doing so far.
MARQUEZ: They certainly do and it seems -- it's amazing that the task only seems to get bigger by the day.
Ron Brownstein, thank you very much for taking a bit of your weekend with us.
BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.
MARQUEZ: Nigella Lawson, one of the world's most famous chefs now embroiled in accusations she abused drugs. But how much truth is there behind her ex-husband's claims? That's next in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARQUEZ: The story about an Amish family on the run and in hiding after a legal battle with a hospital in Ohio over their daughter's cancer treatment. It all started when the parents stopped their daughter's chemo treatments and began using alternative medicine instead. Now they're claiming that she is cancer-free, but with no proven track record of success with alternative treatments. Doctors say the little girl's time is running out and she could soon die.
Montana is fighting to get a former teacher back behind bars after he served only a month for raping a student, his student, a 14-year-old girl. She later killed herself. State prosecutors have appealed the judge's 30-day rape sentence and handed down to Stacey Dean Rambold, arguing the sentence was illegal under state law.
Celebrity chef Nigella Lawson accused by her ex-husband of using drugs. The allegations revealed in an explosive private e-mail read in court. But now he's backing down saying he never saw Nigella Lawson take drugs.
Here's CNN's Max Foster in London.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Out of the frying pan and into the fire. Celebrity chef Nigella Lawson's private life splashed across the front pages with allegations of long-term drug abuse and lies.
Allegations coming via this man, Charles Saatchi. The couple split in summer after photographs emerged of Saatchi's hands around his then wife's neck at this high end restaurant in London's Mayfair. He says it was around this time that he first heard about her alleged drug abuse. Saatchi later accepted a police caution for assault.
Asked about this incident in court, Saatchi said, "I wasn't gripping, strangling or throttling her. I was holding her head by the neck to make her focus. Can we be clear?" When pushed as to whether or not it had been anything to do with the alleged drug abuse, he said no.
Firmly in the spotlight, Saatchi entered the courthouse on Friday morning, greeted by the flash of light bulbs and camera crews. As he testified against two Italian sisters who used to work for his wife as personal assistants, Francesca and Elizabeth Grillo. Both are standing trial accused of defrauding Saatchi's company of more than $1 million with a company credit card. They allegedly used the money to fund a lavish lifestyle of five-star travel and boutique shopping.
The sisters deny these charges and responded by accusing Lawson of hiding a long-term drug habit from her husband.
In court, Saatchi listened as an e-mail he wrote to Lawson on October 10th was read out. "Of course now the Grillos will get off on the basis that you were so off your head on drugs that you allowed the sisters to spend whatever they liked. And, yes, I believe every word that the Grillos have said who, after all, only stole money."
(On camera): Saatchi said he was bereft that this e-mail was ever made public and that he'd never seen any actual evidence of Nigella Lawson taking drugs.
(Voice-over): Due to return as a judge in the new year on the second series of ABC's series "The Taste," Nigella Lawson herself has made no comment so far about the ongoing legal proceedings. She's likely to be called as a witness in the fraud case against the Grillo sisters.
Saatchi told the court he's been heartbroken since the marriage broke down.
Max Foster, CNN, Isleworth, near London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ: And thanks to Max Foster.
We're finally hearing from an American being held captive in North Korea. But will a taped confession to an alleged war crime be enough to set him free?
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MARQUEZ: In a new video released by the North Korean government, it shows a captured American apologizing for Korean War crimes. 84-year- old Merrill Newman, a veteran of the Korean War, has been held for about a month. He was detained by North Korea just -- minutes before his plane was about to take off from Pyongyang to Beijing.
CNN's Karl Penhaul with the latest from Tokyo.
KARL PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Miguel, state media report that the North Korean authorities are accusing American retiree Merrill Newman of hostilities towards North Korea. They say he infringed national sovereignty and dignity and also slandered the socialist system.
Now all that sounds a little like political mumbo jumbo until you look at the detail of what exactly they're accusing him of.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PENHAUL (voice-over): North Korea is focusing very heavily on Mr. Newman's record as a U.S. officer. They say that he engaged in espionage, subversion and also sabotage activities during the Korean War and also significantly during a short period after the war ended.
In a taped and written confession, Mr. Newman says that he did train and advise a covert and clandestine group of anti-Communist parties and guerrillas who operated behind enemy lines inside North Korea. That unit is the Sixth Partisan Infantry Regiment, a group that military historians say was controlled by the United States and the United Nations, and also coordinated closely with the CIA.
Fast-forward then to October of this year, and that is when the North Korean authorities say that Mr. Newman returned to North Korea on this tourist package and attempted to reestablish contact with some of the former guerrillas that he had trained and also with their families and their descendants.
In his taped confession, Mr. Newman does say that he asked the tour guide to help him make contact with some of those people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PENHAUL: Now, of course, we don't know whether this statement by Mr. Newman was made voluntarily or whether it was coerced. We don't know whether the words are his own or whether the text was written by the authorities and simply passed to him. We also don't know whether the names and events alluded to in that text are, in fact, accurate.
What we do know, though, is that the statement was signed on November 9th, two weeks after he was arrested, as he prepared to leave North Korea. And we don't know why it's taken the North Korean authorities three weeks to make this public.
Now some of the political analysts I've been speaking to say that this confession could satisfy the North Koreans for propaganda purposes and they now may be preparing to release Mr. Newman. One should, however, of course remember the case of Kenneth Bay, a Korean-American who was arrested in North Korea a year ago now and was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.
Even though some political analysts suggest that North Korea may now be preparing to release Mr. Newman, they suggest that Pyongyang may insist on having some diplomatic contact with the United States to work out logistics and may also insist on handing him over to a high- level delegation -- Miguel.
MARQUEZ: Thanks to Karl Penhaul.
The U.S. will not recognize China's newly created air defense zone over the East China Sea, but it is advising air carriers to stay clear. Just last week China declared the area off limits. Both China and Japan have claimed ownership of several islands in the East China Sea. The U.S., Japan and China fear the dispute could lead to violence intended or not.
In sports, that old saying goes, if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying. Is that true? Did you see what Steelers coach Mike Tomlin did this week? He's been accused of cheating. We're looking into how often this sort of thing happens with coaches behaving badly.
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MARQUEZ: Some sports fans are saying Steelers coach Mike Tomlin deliberately got in the way of an opposing player who was about to score a touchdown.
CNN's Ed Lavandera has more on the long running history of coaches behaving badly.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If you ain't cheating, you ain't trying. That old saying is alive and thriving in sports.
That's Jason Kidd, head coach of the Brooklyn Nets basketball team. His team is down by two points with eight seconds left and no time- outs. As one of his players walks to the bench, you can see him play, "Hit me," then spills his drink on the court. Guess what? The game is stopped to clean up the mess giving the Nets time to draw up one last play.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jacoby Jones. Gets by (INAUDIBLE).
LAVANDERA: Then there's the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers accidentally or intentionally -- you decide -- getting in the way of a Ravens player streaking toward a sure touchdown at a crucial point in the game. Tomlin says he lost track of where he was on the field. The Ravens say it was deliberate.
JACOBY JONES, BALTIMORE RAVENS KICK RETURNER: I'm look at him the whole time, I'm like, does he know -- I'm running, like, I'm looking, and I'm like, is he going to move?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He knew where he was and he knew where Jacoby was. He did. He pulled my move. I mean --
(LAUGHTER)
LAVANDERA: Cheating in sports is as timeless as the games. Some cheat for money, like the infamous 1919 Chicago Black Sox, eight players including the popular shoeless Joe Jackson were accused of fixing World Series games for payoffs from shady gamblers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Say it ain't so, Joe.
LAVANDERA: A made for the big screen saga in the movie "Eight Man Out." The eight players were banned from baseball for life.
(On camera): Then there the aging athletes who cheat to keep up with the younger, faster, stronger athletes like baseball pitchers Whitey Ford, Gaylord Perry, Joe Niekro, who used Vaseline, baby oils, sandpaper, turpentine, resin, whatever they could get their hands on to make that baseball move around.
(Voice-over): Joe Niekro's sandpaper crime was so legendary it provided comedy gold for David Letterman.
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": You've got your tool gold now, Joe?
JOE NIEKRO, FORMER BASEBALL PLAYER: Well, I just thought I'd bring some stuff here for you.
LETTERMAN: You have the electric sander, you have a manicure kit. You're -- like a wire brush, you're ready for business, aren't you?
LAVANDERA: There are the performance enhancing drug using cheaters, Lance Armstrong, Maryann Jones, Mark Maguire, Ben Johnson, and Alex Rodriguez, to name a few, and those widely thought to have used drugs but deny it including Sammy Sosa and homerun king Barry Bonds.
BARRY BONDS, FORMER PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL PLAYER: This record is not tainted at all. At all. Period. You guy can say whatever you want.
LAVANDERA: But if cheating is trying, it doesn't always work. Jason Kidd was fined $50,000 for spilling the drink and his team still lost the game. And Mike Tomlin and the Steelers, well, they also lost.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Dallas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ: A four-foot-deep hole has opened up on the road on Chicago's South Side. This is no pot hole. One person inside the car managed to scramble out. Firefighters helped free another person. Neither was hurt amazingly enough. Police had to re-route traffic.
It's shopping 2.0, where stores know your gender, your mood, predicting what you might want to buy. We're looking into the future of shopping, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARQUEZ: Well, we know a lot of you will be buying at least some of your holiday gifts online. Did you know the Web can now be a big part of your experience even when you go to a store.
CNN's technology correspondent Laurie Segall is live in New York.
Laurie, tell us about it.
LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY TECH CORRESPONDENT: Hey, look, the stores are getting a lot smarter. This year the trend is all about personalization, really combining offline and online. And it's enabled because of technology.
Check it out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEGALL (voice-over): This holiday season, look for shopping to get a little bit personal. Welcome to shopping 2.0, where stores know your gender, they know your mood.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, Mr. Yakamoto. Welcome back to the GAP.
SEGALL: With one new technology, they can even anticipate what you might want.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two (INAUDIBLE).
That's Cako, a cupcake store in San Francisco trying out tech built by a company called Index. It helps retailers target products to you based on your taste.
ALBERT CHEN, CAKO OWNER: If you like red velvet cupcakes you probably like the combination of cream cheese as well as coco cake and so we would recommend the pumpkin cheesecake cupcake. JONATHAN WALL, INDEX CO-FOUNDER: We kind of looked at Amazon as a backdrop for a lot of the things that we do. Amazon has built really an incredible experience online and a lot of this has to do with their ability to recognize who you are.
SEGALL: They want to bring that experience offline.
WALL: Offline retailers need to be able to recognize you really on any channel you engage with them, whether it'd be online social or in- store.
SEGALL: The technology which you opt into is baked into their payment system to collect your buying behavior. It's also integrated into a stores app so you'll get push notifications when you enter the store.
MARC FREED-FINNEGAN, INDEX CO-FOUNDER: So it will say welcome back, Marc. It might suggest a new product, maybe provide you with an incentive to try something new.
SEGALL: The Index founders were previously behind Google wallet, but this technology doesn't require a phone to pay.
FREED-FINNEGAN: You actually don't have to pull out your phone or your wallet. You walk up, you enter an Index pin, you effectively log into the store.
SEGALL (on camera): Right now the technology is limited to smaller retailers like Cako but the Index founders are hoping that eventually the technology will be in major retailers. And imagine this, by walking into a store, you're actually logging into that store.
(Voice-over): Ads are getting smart, too. Imagine technology that knows your gender, knows how you feel.
Immersive Labs is making this possible with digital ads that on phones or tablets that use the webcam to analyze your reaction and whether you're excited by the product or not.
Other entrepreneurs set out to transform the way we pay. And 'tis the season where surprisingly less might be more.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See, my wallet is filled with cards, credit cards, debit cards, rewards cards, gift cards. Filled with them. Too many. This is a coin.
SEGALL: The connected device digitally combines all your credit card into one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of these cards are inside my Coin.
KANISHK PARADHAR, CEO, COIN: Instead of choosing inside the wallet you'll be choosing on the Coin.
SEGALL: Coin works as an app. Users swipe their cards, take a picture and keep one card for all purposes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All you ever need is one. One Coin for all your cards.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SEGALL: Miguel, personalization is a huge trend we're seeing in Silicon Valley. And imagine being able to walk into a restaurant, they know whether or not you're a vegetarian, they know the dished you've ordered in the past and your waiter can actually come up and recommend based on your past. I mean, that's the future and that's the kind of technology that's being built right now.
MARQUEZ: Can they just read my mind and send out presents to everybody that I want them to go to without me having to really lift a finger?
SEGALL: As long as one's for me, Miguel.
MARQUEZ: I'm so -- of course. But of course. The biggest present. Obviously privacy concerns here, you do have to hand over a lot of information here. Why don't people -- seem to have the same privacy concerns with this as we do with like the Edward Snowdens of the world?
SEGALL: Well, you know, this is the kind of thing where it integrates into our daily life. But it is something we really need to think about. I asked the Index founders this, they said that you opt into this kind of technology. The folks who sold us ads that kind of read your expressions they say that they don't actually record video.
They do real-time analytics. And they say the data is actually anonymous. But this is something we need to challenge these start-ups as they're building up this technology to bake-in security and to bake in this kind of protections because we don't want to look, you know, a year, too, down the road and say, oh my gosh, I didn't realized I was giving all this data -- to them in the first place, Miguel.
MARQUEZ: Yes, I was reading about that coin card. That looks interesting to me, and I think they're offering a deal right now, so I may -- that may be in your future there, Laurie, I'm guessing.
Thank you very much.
SEGALL: Thank you.
MARQUEZ: And a quick-thinking store clerk helped cops catch someone who didn't want to pay in Miami Gardens on Thanksgiving morning. An armed robber was caught on surveillance video. Police say 22-year-old Johnny Love demanded the clerk hand over cash. He did and suggested to Love to grab some beer as well. That's when the clerk hit a silent alarm, but what finally did Love in? His clumsiness.
First, he dropped the loot, and then his gun, then he dropped the beer. Oh, dear. All this bumbling gave cops enough time to get there and arrest him. My god.
All right. Not a very smart guy, unfortunately. Some people spend years learning to play classical music. The man you're about to meet says he's learned to play without even taking a lesson.
Amazing. And he makes that beautiful music, even though he can barely feel his own fingers. His inspirational story, just ahead.
But first, do you believe in heaven? Or have you ever had an experience where you believe you died and saw heaven but returned to resume your life?
Mary Neal says she experienced heaven after an accident in which she nearly died. Here's what she told CNN's Randi Kaye.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY NEAL: I could see the sand on the river bank. I could see them pull my body to the shore. I could see them start CPR. I had no pulse and I wasn't breathing. One fellow was yelling at me to come back.
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): You were unconscious, so how do you know that all this was happening?
NEAL: I felt my body break free, and I felt my spirit break free, and I was greeted by these people or these spirits. I could be with them and be going down this incredible pathway and simultaneously look back at the river.
When I saw my body, I will say that was the first time that I actually thought, well, I guess I am dead. I guess I really did die.
KAYE: In the book, you write about dancing with them.
NEAL: Yes.
KAYE: Were you celebrating something or --
NEAL: Yes.
KAYE: What? What were you celebrating? You had just died.
NEAL: It was a great homecoming, and I was really surprised by the fact that I had no intention of going back.
KAYE: You didn't want to return?
NEAL: No. And I had all the reasons to return. I had a great life. I had a great job. I had a great husband. My children are wonderful and I love them more than I could ever imagine loving something on earth. But the love that I felt for them in comparison to God's love that was absolutely flowing through everything was just pale in comparison.
And then at a certain point, one of the people or spirits told me that it wasn't my time and that I had more work to do on earth and that I had to go back to my body.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ: Find out what happened to Mary Neal. Watch tomorrow night on CNN for Anderson Cooper's special report "TO HEAVEN AND BACK" at 7:00 and 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARQUEZ: A homeless man is enthralling people with his amazing talent. He's never taken a music lesson or learned to read a note of music at all, but when he sits at a piano, something incredible happens.
Hillary Lake with our affiliate KATU in Portland, Oregon, has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMES MAYNARD, SHOCKED BY HOMELESS MAN'S TALENT: And finding this book, it was just like --
HILLARY LAKE, KATU REPORTER: Classical music has always been a part of James Maynard's life. It grasps his soul and makes him feel alive. But he's never heard anything like this.
MAYNARD: He gives you a joy that surpasses all understanding. You just listen to him.
LAKE: James is listening to David Allen Welsh, a local homeless man with raw talent.
MAYNARD: People can't do that unless God will let them.
LAKE: That's David's belief, too.
DAVID ALLEN WELSH, HOMELESS PIANO PLAYER: My custom is just to close my eyes and say, "Dad, do what you do." It's your gift.
MAYNARD: David's relationship with God has been the only steady part of his 50 years of living.
WELSH: I've been on the streets since I was 6 years old.
LAKE: That's also when he says he discovered his talent.
WELSH: I don't know how to play music, but I like what I hear in my head.
LAKE: David has never taken a music lesson and can't read a note, but sharing it keeps him going.
WELSH: Sometimes I don't even know what key I'm pushing. You know, my eyes aren't even -- I'm just letting the music play the music.
LAKE: He's been coming to Secondhand Solutions in Vancouver for the past year, using a borrowed piano to play a song full of emotion.
WELSH: It's called "Ariel Equatis." It's my version of "Amazing Grace."
LAKE: The melody made people in the store stop to record the moment in disbelief.
MAYNARD: And like most people tend to judge a book by its cover, I was so ashamed at myself for having passed judgment on him.
LAKE: It moved James Maynard so much, he wept. This was his first time witnessing David's gift.
MAYNARD: When somebody's genuinely here and genuinely moved, and they reach out and give you a hug, I weep, too.
LAKE: Most of us might think that David would tear up because of his situation -- no home, no family and few belongings. He calls his life rich because of what he believes God wants him to share.
WELSH: I can't be selfish. It's like anything that I get, God's given.
LAKE: Even with numb fingers that shouldn't be able to hit the keys, David keeps on giving his music to anyone who will listen, pushed by faith that his fellow man, like James, will hear grace in every note.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ: And that's why we love Portland. Thanks to Hillary Lake with our affiliate KATU.
Coming up at 2:30 on CNN NEWSROOM, we'll have more on an Amish family in hiding. They're refusing to treat their daughter's cancer with chemotherapy. They say she's cancer-free because of an alternative treatment. Their lawyer joins us in the next hour.
And a helicopter crashes through a roof of a pub. Eight people dead so far and officials are searching for survivors. We'll hear from an eyewitness.
We'll see you in 30 minutes for the latest news. "YOUR MONEY" starts right now.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, by now, you're home and you have survived the trip home from Thanksgiving. Guess what, our flying is about to get noisier, slower and maybe more expensive.
I'm Christine Romans. Welcome to YOUR MONEY.
In 1978, the U.S. had 20 major airlines. By 1990, just 12. Since then, Delta merged with Northwest, United with Continental and now American Airlines with U.S. Air. You get the picture.
Ticket prices have come down since the 1970s, but over the past few years, they're up again. Prices at the nation's 100 biggest airports are up 6.5 percent since 2005.
Now a study from "USA Today" says that's thanks in part to service cuts at some airports because of all of these mergers. Fares at Savannah/Hilton Head airport and Dallas Love Field are up nearly 36 percent. Up 32 percent at Washington's Dulles Airport, 26 percent, Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, 24 percent at Newark's JFK.
