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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Major Winter Storm Moving Northeast; Travel Ban in Northwest Ohio; Patriots Win Super Bowl; Super Bowl Ads Draw Attention
Aired February 02, 2015 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, a huge winter storm creating a treacherous commute. That's if you're even going to try. This is affecting millions. Cities warning drivers that the roads are dangerous from the Midwest to the Northeast. Chad Myers is tracking the storm and the big chills that follows. That's ahead.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Japan promising revenge after ISIS beheads its latest journalist hostage. We're live breaking down what comes next.
BERMAN: And then, what a finish. Tom Brady and the New England Patriots win their fourth Super Bowl in a last second, unreal finish. We'll tell you everything that happened, plus the celebration overnight. That's ahead.
Welcome back to EARLY START. A truly great morning. I'm John Berman.
ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It's 30 minutes past the hour. A great morning unless you're trying to get somewhere on the east coast or Chicago today, a major winter storm is burying the Midwest in snow disrupting travel there.
It's about to do the same thing across the northeast. More than 70 million people are affected this morning. Blizzard warnings in many places, some 2,000 flights canceled Sunday, many of them in and out of Chicago.
Another 2500 already scratched for today. There will be more folks that same storm system now moving into the northeast promising heavy snowfall in New England and a messy commute around New York City.
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MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK: The biggest threat in this case would be ice. We would expect a lot of icing on our roads and sidewalks, up to a quarter inch of ice in some places and a lot of that would happen in the early morning hours.
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ROMANS: All right, let's bring in meteorologist, Chad Myers. He knows a thing or two about these sorts of conditions and he is standing by live in them right now outside CNN's New York studios. Hi, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Christine. Now earlier today, it was snowing. By 4:00 a.m., it was all snow and then we changed over to some sleet and then grapple, which is kind of underdeveloped frozen snowflakes and they hurt when they hit you.
And then I just walked over to Starbucks just now thinking it will be fine. Let me tell you the sidewalks are really, really slippery. So the ice pellets, that sleet, coming down making the drive, I'm sure as bad as my walk just was.
So if you're in the area, 34, 35 degrees in New York City. South of the city toward the Am Voice, all rain, anywhere north of the city it's all snow and it's going to stay there. Look, Boston, you're 14 degrees. You're not going to change over.
You're going to stay a lot of snow here up into Massachusetts and Maine, very heavy snowfall. New York City right on that rain, sleet, snow line and that's the worst place to be because if you're just north of there, toward Boston that's where the heaviest snow will be and we stay there all night tonight.
Look at the winds. Look at the arrows coming out of the north. Our temperature here tomorrow morning, right where I'm standing. Right now we're at 33. Tomorrow will be 11. Everything that comes down today will refreeze tonight. It may be harder to get around tomorrow morning than even this morning, guys.
ROMANS: All right, thanks, Chad, for that. Talk to you soon.
BERMAN: It has been a rough 24 hours for Chicago. That city hit with more than 15 inches of snow. Wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour. The driving is just miserable, 350 plows and salt spreaders really can't keep up. The driving is treacherous, lots of accidents.
Look at that car right there. You can barely make it out, but that is trouble. The travel is rough enough that Chicago public schools closed again today. Look at Lake Michigan, surf is up. It just looks so cold and uninviting, but it gives you a sense of the power of this storm.
ROMANS: Schools closed across the wide area of the country today from Omaha to Boston and beyond, and you know, it's not driving that's dangerous in this storm. You can get hit while standing still.
High winds, heavy snow, downing trees in the quad cities area of Illinois. In Iowa, the storm dropped up to 11 inches of snow. Cancelling church services and closing businesses in Nebraska.
The roads are a hazardous mess killing at least two, knocking out powers to tens of thousands and heavy snowfall also blanketing South Dakota with high winds, drifting snow, and reduced visibility.
That heavy snow is not a problem for everyone, though, look at this guy, this dog and his owners in Wisconsin. They seem to make out just fine. These folks skipped the Super Bowl for a chance to sled down Middle Mount Hill.
BERMAN: It looks like fun, but they made a big mistake.
ROMANS: Maybe they're Packers fans or something --
BERMAN: Look what this dude in Detroit did. He hitched himself to the back of an SUV on a pair of skis and went for a little ride. Thought it was a great idea until a local news station spotted him and put up the picture live for everybody to see.
The local mayor who is being interviewed by the station at that time, he did not like this one bit. He told the police to track this guy down and they give him a ticket. Not in my town says the mayor, no fun.
ROMANS: That's pretty dangerous. Schools will be closed today in Northern Ohio with a complete travel ban in places for Toledo. The snow emergencies declared throughout that region, the city of Cleveland has 40 snow removal crews out and a parking van in place. CNN's Martin Savidge is in Cleveland for us with the latest.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine. You know, when it's all said and done, Cleveland is not likely to be the leader in the clubhouse, at least when it comes to snowfall from this particular snowstorm.
But like a lot of the cities and people being impacted by it it's likely the biggest snowfall already this winter season. It is a problem. As you can see the streets here are covered with snow.
The snowplows have not been able to keep up with the rate of snow that's been coming down. Temperatures have been critical and will be critical in this storm.
It had been hovering around the freezing point and that allows a lot of moisture to be in the air which creates a lot of snow. It's cooled down, but the wind is picking up.
That's a problem because it causes drifting and that too makes it a difficult issue when it comes to snowplows trying to keep up. When it was Sunday this was not a problem but now it's become Monday and it really is a problem especially for the morning commute and schools and air travellers.
Air travel in Cleveland, about 40 percent of the flights have been impacted, delayed or cancelled, ironically not because of the weather here but the weather of what's happening out west particularly Chicago. That's had the greatest impact.
Speaking of out west, Western Ohio, you talk about Toledo, there they really do have a snow Emergency Level 3. In fact, the sheriff says the only people that should be out on the road are emergency vehicles. Anybody else, you could be facing arrest. We'll see how the day progresses -- Christine and John.
ROMANS: People in California and Florida are laughing at us this morning. It's 81 and sunny in those places today, but it's more headaches for travellers in Chicago, Boston, New York, 2,500 flights have been cancelled already today, mostly in the Midwest and the northeast. That number is growing.
It's in addition to thousands of flights cancelled yesterday. O'Hare and Chicago, as Martin mentioned, the most cancellations so far. Also experiencing weather disruptions this morning, JFK, Newark, Boston Logan, sounds familiar?
Those are the same airports hit hard by last week's blizzard and now they're just getting back on track. Most airlines are waving change fees for passengers flying in the storm's path.
BERMAN: If you're in Boston stuck at home you don't care because the Patriots just won the Super Bowl. Super Bowl XLIX will go down as one of the greats. The Patriots won 28-24 with an incredible finish. It all happened right here.
Malcolm Butler from Western Alabama, rookie free agent picks off Russell Wilson, who was inexplicably throwing on second down with a time-out left in the game instead of handing off to the best running back in the planet. That play will be debated for time to come.
ROMANS: He took the blame for it. He said it was my fault.
BERMAN: So the coach, they all took the blame, it is still inexplicable. There is Tom Brady looking pretty and happy all at the same time. Brady won the game MVP. He threw four touchdown passes, did throw two picks.
It was the fourth Super Bowl for Brady and the Patriots and Coach Bill Belichick and me in the last 14 years. We all got a piece of the action last night.
Amendola, four different receivers caught touchdown passes from Tom Brady who now is in the discussion or not at the top of the discussion as the greatest quarterback of all time.
ROMANS: So you know, in the course of your life's history, where do the Patriot's hit?
BERMAN: My wife and boys watch this show. They are absolutely the most important people in my life along with Tom Brady.
ROMANS: All right, the big game may have captivated millions, but it was what was happening during the commercial breaks that have people talking this morning. Brian Stelter breaks down the big ads for us. That's next.
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BERMAN: Some people out there do not just watch the Super Bowl for the game or to see Tom Brady. For many people, it's about the commercials. This year, I'm told there were ads that were more heart felt and thought provoking and more serious than usual. Some of these are getting some serious backlash. Here to break it down for us from Los Angeles, the host of "RELIABLE SOURCES," CNN senior media correspondent, Brian Stelter. Good morning, Brian.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
ROMANS: So give us a run down. What were the best ads in your view? It seemed like there were a lot of dadvertizments this year too. A lot of heart felt looks at dads and kids.
STELTER: There were. Babies and dads and celebrities and then more dads it felt like and there's always these type of Super Bowl ads being sex filled and booze filled, but I think advertisers this year showed us a different way to go about it.
The drama and tugging at the heart strings can work also. But a lot of the ads were so serious. I think they probably made viewing parties pretty awkward.
You know, and this nationwide ad, I think we should look at well it's got a kid that's come back from the dead and has a message for all of us. Take a look.
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UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Don't ever get married. I couldn't grow up because I died from an accident.
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STELTER: I mean, that kid became a mean by halftime, the way that happened. Nationwide had to put out a statement at the end of the game saying the sole purpose of this message was to start a conversation and not sell insurance.
I don't know if anybody believes that necessarily, but this ad is certainly an example of how serious a few of the messages were during the game.
ROMANS: It was a PSA, a domestic violence PSA too. That was unusual. Many would say interesting in this game.
STELTER: Yes, I think that was like a show stopper. In the best sense of the word, you know, probably caused people to pay attention to the ads even more than they were. It was 60 seconds long and funded by the NFL and it's part of a commitment by the league to address domestic violence.
Given all the bad news headlines and the tragedies we have been hearing all about season long. And that's another example of social messages coming into the Super Bowl. We also saw a Coca-Cola ad all about rebuking internet haters.
I thought it was smart to do that make it about trying to have happy messages. The teaser ads were better than the actual ad they showed during the game, which goes to show that these are not just $4.5 million 30-second spots.
They're giant campaigns that roll out week ahead of time and then go on for weeks afterwards and the successful advertisers get remembered days or weeks down the line.
BERMAN: So Brian, most of the commercials for me were too anxiety filled for me to actually pay attention to. What did I miss? What was the actual good advertising that was out there?
STELTER: You Know, "USA Today" does their ad meter every year. They polls viewers during the game. They found that Budweiser has the best ad. It was the lost dog ad where the Budweiser's helped save the dog from an angry wolf.
That was the number one hit and by the way, Anheuser-Bush has won the ad meter 13 out of 15 years so some of these big companies they know exactly what to do and exactly how to reach out to the audiences but number two in the ad meter was a Procter & Gambler ad.
It was called like a girl. It was flipping the script on the idea of people saying you're acting like a girl and doing something like a girl. That's another one that tugged at the heart strings. It didn't use sex or booze or celebrities to sell products.
It used regular people and a rather simple idea that got everybody's attention, but I have to say John this was one of those years the game was better than the ads.
ROMANS: The game was really good.
BERMAN: Second source right here, the game was fantastic. Brian Stelter, thank you so much. I appreciate it.
STELTER: Thanks.
BERMAN: Let's take a look on what's coming up on "NEW DAY" other than that, three hours of replays of the greatest game of all time. Michaela Pereira joins us now.
MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": I have no idea what you're talking about John Berman. You know, our big story here obviously has been for you is this monster snowstorm that is battering the Midwest and the northeast all the way from the Midwest to New England, 18 states are under a winter storm warning.
Flights have been canceled. There are delays, school closures. We'll keep you up to date on all of that. We have reporters all over the region.
Also measles a big story for us today, we'll be talking about that. He's going to be joining us to talk about what parents need to know. We'll talk to parents on both side of this debate. Vaccinate or don't vaccinate.
It's a very heated conversation to have. We'll be having it this morning and something happened yesterday, I can't put my finger on what it was. Did anything happen yesterday? Your Patriots won.
What happened? Seattle Seahawks losing the game in the final minutes. We have to discuss it. Not handing off to Marshawn Lynch. We're mourning. You're celebrating. Enough said.
ROMANS: You all put down your bets last week of who would win.
BERMAN: Who won?
PEREIRA: So Alisyn Camerota gets a big fat steak dinner with Chris Cuomo and I paying the bill.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": She's not excited at all as you can tell. The sounds of glee, that's her.
BERMAN: Congratulations to Alisyn.
ROMANS: Sleep deprived this morning. It's 47 minutes past the hour.
BERMAN: A new warning for ISIS. Japan now vows to fight back. Promises revenge after terrorist murder their latest hostage. We'll tell you the new information we have this morning -- next.
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BERMAN: The prime minister of Japan is vowing to make ISIS pay for executing journalist Kenji Goto. The terror group posted video that appears to show Goto's beheaded body after a militant said let the nightmare for Japan begin.
The Japanese Prime Minister Shinzu Abe reacted with outrage and promised to make the terrorists pay the price. I want to bring in international correspondent, Will Ripley in Tokyo. Will, what's the impact of this execution? Also these words from the Japanese prime minister?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it just goes to show that ISIS continues to add to its growing list of enemies. The prime minister's statement echoing how the Japanese people feel after the brutal murders over the weekend of two citizens, journalist, Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa, who as you know they were both beheaded within the span of a week and a half.
It's an awful situation for Japan to be in. They tried to see if they could bring their citizens homeworking closely with the Jordanian government. But ISIS demonstrated that it is virtually impossible to negotiate with such a volatile terror group.
Where does Japan go from here? The coalition will continue. The financial support will continue. The Japanese military is not expected to play a role any time soon. Japan's constitution only allows the military here to engage in self-defense.
The prime minister is trying to push some legislation that will expand the military's rule. It had been unpopular with the public but given what has happened and the anger about what ISIS has done we'll have to see if the sentiment changes in the coming weeks.
BERMAN: All right, you said unpredictable and volatile describing ISIS. Also another word that works there is pure evil. Our thanks to Will.
BERMAN: All right, 53 minutes past the hour. January the worst month for stocks in a year, what's in store this month? An EARLY START on your money is next.
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ROMANS: All right. About 57 minutes past the hour. Let get an EARLY START on your money this morning. U.S. stock futures are up a bit for the first trading day of January, of February, rather. January turned out to be a brutal month for stocks, the worst month for stocks in a year. The Dow fell almost 4 percent. The S&P 500 lost 3 percent.
What's rattling markets, cheap oil and concerns about global growth? But last January was even worse and stocks rebounded significantly and ended the year near records. After a terrible start to last year it finished the year up to 11 percent.
More than 3,300 claims have been filed now against General Motors because of faulty ignition switches that caused injuries and deaths, 3,300. The deadline to file a claim was this weekend.
Kenneth Feinberg is evaluating those claims. He already ruled at least 125 eligible for compensation including 50 deaths. Each family that lost someone qualifies for $1 million plus lost wages and medical bills.
More problems for oil companies this morning, the United Steelworkers Union is calling for a strike today at nine U.S. refineries. They fell through and a national contract expired at midnight.
U.S. will companies already struggling from a supply glut, which cut prices in half since last summer, that's translating into reduced spending and job cuts in energy.
BERMAN: The biggest story in terms of the economy.
ROMANS: You're right.
ROMANS: All right, a deadly storm moving from the Midwest up into the northeast. It's hitting now. What does it mean for you? "NEW DAY" takes it up right now.
