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New Day Saturday
Medical Marijuana For New Jersey Kids; Government: 173 Killed In Clashes Friday; Sun Valley Fire Threatens Homes; Soggy Weekend Ahead For Southeast; Hannah Anderson's First Public Appearance; Pressure On U.S. To Stop Aid To Egypt; Oprah Returns to the Big Screen; Estimating what You should Pay; Hackers Find Their Way into Homes; Paralyzed Bride Walks Down the Aisle; Morsy Supporters Holed Up Inside Mosque
Aired August 17, 2013 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everyone. Good morning to you. I am Brianna Keilar.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: And I am Martin Savidge. It is 8:00 in the morning and this is NEW DAY Saturday.
KEILAR: We begin this hour with the decision that has both and political implications, New Jersey's Republican Governor Chris Christi has signalled that he will make it easier for sick children to use medical marijuana, but only with some sharp restrictions.
SAVIDGE: That move comes after a father of a young girl with a rare form of epilepsy confronted Christie. Listen to how Christie responds as the man pleads for his daughter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOVERNOR CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW YORK: I know you think it's simple -- I know you think it's simple, and it's not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please don't let my daughter die, Governor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Now Christie's response certainly is not simple for parents of children who need medical marijuana.
SAVIDGE: Alina Cho is in New York following this story. Alina, where does the issue stand?
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Marty, it's a bit complicated, but here is how we understand it. Governor Christie has sent this bill back to the state legislator. He is saying that he will sign it if edible forms of marijuana will be given only to minors, not to patients of all ages. Now, in this case that would help this little girl, Vivian.
Two, Christie vetoed a provision that would have allowed children to qualify for the program with a just a doctor's approval. He actually wants to keep in place the more strict requirement, current law that parents have a note from a pediatrician, a psychiatrist and the prescription from a qualifying doctor.
And number three, the bill as it stands now would eliminate the number of marijuana strains available in New Jersey, including that strain that Vivian needs and Christie is OK with keeping that portion in the bill, meaning in essence that Vivian could get the medical marijuana that she needs. Last night that father, Scott Wilson, gave his reaction to our Wolf Blitzer, take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN WILSON, SAYS DAUGHTER NEEDS MEDICAL MARIJUANA: Overall it's a victory for us, but not a victory for all the patients of the New Jersey. The lifting of the three strain limits was a huge victory for us and everybody in the state, and the edibles was really confounding decision, and we were not expecting that, and they are only allowing expanded edibles for children or for minors.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: All right, for those of you who are not familiar with the story or just getting up to speed, 2-year-old Vivian, she has severe seizures and sometimes those seizures can last up to an hour. She is on a special diet and has special medications, but her parents believe that the only thing that will control these severe seizures is a special form of medical marijuana.
Now this special strain is high in something called CBD and low in THC. That is the agent that gets you high. CBD is known to help people with this syndrome. The other issue is that Vivian is so young that of course she would not be able to use the dry leaf form and actually smoke the marijuana. She is just two years old.
And her parents say that lozenges are not a option because she could choke and there is sugar in those lozenges, and that's not an option for someone like Vivian who has this syndrome. Bottom line, Brianna and Marty, this is a victory for this family, a small one, and it's a victory for Vivian because it appears if the state legislature goes along with what Christie wants, soon little Vivian will be able to get the strain of marijuana that she needs in the right form, which is actually an oil.
This oil would be dropped on to food or directly on to her tongue and this is something that her parents believe would control those severe seizures -- Marty, Brianna.
SAVIDGE: There is a lot to it. Alina Cho, thank you very much.
KEILAR: And now to Egypt, a critical ally of the U.S. and the Middle East, parts of the capital, Cairo, looking and sounding more like a war zone. Those are shots ranging out today as security forces escorted women from a mosque where they had taken refuge for hours overnight. The Egyptian government says at least 173 people were killed in clashes on Friday, and among the dead the son of a Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader. We could see more bloodshed since government crackdown that begun on Wednesday and the Muslim Brotherhood is calling for a week of protest across the country. MARTIN: Now, to Idaho, fresh Hotshot teams are rolling into the resort area of Sun Valley because a wildfire scorched 100 square miles and it is still growing. Authorities ordered 1,600 families to evacuate. "USA Today" reports one home burned down to the ground, a second has been damaged and a number of celebrities including Tom Hanks and Bruce Willis, have their homes there.
KEILAR: Well, you know from fire to heavy rain, the possibility of flooding. We've got a live shot for you of Panama City, Florida where storms are expected today also all across the southeast. Let's go ahead and bring in our meteorologist, Jennifer Delgado. She is in the weather center to give us an idea of what is ahead.
JENNIFER DELGADO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hi, there, Brianna. Well, more rain is on the way for parts of the southeast, and that includes Panama City. If you're looking at the radar right now, you can see for yourself for areas especially right along the Florida panhandle, the rain is going to be coming down and they don't need it because a lot of the area already saturated.
Look at the totals over the last 48 hours, 4 to 6 inches, and some parts that you are seeing in red, it will lead to problems with flooding, and we have flood watches out there and even some flood warnings because we are anticipating potentially some of these locations up to 6 inches of rainfall, anywhere in red, and that means for areas just to the west of Tallahassee, and for New Orleans we are talking heavy rainfall.
Now to the tropics, we follow an area, and it's hard to pick out, but this is the circulation we are watching. Here is the convection and thunderstorm, a 40 percent chance to tropical cyclone. Out in Idaho, they are dealing with fires there, we want to point out wind gusts up to 30 miles per hour, and the situation is still going to be dangerous, but it's not all bad out there. We head back over to the northeast. Brianna, last week you were here, and it was nice, and looked at these temperatures --
KEILAR: Yes, this is my luck.
DELGADO: You can't spend that time outside, but the temperatures are going to be nice in the 70s and 80s, still running below after for this time of year.
KEILAR: I am sorry for bringing the bad weather with me. Jennifer Delgado is in the weather center. Thanks.
SAVIDGE: It has been almost three months almost since the monster tornado tore through Moore, Oklahoma. It killed 24 people including seven children at an elementary school. It also triggered emotional reunions for young survivors and their parents.
My heart just breaks. Students across the area return to their classrooms, and many were anxious about how school might be different after the tornado, and our Nick Valencia was there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There a lot of emotions when it's time to go back to school, especially when part of that school is not there anymore.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You look there. That is destroyed. I don't know how we survived this.
VALENCIA: I met Dylan Ellis nearly three months ago, in the days immediately following the EF-5 tornado that wrecked Moore, Oklahoma and left 24 people dead. The word hero got thrown around a lot during those days, but Ellis really was nothing short of one.
DYLAN ELLIS, STUDENT: I see her start to go up. I jump on her, and I grab on to the bottom of the lockers that were in the ground, and then once it's over I push her out of the way, and all of the debris starts to hit me.
VALENCIA (on camera): How did you think so fast? How did you think of doing what you did?
ELLIS: I just thought of her as my family. What would I do if they started to go up, didn't think, just did it.
VALENCIA (voice-over): Like most of the students who survived the tornado, Ellis had a lot of time over the summer to think about what happened. Excited, nervous, anxious, those are some of the feelings he said he has had about starting eighth grade, and after everything that happened he said he is just ready for things to be back to normal again.
WAYNEL MAYES, FIRST GRADE TEACHER (via telephone): It is going to be a process to get back, but it's going to eventually get the way it was before.
VALENCIA: First Grade Teacher Wayne Lamaze wishes it was that easy, and her school took a direct hit for the tornado, and she laid on her student and played music as the debris rained down on them.
MAYES: They don't want to go to school, the ones I had last year, and they saw me this summer and they said I don't want to go to school, and that breaks my heart because they kind of lost their innocence.
VALENCIA: As she welcomes new students to their temporary buildings this year, she says the most difficult part for her will be making them feel like they are safe.
MAYES: A thunderstorm might scare me, but there is so much love in the world and that's what we are going to teach the children, too, and that's the strength we have to draw on.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: Nick Valencia joining us in the studio. This is a small community where anybody living there knows somebody injured or who died. VALENCIA: This is the community, a lot of people know each other and have been through this type of thing before, and it's support from the world, support from strangers, or sending coloring books to the kids, and that's what is good is support from people they don't know.
SAVIDGE: Sometimes reporters will say how do you keep covering bad news, and I say there is always a silver lining, and you found one here. Thank you very much for that.
KEILAR: We will talk more with Nick at 10:00 a.m. as well.
But still ahead, Hannah Anderson making her first public appearance since being held hostage by the man blamed for killing her mom and her brother.
SAVIDGE: Then Oprah Winfrey on her new movie role "The Butler," and why she thinks race was a factor in the Trayvon Martin case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OPRAH WINFREY, MEDIA MOGUL: A lot of people if they think they are not using the "n" words themselves, and do not have harbor ill will towards black people that it's not racist, but to me it's ridiculous to look at that case and not to think that race was involved.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Her sit-down interview with CNN. That's straight ahead. You are watching NEW DAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAVIDGE: Acting strong for everyone. That's how a friend of Hannah Anderson describes the girl after last week's dramatic rescue in the Idaho wilderness.
KEILAR: The 16-year-old Hannah made her first public appearance at a fundraiser just days after police rescued her and killed her captor, James DiMaggio.
SAVIDGE: Now, according to a search warrant and affidavits obtained by CNN affiliate KFMB police discovered devices, and a gas can, and rolls of duct tape and used condom and ammunition at DiMaggio's home. CNN's Casey Wian has more. Good morning, Casey.
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, Martin, Hanna Anderson looked uncomfortable she hurried past more than a dozen cameras without speaking to reporters on her way into that fundraiser. Once inside people that were there said she was much more comfortable at home with her peers and neighbors, and what she wanted to do was thank all of the people that had been supportive of her during her ordeal and afterwards.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WIAN (voice-over): Hannah Anderson's arrival at a fund-raiser for her family came as surprise to her relatives and friends.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This night was an unexpected reunion, honestly. All of her friends were here, and it was like we have not skipped a beat.
WIAN: The media were invited to Bool Weevel Restaurant in Lake Side, California, but were not allowed inside during her reunion.
BRETT ANDERSON, HANNAH'S FATHER: Hannah is loved and doing good day by day and we will keep moving forward from here.
WIAN: Wearing Hannah strong and "Pray for Hannah" t-shirts, they helped raise money for Anderson's mother's and brother's funeral.
ANDERSON: I wanted to say thank you all for coming and this is a small community we are part of, and the community came together and put on this great fund-raiser for Hannah, and hopefully her future and healing.
WIAN (on camera): What has it meant to the community to go through the ordeal?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's horrifying that guy did what he did. It's sickening to me, and I want to put them all to rest.
WIAN: The fundraising event drew a large crowd, and cash donations and 20 percent of the sales donated to the Anderson family.
ANDERSON: We have a lot of expenses in front of us, and right now we are looking for her future and to get her settled.
WIAN: A family hoping to help Hannah adjust after she was allegedly kidnapped by her father's bestfriend.
BRANDON FAMBROUGH, HANNAH'S COUSIN: You keep hearing the term "Uncle Jim," and he was really like an uncle to them.
WIAN: This newly released search warrant said police discovered a handwritten note and letters from Hannah, and the detectives say that proves DiMaggio had control over that house. Police also recovered incendiary devices leading them to believe the house fire was caused by human actions.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIAN: Given what we now know about Hannah Anderson's kidnapping some other items recovered during that search quite chilling, empty camping gear, and a box that once contained handcuffs and lots of ammunition -- Martin and Brianna.
KEILAR: Casey Wian, thank you for that report.
Now, all in the family business, George W. Bush's daughter has one thing to say about 2016 and a Hillary Clinton run. A gut check up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAVIDGE: Yes, you know what that means, time for our political gut check. All the stories you need to know coming out of Washington. I am looking the wrong way. And here is one that causes a bit of indigestion around the Bush table.
KEILAR: That's right. George W. Bush's daughter, Barbara said that she hopes Hillary Clinton runs for president in 2016. She tells "People" magazine Clinton is incredibly accomplished. Would she voter for her? After all Clinton's husband pushed her grand dad out of the White House in 1992, and Barbara would not say. Interesting, isn't it?
SAVIDGE: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is dropping another big hint that he may jump into the 2016 presidential race? Do we doubt this? He told Republican National Committee Luncheon, I am in this business to win.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIE: If we don't win we don't govern, and if we don't govern, what we do is shout into the wind, and so I am going to do anything I need to do to win.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: So read into that what you will. Pundits surely have. Many are calling the lunch in speech an audition.
SAVIDGE: The death toll is rising in Egypt as that country braces for more unrest. Gunfire in the streets, and that's what it looked like on Friday as security forces clashed with the Muslim Brotherhood supporters. The Egyptian government now says at least 173 people killed and more than 1300 wounded. And the chaos spreads across Egypt. There are growing calls for the U.S. to suspend the $1.5 billion in aid to Egypt's military. Let's go to Jill Dougherty for more on that -- Jill.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Briana, Martin, Americans have a big investment in Egypt's security whether they know it or not.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DOUGHERTY (voice-over): The Egyptian military's bloody battle against opposition demonstrators is fueling pressure in the U.S. to suspend military assistance. Senator John McCain says the U.S. cannot be complicit in the mass slaughter of civilians. President Obama won't go that far yet or pull the plug in military assistance of U.S. gives Egypt every year, and that includes hardware, like M1-A1 tanks and F- 16 fighter jets servicing and technical support as well as military training.
Cutting aid could end up cutting money to American defense contractors, and the U.S. doesn't hand over cash, it puts it in a trust fund, and the money gets paid to those contractors who provide jobs for Americans. Like the tank manufacturer in Ohio, and the F-16 manufacturer in Ft. Worth, Texas, and Israel is nervous, and officials telling CNN that cutting military aid to Egypt could hurt Israel and the region, and Egypt is one of two countries that made peace with Israel in 1978, and they see the Egyptian military as the only stable force from keeping the country from chaos.
WILLIAM COHEN, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: Egyptian military has certainly helped defend the Sannai against (inaudible) who have been plotting to launch attacks from Egypt into Israel.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOUGHTERTY: Another possible effective cutting military aid, weakening security for the Suez Canal, a crucial sea route for the oil supply, and Egypt controls the canal and the troops guard it, and this is a battle between U.S. strategic interests and moral values, and so far for President Obama, strategic interests are winning -- Brianna, Martin.
SAVIDGE: Jill Dougherty, thanks very much.
KEILAR: Coming up, Oprah Winfrey sits down with Anderson Cooper and opens up about her new role in "The Butler," and race in America.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WINFREY: We look at the film beginning with the lynching scene, and ending with walking into Obama office, and look at what happened in the span of one man's lifetime in our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: But first, Christine Romans has a preview of "YOUR MONEY" coming up in an hour from now. Good morning, Christine.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brianna and Martin, you know, it's your personal information, but identity thieves are making it their business, and hackers may be watching you in your own home. We will show you how to protect yourself, and it's coming up 9:30 a.m. Eastern on an all new "YOUR MONEY."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: We're just a few seconds shy of the bottom of the hour now. Welcome back everyone. I'm Brianna Keilar.
SAVIDGE: I am Martin Savidge. Here are the five things you need to know for your NEW DAY.
KEILAR: Number one New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has indicated that he will sign a bill making it easier for sick children to use medical marijuana, but only with some strict provisions. This includes approval by both the pediatrician and the psychiatrist. And the issue also carries heavy political implications as you can imagine, as Christie has been widely discussed as a potential presidential candidate. SAVIDGE: Hundreds of protestors left the scene of a standoff against the Egyptian military in a mosque in Cairo about 1,000 others are barricaded inside fearing for their safety.
That mosque was refuge to protestors and it also had become a makeshift morgue at a hospital for victims of the violence an estimate 580 people have died in Egypt since Wednesday when security forces demanded that protesters back down.
KEILAR: And number three, a massive nationwide sweep by federal agents pulled in 263 gang members. According to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, among those arrested were 158 members of the notorious MS-13 street gangs who officials called hoat (ph) one of the most dangerous transnational criminal gangs in the world today. Massive amount of drugs as well as cash were also seized.
SAVIDGE: Number four a federal judge in Kansas says a letter that mentions putting explosions under an abortion doctor's car is not a quote, "true threat." The Justice Department sued the letter writer under a law aimed the protecting access to abortion services, but the judge ruled that the government didn't provide any evidence of violence against the doctor was likely or imminent. He called the letter constitutionally protected speech.
KEILAR: And number five, a pair of San Diego DJ's have a message for embattled San Diego Mayor Bob Filner, "surrender" you it there the pair delivered their plea via sky riding above San Diego city hall. No to date 16 women have accused Filner of sexual harassment but Filner says he will not leave office.
SAVIDGE: You might remember that from "The Wizard of Oz."
KEILAR: I think it's a reminiscent of that.
SAVIDGE: Yes Oprah is back on the big screen and she is causing a lot of buzz -- buzz I think at the box office alongside co-star Forest Whitaker in the summer premier of "Lee Daniels' The Butler".
KEILAR: Yes this is a film that profiles an African-American man who served as a butler in the White House for more than three decades. It is based on a true story and the movie takes an up close look at the trials of the time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OPRAH WINFREY, ACTRESS: What was the name of the movie, honey?
FOREST WHITAKER, ACTOR: "In the Heat of the Night".
WINFREY: "In the Heat of the Night" with Sidney Poitier.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sidney Poitier is a white man's fantasy of what he wants us to be.
WHITAKER: What are you talking about? He just won the academy award. He is breaking down barriers for all of us. (END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Oprah and Whitaker sat down with CNN's Anderson Cooper. They talked about the civil rights movement, race and the "n" word. Here is part of their interview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "AC360": Talking about the "n" word. In the film it's used very early on but what's fascinating -- it's not just used by the guys in the plantation, it's used by LBJ and which you -- in those LBJ recordings you'll hear him and in the film there is a scene where people in the kitchen are saying -- I'd see him on TV saying negro, and somebody says like when did he start --
WINFREY: Cuba's character said that.
COOPER: When did he start to use that word? He always uses the "n" word.
WINFREY: The "n" word, yes, yes.
WHITAKER: Yes.
COOPER: So was that hard for you? I know you spoke publicly about the importance of not using that word?
WINFREY: Yes I think it -- it depends on the context at the time in which you were raised. I was raised in the '60s.
COOPER: You're a child in Mississippi?
WINFREY: Yes and I am a child -- not only that, a student of my history, and I have said this many times, it's not a part of who I am to use that word. I understand why other people do. It's impossible for me to do it because I know the history and I know that for so many of my relatives, whom I don't know, who I don't know by name, people who I am connected to, my ancestors, that was the last word they heard as they were being strung up by a tree, that was the last sense of degradation that they -- that they experienced as you know some harm was caused to them. I just -- It's just not a part of the fabric of who I am.
So out of respect to those who have come before and the price that they paid to rid themselves of being relegated to that word, I just don't use it.
COOPER: I understand Lee Daniels said that he used to use the word and you two had to discuss about that --
WINFREY: I said, "Lee, you are not going to be using that word around me. Lee, no you are not going to use that word around me." And I think it's used appropriately in the film. I mean I think you know, in the moment where the Clarence Williams character says to -- slaps the young butler and says don't ever use that word because that word is filled with hate, and my character this is really how I sit -- I personally feel when my character is sitting on the sofa with that cad Terence Howard and says "Don't you call my son a nigger because he isn't a nigger", that's exactly how I feel about it. Don't you see that word because that's not who I am.
COOPER: Do you see a difference of people who use the word with an "a" at the end of it as opposed to an "r?"
WINFREY: Oh no -- you're talking semantics. No I just -- out of respect to who I am and where I come from I don't use it. Jay Z and many others and I have agreed to disagree about it.
COPPER: Yes when you're hearing the songs and stuff.
WINFREY: Yes well I'm not listening to those songs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Agree to disagree.
SAVIDGE: Yes, yes definitely so. That's a movie I really want to see.
KEILAR: Oh me too. I mean how often do you get to see Oprah? She really picks her projects and I think it's going to be box office buzz and Oscar buzz.
SAVIDGE: And I'm a big fan of Forest Whitaker.
KEILAR: Oh he's fantastic.
Well if you've checked your electric bill or maybe your gas bill lately? You're paying more it turns out you may be paying an estimated bill not for the energy that you've actually used. What you need to know next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAVIDGE: When you are President, that pesky press --
KEILAR: Hey, now --
SAVIDGE: -- wants to know what you are up to all the time, even when you're on vacation? President Obama and daughter Malia took a bike ride on Martha's Vineyard Friday, the First Lady and Sasha had pedaled by just moments earlier -- breaking news on that one. And the President shouted, "Having a great time." And I don't blame them he just kept right on going.
KEILAR: Right pass that pesky press, right, Martin?
Well you know college classes resume any day now and at one new university classrooms will have a new edition and that is bullet proof white boards. The University of Maryland Easter Shore is purchasing 200 of them. This is an effort to increase school security after the shooting at New Town. These are made by a company that also makes bullet proof vest and military armor. So you take a look at how they work. Campus police say that they are lightweight, they are user friendly. This is the first college in the U.S. to invest so much in bullet proof white boards. They cost about $60,000 total.
SAVIDGE: The hotel industry pulled in a whopping $2 billion last year and I would like to think I contributed to that, that's with a "b" by the way. And now desk clerks are asking for more. An NYU study says that with an increase in fees and surcharges this year the industry is on track to make even more money, out of everything from resort fees and early check out fees, to Internet and telephone charges. And if you want to send a fax or use the mini bar, there are fees for that. Even if just you want them to hold your bags before you leave, that will cost you, too.
KEILAR: Feeling like the airport all of a sudden.
Well have you checked your electric or your gas bill lately? Have you noticed anything different about it? It turns out you might be paying an estimated bill versus paying for what you actually used. And sometimes this can add up to more money out of your pocket. Consumer reports deputy home editor Celia Lehrman joining me now. Celia thanks for being with us. And give us a sense of how widespread this problem is and why this method is now being used?
CELIA LEHRMAN, DEPUTY HOME EDITOR, CONSUMER REPORTS: Well it's actually pretty common and it's being used as a combination of things. First of all the utilities are trying to save money by having fewer meter readers and then there's also the fact that there are fewer people home during the day to actually be there when the meter reader shows up.
KEILAR: So tell us how customers can find out if their bill is being estimated or if this is their actual use. And I think we have a sample bill so that we can sort of demonstrate to people how this works?
LEHRMAN: Good it's actually pretty easy. I mean where the fees are, it will actually usually say whether it's estimated or actual. So that's the easiest way to find that out.
KEILAR: Ok so we actually don't have the bill, but, again, you're going to be looking --
(CROSSTALK)
LEHRMAN: Yes ok.
KEILAR: -- right at the fees like Celia said to be able to tell. You just have to read the fine print there. So a meter that's estimating, it could lead to under charging, right, it could lead to overcharging on your bill. So what steps can customers take to ensure that they're getting accurate bill readings and obviously they rather like to be paying what they should be paying or certainly a little less, I imagine?
LEHRMAN: That's right. So I think it's actually very easy and most of the utilities have multiple ways that you can do it. It will either say so on your bill or you can go to the Web site for the utility. So one of the things you can do is go online and set up an account and then you can actually read the meter and just enter what the reading is, so that they'll have the accurate reading.
And if that's not something you want to do a lot of them also have the option of having a call-in number and you end up calling in within a certain time around your meter reading and you read them the meter and you give them the reading, and a few utilities will also actually even include post cards with your bill, so that if you want to, you can actually fill out the postcard, mail it in and that way they get the actual reading.
KEILAR: All right so if you want to pay what you should be paying or less, you're going to have to do a little footwork it sounds like. Celia Lehrman --
LEHRMAN: That's right.
KEILAR: -- with Consumer Reports thank you.
LEHRMAN: You're very welcome.
SAVIDGE: Well parents who use monitors to watch their kids, are they safe? Because this story got a lot of attention. A baby monitor was hacked. What you need to know to keep your baby safe.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAVIDGE: I love the concept of this setup. In today's "Technology is Ruining My Life Segment", we look at e-mails, webcams and the sad status of Facebook.
KEILAR: That's right. Let's start with the webcam.
Cassidy Wolf, she is the California girl who just won the title of Miss Teen USA -- congrats to her. But here is the thing, she's had a dark couple of months here because it seemed that someone hacked into the webcam on the computer in her bedroom without her knowing and snapped pictures of her. You can imagine just the feeling of violation.
Well now there's a federal investigation. She is understandably now warning teens how to be safe online.
That's awful, isn't it?
SAVIDGE: Yes. Tape, tape, tape.
KEILAR: Yes. Be very careful.
SAVIDGE: Here is the e-mail that you really don't want to get out to everyone. Are you ready for this? The Detroit Police Department says the height, weight, and -- yes -- the bra sizes of female officers went out in an e-mail blast to the entire department. The women had just been fitted for bullet proof vests, the department says it was -- yes, this is good -- an unfortunate mistake.
KEILAR: The height, it's the weight. It's the weight you don't want to put on there. I got a fishing license the other day and I had a --
SAVIDGE: It's all of it.
KEILAR: -- yes, that's not really what I weight. You don't want that.
Ok. So what is your status on Facebook right now? According to one study, if you are on the site for too long, it's one big a sad face. University of Michigan researchers studied 82 college-age volunteers who answered questions five times a day, and during the two-week long study, they also rated their well-being at the beginning and at the end.
SAVIDGE: What they thought is this. Users felt worse about themselves at the end of the study. Researchers were able to track and record moment to moment moods.
KEILAR: They say that the moods of the test subjects darkened the more they spent on the site.
But check this out -- this is kind of interesting and a little funny. Another study found that looking at your own profile can be self- affirming and good for you, because --
SAVIDGE: Which is why I asked you, do you think if I post 35 selfies of me every day, that's too much?
KEILAR: No, I think that that's just going to really help you get through your day, because let's be honest, we are all pretty fabulous on Facebook.
SAVIDGE: Technology is also making it easy for hackers though to enter into homes.
KEILAR: Yes, they are coming in through video cameras or even able to unlock doors.
Laurie Segall shows us how.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY TECH CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Imagine, your 2-year-old daughter sleeping and an outsider watching her through the baby monitor. That's what happened to a family in Texas this weekend. They discovered the problem when they heard a man yelling at their toddler, reading her name off of her bedroom wall.
MARC GILBERT, FATHER: He said, wake up, Allyson. (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
SEGALL: The Gilberts believe their device was hacked.
GILBERT: It felt like somebody broke into our house.
SEGALL: Someone kind of did. And as home automation becomes increasingly popular there are more and more ways to hack your house, and many devices that are vulnerable.
DANIEL CROWLEY, SECURITY RESEARCHER, TRUSTWAVE: I can tell the Vera Lite, please, unlock the door.
SEGALL: That's a hacker literally unlocking your door. The smart lock is connected to a device that enables you to control your home appliances from your phone. Daniel Crowley, a security researcher, found the flaw in that device.
CROWLEY: I actually run code on the Vera Lite and compromise it, just set up a backdoor, or I can control any device hooked up to it.
SEGALL: In a world full of these types of devices that let you do everything from flush your toilet to turn on your lights through your smart phone, a hacker can make your house feel haunted.
DAVID BRYAN, TRUSTWAVE: Basically what I can do is open up any of these rooms that have been configured or associated with this device and control them, either turning them on or turning them off.
SEGALL: Sound like something Casper would do? These security researchers found an issue with this INSTEON hub that enabled them to take control of the devices connected to it.
A similar vulnerability was found in a children's toy. This toy rabbit has a camera that syncs with an app on a parents' mobile device. Designed for keeping an eye on your kids, but someone else could, too.
JEM SAVAGE, SECURITY RESEARCHER: That traffic, I was able to capture and then pull from it a URL which was the direct video feed, and as long as the access token was still valid, it hadn't been expired yet, I could watch that video feed indefinitely.
BRYAN: INSTEON
SEGALL: INSTEON has fixed the issue identified by these researchers. Vera Lite stresses that a hacker requires an insecure Wi-Fi connection and they say the majority of their users have secure Internet connections.
The makers of the baby monitor and the toy rabbit did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment.
As for ways to stay safe, always put a strong password on your Internet connection. Keep your software up to date and never click on links from strangers.
Laurie Segall, CNN Money, Las Vegas.
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KEILAR: Man, that is alarming, isn't it?
SAVIDGE: Yes. I think all of the technology makes you fearful, especially as a parent.
KEILAR: Yes, certainly. Oh, that's unbelievable.
Coming up on "New Day", searching for Alexis, she has been missing for two weeks. She was last seen at a gas station. We're putting the pieces together, but it has not been easy. We will be talking with her mother next hour.
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CONAN O'BRIEN, TALK SHOW HOST: In San Diego, Hooters restaurants are refusing to serve Mayor Filner because they say he is disrespectful to women in his office. And the CEO said there is a time and place to be disrespectful to women, and that's at Hooters, that's when you do it.
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KEILAR: It is kind of funny that even Hooters is like, no thank you.
SAVIDGE: The irony was not lost.
KEILAR: No, it wasn't lost.
And they just want him to go. I think San Diego is kind of sick of him. So, kind of a funny take on that.
Time now for another "Must-See Moment".
SAVIDGE: Let's go blobbing. That's what --
KEILAR: Yes, what is that?
SAVIDGE: Who would want to do that? That's what these guys, we believe -- we believe that they're extreme athletes and they're doing it.
KEILAR: It almost looks fake, doesn't it? This is a water stunt that involves people jumping from a cliff, as you see there, maybe some other stationary position. That's an inflatable air bag, and that's the blob, and then they try to launch the other person or succeed in doing so on the other end of it, as high as they can into the air before plunging back down into the water. It's kind of hilarious.
SAVIDGE: That looks like something Wile E. Coyote would order off of Acme.com. They've moved online now.
KEILAR: Would you do that?
SAVIDGE: Yes, I think so. Looks like a lot of fun. It's safe, I'm sure.
KEILAR: Yes.
SAVIDGE: Now how about time for the good stuff.
KEILAR: I love the good stuff. SAVIDGE: This morning it's all about Stevie Beale. Stevie was paralyzed in a car accident when she was 17. Years of tough recovery and therapy would follow but she made herself a promise that if she ever got married she would somehow walk down the aisle.
KEILAR: And that is exactly what she did. After months of work, Stevie walked down the aisle with the assistance of her walker and her father, of course, but what makes this the good stuff is how Stevie met her husband.
After her accident, Stevie didn't give up. She instead volunteered her time helping others with similar injuries at local hospitals.
SAVIDGE: One of those people she helped was Brianna Mulinger who lost her leg in an accident. It was Brianna who introduced Stevie to her future husband.
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BRIANNA MULINGER, FRIEND OF STEVIE BEALE: It's amazing to know that I introduced them. At the beginning, you know, they're just friends and they fell so madly in love.
STEVIE BEALE: I just am so excited to finally be married, and know that I'm marrying my best friend -- well, I married my best friend, I guess I could say now. And I know we are going to last for the rest of our lives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: And of course, Stevie only had to walk down the aisle. Her new husband, Jared, carried her back up it. And she looks beautiful.
KEILAR: Beautiful and as it should be, right. As it should be, she got carried right back down, and probably over the threshold and everything.
SAVIDGE: And nice the way they met, really. It's kind of again -- the silver lining on what could have been considered a negative.
KEILAR: Yes, it is. We have been talking a lot about the silver lining.
SAVIDGE: We have.
KEILAR: Congratulations to them and we want to end the hour with this.
A family from Naples, Florida was surprised to find an uninvited guest sleeping on their back porch. Yes, this black bear spent about an hour hanging out after tearing through the screen just settled in for a bit of a nap.
Animal control officials are concerned that the bear could come back and it might not go as well the next time, so they are setting a trap. A bear nap. SAVIDGE: A bear nap out in the lanai. "Honey, there is a bear out on the lanai."
KEILAR: No biggie.
SAVIDGE: If I had a dime for every time I said that.
All right. Thanks very much for starting your morning with us.
KEILAR: We've got much more ahead on NEW DAY SATURDAY.
