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Minneapolis Apartment Fire; Snow Forecast; Nixing Buggy Rides; Pot Shops Open; James Avery Dies; Sotomayor Forces Obamacare Defense; Barbara Bush In Hospital

Aired January 01, 2014 - 14:00   ET

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

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Martin Savidge. Thanks for joining us. Happy New Year to everyone.

But it's off to a devastating start in the city of Minneapolis. An explosion and fire ripped through an apartment building this morning. Authorities there not even sure that everyone has managed to make it out. Flames were shooting 20 feet out of windows when the firefighters arrived. The fire was so intense that crews who went inside had to retreat. 13 people have been taken to the hospital. Six are in critical condition. And then adding to this, the misery is, of course, the extreme cold in Minneapolis. The temperature is below zero, but the wind makes if feel like it's 15 below.

CNN Ted Rowlands is monitoring this from our Chicago bureau.

Ted, what is the latest on the efforts to account for everybody inside?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not everyone has been accounted for yet, Martin. They're trying to get a list of people that are associated with these 10 apartments that are located in the second and third floors of this structure. The bottom floor is a grocery or was a grocery. You can see the pictures. There's not much left of it. And adjacent to it is a mosque. There's also some concern that if this turns out to, and there's no evidence of it, but if it turns out to be an intentional act, that this could possibly be a hate crime. The Islamic Civic Society has a representative on scene there because of the location of this mosque. But again, I want to reiterate, there's no indication of that at all.

Firefighters, as you mentioned, had a tough time dealing with this. Thirteen people in all injured, six of them critical, in hospitals. Many of those injuries sustained from people jumping or being blown out of the third floor apartments.

SAVIDGE: Ted, I'm just curious, how much of a factor is weather? You know, we mentioned the bitter cold. It has to be a problem for those both trying to get out and for the firefighters trying to get in.

ROWLANDS: Yes, it is absolutely freezing in Minneapolis today. And it has caused a lot of problems with firefighters. They had to use extra firefighters so that they were going in and out quickly. And the water was literally freezing from the hoses as they were trying to put out this fire. It made a very, very difficult situation even worse. SAVIDGE: All right, Ted Rowlands following the situation from our Chicago bureau.

I was just outside that apartment building earlier this year reporting on a story up there. Thanks very much.

The dangerous deep freeze in the Midwest is already starting to move east. Chicago is braving a windchill that is seriously toying with single digits and maybe even subzero numbers. It's also gearing up for another five inches of snow that's in the next 24 hours. Boston and New York, they're bracing for a wallop of a snowstorm. We are talking possibly about four to 12 inches. CNN meteorologist Alexandra Steele joins me now.

And, Alexandra, Chicago, of course, seeing its first snow of the new year, as a number of cities. But, Boston, they could drop below zero for the first time in how many years?

ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Three years.

SAVIDGE: Wow.

STEELE: IT was January 2011, Martin, that they had below zero temperatures for a low. And look at this, 1 below. We're going to see that on Saturday. This old arctic air, you know, we were just looking at Minneapolis. Right now the temperature is zero and it feels like 13 below. And that's a lot warmer than it had been earlier. So, just this incredibly cold arctic air. Places like Duluth going down as the eighth coldest December on record. International Falls, the second. So this isn't just typically cold arctic air.

And all that arctic air is kind of migrating eastward. Now, we are seeing it being modified a little bit. It's not as cold as it is there. But, still, temperatures only 13 in Boston. So 25 degrees colder than average. New York, 17 on Friday and that is it. And also we're going to see some really intense winds develop on Friday. So the cold air is set. Bring in the moisture. And we've got our first snow storm of the season.

What's happening is these two areas of low pressure will phase together and bring snow. And it's a two-day snow. It's Thursday into Friday. And the snow will come in. Here's Thursday morning. You can see upstate New York, northern New York, the New York state thruway, the north way, Green and White Mountains and all the way through Massachusetts and Connecticut. That's the first phase. And then the second phase comes in on Friday and you can see we pull in New Jersey, Long Island with that as well.

It all moves out. It's all done by Friday afternoon. But then these ferocious winds come. So, incredibly cold on the back side of the snow. So totals, we've actually just bumped them up a little bit from what we had with the last computer model run. Nine to 12 inches in Boston, five to nine inches in New York City, 12 inches in Albany right along that New York state thruway, Martin, six to eight in Buffalo. So a robust system, Martin, and a cold system after the snow Friday. It will be really intensely cold. SAVIDGE: All right, we'll keep an eye on it. Alexandra Steele, thanks very much.

STEELE: Sure.

SAVIDGE: As she mentioned, that new year's storm could throw a quick challenge at New York City's new mayor. Bill de Blasio took his oath of office as noon. Bill Clinton did the honors. How would you describe the new mayor? Well, sort of a left-wing populist. Big plans for the nation's biggest city.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK: We are called to put an end to economic and social inequalities that threaten to unravel the city we love. And so today we commit to a new, progressive direction in New York. And that same progressive impulse has written our city's history. It's in our DNA.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: As with any new politician, you always look to what their first act in office may be, because it indicates how the rest of the term could go. And this one's rather interesting for de Blasio and it concerns animal rights right there in the city of New York. The old horse and carriage, the buggy rides through Central Park, that tradition that is pretty much a staple to many who visit. Ashleigh Banfield explains.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR, "LEGAL VIEW": Hey, Marty.

So the day after New Year's Eve in Times Square, it seems fitting to come to Central Park to take a look at the horse-drawn carriages because they may be relics. If the new mayor who's in town, Bill de Blasio, has his way, you will not be seeing these beautiful horse- drawn carriages in New York City going through Central Park anymore.

There's been a long argument about whether it's fair with the traffic and the exhaust and do they get time in the pastures. The stalls where they stay, some of the animal rights activists say are very small. On the other side of the coin, all those people who drive these carriages and have been doing so, some of them for, you know, 30-plus years say this is how they make their living. That if these horses were to be retired, they'd probably go out to these paddocks where they would have no exercise, no interaction, that they would actually be less happy. So there's an argument to be made on both sides. PETA is definitely stepping in. Animal rights activists stepping in. The mayor saying he plans to do this no matter what.

Whether it's by (INAUDIBLE) or not is the other question, Marty, because while they're lovely to look at, and you can see the tourists, they're all jumping in and they're getting a wonderful visit while they're here over the holidays, it remains to be seen whether he can just make a declaration or whether the mayor is going to have to do this through the legislative process. A little trickier. For his part, Mayor de Blasio, hard to say that, better get used to it, he says that he's already hired a legal team to work on the legislation, but we'll just have to wait and see exactly how this works its way through. But get a good look now because it may be gone.

Marty, back to you. And a happy New Year to you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Happy New Year.

SAVIDGE: Thanks to everyone there. It's an interesting first move by the new mayor. We'll follow it closely.

This will likely go down in history as the day, and I like this, Mary Jane goes mainstream. Pot, long time symbol of the counter (ph) culture, traditionally slipped from hand to hand in those dark, smoky, surreptitiously lit rooms. Well, as of today, you can legally buy marijuana in Colorado, right out in the open, take it home, use it for fun, just like, say, buying alcohol, except for the long lines. People are waiting outside in the snow to get inside this Denver pot shop. And this is the first recreational pot sale. It happened in Denver just after 8:00 this morning when the first marijuana shops opened. Casey Wian is inside one.

And, Casey, I heard you say the people are using coupons to buy pot, which is almost something for us mainstream people to find unbelievable.

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Martin. You know, the price is pretty high. It's $50 per eighth of an ounce, plus taxes, state and local taxes, that are about 25 percent. But some folks have come in with coupons, dropping that price down to $25 per eighth of an ounce.

You can see what's going on here. Here's how the sales work. These retailers, they give the customers a chance to smell the strain of marijuana that they're planning on buying. They say that different strains have different effects, so they ask the customer what they're looking for, what type of a high they're looking for, whether it's pain relief or anxiety or what have you.

So far today, they have serviced about 175 customers in the first four hours of this business being open. They've got 500 people waiting in line overall, the number of people who have signed up to get a number to get inside. We can show our camera outside and show you the line waiting to get in here. The business closes at 7:00 local time tonight. The owner says they do expect that they're going to be able to service all of these customers before 7:00 p.m. Mountain Time tonight.

The other concern that a lot of folks have, Martin, is because of this high demand, there's a lot of worry about prices and supply. The owners of this business say they've got enough supply to last everyone, at least through today, and they think going down the road further. So it's a very busy day, even busier than the business owners had anticipated, Martin.

SAVIDGE: We should point out that this is highly regulated by the state of Colorado, right? What are the rules here? WIAN: Well, there's a lot of rules. First of all, you have to be 21 years old to buy recreational marijuana. You cannot give it to anyone else. You can't resell it. You can't drive while you're stoned, obviously. And you can't take it out of state. Those are some of the regulations.

We've got other rules that are specific to the packaging and labeling of the product. It's much different than the medical marijuana. And you can see over here, you've got a machine that actually - that they put the product that people buy, whether it's actual marijuana or whether it's edibles, in this childproof bag, which makes it very difficult, obviously, for a kid to get in, one of the safeguards that the state is requiring of all businesses selling marijuana for recreational use, Martin.

SAVIDGE: Yes, very interesting. Yes, and also, too, there's a lot of tax revenue that comes into the state of Colorado, so they would benefit from that. Casey Wian, thanks very much for all your reporting on this subject.

Coming up, encouraging news for people who may be in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's. There is new research that a certain vitamin may actually slow the disease. You'll hear what it is.

Plus, workers in more than a dozen states getting a big raise today. We'll break down the minimum wage, where it is rising.

And then just in, word that actor James Avery, who played Uncle Phil in the "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" has died. We'll have all those stories next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: Good news coming out of North Dakota. Residents in a town that was evacuated after two trains collided -- and you may remember that huge, massive fireball -- they have been allowed back home. The flames are finally out today. Inspectors are on the ground searching to try to find out what clues there may be as to what went wrong. NTSB investigators say that a video camera on one train captured the last 20 seconds before Monday's crash. That train carrying crude oil hit a derailed train and then burst into flames.

Good news for some in 13 states because they have started the new year with a hike in the minimum wage. Most workers will see an increase of just under 15 cents an hour, but others will see jumps by as much as a dollar an hour. New Jersey, Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island are just some of the states where workers will see the bigger boost in their salaries. There are now 21 states with minimum wages that are higher than the federal level of $7.25 per hour.

A vitamin may help some people with Alzheimer's. A new study suggests that Vitamin E may actually slow the progression of Alzheimer's in people with mild to moderate forms of that disease. Patients given high doses of Vitamin E were able to care for themselves longer and needed less help with chores. The study appears in the "Journal of American Medical Association." First day of the year also brings some somber news out of Hollywood. Actor James Avery, which well known to many as Uncle Phil from the '90s show the "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," has died.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES AVERY, ACTOR, "FRESH PRINCE OF BEL-AIR": I'm not going to punish you today. Maybe not even tomorrow. You see, I need to think a long, long time about just what I'm going to do with you. I don't know, it might come to me in the middle of the night, or maybe next week, or a few years from now. In the meantime, why don't you worry about it?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: The man who played Uncle Phil's son, actor Alfonso Ribeiro, tweeted today, "I am deeply saddened to say that James Avery has passed away. He was a second father to me. I will miss him greatly."

Joining me now is Lisa Respers France. She's CNN's digital entertainment senior producer.

And, Lisa, what do we know?

First of all, welcome.

LISA RESPERS FRANCE, CNN DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT SENIOR PRODUCER: Thank you.

SAVIDGE: What do we know about how he died?

FRANCE: Well, right now, we don't have an exact cause of death. It is reported that he's been in ill health for the past couple of years. But he was such a beloved character on that show. I mean "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" was a great show and so many people enjoyed it while it was on.

SAVIDGE: We did.

FRANCE: Yes.

SAVIDGE: I mean it's just sort of one of those milestones in television that you remember your life by.

He's the second person to be involved with this program that died, right?

FRANCE: Yes. One of the producers, Jeffrey Ian Pollack, passed away recently. It appears that he collapsed while he was out jogging. He was big into fitness. He was well known for being a director of the movie "Booty Call," but he was also one of the producers of the "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." He was in partnership with Vinny Medina (ph), who is a superstar manager. Many people know him for managing folks like Mariah Carey and Jennifer Lopez.

SAVIDGE: Sure. FRANCE: But a lot of people don't know that the "Fresh Prince of Bel- Air" was actually based on his story of how his family took him in and helped him out.

SAVIDGE: Really?

FRANCE: So, yes. So he passed away, Mr. Pollack did, unfortunately recently too. So it's hitting the cast hard, I'm sure.

SAVIDGE: Yes, I think it is. I mean, again, it's just to show that we remember a fun show and a sorry day.

FRANCE: Very sad.

SAVIDGE: But, Lisa, we're going to talk to you a little later about other news.

FRANCE: Yes. Yes.

SAVIDGE: Thanks very much.

FRANCE: Thank you.

SAVIDGE: Talk to you then.

Coming up, how do you celebrate new year's if you are stranded in Antarctica? Well, with spirit and style. The 74 members of an Antarctic expedition rang in the New Year with Anderson Cooper.

And Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor granting a temporary exemption to a certain part of Obamacare. It's about rules regarding contraception, just hours before they were set to go into effect. So how is that going to affect those policies that are taking effect today?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: An expedition team still waiting to be rescued from the frozen Antarctic didn't get the blues because they are still trapped at sea. No, they found a jolly way to ring in the new year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD (singing): (INAUDIBLE) are still stuck here. Ice thaw, cha, cha, cha. Ice thaw, cha, cha, cha. Ice thaw, cha, cha, cha. Ice thaw, cha, cha, cha. Lots of ships around us now. (INAUDIBLE) and boats (ph) still about (ph). Up in the air are a Chinese (INAUDIBLE). (INAUDIBLE) again. The French dropped by but couldn't get near. (INAUDIBLE) shame we're still stuck here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: Do you get the feeling like maybe they're actually going to be very sad when they get rescued. Expedition leader Chris Turney shared with CNN that video of him and his team of that stranded ship last night. Later they spoke to CNN's Anderson Cooper about how they'd been passing away the idle time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello. Hello. Hello.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, Times Square.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey.

ANDERSON COOPER: There. Perfect. We can hear you very well. So how did you guys ring in the new year? As we saw that video, you were all singing.

CHRIS TURNEY, EXPEDITION LEADER: Yes, we had a special song written by the team. Came up on the top deck and we broadcast it live. We're at 4:00 in the afternoon and looking good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looks like all of the great poets of the time telling stories of what happens to us. This was our odyssey (ph) and we're sort of telling it as it goes along.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're sort of typical lit spirits -

COOPER: Have you - speaking of spirits, have you guys been imbiding (ph) spirits? Because it looks like some of the folks in that video are kind of red in the face.

TURNEY: Just a little bit of Champaign, I think, actually. Just a little bit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't want to tell tales, but there has been alcohol on the ship and, well, you know, I mean what do you expect us to do? It's cold out there and we're alone from everyone else. And, yes, well, we have to drink something.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: A stranding has never sounded like so much fun. The good news is, the Australian maritime officials say that an air lift to rescue them could happen as early as tomorrow morning. That is, of course, if weather conditions improve and allow.

Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor proved pretty adept at multitasking last night. The native New Yorker led the New Year's countdown that was held in Times Square. That was a first. No other justice has done so. That was just hours before the day job called at the request of two catholic groups opposed to having to cover their employees' contraception. Justice Sotomayor prevented part of Obamacare from taking effect, at least until Friday. With us now from Philadelphia, CNN legal analyst Danny Cevallos.

And, Danny, first of all, happy New Year.

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Happy New Year.

SAVIDGE: And let me ask you this. You know, a lot of attributes of Obamacare went into effect today. So, what is the overall impact of this specific ruling by the Supreme Court justice?

CEVALLOS: Well, the ruling is just a two-day ruling to allow the government to respond to the stay. And really the issue gets down to, there's -- the Obamacare is allowing for exemptions for religious entities, but then there are these quasi-religious entities. These are essentially religious based non-profits. And the battle here comes down to, can they be forced to provide contraceptive coverage in their insurance policies? And that's really what the core of this battle is about. And it really comes down to a -- probably a free expression analysis, and the Supreme Court has scheduled hearings on this issue. But for the meantime, to avoid any what they call draconian finds, these groups have asked for a stay of the Obamacare provisions going into effect as they would have today.

SAVIDGE: OK. So the Obama administration's being told they've got to file the briefs by Friday defending its position. What happens then?

CEVALLOS: Well then the court will consider it. I mean the fact that - I was a little surprised that the Supreme Court would grant a stay so quickly. And people who follow the politics of the Supreme Court might observe that Sotomayor was an Obama appointee. So it is interesting that - I mean she's obviously independent of judgment, but it is always interest when an appointee sort of grants a petition that is directly contrary to the president that appointed him or her. So people who watch that part of the Supreme Court might take note of that. But, ultimately, it is an interesting thing that she granted this stay, but it really only is a two-day stay and we'll really know what direction the government's going when we see their papers in a couple days.

SAVIDGE: OK. And just real quick, so I understand, when the court picks it up again, presumably after Friday, is the stay in effect until they eventually rule?

CEVALLOS: The stay should only be in effect until -- as long as the order permitted. It's a short order giving a two-day stay so that the government can file their reply. Perhaps it will be an extension. But as I understand it, that's it after two days.

SAVIDGE: OK, Danny Cevallos, thanks very much for clarifying that.

Moving on overseas. Russia's president spent today visiting some of the victims of this week's two apparent suicide bombings. Vladimir Putin's visit to Volgograd was announced - actually unannounced, rather. Yesterday, he spoke on Russian state television vowing to fight until the terrorists were defeated. Those two attacks left a total of 34 people dead. And they added to concerns, of course, about the Winter Olympics, which begin in less than six weeks.

Coming up, a new report suggests that some of the wood in homes that Brad Pitt's charity build is starting to rot. Find out what he's doing about it.

Plus, new details on the condition of Barbara Bush, who is in the hospital suffering from a respiratory issue. And then, as racing star Michael Schumacher remains in stable condition after a skiing accident, CNN retraces his exact route on the slopes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: Former First Lady Barbara Bush woke up today in a Houston hospital. A family spokesman says that Bush is being treated for a respiratory related issue and the 88-year-old is in great spirits. That's good to hear. Her husband and relatives have visited her in the hospital. Here's a fairly recent photo of Barbara Bush and her husband in the White House this past summer. President Obama honored former President Bush for his work promoting volunteer service. Obama gave Bush a pair of brightly colored socks. Apparently the former president's well known for his fondness for whimsical socks. Who knew? You can see Barbara Bush with a big smile on her face there.

Correspondent Alina Machado has been tracking this Bush story for us.

And, Alina, you know -- what do we know about her past struggles with her health?

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Marin, this is at least the fourth time the former first lady has spent some time in the hospital in recent years. She has been dealing with Graves Disease -- that's an autoimmune disorder that affects the thyroid -- since the late '80s. In 2009, she had heart surgery after doctors found hardening in one part of her aorta. And the year before, in 2008, she was hospitalized for abdominal pain and underwent surgery for an ulcer.

Now, details are few in this latest health scare, but again we know that she is being treated for a respiratory related illness and that she has been in the hospital since Monday. Now, a family spokesperson, however, would not release any additional details on her condition.

Martin.

SAVIDGE: Yes, I'm just curious, you know, what are Bush family confidantes saying about the former first lady's hospital stay? Should we be worried?

MACHADO: Well, we know that number 42, former President Bill Clinton, is close with the Bush family.