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Artic Blast About To Sweep Across U.S.; Catholic Priest Found Dead In Eureka, California; U.S. Marine Corps Delays Deadline For New Physical Requirements; Coroner's Report Rules Paul Walker's Death An Accident; Rock 'n' Roll Legend Phil Everly Dead; Michael Schumacher Still In Coma; Vitamin E Said To Help Alzheimer's Patients

Aired January 04, 2014 - 15:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we've got much more straight ahead in the NEWSROOM. Right now it's 3:00 Eastern Time. I'm Fredericka Whitfield.

Here's a look at our top stories. On the heels of a massive snowstorm, a fierce arctic cold front is sweeping across the country threatening to push low temperatures even lower and possibly shattering records across the U.S.

And we have the results of a new study on vitamin E and Alzheimer's disease. Hear what happened when patients took the antioxidant every day and what the lead researcher is saying about the findings.

Plus, a setback for women trying to land a combat role in the U.S. Marines mandatory physical requirements for females now being delayed. We'll tell you why and what effect that could have on the battlefield.

A powerful blast of arctic weather is about to sweep its way across the U.S. and it's headed for tens of millions of people who were already hit by this week's massive snowstorm. The national weather service says this could be an historic event with temperatures plummeting to record low levels in parts of the Midwest, and that cold air will head east at the start of the week.

Southern states are also expected to feel some of the pain. People in Boston including our own Margaret Conley, I guess they're trying to get used to this, but I hope you're also bracing for a second blast.

Margaret, how are people holding up there?

MARGARET CONLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, we're seeing more and more people brave the cold out on the streets today. Massachusetts got up to two feet of snow over the last couple days. And temperatures last night were near record lows.

Today, a lot of people have been frankly spending time shoveling out their parking spaces, shoveling out near their driveways so they can move around. I just want to show you what people have done to hold their parking space. We have a postal service box right there across the street. Next door we have a fan box. Someone just put snow inside that discarded box and put it there. We've got a cone in the back where they've been shoveling snow. And then over here we have a little pink kid's rocking chair holding the spot. You can see a bucket.

WHITFIELD: I can't believe this works!

CONLEY: That's right. It's worked. And we've been out here for hours, and all of these spots have not been taken. But Fred, we have to prepare. There's been snow. There's been wind, and we are going to be having a lot of rain here. That's going to come in tomorrow night and into Monday. We've been getting already warnings from emergency workers about people's roofs. We've got heavy snow, the rain on top of that. There could be structural problems, so they're warning people to clear their roofs and be very careful when they go up to try to do that, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Boy. All right, Margaret Conley, thanks so much.

Folks are heeding the warning of more to come. And there may be more to come, in fact, many folks in New York as well. Our Rosa Flores is on Long Island where they had to close roads for a bit because the storm was so bad.

New Yorkers are pretty hearty, too, but how are they dealing with this?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fred.

Well, let me say that it's nice and sunny here, but it's deceiving because it is very cold. It's in the upper 20s , you would say, but take a look around me. Let me set the scene for you, first of all. I'm on Sayville (ph), which is in the southern shore of Long Island, right in the center of the island, and folks here saw about a foot of snow, but that didn't stop them. The streets were plowed. They were sanded. They were salted. And so everything here in this community is definitely up and running.

Now, I've got Doug here with me, and he is a business owner here. And he lives in a neighboring town. And you were telling me just a moment ago about your drive here. Tell me about that.

DOUG, RESIDENT, LONG ISLAND: Right. I live about three miles away in Oakdale. And I took all the side streets. There was snow on the ground on the streets, but the going was OK. I took it slow. And it was fine. I got here in about ten minutes.

FLORES: You know, Doug, one of the things that really stands out to me about this town, it's very quaint. There is a lot of little shops here. There's a lot of people who come here just to go to shops like yours. Everybody's very friendly. So I imagine that you guys like tourists, like people to come here and enjoy this little town.

DOUG: Yes, absolutely. Sayville (ph) is a beautiful town. A lot of small stores. You get to see a lot of people, the same people. And in the summertime, it's a big tourist town. We're right next to Fire Island. You can take the ferry right across. It takes about 15 minutes. Yes, it's a beautiful town. I love it here.

FLORES: So, let's talk about the weather again because one of the things that we're expecting is this new wave of arctic blast. We're going to get some rain, and then the temperatures are going to drop again. And people are worried about the black ice. Is that something that you're considering on your way -- on your drive here? And I know that the department of transportation is trying to take precautions to make sure that the streets are safe.

DOUG: Yes, they did a pretty good job. The side streets still have snow, but yes, we're concerned with the black ice. Just take it slow and give a little more time to get to work. I usually can get here in about ten minutes. I took my time, you know, 15, 20 minutes if you go slow. But it's not too bad. It's cold, but, you know, it's a beautiful day.

FLORES: Wonderful. Doug, thank you so much.

DOUG: You're welcome.

FLORES: We really appreciate you taking the time.

Like Doug was saying, Fred, the wise words are, be very careful out on the roads. Be careful because of the black ice. And if you can stay home, you want to stay home -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Great advice.

Meantime, Rosa, I understand you and your crew had to be rather inventive and improvise a little bit in order for this live shot to happen by use of videophone --

FLORES: Say that again. Did you ask me a question?

WHITFIELD: Yes, I'm asking you, you've had to be very inventive because this weather is so brutal that it even froze our satellite truck. So the reason why we're seeing you now is because you were improvising with a videophone. Tell us about that adventure.

FLORES: I know. I've got to tell you about MacGyver who is our photojournalist.

WHITFIELD: Aptly named.

FLORES: I think we can even pan to show you the contraption that we have in our truck because that's what we had to do in order for us to go live. But yes, our truck burned and not in the bad sense then we changed a battery and all of a sudden the signal was gone. So our MacGyver, our Ken here, our photojournalist here at CNN, built a contraption for us while we were waiting. And that's how we're able to go live, Fred.

WHITFIELD: My God. Well, maybe next time maybe you'll be able to show it to us because I know there are restrictions right now on his mobility. But we want to see what that contraption is and how you were able to come to us this way. We're glad it all worked out.

Rosa Flores, thanks so much on Long Island. Try to stay warm and, you know, continue to be inventive, as you are. Thank you. All right, a close call, meantime, in Montana after a driver loses control there and then plunges into an icy river. The driver of this SUV was taken to the hospital Friday and treated for hypothermia after her car slid off the icy road. My goodness! Rescue teams were in the water for an hour before they were able to pull her out. There were no other passengers in the car. Incredible!

All right, you think getting your car stuck in snow is bad? Well, how about thick ice. Cars in Canada were in thick ice, believe it or not, frozen solid to the ground right there. First, only a little ice held down the cars, but then after three days of freezing temperatures, the ice thickened, covering the tires even the doors on some of the cars there in Winnipeg at this parking lot. Brutal!

All right, 140 million people, nearly half of this country, will be getting hit by a new round of winter weather. Alexandra Steele is tracking his half of this cold front.

Alexandra, boy, it seems like nobody is going to be spared.

ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Can you imagine 140 million Americans, Fred, feeling temperatures at zero or below between now and Wednesday.

All right, but let's talk about it, you know. We talked about the cold. It certainly was cold. The snow came. The cold was there on the backside of that nor'easter. This is a different animal. This is actually a piece of the polar vortex which is the coldest air in the northern hemisphere. So the coldest air we've seen in two decades here in the U.S.

So forecast wind chills, I'm going to time it out for you from Sunday and into Monday. So this is what it's going to feel like. Watch Duluth go from the 30s to 50 below. Sunday at 4:00, heading to the game perhaps, 14 below is what it will feel like in green bay. As we head towards Sunday night, 45 below in Duluth and then we get into the 50s.

So, it's all moot at that point through 40 or 50 below. But that's the beginning of this really cold arctic air. Monday and Tuesday's kind of the heart of this arctic air for the greatest number of people being impacted, record cold. Minneapolis, 18 below air temperature, not even wind chill. The records from the early 1900s, 1909, when it was 14 below. And also remember yesterday, preemptively for Monday, the whole state has canceled schools for the kids in Minnesota. Now actually, areas in Wisconsin, too. Public schools canceling for Monday, too cold for school.

Chicago, all-time coldest daily highs expected. And even in Cincy (ph) and Detroit, what we're talking about is a five-day stretch subzero, the longest they've ever seen it. So watch some of these numbers and the differential between the temperatures, the highs and then where they go. Chicago, Sunday, 11, 13 below air temperature, incredibly cold there. It's going to be that Monday and Tuesday time frame even in New York. New York actually is going to have rain on Sunday and then into Monday, but then comes the cold air. So it's going to go from 50 to 14, Fred.

WHITFIELD: God.

STEELE: On Monday, the cold air and the precipitation are missing each other. So it would have been another bang-up snowstorm, but it's not. The rain's going to come, and then it's going to leave and then the cold air filters in behind it. Nashville dropping to 40 degrees Sunday into Monday.

WHITFIELD: Seven degrees in Nashville on Monday? Boy.

STEELE: So even Atlanta, Georgia. This one's penetrating the southeast, more so than we saw with the last one.

WHITFIELD: Yes, this is a big one. This is one giant cold hand giving everybody a big slap.

STEELE: That's right.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Alexandra. Appreciate that.

STEELE: Sure.

WHITFIELD: All right, in about an hour, the NFL playoffs kick off. But in the first game, the weather won't actually matter. That's because the Indianapolis colts are hosting Kansas City inside the domed Lucas Oil stadium. That's the AFC wild card game.

But the NFC game tonight in Philly, well, temperatures are going to be below freezing when the Eagles take on the New Orleans Saints. It's going to be about 24 degrees when the game begins. The good news, wind won't be a factor. So it won't feel even more bitterly cold, if that's some kind of relief. OK.

All right, former first lady Barbara Bush is back at home this afternoon after being discharged from the hospital. She was admitted six days ago to be treated for pneumonia. In a statement today, she thanked all of her doctors and nurses. The former first lady is 88 years old.

And rock 'n' roll legend Phil Everly has passed away. The Everly brothers soared to the top of the music world in the late 1950s and early '60s with hits just like that one, "Wake Up Little Suzy" and they influenced the Beatles as well.

Phil Everly's wife told "the L.A. Times" he died Friday in California due to complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He was 74-years-old.

"Fast & Furious" actor Paul Walker died within minutes of that terrible car crash. That's according to the coroner's final report. We'll tell you what doctors found.

And a possible breakthrough in treating Alzheimer's disease, a common vitamin may hold some promise for those suffering.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The final coroner's report on Paul Walker's death is out, and it reveals the actor's life ended just like his movie title, fast and furious. The 15-page document reveals Walker and his friend died soon after their Porsche crashed.

Our Alan Duke has details.

ALAN DUKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredericka, the coroner's report concludes that the death of Paul Walker was an accident. Despite the fact that Roger Rodas was driving the car well above the posted speed limit of 45 miles per hour at 100-plus miles per hour, it was not ruled manslaughter. It was ruled an accident.

Of course, Rodas, the driver, who could possibly have faced charges as a result of the crash died. In fact, he died almost instantly after the car slammed into a light post, and then a couple of trees came to rest and burst into flames. The autopsy report says that it was the traumatic injuries that these two men suffered that killed them along with burns from the car. The car was destroyed by the fire, and these men were severely charred by it. In fact, it took dental records in order to identify the two men.

What we found from this autopsy report that we wondered about is how long did they live? And according to the report, not very long. In fact, the study of their tracheas showed very little soot in there which would indicate they were not breathing in that dark black smoke from the Porsche fire. So that at least may be some comfort to the fans and the family who would be led to believe that these men didn't suffer that long. And by the way, the movie "Fast & Furious 7" is back on track for a release in April of 2015 -- Fredericka.

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much, Alan.

In Eureka, California, police believe they have solved a murder of a popular catholic priest using evidence found at the murder scene and what witnesses told them. They have arrested a man.

Dan Simon is on the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This was father Eric Freed being formally installed as pastor at St. Bernard church in Eureka, California. He had been leading the congregation for three years.

JOHN CHIV, CHURCH MEMBER: He was a great teacher, a great mentor, and just a very loving person. That's the biggest thing that I could say, a very, very loving man.

SIMON: But on Wednesday morning, New Year's Day, he was found dead inside his rectory. Police say there was clear evidence of a forced entry and struggle, and the beloved priest died from blunt force trauma.

CROWD: Holy Mary, mother of God. SIMON: Church members seen outside praying.

MAYOR FRANK JAGER, EUREKA, CALIFORNIA: Absolutely tremendous loss not only for the St. Bernard's parish but for our community in general.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was about the most charismatic man that -- pastor that I've had.

SIMON: It didn't take long for authorities to name and later arrest the suspect. 43-year-old Gary Lee Bullock, who in recent days, had been no stranger to police. He had been arrested on New Year's Eve for public intoxication. Officers even had to take him to the hospital for an evaluation where he had to be physical reply restrained. He was later taken to jail but released the following day.

CHIEF ANDREW MILLS, EUREKA, CALIFORNIA POLICE: In California, if you're taken to jail for a misdemeanor such as public intoxication, you're normally kept four hours. And then after that four hours you're released.

SIMON: Later that evening a security guard heard a noise in the area of the church. He reported seeing a person matching bullock's description and says he told him to leave after a short conversation. It's now New Year's Day 9:00 a.m., and Father Freed is supposed to lead a service but doesn't arrive.

CHIV: It was shock, and I think people knew that something wasn't quite right because a priest just doesn't -- not show up for mass. And I just think we did what comes naturally to us, which is pray for our pastor.

SIMON: Authorities tell us they have no motive. They're calling this a crime of opportunity. They also tell us the suspect drove 45 minutes away to a family member's house in the pastor's car. It was one of Bullock's relatives who called police.

Dan Simon, CNN, Eureka, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And a new obstacle for women in combat, all that straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: This is CNN breaking news.

WHITFIELD: All this just in to CNN. The U.S. may soon be involved in the rescue of those ships stuck in the ice near Antarctica. Australia has called on the U.S. coast guard to send one of its large ice breakers to help two stranded ships that are stuck in ice. The Australian maritime safety authority says that the U.S. has agreed to allow one of the coast guard's ice breakers to go to that area.

Right now two stuck ships off the coast of Antarctica. Now remember, all of the researchers and many of the tourists that were on board, a research ship were actually rescued by way of a Chinese ice breaker and helicopters earlier in the week. But now the ships are still doomed in that area.

All right, the U.S. marine corps has delayed its deadline for new physical requirements after less than half of female recruits could do the required minimum of three pull-ups. The new standard was meant to take effect January 1st, but now officials are giving the policy a second look.

Here's Chris Lawrence.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred. So few female marines pass this test that officials started worrying they were setting a standard that might push a lot of women right out of the Marine Corps.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE (voice-over): Military training can be excruciating at its highest levels. But at the bare minimum, a marine's got to be able to do three pull-ups.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to ensure that every marine is successful at maxing out their pull-ups on their PSD (ph).

LAWRENCE: But more than half the female recruits couldn't do it. So the marines are pushing back the day when it becomes mandatory.

ELAINE DONNELLY, PRESIDENT, CENTER FOR MILITARY READINESS: If you have a failure rate of 55 percent and 99 percent of the men are succeeding, obviously this is not going to work.

LAWRENCE: Men have to do three pull-ups minimum to pass the marines fitness test. It takes 20 to earn a perfect score. Women had to meet the same minimum. But only need eight pull-ups to score perfect. Because so few passed, the marines will let them choose to hang on the bar for 15 seconds and pass without doing any pull-ups.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wide grip stance that works best for you.

LAWRENCE: Marine Corps officials admit pull-ups are better and the flexed arm hang elicits little muscular strength adaptations necessary for a common military task such as pulling oneself over obstacles or carrying equipment.

ZOE BEDELL, FORMER MARINE CORPS OFFICER: Generally, I (INAUDIBLE) any standards.

Zoe Bedell was a former Marine Corps officer who commanded troops in Afghanistan.

Could you do three pull-ups?

BEDELL: I was at one point able to do five pull-ups, but it was probably that first one that probably took me the longest to get. LAWRENCE: Bedell says women have to learn how to do pull-ups, something many have never done.

BEDELL: You sort of experiment with different techniques. You know, figure out what other exercises to do.

LAWRENCE: Critics say the big push over pull-ups is part of a bigger problem, pressure from the White House to make the military gender neutral.

DONNELLY: Something is wrong here and it's not the women's fault. It's the policy that the marines are pursuing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE: Still, some women are clearly ready. Thirteen female marines have just passed the grueling 60-day infantry training course. But this postponement, it's a setback for the plan to move thousands of women into combat roles by 2016.

Now, the marines could impose the three-pull-up standard next year, but there's no guarantee -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much, Chris Lawrence.

All right, a new piece of the puzzle in the Michael Schumacher accident. Will a helmet camera show what really happened?

And the bitter cold in the U.S., wait until you hear what's coming next from Mother Nature.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Bottom of the hour now. Welcome back. I'm Fredericka Whitfield.

Here are the top stories crossing the CNN news desk right now. Investigators are examining a camera attached to Michael Schumacher's ski helmet. The former world champion formula 1 race car driver is in a French hospital in an induced coma. He suffered severe head injury from the ski accident last weekend. And according to the French media, police sees the camera but have not said if it was rolling at the time of the accident.

And the CDC says the number of states reporting widespread flu activity jumped from 10 to 25 last week. Widespread means more than half of a state's geographic regions like counties are reporting activities. The most common strain has been h1n1, formerly known as swine flu. The CDC says six children have died since the end of September.

And the mother of Jovan Belcher is now suing the Kansas City Chiefs the wrongful desk suit claims to seek the team ignored the NFL player's concussion symptoms. Belcher killed his girlfriend and then committed suicide in front of team officials in 2012. Belcher's mom wants a jury trial and more than $15,000 in damages. His body was exhumed last month, and his brain is being examined for any sign of damage.

And singer Clay Aiken is reportedly considering trading his place on stage for a seat in Congress. "The Washington Blade" reports the former "American idol" competitor has talked to D.C. political operatives about running in his home state of North Carolina. Aiken became a best-selling artist after finishing second place on the TV show back in 2003. Aiken himself has not commented on the possibility of running for office.

All right, the storm has made life very difficult for millions of people in the northeast, but it's also made for some great picture taking and video taking. And our viewers have been sending in i- reports and posting them on social media as well.

Jennifer Mayerle is watching all this for us.

So, you have been digging deep on all the photos.

JENNIFER MAYERLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Well, Fredricka, you may have heard that there's a football game being played tonight. And Katherine (INAUDIBLE) got creative when she tweeted this picture supporting her team. Take a look. It says "who that in the snow? The caption, what weather? Who that loves a chilly breeze." Saints fans will know exactly what Katherine is talking about there.

And this next picture was taken just outside Minneapolis, Minnesota. Take a look. That's my parents' neighborhood. The governor, Mark Dayton, canceled school on Monday because of the drop in temperature. And the temperatures there are supposed to be in the negative double digits on Monday. You can see, that says, "yes, no school on Monday." It is a bit of a joking around with that there. Check out Boris who hails from Chicago.

Take a look. The 3-year-old rescue dog. Yes. He's in the air.

WHITFIELD: Looks like he has boots on.

MAYERLE: Little red booties keeping those paws warm. He was out chasing squirrels and Liza snapped that photo when Boris was in midair.

WHITFIELD: That is cute.

MAYERLE: Isn't that adorable? I love the red booties.

WHITFIELD: I do, too.

MAYERLE: Well, Milo is a golden doodle. This was taken Glen Head, New York. And Milo looks like she is just loving that snow. First time in the snow for this dog.

But, you know, it's not all fun and games out there. It can be tricky to navigate when you're driving or anything else, especially for a big bus, maybe not four-wheel drive there. The bus in New York looks like it got a little bit stuck started smoking. Some things you need to be thinking about when you are out in the road. Take careful. Take precautions.

And we want to see what it looks like in your area. So please send us pictures to CNN.com/ireport. Take a picture inside if you want, if you want to stay warm.

WHITFIELD: The safest way.

MAYERLE: Absolutely. And let us know what you see in your area.

WHITFIELD: I like it.

All right, thanks so much, Jennifer. Appreciate that.

And you know, big hello to your family out there kind of, you know, roughing it in Minneapolis.

MAYERLE: Yes. I think Monday will be a little bit worse than today.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Sorry about that, folks.

All right. Thanks so much, Jennifer.

MAYERLE: Yes.

WHITFIELD: All right, the ice-cold weather isn't a big deal if you live in northern Wisconsin. There's an NFL playoff game there tomorrow.

And Jared Greenberg tells us how they're handling the bitter cold.

JARED GREENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, it begs the question, are they diehard fans or they just simply crazy? Temps in Green Bay expected to reach minus 20 with, get this, a wind chill around 40 below. You know the cheese heads. They love their football. They're a hearty bunch. And hundreds of them showed up at Lambeau field yesterday to shovel the stands ahead of tomorrow's game. Fans braving the bitter cold at Lambeau field will get a little something extra to help stay warm. The team, planning to provide free coffee and hot chocolate during the game. Will that help? How cold is gold? It is unbelievable! A local store will also give out about 70,000 hand warmers to those fans.

The game could be even colder than the infamous ice bowl which was the NFL's coldest game on record. Back in 1967, the wind chill was an estimated 48 degrees below zero. It was still cold that day in Green Bay, the referees reportedly couldn't blow their whistles, and trumpets got stuck to band members' lips.

The Orange Bowl lived up to the hype. And Clemson pulled out a huge win. Last night Taj Boyd threw 378 yards, five touchdowns. His favorite target that time is Sammy Watkins. He was a beast. And now, boy, looking for Martivia (ph) Bryant. Check out the grab. How did Bryant make the catch? Spectacular! A whole lot of offense in this one, but it was Clemson's defense that sealed the win. Braxton Miller for Ohio State has his pass snagged out of the air by Anthony. Clemson hangs on for a five-point win in a game that featured 75 combined points.

And this is case in point of fans taking the game a little bit too seriously. Emotions ran high on and off the field going to sugar bowl, an Alabama fan jumping into a pile of Oklahoma fans. That's not going to end well at all. No word on what started the incident.

Fans take their football seriously in Alabama. Maybe it had something to do with Alabama losing two straight games for the first time since 2008. Fred, we don't see two straight losses for Alabama too often.

WHITFIELD: Man! That was some kind of throw down. That was ugly.

All right, thanks so much, Jared.

My goodness.

All right. For people impacted by Alzheimer's, any way to slow the disease is so important. So a new study shows something on the vitamin shelf that might help you. We'll let you know what that's all about next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, there could be a glimmer of new hope for people struggling with Alzheimer's. Perhaps welcome news for baby boomers who every day are becoming part of the population most affected by the disease. The Alzheimer's association estimates today five million people, 65 and older, have Alzheimer's. In 2025, that jumps to more than seven million, and in 2050, a staggering 13.8 million.

Here's another way to look at it. Today, an American develops Alzheimer's every 68 seconds. By 2050, that becomes every 33 seconds. Pretty sobering.

So that makes a new study published this week really critical. It suggests that vitamin E could help patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's. The study shows that taking vitamin E slowed a patient's decline not with their memories but with their ability to perform daily tasks.

I'm joined now by the lead author of the study, Dr. Maurice Dysken.

Dr. Dysken, good to see you. So, does the study mean that vitamin E should be considered as a potential treatment for Alzheimer's, too?

DR. MAURICE DYSKEN, LEAD AUTHOR, VITAMIN E AND ALZHEIMER'S STUDY: We think so. These were patients who had mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease, and they showed that benefit with vitamin E alone. Over approximately 2 1/4 years, which was the average length of the trial, we saw benefit not only in slowing down the rate of progression, but also in reducing caregiver time.

Caregivers were spending about three hours a day taking care of patients. And we knew that during the study that would increase. And in the vitamin E group, that increase was least.

WHITFIELD: So then what should happen next to see if vitamin e should indeed become a part of a new type of treatment?

DYSKEN: Well, we think there's evidence for primary care providers to consider vitamin E at this time. We would not recommend that individuals take this dose of vitamin E on their own. I might mention the dose was 2,000 international units per day. And that's a large dose compared to the dose you would find in a multivitamin, which is about 100. I want to emphasize that this is not a prevention trial. We studied patients with the disease, and it does imply patients without the disease should be taking this dose of vitamin E.

WHITFIELD: OK. And that generally would be kind of the reaction that many people would have and say, wait a minute. I'm hearing this. So this means I should go out and take a lot of vitamin E, but you're saying that's not the case.

Meantime, there have been lots of studies, you know, prior to that would say sometimes you can take too much vitamin E, that it could be dangerous in high doses. So how do you, you know, strike a balance between that kind of information and that vitamin e should be part of a treatment for those with Alzheimer's?

DYSKEN: We were concerned about safety which was monitored very carefully. There was a report in 2005 that suggested that higher doses of vitamin E, about 400 international units, was associated with increased mortality. We had 613 patients who were randomized and average age 78, 128 patients died, which is not unexpected. The lowest mortality was in the vitamin E group. So we think from our data that vitamin E certainly is safe.

WHITFIELD: Fantastic! All right, very enlightening.

Dr. Maurice Dysken, thanks so much for your time and happy new year.

DIKE: You, too. Thank you very much.

WHITFIELD: Sanjay Gupta M.D. is straight ahead in the next hour. The doctor is here with a preview.

DOCTOR SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, you know, New Year's time is a great time to hit the reset button, as I like to call it with your health. So I'm going to give you some advice on how to stay happy and healthy this year including the checklist you should bring when you see your doctor, also, the biggest myths around losing weight. We've got this road map to a smart and healthy new year. Got that at 4:30 eastern -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Sanjay.

OK. So you know this by now. Marijuana, pot legal to buy and sell in Colorado, but they're doing more than just smoking it. They're also making it in food. What sweet treats are there other than pot brownies for sale? We'll show you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, much of the focus on making it legal to buy and sell pot in Colorado has been on smoking marijuana.

CNN's Ana Cabrera reports it's also being packaged and sold as food.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THOMAS BEHLER, GANJA GOURMET: Hello, ganja gourmet.

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Forget about smoking a joint.

BEHLER: We have all the edibles you can imagine.

CABRERA: And we're not just talking pot brownies.

BEHLER: This is a 70-milligram pumpkin pie.

CABRERA: Today the world of marijuana edibles is reaching new extremes.

BEHLER: Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of different products.

CABRERA: You're inside Denver ganja gourmet, once a medical marijuana restaurant. Now a pot product supermarket of sorts, specializing in marijuana-infused candy, cookies and crispy treats. So if you have a sweet tooth, this is the way to go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a good way to go.

CABRERA: Plus coffee, butter and --

BEHLER: -- chamomile tea.

CABRERA: There's something here that's sure to make everyone happy. Want a protein-packed pot fix? Try the peanut butter. Gluten free? No problem. Diabetic? How about a sugar-free sucker? But why edibles?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And the reason why I choose edibles, because I'm not into the whole smoking. But I'll do it every once in a while, but I respiratory issue like I cough a lot more.

CABRERA: Easy on the lungs, odor free. Some say it's also easier to control dosing.

How do you know the dosage is what you say it is?

MORGAN IWERSEN, CANYON CULTIVATION: We make our hash oil. That's the base of all of our products. If the hash oil tests out at this percentage of THC and this percentage of the other cannabinoids, then, we can dot the equation in the math to break down what we want.

CABRERA: Morgan Iwersen has been in the business of making marijuana edibles. Canyon Cultivation uses hash oil to create hard candy, drops, breath strips and olive oils.

Is this your office? Your kitchen? What do you call this place? IWERSEN: So this is the lab.

CABRERA: Iwersen is one of dozens of budding edible businesses that are part of the estimated $1.5 billion marijuana industry which analysts say could quadruple in just a few years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We like our baklava here.

CABRERA: She's busy baking up baklava, a top seller netting $3,000 a month.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Buttery goodness.

CABRERA: Here it's all about the canna butter, roasted for up to 24 hours. The result, a high-potency THC product that is baked into each treat. How many different items do you guys make?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have about 44 different products currently.

CABRERA: In three years, Love's Oven customer list has grown from three dispensaries to 40. And that's just for medical marijuana sales.

What do you anticipate with recreational sale of marijuana?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chaos. Craziness.

CABRERA: Yet, state and local regulators are working to keep things under control. While marijuana edibles aren't currently regulated by the FDA, Colorado marijuana-infused food producers will have to follow new rules in the New Year.

One of the new rules with marijuana edibles has to do with child- resistant packaging meaning it has to come in an opaque package, and it has to have a two-step process to opening it. Keeping people safe especially children is a high priority for this industry under scrutiny. The world is watching.

IWERSEN: We consider ourselves pioneers at the end of prohibition.

CABRERA: As cannabis-focused kitchen take a bigger bite out of the marijuana market.

Ana Cabrera, CNN, Denver.

(END VIDEOTAPE

WHITFIELD: So buying pot may be legal in Colorado, but that doesn't mean it's always easy.

Here's CNN's Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's like going to the deli. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll help who's next.

MOOS: But instead of half a pound of ham, it's an eighth of an ounce of pot, each type described lovingly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a euphoric high.

MOOS: Customers seemed euphoric even before smoking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes!

MOOS: Though a few online hid from the cameras, all you have to do is show I.D. to prove you're over 21. Then pay cash, 55 bucks or so with tax for an eighth of an ounce that makes five to seven joints.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A really nice fruity juicy fruit. Tastes very much like it smells.

MOOS: Customers were doing a lot of smelling, sniffing the bouquets as if it were a fine wine or pungent cheese.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really nice bud structure on there.

MOOS: Appreciating bud structure rather than ordering a bud, weed has gone mainstream. The Denver pot, I mean, "the Denver Post," even reviews pot. The paper has gone to pot with a Web site called the Cannabist and a marijuana editor who appeared on "the Colbert Report."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you high right now? You're not high now, but do you smoke pot at all?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't smoke pot. I do eat it, though.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

MOOS: On the cannabist, you can use a handy map to find a pot store near you or learn about cooking with cannabis. The site has two reviewers who try strains like granddaddy purple and tell you how zonked you'll get. Initially the granddaddy gave me a nice uptick of energy that had me pondering a walk with our sheltie. I could string together the concepts like socks before shoes, but by the time I made it to the shoes, where had the socks gone?

Now that it's legal, everyone's playing name that pot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could you hand me a green crack 8, please?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Great flavor. Good energy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sour aliens, a cross of sour diesel and alien technologies.

MOOS: Even reporters can pronounce golden goat, but some of these names can get your goat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it Baba Kush? There is the expert. MOOS: If you're really nice to the clerks --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's smell the Tahoe triangle.

MOOS: -- maybe they'll sing it to you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tahoe Tahoe it's off to smoke we go.

MOOS: Jeanne moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: What an adventure that is.

So, AC360 will explore all the angles of legalizing marijuana next week in a special series "gone to pot" starting Monday night 8:00 eastern right on CNN.

All right, the Pope makes a surprising phone call of who he called and what he said next.

And just about a month until the winter Olympic games and we'll talk to a security expert about how they'll keep the games and the athletes safe.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, this just in, we understand that a small plane has landed on the Major Deegan expressway in the Bronx, New York, happening near exit 12 on the northbound side of the highway. And we understand this is really near a major intersection there. There were three people on board this plane. So far it appears there were some minor injuries involving three people, but unclear any more about the circumstances this, but quite alarming to hear that a small plane has landed on a major expressway there in the Bronx. We'll keep you posted on all that.

And we're just now 34 days away from the start of the winter Olympic Games in Russia. And excitement had been building but then all of that change following two deadly terror attacks, this week 400 miles from the host city.

Diana Magnay takes a look at the security of the games.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Russian authorities have discovered a link between the two deadly suicide bombings in Volgograd. Monday morning's attack on a crowded trolley killed 16 and on Sunday, a massive explosion rocked the city's railway station.

This chilling surveillance video captures the horrific incident at the security checkpoint when a suicide bomber detonated 22 pounds of TNT killing 18. Authorities now say both bombs contained similar shrapnel, a sign they originated from the same region. The attacks highlight the terrorist threat that Russia faces as it hosts the winter Olympic Games next month in Sochi, just 400 miles south of the devastation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of the Olympic sites will have physical security, electronic security, everybody will be screened. So, I think it will be difficult for someone -- for a terrorist to set off a bomb inside of a village or venue.

MAGNAY: Russia's president Vladimir Putin is personally involved in security plans and promising maximum security in Sochi. But Russian authorities say they will not change security measures they already have in place, confident that they are well prepared. U.S. authorities have offered full support to the Russian government in ramping up security measures.

In a statement, the United States Olympic committee says in part, we're always concerned with the safety of our delegation and the Sochi games are no different in that regard, an effort by the committee to avoid a repeat occurrence of the bombing that killed two at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What concerns me is when you harden targets, you often force the terrorists to select softer targets. So that makes everything else in Sochi and the surrounding area vulnerable.

MAGNAY: Targets like transportation hubs where tourists and athletes will travel to and from the games.

President Putin's claim that he can protect the Olympics also rests in part whether he can control the situation in the north caucuses, and he claims he can. But it would seem as though terrorists who are intent on proving he cannot.

Diana Magnay, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And this special program coming up next week on CNN we want to show you, it is called "sole survivor," three sick people who were the only survivors of plane crashes. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the airport where we took off on January 21st, 1985.

I didn't move here to be near the crash scene. It was just more of a -- I don't know. You think really deep about what you're doing with your life and all the people that were involved with this accident that may have done more with their life. And you feel guilty that you're not using your life to do something better.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He always talks about it. He is, like, sometimes depressed about it, like, why am I still here I made, like, a fool out of myself, like, I'm not even doing anything with my life and it makes me sad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: During the course of my life, the last 25 years, I have been curious to know what makes a person heal from a situation that happened to me.

I have never been able to find out or talked to anybody that has been through what I have been through.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: More on George's story and others, Thursday night at 9:00. Watch "Sole Survivor" right here on CNN.

All right, that is going to do it for me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. See you again here tomorrow.

Much more of the NEWSROOM straight ahead with Martin Savidge.