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CNN Saturday Morning News

Severe Weather Lashes Midwest With Deadly Results; New Year's Celebrations Around the World; Oprah Winfrey's New Network Launch; New Laws Going Into Effect In New Year; New Year's Bad Weather Welcome; Unusual New Year's Traditions; Brett Favre Could Miss Final Game; Wall Street to Main Street

Aired January 01, 2011 - 08:00   ET

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

JOE JOHNS, CNN ANCHOR: From CNN Center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. It's January 1st, 2011. Good morning, I'm Joe Johns in for T.J. Holmes.

The new year dropped into Times Square amid tight security and huge crowds. The good times rolled from there. We have every acorn, stiletto, peach and pickle that helped millions ring out the old and ring in the new.

And you can add cable TV to Oprah Winfrey's favorite things. The media giant is launching her own brand, new network just hours from now. Will millions of loyal followers follow her?

First, severe weather lashes the Midwest with deadly results. At least six people have been killed in a series of severe storms that rolled through at least five states Friday. Three people were killed in northwest Arkansas, more on that in a moment. And three more storm victims perished in neighboring Missouri.

That's where CNN meteorologist Jennifer Delgado joins us live this morning.

Good morning, Jennifer.

JENNIFER DELGADO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Joe. I am live in Sunset Hills. And this area actually one of the hardest hit from the storms that moved through yesterday, reportedly an EF-3. That's according to the National Weather Service actually touched down in this region and left behind a lot of damage across this area. I want to show you some video that we shot just a short while ago. And this is going to show you that you can see cinder blocks. This is a building that was damaged by this. Emergency crews are still out here trying to get things back together. They're working on the power as well as working on securing some of the damaged structures across this region.

Now, many people across this area said they experienced damage with trees down. But some residents actually had their homes destroyed from yesterday's tornado that struck in the morning. We have sound from a woman who has lost everything.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RUTH HICKS, STORM VICTIM: Everything's gone. We don't -- there's nothing left. Maybe a few of my son's toys that I might be able to salvage. But the Christmas tree was still up. I mean, everything, everything we had and everything I owned is gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DELGADO: That's right. You heard her say the Christmas tree was still up, but a lot of stuff inside her home was destroyed. I did call the Sunset Hills police department to find out exactly how many people were actually displaced, how many families. They say they don't have an exact number. They're hoping to get that a little bit later on this afternoon.

I can tell you this, that Governor Jay Nixon has declared actually a state of emergency. He's going to come out here later today and survey the damage in addition to the National Weather Service coming back out here and they're going to look at the possibility of actually the storm being an EF-4, which would make it an even stronger storm system than the EF-3 that the preliminary reports came out yesterday.

I want to take you to some more video. This is coming out of Rolla, Missouri and reportedly two people died and Rolla is located about two hours outside of St. Louis and the two people that died in that storm system when that tornado struck down, they were actually in a mobile home. You hear so many stories about people actually dying inside mobile homes and this in fact did happen here in the Missouri area -- Joe.

JOHNS: Just brutal damage we're looking at there, Jennifer. Now, you were in the area. Tell us a little bit about that and what you saw, what you heard. Not as much damage where you were precisely, right?

DELGADO: Absolutely. I was actually in Baldwin and then I woke up and I heard the storm system pushing through and reportedly we had a tornado that touched down in Baldwin. And that left behind some damage, as well for some homes, trees down, roofs were ripped off. But certainly nothing in comparison to the damage that was left behind here in Sunset hills.

You have to keep in mind, this is reportedly the strongest tornado that's touched down since 1967 and to give you an idea. You see I'm bundled up here. Right now, we have temperatures right around 25 degrees, it's cold. Yesterday it was the perfect environment for this. We had temperatures in the mid to upper 60s, a very wet, juicy environment and that fueled the strong storms that pushed through the Midwest -- Joe.

JOHNS: Amazing, temperatures making that much difference in the scenario.

Thank you so much for that, Jennifer Delgado. A few hours earlier, it was northwest Arkansas that was caught in the severe weather bull's eye. The storm zeroing in on Washington County, specifically the small town of Cincinnati just a few miles from the Oklahoma border. Here three people killed and what the National Weather Service is now confirming was a tornado. It hit before dawn, giving residents little if any warning.

Earlier this morning, I spoke with the local Red Cross.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL SPENCER, SPOKESMAN, AMERICAN RED CROSS (via telephone): (INAUDIBLE) The only warning there was the sound of the storm itself. And when you hear that sound, it's too late. A lot of people did not -- and I heard that lot of people saying I wished I would have had a weather radio. We really encourage people year round think about having an emergency weather radio that will sound a siren any time for you.

JOHNS: And there may be other supplies that you might need in that area. Are you getting the kinds of supplies you need beyond the issue of weather radios or what have you?

SPENCER: Yes, we're getting tons of supplies moved in throughout the state of Arkansas and the supplies that were needed. So the community is really pulling together and businesses have been great. And we're making sure that everyone out here has a hot meal and a warm place to stay and we'll be setting up today, actually and meeting with the families one-on-one to talk to them and sit down and help them to begin to plan their steps to recovery.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: And we're not done with the severe weather just yet. We have new watches and warnings posted for parts of the south, including Alabama's capital.

Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf live here with the latest information in the CNN Severe Weather Center. And interesting what Jennifer Delgado was just talking about, the changes in temperature making the atmosphere much more volatile.

(WEATHER REPORT)

JOHNS: Checking up on our top stories.

A powerful bomb exploded outside a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria, Egypt early this morning. It killed at least 21 people. Al Qaeda had threatened to attack Egypt's Christians, but police don't know if the terrorist group played any role in the bombing.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano surprised some American soldiers in Kabul spending New Year's Eve with them. Her visit has also strategic significance. She reviewed security operations at a key point along the Afghan border along Pakistan. Her goal is to stop the smuggling of weapons and explosives into Afghanistan.

The pope's new year's day mass denounced the bombing in Egypt. He devoted his message to religious freedom and justice. The pope told the crowd at the Vatican his words quote, we cannot become accustomed to discrimination in justices and religious intolerance.

A night of New Year's Eve celebrations around the world. First stop, New York City where a million people crowded Time Square to welcome 2011 and take part in one of the world's best known New Year's Eve festivities. Along with the huge crystal ball, which measures 12 feet in diameter, more than a ton of confetti rained down on the crowd. Very tight security prevented any major problems.

That's what I would call a dazzling fireworks display lighting up the London skyline at midnight as it welcomed the new year. It drew a crowd of 250,000 people, grateful for the warmer weather. London and much of Europe has suffered through bitterly cold weather earlier this winter.

This is Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. And this is also the first new year's celebration uses the world's tallest building as the focal point of a huge fireworks extravaganza. The building is more than 2,700 feet tall or just about a little more than half a mile tall, huge.

And take a look at the size of the crowd in Amsterdam. 40,000 people stood shoulder-to-shoulder ushering in 2011 with a big fireworks show and several musical performances.

A new year means new laws affecting everything from political donations to vending machines. We'll open up the law books and walk you through.

And the countdown is on, not to new year's. We're talking about Oprah Winfrey, the queen of all media launches her own cable channel today. What's at stake? Will it succeed? We're going to go behind the scenes. But first, here's a look at the new year's festivities in Key West, Florida, a shoe drop and an extremely festive crowd.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: Oprah Winfrey is celebrating the new year today with the launch of her new basic cable network that's called the Oprah Winfrey Network or OWN and that has us talking about what's at stake and will it succeed?

Kareen Wynter takes a look behind the scenes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The day millions of Oprah Winfrey fans have been waiting for, the launch of her very own cable TV network.

OPRAH WINFREY, OPRAH WINFREY NETWORK: It all begins here. WYNTER: It's arguably the most ambitious endeavor of her career, a 24-hour television channel dedicated entirely to the vision of Oprah Winfrey.

WINFREY: I could take every hero who inspired me.

MATTHEW BELLONI, TV EXPERT: The launch of OWN is a huge deal in the television business.

WYNTER: TV expert Matthew Belloni says he knows what OWN's greatest strength and challenge will be.

BELLONI: Oprah, she has a huge advantage in launching a network because she is a brand. The danger is that the programming may not live up to the brand. I mean, that's the big question mark.

WYNTER: Here's how Oprah plans to answer that question.

DR. PHIL, TELEVISION PERSONALITY: This is a time for new beginnings.

WYNTER: It asks Oprah's all-stars, a live audience goes one-on- one with Dr. Phil, Suze Orman and Dr. Oz.

WINFREY: Everybody has a story.

WYNTER: Master class profiles eight world icons. Season 25 takes fans behind the scenes of Oprah's hit talk show while "Big Bowl of Love" invites viewers inside the kitchen of Christina Ferrare.

CHRISTINA FERRARE, CHEF: This is my dream come true chapter and this is what I love to do.

WYNTER: And for those who love clutter, Peter Walsh has enough already.

PETER WALSH: This is a show that looks at people's stuff, but gives them a road map out of this overwhelming amount of clutter in their house.

WYNTER: And so many new networks fail. Why do you think this one is different?

WALSH: People want -- want to be the best they can be. People want heroes. People want inspiration. Here at last is a level of programming that brings people that.

FERRARE: There are a lot of critics out there, and I personally don't understand -- why wouldn't you want to have this kind of programming when today all you see now are those shows about housewives pulling each other's hair?

WALSH: I know it's easy to be cynical or skeptical, but I for one am so excited about what's going to happen when that -- that switch is flipped.

WYNTER: The switch gets flipped new year's day when viewers will decide whether they will shine a light on OWN.

And the first official program on OWN airs at noon on new year's day. It's going to be a two-hour special hosted by Oprah herself. It's going to be called Oprah's guide to OWN. As for all those Discovery health shows, only two will remain on the network, "Deliver Me" and "Mystery Diagnosis."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: Kareen Wynter, thanks for that.

It's the app that lets you phone home and sometimes you might see something quite unexpected.

And forget the ball, in Georgia it's all about the peach. Crowds packed into the streets of Atlanta to watch the state's most famous fruit drop into 2011.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: Yes, somebody just might be watching you. Got a burglar? There's an app for that. Here's reporter Kevin Torres with CNN Denver affiliate KUSA.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There he is.

KEVIN TORRES, KUSA REPORTER (voice-over): What a day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Creepy, creepy guy.

TORRES: What a night for that matter.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Last night just my roommate and I just did not sleep.

TORRES: It started Tuesday morning. Claire was away, left her computer on and connected to its camera through an application on her phone called iCam.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you can have up to four going at a time.

TORRES: She uses it to check in on her dog while she's at work. Instead of seeing her dog Tuesday, she saw this man, a burglar rummaging through her stuff.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's so much stuff he could've taken. It's so odd that he didn't take it.

TORRES: He did get away with a few iPods and other electronics, a couple hundred bucks worth of stuff to be exact. Last night we showed the video during this exact newscast and the result was promising. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Last night, somebody was watching Channel 9 and they saw -- I guess they were able to see his face from the footage that was there. I know it wasn't awesome or anything, but they called and tipped it in and he was able to get picked up.

TORRES: That information was given to Claire by a detective with Denver police.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was like, I believe, we have your perp in custody. He says he didn't take anything and that he just walked around and looked in your house. And I was like, oh, all right. Well, that's interesting because I have like the feed of him actually putting my iPod in his bag.

TORRES: Claire is grateful to the viewer who spotted the man. Knowing she'll be able to sleep safe and sound tonight. In Denver, this is Kevin Torres, 9 news.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: Along with the new year comes a long list of new laws affecting everything from vending machines to trash to plants, and one set of laws is linked to former Illinois Governor Rob Blagojevich. Josh Levs is here to tell us all about it.

So Blog's got a new law?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You could think of it as the Blogo law. We have so many laws in this country as you know, Joe. It's incredible how many laws we have. And then every time you start a new cycle, there's a couple cycles during the year.

Always on January 31st, you have a bunch. And a set of new laws a lot of people are talking about now is in Illinois where they have a new set of campaign finance reform laws partly because of this.

It actually was signed into law on the anniversary of the arrest of former Governor Rod Blagojevich. This new law is basically setting financial limits on how much money you can give to a candidate. It says individuals can give a candidate up to $5,000 in one election cycle. Groups like unions, political action committees are limited to $10,000. A lot of states have laws like that. Illinois did not. And as we know, there's a reputation surrounding Illinois politics. And some people think this will go a long way to changing that.

Let's take a look at something that's going to affect the whole country, vending machines. This is part of the new health care reform legislation President Obama signed into law. Operators with 20 or more vending machines now are going to have to disclose calorie content for some items that they sell out of those machines. Here's another one. FSAs, this is nationally. You might have seen this. You might have heard about this at work. Your flexible spending account will no longer cover over-the-counter drugs unless they're prescribed by a doctor. America's been saving a lot of money by not paying on taxes for the money for those drugs. That's gone. Joe, you live in Maryland. JOHNS: Yes.

LEVS: Here's that news law that could affect you, well hopefully not if you're driving well. If you get pulled over by a police officer while driving, you know, they give you a ticket and they put a trial date on it. Well, no longer. Now you will be invited to request a trial date later on.

JOHNS: February 31st.

LEVS: Nice.

JOHNS: Can't do that, right?

LEVS: Well, you know the thinking is. The thinking is that people basically wait until the day before the trial to call in and pay their ticket. And by that point, it's already on the schedule for the officer who's expecting the trial. They're hoping that if people do this instead, it'll get them to call, reduce that problem.

Let me show you a couple more funky ones. Indiana, you can no longer trash electronics. It's illegal, you can be punished. If you have an ancient walkman, a broken toaster, something you want to get rid of, you can't wrap it up, put it in the trash. It's illegal now. There are programs for collecting and recycling electronic waste.

And finally, one of my favorites, I saw this in "Newsday," illegal plants in Nassau County, New York, Japanese honeysuckle is one of the plants added. It's something about introducing these problems into storm drains is causing problems. It's invasive and there's a few other plants that somehow made it on to that list.

JOHNS: That's just amazing. Now, I've got to tell you, though, that FSA law, there are a lot of people who complained about that. Because, you know, you could save yourself some money by going and buying Benadryl or whatever with your FSA card, but no more.

LEVS: Americans have been saving a lot of money in taxes by taking advantage of that opportunity, right. You still had to pay, but it was tax-free money basically and that part's being taken away. So people need to be more careful with their FSAs. By the way, we're talking about during the show, a lot of people feel the way you do. You got my Facebook and Twitter at Josh Levs CNN, a lot of people saying what you're saying there about this FSA that (INAUDIBLE) .

JOHNS: You bet. Hey, thanks so much, Josh Levs.

LEVS: Thank you.

JOHNS: We know how the holiday travel season started, cold, treacherous, filled with delays. What can people expect as they come home this weekend? We'll give you a live update.

And bloodshot eyes, aching head, upset stomach, that means you partied too much, right? There's all kinds of advice to cure hangovers, but what really works? We'll separate truth from fiction coming up.

JOHNS: Your eyes are not playing tricks on you. That is a huge acorn. And that's the way Raleigh, North Carolina, rolls. Welcoming in the new year. Happy new year, Raleigh.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: Welcome back, I'm Joe Johns in for T.J. Holmes. Thanks for starting your year with us.

Checking the top stories: Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak says the church bombing that killed at least 21 people targeted both Christians and Muslims. A bomb exploded outside a church in Alexandria, Egypt early this morning; more than 70 people were wounded. A nearby mosque was also damaged in the bombing. Eight people were wounded.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is spending New Year's Eve in Kabul. She reviewed security operations at a key point along the Afghan border with Pakistan; her goal, to stop the smuggling of weapons and explosives into Afghanistan.

Welcoming 2011 New York City style: More than a million people in Times Square and around the world watched the ball drop; arguably, the most famous New Year's celebration on the planet. More than a ton of confetti also rained down on the crowd. Very tight security prevented any major problems.

Happy New Year, but unfortunately not everywhere: That's especially true in northwest Arkansas where three people died yesterday when a powerful tornado roared through the area. A few hours later, the storms nailed the greater St. Louis area. Two people were killed in Dent County, another near Rolla. Missouri's governor is set to tour both sites later this morning.

Further west its winter weather that's hobbling Colorado Springs. Look at the bumper car derby this out of control pickup truck had on icy incline roads, does not look that steep until you have no traction. By the way, the weather was so bad at the annual Pikes Peak fireworks show was canceled due to the weather.

That's a tradition that dates all the way back to the 1920s.

Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf is live now in the CNN Severe Weather Center with the latest. No fireworks for the garden of the god's, I guess.

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I'll tell you what. Yes, pretty -- pretty interesting there to say the least and certainly a rude awakening for people in parts of Alabama this morning.

It is, again, just mind-numbing to see the storm system, part of the same system that caused the problems back in Arkansas and in Missouri where much of both of those states got hit like with a sledge hammer. But right now, we're seeing some strong storms developing across into Alabama. South of Birmingham at this point as we zoom in, you see the areas that we have with the tornado watch in parts of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, into Louisiana.

Now the strongest of it leaving parts of Alabama, about to move into Chilton County. In Elms (ph), Alabama you're going to catch the brunt there but if you're in Huntsville you're in the clear.

Farther to the north, though, we're seeing some more showers that will be coming in right behind it. You know, although we're really talking about the strongest storms in parts of the southeast, it is the winter weather in portions of the northeast, or rather the northern plains that is just mind numbing.

Some of these temperatures single digits -- at least that's what it feels like when you have that wind factor with that polar colder air that's coming in. You'll notice a lot of the areas shaded is orange-colored, that happens to be your blizzard warnings that will be in effect through mid-morning.

Now, a quick check of what you can expect around the nation. I know a lot of people aren't going to be staying at home and watching college football. Some people will be traveling today. If you're traveling, you might have some delays in places like Atlanta, maybe over into Charlotte, perhaps even say Buffalo, New York, or even Cleveland in some of your regional airports.

And then out to the west, same thing in San Francisco, you might have some backups. But if you're staying at home, your weather, you've got the blizzards up in parts of Minneapolis; 10 degrees will be the daytime high, 45 in New York, 67 in San Antonio, 26 in Denver, and 39 in Seattle; San Diego, 63, fairly comfortable out there.

Now as we fast forward into tomorrow's forecast, it looks like the temperatures will be a little bit warmer, 41 for Portland, 53 in Dallas, and 46 in Boston.

OK, you've been caught up on your travel we just talked about that. And I'm going to send it back over to you, Joe, with more.

JOHNS: Yes now, that's the thing we want to talk about next. Just how many people actually are going to travel today, tomorrow -- let's turn now to CNN's Samantha Hayes who is live at a Maryland rest stop off of one of the busiest interstates in the country.

And you know, I look at that -- it looks like either Maryland House or somewhere around Jessup. Where are you?

SAMANTHA HAYES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm at Maryland House, Joe. Happy New Year. Aberdeen, Maryland, so I'm north of Baltimore. And yes, the Interstate behind me, that's 95.

Now that the sun's up, traffic is certainly picking up on that interstate. A few weeks ago in December, the auto club AAA estimated that there's going to be an increase in the number of people, the number of Americans traveling over Christmas and New Year's this year, up three percent; 93 million Americans traveling at least 50 miles or so.

Many of them will be making that trek this weekend, probably more on Sunday than today. But nevertheless, certainly a lot of people driving over this holiday season, more than 93 percent will be in their cars getting to their destination, going to and fro.

Certainly, a lot of people celebrating with friends and family, the holiday last night, New Year's Eve. AAA also says that Americans are spending more, Joe. So over Christmas and over New Year's, an average of $670.

So that's also up, so some of these things are good for the economy.

Now, I want to point out that perhaps this isn't correlated but they may be spending more money on gas because as you probably noticed in many parts of the country, gas is now at least $3 a gallon and going up. And some analysts expect it to go up even more perhaps $4, I even heard $5. Hopefully that won't happen.

But as we get into spring, it perhaps you know some motorists may reconsider going by car or maybe going as far -- Joe.

JOHNS: Well, it certainly it looked like a beautiful day is blossoming there on the first of January. Is it pretty cold outside? How is it feeling there in Maryland?

HAYES: Joe, let me tell you, I'm so thankful that it is not freezing cold. I don't know the exact temperature, but I think it's supposed to get up around 50 degrees or so today.

But you know January 1st is usually just frigid. And this is pretty nice. You know, the roads are clear, it's dry. That's also certainly -- I'm sure a lot of drivers are thankful for that, especially after last weekend, you know.

So many folks caught in airports because of bad weather may have considered driving instead of flying after that experience. But yes, this is at least in this part of the country, this is a good travel day.

JOHNS: CNN's Samantha Hayes out there in Maryland for us. Thanks so much, Samantha.

HAYES: You got it.

JOHNS: A public inauguration will be held today for New York's new governor Andrew Cuomo. He was sworn into a private office ceremony last night in the executive mansion in Albany. Cuomo's family was in attendance, including his wife and Father Mario who served as New York's governor for three terms.

Congress heads back to work in just a few days and they'll have plenty on their plates when they return to Capitol Hill.

Let's bring in our deputy political director, Paul Steinhauser. Paul, happy New Year to you.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Same to you, Joe.

JOHNS: So let's talk a little bit about the spirit of compromise. This has been going back and forth between Republicans and Democrats now that there is a Republican-controlled House at least as of Wednesday.

We saw in the lame duck session that -- that holiday spirit is -- was pretty good. But the question is whether you think it's going to linger once the Republicans take control of the House.

STEINHAUSER: You know, Americans, Joe, they want it to linger. Just about every public opinion poll says Americans want the Democrats and Republicans to compromise. But it may not be that easy. And you just mentioned I think a big reason why. You've got the 112th Congress that getting sworn in on Wednesday.

And in that new Congress, John Boehner and the Republicans will now control the House of Representatives. And Boehner will have a pretty large majority in the House of Representatives.

And in the Senate, it's a similar story, as well, a little different, but the Republicans will have a much stronger minority and the Democrats will have a smaller majority in the Senate.

And these Republican lawmakers, a lot of them are going to be more conservative and a lot of them were backed by Tea Party activists in the campaign in the midterm elections.

So Joe, there's going to be probably less of a desire for these new lawmakers to compromise with the Democrats in Congress and with the White House.

JOHNS: You know, there is an expectation that there will be a showdown between the House Republicans and the White House at least over the issue of government spending. We've heard a lot of Republicans say we're not going to have a shutdown of the government.

So, any sense of how the Republicans are going to demonstrate their concerns about spending with the President and get his attention on this issue if they're not going to shut down the government?

STEINHAUSER: Yes. The new incoming House Speaker John Boehner said he's going to have a vote a week in the House of Representatives on that alone on places where they can cut spending because of the large massive deficit.

And -- and that's one of the things -- another reason why we may not see so much compromise. Take a look at this, we put a little graphic together of some of the big issues you are going to see coming up very early.

And as you mentioned, the deficit right there, that's -- that's one of the top three of course, and -- and tackling that massive government deficit. What about the budget itself? Remember, the lame duck when they passed that budget, it was only temporary budget to keep the lights on the government until early March.

So they're going to have to pass a new budget, raising the debt ceiling for the country.

And then there at the bottom as well, House Republicans they promised they are going to try to pass legislation that would try to repeal the new health care law.

So Joe, on all four of these big topics, not much compromised here, not much common ground between Democrats and Republicans. And that was pretty much of a different story because in the lame duck, as you know, a lot of the big issues that passed there they were willing to work together were issues where both sides kind of agreed on: "don't ask, don't tell", repealing that law on the tax cut compromise and, you know, on a few of the other things concluding the START missile treaty.

So there was a lot of common ground in the lame duck, I don't think there's going to be nearly as much common ground because of the issues in the -- in the new Congress -- Joe.

JOHNS: Yes quick -- quickly, there's a pretty good little pop culture issue brewing too. I've heard some talk that the House of Representatives is actually discussing the idea of bringing things like iPads and iPhones to the floor of the House. But it could be controversial. Is that what you're hearing?

STEINHAUSER: Yes. The Republican leadership wants to allow that to happen. Of course, they're going to have to have a vote to change the rules and there were some lawmakers that say no, not a good idea. They want to keep it the way it is; they don't want these devices on the floor of the House. They think it may be too disruptive. We'll see.

JOHNS: Tradition dies hard at the United States Capitol. Thanks so much, Paul Steinhauser, our deputy political director.

Excuse me -- ringing in the New Year, there are customs and traditions unique to each country, some of them downright bizarre. Our Nadia Bilchik joins us now with another look.

But first, the city by the bay, the one made famous by singer Tony Bennett put on quite a fireworks show to welcome in the New Year. Some grumbled over a zero tolerance policy about public drinking, but anybody who did drink too much was offered a free ride on public transportation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: We've seen some elaborate fireworks displays and various things dropping from the air from a crystal ball to a huge flea -- not kidding, a huge flea. But daylight brings New Year's Day parades.

You're looking live at London. The parade there involved 8,000 performers from a variety of nations, many from the U.S., including some popular marching bands. This is the silver anniversary of the parade. Its route will pass some of the city's most famous landmarks: Westminster Abbey, Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square.

Celebrating the New Year -- lots of different ways to do it and around the world, people all have all kinds of unusual traditions.

Nadia Bilchik had a few amusing stories during our last hour. She's got some more stuff here for us now. And this is going to be very challenging.

NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Joe, some people like to burn things.

JOHNS: Yes.

BILCHIK: So in Hungary, they like to burn effigies known as Jack Straw. And in the Netherlands they burn their Christmas trees and that's quite cathartic in a way. Think about it. You symbolically burn the last year --

JOHNS: I wish they'd let me do that. It's easier to get rid of.

BILCHIK: Renewal for the New Year. Isn't it? Just start again. It's like you burn grass so that green grass grows. I like that idea.

Now, in Japan, which by the way Akemashite Omedetou, Akemashite --

JOHNS: Akmashto --

BILCHIK: Amedito --

JOHNS: Amedito -- Akemashite Omedetou.

BILCHIK: Happy New Year in Japanese. Very good.

JOHNS: I'll remember that.

BILCHIK: Exactly. And in Japan people start the New Year by laughing. They bring in the New Year by saying let's laugh, let's be joyous. They also hang rope on their front door as a sign of good will.

But my favorite is in Spain because what they do is they take 12 grapes. Now, I have 12 grapes prepared for you.

JOHNS: I see.

BILCHIK: We take our grapes like this. Now --

JOHNS: You know, I was choking in the last segment so --

BILCHIK: We don't know what's going to happen. But I will give you -- as you said, I will give you the instructions. But the Puerta del Sol in Madrid as the chime of the clock goes you have to have your grapes ready. And what we're going to do on this segment is we're going to have a buzzer that starts --

JOHNS: OK.

BILCHIK: And we have to try to eat all 12 grapes in the 12 seconds. Most people don't manage to do it so don't be upset because I know you're very competitive.

JOHNS: OK.

BILCHIK: So, let's try. And as the buzzer stops, one, two, three let the buzzer go --

JOHNS: Can you eat like a whole handful at once?

BILCHIK: I'm going to see -- let's see.

OK. On your mark, get set, buzzer go.

JOHNS: Here we go.

BILCHIK: We've got to get 12 in. The buzzer's going to go, then we stop.

JOHNS: Hey, wait a minute.

BILCHIK: I have three left. You?

JOHNS: Five. Gosh, that's hard. Where did you find grapes on New Year's Day in CNN Center?

BILCHIK: We have beautiful producers called Nestor Dexter (ph) and Richard Spiropoulos (ph) and they do anything for us.

JOHNS: That's unbelievable. Well, thanks, I would have preferred protein, but this was pretty good.

BILCHIK: I'll get you some protein afterwards. Because you're going to have a hangover the best thing to do is to have eggs.

JOHNS: Really?

BILCHIK: Yes. There's a compound in eggs and you're going to hear about this later. And the compound in eggs apparently is the cure-all.

JOHNS: That's excellent. And so it's not hair of the dog?

BILCHIK: Not hair of the dog. That is a myth. It may be a grape or two.

JOHNS: Well, thank you very much for this. And Happy New Year.

BILCHIK: And Happy New Year. Akemashite Omedetou.

JOHNS: Akemashite Omedetou. All right, thanks.

A concussion could sideline Brett Favre for tomorrow's game. I've got your wow moments in sports if I don't choke.

This was the scene in Seattle, Washington at the stroke of midnight, fireworks blasting off on top of the city's famous Space Needle. It was a massive show that lasted eight minutes. Tens of thousands of people turned out to watch.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RAY D'ALESSIO, CNN SPORTS: Going back to the high school days.

JOHNS: That's awesome. We have the greatest music on this show. I love this.

Check out this video. This boy's parents knew what they were doing when they named him Jordan. Wow. That's amazing. 12 years old, there's nothing he can't do with a basketball. His name is Jordan McCabe, he's from Seattle, dribbles like a pro. That's just -- wow.

D'ALESSIO: I'm quitting TV to become his agent.

JOHNS: He definitely needs an agent if he doesn't have one. Incredible.

What about his jumper?

D'ALESSIO: He's got a jumper.

(CROSSTALK)

D'ALESSIO: I think a little bit later in this video, he can shoot the rock like nobody.

He's got game, trust me.

JOHNS: Well, you know what? I mean, what NBA scouts will do, they're probably down there at his door right now.

D'ALESSIO: They might be recruiting. We're not going to get into the whole recruiting thing.

JOHNS: We're not going to go there. Ray D'Alessio from CNN sports joining me now. We're going to talk about the wow moments in sports.

And what everybody's talking about is Brett Favre. Is he going to get out there? Is he done? He has a what -- he has a physical coming up.

D'ALESSIO: Yes. Right now, Joe, he is listed as doubtful for tomorrow's game. He still has yet to pass the post-concussion test, of course, a couple of weeks ago on that Monday -- two weeks ago -- that Monday night game against the Bears. Suffered a concussion; he has still not passed those post concussion tests.

And interim coach Leslie Frazier yesterday, he was pretty much, you know, skating the question of whether or not this guy's going to play. He just said, I'm going to list him as doubtful, you never know with Brett Favre, but he's yet to pass those tests. They're going to make a decision today on it.

And look, put aside all the controversy, Joe.

JOHNS: Sure.

D'ALESSIO: This guy is one of the greatest quarterbacks ever to put on the uniform.

JOHNS: Absolutely.

D'ALESSIO: I would hate to see him -- I love watching him play. I hate to see him play his last game -- or finish his last game on the sidelines.

JOHNS: But you know, the funny thing about, when you look at this sort of in total, is the Minnesota Vikings had an amazing season last year. It seemed like everything went right for them.

This year, they can't even keep snow out of their stadium.

D'ALESSIO: No. And of course --

JOHNS: You know. Just everything bad that can happen --

D'ALESSIO: Right. And people don't believe Favre when he says that this indeed will be last year.

JOHNS: Right.

D'ALESSIO: But you think about all the injuries that he's had this year. He's playing on a broken foot. He's had the concussion. He doesn't have the talent around him that he had last year. He is -- how this guy is even walking and not on crutches is beyond me.

He's just too banged up, 20th year in the league. He's done, he's finished, he's going to retire and you would just hate to see the guy go out on the sidelines. You would like to see him at least play one more game.

JOHNS: Absolutely.

D'ALESSIO: Forget about the personal stuff, forget about and the controversy.

JOHNS: Sure.

D'ALESSIO: It takes nothing away with what he did on the field.

JOHNS: Hall of Fame for sure.

D'ALESSIO: Absolutely.

JOHNS: One other thing, the granddaddy of them all, the Rose Bowl happening today. Everybody's going to want to watch that. What are we looking for? What's the story line?

D'ALESSIO: You know, the storyline here, you've got Wisconsin and TCU, Texas Christian University. But so much focus on TCU; these guys are out to prove they belong with the big dogs. Of course, they're a small school.

And there's redemption on the mind. Last year they went into the Fiesta Bowl, 12-0, lost to Boise State. This year, they're once again undefeated going into the Rose Bowl. Out to prove that, yes, we can go up against a bigger, stronger opponent like Wisconsin and we could beat them.

So it should be very interesting. I mean they're the prime example of why I believe there should be a playoff in college football.

JOHNS: Two years in a row.

D'ALESSIO: Absolutely. Now, they've been shut out of the BCS national championship, you put them in the play off scenario and they're going to do some major damage.

JOHNS: And BCS is still quite a few days away.

D'ALESSIO: Four weeks away?

JOHNS: Yes, seems like it. I mean I've lost track.

D'ALESSIO: There's too many bowl games. Let's just make it simple OK? Let's do a playoff system and incorporate the bowl games and be done with it and there wouldn't be all this controversy. But it is fun to talk about.

JOHNS: You got it. Thanks so much, Ray.

D'ALESSIO: All right Joe. Good to see you.

JOHNS: You bet.

Now, let's get the college football forecast on this New Year's Day. Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf in the CNN Severe Weather Center; active morning for parts of the Deep South --

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Oh, yes. Absolutely.

JOHNS: Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, any others?

WOLF: I'm telling you what, this is where we're going, the big pinpoint. But thankfully where we have a lot of the big games taking place, the weather conditions should be perfect. For unfortunately half the teams, it's going to be 100 percent chance for pain; for other people it's going to be picture perfect.

Let's get things started with the Ticket City Bowl. The Ticket City Bowl.

JOHNS: The what?

WOLF: The Ticket City Bowl.

(CROSSTALK)

WOLF: See, this is what Ray was talking about -- 48 degrees, the skies partly cloudy, that one's going to be in Dallas. Not sure if this is the Jerry Dome. I assume it is. So weather conditions won't matter, it's a dome.

The Capital One Bowl game in Orlando, conditions are going to be great. Capital One Bowl game in Orlando, not far from the mouse house, 78 degrees, mostly sunny skies. For 21 Mississippi State and Michigan; that should be an interesting match-up. 75 will be your temperature for the kickoff.

And in number 5, this is the one that really peaks my interest. Number 5 -- Wisconsin against number 3, TCU -- you were talking about that moments ago, that's going to be in Pasadena, 62 degrees, mostly sunny skies, the kick off. And then number seven, Oklahoma and Connecticut 44 degrees for the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. Of course, they're going to be playing there in Glendale, just again, what do you say, 30 days from now?

(CROSSTALK)

JOHNS: It's coming up.

WOLF: Absolutely.

JOHNS: I'm surprised it's not like a cereal bowl or a dog bowl --

WOLF: Or the meteorologist bowl.

JOHNS: Yes. That's great -- the meteorologist --

WOLF: We'll pick teams.

JOHNS: All right. Reynolds, thanks.

After a miserable 2009 -- they broke out the hats -- floor traders and investors in 2010 with something to sing about. We'll look back at the year's business highs and lows and find out what 2011 might hold.

I love this.

WOLF: I know, man, right?

JOHNS: That's what I'm talking about. You can let a traffic jam ruin your day, or you can turn it into a party; Georgia drivers dancing in the street.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) JOHNS: So did Wall Street and the economy end 2010 on a high note? Here is the answer with two members of the CNN Business Team Alison Kosik and Poppy Harlow. Start with you, Alison.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Joe.

No Santa Claus rally this year; instead, a 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 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.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Thanks so much, Alison.

Well, the economy certainly issue number one in 2010 and it will be again in 2011 given the continuing unemployment crisis in this country. And looking ahead to next week on Wall Street, the first official trading week of 2011, we'll get December sales results from individual retailers. All signs pointing to 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 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 in 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 a prosperous 2011 -- Joe, back to you.

JOHNS: Forget about Martha and the Vandellas, or Van Halen's version of "Dancing in the Streets." This is a real life version; call it making the best out of a bad situation. Would be New Year's Eve partiers caught in a bumper-to-bumper traffic jam that shut down a suburban Atlanta road, so they turned up the volume and got down. Why? Because that's how they roll out here.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)