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Heavy Winter Storms Affecting U.S. Northeast; Nor'easter Hits Massachusetts and Other New England States; Atlantic City Emerging from Severe Winter Storm; Coastal Flooding May Affect Parts of U.S. Northeast after Storms End; Russian Navy to Move Exercises Away from Planned Area Encompassing Fishing Off Ireland Coast after Protests and Lobbying by Irish Fisherman and Irish Government; Singers Joni Mitchell and Neil Young Remove Music from Spotify over COVID-19 Misinformation Spread by Joe Rogan's Podcast Also on Spotify; SpaceX Rocket Booster Launched in 2015 Could Soon Crash into Far Side of Moon; Filmmakers Interviewed about Their Documentary on Julia Child. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired January 29, 2022 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

DR. JAMES PHILLIPS, CHIEF OF DISASTER MEDICINE, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: And it's coming. Whether it's the next pandemic or the next variant the comes through from COVID that is deadlier. Imagine where we would be right now with these types of leaders and these types of leadership decisions if Omicron, if the next variant is as contagious as Omicron but is deadlier than Delta. Imagine. Society would be in a very bad place.

So from here forward, we need to be concentrated on electing the leaders and pushing our leaders to pass legislation that is set in stone allowing the governments to have the ability to provide immediate public health guidelines and institute masks and things like that to prevent mass death and chaos whenever the next big flu pandemic or something like that happens.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: It's palpable to see what your experience has been like, being hit from all sides in the middle of all of this. Dr. James Phillips, thank you so much. All the best to you and your family. Stay safe and stay well.

PHILLIPS: Likewise. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Thank you.

All right, hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for being with me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Right now, a powerful and potentially historic deadly winter storm is slamming the east coast from Virginia to Maine. The National Weather Service confirming blizzard conditions in New Jersey, Delaware, Connecticut, and New York. Ten states are currently under a blizzard warning. Some areas could see more than two feet of snow, and hurricane-force wind gusts, which are contributing to coastal flooding and power outages. Officials are urging residents to stay inside and off of the roads.

Parts of New England are seeing the worst of the storm right now. Massachusetts already reporting more than 110,000 customers without power. CNN has teams covering the northeast. Polo Sandoval is live for us in Boston. Polo, let's go to you first. There you are, still covered by a lot of snow.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

WHITFIELD: And clothes.

SANDOVAL: Yes, standing in this, Fred, you really do get a sense of what this nor'easter is all about, because one second you might get that snow gently falling, but the next second, the wind kicks up, and you are getting hit in the face. It really is like standing in a snow globe, right, when you shake that and you start to get that snow all over the place. And that's why those condition, yes, sure, there is a beauty to it, but also a danger. And that is why authorities but at the local and state level here in Massachusetts have been encouraging people to simply stay home.

It doesn't mean that folks aren't curious about what's happening, and then of course there are those who you might see in a short here as an ambulance approaches us, who have to be out in all of this. And authorities really stressing that if you do have to be out in this to simply be extra careful.

It's not just here in Boston where we're expecting to get anywhere from two to three inches an hour up until about 4:00 today, but also the coastal areas that experienced some flooding earlier today. You can bet authorities are certainly monitoring that as not only first responders continue working through this, but also those essentially workers continue to try to keep those roads as clear as possible for those who do actually have to be here on the road.

Now, in terms of when we expect the snow to taper off, that likely won't be until later this afternoon, so this snow will continue to fall. But look, I have seen everything from people out for a leisurely walk, out walking their, out sledding, and of course even snowboarding as well. If anybody can deal with a snowstorm, it's definitely Boston residents. They are a hearty bunch, so at this point it's just about trying to stay as war as possible and as safe as possible, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Being safe is paramount. Thank you so much, Polo.

Let's go to Long Island now where we find our Alison Kosik. It was very windy, so windy that it knocked our signal and we couldn't continue to be with you. So what is happening now?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, sorry about that before. Yes, the winds were really, really strong before. They have died down since. Also the snowfall is a little less as well. This has been a really big storm. A lot of people wonder, why are you covering a snowstorm? You're in New York in the middle of January. It's supposed to snow. But the reality is this really was a big one. In fact, here in Suffolk County, it was officially declared that a blizzard moved through here, and there are some technicalities when we determine, or when the weather people determine if it is a blizzard. They include 35-mile- per-hour winds and visibility of less than a quarter mile, all of that lasting for at least three hours. So that happened earlier today.

Also, this storm affected transportation in a big way. The major airports in New York and New Jersey, I'm talking about Newark, JFK, LaGuardia, all have reported that major airlines had to cancel a majority of their flights today. Also, the major commuter train that moves people in and out of Long Island, from Long Island to New York City and beyond, that train service was suspended today, shutdown for the entirety of today.

Now, as far as the storm, we are once again feeling the wind pick up a little bit more, the snowfall is a little less, although accumulations are expected to be as much as two feet on the east end of Suffolk County.

[14:05:07]

So this is no joke. Even Suffolk County's executive talked about this. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE BELLONE, SUFFOLK COUNTY, NEW YORK, EXECUTIVE: Not only significant storm, it is one of the more significant storms that we have seen in my time here, and we have seen many, many significant storms.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: That was County Executive Steve Bellone. Now, he is also warning that even after the snowfall stops, tonight, it is going to get very, very cold, below freezing. And the concern is those treacherous travel conditions, he is saying that those colder conditions are going to freeze and the snow in place. So he is warning people if they get out on the roads to be very, very careful. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: OK, I hope folks are going to heed those warnings. Thank you so much, Alison Kosik.

Also meeting that criteria for a blizzard, Atlantic City, New Jersey. And that is where we find our Brian Todd. And it looks like it's still blowing there.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is, Fredricka, but I can tell you that at this hour, Atlantic City is finally starting to emerge from this storm. Our CNN weather people had told us earlier today that right about now, 2:00 eastern time, is when the snow would really start to taper off. Their prediction came true almost to the minute. So kudos to them. It is finally starting to taper off, the wind has died down a little bit. The snow itself is dissipating a little bit as it comes down here.

Still, as you can see behind me on Pacific Avenue, a little bit of dicey navigation on the streets. People are starting to venture out in greater numbers. And I just talked to a city official a short time ago. She told me that what they're focusing on right now is loading up the snow and getting it out of the city. So that's what they're trying to do. The still have, look at the side street here. This is South Carolina Avenue, still have a big dig to push through to the other side of that, that snowdrift over there.

Here is another piece of evidence that we we'll show you that we are starting to get some good news here on Saturday afternoon. You see down Pacific Avenue, you finally see some blacktop there. And we have not seen that pretty much all day.

By my count, Fredricka, this has been an 18-hour storm. They expected more than a foot of snow. It looks like they got it. You mentioned this met the criteria of a blizzard. It did meet that.

Now, they are not quite out of the woods, yet, because we did talk to a city official a short time ago. They are worried about some of the areas where they were expecting some flooding down by the bayside of the Atlantic City, of the island in which Atlantic City sits, they were expecting the flooding there. Luckily, they did not get that much flooding. But there was a little bit of it that caused one of the highways in and out of the town to be shut down for a couple of hours. That has since dissipated because it was tidal.

What they're worried about now is that whatever residual floodwaters are on the street, residual snow and ice, it's going to start to freeze overnight. The Mayor Martin Small told us last night, what they are worried about tonight as they emerged from this thing is these conditions freezing. It's going to feel like five degrees below zero with the windchill.

So Fredricka, they are not quite out of it yet, as we get into the darkness, as the temperatures really drop, they are worried about some of this freezing. They are and telling people still do not come out and try to navigate these roads in your vehicle. But as you can see, not a lot of people are paying attention, more and more people are coming out right now.

WHITFIELD: Yes, I see that. That's what makes it that much more dangerous. Thank you so much, Brian Todd.

So dipping temperatures, that only makes matters worse with that kind of freezing conditions. Tyler Mauldin is in the weather center for us. Paint a picture for us.

TYLER MAULDIN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, so we are going to continue to deal with this weather system for the next several hours, but it's not over once it tapers off, because we've got the colder air coming in behind it.

Look at the snowfall totals that we've dealt with so far. A foot-and- a-half of snow across much of the northeast. And Boston, Massachusetts, 17.6 inches of snow. That's about six inches away from an all-time daily record here on Boston of the 23.6.

It doesn't take much in the way of a wind when you have that kind of snowfall to create some whiteout conditions. And look at the wind that we have been dealing with today. In Wellfleet, Massachusetts, 83 miles per hour, Nantucket, 74. That is hurricane-force. That is category hurricane-force type winds right there. In Nantucket, you are still dealing with some strong winds right now. Boston, it has been picking up for you, and you have got an ice band pushing over right now, and that is going to continue for you as well.

You take the wind and you combine it with the air term, it is feeling already like it is minus one in Boston, and those temperatures are only going to tumble from here. And we're going to continue to see the snowfall lift to the north. It is tapering off where Brian has been. We'll see all of that pushed to the north as we go through time. And we will continue to deal with these winter weather alerts for the coming hours. Fredricka?

[14:10:03]

WHITFIELD: All right, thank you so much. We'll check back with you.

All right, Massachusetts, it is getting hit particularly hard by this storm. Just look at the waves, oh, my goodness, fueled by high winds crashing into the windows of a hotel in Plymouth. Oh, my goodness, that is brutal, brutal conditions. Earlier today, a coastal town administrator told me there was about four feet of water over the seawall at high tide. Extraordinary circumstances.

Joining me right now to talk more about this is Jim Boudreau. He is the town administrator for Scituate, Massachusetts. Jim, so good to see you. OK, so we have been looking at pictures out of Scituate all morning long. We've been seeing the boats, the masts swinging back and forth with some incredible high winds. Describe what you have been seeing, and what are the potential dangers there?

JIM BOUDREAU, TOWN ADMINISTRATOR OF SCITUATE, MASSACHUSETTS: So the winds picked up early this morning. We had some minor flooding with the early morning tide in our regularly low-lying areas. But then after that the storm really picked up. Officially, we've had winds over 70 miles an hour. Unofficially, we have touched 90 a couple of times. So when you have wind like that with the snow, the snow is almost like needles coming down, hitting people.

Visibility has been near zero. We're plowing the roads as quickly as we can, and as fast as we get the snow off the roads, the wind is blowing it back in. So we are right in the middle of it right now. It's complicated with the wind and the snow and the ocean. So the crews are doing the best they can, but it's really treacherous out there right now.

WHITFIELD: So this is going to be one of your more memorable birthdays. Happy birthday to you.

BOUDREAU: Yes, 29 again.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: You said 29?

BOUDREAU: Yes, 29 again.

WHITFIELD: That's right, that's a good year. That is one worth repeating. So how are folks doing? Tell me what the situation in Scituate?

BOUDREAU: The people in Scituate are used to this. Nor'easters, we get them quite a bit, so they know what to do. But people in the low- lying areas that generally flood, they usually leave. The rest of the town is hunkered down. I was out this morning, though. People are out walking their dogs with wind gusts over 50 miles an hour. So it is a pretty hearty group, but at this point, we're telling you, if you are in your homes, to just stay there. The conditions outside really are about as bad as they could be. If you need assistance, you have an emergency, call 911 and we'll get there. But at this point, just stay in your houses until this gets over and we get it cleaned up, let the crews do their work.

WHITFIELD: And then there have been so many power outages in neighboring towns. What about where you are? What are the conditions like for people who are hunkered down in their homes? Do they, for the most part, have heat and power?

BOUDREAU: So we still have, most of the town has power. The last number I have is about 1,200 homes which is 14 percent of the customers in Scituate proper. And those are the spotty, scattered along the coast. We don't have any large neighborhoods out, just here or there. So they should be all right in the short term. Tomorrow morning, we will have a warming center open at the Council on Aging, starting right at noontime for people if the power is still out.

The issue really is the safety of the line crews from the electric company, they can't go up in the bucket trucks when winds are gusting more than 35 miles per hour, and right now they are gusting twice that. So until the winds die down, you won't really see the crews out there doing the restoration work. So people should be ready to have their power out for tomorrow anyways. We've communicated that several times prior to the coming of the storm. And if tomorrow comes, and their power is not back on, we will have places for people to go and get warm and charge their electronic devices.

WHITFIELD: Yes, this really is a trifecta. These winds are just fierce, the accumulation of snow, and then the tidal surge. Is one worse than the others, or is it just simply a bad combination?

BOUDREAU: It is bad combination. Usually, we'll get two out of three. We generally don't get two feet of snow with winds and tides like this. The morning tide was an issue. We have another high tide at 9:00 tonight, and the winds have been pinning the ocean up against the seawalls all day, so we actually expect some more water tonight, probably a little bit worse flooding, maybe in the minor to moderate range. As some of the other speakers were talking about, the worry after that is when the water recedes, whatever is left is going to freeze and be really difficult to get out. So we have a long night ahead of us and probably a long day of cleanup tomorrow.

WHITFIELD: Terrible situation. We are hoping for the best for you and for everyone. And Jim, thank you, again, and happy birthday.

BOUDREAU: Thank you, good luck. Have a good day.

WHITFIELD: Thank you so much. All of the best.

Still ahead, breaking news, Russia moves naval drills further off of the coast of Ireland following vows from Irish fishermen to disrupt the exercises.

[14:14:52]

And then after floating around in space for seven year, space experts now believe that a rogue SpaceX rocket booster that launched in 2015 could slam into the dark side of the moon in just a few weeks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: This breaking news, in response to the appeals from Irish fishermen and the Irish government, the Russian military, which had announced naval drills off of the coast of Ireland, will move them further away after Irish fishermen vowed to disrupt the exercises.

CNN's Donie O'Sullivan joins us now live from Cork, Ireland. This was quite the move. This is diplomacy at a whole different level. How'd they do it?

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN REPORTER: That's right, Fred. Somebody remarked to me earlier, fishboat diplomacy rather than gunboat diplomacy. The fishermen in this local community here in Castletownbere in Cork in Ireland made headlines all around the world this week after they had learned that the Russian military navy were due to hold drills about 150 miles off of the coast from here right where they fish.

[14:20:02]

And the fishermen said they weren't going to move, that they fish in that area all of the time, and that they were planning on going about their business. The Russian government responded, and they said that would be quite unwise. It could be dangerous for those fishermen. But tonight, a change in tune. And I want to show you this statement from the Russian embassy here in Ireland. It said "In response to requests from the Irish government, as well as from the Irish South and West Fish Producers' Organization," that's the fisherman, "the minister of," Russia's minister of defense, "has made the decision as a gesture of good will to relocate the exercises by the Russian Navy planned for this week outside the Irish exclusive economic zone, would aim not to hinder fishing activities by the Irish vessels in the traditional fishing areas."

What that means is essentially that these naval activities are going to be moved further away from the Irish coast. We had been speaking to Irish fisherman here all day today, Fred, who were planning on going out fishing this week, and some of them were a bit nervous, apprehensive about possibly coming across Russian vessels. But this evening, with this news, they were delighted. I want you to have a listen to Patrick Murphy, who is a representative of the fishermen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK MURPHY, CEO, IRISH SOUTH AND WEST FISH PRODUCERS' ORGANIZATION: Shocked, really. Like, we didn't think that little old us in the Irish South and West would have an impact of international diplomacy and make an impact like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'SULLIVAN: So this kind of the David and Goliath story, all of this, of course, happening with the backdrop of what Russia is doing and may do in Ukraine while we are seeing these exercises here on the western edge of Europe. But certainly, a situation I think that was very surreal for many of the fishermen. That fisherman, Patrick Murphy, had actually went to meet the Irish, the Russian ambassador the Ireland earlier this week to convey to him the concerns of fishermen. Clearly that, and lobbying from the Irish government worked. Fred?

WHITFIELD: I think NATO better seriously consider inviting the Irish fishermen to get involved in the issue because Ukraine and Russia like right now.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: There may be some progress. Donie O'Sullivan, thank you so much.

Still ahead, we continue our coverage of the powerful winter storm that is slamming the east coast of the U.S. from Virginia to Maine. Coastal flooding is starting to impact Nantucket, and high winds are causing downed trees. We'll take you there live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:27:11]

WHITFIELD: A powerful storm bringing miserable and dangerous conditions to the northeast, and among them coastal flooding. Weather officials say the combination of strong winds and high seas will bring storm surges. Any residual water could freeze overnight as temperatures are expected to drop.

Joining me right now live from Nantucket is Jason Graziadei. He is an editor at "Nantucket Current" and a senior writer for "N" magazine. Jason, so good to have you.

JASON GRAZIADEI, SENIOR WRITER, "N" MAGAZINE: Thanks for having me on.

WHITFIELD: So you ventured out, and you got some incredible images. What did you see? GRAZIADEI: It was a wild scene down there this morning on the

waterfront. We got a lot of flooding coming down Washington Street, Easy Street. Significant waves and wind, and we had about six to eight inches of snow, but really the flooding was really just sort of intense and pretty crazy to see.

WHITFIELD: My goodness, so we know that part of the forecast was the threat of these storm surges, but then based on the kind of the flooding that you saw, was that more than expected?

GRAZIADEI: Yes, I think we were expecting moderate flooding, but to see what happened along Washington Street was pretty unusual. We do have coastal flooding when we get these kinds of storms, but today it was pretty intense, probably the most I've seen here since --

WHITFIELD: My goodness. And so how are people doing? I see these folks who are out there canoeing, but I know they're also kind of assessing things as opposed to it being all about fun. But how are folks enduring all of this.

GRAZIADEI: I think people are doing OK. Parts of the island have lost power, but people are staying warm. The DPW is out getting the streets plowed, and people are just hunkering down out here. The ferry service has been canceled for the day, obviously, so no transportation on or off of the island, but that is all right.

WHITFIELD: Clearly, it is damaging, because you talk about the flooding, and some main streets that are underwater, but then are you concerned about danger to humans? What are you expecting?

GRAZIADEI: Yes, I think probably the biggest danger is the police have asked people to stay off of the roads. You have seen a lot of downed trees, so those are the types of things. The flooding, I think and people had enough warning so that is not necessarily a safety thing for people right now, it's not as if they are going to stuck in it. But the authorities are just asking people to stay off of the roads and be safe and use common sense.

WHITFIELD: When I look at your images, this is the kind of damage that you see from the hurricanes. The only difference is it's snowcapped in this case.

[14:30:00]

GRAZIADEI: Exactly, exactly.

WHITFIELD: And very cold.

GRAZIADEI: It's cold, it's very cold. The wind is very intense. I was out on the eastern end of the island, and it's whipping 70, 80-mile- per-hour gusts. So a pretty intense storm that we're facing.

WHITFIELD: And what are you bracing for? How long might these conditions be like this?

GRAZIADEI: I think we are in it for the rest of the day and into Sunday morning. And people had enough warning that this was coming and it was going to be bad. The Stop and Shop was raided, and everyone has got what they need, so we'll be OK. But I think we're in it for an extended period here.

WHITFIELD: Jason Graziadei, thank you so much for joining us and sharing with us your pictures, and stay safe, and everybody around you as well.

GRAZIADEI: Thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: All right, take care.

Still ahead, after floating around in space for seven years, space experts now believe a rogue SpaceX rocket booster that launched in 2015 could slam into the dark side of the moon in just a few weeks. How could the crash impact the moon, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:35:47]

WHITFIELD: All right, we are following a growing battle between a music streaming giant and some of the industry's biggest names. Joni Mitchell is joining rock legend Neil Young and removing her music from Spotify over vaccine misinformation on the platform. The musicians are protesting Spotify's streaming of the "Joe Rogan Experience" podcast, which is known for hosting controversial guests and spreading misinformation. CNN's Paula Newton has more.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not for the first time, the "Joe Rogan experience" featured contentious Canadian psychologist and author Jordan Peterson, this time for over four hours in a free ranging, reductive back and forth about topics Peterson has no expertise in -- climate, race, the transgendered community.

JOE ROGAN, HOST, "THE JOE ROGAN EXPERIENCE": So you think that a lot of what goes on with people that want to change their gender identity is creativity?

JORDAN PETERSON, PSYCHOLOGIST AND AUTHOR: No, I don't think so. I know so.

NEWTON: This misinformation on climate.

PETERSON: There is no such thing as climate. Climate and everything are the same word.

NEWTON: And this one on race.

PETERSON: I am white. Actually that is a lie, too. I'm kind of tan, and he was actually not black, but sort of brown.

ROGAN: If you're tan, what the -- am I?

NEWTON: The "he" is scholar Michael Eric Dyson who told CNN's Don Lemon Rogan and Peterson misinterpret the very definition of race.

MICHAEL ERIC DYSON, AUTHOR AND PROFESSOR: They are playing to the ignorance of the audience, but they are also exposing a kind of lethal ignorance about the very nature of race itself.

NEWTON: Peterson did not respond to CNN's request for comment. In a statement to CNN about the content of the podcast, Spotify, which has exclusive rights to Joe Rogan's podcast, said "We won't be commenting on this." But many on social media sure did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God. I'm not black.

NEWTON: "Delete Spotify" began trending. Some accused Rogan of platforming hate. Monday, musician Neil Young, fed up with Rogan's vaccine misinformation gold Spotify to choose between him and Rogan. They removed Young's music. "Lies being sold for money," Young declared in a statement.

At issue is certainly money. Rogan's podcast is one of the most popular in the U.S. and beyond, although Spotify has at times removed content that is deemed inaccurate or offensive. Legal scholars say any move to censor controversial speech is in the hands of private companies.

KEITH WHITTINGTON, PROFESSOR OF POLITICS, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: And those private companies have a lot more flexibility on their own to make decisions either to regulate speech and try to shrink the space of this kind of discussion, or to provide very robust protections for speech that don't provide very many restrictions on what people can actually say on their platforms.

NEWTON: Paula Newton, CNN.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: After floating around in space for seven years, space experts now believe a rogue SpaceX rocket booster that launched in 2015 could slam into the dark side of the moon in just a matter of week, the impact is expected to leave a crater and an opportunity for scientists to study the dust cloud from the impact.

Adam Frank is a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Rochester. Professor, so good to see you. Uh-oh, can you hear me? I can't hear you.

ADAM FRANK, PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY, UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER: Yes, I can hear you.

WHITFIELD: Oh, that's good. All right, we are connecting. OK, so tell me, are you excited about this idea of an impact, or are you nervous about it?

FRANK: No, I think it's pretty cool. I love the fact that you call it a rogue, as if it was like hanging out on all the other space platforms --

WHITFIELD: On its own, hanging out.

FRANK: Going to go hit the moon.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: So what would you call it? What do you think the potential is from this kind of impact?

FRANK: Well, what it is really is a space junk. It is a piece of equipment left over from a mission, which actually it was a mission to put a satellite on the other side of where James Webb is about to go, in what is called the L-One Point.

[14:40:01]

So it did its job, and then they let it go. They couldn't bring it back because it was too far out in space, and so it has just been floating around. And the fact that it is hitting the moon now is just an accident of celestial forces. So it is really just space junk, but I think it's kind of cool that we are going to get a 5,000-mile-an- hour, four-ton piece of junk hitting the moon. In a way, I wish I could watch it. But in a way that might have some scientific use as well.

WHITFIELD: OK, so talk to me about the scientific use of what could be a big dust plume created as a result of this impact. But then where do you see the scientific benefits or discoveries that could be made?

FRANK: Well, there have been a number of times that NASA has, and other space agencies have purposely driven stuff into the moon. The Apollo missions did it a couple of times because we left seismometers on the moon so the created little earthquakes. At one point in 2009, we sent something near the poles so that we were looking to see whether there was water. We believed there may be a lot of water at the poles on the moon, and that would be useful for any moon bases we create.

And in general, by kicking material up, you get to see more of what the moon is made of, you get to understand -- this is happening on the dark side of the moon, or not the dark side. The far side of the moon, the part we never get to see, so that's interest, too, getting a better handle on what conditions are like on that side.

But so there is -- what's cool about science is you can always do something interesting with whatever happens.

WHITFIELD: I love your enthusiasm.

FRANK: Yes, it's cool. But this is an issue about space junk, which is something we are, as we become more of a space faring race, are going to have to deal with.

WHITFIELD: Do you see anything detrimental about this potential impact?

FRANK: No, no. I think there is a Chinese rover that is exploring the far side of the moon, but this is going to impact far from it, the odds of it having any detrimental impact. But in 100 years from now, when we have a lot of moon bases, this kind of thing could be a problem.

WHITFIELD: So then this space junk, it's a problem, lots of stuff out there. You see that there is some real benefits, things that we can still learn from, space junk, what happens to it, what it impacts. And I feel like you are seeing some upsides to it.

FRANK: No, just this one in particular. But I would say going forward in the future, especially with commercial space activity now, we are going to have so many more launches per year than we used to have, and we're going to have so much more human activity in space, that in general, I think what this does, what this crash is going to highlight is that going forward, we are really going to need to pay attention to what we leave in space, and start trying to figure out actually how the clean it up, because even a paint chip, even a small chip of paint has the possibility of causing, because it is moving at hundreds of miles --

WHITFIELD: Yes, it could be a serious projectile.

FRANK: Yes, exactly. And so, and especially for earth orbit, where most of the activity is going to be, we are really going to have to start paying attention, which shows that our maturation as a space faring race, because when we started, we were like, who cares, throw it out the window. It doesn't matter.

WHITFIELD: You are great professor, because you are helping us to pay attention. Adam Frank, thank you so much. Good to see you.

FRANK: OK, thank you.

WHITFIELD: And now, we have to give a little love to our four-legged friends in the path of the nor'easter. In Queens, New York, Aria (ph), the dog was cozy in her coat as she braved the icy wind and the snow. And then in Manhasset, New York, the chilly weather did not stop doggies Walah (ph) and Winnie (ph) from having a little tug of war there with a stick there, having a little fun. And then to the north in Johnston, Rhode Island, take a look at Chloe (ph) the pooch racing through her yard in excitement as the snow began to pile up there. And although the storm is probably not a whole lot of fun for the owners, at least their pets are having a really good time making us look at things a little differently.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: We are back in a moment.

(CROSS TALK)

[14:48:49]

WHITFIELD: All right, women have been pushing for greater respect and representation in Hollywood, and progress has varied. This year as the Motion Picture Academy begins to choose the nominees for the best documentary feature film, more than half the directors on the short list are women, and that is including Betsy West and Julie Cohen for their film "Julia," a contender for the Oscar nomination this year. Here's a preview.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today, we're going to make chocolate cake, and it is a very special, and very chocolate-ly, bittersweet, lovely cake.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Julia was not a particularly remarkable beauty. She was middle aged with freckles, and her hair changed daily. But you were mesmerized, spellbound by what she said.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People could relate to her. I learned how to cook at my age, and you can learn at your age to cook as well.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cooking is, well, lots of it is one failure after another, and that is how you finally learn. Now splatter it, just like that.

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[14:50:00]

WHITFIELD: Yum. For anyone who loves food, you can't help but love Julia Child.

So joining us now, the directors of "Julia," Julie Cohen and Betsy West. Good to see you, ladies.

BETSY WEST, DIRECTOR/PRODUCER, "JULIA": Nice to be here.

WHITFIELD: Betsy, before we dive in, tell us a little bit about Julia Child and why you were drawn to her as a subject.

WEST: We couldn't really resist Julia. She's just such an engaging personality. But more than that, Julia was somebody who really changed our world. She changed the way Americans eat. She transformed television, the kinds of people, i.e., women, that we would see on television. And she opened up opportunities for women in the culinary world. She was a groundbreaker. We had so much fun making this film.

WHITFIELD: And it's an amazing -- and this American woman would be our avenue to amazing French cooking.

So Julie, you've got a track record for documenting the lives of iconic women. Your film "RBG" about Ruth Bader Ginsburg was nominated for an Oscar a couple of years ago. Congratulations on that. And then you're also working on a project on former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. Talk to me about your task and what has been your mission to profile these extraordinary women?

JULIE COHEN, DIRECTOR/PRODUCER, "JULIA": Well, there are a wide array of really spectacular, often very essential, important American stories to be told. The stories of women, the stories of people of color over the decades in journalism and film tend to be a little bit under told, a little bit trivialized, or maybe a little bit not told at all. So once we've started telling women's stories, it's almost like we can't stop. Gabby Giffords, Julia Child, RBG, all very, very, very different in different fields of endeavor, but all just making magnificent changes.

WHITFIELD: Wow, incredible. Betsy, you all are on a roll, but THEN not only are you profiling these women who are so deserving of being profiled, but here you are in an industry that still is male dominated, and as a female filmmaker, you have your own personal journey that is fascinating. What have you learned along the way in terms of some of the ingredients of your success to be able to breakthrough?

WEST: Yes, well, I think recognizing the importance of these under told stories has been part of it, and recognizing that the audience is hungry for these stories, starting with RBG. I have to say that the documentary world has been more welcoming to women than the narrative fiction world, and it is becoming more so. As you said, half of the directors on the shortlist this year are women, and in narrative films, it's way below that. I think of the top grossing films this year, about 17 percent were directed by women. But that may be partially because the financial stakes in documentaries are not as high as in narrative films. The budgets are lower and so are the monetary rewards. But I think most documentarians are in it for something a lot more than a big paycheck.

WHITFIELD: Well, thank you so much, ladies. Congratulations. I look forward to the documentary, "Julia." The other real distinction about her right is the voice. I just cannot get enough of her voice, and that's part of her fascination. Thank you so much. Look forward to the documentary this spring.

WEST: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: And thank you, everybody, for joining me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. CNN Newsroom continues with Phil Mattingly after this.

But first, in this week's "The Human Factor," a woman struggling with addiction found sobriety through baking, and now she's helping others through a bakery of her own.

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JANIE DEEGAN, JANIE'S LIFE-CHANGING BAKED GOODS: From the time I was three or four, my mom would let my brother and I experiment in the kitchen and just mix anything we wanted and see how it turned out.

I always made friends easily. Even if I was surrounded by people, I felt like I was all alone. And so when I was introduced to alcohol and drug, it was a solution for a long time. I think I picked up my first drink or drug when I was in my mid-teens. In my early 20s, my alcoholism and addiction got progressively worse, when I started cycling through rehabs and halfway houses and being homeless.

I got sober when I was 25, and baking, I like to say, kind of saved my life. I saved up $25 and bought like a little hand-held mixer and started baking. It was a form of meditation for me. In 2015 a friend of mine asked if she could purchase a cake. I ended up selling her a cake for this big event, and it was such a success.

[14:55:03]

I built a career and a business out of people giving me a chance, and I think it's so important that that remains at the center of my business. Janie's Live-Changing Baked Goods has an open-door hiring policy. We make piecrust cookies. A piecrust cookie is the best bites of a pie in a handheld cookie form. Baking filled me with self-esteem and helped me connect with others, and it's still doing that for me.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

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