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CNN Saturday Morning News

Major Snow Storm in Midwest and Northeast Leaving Folks Stranded or Powerless; Governor Blagojevich Claims He is Innocent; How Should You Cope This Holiday Season With the Stress of the Economy?

Aired December 20, 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 ANCHOR: From the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING, I'm T.J. Holmes.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, good morning, everybody, I'm Betty Nguyen.

We do want to thank you for starting your day with us and boy, what a cold one it is. The snow is piled high in parts of the Midwest and Northeast look at that wicked snowstorm that landed into the areas leaving folks powerless and others just simply stranded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ROD BLAGOJEVICH (D), ILLINOIS: I intend to stay on the job and I will fight this thing every step of the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Governor Blagojevich of Illinois says he has done nothing wrong, "I have done nothing wrong." He's promising to fight to the very end, refusing to give into allegations of corruption. We'll talk about what's possibly next. What could he do now?

NGUYEN: Also, we are asking you to send us your e-mail questions. We have an expert on hand to help you figure out how to cope with holiday stress. So what are you dealing with? Send it to us at weekends@cnn.com. We'll get some answers straight from the experts.

HOLMES: And talking about holiday stress there. Well, this is what some people are stressed out. We need to get an expert to help people deal with this. Bring out the shovel, the Midwest, Northeast, digging out this morning from a severe snowstorm that has disrupted travel, air travel, travel on the road, as well. The commute just nasty right about now.

NGUYEN: Yes, the areas most affected from Wisconsin and Michigan, east to Connecticut and New York, that's a large swath there, and forecasters say another wintery blast is on its way. Expected to dump as much as 15 inches in some spots.

Well, CNN is monitoring the storm system. We do have live video coming to us from our affiliates. These pictures now from WPRI in Providence, Rhode Island. You can see some folks already on the roadways. And there to the right of your screen, that left is WCVB and to the right of your screen we can see how the snow has covered many of the buildings in that downtown area. And a lot of folks obviously trying to stay indoors where it's warm as this wintery mix continues to pile up.

HOLMES: Well, we've been looking at some of these pictures from Boston, from on high, a lot of these pictures we've been seeing, live pictures. So let's get a better look from down below. And there is the look from down below. Our man out in the field for us, Dan Hausle. It looks like nothing is around you. The only thing we can see pretty much is that red jacket of yours. Everything's a whiteout.

DAN HAUSLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, you should have some white, we've got some of the snow still coming down here, and this pile was picked up by the plows, but on top of it, we've got a little light powder that's been coming down this morning. So it continues to come from the last eight to 10 hours. We got maybe eight to 10 inches around the area. And it came in rush hour last night and that was the big worry.

Last year, we had one of these storms that came in about rush hour and folks took about six hours to get home because they didn't really expect it. This time around, we got some good fortune that they saw it coming. They told a lot of people to stay home and stay off the roads. So it wasn't too bad for the rush hour.

Here in this corner, Massachusetts, some extra problems because folks are still dealing with the effects of the ice storm, about eight or nine days ago. In one community, we got about 30 percent of the people still without power. And on top of that, they've got yesterday's and today's snow to deal with, as well. So they can't even go into a warm house if they still got their power out.

And the plows are having additional difficulty because they're trying to clean up this stuff and underneath it at times, they're finding wires, branches, and other debris still left from the ice storm. So you've got a double whammy over a week, and it's making this storm that's really something more to deal with than a lot of people hope.

We're live in Massachusetts, back to you guys.

HOLMES: All right. Dan, as you said, a double whammy out there. Again Dan Hausle for us in Boston. Thank you so much.

NGUYEN: All right. So who is going to be feeling it? And where is it heading to next? Let's check in now with Reynolds Wolf in the severe weather center for a look at that. And Reynolds it looks like a lot of folks today really need to pack some patience if they're on the roadways or headed to the airports.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No question about it. Starting off at the airport first and foremost. In Boston, believe it or not, despite the snowfall, things are working pretty smoothly. We're taking a look at flight explorer right here. This flight right here happens to be Jetblue flight 1263 headed from Boston to Austin, Texas. Hey, if your grandma happens to be on this plane, she's coming to central Texas for Christmas, things are going to be fine. It looks like it's moving pretty good there. Not only are you having pretty decent conditions, there same story. New York Airports however, as we make our way later on today, we might be seeing all kinds of issues, all compliments of that snow.

As we were telling you, again, with some places around Boston, possibly up to a foot of snowfall. For the forecast for the time being shows about three to eight inches of snowfall expected for the Boston area. We go back farther to the west into Michigan, back into parts of say Minneapolis, even north to Grand Forks in the Dakotas. We're going to be seeing quite a bit of snowfall there. Some locations above a foot of snowfall.

Now, just to the south of that, to the southwest of Minneapolis, back into Sioux Falls. We have blizzard warning is currently in effect in this entire area you see shaded in purple which includes parts of the Dakotas, including Minnesota. Not only are we going to see that snow, which doesn't seem too significant, only one to two inches of snow expected, we're going to have strong winds anywhere from 40 to 50 miles an hour.

When you have that kind of wind with gusts topping 60 miles an hour, you're going to have whiteout conditions. So it's going to be a big mess for a lot of people that will be going down those roadways. So snow and ice, no question it's going to be a big issue for many people. Well, the heavy snowfall now forming down in say parts of Minneapolis, and back into Sioux Falls. We're going to be seeing this through a good part of the day. This storm moving into the Northeast by tomorrow, which means more snow for places like Boston, New York. Certainly not out of the woods just yet.

We'll send it back to you guys.

NGUYEN: All right. It is that time of year. A lot of people complain you know it's not a white Christmas, and then again those who get it just want it to go away.

WOLF: That's darn thing Crosby, absolutely.

HOLMES: There you go. Thanks, Reynolds.

NGUYEN: OK. Thank you, Reynolds.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLAGOJEVICH: Not guilty of any criminal wrong doing, that I intend to stay on the job and I will fight this thing every step of the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Those are the first public comments since his arrest about the case against him. That's Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich declaring his innocence and renewing his vows to stay right where he is, office. He was ready to talk, but he wasn't ready to take any questions just yet. He took a pass on questions and also offering a pass to 22 folks, issuing them pardons.

This as Blagojevich vows to fight the corruption charges he is now facing. Well something to say at least in the past 24 hours. And here to talk about that is criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor Pamela Bethel joins us now live from Washington.

What would you be telling him at this point? And is it obvious that maybe he knows something that we don't know? And you know all these stuff came out and it seems like this overwhelming case and all of this evidence against him and then he comes out pretty strong saying, you know what, I'm innocent. Is this what he had to do or maybe he had a pretty good case to make?

PAMELA BETHEL, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I don't think he has some pretty good case to make. And to the extent that he said -- made a statement, he said nothing. He said I'm innocent. He didn't do anything about answering any of the specific charges. Those relating to the allegations relating to President-elect Obama's seat, nor any of the other allegations in the complaint. We're only focusing -- most of us are focusing on the senate allegations.

But there are a host of other allegations relating to the governor. He didn't try to address any of them. He just told us that he's going to keep his head high and he wants us to be with him and you know in the end he's going to prevail. Well you know, as a politician, I think he pretty much felt he had to say something. People are really upset with him because he didn't respond to any specific allegations.

HOLMES: Some of this stuff we do focus on. The wiretaps.

BETHEL: Yes.

HOLMES: Some of the stuff from there. But some of it, many would say are a little -- I mean, not necessarily criminal. I mean saying that I've got this thing, you're talking about the Senate Seat, and it's bleeping golden. I'm not going to give it away just for nothing. I mean that sounds bad and what not, but ...

BETHEL: It is bad.

HOLMES: But some people say that's the horse trading that happens. Not necessarily criminal, you want cash for it, but you do a little political horse trading. It happens.

BETHEL: Well, I mean, it's one thing if you're talking about, look, I want to -- you know, you can do the political horse trading. But the sense that you get, from only those tapes that have been released. Remember, for the few taped conversations released, the government has a host of other tapes.

And you certainly get the context that he's talking about specific quid pro quo and not that money because look this thing is valuable. You don't want to sell it away. We got the allegations relating to possible hitting the hospitals for donations to his campaign. When you get into that kind of stuff, T.J., it is clearly criminal. There's no two ways about it.

HOLMES: All right. Well he certainly hasn't been convicted of anything just yet. But lots going on there. But you are --

BETHEL: Absolutely.

HOLMES: You're a former federal prosecutor, criminal defense attorney now, you see both sides here.

BETHEL: I have. I've seen them in the wiretap.

HOLMES: All right. So in criminal defense. Let's speak as a criminal defense attorney here. What would be your defense? So what we have seen right now. We don't know at all, like you said, but what we know what's out there, how would you defend this guy? How can he defend himself.

BETHEL: Well,one of the things I would not do, I would not make public statements about what my client's position is until, in fact, I knew more of the facts. Because they're responding to a few tapes or excerpts of tapes that have been released, but they have no idea. The second thing, they pretty much do have to say this is a misunderstanding, whatever you have in terms of snip-its do not comprise the entire conversation.

And when I said I wanted something for it and the next few sentences, which I don't have. I could have said something like well, I really don't mean money, I just want something warm and fuzzy. Well, whatever that might be. But we don't have enough facts. I mean that's the only difference. They can mount at the moment.

HOLMES: And then the Feds, does that create some a reasonable clock?

BETHEL: Well whatever that might be but we don't have an effect but I mean, that's the only defense they can mount at the moment.

HOLMES: And that defense creates some reasonable doubt.

BETHEL: No. It creates maybe a reasonable doubt for purposes of a public discourse, but I've been in a courtroom when tapes are played, public officials, and you got their word speaking back to them about what they said in this kind of thing and it is a very compelling case for the government. So I think they have a very difficult role, not impossible, but very difficult.

HOLMES: All right. Again, glad to have you because you can see both sides of this. You've been on both sides of it. Again, criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor Pamela Bethel. Ma'am, thank you so much for spending some time.

BETHEL: You're welcome.

HOLMES: Thank you so much and happy holidays to you. BETHEL: Same to you.

NGUYEN: All right. Let's talk about the mortgage mess because the slump in housing is having ripple effects throughout the economy.

HOLMES: But you may not want to shy away. Believe it or not, it's a good time to buy a house.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: All right. We have got some video for you today.

HOLMES: What do we got here? All right.

NGUYEN: Talking about an implosion. Something that we love to do here on the shows. Hey, implosions are us. You are watching CNN on the weekends, and this is what we enjoy showing you.

HOLMES: There we go, we haven't had one of these in a while. What you're looking at here -- and guys you said -- this is a live picture still, right? Hasn't happened yet, we're looking at the RCA dome here in Indianapolis. Of course, the former home of the Indianapolis Colts. Used to have the dome roof on it, this kind of balloon looking thing ...

NGUYEN: Right.

HOLMES: Over the top. Yes, that was deflated a while back. But we're expecting this thing to be imploded here shortly.

NGUYEN: And listen to this, they've got 800 explosive charges that will go off in only 25 seconds. Now this implosion, not intended to actually flatten this 24-year-old stadium, but to reduce it where the remaining debris can be removed by large equipment.

Here's what I love about it, the contractor who put out this warning to the public -- and you know, everyone wants to come by and watch it as it happens right and of course we love watching it here on the show. Well, the contractor says the best view of the demolition will be from television coverage. Obviously the safest view, as well.

HOLMES: And I believe he specifically named CNN in his statement as the best view and the best place to watch it. But you see workers. We had that wider shot up top, and I don't think we'll have any control of that camera. But a wider shot of that dome and see where it is.

But again, most people remember this as being the home of the Indianapolis Colts. They have a new stadium they're playing in this year. But it's been there for quite some time. And it's coming down today. So we're keeping an eye on it. When it does happen, we hope to bring it to you live. If not, we'll turn that tape around but you will see it, we promise.

NGUYEN: Absolutely. You will not miss it right here on CNN. In the meantime though, too often we have bad news about the economy. You know, you hear almost every day. But now, a piece of good news for some people, mortgage rates, they have dropped to their lowest levels in decades.

HOLMES: And that means opportunities out there ...

NGUYEN: Yes.

HOLMES: But exactly who can benefit? Are you one of them? Josh Levs breaking it down. Good morning, Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, those mortgage rates are getting demolished a little bit too. And for the record, if we get the video, we'll pull out and take a look at it. I love those things.

All right. Here's the idea. CNN Money is now reporting this. I want to show you the headline. Mortgage rates at a 37-year low. 37 years, rates on 30-year fixed mortgages dropped to close to five percent. It's incredibly far down. Now that did not necessarily mean big opportunities for everyone. So I spoke with some experts, try to get you some basic info here.

Let's break it down for you starting with this first graphic here. The first thing you need to know, if you want to benefit from this, you have to have equity in your home. That's a requirement to finance at one of these new low rates. A lot of people you know these days owe more than they're homes are worth. So they will not be helped.

Next, you have to have good credit. And with so many people losing jobs, consumer debt, struggle with mortgages, a lot of troubled borrowers don't have the kind of credit that they need. And then you also need this, money for a down payment, and guys, that applies also to new home buyers. You need good credit and you need money put away for a down payment if you're going to jump on this. So some people, not everybody can take advantage.

NGUYEN: Hey, so when we talk to analysts, do they believe that this will help get the housing market moving?

LEVS: Yes. Actually some people do think it'll help get them moving. I spoke with one analyst at bankrate.com. He said it really could make a difference because there's a lot of people who have been in their homes, 10, 20 years. They have good credit and they could refinance, but on the flip side, I spoke with a group called the neighborhood assistance corporation of America. They provide loans. They advocate against predatory lending. They're not happy with this.

I have a quote for you here. The CEO told me this, "very few will benefit because the bottleneck ...," really he says "is not the interest rate, it's the restrictions" and those obviously are still there. We just listed them for you. So you think you might qualify? Talk with your mortgage adviser and if you fit the criteria we talked about, it might be time to take action. So long the short Betty, T.J.: yes, there are some people out there who will benefit. Unfortunately, it's a little sliver of the population who are in a great economic situation right now.

NGUYEN: Absolutely. Take advantage of it if you can. That's the key. Thank you, Josh.

LEVS: Thanks, Betty.

NGUYEN: It is the holidays, so much shopping, so much cooking to do. Well, you more cooking, me more shopping.

HOLMES: No doubt about it.

NGUYEN: Then there's, of course, the family coming to town. Well, I'm getting stressed out thinking about it all. Not to worry, right, T.J., because we have some expert advice.

HOLMES: Yes. He's good. We just met him over in the make-up room ...

NGUYEN: Make-up room.

HOLMES: A second ago so he's all pretty and what not. But he is good. We had a good time talking to him. You're going to enjoy what he has to say. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: All right. So are you running out of time finishing up that holiday to-do list? Well, CNN's personal finance editor Gerri Willis has tips on how to navigate the last days of the frantic shopping season.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Hey there, Betty. With sagging sales, liquidations, bankruptcies, navigating the world of retail is harder than ever this holiday season. There are a few things to keep in mind. Avoid buying gift cards from financially distressed retailers. Consumers have lost millions of dollars in gift card value to bankruptcies. It's also important to note that bank gift cards are no bargain.

The FDIC recently expanded its insurance to include bank-branded prepaid cards. But this only applies to cards where your name and information is registered with the card purchase. And as you may know, that's not the case most times. So if your bank goes under, you're unlikely to have any insurance. And bank gift cards usually have extra fees, expiration dates, so make sure to read the fine print.

But there is a silver lining this holiday season. More than half of retailers polled by the National Retail Foundation have said that their holiday return policies are going to be more lenient this year. Of course, many stores are liquidating and in that case the store is likely going out of business. So buy wisely.

Coming up on "OPEN HOUSE," we're taking on the tough topic of ethics during the holiday season, a gift guide that won't break your budget, and what you can do to beat stress this holiday season. That's "OPEN HOUSE" at 9:30 a.m. Eastern -- Betty.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: All right. Well, the economic crunch combined with holiday stress can feel like a one-two punch. So how do you cope if you can't afford to have the Christmas that you're accustomed to? Well, here to help is health and wellness expert Eric Plasker who's joining us now with some tips.

Dr. Plasker, let's get right to it. OK. So you know it's the time of year where you're trying to do it all. And especially in this profession a lot of people can't do that. So one, how do you cope with that? And how do you talk to your kids about it?

ERIC PLASKER, AUTHOR, HEALTH AND FITNESS EXPERT: Great question. And we are on a campaign to de-stress America through Stressless America. Because there are people that holding a lot of stress and they're passing that stress on to their kids.

NGUYEN: They can feel it. They can sense it, right?

PLASKER: Absolutely. And here's the thing, your kids -- they're going to do what you do, they're not going to do what your say.

NGUYEN: That's right.

PLASKER: So passing healthy habits on to your kids is really, really important.

NGUYEN: All right. So what do you do? What are those healthy habits?

PLASKER: Take them to the gym and go to the gym together and get some exercise together. Go healthy food shopping together and cook some healthy meals instead of meals that are filled with lots of sugar and alcohol because they're going to watch you and take on your habits. And begin to take this healthy lifestyle into your life now especially because when you are under a lot of stress, stress can make you sick.

NGUYEN: Right. That's the physical, but what about the emotional and the mental when you're looking at your children and you're looking at your bills and you're thinking you know what I'm not going to be able to put all those presents under the tree this year.

PLASKER: Well give differently this year. There's a lot of ways to give. Somehow, some way over the years, we've learned to just through money and gift exchange.

NGUYEN: Right. PLASKER: Give more with your time. Do something creative with your kids. Write really personal notes. And have great open conversation about why you're giving differently this year so that people don't misinterpret why you're giving differently and take it personally and make themselves sick or stressed out in the process.

NGUYEN: Got you. You know, it's one thing to talk to your kids and of course, they're going to understand for the most part, but how do you keep from beating yourself up? And living with that kind of guilt.

PLASKER: You know what, for the average person like you or I, I mean, listen, billion dollar companies are going bankrupt. The experts in all of the fields and all the industries are struggling.

NGUYEN: So you're not alone.

PLASKER: You're not alone. And here's the thing, we need to get through this together. We're a great nation, filled with great people. We need to get through this together. We need to support each other a little bit more. We need to be a little bit more understanding.

We need to not be afraid, in my opinion to talk to each other about what's really going on, and let's figure out a way to navigate through this together. And that's why I'm excited that we were able to get so much support for Stressless America. All over the country people can go and exercise for free. And they can go and take fitness classes.

NGUYEN: How do they do that?

PLASKER: Well, they can go to stresslessamerica.com, Gold's Gym and any gym in the country, you can go work out for a week, for free.

NGUYEN: Really?

PLASKER: Less Mills, you can go. They have exercise classes all over the country, all over the world. You can take a fitness class for free. Go get extra workouts and we have doctors all and health care providers all around the country that are willing to give free spinal stress screenings and free oral stress screenings. A lot of people grind their teeth at night.

NGUYEN: I do that, actually.

PLASKER: And like what you said to me just before we started a lot of people hold their stress in their spine.

NGUYEN: Stress is on the shoulders.

PLASKER: Spine, right.

NGUYEN: Yes.

PLASKER: So these are things that you can do, there is a free energy drink from Isogenics, you can get to give you a little bit more of a natural energy boost and there's some audio material on there that you can listen to.

NGUYEN: All of that's out there ready for you ...

PLASKER: Absolutely.

NGUYEN: ...which is absolutely the best price in this recession right now. Free.

One of the things you talk a lot about living what the centenarian lifestyle.

PLASKER: Yes.

NGUYEN: What is that all about?

PLASKER: Well, the 100-year lifestyle is my book that's just doing phenomenal. We're very grateful because 100-year-old people are one of the world's fastest growing segments of the population. And this is a generation that is outliving their life expectancy by five decades. So we're getting --

NGUYEN: So what are they doing is the key, right?

PLASKER: Well, what they're doing is, if you take a centenarian's perspective, centenarians have lived through -- 100- year-old people have lived through 21 recessions in their lifetime. So the moral of the story is, we're going to make it. So if we know that we're going to make it, if we just had faith we were going to make it, take a deep breath.

NGUYEN: Right. Like I say, this too will pass. It's hard when you're in the middle of it. OK. Let's get to our e-mail questions, because a lot of people out there are watching. And they have questions of their own. Our first one right now comes from Debbie in Florida who says "how do you cope if you have been laid off and you can't afford to buy your kids gifts or worse, can't even afford a Christmas dinner. What do you tell your kids then?"

PLASKER: Wow, that's a tough point. And I feel for your situation and the only thing that you can do is make the best of your situation. And you can do that by being open and honest with your children. Maybe looking out for support. Reaching out for support. A lot of us when things happen that are bad to us, we're afraid to ask for support.

And so, we feel like we're in it alone. In this country today, the last thing we are is alone. There's a lot of people in this same boat and there's a lot of really good people. So don't be afraid to reach out for support. You're much more likely to get the support you need if you reach out for it.

NGUYEN: And the beauty of it is that kids are often so very understanding and is also teaching them a life lesson, as well, that it's not about the material things sometimes. PLASKER: And sometimes our expectations are different than our kids' expectations.

NGUYEN: True.

PLASKER: Our kids are very flexible, very adaptable. What they really want is to feel loved and be loved. So use this as an opportunity to really connect with your core values. What's really important? Is it really what's in the box and in the package? Or is it what's in the heart?

NGUYEN: Yes. Absolutely. Getting back to the things that matter. I like that. Thank you so much, Doctor. We do appreciate your time today.

PLASKER: Thank you.

NGUYEN: And this weekend, we have more on how to recover from the financial crisis. Ali Velshi leads you down the path toward taking control of your finances and learning to grow your money, you don't want to miss it. It's called "Gimme My Money Back." I love that title. It's right here on CNN Saturday and Sunday night, 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right, well, "HOUSE CALL" with Gerri Willis starts right now.