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Snow then Rain Happening Across the U.S.; Violent Turbulence Causes Flight's Rough Landing; Historic Day Helps U.S. in Sochi Medal Count; Woman Claims to be a Serial Killer; Maker of Candy Crush Files for IPO
Aired February 18, 2014 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Have a great day. NEWSROOM starts now.
Good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me. By now I know you're sick of all the ice and snowstorms pounding much of the nation this winter but gosh, there's another storm on the way bringing nearly a foot of snow into parts of the Midwest and northeast.
Outside of Cleveland, near whiteout conditions earlier today as snowplows work to clear the roads for what will probably be one nasty, slippery commute.
Take a look at this picture from a CNN producer who was sitting on the tarmac at the Newark International Airport. Yes, you can't see it. Looks like a shark out there but it's not.
Indra Petersons is following the weather for us from New York.
Good morning.
INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. Is this a familiar sight by chance?
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Yes.
PETERSONS: Once again we are talking about more snow, Carol? I mean, hard to believe, and of course it was right during the morning rush. Not so bad right now. Temperatures very close to that freezing mark. It's kind of like wet snow which has that miserable feeling. A lot of it is really melting on contact. Even as it's heading the ground a lot of it is melting. But in Central Park right across the street here, about an inch or so is what we've seen.
Let's talk about what we've seen in the Midwest. Yes, again, four to six inches or so. That's what they saw as the system made its way across the Midwest and the Ohio Valley yesterday. This morning, of course, again during rush hour, pretty much what we saw our totals here. But we're still expecting more. Not so much in New York City. The bulk of this probably gone. As expected to switch over to rain. But notice you go towards Boston, several inches more expected and even especially out towards Maine. I think we'll see some of the higher totals as that low starts to shrinks. Next thing on the map yes, tomorrow, believe it or not, temperatures are expected to warm. So keep that in mind. That means the next system that makes its way through that is going to be rain. That is a welcome sight. I mean, because it has been so cold here.
I think that's just the northeast. I think even you guys know in the southeast, this has been a miserable winter. So yes, temperatures will be going from below normal to above normal. Unbelievable.
By the way, you may want to check out, Carol, the 70s that are coming your way. Gorgeous weather. But of course keep in mind, yes, temperatures are warm. It doesn't mean we're not seeing rain. That one system coming through tomorrow. And the system behind that, this is one everyone really needs to pay attention to in all seriousness.
Wednesday, Midwest, Thursday, Ohio Valley, Friday, once it goes towards the mid-Atlantic. We have the threat for severe weather. So every time you have that cold air mixing up against that warm air, we always have the potential for some of those severe thunderstorms. We'll be looking for that for the second half of the week because the winter weather continues -- Carol.
COSTELLO: But we have to remember, we're almost through February. We only have March. And then it's April.
PETERSONS: I'll try to remember that when I stand in the snow.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Thank you, Indra Petersons.
PETERSONS: Thanks.
COSTELLO: In the skies over Billings, Montana, the flight instantly turned from routine to terrifying. Violent turbulence seized and trashed the airliner and sent both passengers and crew to the hospital.
CNN's Rene Marsh has more for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a split second, without warning, United Airlines Flight 1676 with more than 100 people on board was violently tossed in mid-air.
BILL DAHLIN, PASSENGER: There was a lot of screaming and a lot of -- lot of hollering and things like that going on.
MARSH: The incident so jarring, passengers say one woman hit the ceiling so hard it cracked the panel over her head.
Severe turbulence rattled everyone on board the flight from Denver to Billings, Montana, forcing the captain to declare a medical emergency. Five passengers were rushed to local hospitals. One remains in intensive care, the others were treated and release. One passenger says the turbulence appeared to have even taken the flight crew by surprise.
DAHLIN: I think they were trying to assess things themselves. So they didn't offer any explanation because of what happened so quickly.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARSH: All right. Carol, you know the stories coming out of what happened on board that plane just so dramatic. One man said that a woman called out for her baby which he took as indication that she lost control of her infant.
We do have calls out to the hospital to get an update on that person in intensive care. But we should mention turbulence injuries are the most common injuries in commercial aviation. That's why airlines always stress the importance of having that seat belt on.
Experts say turbulence injuries are virtually nonexistent for people who are wearing their seat belts -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Rene Marsh reporting live for us this morning.
Checking other top stories at four minutes past the hour.
The State Department says allegations behind deadly demonstrations in Venezuela are false and baseless. Still the Venezuelan government plans to expel three U.S. diplomats as young people in the South American nation protest over high unemployment and rising crimes.
Witnesses say this video shows security forces raiding the party headquarters of the opposition leader wanted by police in connection with those protests.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUAN GUAIDO, NATIONAL ASSEMBLY LAWMAKER (Through Translator): This is a disregard for human rights. It is a disregard for all civil commissions, military institutions searching the offices of a political party. What happened today is very serious.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Another big protest planned today.
The "Washington Post" reporting the Obama administration is considering resuming talks with the Taliban for the release of Bowe Bergdahl. The army sergeant was captured in Afghanistan in 2009. Current and former officials say the prisoner swap would involve releasing five members of the Afghan Taliban now being held at Guantanamo Bay in protective custody in Qatar.
Classes are expected to resume today in a West Virginia school where teachers reported smelling a licorice like odor. That odor associated with the chemical from Freedom Industries that spilled into the water supply last month. The state response team took water samples from the school for testing yesterday. It was also planning to re-flush the school's pipes.
Months after being released from prison, two public thorns in the side of Russian President Vladimir Putin have been detained once again. Two former members of the all-women punk band Pussy Riot spent several hours in custody today before being released just minutes ago. They were detained in Sochi while they were protesting against the lack of freedom of speech. The two were released from jail in December after serving a two-year sentence for hooliganism.
A historic day for the Olympic podium, though. For the first time ever American gold in ice dancing. Charlie White and Meryl Davis absolutely rocked. The pair are partners since they were children, trained in Detroit. They were nearly flawless, finishing with record high scores. Coming in second, the team from Canada who also trained in Detroit.
White and Davis have bolstered the United States' medal count, five gold medals, 19 in total, that's tied for the overall lead.
Rachel Nichols has more for you from Sochi.
RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS: Well, Carol, we've had sun that's made the mountain too warm, we've had fog that postponed the events, and now, well, we have torrential rain.
It is pouring here at the bottom of the mountain this morning. But that didn't stop American Alex Deibold from becoming one of the best stories of these games. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICHOLS (voice-over): Alex Deibold's bronze in this morning's snowboard cross is what Olympic stories are made of. Never one to attract big sponsors, Deibold works construction and painting jobs in the summers. For the Vancouver Olympics in 2010 when he didn't make the team as a boarder, he instead worked for the team as a wax tech.
But in Sochi he's an Olympic medalist. And his teammate, Trevor Jacob, is a warrior. Jacob didn't medal but competed finishing out the event despite suffering what he believes is a broken ankle during the semifinals. The entire event was held in heavy rain.
Higher up the mountain, snow wreaked havoc on the super-G where American teenage phenom Michaela Shiffrin finished fifth.
At least things were more clear Monday night when Meryl Davis and Charlie White made history as the first Americans to take ice dancing gold. The pair who've been together 17 years beat out Canadian rivals Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, who twizzled their way to silver.
In women's hockey, Team USA advanced to the gold medal game. And the much anticipated rematch against Team Canada. The most long awaited medal of the night came on the track. Americans Steve Holcomb and Steve Langton blazed through the world's longest bobsled run to win the bronze. It was the first American medal in the two-man bobsled in 62 years. And this morning, the glow was still there with Holcomb tweeting, "Oh yes, this is what it feels like when you wake up to a dream come true."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NICHOLS: And Stephen Holcomb is a great story, too. About 12 years ago he was diagnosed with a degenerative eye condition and he began essentially to go blind. He got very depressed, of course, began falling out of the sport, but then his eye doctor was able to use an experimental surgery that corrected his vision.
Carol, the doctor has since named the procedure after Holcomb and Holcomb now has two Olympic medals.
COSTELLO: Rachel Nichols, many thanks.
Jimmy Fallon debuted to raved reviews.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY FALLON, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": I'm Jimmy Fallon and I'll be your host for now.
(LAUGHTER)
I just want to do the best I can and take care of this show for a while. And if you guys let me stick around long enough, maybe I'll get the hang of it.
My goal is just to make you laugh and put a smile on your face so that you go to sleep with a smile on your face and live a longer life.
Isn't that the whole goal of what we're doing, have fun?
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Fallon made his debut as host of the "Tonight Show." He was joined -- he was joined by some pretty high profiles names, from Mariah Carey, to Stephen Colbert, to Will Smith. And check out who his musical guest was? U2. Isn't that incredible? This is on top of 30 Rock. It looks fake it's so beautiful.
We will have much, much more in Jimmy Fallon's big night a little later in the NEWSROOM.
Also still to come, a 19-year-old who says she's responsible for more than two dozen murders. Could Miranda Barbour really be a serial killer?
Rosa Flores is following that story for us. Good morning.
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Good morning to you at home.
That's the big question. Who is Miranda Barbour? We found one of her former classmates from about the time she says she started killing people. His take after the short commercial break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Checking our top stories at 14 minutes past the hour. Another nasty winter storm bearing down on parts of the Midwest and northeast this morning. The storm dropped several inches of snow in the Cleveland area.
Just look what drivers are having to deal with on their way to work. Snow has stuck at the areas dealing with wind gusts of up to 40 miles per hour.
Take a look at the rain. New England will bear the brunt of the storm. Up to eight inches of snow expected to accumulate today and tomorrow. But then a big warm up comes.
Another person dies in an avalanche. The latest in southern Idaho. Officials say 64-year-old George Martin and his wife were spending the day on Sunday riding snow mobiles on marked trails along with another couple. The group triggered the avalanche when they started walking across freshly fallen snow that had been packed onto another older layer of snow. Martin was buried underneath the snow for about an hour. Paramedics were unable to revive him.
In Miami a man has been charged with criminal mischief after he dropped a $1 million vase as part of a protest against the gallery's decision to show international art. The gallery called the act disrespectful. For his part, the artist who created the vase and who has smashed his own work to protest the Chinese government tells CNN that while the protest may be valid, damaging someone else's work is, in his words, questionable.
Stunning jailhouse tapes to share with you now. The phone calls between Michael Dunn and his fiancee Rhonda Rouer. Dunn, who says he killed 17-year-old Jordan Davis in self-defense, tells Rouer over the phone he's a victim and a victor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RHONDA ROUER, MICHAEL DUNN'S FIANCEE: Yes, and like I said, you know, over and over again, the legal system is not set up for, you know, people like you. So -- I know you're innocent, baby. I know you did something that you wish you hadn't had to do. But you did what you had to do. And -- so --
MICHAEL DUNN, CONVICTED OF SECOND-DEGREE MURDER: Yes, I was thinking about that today. Like, I am the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) victim here. I was the one who's victimized. (LAUGHTER)
I mean, I don't know how else to put it. But they attacked me. I'm the victim.
ROUER: Right.
DUNN: I'm the victor but I was the victim, too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Those calls were made public two days after a Florida jury convicted Dunn on three counts of attempted second-degree murder. He faces at least 60 years behind bars. The jury could not reach a verdict on first-degree murder in the death of Jordan Davis.
A murder investigation, a Satanist, a jailhouse interview with a local reporter, now everyone wants to know is Miranda Barbour a serial killer?
Barbour sits behind bars while investigators are trying to figure out if the women accused of killing a man she lured from Craigslist with her husband is also responsible for the death of dozens of other people. Her husband is not exactly shedding light on what's going on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELYTTE BARBOUR, MIRANDA BARBOUR'S HUSBAND: I plead the Fifth.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you think she's -- do you think she's being honest?
BARBOUR: Who's to say?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you think she's lying that she killed 22 people?
BARBOUR: I didn't say that.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you think she's telling the truth?
BARBOUR: Well, don't put words in my mouth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: In an odd twist, Satanists across the country are distancing themselves from Barbour.
Rosa Flores joins us from New York with more on this.
Good morning.
FLORES: Good morning. You know, many of the details are just disgusting and quite frightening to be frank. But there's a lot of skeptics out there, Carol, including some of her former friends from high school and middle school. We found one of them. And I'll get to that in just a moment. But let me start with this.
Miranda Barbour and her husband are being charged with the killing of a Pennsylvania man. Now during an interview in jail with a newspaper reporter, she said, she confessed, that she killed more than 22 people in four other states and also mentioned that she joined a Satanic cult when she was 13 years of age in Alaska and that that's when she started killing people.
These allegations of course went viral immediately. People from that Alaska town started communicating with each other via social media and talking about their shock and their disbelief and their fear about these allegations.
We found one of her former friends and schoolmates who says, you know, thinking about it now, it's scary, but they didn't see the signs then.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AUSTIN RENCH, BARBOUR'S FORMER CLASSMATE AND FRIEND: We had no idea that we were sitting in class with a murder or alleged murder. She did dress like kind of more dark, like never bright colors or anything. But that doesn't mean you're like a killer or anything. I mean, I thought that's just how she dressed. And it never like scared me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FLORES: A law enforcement source tells CNN that they're still trying to figure out if she is in fact a part of a satanic group. They haven't found the name of a group or the members, Carol. But I did talk to an expert from the FBI that spent about 30 years looking at these types of crimes, crimes involving satanic groups -- or alleged satanic groups and cults. And what he told was that in many cases what these people are looking for are attention and forgiveness.
And we know that Barbour has received a lot of attention. As for forgiveness, well, that murder charge in Pennsylvania still stands -- Carol.
COSTELLO: So she joined this cult when -- she says she joined this cult when she was 13 years old. And that's when she claims these killings began. She's only 19 now, right?
FLORES: You're absolutely right. That's what she told this newspaper reporter that she was 13 at the time, she joined a cult, a satanic cult, and that's when she started these killings.
Now I asked several people from this town about this, about this time when she was 13. When she was -- yes, about the age of the pictures that you're looking at right now. Those are from her yearbook. And they tell me they don't remember mass slayings or killings or cases that have gone cold. So there's a lot of different things about this case that make it very curious.
I actually just got off the phone with the police chief in Pennsylvania. And he tells me that they just processed her husband. He did make some statements. He did not go into the details of those statements, he told me. But they have contacted the FBI for help in reaching out to these other jurisdictions where these alleged killings happened.
COSTELLO: You got to investigate. Rosa Flores, many thanks.
Coming up in the NEWSROOM, ready to get your hands on the candy? The maker of the hit game "Candy Crush" has a great big announcement.
CNN's chief business correspondent Christine Romans knows what it is.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Carol, there's an old saying on Wall Street, buy what you know. Well, millions of Americans really know "Candy Crush." But is it a good investment opportunity. "Candy Crush" goes big time ahead after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: OK. Now put down your phones, step away from the "Candy Crush." If you're one of the 93 million users who can't get enough of the addictive game, here's some sweet, sweet news for you. The maker of the wildly successful game has filed for an initial public offer.
Let's bring in CNN's chief business correspondent Christine Romans to tell us more.
Good morning.
ROMANS: Well, just because you're addicted to it doesn't always mean it's a good investment. But this is the next step for this company. It's called King Digital Entertainment. It's based -- or King Media. It's based in the UK, Dublin actually. Dublin based company.
And look, we know that it has a filing, a huge filing with the Security and Exchange Commission, saying it would like to become a public company. It'd like to raise money so it could continue to grow. And that means it would be a stock that you would be able to buy, hold or sell.
It's interesting, Carol, because if I look in this filing, it gives you a whole list of reasons not to buy the stock. It says its risk factors are things like we've experienced significant rapid growth in our operations and we don't know if we can effectively manage that growth. Also that -- success hinges on a relatively few number of games. Those games are "Candy Crush Saga," "Pet Rescue" and "Farm Heroes." Those three account for like 95 percent of its business.
So it's those three games. And it also points out that consumers can be very fickle. They don't really even understand how the online gaming behavior is. You can dump something so quickly and move on to the next thing. But it's got a lot of buzz and a lot of interest today as people -- you know, there's a little saying on Wall Street, buy what you know.
COSTELLO: OK. I won't buy any shares. But I got --
ROMANS: You can buy if you want, Carol. I'm not saying don't -- well, it's not listed yet. But -- anyway, there you go.
COSTELLO: OK. Well, how much will a share cost? I'm just curious.
ROMANS: I don't know. They haven't determined how much the shares will cost yet. That's something that happens as you get closer to the actual initial public offering. These are just the very first baby steps the company opening its books to the Securities and Exchange Commission and to potential investors and to Wall Street showing what's out there. $1.9 billion in revenue, $568 million in profit so it does make a profit.
You know, people buy stuff, I guess, inside those games. I don't. But they buy stuff inside those games. That's how it makes money. And then you make money if you buy the stock and the stock goes up. And you'd have to have a crystal ball or ESP to know if that would happen -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes. I understand. I --
(LAUGHTER)
Christine Romans, thanks so much.
ROMANS: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the brutally cold winter has caused a severe propane shortage. Prices so high, one woman may have to sell her home because she can't afford the propane bill.
George Howell is here with more.
Good morning George.
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning. We will show you what the high price of propane means for people who are running out of options. That story is next live from CNN Chicago.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
