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Seinfeld Cast Spotted; 50 and Fabulous; "Duck Dynasty" Returns Tonight; Teen Survives Asiana Crashed, Killed by Fire Truck; Roswell School Shooting Press Conference

Aired January 15, 2014 - 15:30   ET

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

ALI PHILIPPIDES, SNAPPED SEINFELD ON PHONE: So, of course, I took a look around and then I saw a film crew, but there was not a crowd around, so I didn't really think it was a big deal.

And as I walked past Tom's, I noticed Jason Alexander.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Go ahead.

PHILIPPIDES: Then I noticed Jason Alexander and -- from across the street. And I kind of took a second look. I didn't think it could be real, him standing in front of the restaurant from Seinfeld.

And then I took a closer look, and I realized Jerry Seinfeld was standing next to him. And they were chatting and laughing and walking towards the restaurant.

BALDWIN: I would have been like -- turning you neck to the side.

So there was a camera crew. Were people mobbing them? It doesn't look like it in the pictures.

PHILIPPIDES: No, nobody was mobbing them.

BALDWIN: Wow.

PHILIPPIDES: It was amazing. People were just walking by them, like it was a scene like right out of a normal New York commute.

BALDWIN: So New York, though. So New York.

PHILIPPIDES: Yeah.

BALDWIN: People just go on their merry way.

PHILIPPIDES: Exactly.

BALDWIN: Ali, I'm going to come back to you, but, Krista, what is going on?

Because I know Seinfeld said not too long ago on this Reddit chat that he and Larry David are up to something big.

And then you have this tweet from Jason Alexander. He says, "Hey, everybody. You will never guess what I did today. Shhh. It's a secret."

There is no way these two men are just going to a meal at this place, right?

KRISTA SMITH, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: No way, Brooke, and how excited are we?

BALDWIN: Totally.

SMITH: The thought of any Seinfeld reunion is amazing. There's definitely been a current going around.

Larry David was quoted as saying he was working on some kind of play, possibly. Does that involve Seinfeld? Does that involve Jason Alexander?

Obviously, they don't find themselves on 112th Street at the exact diner that they shot the iconic show at that runs somewhere in the world every night still to this day without good reason.

So, I think we can look forward to something coming down the pike pretty soon.

BALDWIN: Krista, let me throw this at you.

SMITH: And I also want to say -

BALDWIN: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SMITH: Ali, I hope you are going to Columbia Journalism School because that is some really good --

BALDWIN: Awesome stuff.

PHILIPPIDES: Thank you.

BALDWIN: I tweeted her. I said, hey, can you come on the show? And she was like badda-bing, badda-boom.

To you, Krista, let me throw this idea out there, Seinfeld reunion Super Bowl commercial.

SMITH: I think you might have hit the nail on the head, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Boom! I'm calling it now. That's my guess.

Ali, final question to you, I guess if you had actually stopped Jerry and Jason, what would you have said?

PHILIPPIDES: Wow, that's -- I probably would have asked for a picture to be completely honest.

But I would have actually thanked them for being great and making an awesome show that I really loved growing up.

BALDWIN: Krista, beyond Jason -- SMITH: That's so nice.

BALDWIN: I know. It is so nice.

Beyond Jason, though, and Jerry, I love that I refer to them by first name, because we're buds. No. Not at all.

Krista, the other stars of the show, they are pretty busy, right? Right now?

SMITH: They are. That's the amazing thing about Seinfeld is we see all of them in the world all the time.

And Julia Louis-Dreyfus was just nominated for a Golden Globe in a movie and for "Veep." She is on television on HBO. She was just in "Enough Said." Actually, there is even some Oscar talk about it.

So, they keep very busy, and so does Jerry. When Jerry is not doing his "Driving in Cars With Comedians and Coffee," he is doing his stand up across America.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I love them. I would love to see something with them together. And maybe it's a commercial. Maybe it's something else. Who knows?

BALDWIN: Krista Smith, Ali Philippides, no soup for you. Sorry, I had to do it. Sorry, had to do it.

Thanks, ladies, so much. We will have to see what happens.

Now time for the hottest videos of the day, we call it "Hit Play."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN (voice-over): A wall of ash after a volcano wakes up from a three-year slumber, Indonesia's 8,500-foot Mount Sinabung is erupting, spewing lava and ash more than 220 times this week.

Twenty-two-thousand people have been evacuated, and local officials warn the eruption is growing more intense.

A graphic warning about the dangers of texting while driving, this is dash-cam video released by police in Fort Meyers, Florida, and in this case, the driver was very lucky.

He crawled out of the car unharmed and told police he was texting behind the wheel.

No luck and not much of an arm describes this guy. He lights a Molotov cocktail, chucks it at a window in Philadelphia, but it bounces off the building and lands with a thud.

So, he tries again and again and again and again, five times in all. Now, police are trying to find this guy.

From bad throws to a great catch, that is the Home Depot employee Chris Strickland, springing into action to save a baby from what could have been a nasty fall.

Note to all you moms and dads, don't perch a baby carrier on a shopping cart. Those floors, they're concrete.

Kudos to Chris for coming to the rescue.

And that's today's "Hit Play."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Got to take a quick break.

When we come back, we will take you live to Roswell, New Mexico. As we now know, a student walked live into a middle school, 12-years-old, and shot two fellow students.

But thanks to the intervention of a teacher, nothing worse happened.

Hopefully, we will get new information. Possibly, questions as far as a motive of concern will be answered here.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: In a matter of two days, being half a century old will get a lot cooler, because Michelle Obama turns 50, reinforcing even more just how fabulous 50 is.

Remember this movie scene?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Speaking of (inaudible). Wait, wait. A toast. To Samantha, 50 and fabulous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Oh, those girls.

From movies to magazines, 50 is being celebrated. In the new edition of "People" magazine, the first lady is far from shying away from the big 5-0 this Friday.

She reveals to people that she is not ruling out Botox and that she's had a colonoscopy.

So let's talk about 50 and fabulous with Emma Nicholson, who blogs about life after 50.

Happy belated birthday, by the way.

EMMA NICHOLSON, BLOGGER, "HOT FLASHES OF INSPIRATION": Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: After reading the first lady's article in "People" magazine, she echoed something my mom called her 15th anniversary of being 50.

She said the older you get, the more self-assured you are. Do you agree with that?

NICHOLSON: Absolutely. It's a wonderful time, and I'm excited about discovering new things. getting back to the fun things that I like to do in life.

After so many years of working and raising children, it's really fun.

BALDWIN: It's fun. Michelle Obama talks about exercising and something that jumped out was shifting a little bit from the weight bearing stuff that she said is still important, but shifting for running and cardio to things like yoga that keep her more flexible.

How do you, "50 and Fabulous" Emma, how do you maintain?

NICH: Well, I'm a massage therapist, and I get lots and lots of massages, and I highly recommend yoga and anything that can increase your flexibility is really, really important.

Pilates, yoga, walking, any of those are wonderful.

BALDWIN: You wrote this fantastic "Huffington Post" article, which I can't even fully read the title because there is a bit of a curse word in there for fun.

You call it "Ten Reasons Why the 50s Are Bleeping Awesome." Number five -- let me read this for everyone -- "Acquire an invisibility cloak."

You wrote, "I began to realize I was becoming invisible to the opposite sex a few years ago. Not that I really need that attention, because my hubs is wonderful, but it is nice to be noticed when you're looking all sassy in the pants.

"The positive flip side of this" -- I hear you giggling, because I did, too. "The positive flip side of this is you can saunter into the grocery store looking like death is upon you and confidently know no one will notice. Score," you say.

NICHOLSON: They don't.

BALDWIN: So, you know, a sense of humor, clearly, Emma, but how does your perspective change?

Here you sit. What would you tell your, let's say, 30-year-old self, if you could?

NICHOLSON: Oh, quit worrying so much about everything and have some fun.

You know, the invisible cloak is not just for the opposite sex, and it happens to men and women, too.

It happens with younger people. A young girl at the counter the other day when I was being checked out treated me as I was nonexistent.

It's hard. And, so, I'm working on my self esteem, my fabulousness, knowing that I am not invisible, that I am worthwhile and I'm fun and I'm vibrant.

And I would tell my 35-year-old self, Get over it. Quit being so serious.

BALDWIN: Don't sweat the small stuff. I thinks that's what, also, Michelle Obama said.

Emma Nicholson, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

NICHOLSON: Thank you for having me.

BALDWIN: Speaking of the first lady, don't miss CNN's special. It's called "An Extraordinary Journey -- Michelle Obama Turns 50," Friday night, 10:00 Eastern, here on CNN.

It's back. Tonight, A&E's hit show starts its new season after a summer of controversy and, yes, "Duck Dynasty" will feature patriarch Phil Robertson, who was briefly suspended from the show last month for those controversial comments, not just about gays, but African- Americans as well.

And my next guest says it will actually help attract a specific group of people. She writes, Southern blacks.

We will ask her why, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Cable TV's second highest-rated show returns to the airwaves tonight, "Duck Dynasty," back after its network, A&E, suspended the show's star patriarch, Phil Robertson, for his controversial opinions both on homosexuality and race.

Robertson's supporters, of course, they were outraged, but now that the show is back, many are asking will the scandal help the show. Will more people start watching "Duck Dynasty," particularly African- Americans?

Robertson apparently enjoys some measure of support there for a number of reasons. And here to talk more about that is Yolanda Young, a Louisiana native and author of the memoir, "On Our way to Beautiful."

So, Yolanda, welcome.

YOLANDA YOUNG, AUTHOR, "ON OUR WAY TO BEAUTIFUL": Thank you for having me, Brooke.

BALDWIN: I read your piece and you say a surprising group will be cheering on the show in its return tonight, that surprising the group being Southern blacks.

Do you include yourself in that? YOUNG: I do not include myself among them. However as an African- American and a Christian, I completely understand their position and I understand our history and the things that lead African-Americans to support Phil Robertson.

BALDWIN: Why? Why are they cheering it on?

YOUNG: For one thing -

BALDWIN: Given what he wrote about, about Jim Crow-era folks.

YOUNG: Sure. He didn't say anything that people perceive necessarily as a racist. He was just misinformed.

And African-Americans in the South are used to well-meaning -

BALDWIN: (Inaudible).

YOUNG: Yes. Yes.

And, also, we are extremely legalistic in the South when it comes to religion. There still churches in the South where it's frowned upon to wear pants.

And so that group has continued to support him and make their position known. In fact, the black Protestants are the only group that has gone up in their belief that homosexuality is a sin, even as other groups, white Catholics, white evangelicals, even.

BALDWIN: He had talked in this magazine article that made a lot of news. I believe it was "Esquire" where he was talking about how he saw African-Americans singing in the fields.

And a lot of people -- people didn't jump as much on those comments as they did what he said about homosexuality.

But you being from Shreveport, and that's about an hour's drive from their whole compound, West Monroe, Louisiana. And you talked to the bishop, this pastor of this church.

YOUNG: Yes.

BALDWIN: And he said, yes, while he supports the notion of, of course, freedom of speech --

YOUNG: No, he couldn't agree with his comments, regarding African- Americans.

BALDWIN: What did he tell you?

YOUNG: He said, listen, we are a culture that has overcome a lot. We are used to making lemonade out of lemons.

That doesn't mean that because we can endure, we enjoyed being oppressed. And blacks in the South in the Jim Crow-era and, in fact, until recently and some would perhaps say we are still impressed in the South.

And so he was misinformed.

BALDWIN: A la Paul Laurence Dunbar in "We Wear the Mask."

YOUNG: Exactly.

BALDWIN: Grins and lies.

YOUNG: Exactly.

BALDWIN: (Inaudible) many a paper on that one, back in the day.

What would you say to other African-Americans who criticize folk who do support this?

YOUNG: I would say let's be empathetic. It is easy -- I thought something that was key was Robertson saying that he didn't understand homosexuality. He didn't understand the desire for a same-sex union.

BALDWIN: Said it much more graphically than that, might I add.

YOUNG: Yes, he did.

But it's important for us not to be hypocritical. There are many sins, and all since are equal.

And so I would urge the community to not place such a heavy weight on a sin that impacts three to six percent of the population, if in fact you share that view that it is in fact a sin.

BALDWIN: But you will not be tuning in tonight?

YOUNG: I will not be tuning in.

BALDWIN: You will not be tuning in. OK.

It will be interesting to see. They have done amazing ratings, and I wonder if it -- this whole thing gets a boost.

YOUNG: I think he's going to break records.

BALDWIN: I think he might, as well.

Yolanda Young, thank you very much.

Read Yolanda's piece, CNN.com/opinion.

Thank you. Nice to meet you.

YOUNG: Thank you. Very nice to be here.

BALDWIN: Coming up here, do you have children? Have they ever racked up huge bills buying apps on your iPhone?

If so, Apple could soon be sending you a check, because they announced this major settlement today. We will explain what you could be getting in your mail box.

Also, we are waiting on a news conference out of New Mexico, live pictures, on that school shooting.

Will we have more information as far as a motive goes? Twelve-year-old student, the suspect here, walked into that school just yesterday. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: When you see the final moments of Asiana Airlines Flight 214, it almost seems like a miracle that anyone survived.

Here was the big plane, came in too low and too slow. This was San Francisco airport last summer. And after it crashed, it broke apart and burned.

But somehow of the 307 people on board, all but three did survive, given what you're looking at.

And one of the dead might be alive today had she not been accidentally run over by fire trucks on the tarmac.

It's a horrifying accident that's just come into much sharper focus than ever before because the death of Ye Meng Yuan, a name that means "Wish Come True."

Here's CNN correspondent Dan Simon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop, stop, stop! There's a body right -- there's a body right there, right in front of you.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Chilling new video obtained by CBS News giving us a rare, up-close look from a firefighter's helmet-cam, the chaotic moments first-responders encountered after Asiana Flight 214 crashed landed in San Francisco last July.

Sixteen-year-old Ye Meng Yuan was accidentally run over twice by fire trucks. Her family has since filed a wrongful death claim against the city.

In particularly blunt language, it accuses first-responders of deliberately and knowingly abandoning the teen where they knew she would be in harm's way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop, stop, stop! There's a body right -- there's a body right there, right in front of you.

SIMON: Does the new video prove the tragic accident could have been avoided?

There's also this. Another camera appears to show a firefighter directing a truck around the victim. CHIEF JOANNE HAYES-WHITE, SAN FRANCISCO FIRE DEPARTMENT: We're heartbroken. We're in the business of saving lives and many lives were saved that day.

SIMON: This video may be crucial in understanding what happened to Ye, who the coroner says survived the crash, but died from injuries she suffered after being run over.

At the time, officials said Ye's body was obscured by foam and couldn't be seen by the trucks, that combined with the chaos of putting out the fire and rescuing victims.

MAYOR EDWIN LEE, SAN FRANCISCO: I will say this. It was very, very hectic, very emergency-mode at the crash site minutes after the airplane came to rest and there was smoke inhalation and people were coming out of the fuselage as fast as they could.

SIMON: The spectacular crash of Asiana Flight 214 was captured on amateur video and on surveillance cameras, the Boeing 777 descending too low on landing, crashing into the seawall and cart-wheeling across the runway, tragically claiming the lives of three passengers and ejecting flight attendants from the aircraft on impact.

A court may eventually have to decide whether fire crews in this video were negligent and should be held accountable for the teenager's death.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Dan Simon reporting.

By the way, CNN has reached out to the fire department, but they have not commented.

Want to take you live now to Roswell, New Mexico. School officials, police addressing the school shooting there at a middle school yesterday morning.

GOV. SUSANA MARTINEZ (R), NEW MEXICO: And I kept pushing, and I said, but, you know, what did -- were you nearby? Did you see what happened? And he said yes.

And I said, and how does that make you feel? And he said, I'm trying to shove it down. I'm trying to push it down, which means he doesn't want to express what he's feeling.

But it will come out at one point, and that's why I'm asking people to make sure to take advantage. The community as whole, other kids from other schools are afraid. If it happened here in Roswell in one school, could it happen here in Roswell in another school?

And, so, kids are afraid. And I'm asking parents, don't just ask, are you OK and get the response, I'm OK. Keep talking. Sit down. How does this make you feel? What do you think, even though you don't go to that school? How do you feel about that? Should we go talk to other kids and go to the Turquoise Health and Wellness and small group of kids and talk about what's going on and how we need to feel safe?

Roswell has done an amazing job. New Mexico, I mean, this truly is New Mexico, people pulling together yesterday, 1,500 folks praying for each other, praying for those two children.

There is not a lot of an update on the two children. Kendal Sanders was upgraded to stable last night and is still in recovery.

She's expected to be there about a week or more. She is 13-years-old, and she has suffered injuries to her right shoulder.

The other child is 12 years of age, and the parents have asked that we officially not gave his name. They have asked for privacy.

The child is not -- he is in worse condition than Kendal and is still listed in critical condition. He suffered injuries to the side of his face and his neck.

And I can continue to ask all New Mexicans to please pray for this young man and for Kendal. We want to be able to welcome them home. We don't want this to be the extreme tragedy of losing either one of them.

The family of the young boy has asked for their privacy. They don't want to be bothered right now. They're very, very focused on making sure their little boy is being taken care of.

Pete Kassetas, in a little bit, will be talking about the investigation.

The cabinet secretary and I have been with teachers and other personnel in the school in the library earlier today.

We met with them because they had someone here with expertise on how to deal with critical situations, how to talk to kids, how to get them engaged, because the children that return to school tomorrow were not the children who arrived on Tuesday. They are different.

And so how do they engage them? How do they get them back to being as normal as possible into their routines and into their conversations?

And this expert was helping the personnel here at the school, how do you deal with those types of situations when maybe a child just breaks down and what do you do at that moment?

But at this time, I'm going to introduce to you Superintendent Tom Burris of the Roswell public school district and ask him to come and address you.

TOM BURRIS, SUPERINTENDENT, ROSWELL INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT: First, I would like to thank the governor and Secretary Skandera.

The outpouring of support from our community, from our state and the public education department has been incredible.

The outpouring of support and -

(PRESSER COVERAGE INTERRUPTED)