Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Sunday Morning

Extreme Weather; Campaign Trail; Murdered University Students; Americans Own Fewer Homes; Blind Boys of Alabama

Aired March 09, 2008 - 09:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Oh! Hold on, folks. We got some extreme weather going on this morning. There you go, kind sir, but not everybody's so lucky in some of this video we're going to be showing you. Snow, ice, wind damage, also tens of thousands without power today.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: And many of you are finding out that your home is not worth what it once was. CNN is keeping track of your "Financial Security."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: It's Sunday morning. Why not a little gospel music no get you going. Sit back, relax, we've the legendary Blind Boys of Alabama coming your way this morning. Yes, from the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, we're bringing you news in around the world. Hello to you all, I'm T.J. Holmes.

NGUYEN: Good morning everybody, I'm Betty Nguyen. We want to thank you for joining us, today, Sunday, March 9, let's get you informed.

And we begin with extreme weather. Look at this, utility crews working in the Philadelphia area to restore power to thousands of people. A storm packing high winds, heavy rain, blew through yesterday, knocking down trees and power lines and, get this, at its peak, utility officials say more than 100,000 people lost electricity.

Now, earlier this morning, a power company official told us that the number has been reduced to about 20,000 still in the dark.

HOLMES: And take a look at this now from the Ohio Valley to New England, snow, ice, slippery roads and a whole lot of weather worries. People in Ohio shoveling out after a record snowfall. Some places like Columbus, buried under 20 inches of snow and that closed highways and stranded air travelers. At least five deaths also blamed on the storm in Ohio. And folks that are flying, you might want to know this bit of information. The airport in Cleveland is back open after being shut down, yesterday. But, as you can imagine, still slow going there.

NGUYEN: Yeah, a little good news, but then you know you still have to wait as you're trying to get to the airport. And once you're there for flights to take off. Reynolds Wolf has been watching all of this for us and he joins this morning.

Talk about severe weather. We have it this weekend.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Oh, It's been just insane for much of the nation, in terms of bad weather. You want good news? You guys always want good news.

NGUYEN: Bring it.

WOLF: Take a look at this. No major delays to report. This is a shot of parts of the northeast, the Ohio valley, and every single one these airplanes taking off, landing, or in mid flight, no major problems to report at this time.

That doesn't mean it's not slow in going to a few places, not certainly -- not saying you don't have to be patient, you got to be patient at the airports, but things much better situation than they were yesterday.

(WEATHER REPORT)

NGUYEN: All right. Thanks, Reynolds.

HOLMES: All right, thanks, Reynolds.

Turn to some politics, now. Teaming up is the word. We've been hearing a bit of talk lately about the possibility of what some people are calling a dream ticket, at least on the Democratic side; that ticket that they're referring to, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Something that both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have addressed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON (D), FMR U.S. PRESIDENT: He would win the urban areas and the upscale voters and she wins the traditional rural areas that we lost when President Reagan was president. If you put those two things together, you'd have an almost unstoppable force.

BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's premature. You won't see me as a vice presidential candidate, you know, I'm running for president. We have won twice as many states as Senator Clinton, and have a higher popular vote, and I think we can maintain our delegate count, but you know, what I'm really focused on, right now, because all of that stuff is premature, is winning this nomination and changing the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, Hillary Clinton has also talked about teaming up with Barack Obama. One catch here thought, ain't no surprise, she'd have to be at the top of that ticket.

NGUYEN: Yeah, we'll see how that plays out. Like Barack Obama said, pretty premature right now, they're both still running for president.

Hey, so, still talking politics this morning, the battle over Wyoming, it is over. Senator Barack Obama, the clear winner, and here's how it all shaped up. Wyoming has 12 delegates, but it's not a winner-take-all state. Based on the percentages, Obama snagged seven delegates in yesterday's caucuses. Senator Hillary Clinton walked away with at least four, one delegate still undecided.

A longtime Republican congressional district in the hands of Democrats. Bill Foster won an Illinois special election to fill the seat of former GOP House speaker, Dennis Hastert. Hastert lost his post as speaker when Democrats took control of Congress and he resigned last year. Foster, who was backed by Senator Barack Obama told supporters that the vote signals it's time for change in Washington.

HOLMES: Now, with Wyoming out of the way, now, senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are focusing on Mississippi and the big delegate bonanza of Pennsylvania, that's six weeks away and our Jim Acosta following developments from Philadelphia.

Jim, good morning to you, again. Of course, Wyoming, 12 delegates on the line, that doesn't seem like a whole lot compared to what will be on the line down the road, there in Pennsylvania, where you are. Help us with the delegate count, now.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well T.J., it just goes shows you how every delegate counts in this race for the nomination. Wyoming only had 12 delegates up for grabs, but Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were both campaigning there in advance of Saturday's caucus and you're right, Pennsylvania stands at the top of the heap when it comes to the upcoming contests, 158 pledged delegates here, and -- but, because of the way things break down proportionally, the way the delegates are allocated, it is hard for either one of these candidates to put some distance behind the other and if you just look at the overall delegate totals that this point: Barack Obama is ahead with 1,527 delegates to Hillary Clinton's 1,428, that's a difference of some 99 delegates. And while we do have Mississippi coming up and Barack Obama is favored in Mississippi, it is hard to see, when you look at the map, and the proportional allocation of the Democratic Party, how one of these candidates really surges ahead and captures that magic number of 2,025 delegates.

HOLMES: And Jim, tell us -- six weeks away, there in Pennsylvania, is it too early to talk about who has any kind of advantage or momentum? Who's ahead in the polls? A lot can change in six weeks.

ACOSTA: That's right. A lot can change, and the conventional wisdom right now is that Hillary Clinton should do well in Pennsylvania, but as we know, as we've all been watching this amazing campaign unfold, the conventional wisdom has pretty much been wrong every step of the way. But having said that, the "Philadelphia Enquirer," this morning, on its front page ran a story calling Pennsylvania "Pen-hio," comparing the Keystone State to the Buckeye State because of the blue collar workforce here that seems to bodes well for Hillary Clinton.

There have been a lot of manufacturing jobs lost in this state and that should play into her hands, according to conventional wisdom. If you also look at where the endorsements are falling, they are also falling in her favor, but as you said, T.J., six weeks to go, there's a lot of ground to cover and don't count Barack Obama out and keep in mind that conventional wisdom sometimes isn't always right.

HOLMES: It has never been right in this election season, it seems.

ACOSTA: Not this year.

HOLMES: Not this year, maybe next time around conventional wisdom will work for us. Jim Acosta for us there in Pennsylvania where he will be camped out for quite some time, six weeks, maybe. Jim, appreciate you, we'll see you again soon.

And folks, our political coverage continues throughout this day, CNN BALLOT BOWL. You have a chance to hear from the candidates, unfiltered, kicks off today at 2:00 Eastern Time, 11:00 a.m. Pacific.

NGUYEN: Well, there is a break in the case of a murdered University of North Carolina coed. Police have identified a possible suspect in a shooting death of UNC student body president, Eve Carson. You see her picture here. And they are asking the public to help find him. Authorities released surveillance photos showing a photo of a man possibly using Carson's ATM card and driving her SUV. That man is wearing a hooded sweatshirt and a baseball cap.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF BRIAN CURRAN, CHAPEL HILL, NC POLICE: This is our biggest break so far in this case. I know we're still in just in the first couple of days of this, but this is the strongest lead right now and we are hopeful that we'll be able to get this guy identified.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Carson was shot to death early Wednesday and police are not saying when the surveillance photos were taken.

HOLMES: Well, the state of Georgia mourning another one of its daughters, of course, Carson there, as Betty was just talking about, was from Athens, Georgia. Another young lady from Marietta, Georgia, was killed not far from her university, Auburn University and a suspect in that case is due in that case tomorrow. Talking about Lauren Burke, here. She was found shot and wounded a few miles from her campus, again Auburn University, early Tuesday. She died later at the hospital. Police have arrested 23-year-old Courtney Lockhart on capital murder charges. He was taken into custody in Phenix City, Alabama. They say they are concern they have their man.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASST CHIEF THOMAS DAWSON, AUBURN, AL POLICE: We have the right individual in jail, I'm 100 percent sure of that, you can take that for what it's worth. But I'll tell you this, with a capital murder charge, I owe it to that family, I owe it to this community and I owe it to Auburn University students over on that campus to do everything I possibly can to ensure that this trial is fair to everyone involved and that the outcome is what it needs to be with a guilty verdict.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Hundreds of folks gathered yesterday to remember Lauren Burke in her hometown of Marietta, Georgia. Another service is taking place today, and Auburn holds a campus-wide memorial, tomorrow.

NGUYEN: Let's get more on these new developments in both the Auburn and North Carolina cases. Law enforcement analyst Mike Brooks is with us by phone.

And Mike, let's take the Lauren Burke case first off. We understand that there has been an arrest. The gentleman known as 23- year-old Courtney Larrell Lockhart. What do you know about this person? Does he have a history?

MIKE BROOKS, LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: You know, we don't know too much about his history, as of yet. They didn't say exactly if he had any -- if he's been arrested for priors, but they were able to arrest him, Betty, pretty quickly, and you know, he's got now, capital crimes of kidnapping, capital crime while committing a robbery and attempted rape in this particular case.

They were able to get him quickly, and you know, we just heard the chief say, that they think he's the one, you know, for what it's worth that he is the man. So, it sounds like that there were some forensic -- there was forensic evidence that they had against this guy and maybe they had his prints from priors. So, we don't know too much about him at this time. We'll find out more when he goes to court.

NGUYEN: Well, you know, a few miles from where Lauren Burke was shot, Burke's burning car was later found on campus. And I just got to ask you this, that burning vehicle, is that an attempted cover-up, or is it a sign of premeditation, here?

BROOKS: No, it's probably most likely a -- he was trying to cover up the crime. A lot of times people think that you can set a car on fire to cover up any crime that they've committed, but it still leaves behind a lot of forensic evidence and most likely, Betty, he was just trying to cover up the crime that he committed and very, very tragic.

NGUYEN: Oh, absolutely. Both of these cases are. The other one being the case being that of Eve Carson, 21-year-old UNC student. Police have released surveillance pictures of this man who they believe may have been using her ATM card, may have also been driving her car, but police are calling him a "person of interest" and not a suspect. Why is that?

BROOKS: Well, you know, I don't really like the term "person of interest," having been in law enforcement for almost 27 years, I could say, when I was in law enforcement, we would call a person of interest "suspect light," if you will. This is a guy they want to talk to, and he's more of a suspect than he's not.

NGUYEN: I was going to say, if he's believed to be using her ATM card and driving her car, wouldn't that provide a little bit of evidence?

BROOKS: Absolutely. Absolutely. And, you know, with these pictures, somebody is going to give him up, Betty. Somebody's going to give him up. Somebody has got to recognize him, because these are some of the best surveillance photos that I have seen, especially in a capital case such as this. You know, the person of interest, I think they don't want to call him a suspect as of yet, but he's definitely being looked at by police as a suspect, guarantee you that.

NGUYEN: Let me ask you this, really quickly. As we have looked at both of these cases, and when it first occurred, there was some question as to whether they were connected any way, because you're got two young college coeds from Georgia, murdered on the same night. Do you think both of these cases are just random acts of violence?

BROOKS: I think they are, and police think they are too, Betty. It doesn't look like there is any connection, right now, even though there are only 500 odd miles between these two campuses. Right now it looks like both of them -- both of them were random acts of violence and are not connected in any way.

NGUYEN: All right, Mike Brooks, an analyst for us here at CNN when it comes to security issues. Mike, we do appreciate your time. Thank you.

BROOKS: Thank you, Betty.

HOLMES: And still ahead here on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING, an ex- convict arrested in the mass killing of a family in Memphis. Police say it may have been a violent dispute between two brothers.

NGUYEN: And, do you own your own home, or does the bank own your home? We're going to show you what it means to be in the poorhouse.

HOLMES: And one suburb on the front lines of immigration debate. A closer look how this particular community is laying down the law with undocumented workers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, let's look now at some other stories we're following this hour. Police in Memphis, Tennessee, say Jesse Dotson killed six people, including two children. This is all during a fight with his brother, police say. Three other children were critically injured and taken to the hospital on Monday. Police say Dotson was recently released from prison, where he served time for murder.

NGUYEN: A South Georgia man is in jail this morning. He's charged with shooting to death another man outside a Macon hospital. Police say they had been arguing, but it's not clear why. The hospital remained in lockdown for three hours after that shooting.

HOLMES: And ready for takeoff. The shuttle "Endeavour" scheduled to launch early Tuesday morning. The launch comes three week after the last shuttle flight. Five space walks are planned during the 16 day mission. It will be NASA's longest trip to the International Space Station.

NGUYEN: Well, the nation's housing crisis, a record number of foreclosures. We've been talking about it for some time, now. Even homeowners are at risk.

HOLMES: And the bad news doesn't end there. Even people who've never miss a single payment are paying a steep price. You could be one of them. CNN's Christine Romans explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Americans own less of their homes than ever before. Not even half of the house is paid for. It's the latest sign of decline in middle class wealth since the home is most Americans' largest asset.

DEAN BAKER, CTR FOR ECONOMIC POLICY: A lot of people are in really bad trouble right now.

ROMANS: He's referring to new data from the Federal Reserve that shows for the first time Americans debt on their home exceeds their equity. What we actually own has tumbled over the past four years from almost 54 percent to less than 48 percent by the end of last year.

BAKER: That's not that big a deal maybe if we're talking about a family in their 20s or early 30s. But we know we have this huge baby boom cohort at the edge of retirement, they for the most part don't have traditional defined benefit pensions, they don't have a lot of money in 401(k)s. What they had was equity in their home and in many cases that's just disappeared.

ROMANS: Some people use their homes as piggy banks for years, paying for cars, tuition, basic living expenses. Some used new kinds of mortgages that allowed them to put so little money down, they essentially own nothing. A disaster when home prices fall.

PROF LAURA TYSON, UC BERKELEY: We're in a vicious downward spiral of declining home prices, increasing foreclosures, increasing foreclosures causing increasing asset pressure in the financial institutions, financial institutions cutting back on all sorts of credit and that in turn leading to declining housing prices.

ROMANS: A record 900,000 homes are in foreclosure according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. And more people are at least 30 days late with their mortgage payments, the highest rate since 1985.

(on camera): The Fed has cut interest rates aggressively and billions of dollars in stimulus is on the way, but some economists and congressional Democrats say it's just not enough, the housing situation, is worsening by the day.

Christine Romans, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: And CNN's Christine Romans and Ali Velshi coming your way, later today, with a look at what you can do in this sagging economy on CNN's YOUR MONEY, we'll see how you're staying afloat, 3:00 Eastern, today.

HOLMES: All right, voters in Florida and Michigan, you guys are going to get a do-over possibly?

NGUYEN: Yeah, the debate may come down to dollars. So, here's a question. Who picks up the tab. Political hot topics right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, the Democratic presidential candidates locked in a tight race, and sharpening their attacks in a debate over what to do with Florida and Michigan, just some of the hot, hot topics up for discussion. And to discuss them with us this morning from Washington, CNN political producer, Sasha Johnson.

Good morning to you, ma'am.

SASHA JOHNSON, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: Good morning.

HOLMES: Obama, all right, he, in a bit of a situation, here.

JOHNSON: Yep.

HOLMES: Apparently, through all of the politics, attacking and negative ads worked, if they didn't, people wouldn't do them, but they've been used forever. Apparently some of them appeared to have worked for Hillary Clinton to go on the attack against Obama. But, can he really hit her back? Can he really hit her back because that flies in the face of everything he said his campaign is supposed to be?

JOHNSON: Yeah, well you just answered the question.

HOLMES: Yeah.

JOHNSON: No, no, no. That is a problem for him. I mean, he has come out saying that he's going to bring new politics to Washington, new politics to the campaign, politics of hope. But you know, earlier in the campaign, he made the point that even if he's going to play that kind of politics, that doesn't mean that he can't defend himself and I think that's what a lot of Democrats want to see right now, they do want to see that he can defend himself, you know, against the attacks of Senator Clinton. But that also that he draw those contrasts with her and hit some of her weak points, because they want to know that he can be a strong nominee to go against John McCain, so he does have to do something. HOLMES: Is this a matter of semantics here to where one man's attack ad is another man defending himself? I mean, really there's a fine line there, isn't it?

JOHNSON: Sure, I mean, Hillary Clinton said last week at a press conference in Houston with reporters, she said this is the most positive primary campaign in history. I think some voters and Barack Obama would disagree with that. That the 3:00 a.m. ad that she ran, you know, when she says all he has is a speech from 2002. Some voters take that as very negative. So, exactly you're right, she doesn't think its an attack, but others do.

HOLMES: OK, I got another question and I promise I won't answer it while I ask it. But let's turn to Florida and Michigan. Is there any movement? There was talk last week about possibly the two sides putting up the money to do re-dos in Michigan and in Florida, but I don't know if that idea is the one that's prevailing or are there any other ideas out there? Is there any movement at all at resolving this and letting them vote again?

JOHNSON: No, not at this point. And actually both campaigns have just come out and basically said whatever we do, we need to do it soon. But the DNC, Howard Dean, has said emphatically, we will not pay for these new contests, which could cost upwards of $10 million. So, the parties are on their own, they'd have to do their own private fundraising. But, the Obama campaign has come out and said whatever happens, we cannot seat the delegates as they are, because our candidate wasn't on the ballot, you know, whatever happens. Isn't it kind of funny that this could all come down to Florida again in June if they were to hold these contests?

HOLMES: All right, so again, the matter is just money. We're just looking for a donor?

JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, you know, these -- again, we're looking at $8 million to $10 million, and both governors of Michigan and Florida have come out and said we're not going to use taxpayer funds for this, so the parties are trying to figure out the cheapest way to do this, and the fairest way to do it too, because some people say, you know, we already voted even if it doesn't count, how can we do this again? Other people say, you know, these were the rules, you guys broke them, we need to stand by the fact that your delegates aren't going to count at the convention. So, you know, we really aren't much farther along than we were last week.

HOLMES: All right, and speaking of money, Hillary Clinton, how is she doing out there with funds? I guess in the recent months, she is always out raising her.

JOHNSON: Absolutely.

HOLMES: And it works when somebody says something bad about you. You can use that to your advantage to...

JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, Terry McCullough, who is the finance chair of the Clinton campaign, sent out a note, you know, we had that Barack Obama adviser that now no longer works for the campaign, that referred to Senator Clinton as a monster, that immediately went out in a fund-raising plea to Hilary Clinton to donors. So, you know, she has done really well since the Ohio contest and you know, they finally figured out how to harness that Internet fund-raising. So, she could have a really good month, this month.

HOLMES: And is there a feel out there that they have finally -- she won a couple contests, she picked up Wyoming, but she has she finally managed to tame this tiger, if you will? She has finally found a way to slow down this Barack Obama momentum?

JOHNSON: I mean, think perhaps for now. But remember, we have Mississippi on Tuesday, where he is heavily favored on do well and then we go into this long period before Pennsylvania that you were talking to Jim Acosta about. I mean, that's six weeks, that is beyond a lifetime in politics, and anything can happen.

So, even if he does well on Tuesday, I don't know that completely erases her incredible win in Ohio or Texas, but then we have this blank period where anybody can pick up the momentum again. But the Clinton campaign does feels like they've figured out, kind of, Obama's weak spot and I think they're just going to continue hammering that. And back to your earlier point, that's why the Obama campaign has to figure out how to counter that and they're slowly starting to try to.

HOLMES: Well, heck of a chess game they got going on. And we got six weeks to play this thing.

JOHNSON: A long time.

HOLMES: Heading into Pennsylvania. Sasha Johnson, CNN political producer, always good to see you. Thank you so much.

JOHNSON: Good to see you too, thanks.

HOLMES: Well folks, political coverage continues here on CNN. The best political team, I think that has ever been assembled in the history of mankind. CNN's BALLOT BOWL, your chance to hear from the candidates, unfiltered. BALLOT BOWL kicks off today 2:00 Eastern, 11:00 Pacific.

NGUYEN: Isaac Mizrahi is famous for bringing a formal designer clothing Target stores. Now, we're going to take you "To the Top" to hear his story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISAAC MIZRAHI, DESIGNER: Fashion is always something that has interested me from a young age. My mothers, my sisters, my aunts, all sought my, kind of, approval of what they looked like and what they wore, and so it set the tone for the rest of my life.

NGUYEN (voice over): Mizrahi bought his first sewing machine when he was 11. He grew up to design clothes featured on runways and on magazine covers. But in a glamour-filled world, Mizrahi appreciates simplicity. MIZRAHI: I believe in sort of tearing it down, a lot. I think a girl with no makeup looks way better than a girl with makeup. I think that an old lady looks great with wrinkles, I think she looks horrible with a face lift.

NGUYEN: Mizrahi plays many roles, fashion designer, actor, online segment host, and his first book comes out this fall. But he's no fashion critic.

MIZRAHI: Everyone has an inate kind of style and I think that people wearing elastic waist pants and sensible shoes have style. It's just us who don't like that, but they don't like what we look like. So who's right?

NGUYEN: This year, Mizrahi was named creative direct for Liz Claiborne, ending a five-year run at Target.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: So, they have been playing gospel music for decades.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Yes, the music legends, Blind Boys of Alabama, returning to their roots.

NGUYEN: And, you know, we may be headed for spring, but watch out for all of the ice on the roadways out there.

HOLMES: Oh.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Well, good morning, everybody. Welcome back, I'm Betty Nguyen.

HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes, a quick look now at some of our top stories.

Barack Obama, he won the Wyoming caucuses. The win over Hillary Clinton gives him at least seven of the state's 12 delegates that were up for grabs. And in the tight race, every single delegate counts. And according to the latest CNN estimates, Obama leads Clinton by less than 100 delegates, he has 1,527 to her 1,428.

NGUYEN: And police have arrested a suspect in the murder of an Auburn University coed. He is due in court tomorrow to face charges.

HOLMES: And from Ohio on through New England, a lot of people waiting for the big thaw. They already got the big chill. A winter storm left roads slick and snowy in upstate New York. People were told to stay off the streets and avoid unnecessary travel in the Buffalo area. Just about a foot of snow fell in the Buffalo area, yesterday.

And take a look at this, a frightening scene. More frightening for the people in those cars. Bam. This is what's happening on an icy overpass in downtown Charleston, West Virginia. Freezing rain and sleets are to blame for a series of crashes, yesterday.

NGUYEN: And that is not all. Severe thunderstorms cut power to thousands of people in New Jersey, last night. But, utility officials say they are making headway. On the phone now, joining us is John Senkewicz, a spokesperson for the New Jersey Public Service Electric and Gas Company.

And last I ready, John, is that there are was some 57,000 customers without power. Where does it stand at this hour?

JOHN SENKEWICZ, SPOKESMAN, PSE&G: As of about a half hour ago, we're down to 13,800 customers without service.

NGUYEN: Oh, that's definitely an improvement. And this is because of the strong winds downed power lines? What caused all of this?

SENKEWICZ: The strong winds did it. Strong winds knocking trees into power lines, et cetera.

NGUYEN: Got you.

SENKEWICZ: Throughout the service territory.

NGUYEN: Well, and I also heard that the New Jersey turnpike lanes around Interchange 4 were closed?

SENKEWICZ: Yeah, last night for a couple hours, there was a line down and the turnpike was closed for three hours, between 6:00 and 9:00.

NGUYEN: But that's back open again this morning?

SENKEWICZ: That came back on last night about 9:00 p.m.

NGUYEN: Well, what about the trains to New York City?

SENKEWICZ: I don't have any information on that, I believe they're running.

NGUYEN: OK, because the last report we have is New Jersey transit (INAUDIBLE) Essex trains to New York City were expected to shut down through the night. So, I don't know if they are back up.

SENKEWICZ: I have no reports of any outages for the Amtrak lines.

NGUYEN: What are you advising residents as they are waiting? I'm sure patience is high on that list.

SENKEWICZ: Yeah. If they haven't called -- if they're not with service and they haven't called in, the can certainly call the PSE &G number on their bill to give information that they are out. Otherwise, hang tight. We've had crews there working overnight. We've got more crews coming in today, and doing the best we can.

NGUYEN: So, 13,000 still without power at this hour. Do you have any estimate of when all of that will be restored?

SENKEWICZ: The latest I had is that some -- the -- some people will probably not be restored until sometime late tomorrow. Monday.

NGUYEN: Really?

SENKEWICZ: Yeah.

NGUYEN: Oh, that's not the way to spend a Sunday and especially a Monday morning as you're trying to get ready for work. Well, best of luck to you.

SENKEWICZ: Thank you.

NGUYEN: John Senkewicz with your hands full with the New Jersey Public Service Electric and Gas Company, there.

And it's just indicative of the storms that have been blowing through. I mean, we've seen over in Cleveland, it's ice on the streets that are causing accidents and then you've got power outages in New Jersey and other areas.

HOLMES: And some in Pennsylvania as well, they were getting lights back on for most of the folks, but 100,000 there, as well, were without power for sometime. But down to 20,000, so it is getting better, but still.

Reynolds Wolf, it's getting better, but still not quite done. This storm is still, things kind of moving along, still. People still going to be affected.

WOLF: Oh yeah. And you know what's interesting about the storm, it's not just what it did yesterday, it's not what it's going to be doing today in terms of the wind and the snowfall for parts of upstate New York, it's also dealing with what it left behind in terms of heavy snowfall that you see behind me, like Columbus, record snowfall, over 20 inches, well over a foot in Chillicothe and in Dayton, and Cincinnati and Cleveland, those spots, of course, very impressive with anywhere from eight to nine inches of snow.

But you know, this is just a graphic. Sometimes one of the best ways to share a story with America is by showing the contributions that you, the viewers, send into us. In fact, let's go right to our iReports and start off with a photo that we have sent in from Mary Drummer. Mary is from Avon, Ohio. She says: "I live in northeast Ohio and today we were under a blizzard watch for most of yesterday and today. We expected to get two to four inches, and you can see we definitely had a bit more than that." Certainly the case.

Next up, Kevin Robinson, this is from Powell, Ohio and you can see, boy, that's an interesting shot, isn't it? Kevin said, he said that he thought the snow formation in this image was very, very bizarre. Kevin, I'm certainly not the person to judge what is and what is not bizarre, but that's pretty strange, no question. It's snowed about 10 to 12 inches, in Powell so far, he writes. Definitely most snowfall he's seen this winter.

Next up, Marietta Landon. Interesting thing about Marietta, she's in this picture, she's not from Ohio, she's from actually Douglasville, Georgia. Went to Dayton to see a friend and this is a shot of her and this is Krista and Autumn (ph) enjoying the snowfall and we've go another shot of Krista and Marietta, I believe that's the next picture coming up. We have two of this one? That's it, that's the only one we have. But, you certainly see the case going from Georgia up to Ohio to enjoy the beauty and splendor of the Buckeye State and you're dealing with the heavy snowfall.

Snow leaving Ohio, now. Certainly got it on the ground, but the snow is falling now in parts of upstate New York. All lake-effect activity from Buffalo to Lockport, Rochester on parts of 90. You're going to have the visibility issues, north of Syracuse along 81, certainly a rough day. And of course wind, that's going to subside as we get to the late afternoon and evening hours, but for now, gusty conditions in parts of the northeast. That's your forecast. Let's send it back to you. Great pictures, weren't they?

NGUYEN: Oh, yeah. If you're not dealing with them, it's great to look at from a distance.

WOLF: No question. Always far away.

NGUYEN: And you see, it's always the visitors who are smiling amid all of the snow. The people who live there just want it over with.

WOLF: If you don't want to shovel it, it's always a good time.

NGUYEN: Exactly, thank you Reynolds.

Well, here are some other stories that we are following for you today. You know, sometime this morning, search crews will resume their grim mission off the Oregon coast. They're looking for the body of a 16-year-old boy. He ran into some bad surf there, some really strong surf, to help a younger boy who was drowning. That young every boy was pulled out but later died.

HOLMES: And a helicopter crash to show you in Oklahoma, looks pretty bad, here. Looks a lot worse than it actually is. This is a homemade aircraft, it was badly damaged, but both people aboard escaped without injuries. Do you believe that? Police say an instructor and student were practicing emergency landings, when they had an emergency. And they lost power, the student is getting a failing grade. I'm just kidding. He did not.

NGUYEN: He survived it, right? That will get you a little but of credit. Well, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez was in Cuba, yesterday. Here you can see him embracing the new Cuban president, Raul Castro. The Venezuelan leader also visited his ailing friend, former Cuban leader, Fidel Castro. President Chavez made the trip to Cuba following Friday's Latin American summit in the Dominican Republic.

And we want you to take a look at this video very closely. Two -- yeah. Oh! Two soccer rivals in a shouting match and a little bit more in Colombia and the sucker punch that launched a full-scale brawl. That story is still ahead.

HOLMES: Also ahead, these gentlemen transformed gospel music.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY CARTER, FOUNDER, BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA: We sing gospel music. We have a message in our music. We try to touch lives. We try to make people feel happy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, after 50 years of making music, the Blind Boys of Alabama return to the place where it all started.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Time to check in with Howard Kurtz in Washington to see what's ahead on CNN's RELIABLE SOURCES.

Hey there, Howie.

HOWARD KURTZ, RELIABLE SOURCES: Hey there, Betty. Coming up, after a year of positive press, Barack Obama starts complaining that journalists are giving him a rough time. Is the coverage of the Democratic race starting to turn?

"Saturday Night Live" holds the media up to public ridicule as Hillary Clinton works the comedy circuit, the impact is no laughing matter. Plus, the latest phony memoir from the publishing world. That, and more, ahead from RELIABLE SOURCES.

NGUYEN: Oh, not another fake. OK. Thank you Howard, we'll be watching for that.

In the meantime, though, it is a numbers game. A lot of people trying to keep up with the ongoing delegate count in the Democratic primaries and caucuses. It's hard to get a handle.

HOLMES: And this thing can get totally confusing. So, to get it worked out we had to bring in a Yale guy. I mean, he have -- Josh Levs is here to sort this thing out. It's so confusing you have to get a Yale guy.

JOSH LEVS, CNN.COM DESK: That is the first time he's ever brought that up on the air.

HOLMES: No, I mean really, this is the one time your Yale education will pay off for you.

LEVS: It might actually pay off.

NGUYEN: Simple math, that's all we need, Josh.

LEVS: Well, I'll tell you, when most people wake up on Sunday mornings they think: I want to do some math. So folks, pull out the abacus and your calculator. Look we're going to be tossing a lot of numbers because we're getting these numbers because that's what the delegate races is.

But, I want to clear that out for you, boil it down, right now. Something they never did for me back at Yale. Take a look, I got a camera facing this computer behind me. I'm going to stat off right here, cnn.com, that's it. Right there. Can we scroll down a little bit so we can see the delegate count? That's it.

Right now, we are continuing to follow this at CNN.com and we're going to make sure that you have the latest numbers throughout the day. And remember, some races have already happened, and we are still getting delegate counts as they come in. They're both very close, they're both within 100.

If you want to know where things could go from here, one of the hottest things at cnn.com for the last few days is this. It's a game that you can play where you can predict how things might go in the coming states. I know the words are really tiny on your screen, here. Basically, these are the names of the states: Pennsylvania, and how many delegates the have. You come over here, you slide it based on how you think how each candidate might do and it will show you, back up here, how close they get to the ultimate number that they need, which is just past 2,000. People having some fun with this, a lot of traffic, right there.

Really quickly before I go, I want to show you this, because this is one of the best ways in the world to get the latest information about the races now, which is a lot more active on the Democratic side. It's called the CNN Political Ticker. It's very easy, a dot com, you can also sign up to get the e-mails twice a day, CNN political -- let's try that again, cnnpoliticalticker.com. So there you go, look, we're going to keep tracking these throughout the day. My suggestion? Don't drive yourselves crazy, don't get too confused. Check in maybe once, twice a day, we'll show you the latest numbers.

There you go guys. How was that?

NGUYEN: What was that? The political something?

LEVS: Political ticker?

NGUYEN: See, that's why you're good at math, Josh.

HOLMES: See, I give you credit for being a Yale guy, and you can't get your words right.

NGUYEN: Can't even say "political." LEVS: That was so inevitable. Oh, I got that one right!

HOLMES: Oh, thank you.

NGUYEN: Good job, Josh.

Well, they were robbed of their eyesight, but blessed with a vision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARTER: So we told him that we cannot use a hammer or a nail to help you build a house, but we can bring hope to you with our music, and I think we did that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And that music belongs to the Blind Boys of Alabama, still going strong after making music for more than 50 years. And they're still at the top of the gospel charts, their story, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: The Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind is celebrating it's 150th anniversary this year.

HOLMES: And that school specializes in teaching thousands of disabled student of all ages, starting at birth in some cases. Well, to help mark the occasion, the school brought its most famous graduates in for a special visit. Here now, the Blind Boys of Alabama.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice over): For over seven decades the Blind Boys of Alabama have inspired generations of music lovers with their soulful blend of gospel music. Singer Jimmy Carter, on of the band's founding member is the driving force behind the group's global following and joyous eclectic sounds.

JIMMY CARTER, FOUNDER, BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA: We sing gospel music. We have a message in our music. We try to touch lives. We try to make people feel happy.

When you come to our concert, we say that you go away feeling different. If you come to our concert, and leave the same way you came, we think we failed.

I want to let y'all know music is a wonderful thing, it's a wonderful profession.

HOLMES: The group traces its roots to the Alabama Institute of Deaf and Blind, where the original members met singing in choir class. Although they formed in 1939, this is their first homecoming to the Talladega school where it all began. In addition to using their success to help inspire the students, the Blind Boys came back with an agenda, scouting future talent to pass the torch.

BILLY BOWERS, BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA: The Blind Boys have been moving and moving and moving from generation after a generation. We're planning on like, when we leave this world, to have somebody, a legacy back here, some more young people, blind people, to take on where we have left off.

CARTER: I want to tell the boys that -- the Blind Boys are going to -- they're going to need musicians later on, so maybe they better step up, we might come and get some of them later on. You never know.

HOLMES: But for now, the band continues to thrive. They just released "Down New Orleans," their new album that they recorded in the Big Easy with the intention of lifting people's spirits.

CARTER: Katrina devastated New Orleans, so we told them we cannot use a hammer or a nail to help you build a house, but we can bring hope to you with our music. And I think we did that.

HOLMES: The Blind Boys have done it all. They've won four Grammy awards, collaborated with legend of all genres and have reached fame and notoriety all over the world. But the most important thing to Jimmy Carter continues to be his gospel music.

CARTER: When we're all done, I hope that somebody can say that the Blind Boys touched my life. That's what we're all about.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Man, they still sound so good.

HOLMES: Fifty years, they've been doing this, 50 years still going strong, still doing well on the charts. Not many groups, not many artists can say they have that record.

NGUYEN: That is true. They are still smoking on the charts.

HOLMES: But, they are recruiting, hoping somebody to continue that Blind Boys legacy.

NGUYEN: Oh really?

HOLMES: Oh yeah, they're looking for someone to pick up the torch.

NGUYEN: Very nice.

Well, soccer, lot of fun for players and fans, right?

HOLMES: Supposed to be. Usually it is. But, does this look like fun to you? Anybody having a good time? Things got a little crazy here and, yes, some people even got hurt. We'll show you what happened. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: All right, so take a look at this video out of -- oh man! Oh, and then he stumbles. But, it's not over. He is going in for more, obviously, a heated argument on the soccer field. By the time it was over, nearly the entire stadium crowd was in a brawl.

HOLMES: And it started with that one punch. Riot police, tear gas, all out in force to restore order, there. Eighty people hurt in this thing, 10 of those were serious injuries, including someone that might have gotten stabbed. The brawl was blamed on a disputed call by a referee. People take the soccer seriously in some places.

NGUYEN: Well, there is no brawling in U.S. politics, notice I had to say "U.S. politics."

HOLMES: Not yet.

NGUYEN: Not yet. But tempers do get hot.

HOLMES: Yeah, just this week the presumptive Republican nominee, John McCain had some terse words for one reporter. Tempering the tempers, coming up on RELIABLE SOURCES with Howard Kurtz.

And on LATE EDITION with Wolf Blitzer, the Democratic horserace. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are staying close in the delegate race. Join Wolf at 11:00 Eastern.

But first, a check of the morning's top developments.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxantshop.com