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New Storm Threatens Western U.S. as 120,000+ Lose Power; Supreme Court Rules Title 42 Will Remain in Place for Now; New York Woman Rescues Man From Deadly Blizzard. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired December 28, 2022 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo. And if you are just joining us, let me bring you up to date with the top stories this hour.
Southwest Airlines has canceled more than 4,500 flights today and Thursday. The company's CEO issued an apology for their system's meltdown and hoped to get services back on the regular schedule by next week. He also said the company was working on processing refunds.
And new transcripts released by the January 6th committee revealed the extent of the coverup from the Trump White House. Including testimony that Trump White House aide Mark Meadows burned documents in his office fireplace.
The winter storm hammering the Northeastern U.S. is over but the country's weather worries are not. Here's CNN meteorologist Tom Sater.
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TOM SATER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: From one weather extreme to another, as fast as the temperatures drop, they're warming up. High temperatures today. Still hold enough for the snowpack to hang around. Chicago 24, St. Louis, the freezing mark, Buffalo, only 24 degrees.
But look at Denver already a high of 60 today. Rapid City 57. Overnight they had a windchill of minus 10 degrees. Snowpack across the U.S. and of course in Canada still very high and getting heavier in the mountains from British Columbia down to the central Rockies. A lot of snow in the upper Midwest. Winnipeg picked up 200 centimeters of snow. That's the earliest they picked up that much snow and then you get into Ontario.
But of course, travel bans still in place in and around Buffalo. The governor of New York has opened up the freeways, thank goodness, but the only advisory in it is just an advisory is Watertown and the surrounding counties.
The warm up begins but with problems. We're not going to see temperatures warm up and refreeze. They get up above freezing in Buffalo and stay that way. But however, rain comes in Saturday, Sunday and Monday. And with this massive warm up coming of course the flood problems we could see with ice jamming. The drainage areas, we can see the water main breaks and that could be a big problem. But above average, how about much above average for the East is staggering.
Out to the West however, the first in a series of storms have moved in. Heavy mountain snow, heavy coastal rain, about 100,000 lost power in coastal areas of Oregon because trees are down and winds are so high. But this atmospheric river is like a fire hose. Again, it's not one system. It's a series of them. This is a multiday event that will see this atmospheric river plow into the area. With all the fires we've had out West, burn scars could really create some debris flows.
But it's going to be flash flooding, as heavy rain already in San Francisco was sliding down toward L.A. all the way to the Mexican border.
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NOBILO: You're looking at live pictures of the latest SpaceX launch in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Today's Falcon 9 launch which is happening right now aims to take 54th Starlink satellites into earth's lower orbit.
[04:35:00]
The satellites will expand the company's ability to provide internet to homes where ground-based internet isn't available.
And thousands of migrants at America's southern border remain in limbo after the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily blocked the Biden administration's plan to lift Title 42. Now the Trump-era border restriction will remain in place while the court settles a lawsuit filed by Republican led states. Although this is a blow to the Biden administration, the White House says it will comply with the ruling. CNN's Rosa Flores has more on what the migrants are saying.
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ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 1-year-old Brenda has no shoes. Her tiny feet bare on the cold pavement of an El Paso parking lot.
FLORES: Are you going to sleep outside again? What are you going to do?
FLORES (voice-over): Her parents, Anthony Blanco and Glenda Matos say they wrapped this rosary around her ankle for protection when they left Venezuela four months ago. And say it has saved her life multiple times in the Darien Gap -- a dangerous jungle between South and Central America.
FLORES: He says that the most dangerous part of the journey was through the Darien Gap. He and his daughter almost lost their lives three times and they say that they saw adults who died. They saw children who died.
FLORES (voice-over): Brenda's most recent brush with death, they say, crossing the Rio Grande into El Paso. FLORES: She says that she thought that her daughter was going to die
overnight because it was so cold. They had just crossed the river. They were wet. Desperate.
FLORES (voice-over): Mato says she started knocking on doors asking for help.
FLORES: She says that she played to God that she hugged her daughter as tight as she could and tried to warm her with her own body heat as much as she could to try to save her daughter's life.
FLORES (voice-over): The Blanco family is part of the growing number of migrants who are crossing into the U.S. during this latest surge. This as the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump era pandemic health rule known as Title 42 remains in place while the legal challenges play out.
Migrants like them line the streets of El Paso near a Catholic church that turns into a shelter overnight. Many here have no money for transportation and some have no family in the United States.
FLORES: They said they don't know anyone.
FLORES (voice-over): The Texas National Guard erected over two miles of fencing along the U.S. side of the Rio Grande in El Paso in the past week. The barrier is not deterring up to 1,600 migrants border patrol is encountering every day -- a federal law enforcement source says.
Migrants like Celina Barilla, a Venezuelan mother of two has decided to wait in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico where she says shelters are at capacity, which means sleeping on the street.
Officials there say they don't know how many migrants are waiting in their city for Title 42 to end. Advocates and officials in the three northern Mexican cities of Tijuana, Reynosa and Matamoros, estimate nearly 22,000 migrants are waiting in shelters on the streets and in camps.
As for the Blanco's, they credit the rosary with a tiny image of our Lady of Guadalupe for saving them during their journey.
FLORES: Brenda's parents and other migrants hear in El Paso are confused about the implications of the Supreme Court ruling. They just don't know how it's going to impact them.
Now I'm also in contact with advocates and officials on the Mexican side of the border. And there leadership is afraid of delivering the message to migrants because they're afraid of how they're going to react.
I'm in contact with at least one migrant in one Mexican border city who says he just wants to cross over illegally into the United States. Now a lot of the people that you see behind me, that's where they were before they crossed the border. Some of them taking the risk of entering the country illegally. Rosa Flores, CNN, El Paso, Texas.
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NOBILO: Meantime, border cities are grappling with the massive number of migrants still crossing the border into the U.S. every day. City officials say they're doing everything to prevent a humanitarian crisis but the immigration system also needs to be fixed.
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OSCAR LEESER, EL PASO, TEXAS MAYOR: It's bigger than Title 42, you know, that the city alone has done a lot to make sure we continue to take care of the asylum seekers. We've opened a county coliseum. We've actually also opened two schools to make sure we have plenty of shelter and we'll continue to do that. We have warming centers all over the city because we want to make sure we don't lose any lives. We want to make sure people are treated with dignity and respect.
[04:40:00]
We've had incredible support from the federal government. We've gotten about $10 million in front money to be able to provide the service. But, again, this is just a band aid on a broken immigration system. The system has to be fixed. Because we can't continue to go this way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: Still to come, a heroic rescue from a deadly New York blizzard. How one woman's appeal to social media saved a man's life. That story and more after the break.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He lives in a group home, he told me. This man is not about to die over here, I won't allow it. Allow me to get this man some help. Joe. Listen to Joe. How you feeling, Joe? Joe ready to go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE SANTOS, U.S. HOUSE REPUBLICAN-ELECT: Did I embellish my resume? Yes, I did, and I'm sorry. And it shouldn't be done. I'm still the same guy. I'm not a fraud. I'm not a cartoon character. I'm not some mythical creature that was invented. I'm no Russian puppet. This will not deter me from being an effective member of the United States Congress in the 118th session.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: A U.S. congressman-elect in New York State is defending his resume and his campaign. George Santos not admits to lying about his alleged Jewish background and college education. Santos also suggested that he worked for Goldman Sachs. But now he says that he worked for a company that did work for the financial firm. Some lawmakers are calling for an ethics investigation into Santos. Others are going so far as to demand that he resign. Despite the controversy, Santos says that he's still going to begin his term in Congress.
An Arizona judge has ordered Republican Kari Lake to pay $33,000 in legal fees for her lawsuit challenging her loss in last month's election for governor. But the judge stopped short of sanctioning Lake for filing the suit. Those fees will go to Governor elect Katie Hobbs who defeated Lake by about 17,000 Votes.
[04:45:00]
The judge rejected Lake's lawsuit challenging the results, concluding there wasn't evidence of misconduct and reaffirmed Hobbs's victory. Lake is now appealing to the State Supreme Court.
And a man convicted in the plot to kidnap Michigan's governor has been sentenced to 16 years in prison. A federal judge handed down the sentence to Adam Fox on Tuesday. The jury convicted him and an accomplice in August of kidnapping, conspiracy and conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction. Prosecutors said Fox was the leader of the 2020 plot to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer from her summer home. They'd asked for Fox to be sentenced to the maximum of life in prison.
Through the chaos of the winter weather in the U.S. comes a happy ending. A woman in New York became an unlikely hero after taking in a man stranded in the deadly blizzard. That act of kindness saved his life. CNN's Gary Tuchman has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The worst of Mother Nature bringing out the best of human nature. This is Buffalo resident Sha'Kyra Aughtry on Facebook Live.
SHA'KYRA AUGHTRY, RESCUED MAN WITH FROSTBITE DURING BLIZZARD: I currently have an older 64-year-old white man in my house. I found him yesterday. I heard him screaming for help.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): In the midst of western New York's blizzard, Sha'Kyra spotted and heard the man in terrible pain in a frigid cold outside her house on the morning of Christmas Eve. Her boyfriend carried the man inside. That man is Joey White, seeing this picture at a Toronto Blue Jays baseball game.
AUGHTRY: He got away from his home, that he lives in a group home, he told me.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Joey's sister says her brother is mentally challenged and does indeed live in a group home. He works at a movie theater. May have gotten scared during the blizzard and tried to walk home from the theater. Getting lost in the heavy snow outside the mother of three's house.
Sha'Kyra did her best to take care of him, to comfort him, feed him, and pleaded for help with phone calls and on Facebook Live. AUGHTRY: This man is not about to die over here on 111. You all need to get this man some help.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): But her neighborhood was virtually impassable. Christmas Eve became Christmas Day. Joey was in immense pain with severe frostbite on his hands.
AUGHTRY: Joe? Listen to Joe. How are you feeling, Joe? Joe ready to go. He ready to go. He needs to go because he needs medical attention. I had to -- he had a ring on his finger. I had to use these to cut the ring off of his finger. I'm not no surgeon.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): With her three children by her side, Sha'Kyra tried to comfort Joey.
AUGHTRY: Joe?
JOE WHITE, FROSTBITTEN MAN HELPED BY SHA'KYRA AUGHTRY: Yes.
AUGHTRY: You're feeling better? You're trying to feel better?
J. WHITE: (INAUDIBLE).
AUGHTRY: Pardon me?
J. WHITE: I'm going to die.
AUGHTRY: No, you're not going to die. We're not talking about death. We see, this how you know, he needs help.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): And that help was about to come. Good Samaritan, showing up, in a vehicle that can make it through the snow. Joey was on his way to the hospital
AUGHTRY: I'm right here, Joe.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): And Sha'Kyra rode with him.
AUGHTRY: Joe, see I'm right here. You, OK?
J. WHITE: Love you.
AUGHTRY: I love you too, sweetie. You're OK.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Joey arrived at the hospital safely.
AUGHTRY: This man could have died, 64-years-old could have died outside. I wouldn't let that happen on my watch, and he wasn't going to die in front of my kids.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Joey has severe frostbite, and is in the ICU, in the hospital Burn Unit. His sister Yvonne telling us it's touch-and-go whether his hands can be saved. But overall, he's in stable condition. And she is so grateful, for Sha'Kyra Aughtry.
YVONNE WHITE, BROTHER WAS RESCUED BY GOOD SAMARITAN: This woman did something that an angel would do, OK, to take in a perfectly stranger, a stranger. You took him, in your home, on Christmas Eve.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Joey White's life was saved, by a woman, who cared deeply, about a man she had never met.
AUGHTRY: Thank you. I'm right here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You found him outside.
AUGHTRY: I'm right here.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Gary Tuchman, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: And stick around for CNN this morning. Sha'Kyra Aughtry -- the woman you just saw there -- who seems like the best person be to have around in any crisis will join CNN live to our Facebook on Joey's condition.
Now as Beijing continues to peel away layers of COVID restrictions, officials are taking precautions to make sure incoming travelers art bring the virus with them. Taiwan has announced all travelers from mainland China will be tested for the virus upon arrival. The island joins Japan and India who issued similar rulings requiring a quarantine period if travelers test positive. Meanwhile, Hong Kong is scrapping mandatory PCR tests for new arrivals. Travelers must still do a rapid antigen test for five days though.
A wild come back and rare scorching fete for the Dallas Mavericks Luca Doncic in the NBA record book. We'll have the highlights next on CNN NEWSROOM.
[04:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NOBILO: Just in to CNN, Pope Francis says his predecessor Pope Benedict is very sick and he's asking for prayers for the 95-year-old former pontiff. The appeal came at the end of Pope Francis's general audience at the Vatican on Wednesday. But he gave no further details. In 2013 Benedict became the first pope in roughly 600 years to resign. He's been living at the Vatican ever since.
Now changing gears to the NFL and questions about why the Miami Dolphins quarterback was placed in concussion protocol earlier this week. The league's chief medical officer could not pinpoint a specific moment in Sunday's showdown against the Green Bay Packers during which Tua Tagovailoa might have been injured. And he played the entire game. It's unclear if he'll be able to face the Patriots this weekend. Tagovailoa did suffer a concussion earlier in the season and some suggest that the league may be taking extra precautions now after not taking his initial head injury seriously enough.
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EPHRAIM SALAAM, FORMER NFL PLAYER: The first game that this all started, it's the game he had against Buffalo, which was a big time divisional game earlier in the year when he slammed his head against the ground and got up and stumbled. And no one took him out of the game. They allowed him to come back in the game the second half. That was my biggest problem.
[04:55:00]
Because four days later we all witnessed on Thursday night football him playing against the Bengals and those horrific images of him lying there motionless with his fingers contorted.
CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: I would look at the breadth of the season and say use your brains. We know this problem. We know from the concussion movie. This has been a decade of conversation at least in the NFL. The tragedy of the loss of life of the suicides by some of these men so troubled. Their brains so damaged that they have killed themselves. And maybe you should be -- maybe err on the side of caution. So, I think the answer is they felt things were OK. Obviously, many of us would say, boy, that was the wrong decision to make.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: One of the greatest defensive players in NFL history is announcing his retirement. J.J. Watt of the Arizona Cardinals says this will be his last season. The 33-year-old was named defensive player of the year three times. He played for the Houston Texans for ten seasons. Watt tweeted this picture with his wife and son after Sunday's game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, his last home game ever. Watt says his heart is filled with love and gratitude.
Now to the NBA where Luca Doncic has a new page in the record books. The Dallas Mavericks guard finished Tuesday night's game with 60 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists. Doncic is the first player in NBA history to finish with stats like that leading his team to an amazing overtime come back against the New York Knicks. After the game the 23- year-old Slovenian superstar said he needed a recovery beer. He definitely earned one.
That does it here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo. And "EARLY START" with Whitney Wild is up next.
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