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CNN Saturday Morning News
Storms Claim 13 Lives; Electronic Pickpocketing
Aired April 16, 2011 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We're at the top of the hour here now. Let's restart this thing, shall we?
From the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, this is your CNN SATURDAY MORNING. I am T.J. Holmes.
It is 7:00 a.m. here in Atlanta. It is 6:00 a.m. in Tushka, Oklahoma.
Whoo! They are dealing with this, this morning. A powerful tornado ripped through the city, destroyed homes leaving dozens injured.
Just look at this damage. You know several places throughout the Southeast that are going to look like this, this morning. As we see the sun rise. We're going to take you to some of those places that just had a horrible, horrible night.
Also this morning, Oscar-winning actress Catherine Zeta-Jones dominated headlines, announcing she is bipolar. What is that condition and what are maybe some signs? We'll explain.
Also, those folks that like to pick your pocket, they are going high tech. That's right. They no longer have to brush up against you to steal your wallet. They can do all of this electronically. We'll explain, you need to hear.
Let's, though, start with this weather. Dark skies, heavy rains, swirling winds and we do have a number of deaths to report in the South. At least 13 people have been killed since Thursday by a severe storm system that's now moving up the East Coast. Four deaths come yesterday in Alabama.
Karen Maginnis says there have been reports of 98 tornadoes. There's a lot of damage to homes, businesses, cars -- you name it.
People who made it through the storms -- listen to the stories they are telling.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy crap!
HOLMES (voice-over): Transformers exploded. Cars tossed. Trees toppled. All made for a wild spring night in parts of the Southeast.
In Alabama, there are reports of tornadoes touching down in at least six counties. This woman in Tuscaloosa ran into her hallway as the storm hit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I looked out in the hallway I could hear this, I don't know what kind of noise, a whizzing, crackling. It scared me.
HOLMES: In nearby Birmingham, heavy winds knocked down power lines and tore off roofs.
Further south in Washington County, Alabama, a large tornado was reported on the ground. This house was flattened and tossed yards from its foundation.
In Mississippi, folks are waking up to a state of emergency in 14 counties. A twister ripped through Interstate 20 in Clinton.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The funnel crowd dropped right there. We were lucky we got in the door. It crossed and went behind us and crossed I-20. In like five minutes, it was over.
HOLMES: Even blew over an 18-wheeler. It also ripped through local businesses and homes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At first, we heard a lot of wind blowing and it sounded like a train, a whistle. Then, all of a sudden, we've seen like a black funnel cloud.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We saw people standing outside. We didn't know why. So, we decided to go and see, and we saw all this damage out here.
HOLMES: In the Atlanta area, a tornado watch was in effect for most of the night. Heavy rain and hail blasted several counties, falling trees and funneled homes. When this woman came to check on her parents after large tree uprooted and fell through their roof.
TABITHA OWENS, PARENTS' HOME HIT BY TREE: The Lord was looking after them because my daddy was sitting next to the window and the tree barely missed him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Karen Maginnis again here for our Reynolds Wolf this weekend.
A heck of a night. I walked up 2:00 a.m. there. I heard a tornado siren in our neighborhood. A nasty, nasty night.
But I was asking you -- yes, it's springtime. We get this. It seems like a lot. But you're saying this is normal.
KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: This is very normal, especially this time of year. April and May are kind of the peak months for tornadic activity. And we've still got lots of pictures to show people throughout the morning.
So, if you stick here and watch weather, we'll show you all of the areas from Arkansas into Georgia, and it was a heck of a night for sure.
But as we move on in the forecast, all of the way from Myrtle Beach and Charleston, South Carolina, towards Wilmington, towards Virginia Beach, this is where we're looking at a potential for severe weather as this storm system still pushes its way toward the east. A lot going on behind the system but this is the most volatile weather.
Clinton, Mississippi, in the past 24 hours -- we've got some pictures -- a tornado slammed into the interstate, along Interstate 20. Now, Clinton, Mississippi, is a town of about 26,000 people. Seven people were injured, some of those seriously.
Look at that car just tossed around. An 18-wheeler was turned over. And a number of fast food restaurants. Take a look at that particular hotel. Windows were shattered. And power is still out.
I saw one picture of Jackson, Mississippi, which is just to the east. They're very near each other. They had debris all over a main street running through Jackson, Mississippi. There you can see some of the vehicles that were tossed around in what is believed to be perhaps an EF-3 tornado. And what at that means is it has top wind speeds of 165 miles an hour.
Well, right now, we do have tornado watches out for portions of North and South Carolina and into the panhandle of Florida. We'll keep you updated throughout the morning -- T.J.
HOLMES: Karen, thank you so much. We certainly will be talking to you plenty throughout this morning.
Well, we're going to turn to Long Island, New York, now, where the family of a murdered young woman says they got phone calls from a man claiming to be the killer. This is one of the latest disturbing new developments in the search for a possible serial killer. Twenty- four-year-old Melissa Barthelemy -- there you see her -- she is one of the young women killed.
Her mother is saying a man using her daughter's cell phone made taunting phone calls and admitted to the killing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LYNN BARTHELEMY, MELISSA BARTHELEMY'S MOTHER: He was taunting her. He was basically torturing her. She -- you know, she kept asking where her sister was and he just wouldn't tell her. She would, you know, she was ask if she was alive. He wouldn't answer. I mean, we always had hope until that last call when he told Amanda that he killed her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: At least eight sets of remains have been recovered in Long Island. Four of which have been identified. And one confirmed to be that of Melissa Barthelemy.
Well, the Detroit public school system is sending layoff notices to all of its teachers. That's more than 5,700 teachers, also, 248 school administrators getting the same type of notice. This does not, however, mean that everyone is going to lose their job. The district has determined or has to determine the staffing needs based on fewer students.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KURTIS BROWN, TEACHER: Trying to correct budget problems on the backs of the teachers, that's unfair, because we do all the work.
ALICIA ADAMS, PARENT OF STUDENT: Definitely not easy. You know, job security is important. And we have the teachers, you know, educating our students. So, it concerns me, you know, will their heart be in it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now, once teacher staffing needs are determined, the system will rehire the number of teachers that it needs. But this is a required move by the contract agreement between the teachers union and the school district. They have to send out these notices.
Also, the Postal Service is revealing its new Statue of Liberty stamp. There it is. What's wrong with that beautiful Lady Liberty? The problem is that is not actually Lady Liberty.
It's the one I am most familiar with, though. You know, the one in Vegas on the Strip, out front, in front of the New York-New York Casino. Yes. This image is based on that Lady Liberty out in Vegas.
A stamp collector actually noticed the differences a few weeks ago between Lady Liberty out in Vegas and the one in New York. There are some subtle differences there. The Post Office says they already printed some 3 billion of these stamps and say, hey, they are happy with how they look.
Well, a lot of you soap opera fans out there are going to have to figure out what to do with your afternoons. Have you heard? ABC's "All My Children" and "One Life to Live" getting canceled. Susan Lucci? What are we going to do?
These are just the latest to go down in the changing landscape of daytime television.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LYNN LEAHEY, SOAP OPERA DIGEST: There had been rumors going around for a little while, usually rumors will go for a year or two before a show actually gets cancelled. And in this case, not only were rumors not that long standing, but to have both shows cut at the same time was just -- that was the most stunning part of it all. And you are right about calling it "mourning" because people do grieve for these shows. It's not -- they are not measured in a fan being it for years. It's for decades people watch these shows.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: What are we going to do without those stories? ABC has just one soap opera left now and that is "General Hospital."
Well, as we know, sports fans sometimes can get a bit unruly at the games. But one fan actually needed to be tased to calm down. And yes, we've got video of it for you in just minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Thirteen minutes past the hour, time for some of the extremes of the week.
We start with soccer star David Beckham using his feet -- what else? But check this out -- kicking soccer balls into trash cans on a California beach. Is this for real?
I have my doubts. I mean, I know the guy is good. He's an international star, one of the greatest. But come on. That thing is 75 yards away. It was done for a TV commercial.
Now, he was asked whether or not this was real. He said, of course, it is. And that he was on the beach for five or six hours and had plenty of time to practice.
I don't want to call him a liar or anything. That's pretty amazing, though, if that is the real deal.
Also, check this out. Tossed around like a toy. This video of an incident at JFK Airport in New York. Did you see that? The larger Air France plane just clipped the back of a Delta commuter flight, spinning that thing around.
Our Jim Bittermann was actually on the larger plane, said it felt like they just hit a rough patch of pavement. Nobody was injured on either plane, however.
Also, police say officers did absolutely nothing wrong here when they tased an unruly fan at a Pittsburgh Pirates game. You see the fan there right in the center. He actually pushed a stadium employee. Police hit him repeatedly with batons, you see in the video, before they used the taser.
The fan's attorney says his client was trying to enjoy the game, said he ended in jail for two days until someone bailed him out. He is now facing public drunkenness and disorderly conduct charges.
Well, you remember back in the day when a pickpocket had to get up on -- you know, they bump you a little bit and you feel the bump but you don't feel your wallet coming out and they would steal your wallet. They don't need to do that anymore.
There's a new age of electronic pickpockets. They steal your information with a simple card reader you can buy online. But wait, there's a way you can actually short circuit that thief.
Well, it's a busy weekend as we know, as well, for a lot of folks. Didn't get those taxes filed. You got a few extra days this year. So, they have to be in on Monday. But would you believe some of the stuff people tried to actually write-off?
CNN Money did some research here and came up with a list of some of the craziest tax deductions the IRS has ever seen. Have you tried to write some of this stuff off before?
What about buffalo meat? Well, that's a professional body builder. He tried to do it, claiming it was a business expense. The IRS says no ain't.
Number four: some sponges. A pilot from Tennessee tried to pass sponges off as a business expense for his aviation activities. Whatever, not buying that one either.
Also, underwear -- who hasn't tried to do this? But there was a musician playing for rocker Rod Stewart's band. He tried to claim that men's underwear was necessary and part of his stage clothes. IRS didn't buy that either.
And in just a few minutes, I'll let you know who actually tried to write off prostitutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Right. Nineteen past the hour now.
All right. You got a weekend. A lot of people are working on those taxes. Deadline on Monday. If you haven't filed yet, some stuff you might not want to write off in those deductions, like one of the wackiest we've ever seen.
The scientology class a self-employed meat and seafood salesman said the $1,500 class was necessary for his career. IRS said buy a book, son.
Also, the number one we've ever seen: prostitutes -- maybe the craziest one ever. A lawyer from New York tried to deduct $65,000 in- services as a medical expense. You can guess what the IRS said.
Now, every weekend here, led me bring in Clyde -- Clyde Anderson here. Clyde is here every weekend, our financial analyst, giving us what we need to do on our finances.
Would you believe this guy has not filed his taxes yet?
CLYDE ANDERSON, FINANCIAL ANALYST: Today. They will be completed today.
HOLMES: That's not what you advise, right?
ANDERSON: That's not what I advise.
HOLMES: Do what I say, not what I do.
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: I let my CPA handle everybody else first.
HOLMES: Right, right, right. Yours is the big account at the end.
ANDERSON: There you go.
HOLMES: But, no, we're bringing you here today because we're talking about -- people used to pickpocket. They bump into you and pull that wallet. They don't have to do that anymore. They can do this electronically.
ANDERSON: Exactly.
HOLMES: Now, how are they doing this with little scanners?
ANDERSON: Little scanners. The new technology, RFID -- it's radio frequency identification.
HOLMES: OK.
ANDERSON: And what they do is they can pick up these waves that are transmitted through these antennas. And so, you can pick them up from as far as 10 feet away.
HOLMES: OK. This is probably getting people -- how in the world is my credit card sending out a signal that can be taken. And that is where it comes in. Do people even realize?
ANDERSON: A lot of people don't realize the switch has happened.
HOLMES: Tell me about it.
ANDERSON: And it's funny. This technology was actually patented for the first time in 1983. So, it was becoming more widely used. It's actually going to take over bar codes. And so, a lot of grocery stores use this technology. When you see people in the stores using those RFID scanners, they're getting the information for inventory.
HOLMES: There supposed to be contact is what they say. But tell, a gas station or a gas company was the first to bring --
ANDERSON: The first with the express pay.
HOLMES: Yes.
ANDERSON: And so, you can just swipe your card. And so, they say it saves time, it saves about 10 seconds on each transaction.
What it also does is that you don't have to give your card away to someone or waiter or someone at a store to go away and not see them and see what they're doing to your card. You can just pay at the table.
HOLMES: How completed are these scanners and now technologically savvy do you have to be to do this?
ANDERSON: Not at all. You know, some easy, you know, teenagers or anyone can, you know, if you got any kind of computer savvy you really can go online and buy these things for about $40. You can buy one of these scanners. And again, a lot of businesses use them when they're out on location doing business. So, you can go and buy the same scanners and it picks up information.
HOLMES: How close do they have to be to you?
ANDERSON: About 10 feet.
HOLMES: That's not --
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: About 10 feet. Then they can go ahead and get that information. So, they can be close.
And so, the thing is, if it's in your purse or if you have your wallet in your pocket, they can swipe this past you and whatever is there, they can pull that information.
HOLMES: OK. This is the part that gets me now. This is a very easy fix.
ANDERSON: Yes.
HOLMES: You can protect yourself. How?
ANDERSON: Yes. You can protect yourself. One easy way to protect yourself is you can wrap your cards in aluminum.
HOLMES: OK.
ANDERSON: That won't detect. You know, that will make sure they cannot get them. That's a low tech way. They have wallets, e- wallets that are coming out. ICache is a company that has a wallet that uses your fingerprint technology, too, to bring out your information. So, it's protected in this metal wallet and so, it doesn't come out and no one can get that information from there.
HOLMES: OK. So, you just put in a proper kind of a little jacket and you're fine.
ANDERSON: There you go. It's protected.
HOLMES: This is scary stuff.
ANDERSON: It is. And there's many more things. I mean, passports have them. So, there's a lot of new technology and a lot of things that have them and they're using the technology.
HOLMES: Clyde, good information as always. Go do your taxes.
ANDERSON: All right.
HOLMES: We actually have more time for this segment but we'll just want to let you go and get that taken care of.
ANDERSON: Appreciate that.
HOLMES: All right, Clyde, good to see you as always.
Well, coming up, she wears many titles. She's an Oscar winner, mother, wife of a legendary actor. But it's her new label that has sparked worldwide headlines. Catherine Zeta-Jones is bipolar.
What does that mean and what are symptoms that maybe you or your family members need to look out for? We've got answers.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, millions of people in this country have bipolar disorder and now we're getting word that Catherine Zeta-Jones has it as well, the popular actress.
Here with Elizabeth Cohen, our senior medical correspondent.
Help people understand. First of all, we hear it. What exactly is it?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. I think a lot of people aren't familiar with it. But it really is, T.J., what it sounds like.
So, someone who is bipolar has very high highs and very low lows. And so, when they are high, they are manic. They feel like they can do anything.
And they feel like -- for example, if someone's really, really manic, they might go around buying four cars in one week because they can and they want to and they do it. And they feel like they can conquer the world.
And then when they are low, they are severely, severely depressed.
HOLMES: Now, how do some people end up being affected and become a bipolar person and some others don't? Do you know?
COHEN: Yes, it's not known. There's a thought that genetics play a role, that you may be wired for this in some way, shape or form. And there's a thought that things can trigger.
For example, Catherine Zeta-Jones, who says that she has a type that's more mild than other people have. She's the more mild type. But she's had a tough year. I mean, her husband was diagnosed with cancer and her stepson went to jail. And her husband's ex-wife sued them financially and, yes -- and so, you know, that's tough. Maybe a stress that kind of sets this off.
HOLMES: Do you treat it? Do you manage it? I guess curing it is going too far.
COHEN: Curing is going too far. But managing is probably a good word. And so, there are drugs that people take called mood stabilizers, which makes sense, right? So, instead of going up and down, they are more stable and lithium can help with depressive episodes. And also, therapy.
And it's interesting to me that psychiatrists tell us that part of the therapy is to tell people what signals to look for, that tell them they are becoming manic because they think it's great. It feels good. Right.
And so, they need to be told, you know what? You don't look good when you're manic. And so, when you're feeling this way, you should know that you should sort of try to be manic in private, as much as you can because other people will notice that something is going on.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: A story making headlines this morning.
At least 13 people dead following two days of severe weather that spawned tornadoes from Oklahoma to Georgia, leaving a trail of downed trees, power lines, states of emergency declared in 14 Mississippi counties and two dozen more in Oklahoma as the storms move onto the Northeast.
Well, I want to take a moment here now and pass along something about one of our family members, Reynolds Wolf. He's not with us this weekend because Reynolds lost his father yesterday. William Miles Wolf, Jr. died yesterday at 7:10 a.m. Eastern Time.
Reynolds was very, very close to his father. He had been battling a long illness. This is a man that I was fortunate to spend some time with and be around, but he had a big heart. He had a big laugh. And he enjoyed life.
But being around him made it easy to see why Reynolds today is the man that he is. But our hearts and our prayers, our thoughts are with our family member, Reynolds Wolf, this weekend.
Sanjay Gupta starts now.
