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A-Rod Suspended For 162 games; Neiman Marcus Faces Hacking Problems; New York Governor Andrew Cuomo Revives 80s Law Legalizing Medical Marijuana; West Virginians Still Lack Clean Water After Accident; Christie Bridge Scandal Grows; Is the Christie Brand Damaged by Bridge Scandal?; Placebo Effect May Super-Charge Meds; Hottest Talkers of the Week; Al Qaeda Linked Violence in Iraq?

Aired January 11, 2014 - 18:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And you are CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kyra Phillips.

Hundreds of thousands of people, right now, desperate for answers as officials now say it could be days before it will safe for them to use their tap water. It is state of emergency for some nine counties in West Virginia now, 75,000 gallons of a toxic chemical has leaked out of the storage tank and into ground water. This means no bathing, no brushing your teeth, no cooking, things that these folks depend on.

CNN's Erin McPike is live in Washington.

So Erin, the department of homeland security has sent truckloads of fresh water, but that is not going to last very long. So, do we have any idea with when this is going to be over?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN GENERAL ASSIGNMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, they are going to have to keep doing that for a little while, because it seems like it is going to take days. Take a listen to what Jeff McIntyre said earlier today, and he is the president of West Virginia American water.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF MCINTYRE, PRESIDENT, WEST VIRGINIA AMERICAN WATER: I would expect that we are talking about days. Our teams are out and we have employees that have worked this system and extremely knowledgeable of the system and out collecting the samples, and looking at the flushing activities at this time, but we are talking days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCPIKE: And in addition to those days, what they are going to be doing is to be testing the water supply, but they can't deem it safe to use until they produce a number of tests that say it is safe, Kyra. So, these truckloads of water are going to have to be what the people rely on for a long time.

Now, on top of that, businesses throughout Charleston and the surrounding areas are closed as well. So there is a significant economic impact as well as the daily life impact. And also, of course, the health impact of the thousands of people who are sick after being exposed to some of these water.

PHILLIPS: We will definitely continue to follow the story.

Erin, thanks.

Well, baseball superstar Alex Rodriguez has won a partial victory in his battle to avoid a steroid suspension. But he is not very happy about it. An arbitrator upheld most of A-Rod's suspension, but he reduced the original 211-game penalty to 162 games. Now, that would include the entire 2014 season plus the playoffs.

Rodriguez will be 40-years-old if he decides to come back to play for the Yankees in 2015. No easy task for a guy with a lot of injuries in the recent yea years.

So, let's talk about this to Terrence Moore. He is a sports contributor to cnn.com and columnist for mlb.com.

So, what do you think? Is he ever going to play baseball again?

TERRENCE MOORE, SPORTS CONTRIBUTOR, CNN.COM: He is done and start with this. A-Rod, Alex Rodriguez gave one of the quotes of 2013 when he said Bud Selig hates my guts, OK? And Bud Selig is the commissioner of baseball and guess what? He hates his guts. And this was all designed to get Alex Rodriguez out of Major League Baseball.

People talk about the 211-game suspension. It could have been 750 -- it was just a figure that baseball put out there because they knew it would be reduced to something like this. And as you point out, when he comes back, if he does comes back in 2015, not only nearly he would nearly 40-years-old, you are talking about a guy who has two surgery repaired hips and has not played more than 130 games in four years.

PHILLIPS: But here is the deal. When these guys get busted, right, for taking performance enhancing drugs, that just changes the whole dynamic of how good are they, really. Do the records matter? Should they be paid all of that money? And fans are outraged, what are we really watching? What are we getting?

MOORE: Well, you know, what was sad here is Alex Rodriguez had the chance to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest player of all time. Lifetime batting average is 299 and over 600 home runs and all that sort of things. And right now, he is headed toward being the biggest cheats in the history of baseball challenging Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. It is very settle that side. But in another hand, these guys knew exactly what they were doing, and it is very hard to feel sorry for them.

PHILLIPS: So, if you say this is the biggest cheat, could this finally, I mean, put the change in motion where the players are, OK, let's go back to the old days, where, you know, the days of what, Babe Ruth where, you know, he was known to put back a few cocktails, right?

MOORE: That is not going to happen. It is all about getting the edge and do what you can to get it rig right.

PHILLIPS: And so even when baseball's greatest, one of the greatest players, OK, is going through this --

MOORE: True.

PHILLIPS: It is not going to make a dent?

MOORE: Well, answer it this way. This guy, Alex Rodriguez is still saying he is innocent. I mean, this is his version of saying I'm not a crook. You know, I did not have sex with that woman and I was blindsided by what happened on that bridge. He says he is completely innocent and this is why he is not very well respected by his peers. And even the Players Association came out to today and said that they respect the process which is a slap to the A-Rod, OK?

So here is a guy who does not get it except in this sense. There is a lot of people who think that this is about money. He is trying to get as much money as he can out of this. They extend that original $275 million contract. So now, he is going to be out only $25 million. And I say only, because he is still going to have $61 million in the bank after all of this is cleared up.

PHILLIPS: So, he is never going to have money problems. But he sure loses face on so many levels, too, I mean, the greatest game, right?

MOORE: But these guys, they apparently, they don't care about that, you know. And I'm a baseball hall of fame voter, and this is the thing that we go through every year for some of us, it says on the ballot the voting part of it is that you have to consider integrity and character. That is why I will never ever vote for anybody who is tainted by this steroid crisis.

PHILLIPS: So, what about the individuals who have not been tainted, that is interesting, you actually vote, right?

MOORE: Yes.

PHILLIPS: And is there a time when you are going through and you are thinking, boy, I wonder if he, or he --

MOORE: It is all of the time. It is all of the time.

PHILLIPS: And doesn't it put doubt into the process now?

MOORE: Well, I don't know about the process, because it is the best voting process. And we get it right more often than don't. But if you look at the guys that didn't get in this time like Fred McGriff.

PHILLIPS: And Mike Piazza.

MOORE: Mike Piazza, well, this person marks about hell. But Fred McGriff has no personal marks about. And yes, he still doesn't get a lot of votes out there. And when you look at his numbers and these guys deserve to be in there, I think that the system is still good, regardless of all of this, because it is meant to be a very selective process, and that what we do, very selective. Last year, nobody got in, OK? And the basketball hall of fame, if you can breathe and dribble a little bit, you are eligible to be in the basketball hall of fame.

PHILLIPS: No, we are going to have a war now between -- now, all of the basketball fans we are following up, what is Terrence talking about? Get that guy off of television. I know you will be back tomorrow. I look forward to it.

MOORE: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Terrence.

Well, look at overseas now. Israel is preparing a state funeral, and prime minister Ariel Sharon died today. He was 85-years-old. The last eight years spent in a coma. The Israeli public will be able to pay their last respects beginning tomorrow when Sharon will lie in state in the Knesset, which is Israel's parliament.

Ariel Sharon suffered a massive stroke in 2006 during his second term as prime minister. He never recovered. The funeral scheduled for Monday. President Obama today send condolence and said vice president Biden will lead an American delegation to Sharon's funeral.

Well, coming up nest, a massive data breach growing, first it was Target, now another major retailer says some of your info was stolen and the scammers are taking advantage of the situation.

Also ahead, cars that drive and park themselves, and new iphone case that doubles as the stun gun.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, the Target store chain says it looks like the credit card security breach is worse than originally ported. Here is the new figure, 70 million customers may have had their personal information hacked, credit card numbers, phone numbers, e-mail, and mail addresses.

Now another store says it has a serious security issue, this time it is Neiman Marcus. During the height of the holiday shopping season, Neiman Marcus official say that hackers broke into their secure computer systems, started grabbing private customer information. Now, how many customers? We still don't know. But there is a few things that you can do if you think you might be one of them.

Jennifer Mayerle is watching all this for us today.

All right, so for those that use their Neiman Marcus card, what do you say to them?

JENNIFER MAYERLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, it is hard to tell how concerned people should be at this point, simply because we don't know how many people, how many credit card numbers were taken. And that is the hard part. When there are plenty with the Target investigation, that is a little bit farther along, so we may have that new information -- yes, we have new information that 70 million people now had other information taken aside are from the credit card numbers like their name, their mailing address, their phone number and their e-mail address. And I suspect that we will learn more about what happened with Neiman Marcus, and that there is maybe weeks to come.

It all started in mid--December when Neiman Marcus learned about a possible security breach, that is when Neiman Marcus went head and informed police. They started working with secret service and the forensic team. And it took until January 1st for that team to determine that it is in fact was a security breach. And what that mean is that Neiman Marcus was a victim of a cyber security breach and so were their customers.

Again, at this point, we don't know how widespread this was. We don't know how many customers are affected. And we are still waiting to find out what the time frame was of when that security breach happened.

Neiman Marcus has issued this statement saying, we have begun to contain the intrusion, and have taken significant steps to further enhance information security. And that is important, because of course, they want to protect against another security breach.

PHILLIPS: Now, I was impacted by the Target situation, as you know. My bank was very proactive. And this situation with Neiman Marcus, same thing or you know, what are banks credit agencies doing?

MAYERLE: It seems, since both of these have been happened now, banks are being proactive. Instead of waiting for the fraud to happen, they are going ahead and taking care of it on the front end. These are two letters that people got recently from their banks, one had a new credit card attached to the letter.

PHILLIPS: That is one of the employees, right? And he said, I got my new card.

MAYERLE: Right. And another employee got this letter and it says you will be receiving a new card within about ten business days. So, instead of waiting to see of fraud happens on the credit card, they are going to is issue them a new card. And of course, if you have any questions that you get a letter like this about, is this new card legitimate, go ahead and call the bank or the credit card company, whoever sent it to you, just verify that they did in fact send that to you, and that is the one that you should be using.

PHILLIPS: Great advice. Jennifer, thanks.

Well, many of the hottest gadgets we will see in the coming years were front and center this week at the Las Vegas consumer electronics show and we are seeing cars that do the parking and driving for you, sometimes one that can 85 miles at a gallon and is expected wearable. It got a lot of attention as well, devices that help you improve, how you run or monitor nearly every bodily function you can think of and probably a few that you can't.

Tech expert Katie Linendoll was there.

So Kathie, what excited you the most at the show? KATIE LINENDOLL, TECH ANALYST: Well, talk about century overload. And to your point, I saw everything from a smart connected toothbrush to a solar-powered concept car. See, you have to sit back and say, this is pretty incredible.

But one of the other big themes, it was last year to this year came over to this year as well. It was 4K TVs, and a lot of people are like, what is 4K? What is it mean to me?

The Reader's Digest version of that, is this of the 4K TV as four times the resolution of the HDTV that most of us have in our homes. But also bendable screens were very popular when it came to televisions this year. Curve screens were announced by some of the biggest company, and the point of working off of the notion that they create a better viewing angle and reduce glare, and you are looking at 105-inch LG TV and if you are saying yourself, I just got a new TV, fear not, because that sucker that you are looking at is $70,000. So, 4K TVs are all the rage this year.

PHILLIPS: And $70,000 something, that is kind of cool, OK maybe not.

Now, with the price of electronic components dropping, we are seeing the start-up companies making full devices right, small cameras, and you actually wear them, right? That is what made a big splash this year?

LINENDOLL: Yes, a lot of wearable cameras. And let's talk about the action adventure line. Of course, GOPRO is the one to catch there. But one company that I like, Liquid Images. They actually came up with a brand new line of underwater goggles and a ski goggles. You can actually take 1080p video, three megapixels stills. But the real gadgets that excited me from the Liquid Image is this little sucker here. This is an eagle live streaming with 4G and Wi-Fi capabilities. You can clip this right on to you or you can mount it to you, and imagine being out there. Kyra, I can see you using this. You sent all of your viewers a link and they can actually see what you see live. So, you think about an area of conflicts as a journalists or going underwater with kind of extra accessory, being able to stream live is really cool capability.

PHILLIPS: OK, that is my God. But then you kind of wonder, OK, is anybody tracking me? That is whole another issue.

OK, what about the health world? It is getting into the big -- the tech game, right?

LINENDOLL: Big into the tech game, and I have to tell you that 35 football fields full of gadgets at the consumer electronics show. And I think half of them were health and fitness gadgets. And what is cool is about the consumers is especially when we talk about fitness fans, there can be no shortage of options this year. This is one I pulled from Garment (ph), very little sleek device here. This is garment vivo fit. What is nice, it has a one-year battery life. It wakes up in the personalized greeting and a goal that is going to track your calories. It is going to monitor your sleep. It is going to connects you with other users to give you rewards. It is also water resistant to 164 feet. And by the way, if you are on the computer, and it going to says, hey, why don't you move around a little bit. So, it is going to monitor inactivity.

Now, this is a gadget that kind of blew my mind. This little sucker here, I think pulled their entire booth. This is (INAUDIBLE). If you had braces, I did, they were such a pain in the butt, you actually put this gadget in your mouth and it is FDA cleared. It is called (INAUDIBLE), and for 20 minutes a day, it will cut your braces time in half. I was kind of blown away by this. The studies are very successful and a little gadget that caught my attention on the show floor.

PHILLIPS: My God, this is like information overload!

OK. How about this, our phones turning into stun guns? That is what caught my attention.

LINENDOLL: OK. So I was blown away by the fact that here -- yellow jacket case, it is actually starting at $100, it is a stun gun built right into your phone. And I fact checked three times on this and they told me 950,000 volts, I got to tell you. In Nevada, it is legal so I was playing with this all over the show floor.

Now, I pass on a little education that I received. You cannot bring this into New York or New Jersey. So, you really have to check your state. But what a cool little safety feature to be able to take with you. Yes, a stun gun iphone case.

PHILLIPS: You know what? I have had a couple of friends that were mugged for their iphone, and that would have come in handy indeed.

Well, it is exciting stuff, Katie. Thank you so much.

LINENDOLL: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: And coming up, we are talking pot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your pot seized from criminals and repurchased for medical use, how the medical marijuana law in New York has shortcomings advocates are worried about. I will have that story and much more in two minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: So where might the supply come from for New York's new medical marijuana laws? Criminals, drug dealers, even some medical marijuana's advocates are speaking out against the governor's push move to legalize it.

Our Rosa Flores is in New York.

This seems like an odd way to go about it. How did it turn out like this, Rosa?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, what the governor did was he revived an old law from the 1980s. And you know, what works in the 1980s, don't necessarily work in 2014. And so, advocates will tell you if the source of the marijuana is in fact, marijuana seized from criminals, it is not going to help very many patients, because they will tell you a lot of these patients, especially children need a particular strain of marijuana to treat their illnesses.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MISSY MILLER, MOTHER OF SON PRONE TO SEIZURES: Are you so happy?

FLORES (voice-over): For Missy Miller, every second with her 14-year- old son Oliver in their Long Island home is a gift. He had a stroke in utero, leaving him with a brain stem injury, and many medical issues including seizures. Sometimes he has hundreds a day.

MILLER: OK. OK.

FLORES: Oliver takes a dozen medications, some with debilitating side effects.

MILLER: We have had side effects where he developed a blood clotting complication and almost died.

FLORES: Nothing has really worked to reduce his seizures. That is why Miller started researching a strain of medical marijuana called charlotte's web.

MILLER: This is the strain that is saving children's lives.

FLORES: But it is illegal in New York. So, she is considering a move to California where it is legal.

Wednesday's announcement by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo could keep her in New York.

GOV, ANDREW CUOMO, NEW YORK: We will establish a program allowing up to 20 hospitals to prescribe medical marijuana.

FLORES: Through executive power, he is reviving a law from 1980 legalizing medical marijuana. The problem, the supply will more likely come from street pot seized from criminals and repurposed for medical use, according to Assemblyman Richard Gottfried.

STATE ASSEMBLYMAN RICHARD GOTTFRIED, NEW YORK: The health department would have to have a laboratory analyzer as to the strength, make sure it does not have insecticides in it or other problem, and that is expensive and labor intensive.

FLORES: And one opponent sees a different issue, a law driven by politics.

WILLIAM POSTER, OPPONENT: I think serious questions can be raised about using a political vehicle to achieve the use of a prescribable medication in America.

FLORES: Cultivating marijuana in New York is illegal. Under the old law the marijuana would come from the FDA, but Gottfried says that won't happen. That is why he has been pushing for comprehensive medical marijuana legislation since 1997 that would license and regulate the cultivation of specific trains. He says that under the current law the tens of thousands of New Yorkers hoping to benefit could be left with marijuana unsuitable for their illnesses. And Missy Miller says that her son is one of them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES: Now, CNN has made multiple calls to the governor's office asking specifically about the source of the marijuana, where the marijuana would come from. And as of this broadcast, our phone calls have not been returned.

Now, I should add that for Oliver, his mother tells us that the specific strain that he needs which is charlotte's web, it is dispensed as an oil, so the likely hood that that would be found out on the street confiscated by the police is very unlikely -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: God. I mean, as soon as you began that piece with Oliver, I mean, that is what put it all in perspective for me and just the mother every day. I mean, that many seizures, and -- what --

FLORES: Well, I can tell you. She is so amazingly strong, Kyra. I about broke out crying while we were doing that interview, because he does get these seizures every single day, and sometimes it is hundreds a day, and that woman is so strong. She stays calm, she stays collected and she knows that she has to do that, because when it comes to a severe epileptic seizure, then she has to respond. She has medication that would then help him. So you are absolutely right. I'll not a mother, but just as a woman, seeing this, it is just so incredibly moving.

PHILLIPS: Well, and I will tell you as a mom, it moved me tremendously watching that.

Well, let me ask you, what are the chances that a comprehensive, you know, marijuana bill would pass the state legislature?

FLORES: You know, that has been a point of contention here in the state of New York. But all of these advocates are keeping their fingers crossed, because that is what they say would solve these issues.

Now, they were hoping that the governor would make an announcement during the state of the state address, when he made the announcement about the medical marijuana that he would actually endorse comprehensive medical marijuana bill publicly, he did not do that. So, advocates feel that they are back to ground zero. So they are going back on Monday to lobby at the state legislature to keep lobbying for medical marijuana comprehensive bill in the state of New York -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: We will follow it with you. Rosa, thanks. And send out amazing extra love to Oliver and his amazing mom tonight for sure.

Coming up next -- UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Downtown Charleston is an absolute ghost town as thousands of people continue to deal with the no usable running water. I'll have all of the details after the break.

PHILLIPS: Ok, Alina, thanks so much.

Also at the top of the hour, a Safari club here in the U.S. auctioning off a permit to hunt for a black rhino in Africa. The problem, Rhinos are endangered. The Safari group says it is receiving death threats, but wants people to know the hunt would actually help the species. Stay tune for this one.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: More questions than answers for residents in West Virginia as officials now say it could be days before it will safe to use the tap water. It is a state of emergency for some 300,000 people in nine counties, and 7500 gallons of a toxic chemical leaked out of the storage tank in to the ground water creating a desperate situation. I mean, we are talking about no bathing, brushing your teeth, cooking, the simple stuff that we need our water for.

But there is a little good news today. Sixteen tractor-trailers from the Department of Homeland Security have delivered fresh drinking water.

CNN's Alina Machado live in Charleston, West Virginia.

So, Alina, no water, no end in sight. How are people there getting by?

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, people are coping as best as they can. This is no doubt a very difficult situation. And downtown Charleston is an absolute ghost town. Just take a look. No one is out here. All of these restaurants are closed. Typically, this would be very, very busy, and residents are growing increasingly frustrated with the uncertainty of the situation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NEVA HADDY, RESIDENT: As soon as we can, fresh water, clean water.

MACHADO (voice-over): That's the plea from more than 300,000 people waiting to learn their tap water is safe. It's been more than 48 hours since they were told to stop using the water. The end is still unknown.

JEFF MCINTYRE, PRESIDENT, WEST VIRGINIA AMERICAN WATER: I would expect that we are talking days.

MACHADO (on camera): To think the city will be this slow for so many days.

MAYOR DANNY JONES, CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA: It's just -- it's just you feel hopeless. And you think about the -- what it's going to -- what it's going to cost all these businesses. MACHADO (voice-over): That's the mayor in downtown Charleston where every restaurant has been closed since Thursday when the chemical leak was detected.

LESA CROUCH, GENERAL MANAGER, CHILI'S: I almost forgot it was a weekend because, you know, it's always so busy.

MACHADO: Lesa Crouch manages this Chili's. She says they are one of the few restaurants preparing to open sometime Sunday after getting the green light from the Health Department and taking special precautions.

CROUCH: Make sure that we have a three-pot sink with certain water. It's got to be bottled water only to -- for sanitizing. We have to have all of our bathrooms and our sinks, our handwashing sinks set up with sanitizer, set up with water stations, set up with paper towels. Make sure if we cook, we use gloves.

MACHADO: Authorities continue to test water for the chemical, which is typically used to clean coal. In the meantime, the main priority for thousands is finding water that's safe to drink and use. FEMA has already sent truckloads of water to help residents with that task.

REV. MELVIN HOOVER, CHARLESTON RESIDENT: People are anxious because they don't have certainty about what's going on. I mean, we are, too, in the sense that we don't know how long this is going on. But it doesn't make sense to panic right now. We still have options.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACHADO: Now county officials say the longer this goes on, the greater the concern for those vulnerable populations such as the elderly who might not be able to go and pick up their own bottles of water. Meanwhile, the U.S. Attorney's office has launched an investigation into what happened -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Alina. Thanks so much.

Well, the scandal emerging from Governor Chris Christie's office is getting even bigger. We just learned that New Jersey's assembly is expected to hold a special session in five days to widen the scope of the bridge scandal investigation.

Also new documents show a pattern of Christie aides stonewalling inquiries about George Washington Bridge lane closures. The new documents do not show any connection between Christie and the apparent plot, though, to snarl that traffic in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

Let's bring in Margaret Conley once again tracking this story out of New York.

So, Margaret, you've been poring over all these documents. What stands out to you at this point?

MARGARET CONLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, an investigation has revealed about 2,000 documents, including scathing e-mails. Two people have resigned and one was fired in what appears to be a cover- up by members of Governor Chris Christie's inner circle. He also cut ties with his top adviser and campaign manager.

It all started last September when his closest allies made it seem like closing down lanes to the George Washington Bridge was all part of a traffic study.

For four days, there was gridlock and major inconvenience for commuters and delays for emergency responders. Now it seems the stunt was allegedly part of a political plot for retribution against the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee for not backing Christie for reelection.

Now the man leading the charges, New Jersey Assemblyman John Wisniewski, a Democrat, he says they've been looking into this for months and the charges could be criminal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN WISNIEWSKI, DEPUTY SPEAKER, NEW JERSEY ASSEMBLY: I'm not a prosecutor, but I do think laws have been broken and clearly Pat Foy said that on September 13th, and public research at the bridge, the police officers, the people who move the cones, all were all used for a political purpose, for some type of retribution, and that violates the law.

And so I think law enforcement ought to be looking at this as well to make sure that any violations of law are addressed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONLEY: And Kyra, as this scandal unfolds other Democratic mayors are speaking out saying, they've also been targets of retribution from Christie's team.

PHILLIPS: All right. Let's talk about the New Jersey -- Assembly, rather, expected to hold this special session on Thursday. What do you think we're going to see?

CONLEY: A call to vote to renew subpoena power. That's the plan. And New Jersey Assemblyman Wisniewski wants all of the documents, e- mails surrounding this issue made available. The question is who will they subpoena? Christie's top political aide who resigned and his deputy chief of staff who was fired? What might they share that Governor Christie says he knows nothing about?

Meanwhile, Governor Christie has apologized, he says, this is quote, "embarrassing and humiliating."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: I come out here to this office where I have been many times before, and I come out here today to apologize to the people of New Jersey. I apologize to the people of Fort Lee and I apologize to the members of the state legislature.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CONLEY: Now Christie held a near two-hour press conference this week. Next week, he is scheduled to fund raise in Florida -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Margaret, thanks so much.

Well, there has been no shortage of political analysis of this mess surrounding the governor, but what about his brand as a leader, as a potential presidential candidate?

Let's explore the drama a little bit more from that different angle with Martha Pease. She's a strategic marketing consultant, CEO of Demandworks.com.

And, Martha, good to see you.

MARTHA PEASE, CEO/CO-FOUNDER, DEMANDWORKS.COM: Good to see you.

PHILLIPS: So, Chris Christie, we know made his name, he built his brand on being this very straight-talker, transparent, man in charge, but that's not the guy that we saw at that marathon news conference. As a brand consultant, what do you see as the biggest challenge that he is facing now?

PEASE: Well, Kyra, some products come into the marketplace, as what we call disruptive brands. And a disruptive brand challenges the status quo, and creates change, and Apple Computer is a very good example of a disruptive brand. They've challenged the status quo since their beginning, and that's really what the brand stands for, is a different kind of choice and a different way to go to market. And customers love them for that and they have a real emotional connection because of that.

And I think -- I think Governor Christie is a disruptive brand. And I think, you know, he challenges the status quo, people relate to him and really like the way he -- is aggressive in taking a position, they appreciate the way he puts petty politics aside and, you know, tries to be bipartisan.

I think people really feel that Governor Christie is on their side. And those are really important and central aspects to Governor Christie's brand. And I think it's going to be difficult going forward for voters to believe that that's really what his brand is about.

And so the challenge for Governor Christie is to regain the trust of voters that his brand is what he says it is. And in fact --

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: So how does he do that? Because he's going to have to prove that what happened is not the norm for him.

PEASE: Right, right. And I think -- I think that's an even more important question as he is moving from the local stage to the national stage, and right at the moment when he should be really being able to pay attention to expanding his following, and you know, in marketing terms bringing consumers into his brand, he now has a brand that is somewhat sullied, that is somewhat tarnished, and that's a very difficult thing to recover from.

What he does need to focus on is getting positive momentum behind the aspirational elements of his brand that people really relate to, and that people really like, and that they hold him, you know, up in high regard because of those emotional connections that they have with his brand. He needs to get positive momentum gathered around those things and he needs to act in ways that reinforce that so that people can start to begin to rebuild some trust.

PHILLIPS: Well, let me talk to you about his inner circle then, because I was interviewing former governor Bill Richardson, and he said he's going to have to get rid of all of those aides. I mean, he's going to have to clean house and start over.

Do you agree with that?

PEASE: Well, I think, you know, I think the actions that he takes now as a result of this are going to be incredibly important. So I think that the challenge is for him to demonstrate that he's learned something from this. And in very simple terms that he's learned something, that he's taking away learning that he can apply, that he can apply in a positive way, to make himself a stronger executive, to make himself a more effective executive, and in fact to make him a more trustworthy leader.

And to apply those lessons and really bring them in to how he presents himself as a brand. So I think the actions that he takes are very important. And, you know, and clearly one of the central issues on the table is whether the people surrounding him are helping him in really asserting a positive brand that at a national level people could respond to and trust in.

PHILLIPS: Yes, he's got a big gut-check.

Martha Pease, thanks so much.

PEASE: Pleasure. Thank you.

PHILLIPS: We all want our medication to work better, right? Check this out. New research suggests that you might be able to double the effectiveness of your meds. How? We will tell you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: You've heard of mind over matter. But what about mind over medicine? In a study testing, the migraine drug Maxalt, participants got either the drug pill or sugar pill, a placebo. And here's the surprising result.

"Even though the migraine drug Maxalt was superior to the placebo in terms of alleviating pain, we found the equal to the placebo effect in pain, we found the placebo effect accounted for at least 50 percent of the subject's overall pain relief."

Let's bring in Dr. Jennifer Caudal.

It's just one study but half of the medicine's benefit might be from the placebo effect? Half? I mean, that's pretty stunning, Doc.

DR. JENNIFER CAUDLE, ROWAN UNIVERSITY: Well, it is. You know, and placebo concept is something that we've seen before. So a placebo is a substance that really has no known medical effect and this placebo effect that we're talking about has been studied in the past really it's this phenomenon that patients can take a placebo and they may still experience a change in their symptoms.

And that's really what we're talking about with this particular study. And in fact, the study really took it one step further and really took a look at patient's expectations. The study was built up over -- 66 people were involved, they were migraine sufferers. As you mentioned they were given a placebo pill or a migraine medication, or sometimes a pill that they didn't know what it was, and the researchers found a number of things.

But one of the things they found was that when patients were given positive expectations about what they were going to take, the effectiveness of not only the migraine medication, but the placebo increased as well, so this is something I think that's really quite interesting.

PHILLIPS: And let's point out, OK, these researchers are from Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel, I mean, we're talking top notch places. They found that even when the participants were given a pill that they knew was a placebo, they still reported pain relief. So explain that.

(LAUGHTER)

CAUDLE: Right, right. Well, and this going back to the placebo effect concept that we're talking about. You know, this is one study. We certainly need a lot more information, a lot more studies to be done, but this is certainly an important piece of information, I think, to add to our growing body of knowledge.

It really talks to patient expectations. Again, one of the conclusions or one of the findings showed of the study that when patients had positive expectations, not only did the medication increase in effectiveness, but the placebo did as well, and I think there's a lot of implications here for the practice of medicine and sort how we think about that mind-body connection.

PHILLIPS: And I'm a big believer in the mind-body connection and look at all the studies that are out there, you know, with regard to that.

Now another line from this study and I want to read this quote. "The effectiveness of a good pharmaceutical may be doubled by enhancing the placebo effect."

So what might this mean for medications --

CAUDLE: Right. PHILLIPS: -- and the effectiveness of them? I mean, is there a way that we can apply what we've learned from the study to find the placebo effect in other medicines?

CAUDLE: OK. Well, I think that's a great question, you know, the placebo effect once again is the idea that a substance that really has no known medical effect actually causes a change in symptoms in patients. It really is a very individual thing, but once again, going back to the study, one of the things the study talked about was expectations.

When the patients had positive expectations about what they were going to take, they tended to have an improvement in their symptoms, regardless of whether they were actually taking a medication or a placebo, and I think that's where the crux of what the issue is, that's where we need more research in, that's where we certainly need more studies.

But yes, could that affect the way we think about how we prescribe medications and what we, as physicians, tell our patients? Absolutely, and also help patients think about medications.

We're starting to think now that how patients think about their medications may in fact affect or rather alter how effective those medications are.

PHILLIPS: Dr. Jennifer Caudle, thanks.

CAUDLE: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Up next, BuzzFeed's buzziest feeds of the week. Stay with us. Even if you don't know from BuzzFeed, trust me, you'll want to see this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: BuzzFeed tends to hit the nail on the head when it comes to the hot topics of the week and there's no question that the talker this week, polar vortex. It's definitely one of the most clicked on and talked about stories of the week.

So let's talk about it some more. All right?

Katie Notopoulos in New York. She's the senior editor of BuzzFeed.

You know, I even -- I even taught it was a flashy banner, Katie, and then I looked it up and I learned exactly what the polar vortex is. I actually felt a lot smarter there. You know, we all get the science experiment thing, right? But some of the things that we saw during the polar vortex take it to a whole new level.

KATIE NOTOPOULOS, SENIOR EDITOR, BUZZFEED: Yes. One of the things that people were doing this week is the science experiment where you throw boiling water out into the air where it's really cold out and supposed to turn into snow. And people were doing this, but there is an unexpected result which is sometimes the water blew back at them and it was burning them.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Not really smart. And I don't know -- well, there we go. We just demonstrated it. I thought, OK, this poor guy, is --

(LAUGHTER)

NOTOPOULOS: Yes.

PHILLIPS: He's going to get railed by everyone that knows him now. What the heck?

NOTOPOULOS: Yes. Not exactly the smartest thing. I don't think anyone was actually injured, but it's pretty funny to see them do these sort of ridiculous things.

PHILLIPS: All right. Another hot list this week, 16 books to read before they hit theaters this week. What are the top ones?

NOTOPOULOS: So some of the top ones that we're going to be seeing, "Labor Day" which is going to be starring -- it's going to star Kate Winslet. Another one that I'm really excited for is called the "Monument Men." It's going to be starring George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, and it's about a group of American soldiers in World War II who were art historians who went to go save artwork in Europe from the German bombings.

We also have "A Winter's Tale" which is going to be starring Colin Farrell. "Vampire Academy" which is going to be a sort of teen movie. And "A Long Way Down," it's a book by Nick Hornby and it's going to be starring Erin Paul and Rosamund Pike.

PHILLIPS: OK. All right. Everybody, get their books. Now lastly, something you just can't turn away from. Celeb Photoshopping. Why do we love these so much?

NOTOPOULOS: You know, there is something gratifying about seeing that, you know, celebrities are not exactly -- you know, they are a little bit more human than they look on those magazine covers. You know, they look so beautiful and then all of a sudden, well, actually you know, they had a little bit of help of retouching that we don't all have when we're taking pictures of ourselves.

PHILLIPS: OK. Can I tell you? No, let's just lay it out there. They're still beautiful even without any makeup on.

NOTOPOULOS: Exactly.

PHILLIPS: Every single one of those pictures, I'm like, well, maybe a little discolor in the skin. Hello? They're still gorgeous.

NOTOPOULOS: Yes, exactly. I mean, there is a reason that they're, you know, famous actress and movie stars, you know, they're gorgeous people, and it's -- you know, it's almost amazing they don't need that retouching, but still, you know, all the magazines do it. PHILLIPS: Well, look at you, you're the natural beauty right there coming to us live out of New York.

Katie, thanks for all the hot topics and talkers.

NOTOPOULOS: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: All right. Well, next is an ancient city that many of us read about in school, and today a large part of it is reduced to rubble after a massive fire.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, an enormous fire tore through an ancient place that is one of China's most important tourist sites.

It happened just before dawn today in a town in southwest China that legend has it inspired the mythical paradise known as Shangri-la. About 100 wooden houses burned to the ground. Nobody was hurt or killed. And investigators are still trying to find out how that fire started.

Now to Iraq where at least 60 people have died, nearly 300 wounded in a sharp spike in violence. Most of the dead are civilians, caught in the middle of fighting between government troops and militants linked to al Qaeda. The center of the new fighting is the very volatile Anbar Province, just west of Baghdad.

CNN's Michael Holmes is in Iraq this evening with more -- Michael.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, according to locals in Ramadi and Fallujah, militants aren't running those cities. The locals are, in the case of Ramadi, with the help of the Iraqi security forces. Fighters from the al Qaeda linked Islamic State of Iraq and Syria are still present in the region, though, and have been involved in some of the many clashes and incidents that have taken place so far this weekend.

Also, videos surfaced allegedly showing tribal fighters clashing with government forces near the town of Gama, that's about seven kilometers northeast of Fallujah. Also said to be in Gama this video of five Humvees, destroyed in fighting. CNN cannot independently verify these videos.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki again appeared on television to say the uprising is a fight against terrorism, against al Qaeda in Anbar Province. Many Sunni leaders say those assertions are just being used to hit at them, not just the extremists. They feel that long-promised inclusion and reconciliation by the Shia-dominated government has proved to be just the opposite. Rejection, isolation, and they say persecution.

The violent dismantling of a protest camp last month turned that anger and frustration into this latest bout of violence and opened the door to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria fighters to step in with their weapons. Some Sunni tribes accepted that alliance, others rejected it outright, saying the extremists as the worse of two bad options.

Many observers believe Mr. Maliki still can diffuse tensions by reaching out and bringing these tribal leaders into the fold, perhaps return to paying them to keep the extremists out, the way the Americans did in creating the sons of Iraq or awakening during the darkest days of the war.

Mr. al-Maliki's speeches as of late, they haven't shown much sign of that. Iraqi military units remain in Anbar Province en force, and the violence continues -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Michael Holmes in Baghdad for us. Thanks.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Kyra Phillips, thanks for joining us this evening.

A massive data breach now bigger than we thought. Target isn't the only retailer involved.

And don't go near the water or drink it or even bathe in it. A toxic situation is getting worse.

And A-Rod may have won a battle against Major League Baseball, but not the war. He may have played his last game.

Those stories all coming up.

In just a few hours now, some wealthy hunters will auction off a permit to kill a rare black rhino. The Dallas Safari Club says as surprising as it might sound, tonight's auction is being done in the name of conservation, to save the threatened black rhinoceros. The hunting permit is expected to fetch up to $1 million.

Here's our Ed Lavandera.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Coming this close to a black rhinoceros is rare. There are only about 5,000 left in the world. In the country of Namibia, in Southern Africa, there are only 1700 still alive.