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CNN Sunday Morning
Deputy Killed in Shootout in Ohio; Clooney, U.N., Google Team to Monitor Sudan Using Satellite
Aired January 02, 2011 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOE JOHNS, CNN ANCHOR: An Ohio sheriff's department is mourning the loss of a deputy, a mother of two, shot and killed in the line of duty. Investigators say she never even had a chance to draw her weapon. The tragedy unfolded in front of cameras. We'll have the compelling video and emotional accounts from colleagues she left behind.
There could be trouble in paradise for President Obama. He's just hours away from wrapping up his Hawaiian vacation and returning to a Congress dominated by Republicans. Can he continue the winning streak he started with the lame-duck Congress, or is his agenda already in jeopardy?
From CNN Center, this is SUNDAY MORNING. It's 6 a.m. here in Atlanta; 2 p.m. in Baghdad. Good morning. I'm Joe Johns. We want to welcome our troops watching on the Armed Forces Network in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Also ahead, a wild time at a Florida amusement park when fire breaks out on one of the water rides. It was more adventure than the customers expected.
And what's causing birds to drop mid-flight over one Arkansas town? It's a bizarre mystery we'll try to clear up later this hour.
And the crisis on - that crisis in Australia, where floodwaters have submerged an area the size of Texas. Electricity has been shut down and 22 towns are in dire need of emergency aid and relief.
We begin with a story of courage and sadness in Ohio, where the Clark County Sheriff's Department is making plans to honor one of its own. A female deputy, Suzanne Hopper, a mother of two, answered a call about gunfire at a trailer park outside Springfield, Ohio, yesterday. Investigators say she was taking photos of footprints when a man came out of his trailer, pointed a shotgun at her and fired. She never had a chance.
The gunman then fired on other deputies and officers as they arrived, setting off a gun battle in which an officer was wounded. You'll see that as it happens, and we want to let you know the images you'll see are graphic and disturbing.
The other deputy who was shot is in serious condition but expected to survive. Here's how the tragedy played out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(GUNFIRE)
SHERIFF GENE A. KELLY, CLARK COUNTY, OHIO: The suspect inside opened fire and truck a German Township (ph) police office.
(CROSSTALK)
KELLY: He's currently in Miami Valley (ph), and it appears to me right now that he's in serious condition, but they tell that he's believed to be - he will be OK.
And it appears that the door of the trailer opened, and the person inside fired one shotgun blast, striking the deputy and fatally wounding a deputy.
(GUNFIRE)
KELLY: We did enter the trailer. The suspect was deceased, apparently from the exchange of gunfire with deputies.
Our deputy never had the opportunity to return fire or take cover. The deputy was an outstanding deputy and is married and a parent of two children. This is the worst day in my 24 years as the sheriff of Clark County.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: Police have identified the wounded officer as Jeremy Bloom of the German Township police. They have not identified the gunman.
Now to that severe weather across much of the Midwest. A seventh person has died from that series of strong storms. Missouri Governor Jay Nixon toured two of the tornado-damaged neighborhoods around the Greater St. Louis area yesterday.
In nearby Rolla, an 80-year-old woman died yesterday from injuries she sustained in Friday's destruction. In Arkansas, the small town of Cincinnati took the brunt of the storm. All three storm- related deaths happened here in Washington County. Local media report eight of 10 people injured from the tornado are still in the hospital. The local Red Cross says residents are already working on their recovery plan.
A more seasonal and less-severe weather outlook for much of the country today. Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf has your Sunday forecast and a look ahead to the first week of the New Year.
(WEATHER REPORT)
JOHNS: If you head to the Islands of Adventure amusement park in Orlando today, you can forget the Ripsaw Falls water flume. It's shut down.
A fire broke out yesterday in a structure that houses part of the ride. A staffer shut the ride down and got passengers out of the area fast. Nobody hurt. Investigators are trying to figure out what started the fire.
One guy who was at the park with his son saw the fire while he was on another ride.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENE GILCHRIST, UNIVERSAL ORLANDO RESORTS VISITOR: I was riding the - the dragon's challenge, and being from that high, we - my son turned around and said, 'Dad, there's a fire over there.' Look off in the distance from up - from over the Harry Potter, and - just the sky was filled with smoke.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: The park doesn't know when the ride will reopen.
The U.S. Capitol is briefly evacuated when a plane enters restricted airspace, part of the security fallout from 9/11. It turns out that small plane had communications problems. That' why it never responded to calls to avoid the area yesterday. Nevertheless, Andrews Air Force Base scrambled two fighter jets. But the plane landed at Reagan airport before they had a chance to intercept it.
The chair of the Republican National Committee fights to keep his job this week. The big challenge facing Michael Steele.
Plus, history in the making in Brazil. Hear this woman's amazing rise to freedom fighter - to president.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: For the first time in its history, Brazil has a female president. Dilma Rousseff was sworn in yesterday. She was a freedom fighter in the 1960s and was even arrested 41 years ago. She takes over from former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was her mentor. She - he is widely recognized as the most popular president in Brazil. Rousseff was his chief of staff.
Here at home, the New Year means a changing of the guard at the United States Capitol, and a number of new faces leading state governments.
From Washington, our deputy political director Paul Steinhauser has a snapshot of the week ahead in politics.
Good morning, Paul.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hey, Joe. Good morning. You know, the first week of the New Year is jam-packed with political events. New York's new governor didn't waste a minute getting sworn in right at the start of 2011, as did the new governors in Michigan and New Mexico, where Susanna Martinez became the nation's first Hispanic female governor.
Tomorrow, Jerry Brown's inaugurated as California's governor. It's back to the future for the Golden State, as Brown served two terms in California in the 1970s and 80s.
Minnesota, Wisconsin and Nevada also swear in their new governors the same day.
Also Monday, a showdown for Michael Steele, as he tries to keep his job as the head of the Republican National Committee. The often- outspoken RNC chief is up for re-election later this month, and tomorrow he faces off in a debate against the five candidates challenging him for his job.
And Wednesday, new faces on Capitol Hill, as the 112th Congress gets sworn in. Thanks to big victories, the GOP will now take control of the House of Representatives, and they'll have a larger and stronger minority in the Senate - Joe.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: Thanks for that, Paul Steinhauser in Washington.
A new project for George Clooney. It's not a movie. It's a plan to protect Sudan from genocide. We'll tell you about it.
And...
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: A woman is dead in Queensland, Australia, after massive flooding sweeps through an area about the size of France and Germany combined. The flooding is so bad power had to be cut off for fear of electrocutions.
Emergency officials say the high water has affected some 200,000 people. About 1,000 may have to be evacuated. The water starting to recede in some areas.
Can a movie star help make sure Sudan does not fall back into a civil war? George Clooney is teaming up with the U.N. and Google to create what he's calling" the anti-genocide paparazzi."
Josh Levs is here to tell us about it.
Josh, how is this going to work?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It's fascinating. It's a really interesting effort. He's calling it the "the satellite sentinel channel," basically. It's a satellite surveillance project using technology to watch over Sudan. Let's set the scene for you, what's going on there. There's an upcoming vote that can split the country in two. It's a referendum, part of a 2005 peace agreement, that ended two decades of violence between north and south. That's the conflict that led to the deaths of 2 million people. Also left a lot of refuges all over the country.
The Sudanese president is saying he will accept the results of that upcoming referendum. Well, the fear that so many people have is that the violence will resume surrounding this upcoming election. So this program will be using satellite images to assess what's going on on the ground and watch for signs of conflict - potential hotspots in real time.
And you might wonder, what can satellite images show? Well, they can show raised villages. They can keep track of large groups of people, if there are a large group of displaced people. They can show some potential threats to civilians in Sudan.
George Clooney has been focused on this region for years. He has visited; he has spoken out about it. A group he co-founded, called Not on Our Watch, is funding this new satellite effort. And it's working with - get this - the United Nations, Google and Harvard, something called the Humanitarian Initiative.
Clooney and John Prendergast, a human-rights activists, who's helping lead this satellite initiative, put out a statement, saying, "We were late to Rwanda. We were late to the Congo. We were late to Darfur. There is no time to waste."
And listen to this: He did an interview with "Time" magazine. He said - quote - "We are the anti-genocide paparazzi. We want them to enjoy the level of celebrity attention that I usually get."
The idea here - what he wants to do is take that spotlight that he's always under, and he wants to shine it onto them, in this region that people need to watch. He wants potential - people who may carry out atrocities to know they're being watched, and maybe, because of that, choose not to do some of what they might otherwise do.
There's a lot more about this I've posted for you on my Facebook and Twitter pages, joshlevscnn. It's at satsentinel.org, Satellite Sentinel.
And I'll tell you, it is a fascinating effort in helping draw attention to one of the most troubled hotspots on Earth.
Joe, obviously, the hope here is that this will do its part to - you know, whatever anyone can do to help avoid some of those atrocities resurfacing.
JOHNS: Yes, this is a - adds whole new meaning to the idea that the world is watching, doesn't it?
LEVS: Yes. We actually can now in ways that no one ever foresaw.
JOHNS: You bet. Thanks, Josh. LEVS: Yes. You got it. Thanks.
JOHNS: It's New Year, so it's time to put away those old, tired words - don't get caught saying anything that's on the banned list of phrases from 2010.
Plus, one set of twins, two different years - timing is everything, baby.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: We have a unique New Year's story for you now. Listen carefully: A set of twins who entered the world just two minutes apart, but managed to be born in different years.
Christy and Marlin Alston say their first child, Ashton Parker, was born at 11:58 p.m. on December 31, 2010. His twin sister, Alisha Ray (ph), followed just two minutes later, at midnight on January 1, 2011. The twins were born at Duke Hospital in Raleigh, North Carolina. Both babies are doing well, despite the fact that their mother delivered them only 33 weeks.
Texas Christian University is finally getting its props. Their Horn Frogs proved yesterday they belong among the nation's college- football programs, grabbing the national spotlight on national TV at the Rose Bowl. TCU beat Wisconsin 21 to 19, stopping a Badger two- point conversion late in the game. The Horned Frogs win the grand daddy of them all and finish the year 13-0. But they won't be able to play for the national championship; the best they could hope for, a No. 2 ranking and some newly earned national respect.
And, has Brett Favre laced up for the last time? The Minnesota Vikings quarterback is officially listed as doubtful for today's game. The Vikings play Detroit today. If Favre doesn't play, he could be calling it a career.
He's 41 years old. He's passed preliminary tests to determine his recovery from a concussion, but has not been medically cleared to play.
If he doesn't play, rookie Joe Webb gets his second career start.
Now here we go, Wolf - we've also got hockey outside. You a hockey fan?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I am. (INAUDIBLE) in hockey.
JOHNS: Yes. Well, yes. Well, this is - this is a pretty good little tradition: Outdoor hockey in a football stadium.
The Washington Capitals played the Pittsburgh Penguins at Heinz Field. And of course, a national television audience. The game's two best player, Alexander Ovechkin and Cindy - Sidney, good Lord, Crosby, head-to-head on the ice. This one had the makings of an instant winter classic.
Ovechkin didn't score, but the Capitals got the 'W,' three goals to one. And most hockey fans say it was a win for the sport.
WOLF: You - and you know, originally, weather was not cooperating with that.
JOHNS: Yes.
WOLF: They had issues with rain for awhile.
JOHNS: Right.
WOLF: So they actually had to delay the game a bit, or I guess the - the hockey match, is that the way you say it?
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
WOLF: Exactly.
But yes, amazing that it - that it really worked out for them.
JOHNS: Well, yes. And that's - that's the one problem with playing outdoors: You don't know what you're going to get it, you know?
WOLF: Absolutely.
JOHNS: You can control it indoors.
Wow. All right.
Well, let - let's - let's talk some words we love to hate this morning.
Now, you know, there are a lot of them. And...
WOLF: Yes.
JOHNS: ...I think Sarah Palin has several of them in there. They may have been popular in 2010, but a school in Michigan has placed them on the annual list of banned words and catchphrases, all right?
Lake Superior University has banned them for their misuse, overuse, general uselessness.
Of course, "refudiate." There's a Sarah Palin word. The - "viral." Now, I'm really tired of hearing things - 'this went viral,' 'that went viral' - there's just too much viral, you know?
(CROSSTALK)
JOHNS: Don't you think?
WOLF: Absolutely.
JOHNS; All right. And here's another Palin thing: "Mama Grizzlies."
And then there's Facebook, and being used as a verb. "Googling," "facebooking" - that's - that is definitely - I can think of, like, a million of these though. The term "man up" that came up in the campaign. And a lot of guys didn't like that at all, you know? (INAUDIBLE).
WOLF: It - it is weird though how just one phrase from a politician or one new product like - or a service like Google becomes part of the vernacular.
JOHNS: Yes, I know.
WOLF: I mean, it's adopted by - by - by our language. And I mean, it's - it's just...
JOHNS: Right. Well - well, it's like...
WOLF: It's hard to separate. It really is.
JOHNS: Yes, I remember back in the day - this goes all the way back to refrigerators.
WOLF: OK.
JOHNS: You - people would say, the Frigidaire. It's not the Frigidaire, it was the refrigerator. But, you know, the words...
(CROSSTALK)
WOLF: It kind of merged in.
JOHNS: Exactly. Interchangeably.
WOLF: Interesting.
JOHNS: All right. The university's banned words began back in 1976, and these days it receives more than a thousand nominations every year on its website.
WOLF: We're going to have to enter a few.
JOHNS: Yes. Yes. All right.
WOLF: I'll have to do that. Let's help them out.
JOHNS: Stock brokers - now, let's see - what are we going to talk about here? They're going back to Wall Street tomorrow. They're going to begin a new year of trading. We're taking a look at what 2011 may hold.
Plus, President Obama and Congress are back at it this week after the holiday break.
And it's a new Congress. The challenges facing the president as he tries to push trough his agenda. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: So did Wall Street and the economy end 2010 on a high note, and what can we expect in the New Year?
Here with the answer, two members of the CNN business team: Alison Kosik and Poppy Harlow.
Let's start with you, Alison.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Joe.
No Santa Claus rally this year. Instead of quiet week to close out a positive year for the stock market. Overall, the Dow gained 11 percent in 2010. The Nasdaq jumped nearly 17 percent. And the broader S&P 500 rose almost 13 percent.
New claims for unemployment benefits fell below 400,000 for the first time since July 2008. Analysts believe that claims have to hold below 400,000 in order to bring down the jobless rate. But many are worried that claims will go back up after many temp workers, hired for the holidays, go back on unemployment.
And MasterCard's spending poll said that holiday spending rose by more than 5 percent from 2009.That was helped by a more than 15 percent jump in spending online.
That's a look at the week that was. Here's Poppy Harlow with a look at the week ahead - Poppy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks so much, Alison.
Well, the economy certainly issue No. 1 in 2010, and it will be again in 2011 given the continuing unemployment crisis in this country. And looking ahead to next week (sic) on Wall Street, the first official trading week of 2011, we'll get December sales results from individual retailers, all signs pointing to pretty solid gains thanks to holiday shopping.
And the big number of the week comes out on Friday. That's when we get the December jobs report. Analysts expect a gain of about 110,000 jobs for the month. But the unemployment rate is expected to remain stubbornly high at 9.8 percent.
And you may have heard this expression: As goes January, so goes the year. A gain for stocks in the first five days of January has led to a positive return for the full year more than 80 percent of the time. So here's hoping for a great first week and prosperous 2011 - Joe, back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: It started as a courtesy to Senate speakers decades ago. But now, critics say the filibuster should be a thing of the past. Others believe the delaying tactic is actually good for the government.
Details of the debate coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: Welcome back. I'm Joe Johns in for T.J. Holmes. Thanks for starting the second day of the New Year with us.
A new year and a new Congress poses greater political challenges for President Obama, who's calling for more bipartisanship now that he no longer has the political luxury of Democrats dominating both the House and the Senate. One of the top items on the congressional agenda: rein in spending and ramp up debt reduction.
Here's CNN senior White House correspondent Ed Henry.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): To hear the president tell it, bickering with Republicans is so 2010.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A lot of folks in this town predicted that after the midterm elections, Washington would be headed for more partisanship and more gridlock. And, instead, this has been a season of progress. It's a message that I will take to heart in the New Year, and I hope my Democratic and Republican friends will do the same.
HENRY: But with Republican John Boehner taking the Speaker's gavel, that rosy scenario will be tested immediately in 2011 because both parties will now have to agree on a long term budget after kicking the can down on the road on all those spending cuts the Tea Party was demanding, and the president's own debt panel was proposing, to no avail.
OBAMA: I expect we'll have a robust debate about this when we return from the holidays, a debate that will have to answer an increasingly urgent question, and that is how do we cut spending that we don't need while still making investments that we do need.
HENRY: With the federal cash register tapped out, it will be especially difficult to tackle the president's biggest challenge of all.
OBAMA: My singular focus over the next two years is not rescuing the economy from potential disaster, but rather jump-starting the economy so that we actually start making a dent in the unemployment rate.
HENRY: Mr. Obama also may face resistance to his economic plans from both liberals still smarting from the tax deal he just cut, and conservatives determined to repeal his health reform law. An independent-minded Republican is urging both sides to give the new balance of power a chance.
SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI (R), ALASKA: Let's figure out how we deal with some of these very, very difficult issues, whether it's tax policy or whether it's going to be what we're going to be doing on - on spending. We've got enough that we need to do that we don't need to get weighted down in the partisan politics.
HENRY: Music to the ears of White House aides trying to hammer the message that Republicans now have a responsibility to govern.
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: They can't afford any longer to just simply sit and say no. They have to be part of a constructive conversation.
HENRY (on camera): White House officials say the president has started at least some work on his State of the Union Address, which should be at the end of January, and we should expect a big theme to be exactly what you just heard from Robert Gibbs. Now that Republicans run at least half of Congress, they have an obligation to meet the president halfway on some of these big issues, especially the economy.
Ed Henry, CNN, Honolulu.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: The political lines are already being drawn in the U.S. Senate over the bill-killing tactic known as the filibuster. Democrats say it's time for reform, Republicans say not so fast.
CNN's Congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMES STEWART, ACTOR, "MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON": And I'm going to stay right here and fight for this lost cause.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jimmy Stewart made the filibuster famous in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," delaying the entire Senate by talking on the Floor until he collapsed from exhaustion.
Off the silver screen, the filibuster is less dramatic.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On this vote, the yeas are 57, the nays are 42, three-fifths of -
KEILAR: That's a bill failing to overcome this weapon of the minority party used to delay or kill legislation, provoking the ire of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
SEN. HARRY REID (D), MAJORITY LEADER: We've had filibuster after filibuster on a major piece of legislation during this entire Congress, not once but 87 times. KEILAR: With the diminished majority next Congress, Democrats want to weaken the filibuster.
How would they do it? There are a number of ideas floating around, from eliminating the 60 votes needed to even have a final vote on a bill, to ending so-called secret holds where a single anonymous senator can prevent a bill from coming to the Floor, to forcing senators who want to filibuster to speak at length, sort of like Jimmy Stewart's character did.
STEWART: And you know that you fight for the lost causes harder than for any other.
KEILAR: The goal, take a slow-moving Senate that takes up only a fraction of the bills the House does, and speed things up.
After years of arguing the filibuster makes the Senate necessarily deliberative, Congressional scholar Thomas Mann now supports a change.
THOMAS MANN, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION (voice-over): Because it's made the Senate an utterly dysfunctional body. It - it gives power, first of all, to individual senators to - to put what is called a hold on a piece of legislation or a nomination to the courts or - or to the executive branch.
KEILAR: Every Senate Democrat in the new Congress has signed a letter urging changes to Senate rules. Not surprisingly, Republicans are opposed to giving up their power to hold up Democratic priorities, and even some outgoing Senate Democrats warn the long term consequences should trump the short term political gain of changing the filibuster.
SEN. CHRIS DODD (D), CONNECTICUT: Therefore, to my fellow senators, who have nerve served a day in the minority, I urge you to pause in your enthusiasm to change Senate rules.
KEILAR (on camera): Now, here's the thing, it takes two-thirds of the Senate - that's 67 senators - to change Senate rules. Democrats could get around that by appealing to the president of the Senate, who is Vice President Joe Biden, to allow just a simple majority to change the rules.
It's a lot of newer Democratic Senators here who support this, and they are the ones that outgoing Senator Chris Dodd was warning there, saying just wait till you are in the minority and you will regret that you've taken away your best tool.
Brianna Keilar, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: It was like a scene from a horror movie come true. This is totally bizarre. Thousands of dead birds - look at this, Reynolds Wolf, falling from the sky in an Arkansas town. The question is, why? Look at that one. That's a really beautiful bird. I mean, I don't get it. Do - do you get it? Thousands of birds just fall out of the sky and - and nobody knows why.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I've been blamed for a lot of things, Joe. I have nothing to do with this one.
JOHNS: Yes.
WOLF: This was not me. I promise you. Well, but that is some creepy stuff.
Hey, we've got some different stuff falling from the sky out west, in California, rain, sleet, snow, possibly some flooding in the San Joaquin Valley. That is coming up, straight ahead. Plus, your travel weather.
We'll see you in a few.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: Thirty-seven minutes after the hour now.
An Alfred Hitchcock drama playing out in real life in a small town in Arkansas. More than a thousand dead black birds fell from the sky late Friday in the town of Beebe. By yesterday morning, dead birds were being cleaned up from streets and rooftops across a one mile area of the city.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MILTON MCCULLAR, STREET DEPARTMENT SUPERVISOR: It started at 7:00 and picking up birds on the street, in the yards that's been run over and it's just a mess.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission collected about 65 of those birds for testing. Officials say the flock may have been hit by lightning or a high altitude hail.
A more seasonal and less severe weather outlook for much of the country today. Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf has your Sunday forecast.
WOLF: Yes.
JOHNS: You're going to drive on the roads?
WOLF: It's - yes, it's going to be pretty interesting in parts of the country. Out - out west, in California, you're going to have everything falling from the sky except crows. No crows for this one. It's going to be a little bit different.
But that's not the only place where we're going to be seeing some precipitation. In fact, out towards the East Coast, and right along the eastern seaboard itself, this morning we've got some scattered showers. A little bit of snow forming just to the northeast, the Finger Lakes region of the Empire State of New York.
East of 81, we're seeing the snow showers, but the heavy stuff is still out towards the west in Golden State, where it's going to be heavy rain in parts of the San Joaquin Valley, some places about a quarter of an inch or less, but the problem is with areas that are already saturated, the additional rainfall might cause some flooding. So that's something to watch out for.
You're seeing the rain in form, the blue that's popping up the grade. There are some greens and even some yellows and orange spots, indicating the heavier precipitation, some of just to the - right at your San Luis Obispo and your Los Osos, they're having some heavy rainfall right now.
But if you look back towards the mountains, you're seeing something all together different, a little bit of white that's popping up. That white is the snowfall and the snow could get fairly heavy between now and tomorrow morning. The highest peaks are the Central and Southern Sierra Nevada, one to three feet. Try that on for size.
And anyone driving along the mountain passes, maybe even taking 115, you're going to be dealing with the winds as they come down from those mountains, anywhere from 25 to 35 miles per hour. Also anyone driving along I-5 along the grapevine, it could get kind of icy up there in those high mountain passes, so please be careful.
If your travel is of a different variety, maybe going to the airport, well, we do have one delay to speak of for the time being. That's at JFK. We've got a ground stoppage in effect till about 7:00 Eastern, so, not too long of a wait.
That's what's happening now. Here is what may happen later on.
Expected delays out towards the west. No surprise for San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles, rain and wind are the major factors that may keep you on the tarmac for up to an hour, or at least in the terminal. Reno, it's all going to be snow biz, anywhere from about a 30 minute to a 60 minute delay.
For the rest of the nation, as we wrap things up, here's what you can expect. Let's go to this map again, and once we do we're going to show you the national perspective which is going to include some snowfall, not just in California, but also in Idaho, maybe Sun Valley you might get a sprinkle or two. Thirty degrees the expected high for Boise; 41 in Denver; 36 in St. Louis. They're still clean up from the tornado damage. What a mess they've had there. Forty-six in New York the expected high; 51 in Atlanta, the rain moving out by mid-morning. Austin, Texas, beautiful day out along the Lady Bird Lake, with 57 degrees for a high.
Joe, it's good there. Let's send it back to you.
JOHNS: Yes. Could be much worse.
WOLF: Absolutely. They could have - they could have crows falling from the sky. (INAUDIBLE). JOHNS: Right. Well, we're going to get to the bottom of that. I'm just convinced - maybe not today.
Stories making news in the entertainment world as the holiday season winds down. CNN entertainment correspondent Kareen Wynter has your holiday fix.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, if there is one phrase that can sum up most of this week's news in Hollywood, it's will you marry me? That's right, some major stars, they'll be tying the knot.
Let's begin first with Reese Witherspoon. Nearly a year after splitting with Jake Gyllenhaal, well, the Oscar winner announced she's engaged to Hollywood agent Jim Toth. A rep for the actress says the couple is extremely happy.
Another happy couple, country singer LeAnn Rimes and boyfriend Eddie Cibrian, who celebrated the holidays by, yes, getting engaged.
And perhaps the most surprising engagement announcement comes from Natalie Portman. She said yes to her "Black Swan" choreographer and co-star Benjamin Millepied, and - get this - the two, they are already expecting a baby, a child. 2011 should be such an exciting year for this 29-year-old, especially with her award nominations and also the big Oscar buzz surrounding her latest flick.
Now, while those stars are happy, there's one high profile celebrity family who is not. We're talking about the Jacksons. The late Michael Jackson's estate is fuming over a Discovery Channel documentary. It's called "Michael Jackson's Autopsy: What Really Killed Michael Jackson," which reportedly shows a re-enactment of the King of Pop's controversial autopsy.
The estate slammed the network in a letter saying, quote, "Your decision to even schedule this program is in shockingly bad taste and insensitive to Michael's family." Apparently, Discovery was listening. The program was slated to air in the U.K. this month, but the network has postponed it indefinitely, citing the request from Jackson's estate and legal proceedings.
And finally, next week could be a turning point on the road to recovery for troubled starlet Lindsay Lohan. That's right, her father tells CNN that Lohan will check out of rehab next Tuesday after a three month stay, but she remains on a super tight leash. The 24- year-old must stick to the terms of her probation by her next court date or she's back to the slammer.
That's right, she could go back to jail for six months. Lohan returns to court February 25th.
That's the latest on some of the entertainment headlines. I'm Kareen Wynter in Hollywood.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: The beginning of a new year, and now word of a frightening New Year resolution. Terrorists are more obsessed than ever about planning an attack on U.S. soil. Details ahead in a report from our Homeland Security correspondent.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: Forty-five minutes after the hour now.
Experts believe terrorist groups plan to step up their game this year. Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve has a terror threat outlook for 2011.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This week, there were terror arrests in Denmark, last week, in Britain. The week before, suicide bombings rocked Sweden. In the U.S., law enforcement stings recently disrupted purported plots to blow up a recruiting station in Maryland and a Christmas tree lighting in Oregon. A top counterterrorism official says the pace has been relentless.
MICHAEL LEITER, NATIONAL COUNTERTERRORISM CENTER: I can tell you that the past 13 months have been as intense if not more intense because of the variety of threats than anytime since 2001.
MESERVE: And no one sees the tempo slowing.
DON BORELLI, TERRORISM EXPERT, THE SOUFAN GROUP: We've seen all of these various threat streams kind of coming together and - and kind of hitting a confluence at the end of December here. So I think that trend is going to continue into 2011.
MESERVE: Al Qaeda Central remains a threat, so is the Pakistani Taliban which launched the attempted Times Square bombing. And the al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, they dispatched the Christmas Day bomber and the toner cartridge cargo bombs.
In the past two years, nearly 50 American citizens have been charged with serious terrorism offenses and experts say home grown radicalization will continue to be nurtured by the Internet including the online preaching of U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and English language Jihadi rap videos from Somalia's Al-Shabaab.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It all started out in Afghanistan when we (INAUDIBLE) off the land.
MESERVE: This September, the U.S. will commemorate the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Some experts believe al Qaeda may also be watching the calendar.
BORELLI: I think they are likely to step up their game to be able to have a successful significant attack prior to the anniversary. MESERVE (on camera): Borelli and others believe the terrorists don't want to hear any American official say they have kept the country safe for 10 years. But separate and apart from that, the diversification of the threat, the new emphasis on small scale attacks, makes plots harder to detect. It has created a bigger challenge for law enforcement and the intelligence community and they are braced for a tough year ahead.
Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: If you're looking for comfort food, you're not going to find them at these restaurants. The dishes here take a back seat.
Nadia Bilchik takes us inside some very special cafes in Tokyo where dream world meets real world.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: I'm wondering if we're actually (ph) talking about food here. Listen to this. Escaping reality, indulging fantasy, all inside restaurants in Tokyo? And this doesn't have very much to do with the food - Nadia Bilchik.
NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: No, it doesn't. It's about Tokyo maid cafes.
JOHNS: Maid - M-A-I-D?
BILCHIK: M-A-I-D and these waitresses or maids wear lovely French black and white maid costumes and you walk in to be entertained by the maid. And they're called maid cafes.
JOHNS: This sounds a little - this is - this is for guys, right? So it's -
BILCHIK: Well, interestingly enough, women and men go. The majority would be men who would go and you can have various services, Joe. You can get a foot massage, which is of certain price. You can get a hand massage, and you can even get an ear cleaning.
JOHNS: This sounds very much in the tradition of Japanese geishas.
BILCHIK: Very much. And geishas actually mean people of the art so the way they pour tea. And bear in mind that Japan is a very formal culture, so to have this outlet of these cafes where you are served - and yes, it does indulge in certain fantasies, you can get these maids to dress up as nuns or schoolteachers at a certain fee.
JOHNS: Really?
BILCHIK: But fascinatingly, you cannot tip the women. It's a set fee and no tipping allowed. And, you know, no tipping allowed at any Japanese restaurants. If you had to tip your waiter or waitress, they would be terribly insulted and run off you.
But there's a twist to this tale, Joe, because they are now in Tokyo not only maid cafes, there are butler cafes where -
JOHNS: Ah, there you go.
BILCHIK: -- where women go to be treated royally by butlers. Now, some of the butler cafes where Japanese men walk in and say hello, ma'am. And, by the way, the maids, when you walk in say hello, master.
JOHNS: Whoa.
BILCHIK: But at the butler cafe -
JOHNS: That's amazing. You know, it looks like they don't - they don't have the national organization for women over there or something?
BILCHIK: Well, at the butler cafes, they say hello, princess. And you are treated as a Cinderella. And there's a new twist on the butler cafe which is a foreign butler cafe where you have butlers who speak English. They may be Danish or Canadian or British -
JOHNS: Right.
BILCHIK: But women go there to practice their English and it appeals particularly to the "Otaku" who are a group of Japanese women who love anime which is animation who are considered the geeks. So they go into these cafes and they are treated like princesses.
JOHNS: This is amazing. Yes. And it's funny. I guess, do we have some type of a corollary notion here in the United States? We really don't, do we? We don't have -
BILCHIK: Well, some may say Hooters -
JOHNS: All right.
BILCHIK: You know?
JOHNS: Got it.
BILCHIK: And there are samples (ph) but would we accept it in the same way? You know, Japanese seem very open to the whole idea of fantasy.
JOHNS: Right.
BILCHIK: And they are treated very respectfully, these people.
JOHNS: Are they more sexually open culture, say, than the United States? Or is it -
BILCHIK: I would say probably more formal, but what happens when you enter this world, different morays apply. JOHNS: It's really fascinating.
BILCHIK: You can either go to a maid cafe and be treated in that way or -
JOHNS: I wouldn't be caught dead.
BILCHIK: Well, except I supposed if you go to Japan and it's a whole different experience, you may do it for the cultural experience, Joe.
JOHNS: Yes.
BILCHIK: But imagine going to the butler cafe. Now, the butlers actually lift the women up. They have photographs with the butlers, and you can have a whole Cinderella package.
JOHNS: That's pretty amazing.
BILCHIK: And think about the reversal of traditional Japanese roles where the women of being to pour tea and at the butler cafes the men have to undergo a month training on how to pour tea.
JOHNS: Wow. Well -
BILCHIK: Like geishas.
JOHNS: You get something out of it. That's pretty incredible. Thank you so much, Nadia Bilchik.
BILCHIK: We'll be going to Japan.
JOHNS: All right. I'm ready. I'm ready. They say it's expensive.
BILCHIK: It's - Tokyo is one of the most expensive cities in the world.
JOHNS: All right.
BILCHIK: In the 8:00 hour, we'll be going to Hungary.
JOHNS: OK. I've been to Hungary, actually. That will be good.
It's the New Year and most of us are still trying to stick to our resolutions. One of the most popular resolutions we've all heard, getting fit and losing weight. But before you go out and join a gym, we've got some tips to help you get the best deal.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: That's what I should be doing. We're only a couple of days into the New Year. How are you doing with your resolutions?
A Merit (ph) College poll says the top resolution is quitting smoking this year. Right after that, what they're doing - trimming the waistline.
But before you run out and sign up at your nearest gym to try to shed some of those extra holiday pounds, Nicole Collins have some suggestions to make sure you're getting the best deal possible.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICOLE COLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the holiday food coma subsides for many, fitness goals start to take shape. The New Year plus the weak economy means it's prime negotiating time.
JEREMY RUCKER, GOLD'S GYM/PERSONAL TRAINER: Gyms right now especially at this time of year are looking for as many members as they can get.
COLLINS: First, try before you buy. Many gyms offer free week passes, but ask for more.
KIMBERLY LINTON, FITNESS EXPERT/PERSONAL TRAINER: If you say it takes me a little longer to see if I like something, can I come for a month, they'll give you a month.
COLLINS: Ask the gym to waive the enrollment fee and know your cancellation policy. You can also get a deal if you pay in full for a year, but that may not be right for everyone.
LINTON: I might move next year. I might lose my job. So the short term higher rate is probably better than the long term cheaper rate.
COLLINS: Look out for the hard self, play hard to get.
RUCKER: Let them know that you're in there and let them know that you're looking at other gyms.
COLLINS: Sign up with a family member or friend or roommate. And check to see if your health insurance or employer offers a discount. And don't rule out the local YMCA or community center. They're often an affordable option.
For "Consumer Watch", I'm Nicole Collins.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: In Ohio, Sheriff's Department is mourning the loss of a deputy shot and killed in the line of duty. She never even had a chance to defend herself. The firefight that followed and the colleagues' valiant attempt to rescue her all caught on tape. We'll bring that to you.
Michael Jackson's doctor returns to court this week with a new strategy and a new account of the late superstar's final minutes.
From the CNN Center, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. It's Sunday, January 2nd. Good morning. I'm Joe Johns. Thanks for starting your day with us. Taking a look at top stories.
Some raunchy videos can now threaten the career of a Navy captain and commander of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. In 2006 and 2007, he was second in command on the carrier as it supported the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That's when now Captain Owen Honors appears in these videos. They continue sexual innuendo, anti-gay remarks, and what appears to be two female sailors showering together.
The Navy has started an investigation into who produced them and why they were shown to the crew.
Floods triggered by monsoon rains now affect about 200,000 people in parts of Australia. The swamped region is the size of France and Germany combined with at least 1,000 people likely to have to be evacuated. So far the death toll, one is confirmed dead. Spokesman for emergency management says floodwaters are starting to recede in some places, but it threatens to inundate other towns.
The U.S. Capitol is briefly evacuated when a plane enters restricted air space, part of the security fallout from 9/11. It turns out that small plane had communications problems, that's why it never responded to calls to avoid the area yesterday. Nevertheless, Andrews Air Force Base scrambled two fighter jets, but the plane landed at Reagan Airport before they had a chance to intercept it.
We begin with the story of courage and sadness in Ohio where the Clark County sheriff's department is making plans to honor one of its own. A female deputy, Suzanne Hopper, a mother of two, answered a call about gunfire at a trailer park outside Springfield, Ohio, yesterday. Investigators say she was taking photos of footprints when a man came out of his trailer, pointed a shotgun at her and fired. She never had a chance.
The gunman then fired on other deputies and officers as they arrived, setting off a gun battle in which an officer was wounded. You'll see that as it happens and we want to let you know these images you'll see are graphic and disturbing. The deputy who is shot is in serious condition, but expected to survive.
Here now is how the tragedy played out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The suspect inside opened fire and struck a German Township police officer. He's currently in Miami Valley and it appears to me right now that he's in serious condition, but they tell me that he's believed to be -- he will be OK.
It appears that the door of the trailer opened and the person inside fired one shotgun blast, striking the deputy and fatally wounding a deputy.
They did enter the trailer. The suspect was deceased apparently from the exchange of gunfire with deputies. Our deputy never had the opportunity to return fire or take cover. The deputy was an outstanding deputy and is married and a parent of two children. This is the worst day in my 24 years as the sheriff of Clark County.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Police have identified the wounded officer as Jeremy Blum of the German Township police. They have not identified the gunman yet.
Now to severe weather, a seventh person has died from that series of strong storms that raked much of the Midwest Friday. Missouri Governor Jay Nixon toured two of the tornado damaged neighborhoods around greater St. Louis area. In nearby Rolla, an 80-year-old woman died yesterday from injuries she sustained in Friday's destruction.
In Arkansas, the small town of Cincinnati took the brunt of the storm. All three storm-related deaths happened here in Washington County. Local media report eight of 10 people injured from the tornado are still in the hospital. The local Red Cross says residents are already working on their recovery plan.
A less severe weather outlook for much of the country today. Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf has your Sunday forecast and a look ahead to the first week of the New Year.
Reynolds, it does sound like there are a few challenges out on the West Coast.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, just a few. But the rest of the nation looks pretty good. But out west, you're right -- it is going to be a struggle for a lot of people. The place that has just been battered by one storm after another, usually during this time of the year, or at least during I guess the eight months of the year, you have an area of high pressure that sits up over the west coast of California. It's basically like a door of high pressure, keeps storms from coming through.
Well, at this time of the year, that high pressure system is gone. And when it's gone, that leaves the door open. So, one storm after another has the opportunity to pummel the West Coast. That is certainly going to be the situation today.
Some of the places where we're seeing the heaviest rainfall would be right near San Francisco, not far at all from Pier 39, as far south as Monterey. Even in Salinas, you're seeing the rainfall. Back over to Bakersfield, once you get off the coastal range and into the I-5 corridor, the rain could really pile up and cause not only ponding on the roadways, but there will be the potential of some flash flooding. Keep that in mind.
Up in the mountains, though, it's a different story altogether where we're seeing the beginning of some snowfall, some of which may truly be significant as we fast forward into the rest of your afternoon and into tomorrow -- one to three feet of snowfall possible with gusts, of wind anywhere from 25 to 35 miles per hour. However, it looks like the bulk of the snow is gong to be in the central and southern half of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and also into parts of San Gabriel's.
As we take a look at our national perspective, what you can expect around the rest of the nation will be fairly nice and parts of the Pacific Northwest -- Boise, the high will be 30 degrees, plenty of sunshine mixed in with the clouds. Denver, 41; Austin, Texas, 57 with a lot of sunshine; St. Louis, not a bad day along the city, if you don't mind 36 degrees, that will be the high in the afternoon; 51 for Atlanta; New York checking with 46 by late afternoon, with a chance of those scattered showers; and Minneapolis with 16 degrees.
If you're heading to the airport, your forecast looks like this, again expect delays that we got for you. San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles, and Reno -- three of those, mainly all the airports in California, all delays due to potentially rain and wind. But Reno is going to be will be the issue with the snow hampering visibility.
All right. Joe, you're back to speed.
JOHNS: That's right. Well, it seems like the East Coast is where you're normally looking for snow this time of year, and now, they're having some challenges out there.
WOLF: Kind of a reversal of fortunes.
JOHNS: Yes. All right, good for me. I'm on the East Coast.
(LAUGHTER)
JOHNS: If you head to the Islands of Adventure amusement park in Orlando today, you can for get the Rip Saw Falls water flume. It's shut down. Fire broke out yesterday in a structure that houses part of the ride. A staffer shut the ride down and got passengers out of the area fast. Nobody hurt.
Investigators are trying to figure out what started that fire.
One guy at the park was with his son, saw the fire from another ride.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENE GILCHRIST, UNIVERSAL ORLANDO RESORTS VISITOR: I was riding the Dragon's Challenge and being from that high, my son turned around and said, "Dad, there's a fire over there." Looked off in the distance from over the Harry Potter and just -- the sky was filled with smoke.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: The park does not know when that ride will reopen.
The doctor facing charges in the death of Michael Jackson heads to a Los Angeles courtroom this week. Next, Dr. Conrad Murray's attorney talks to CNN about the charges and why his client he says should be cleared.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: The defense is floating new theory about how singer Michael Jackson died. We know an overdose of a drug called Propofol, something to help him sleep, actually killed him. But the doctor on trial for involuntary manslaughter, Conrad Murray, says Jackson may have given himself the final does.
The judge in the case said a preliminary hearing for next week, a hearing that will decide if there's enough evidence to put Murray on trial, the key items of evidence include syringes taken from Jackson's home where they found his body. The defense wants them tested to help determine who administered the drugs to Jackson. But those tests could use up the little bit of residue left on the syringes.
Here's CNN's Ted Rowlands.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED CHERNOFF, DR. MURRAY'S ATTORNEY: Dr. Murray did not cause the death of Michael Jackson.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ed Chernoff says when Dr. Conrad Murray went to work as Michael Jackson's personal doctor, he had no idea that Jackson was, in Chernoff's words, addicted to Propofol, a drug normally used to put surgical patients to sleep. Murray started giving Jackson the powerful drug in Jackson's home.
(on camera): Doctor after doctor says this should never be used outside a clinical setting, outside of a hospital or a clinic.
CHERNOFF: The fact that the circumstances may be unusual, made -- demonstrated to be unusual does that make it egregious. That alone does not make it egregious.
ROWLANDS (voice-over): According to the coroner's report, Jackson had the same a Propofol in his body when he died as is used for major surgery. But Murray says he didn't give Jackson that much Propofol.
CHERNOFF: There's no way that Dr. Murray would pump Michael Jackson full of Propofol sufficient for major surgery and walk out of that room. It's not going to happen. That's not the doctor Dr. Murray is.
ROWLANDS (on camera): How did it get in him?
CHERNOFF: That's a good question. Ted, do you have any idea how it got in him?
ROWLANDS (voice-over): The only other scenarios, someone else gave Jackson the fatal dose or Jackson woke up and injected himself, which the coroner addressed but concluded would be a long shot.
CHERNOFF: But is it possible? Absolutely, it's possible. ROWLANDS: This is Michael Jackson rehearsing two nights before he died. Murray says he got Jackson to sleep without Propofol after this rehearsal.
But the day Jackson died on June 25th, it was a different story. According to an affidavit filed in the case, Dr. Murray gave detectives the following time line: 1:30 a.m., Murray gives Jackson a 10 milligram valium; 2:00 a.m., Murray injects Jackson with two milligrams of lorazepam, another sleep aid.
An hour later, he gives him two milligrams of another drug, Versed. At 5:00 a.m., Jackson is sill awake, Murray he gives him more lorazepam. At 7:30 a.m., more Versed. By 10:40 a.m., after nine hours of trying to sleep, Jackson is still awake and Murray gives him an I.V. drip of 25 milligrams of Propofol.
Where Dr. Murray was from 10:40 until noon when the coroner's report says Jackson was found unresponsive is unclear. It's the only window of time that someone else, including Jackson himself, could have administered the fatal dose of Propofol.
Prosecutors say the evidence points towards Conrad Murray as the person responsible for the overdose, but Chernoff maintains that Murray had the expertise and equipment to safely give Jackson small doses of Propofol, and he says the doctor had the knowledge not to give him an overdose.
CHERNOFF: Whatever he did was to help. And he took the necessary precautions and then something happened that is unexplained.
ROWLANDS (on camera): Conrad Murray is facing involuntary manslaughter charges. He is out on bail and continues to practice cardiology at clinics in Las Vegas and Houston.
Ted Rowlands, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: We're just two days into the New Year. Are you sticking to your resolution? If you're looking to stay on your new diet for the long term, we've got a dietitian who's got the keys to keeping you on track.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: OK. So, you've made your New Year's resolutions now. What did you resolve to change? If you're like a lot of people, you resolved to change your diet.
Here to help us now learn how to do that is Julie Schwartz, a registered dietician.
And obviously, there are some issues because if it were easy to stop eating the wrong things, we would have done this a long time ago.
JULIE SCHWARTZ, REGISTERED DIETICIAN: Right. JOHNS: And I think probably the best way to go at this is to talk about the excuses that people have. And one of favorite excuses is: well, I don't have enough money or I'm on a limited or fixed income, or what-have-you. But you say that doesn't fly.
SCHWARTZ: No. You can be very healthy and diet or eat nutritionally so that -- which I hate to use that "diet" word -- on a budget, on a very limited budget. Because we tend to want to have the foods that are higher cost or kind of associate those foods that are higher income, higher status, but vegetarian type options, meaning things like breakfast for dinner, breakfast for lunch, beans and legumes. And even --
JOHNS: And they don't cost a lot, especially if you prepare them yourself, the dry goods from the grocery store.
SCHWARTZ: Exactly.
And even staying around the perimeter of the grocery store, we've heard these types of tips all the time. But if buy seasonal things, seasonal fruits, seasonal vegetables, they're more affordable. If they're not seasonable and your favorites are kind of expensive, go frozen or even go canned.
But, you know, back to the excuses -- you know, we keep coming up with the excuse of why.
JOHNS: Right. My favorite and the one that I will use all the time is that it's about time.
SCHWARTZ: Right.
JOHNS: I don't have enough time. You know, I'm running here, I'm running there. I barely have time to get lunch and when I do, sometimes I just have to run to the local fast food place.
SCHWARTZ: It's all about planning. If you plan why you want to lose weight, why you want to be healthy, really get a good reason why, then you can kind of plan out your meals. And even in you don't have time, it's in your commute, in that five-minute break here or five- minute break there.
It doesn't have to be sitting down for 30 minutes, 40 minutes, you know, two hours. Plan ahead. Plan for what you're going to eat when you eat out, because even the best laid plan is not always 100 percent.
JOHNS: Yes.
SCHWARTZ: So, you have to have that backup.
JOHNS: But when you think about that, you're still talking about lugging Tupperware around or something, right? I mean, you have to bring your own food?
SCHWARTZ: Bringing your own is ideal, but that doesn't work for everybody. So, if you're going it run over to the fast food, what are you going to get? Which restaurants do you visit and look up the information and find out what are three or four choices that each restaurant that you can get? Almost every fast food restaurant has healthy choices, low cal choices that will work for losing weight or improving your health.
JOHNS: The other one is the sweet tooth excuse. You know, I just have -- I just got to have that brown every now and then.
SCHWARTZ: Got it. Right. There's a couple things to set yourself up. If you set yourself up and it doesn't take so much time, you eat more throughout the day. Make sure you're getting your healthy carbs. We've been so carbophobic that it sets people up to really want sweets because of our brain says, get a sweet when our body might say get an apple.
So, have a piece of fruit before you have a sweet and see if you really want that sweet. Make sure you eat throughout the day because oftentimes that sweet tooth hunger more so than I really want that brownie.
JOHNS: And that's the same thing goes for the will power excuse which is just like I have a sweet tooth.
SCHWARTZ: Right. And I always say will power is just an excuse to give yourself an out, nothing to do with will power and maintaining healthy living. It's more about setting yourself up, planning, set up you environment, doing things like eating on the smaller plate. Not a tiny plate, but maybe an eight to 10-inch plate. It will make a major difference.
Put the foods that you eat in your home or if you're always on the fly at work, then have some things that will work. You know, you can have some high fiber bars. You can have some nuts. You can have dried fruit, things so that you're set up.
JOHNS: Julie Schwartz, thanks so much for coming in. Good tips at the beginning of the year.
SCHWARTZ: Great. Thank you, Joe.
JOHNS: You bet.
They're the videos you can't turn away from no matter how hard you try. We're back with a look at some of the videos that went viral. Can I use that word? Over (ph) the past week?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: Time now for a look at some great videos. Our Josh Levs is always on the lookout for the best of the best.
And, Josh, today, today we're starting with a video that sent to us through -- was sent to us through an iReport.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, a lot of times, we're seeing the videos on the file-sharing size down there online. This one was sent to us. It's incredibly popular and it is now viral. Let's get right to it.
This little dog sent to us by iReporter Andrea Wallick from Short Hills, New Jersey.
The little terrier loves to bury himself in snow. Watch this.
(VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Oh, that's hilarious.
LEVS: Then he just emerged. He's completely happy down there. He's a Norfolk terrier. He goes out first thing after the big snowstorms. He can't get enough. He just keeps want to go bury himself in the snow and not come back out.
And you can tell she wasn't worried about it. Apparently, this is a pattern of what he always likes to do after a big snowstorm. I love this little guy.
All right. More holiday season joy, take out -- take a look at this from Christmas. This man filmed his kids coming down the stairs at Christmas Day every year for 25 years. This is set to its' Christmas time -- "Christmas Time Is Here" played by Vince Guaraldi. Watch this.
Get to the next section of the video. And you'll see them when they're a little bit older -- same two kids every year for 25 years.
JOHNS: Wow.
LEVS: And now, skip again ahead when there's a third guy there who's the husband of the girl in it now. This guy, Nick Confalone, has a Twitter account, he's the boy in it. And he said that he and his dad are so happy people are watching this video and enjoying it so much.
OK. We have a little bit of time left. Before we go, one more thing to show you. Take a look at this. This is a little bit of reality check video.
First, watch what happens. You're looking at this cat and what you see -- it seems to be reaching its head inside something and pretty soon, it's going to emerge as a bunny. Take a look at this.
(LAUGHTER)
LEVS: Cat turns in to bunny. Now -- I love that video. So do a lot of people.
It turns out the owner apparently put the video backwards so in reality it started off on and the cat was pulling it off. But I'll tell you, it was a brilliant thing to reverse is online and got everybody to watch this.
It really looks like he's pushing (ph) to get it on. Go kitty.
All right. I'll have more virals for you next hour.
(LAUGHTER)
JOHNS: That is fantastic. And it's very sneaky to run the video backward like that. That's fantastic.
LEVS: It was brilliant. I'll see with more next hour, Joe.
JOHNS: You bet. All right, Josh.
It's the buzz word in Hollywood this holiday season, "wedding." Next, a look at some of the stars getting ready to tie the knot in 2011.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: We're following some stories making news in the entertainment world as the holiday season winds down. CNN entertainment correspondent Kareen Wynter has your celebrity fix.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, if there is one phrase that can sum up most of this week's news in Hollywood, it's "Will you marry me?" That's right, some major stars, they'll be tying the knot.
Let's begin first with Reese Witherspoon, nearly a year after splitting Jake Gyllenhaal. Well, the Oscar winner announced she's engaged. The Hollywood agent Jim Toth, a rep for the actress, says the couple is extremely happy.
Another happy couple, country singer Leann Rimes and boyfriend Eddie Cibrian, who celebrated the holidays by, yes, getting engaged.
And perhaps the most surprising engagement announcement comes from Natalie Portman. She said yes to her "Black Swan" choreographer and co-star Benjamin Millepied. And get this -- the two, they are already expecting a baby, a child.
2011 should be just an exciting for this 29-year-old, especially with her award nominations and also the big Oscar buzz surrounding her latest flick.
Now, while those stars are happy, there's one high profile celebrity family who is not. We're talking about the Jacksons. The late Michael Jackson's estate is fuming over Discovery Channel documentary. It's called "Michael Jackson's Autopsy: What Really Killed Michael Jackson," which reportedly shows a re-enactment of the King of Pop's controversial autopsy. The estate slammed the network in a letter saying, quote, "Your decision to even schedule this program is in shockingly bad taste and insensitive to Michael's family." Apparently, Discovery was listening. The program was slated to air in the U.K. this month, but the network has postponed it indefinitely, citing the request from Jackson's estate and legal proceedings.
And finally, next week could be a turning point on the road to recovery for troubled starlet Lindsay Lohan. That's right. Her father tells CNN that Lohan will check out of rehab next Tuesday after a three-month stay, but she remains on a super tight leash.
The 24-year-old must stick to the terms of her probation by her next court date or she's back to the slammer. That's right. She could go back to jail for six months. Lohan returns to court February 25th.
That's the latest on some of the entertainment headlines. I'm Kareen Wynter in Hollywood.
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JOHNS: More top stories at the top of the hour when CNN SUNDAY MORNING continues. But, first, "SANJAY GUPTA, M.D." begins now.
