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Helicopter To Airlift Stranded Passengers; More Than 1.1M Sign Up For Obamacare; Two Terror Strikes Before Russian Olympic Games; Cruise Ship Passenger Jumps Overboard; "Black Monday" For The NFL; Formula One Champ In Coma After Skiing Accident; Colorado Pot Sales Begin Wednesday

Aired December 30, 2013 - 10:00   ET

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

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, very, very cold air filtering in across the north, around the Great Lakes, and that is your high temperature. And look at this, current temperatures, Kansas City, 13, nine below zero in Minneapolis when you factor in the windchill it feels like 24 degrees below zero. In Minneapolis right now feeling like 9 degrees below zero in Chicago this very cold air is not going anywhere anytime soon. It is going to stick around the north, the Great Lakes over the next couple of days. By tomorrow 14 in Chicago, your high temperature will warm up to 26 degrees by Wednesday.

Look at Thursday, though, you can see the shades of pink moving into the northeast, New York City, your high on Thursday, 34 degrees and then 17 for a high temperature on Friday. A couple of these clipper systems roll through the north. Another one in the process Tuesday into Wednesday should be out of here by the 1st.

This is what we're going to be looking for, though, to usher in very, very chilly temperatures as we go into the second half of the week. If you are ringing in New Year's, here are your midnight temperatures across the country, temperatures in the 30s and 40s across the south, cooler in the north. If you happen to be in New York City around midnight, 29 degrees, feeling like 20 -- Kyra.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: All right, Jennifer, thanks so much.

On a new mission to rescue people stuck on that research ship in the Antarctic, a Chinese helicopter will airlift 52 passengers and four crew members from that ship as soon as the weather gets better. Russian officials announced that the plan following another attempt by an ice breaker ship to reach that vessel.

The Australian ice breaker turned around early yesterday because of the bad weather. Seventy four people have been stuck on that research boat since Christmas, but judging by their online video diaries, they're making do and they're keeping up their spirits.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's the icebreaker coming to rescue us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brilliant.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Cute but, of course, that Chinese icebreaker didn't reach them. Still, the crew and passengers kept a pretty positive attitude.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, everybody. It's Mary here from Antarctica having a wonderful time. You can see we have this wonderful, snowy wonderland. It's my birthday today. It couldn't be a better day to have a birthday with my 80-something new friends. Blew out all the candles on my birthday cake, which was heaps of fun and I'm out on the ice today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: The research ship left New Zealand on December 8th to study the effects of climate change. We'll keep you updated.

And on Wednesday Obamacare finally goes into effect. This morning there's good news for the White House. More than 1 million people have signed up on healthcare.gov despite the site's rocky rollout. But is it enough and will the Obama administration be able to keep up the pace? Still a lot of critics out there. CNN's Athena Jones joins us live from Honolulu -- Athena.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kyra. You know, that big jump in enrollment we're hearing about, health officials say that's all possible because the federal exchange healthcare.gov is now working a lot better than it was after that disastrous October rollout.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONES (voice-over): Healthcare.gov may be finally be hitting its stride. Health officials say more than 1.1 million people enrolled in health plans through the federal exchange between October 1st and December 24th with a nearly a million of those coming this month alone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It changes my life.

JONES: People like Lauren Reisig, a 27-year-old marketing director from McLean, Virginia who suffers from Crohn's disease. She enrolled with the help of a government call center after running into trouble on the web site. Starting January 1st, her premium is dropping from there are $1,300 a month to $400.

LAUREN REISIG, ENROLLED IN HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN: It gives me the option to possibly finally move out of my parent's house at age 27.

JONES: The government will release more complete numbers including figures for Medicaid and state-run markets places next month, but this latest surge of activity puts overall enrollment on pace to meet this bold prediction made before Christmas.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I now have a couple million people, maybe more, who are going to have health care on January 1st and that is a big deal.

JONES: What is not clear is just how many people still may not have coverage starting January 1st due to problems with the site the government has worked overtime to fix. Not everyone is celebrating the numbers. California Republican Darrell Issa says too many people will be getting government subsidized care.

REPRESENTATIVE DARRELL ISSA (R), REPUBLICAN: There's 318 million Americans, 1 million getting on subsidized health care in many case, probably another million getting on Medicaid as a result of Obamacare and 6 million people who had plans they liked were thrown off of it, I don't think there is anything to celebrate.

JONES: While the surge in enrollment is good news for the Obama administration, it will likely still fall short of the goal to sign up 3.3 million people by January 1st. Those who missed last week's deadline for coverage starting in January have until January 15th to sign up for plans that start February 1st. Open enrollment ends March 31st.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JONES: Now as part of a new push to encourage people to sign up, the White House is going to be working with Congressional Democrats, outside groups, and other high-level supporters of the health care law this week to share the stories of people who are going to be covered because of Obamacare and to tout the law's benefits -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Athena Jones from Honolulu. Athena, thanks so much.

For the second time in two days terrorists have struck in Russia sending a pretty chilling message just weeks before the Winter Olympics there had. At least 14 people died when a bomb exploded aboard this trolley bus during rush hour. The blast so great that it stripped the bus down to its frame.

Just yesterday commuters were targeted in this bombing that killed 17 people inside the main train station in Volgograd, the city once known as Stalingrad. It's more than 400 miles from Sochi, the site of the Winter Olympics in less than six weeks. But the message is pretty ominous. Volgograd is a major rail hub. If you're traveling from Moscow or other parts of Central Russia, you have to travel through there in order to get to Sochi.

Tom Fuentes is a former assistant director of the FBI now serving as our law enforcement analyst. So Tom, you're familiar with, you know, the massive challenges, shall we say, of Olympic security. As FBI commander in Atlanta at the time of the bombings in 1996, what do you think about these bombings and do they make you nervous?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Good morning, Kyra. Well, I was one of the assistant commanders in Atlanta in '96. But yes, it makes you nervous because there's so little that Russia can do to protect every single possible travel route to the venue. Sochi is a small town of about 350,000 population and it's along the Black Sea. It actually has a very warm climate. There's a fear that it won't be cold enough to have snow, but the venues are out of town.

So the skating event is 17 miles out of town and the skiing and bobsled events are 29 miles and you have to travel on a two-lane road through the mountains to get there so that travel, the transport to get to the venues makes everybody vulnerable on the road and going through the rail and airport hubs to get to Sochi is also going to create vulnerability.

I think that's the message the terrorists are sending here is that 400 miles away when people try to catch a train to go there, they're going to be vulnerable. Now that train station has metal detectors. So the attack that happened two days ago was actually in a waiting area before you even go through the metal detectors. So, yes, this sends a very chilling message to the athletes, coaches, media, and the public that will be attending these Olympics.

PHILLIPS: OK. So what happens now then? Because as we know added security takes a lot of money, what do you think will be the next step and for those who want to go to the Olympics, what's your advice?

FUENTES: Well, I don't know. I guess you're going to hope that the Russians allow enough other countries to assist, including the United States, to assist in providing security at the multiple venues and transport hubs to get there, but it's going to be a very difficult situation.

The problem you have here, which you did not have in Atlanta and in earlier Olympics, was you have a terror group claiming as early as last July, their leader saying we're going to disrupt the Olympics. And apparently that may be in progress from this terror group based in the caucuses nearby.

PHILLIPS: Tom Fuentes, thanks so much. Appreciate the insight.

FUENTES: Thank you, Carol.

PHILLIPS: You bet. Still to come, win and you're in. Lose and you might be fired. It's pretty busy Black Monday as we've been talking about. Disappointing seasons end with several NFL head coaches being shown the door and other teams prepare for the playoffs.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Checking top stories, the FBI is investigating why a cruise ship passenger jumped overboard off the coast of Puerto Rico. The Coast Guard is trying to locate the 26-year-old Canadian man who leapt into the water Saturday night. Security cameras actually captured him jumping off the Royal Caribbean's "Adventure of the Seas."

Flu season kicking into full gear, federal health officials say that over the past week, widespread activity has leaped from just four states to ten. The ones highlighted in yellow there. And this season is shaping up to be pretty dangerous, the most common strain is H1N1, which is blamed in the deaths of at least four children over the last few months. It was a thrilling weekend in the NFL. Ten teams and only four playoff spots available and the number of head coaches have been shown the door. It's what a lot of people call Black Friday. Washington Redskins Coach Mike Shanahan the latest to be let go. The team's number 3-13 record is their third losing season in only four years.

CNN's Rachel Nichols joining us live out of New York. I know you've interviewed hem a number of times -- Rachel.

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. This is not an unexpected firing, but still something that is sending reverberations around the NFL and it's the end of a very bitter and what had become a very unhappy marriage. The Washington Redskins finished on an eight-game losing streak. That's the worst they finished a season in more than 50 years.

And such a striking turnaround from just last year when they won seven straight, there was all kinds of unbridled enthusiasm around the city, the young quarterback, Robert Griffin III, setting the whole town on fire. Everyone thinking about the possibility of what was to come, but he was injured toward the end of the season after they clinched the division title, injured in a playoff game.

Mike Shanahan criticized for the way he handled that injury. Criticized for the way he handled Griffin's knee injury going forward. And Shanahan on his part had problems with the closeness between his young quarterback and the owner, Dan Snyder. That mushroomed into huge problems throughout this season and really just a debacle today.

In the presser released today, Dan Snyder, the owner, says that fans deserve better. I'm sure there are a lot of people around Washington who feel exactly that way. Snyder will be hiring his eighth coach, Kyra, eighth coach, since he took over the team in 1999.

PHILLIPS: Well, all right, I guess we have to wait and see if it will make a difference. I have to ask you about Michael Schumacher. We were talking a lot about this this morning and it led us to talk a lot about his accidents in the past and this time he was even wearing a helmet when he was skiing. What do we know, Rachel, about his condition and what happened?

NICHOLS: This really is so sad and for people in the United States who aren't as familiar with Michael Schumacher, we have to stress this is one of the most famous, accomplished athletes in the world. He is the greatest driver in the history of Formula One, one of the most popular sports in the world. He's earned an incredible amount of money, endorsements, just such a face around so many parts of the globe. And just in his mid-40s now he is in a critical, critical state in the hospital.

Doctors saying they are going hour by hour whether he is going to survive. His coma at the moment, they say, is medically induced, but that's because of swelling in his brain and other problems that they're having there with his treatment at the hospital and, as you say, he was wearing a helmet. Just so shocking that this is a guy who never suffered a crash it shall an injury like this in any kind of crash while he was doing what was arguably one of the most dangerous sports we have.

And his other major injury didn't come in racing. He was in a serious motorcycle accident when he was motorcycling for fun a few years back. He did something so dangerous for a living, was never seriously injured, and now has had what is his second and much, much more serious injury and something that there are many people around the world waiting with baited breath to see what happens here because he's a dear, dear icon to them.

PHILLIPS: Skiing the French Alps, falls, hits his head on a rock. It's pretty unbelievable. Rachel Nichols, thanks so much. Let's talk more about Schumacher's injuries, shall we? I'll bring in Dr. Ross Bullock. He is a professor of neurosurgery at the University of Miami.

So, Doc, apparently his doctors say he was wearing this helmet and it possibly saved his life. What are your thoughts?

DR. ROSS BULLOCK, PROFESSOR OF NEUROSURGERY, UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI: Yes, I think that's undoubtedly true. The most important thing that people can do to mitigate the effect of an injury is to wear the helmet. And, as you just mentioned earlier, I think that probably his long racing career and the use of helmets, racing helmets have changed the way we think about helmets. Hopefully that did mitigate the effect of this terrible injury.

PHILLIPS: What kind of treatment is there for an injury like this as you read about his case and see what he's up against right now?

BULLOCK: Right. Well, there are things that we can to and, you know, it's about 80 percent likely of would have had a blood clot, the thing most likely changing him from being able to walk immediately after the injury to a comatose condition quickly would be hemorrhage into the skull. And so for that the usual treatment is to do what we call a craniotomy and allow the brain to swell.

If it was not a blood clot, and of course we don't have personal details yet, if it was not a blood clot it could simply be brain swelling from a bruise, bruises anywhere on the body will swell. But in the brain it's especially lethal because the brain is contained in that bony box. So we have to open the box. We have to decompress the brain and so, again, that means opening the skull.

And then the medically induced coma means really putting the brain to sleep, preventing such things as seizures. I hear, also, that he is being cooled. He's undergoing hypothermia in order to damp down brain metabolism and try to mitigate swelling, inflammation, secondary changes.

PHILLIPS: It sounds like you've sort of mentioned two possibilities of what is happening, could have happened here. What would be the better case scenario and what's recovery like when you go through a traumatic blow to the head like this?

BULLOCK: Right. Well, you know, the best scenario is what we call an epidural hematoma, a blood clot that develops between the brain coverings and the skull so outside of the brain. About nine out of ten such patients make a good recovery. However, hearing about the measures that they're needing to take I guess suggests maybe that's not the case.

There are other types of blood clot that have a worse prognosis, and if it's one of those, for example, subdural hematoma, bleeding into the brain itself, then the recovery can be very long, three months would be typical. Many patients say they have to relearn how to use their body again, relearn how to speak and walk.

One good thing it seems the maximum amount of the injury was on the right side of his head, and most of us are right-handed and, therefore, dominant on the left side. So that's something in his favor and, of course, as others have said he's young, fit, strong, all of that will help a tremendous amount.

PHILLIPS: Well, and of course all the love and prayers from his family. His family is there and he has fans around the world rooting for him as well. Dr. Ross Bullock, thank you for your time today.

BULLOCK: Thank you so much.

PHILLIPS: You bet. Straight ahead, legal weed, Colorado, and sucker moms. CNN's Casey Wian preparing for big business from, Casey, shall we say the unexpected?

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kyra. Marijuana retailers are expecting hundreds of millions of dollars in new business when pot becomes legal for recreational use in Colorado. We'll tell you who their new customers will be coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: A big change for the nation in less than 39 hours. On January 1, Colorado starts selling marijuana for recreational use. Pot, by the way, is already the third most popular recreational drug in America. But come this Wednesday, just about anyone in Colorado who wants it will be able to buy marijuana in stores much like alcohol.

Anti-drug crusaders are arguing that legalization will not only create more potheads, lead to violence and it will hurt our kids. But the controversial drug will be taxed and regulated from seed to sale and, as we speak hundreds of businesses across the state are working toward what they at least are hoping becomes a weed revolution. CNN's Casey Wian has the latest for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WIAN (voice-over): It's a big day for Tim Cullen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I liken it to graduation. It's been a tremendous amount of work to get to this point.

WIAN: He's joining a handful of business owners receiving Denver's first licenses to sell marijuana for recreational use starting January 1.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's information that needs to go to every customer that comes in and buys marijuana. All right, congratulations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Appreciate it.

WIAN: At Cullen's medical marijuana store employees scramble to get ready. Pot retailers must navigate so many regulations only 14 of about 250 medical marijuana businesses in Denver have received one of these, a license to sell to anyone over 21. There are multiple inspections, packaging requirements, and in some cases, new construction.

ANDY WILLIAMS, PRESIDENT, MEDICINE MAN MARIJUANA: We're building an absolutely impressive showcase for the world to see that this is an industry. This is not an underground business.

WIAN: At Medicine Man, all the pot sold is grown on site.

WILLIAMS: Customers don't want it really leafy. They like it anyways, tight and dense.

WIAN: It's hiring 25 new employees.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just get some of this and smoke it in small quantities.

WIAN: And installing new equipment.

WILLIAMS: We have to tag all these plants with an RFID tag, radio frequency identification, and so it's another inventory control that we have to implement here. This is a light tight, airtight container.

WIAN (on camera): Wow.

WILLIAMS: The smell will hit you probably from there.

WIAN: There's a little bit of a sour milk smell to it. Is that -- am I wrong?

WILLIAMS: No. Some people like stuff that are really stinky.

WIAN (voice-over): Each of these containers holds about $7,500 worth of marijuana so it's no wonder Medicine Man has an armed former Army Ranger guarding the front door.

WILLIAMS: I think next year we'll have about 2 to 2 1/2 times more business than this year.

WIAN: Weed Map is a yelp like service for marijuana retailers predicts prices will spike.

AARON HOUSTON, STRATEGIST, GHOST GROUP: Demand is going to be very high on day one with a potential shortage of supply, prices will go up. WIAN: Lines are expected outside pot stores January 1.

TIM CULLEN, CO-OWNER, EVERGREEN APOTHECARY: We're going to have cookies and coffee set out.

WIAN (on camera): Will the cookies be laced with anything?

CULLEN: Absolutely not. My parents volunteered to come down and hand out cookies and coffee.

WIAN (voice-over): No one is expecting a marijuana Mardi Gras.

MICHAEL ELLIOTT, MEDICAL MARIJUANA INDUSTRY GROUP: It's still illegal to drive impaired, to take it out of state, to resell it, to give it to anyone under 21, or consume publicly.

WIAN: The city says it's prepared.

ASHLEY KILROY, DENVER MARIJUANA POLICY DIRECTOR: We haven't seen an impact from medical marijuana and we don't expect to see that.

WIAN: Statewide about $300 million worth of medical marijuana was sold in 2013. The industry expects sales to more than double next year.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Casey joining us now live from Denver. All right, Casey, some interesting new customers to be expected.

WIAN: That's right, Kyra. Medical marijuana dealers who are now becoming recreational retail marijuana sellers say they're expecting about 30 percent of their new business to come from marijuana tourists, people from out of state, maybe even from out of the country who are going to come into Colorado.

They also say they're going to get a lot of new business from people who have not wanted to go through the hassle and expense of getting a medical marijuana card and then to quote one of the big retailers, he's expecting a lot of business from soccer moms who just want to smoke a joint after they put their kids to bed -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: You know, those soccer games can be pretty darned stressful, Casey. I don't know about you.

WIAN: Absolutely.

PHILLIPS: I'm just curious before I let you go, a lot of people coming in to get weed, but I've heard from locals there not a lot of people are real happy about this and they're thinking about getting out of the state.

WIAN: Well, I haven't heard of getting out of the state because of the fact that marijuana for retail sales is becoming legal or retailers getting out of the state and trying to open businesses elsewhere. I'm not clear what you're asking. PHILLIPS: People worried about what it will do to their state, like the family dynamic, right, that they don't want to be on the road worrying about someone smoking and driving or some mechanic working on their car smoking and installing their brakes. It's a family concern is what I've seen.

WIAN: Absolutely. There are a lot of concerns from people about that. The whole issue of driving while under the influence of marijuana is very controversial, how much marijuana in your system would trigger a positive test? It's very, very controversial here.

Also, I will point out, though, that the industry says the statistics show that since medical marijuana has become so prevalent in Colorado that many problems such as teen drug use and driving under the influence of alcohol have actually gone down. They argue that it's actually going to be a benefit for public safety in the state of Colorado -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: It will be interesting to watch. Casey, thanks so much.

Well, still to come, terrorists strike and tensions climb. In Russia as concerns grow over the upcoming winter games.

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It's 39 days until the games begin. Can Russian authorities keep athletes and visitors safe after terrorists strike a city not that far from Sochi. More on that in a moment.

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