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Barbara Bush's "Respiratory Related Issue"; CNN Retraces Racing Star's Skiing Accident; WDSU: Brad Pitt Charity Replaces Wood In Houses It Built That Began Rotting; Groom Could Face Charges In Newlywed's Death; What Will The Economy Do In 2014?; Same Sex Wedding At The Rose Parade; Pop Music Predictions For 2014
Aired January 01, 2014 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MACHADO: He sent some good vibes through social media. He tweeted, "I'll be rooting for Barbara Bush's full recovery while she's rooting for Baylor today. All my best to her and George H.W. Bush." Obviously that's a reference to the fiesta bowl that's going on tonight. Also weighing in is a long time family friend and CNN affiliate, KTRK's political consultant. Take a listen now to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER ROUSSEL, BUSH FAMILY FRIEND: I have known Barbara Bush since 1969. That is 44 years. Having known her as I have, I have total confidence in her, period, exclamation mark.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACHADO: And I think, Martin, it's safe to say that everyone who knows Barbara Bush is rooting for her and hoping for a speedy recovery.
SAVIDGE: Absolutely. We send our very best for her quick return home. Thanks very much.
Racing legend, Michael Schumacher, he remains in critical condition after a terrible skiing accident. He's the most successful driver in Formula One history, but this weekend in France, we're told he fell and he hit his head on a rock. Schumacher's family waits and hopes. CNN's Christina MacFarlane retraces the exact route he took on the slopes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was here on this ski slope on a sunny day in the resort of Maribel that Michael Schumacher set out with his friends and 14-year-old son for a ski run that would end in disaster when he fell and struck his head on a rock.
(on camera): This is the area where it said Michael Schumacher fell just a few days ago. It's a small area, just in between the two peaks here, and if you look down, you can see rocks jutting out to the left and right and fairly large holes just underneath the surface of the snow.
(voice-over): The first people to respond to the scene were the Ski Patrol, who were located a short distance away in this hut. Francois Debroux helped to direct the rescue operation.
FRANCOIS DEBROUX, SKI AREA MANAGER, MARIBEL: It's a normal procedure for us. Having a witness saying that someone fell and they saw some blood on the head. So for us, we knew it was a quick rescue to proceed. This, I realized, clearly seen as being off-piste, and it was off-piste, as we have many, many slopes behind us where you can see the limits. Maybe you can see there, the limit between the slope and outside the slope is something which is -- which seemed to be obvious for us and which seemed to be obvious for the skiers.
MACFARLANE: A local ski instructor tells us the snow conditions have been very uncertain in recent days.
AMANDO PAYAN, SKI INSTRUCTOR: Weird. Yes, it's not clear. It's not as usual when you have much snow because it's all white. You think there is many, but there are not many, actually. There are rocks everywhere.
MACFARLANE (on camera): So this whole area here is quite chopped up. It's icy in places and it's bumpy. It's not exactly the easiest ski ride.
(voice-over): I was keen to see for myself how the snow felt, and so carefully, we traced the route.
(on camera): I have skied quite a lot of off-piste in my time, but that was really quite difficult and shaky in places. As I was skiing, the snow was deep and I could feel some of the rocks just under the snow.
(voice-over): As Michael Schumacher remains in intensive care, his injuries prove that no skier can be certain of the hidden dangers of skiing off-piste. Christina MacFarlane, CNN, Maribel.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE: Brad Pitt's charity, the Make It Right Foundation, is living up to its name after things haven't quite gone so well for homes it had built. That according to our New Orleans affiliate, WDSU. It reports that a couple dozen homes for the non-profit made for survivors of Hurricane Katrina have begun to rot. The organization's aim was to provide well-built homes at low cost and high efficiency. Bitt raved about make it right's work to CNN back in 2010.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRAD PITT, FOUNDER, MAKE IT RIGHT FOUNDATION: Now every house you see here last month, everyone but one, was producing more energy than it was consuming. That's big news.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a big change.
PITT: That's a game changer, is what it is. And there's no reason to build any other way now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Lisa Respers France has come back and joined me once more. And I remember the whole rebuilding of New Orleans and Brad Pitt's personal involvement in this. Explain to me what's happened with some of these homes and what are they doing to try to make it right?
LISA RESPERS FRANCE, CNN DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT SENIOR PRODUCER: Well, they used a special innovative glass infused wood to build some of the porches and steps, and what happened is these are supposed to last for decades, and they have not. They have been rotting, falling apart. In some cases, things are growing out of them, but Brad Pitt is going to make it right.
SAVIDGE: This is not actually the structure of the home itself, but as you said, the front deck.
FRANCE: The porch, the stairs.
SAVIDGE: I want to ask you, well, how are they going to make it right? Do they specify?
FRANCE: Yes, they have already started. They have sent crews to start working on the houses and they have repaired some of them. Brad Pitt is deeply committed to the people of New Orleans. He's been very outspoken about that. They have started the repairs and they may be possibly mulling some type of legal action.
SAVIDGE: That's in the lower ninth ward, one of the hardest hit areas of all of New Orleans. We tried to reach the foundation and the company and haven't had any comment. Moving on, another entertainment headline, "The Wolf of Wall Street," Jordan Belfort, convicted of bilking clients out of millions, now there's a movie mate about him, and he's written a couple books and made promises about proceeds. What's he doing?
FRANCE: People have been taking him to task for making money and e explained he's giving 100 percent of the proceeds. He said for the record, I'm not turning over 50 percent of the profits of the books and movies, which was what the government wanted me to do. Instead, I insisted on turning over 100 percent of the profits of both books and movie, which is to say I'm not making a single dime on this. This should hopefully be enough to pay back anyone who is still out there.
SAVIDGE: Any idea what the reaction to this is? There are people who are going to say I'm not sure I trust him.
FRANCE: The movie itself was so polarizing. You have to expect that people are picking sides. At the heart of it, people lost a lot of money. People were victimized. No matter what he does, I don't think he's ever going to be viewed as the best of people.
SAVIDGE: He broke the law, and even though he served his time, there are people who are not going to be fully made whole.
FRANCE: Exactly.
SAVIDGE: Nice to see you.
FRANCE: Nice to see you, too.
SAVIDGE: Coming up, a gay couple got married on a float during today's Rose parade, and then faced some criticism. You'll hear from them and how they are responding to their critics.
Plus, tragedy on what was supposed to be the happiest night of their lives. A bride dies in a car accident just hours after her reception. Could her new husband be charged? We'll have that story next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAVIDGE: A family that celebrated a wedding on Sunday now planning for a funeral, and they may soon also have to prepare for a trial. It comes after a terrible car accident that left the bride dead and the groom facing possible charges, if a blood test reveals he was driving dunk. Aaron Diamond from our affiliate, WSB, has more on this tragedy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I couldn't even see her. She was invisible.
AARON DIAMOND, WSB REPORTER (voice-over): We met Chris Thomas Monday in Cherokee County at the scene of a horrific crash the night before that claimed the life of a newlywed, Cali Dubson.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm thankful I didn't see anything but the car.
DIAMOND: The Georgia State Patrol says Cali and her husband, Ryan Clinton, had just left their wedding reception at the nearby Wheeler House when their sports car veered off the highway and rolled down a steep embankment, trapping Cali underneath. Thomas told us he saw Quinn stumbling along the side of the road and called 911.
CHRIS THOMAS, FIRST TO ARRIVE ON ACCIDENT SCENE: He was shaken up, not making a lot of sense. He was hysterical.
DIAMOND: Thomas says Clinton led him to the wreck and then collapsed.
THOMAS: I said, come here, buddy. I held him and we prayed.
DIAMOND: Thomas said the hardest part for him was seeing the wedding party show up and learning what happened.
THOMAS: They still had their bridesmaids' gowns on and you know, they were all dressed up for a party.
DIAMOND: Those who knew the young couple are still coming to terms with the tragedy. KSP says Clinton told investigators he swerved to avoid hitting a dog in the road, though their neighbor just hoped the family can find comfort. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know they're a very strong family. I know they have a lot of faith, and I think they'll pull right through it because they know, they know their daughter.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE: That was Aaron Diamond from CNN affiliate WSB. And we're getting word that now hackers have breached more than 4 million Snapchat accounts. The fast moving developments will be coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAVIDGE: We went to break talking about the latest hacking we have learned of. A few more details here, we're getting word that the hackers have accessed the personal information of more than 4 million users of Snapchat. That is an app that allows people to share picture messages that self-destruct after several seconds.
We're told that phone numbers are included in the hacked information. Snapchat hasn't responded, but there's a web site allowing users to find out whether their accounts have been compromised. They warned about security gaps in Snapchat.
Markets are closed on Wall Street today, but as we move into the new year, we can look back and say, 2013 was definitely one for the record books at least when it comes to stocks. The S&P 500 gained nearly 30 percent. The Dow Jones had its best year since 1998 with gains of almost 27 percent. The Nasdaq surged a whopping 38 percent.
So can the economy in 2014 top last year? A lot of that depends on, as usual, Congress, but not everything is in their hands. CNN's Christine Romans gives us her best guess on how that year, the one we're in, will go.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What can you expect for your money in 2014? It's that time of year for predictions, so here goes. The economy will again be the big story. It will be a year of economic growth and growing worry that the recovery is not benefiting everyone. The unemployment rate will likely fall below 7 percent that's the trend. The real story is the underemployment rate. Don't expect that to budge as companies hold back on hiring full-time workers whenever they can.
The recently unemployed will have a better chance of getting rehired next year, but the long-term unemployed face the same old problems. Congress may reinstate recessional emergency long term jobless benefits early in the year, but by the end of the year, expect that program to end for good.
The minimum wage will rise in 13 states, but not as high as the $15 an hour that legions of low-paid workers are protesting for. With the recovering economy, the minimum wage debate won't fade in 2014. The stock market may not return as richly as it did in 2013 as the taper is finally here, and mortgage rates will likely rise.
Will that end the recovery in home prices? Probably not, rates are still well below the post-World War II average of 6.5 percent and higher mortgage rates may even spur banks into lending more freely to first-time home buyers. Home prices expect low single digit percentage increases there. I'm on the record. That's my forecast for 2014.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE: Thanks very much, Christine.
Coming up, martini, whiskey, beer? What you drink actually says a lot about your personal politics. We'll tell you why.
And 2013 was a great year for pop music. We've got a DJ's mash-up of 68 of the hottest songs.
Plus, some bold predictions about what to expect from the music world in the New Year. Stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAVIDGE: A Rose parade first went off without a hitch, actually, one hitch. Two men got hitched on one of the floats.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And Danny's story took center stage. Aubrey and Danny have been together for over a decade, and this morning, their relationship becomes legally recognized in the state of California by way of a rose parade ceremony. You may have caught the white doves released. They were released just as they came around the corner on the Colorado Boulevard, this floral display, every bride or groom's dream. Roses of white, green, red, coral, peach, and orange, enhanced with tulips, and vines of curly willow. Our best wishes to Aubrey and Danny on their wedding day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Danny Leclair, he is the groom with the beard, and Aubrey got married on the float, sponsored by the AIDS Health Care Foundation. They beat out about a dozen other couples vying for the unprecedented display of affection. Yesterday, I had a chance to talk to them, and they said what it says to the millions watching.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANNY LECLAIR, GROOM IN ROSE PARADE SAME-SEX WEDDING: So many people fought long and hard for gay men and women to be able to marry in the state of California. Hopefully one day all over the United States. We hope what they see up there is, you know, something that honors that and respects that.
SAVIDGE: Aubrey, there has been, of course, some backlash. The Tournament of Roses has received postings like this one that reads in part, so sad that for the first time, our family will not be watching the parade. We do not wish to be slapped in the face with something so extremely offensive to us. You had to have expected this. And do you think that this is a way to change minds?
AUBREY LOOTS, GROOM IN ROSE PARADE SAME-SEX WEDDING: Absolutely, it's a way. It's a great platform for us to express our love, for people to get to know us, and for people to get educated. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. So far, for every one negative or hateful review or posting, there's been two or three positives. We have never watched the Rose Bowl Parade, we will now. So we're standing in, we're on top of the cake to express our love and share that with the world, and we're getting so much love and support, from around the world, actually.
LECLAIR: The fact we're doing it publicly is only to show people that there's nothing to fear. We're an emerging family. One day we will be raising children, and we are showing up all over the country. So we are doing it publicly so as to remove some of that fear that seems to be still present in a lot of the rhetoric across this country.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE: OK, this is pretty fascinating. What if I told you I could tell how you were voting based on what you're drinking. Planning and placement says it's possible. They looked at two years of data and based on that, they say Democrats like their champagne along with absolute or grey goose vodka and gin. Republicans go for whiskey, especially Jim Beam, Wild Turkey, and Canadian Club.
Voters like their wine, 14 of 15 brands most popular were wine. The other was Tangaray. So what do least likely voters like? National media says Dawn Julio, tequila, and Jagermeister, really, all right.
The 2013 was a wild year in pop music. Vancouver DJ Daniel Kim put together a mash-up of some memorable tunes to remember from last year. He does this every year. Watch this video that became viral.
To me, it's not the videos but the music, the way he makes them flow so seamlessly that one day I would love to ask how he duds it, but we want to know where pop music is going to go in 2013, so we turn to pop music expert, Amanda Seales, who is from "Best Week Ever." She joins us from New York. Happy New Year.
AMANDA SEALES, VH1'S "BEST WEEK EVER": Happy New Year.
SAVIDGE: Let's start. Give us your bold music predictions for 2014.
SEALES: My bold music predictions for 2014, well, I am a DJ along with being a comedian on VH-1, and you know, you kind of have to look at what was moving people in 2013 to know what's going to happen in 2014. One of the biggest things that I saw was that dance music has really, like, taken its place in pop. You know, when you see Daft Punk be considered a pop record, which once upon a time, they were these EDM crew that people only knew about in that world, and now they're huge. When you see "Blurred Lines," which is an R&B record, but gets played as a dance record, when you see Rihanna and Katy Perry delving into the EDM side of things, dance music is really happening and it's going to get even bigger in 2014.
SAVIDGE: You know, I love all music. I have a fondness for pop music. I saw Maroon 5 and Macklamore and Ryan.
SEALES: Really?
SAVIDGE: Yes. Who do you see as being the ones, really the stars? That shone very bright in 2013?
SEALES: You definitely have to say Macklamore and Ryan. In the hip- hop community, there's still a dichotomy, but what they really did is they were able to take really strong issues going on in our social spheres and put it into music, which is, I mean, what music is best at doing, and doing that on such a large scale, and getting so much praise for it shows they have had a great year. We couldn't even blink without Miley. So we definitely have to acknowledge that.
SAVIDGE: I actually like her music. With all criticism on maybe her actions off camera, I think some of her songs -- I enjoy them.
SEALES: Really, that surprises me? I think what Miley is doing that is interesting is that she does come from a country background. She was considered like country pop, and now she blatantly went the hip- hop route and added in that flavor. She's really bringing together a whole different crew. She's bringing together several different crews of genre supporters. So that's interesting and big stars. Well, I love Emily Sonde, and she's somebody I think a lot of folks may not know about yet, but she really had a breakthrough year, and it's only going to get bigger next year.
SAVIDGE: Before you go, I want to ask you about Beyonce. She dropped the album, such a big surprise, but a huge business move. That's the part I'm really impressed with. A great album, but the business move. What do you think the impact is going to be on the industry by the way she did that?
SEALES: I think there's something to be said for the fact that, you know, she could do that. You know, I mean --
SAVIDGE: Probably only her.
SEALES: Very few artists that would be able to do that. And that also speaks to the decision for Target and Amazon to not carry the physical album on their shelves because they don't want to encourage other artists to exclusively give their albums to iTunes first and shut them out. That's something that Beyonce has been able to do, not only because of her position as a pop star, but also, you know, she is alongside Jay-Z, she is a massive franchise. She's not just an artist.
SAVIDGE: No, she's not. I thought it was interesting you had to buy the whole album. Just like the old days. Thanks very much. Pleasure, really, reviewing the year in music.
SEALES: Happy New Year.
SAVIDGE: And to you, thanks.
OK, top of the hour. I'm Martin Savidge. And we begin with a tragedy that is coming out of Minneapolis, an explosion and fire. It destroyed a building and sends at least 13 people to the hospital, many of them now in critical condition. Flames shot out of the windows as firefighters tried to rescue people from the building which contained a market and ten apartments.
Some victims were either blown out of the windows or jumped. Authorities don't know how many people were actually inside or if all of them managed to get out.
