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CNN Saturday Morning News
Major Fire Burning in Reno; Republican Presidential Candidates Attend Events in Iowa; Newt Gingrich Surges in Polls; Deadlines Looms for Congressional Deficit Super Committee; National Adoption Day Celebrated; Kidnapped and Rescued MLB Player Returns to U.S. from Venezuela
Aired November 19, 2011 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Well, good Saturday morning to you all, and good morning, Washington, D.C. A live picture where you've got members of Congress working, at least 12 of them. The so-called super committee has to work this weekend because there is a deadline of Monday looming. We will take you there live.
Also this morning, a coach tells a student that he's a future welfare recipient. We're used to getting tough love from some of our coach necessary high school, but does this go too far? We'll let you hear it yourself. Yes, it was caught on camera.
Also this morning, it's that time of year. The hottest toys out there. Well, we have a really hot toy for you. In particular, it has some really hot language that some parents say should get it pulled off the shelves. We'll let you hear what a talking doll says and you tell us what you think.
From the CNN Center here in Atlanta, Georgia, this is your CNN Saturday morning, 10:00 a.m. here in Atlanta, 9:00 a.m. in Fayetteville, Arkansas, 7:00 a.m. in Reno, Nevada. Wherever you may be, we are glad you're right here.
And right now, we need to talk politics and we need to talk who said what's going on in Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C. also, you know, in some of those main states where they're going to be voting here. We're just six weeks away from them casting votes in Iowa. Right now, a couple of Republican presidents are at events in Iowa. This is Congressman Ron Paul. He's there for the Warren County GOP breakfast. Also Rick Santorum, he'll be speaking to the Truth Project in Des Moines. These events are just the start of a busy day for these two and, really, for all of the presidential candidates.
Paul and Santorum will be joined by four other candidates at an event sponsored by the conservative group Family Leader. Herman Cain, Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann will be there as well. Mitt Romney is in New Hampshire. He's the only one not there in Iowa. More on the presidential forum coming your way a little later this hour.
I also want to stop for a moment and take a look at what's going on in northwestern Nevada. A major wildfire going on out there, and it has been burning for the past 24 hours or so. This thing has been whipped. It was sparked. We don't know what caused it in the first place, but we know they have winds up to 85 miles per hour, some wind gusts that caused this thing to spread quickly. And, again, it's only been going for about a day or so now. At least 10,000 people had to be evacuated. One death associated with the fire, and one firefighter, we do know, had to go to the hospital with some fairly serious injuries.
Reynolds Wolf, keeping an eye on the weather conditions out there. And so 85-mile-per-hour wind gusts, that's not the case anymore?
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The winds have dropped a lot, quite a bit. The other element that's going to help the firefighters, the humidity is going to be a bit higher. The double whammy yesterday was hurricane force winds. As soon as you get to 74 miles per hour and higher, you're getting to the area of a hurricane, so when that happens and you have the low humidity, anytime there's a fire that pops up and it can spread very rapidly. That was the situation with Reno.
But now that storm system is lifting out and moving into the northern plains. Right behind it we've got dryer air in parts of the four corners. However, in the other side of the Sierra, Nevada, we're seeing specific moisture. So there is moisture on the way, but it will not bring the strong winds with it. So the firefighters should have some help. Trust me, they need it.
Very quickly we're going to show what we're going to be dealing with in days to come, the possibility of widespread delays with possibility delays in the roadways, too. Interstate and parts of 94, even I-90 due to that immense storm that was in the Rockies now sweeping towards part of the northern plains eventually moving towards the great lakes. More on that coming up very soon. That's a wrap, T.J.
HOLMES: All right, Reynolds, appreciate you. We'll talk to you here again. I want to bring in Mark Regan. He out there with the public information office for the Reno fire department on the line with me now. Sir, can you tell me, how are you? Have you got this thing under control yet?
MARK REGAN, RENO FIRE DEPARTMENT PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER: We made great progress on this overnight. The winds have died down around 4:00 yesterday for us. We were able to get a handle on the fire. There's no more forward progress on the fire right now. We're doing a lot of mop up in and around the structures, putting out all the hot spots. And we even got a little bit of snow last night, but not enough to -- more causing problems of our pumps freezing and stuff than putting out the fire. But we got a good handle of the fire. We're going to be able to allow residents back into the area around noon today.
HOLMES: How destructive has this fire been? We getting report at least 20 homes were destroyed.
REGAN: Well, we have 21 structures confirmed damaged or destroyed. And when we see structures, that is including outhouses, storage sheds, and stuff like that. We had survey teams out last night to get exact numbers, exactly how many structures, and hopefully later on today we'll have the exact numbers. But it was pretty destructive, fast moving, rapid fire. We lost a lot of power lines. It did a little damage to the Reno area.
HOLMES: Any idea what caused it in the first place?
REGAN: Investigators were still out there last night. They just were following up on some information. They just wanted to make sure before they released what the cause was that they followed up on all of the leads and stuff. So we should be able to release that sometime today.
HOLMES: Are you working with a theory that this was an accident? Accidental started?
REGAN: Well, we had high winds. Again, we were geology with 75 up to 85-mile-per-hour gusts at the time of the fire. So we're looking into a couple different things. Investigators are looking at the power lines, investigators are looking at there was homeless people in the area and there were some teenagers in the area. So they were wanting to make sure that they can look at all aspects of what could cause the fire and eliminate each one of those.
HOLMES: And how is your firefighter doing? We got reports that one firefighter had to go to the hospital.
REGAN: That is correct. We did have one firefighter suffer from burns to his face. He will be released today from the hospital. They were first degree and second degree burns to the face, but very small, more like penetrating embers burning in his face due to the high winds. We have other firefighters with eye injuries and law enforcement officials that we had to transport to the hospital due to eye injuries, also.
HOLMES: Mark Regan, I know it's been a busy past 24 hours for you. We thank you for giving you the time and giving us an update. Good luck out there.
REGAN: Thank you.
HOLMES: We're about seven minutes past the hour now. This week marked the two month anniversary of the whole Occupy movement. It started, of course, in New York with Occupy Wall Street. So they planned a day of action in New York and, really, across the country. We did see some scuffles between some of the demonstrators and the police like this one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SHOUTING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: A lot of people outraged after seeing this video. This is on the campus of the University of California at Davis. Some of the protesters there refused to move tents that they had set up for their Occupy the campus, which they set up to oppose the rising tuition costs. Police, however, are defending their actions, defending the use of the pepper spray. They say they were concerned, the officers were concerned about their safety.
And we turn now to news we're getting out of Libya this morning. Some major news about one of Muammar Gadhafi's sons, Saif Gadhafi. We're told he has been captured. Here is a picture that has been released to us by the transitional government there saying this is, in fact, Saif Gadhafi after his capture. CNN is not able to independently authenticate this picture, but this was after a firefight, according to the revolutionary fighters. After a firefight he was captured.
Matthew Chance live for us in London. Matthew, we have to be careful sometimes with these reports, because, as you said to me earlier, this is not the first time we've heard of him being captured.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No. In fact, the last time there were reports of his capture were back in August when I was actually in Tripoli. And within a few hours of those reports being confirmed by the criminal courts, Saif Gadhafi appeared outside the hotel in Tripoli where we were staying and we managed to talk to him. I think that was the last time that he was spoken to on camera by journalists up until his capture today.
It does seem, though, that it's much firmer this time. That photograph has been distributed as you can say by the Libyan authorities. They were the Libyan rebels, and now they're the Libyan authorities. It is coordinating and calling the Libyan justice authorities to make sure some kind of solution to his trial is put forth. Take a look to what Lewis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor at the ICC, had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LUIS MORENO-OCAMPO, ICC CHIEF PROSECUTOR: The good news is Saif al Islam Gadhafi is arrested, and that is very important because we consider and the judge considers him one of the most reprehensible on the crimes committed in Libya on the 13th of February. So that's crucially important. He's arrested, he's alive. And now he will face justice. And that is the most important news.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE: The big concern at the moment, though, internationally is what will be his immediate fate. What wants to see avoided is that Saif al Islam Gadhafi isn't lynched in the same way that his father met a very kind of death at the hands of a mob essentially when he was taken last month near the town of Sirte. There were calls there from the International Criminal Court in the Hague for him to face justice. The question at the moment is whether he will face trial inside Libya as many Libyan military commanders want or whether he will be transferred to the Hague to face a trial there.
HOLMES: Matthew Chance for us in London, thank you, as always. And at 10 minutes past the hour now, we've got an embarrassment for the people who protect President Obama. Somebody left some sensitive very information in a not so secure place, a gutter. We're hearing from the man to found it. Stay with us on this CNN Saturday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We're at 13 minutes past the hour on this CNN Saturday morning. And President Obama returning tomorrow from a week-long tour of Asia. If Australia's "Sydney Morning Herald" has the story right, the president's entourage coming back on an embarrassing note here. A reporter says he found this in the gutter near the Australia's building. It's a booklet reportedly detailing the itinerary and security surrounding President Obama's visit to Australia earlier this week. I spoke to the reporter Dylan Welch of the "Sydney Morning Herald." He's the guy who found it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DYLAN WELCH, "SYDNEY MORNING HERALD": It's a very specific schedule for the U.S. president down to where he would be at every minute, each event he goes, when he gets out of his car, which door he gets out of this. This is, of course, limo one. And then exactly where he's proceed, where he moves and how he exits. On top of that, there was a very detailed layout of the presidential convoy as well as phone numbers of the deputy U.S. ambassador, a series of senior Australian military commanders, as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: No response just yet from either the White House or the Secret Service.
Meanwhile, President Obama is going to be back at the White House tomorrow morning, just in time to watch the deficit super committee try to hash out a deal to beat a deadline. They have to send the deal to the budget folks in time in order to have it all ready for a vote on Wednesday. Joe Johns on Capitol Hill this weekend where work is going on. And, Joe, we have been talking for months now about they have this Thanksgiving deadline. In reality, that deadline is Monday.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is Monday, because they have to have in 48 hours they'll approve this to put it out there so people can see what it is. We're watching closely to see what's happening here on Capitol Hill right now. We're told no face-to-face meetings among members of this 12-person super committee, but at least as far as we know. But there are talks that continue to happen on the telephone and so on, and I'm sure there are e-mails flying around, too, all hopes on get some information on this $2 trillion budget reducing program that the Congress is trying to do for months and months.
A lot of pessimism, however, members planning a very hard time of bridging the gap between the issues of taxes and spending, which are those philosophical divides between Democrats, Republicans, liberals and conservatives that have dogged this type of conversation for years and decades, in fact.
But still, when you hear from members on the committee, they say they are optimistic. Let's just listen to a couple examples.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. PATTY MURRAY, (D) WASHINGTON: Where the divide is right now is on taxes and whether or not the wealthiest Americans should share in the sacrifice that all of us have to make. That's the decision. It's what we're waiting for. I remain hopeful.
SEN. PAT TOOMEY, (R) PENNSYLVANIA: I remain hopeful that we can meet our goal and I urge my democratic colleagues to join us in this effort. We have what is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity to pass legislation that will generate millions of jobs, create a simpler, fairer tax system with lower rates for everyone, and put our government on a path towards fiscal sanity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: So what happens if they don't get a deal? Perhaps the most important thing is you sort of leave that up to the voters who are going to get their chance to weigh in on issues of taxes and spending, deficit reduction and entitlements in November when they vote in the general election.
Meanwhile, we do know about these automatic spending cuts that are expected to go into effect if the super committee doesn't get a deal. So there is a bit of a buffer there to keep from spooking the market, if you will, which is what happened when this conversation got started so well back in August, T.J.
HOLMES: Joe Johns on the Hill for us, good to have you with us on a CNN Saturday morning. Thanks so much.
It's 17 minutes past the hour.
(WEATHER BREAK)
HOLMES: Stay with us, because right after the break, we are excited to talk to one of our favorite guests here on CNN Saturday and Sunday morning. But we haven't seen her in a while. The wonderful, the fabulous, and the oh, so pleasant and always smiling Victoria Rowell. Where has she been? We're not going to be talking to her about how fabulous she is. No, something near and dear to her heart, a serious topic coming up after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: It's 21 minutes past the hour now. Today is the day we pay tribute to loving families across the country that take children into their homes. It's national adoptions day. The National Adoption Day Coalition says that more than 35,000 kids have been placed in new homes on this one day alone since they started this effort back in 2000. But we're not done with this conversation just yet. Today, we are talking to actress Victoria Rowell. You know the name, you know the face, but do you know the story? She is also the national spokesperson for the Annie E. Casey family services. She has a passion for foster children, and you have a story to go along with that. First of all, it's good to see you again. How have you been?
VICTORIA ROWELL, CO-STARRED IN "THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS": I've been great and it's good to see you.
HOLMES: We were hoping we'd have you here in Atlanta in studio, but we will take you in New York. Your background a little bit.
ROWELL: New York City.
HOLMES: New York City. You spent how much time in the foster care system?
ROWELL: I spent 18 years. Though my foster mother attempted on many occasions to adopt me and my sisters, parental rights were protected at that time in state law. And so if the bio parents said, no, you may not adopt my child, you remained in the foster care system. Of course, during the Clinton administration, President Clinton changed that. And if a parent is in rehab or what have you in 18 to 23 months, parental rights are revoked. That opened up the possibility for adoption for many, many foster children in America.
HOLMES: And you and I have talked about this over the years. And we talked on this day before, National Adoption Month or National Adoption Day, but the stories that seem to get all the headlines, and maybe because so many celebrities are involved in it. We hear about international adoption. Why is it not so much on domestic adoption?
ROWELL: I feel like we do get quite a bit of press on domestic adoptions, T.J., but international adoptions are extremely important, as well. We're all god's children and I think if people decide a single parent or couples decide to adopt internationally, then more power to them. That's just my philosophy. A child is colorblind, a child does not disseminate, OK, this person is not my ethnicity. They just understand it's a person that is loving and caring for them. And that was my experience growing up in Maine.
My first family was a white family. Though state law in Maine prohibited white families from taking care of black children, this particular family broke the law and was taking care of me when I was first put into care. Children don't care about the color of a person. They just want the safety of a forever family.
HOLMES: How difficult -- and we have some pictures. I know you were at an event yesterday and participating in some events there. You have lawyers and you have judges and courts getting involved during this month to have this special event to try to get a lot of kids adopted. How difficult is it these days to adopt a child in the U.S.?
ROWELL: I think it's still difficult. There's a lot of bureaucracy around adopting, especially out of foster care. We have a lot of grandparents who have stepped up to the plate to keep their children out of foster care. They find it very difficult to adopt their own grandchildren and great grandchildren in some cases.
But National Adoption Day helps expedite adoption -- 4,000 in one day takes place. 35 adoptions took place in the West Chester County children's courthouse yesterday with presiding Judge Davidson and other extraordinary judges. So we have made some headway with National Adoption Day in particular, of course, through the assistance of the Casey Foundation, Casey Foundation Services and the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute and many other organizations that help push through adoptions and assist people in adopting children. We have a long way to go, though.
HOLMES: All right, I have to ask you one question because anytime we have you on, people always want to ask about your open opera background and they want to ask, what was it a couple of years ago and we talked about your character was killed off the soap kind of sort of, ended up in a ravine.
ROWELL: She wasn't killed. She slipped.
HOLMES: But we were supposed to assume she was dead, though, right? She fell, but it was a hard fall.
ROWELL: And we always come back to life. Go ahead.
HOLMES: Some were pushing for you to come back possibly on "Young and the Restless," but maybe with an adoption story line?
ROWELL: Yes. I introduced foster care and adoption as a story line to CBS. And it's endured. It's now going into its seventh year. I would be very interested in returning. Recently Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee got on the bandwagon and wrote into Sony for my return, not because she watches the soap, but because she really appreciates that I've introduced foster care and adoption and stand for diversity behind the camera. So I'm open.
HOLMES: A slip, huh? That's all it was, it was a slip?
ROWELL: A slip. I slipped over the cliff. So she needs to claw her way back up.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: She's been clawing over for the past couple of years, Vicki.
ROWELL: We can get her back up there.
HOLMES: Get her back up. Vicky Rowell, always good to talk to you. Look forward to catching up with you when you get back to Atlanta. But always, certainly, getting that word out about adoptions here in the U.S. I know it's near and dear to you. Thank you. Always good to talk to you.
ROWELL: Yes. Happy Thanksgiving.
HOLMES: All right, thanks so much.
We're coming up on the bottom of the hour now. We will turn back from that to politics and the Republican presidential politics. They got a big day ahead in Iowa. There at a faith and values forum. Mitt Romney, he skipped this one. We'll tell you way after the break. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: At the bottom of this hour now, Republican presidential candidates, they have a change to reach out to the conservative base in Iowa today. It's a critical event with just over six weeks ago until the voting begins. Let me bring in our deputy political director Paul Steinhauser. Can you believe it's almost time to vote? How big of a deal is this event today?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Show time today in Iowa. This is a big deal, T.J. because social conservative voters in Iowa are very influential. They're going to have a big say on who wins that Republican caucus there on January 3rd.
So today, the Family Leader, this is one of those social conservative organization there, six of the candidates are going to be at a forum they're having just outside Des Moines, Iowa. The six are, Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker. Herman Cain, the businessman, he's dropping a little bit in the polls. Michele Bachmann, congresswoman from Minnesota, Rick Santorum, the former senator from Pennsylvania, Ron Paul, the Congressman from Texas. And don't forget about Rick Perry, the governor of Texas right there.
So, T.J., who is missing from this? It's interesting, the two Mormon candidates are missing from this one. Mitt Romney in particular, he will be in New Hampshire today. He's the front-runner right now in the national polls. He will be campaigning in New Hampshire. New Hampshire votes second one week after Iowa. It is interesting that both him and Huntsman will not be there today. With some social conservatives in Iowa, there is some trouble. That was an issue for Mitt Romney four years ago when he was running in Iowa, T.J.
HOLMES: All right, Paul Steinhauser, we'll check in with you again on another important political date. Thanks so much. And Tuesday night, a reminder to our viewers here, the Republicans who are running from president will gather not too far from the White House for a presidential debate on the national security and economy. The CNN debate is cosponsored by the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute. That's 8:00 eastern time Tuesday right here.
Coming up next, we're going to bring in our political friends and heavyweights. Our Maria Cardona and Lenny McAllister will chime in on all things politics, including the rise of Newt Gingrich. Did he peak too soon? Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We are just past the bottom of the hour on this CNN Saturday morning. I'm T.J. Holmes. Thank you for spending part of your weekend here with us.
And let's talk about some politics, and a real development here from the campaign trail, Newt Gingrich. The higher he rises it seems in the polls the more scrutiny his presidential ambitions are getting. It's just how these things go. The focus is on the money he earned working with Freddie Mac. He, however, denies he was ever a lobbyist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEWT GINGRICH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What I tried to do over and over again was offer strategic advice in whatever they were doing, but I did no lobbying of any kind. That's all I've got to say about it. That's all I've got to say about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Is this just a temporary surge for Newt Gingrich? Let me bring in our good friends CNN political contributor and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona and Republican strategist Lenny McAllister. Maria, what was your political highlight of the week?
MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I have two, T.J., as usual.
HOLMES: Oh.
CARDONA: They're short. The first one for Romney is to play or not to play in Iowa and will he ever feel the love? And the second one is, will Newt be able to survive this, his new surge.
HOLMES: She has two, that means you probably have four, right, Lenny?
LENNY MCALLISTER, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: No. I'm going to go with a division like President Obama. I'm going to go with one this week. I'm going to go with Bush Two redo, will the Supreme Court determine another presidential election next year?
HOLMES: All right. Well, thank you guys for that. Maria, let me come back to you with Newt Gingrich. I had a political guest suggest to me earlier today that Newt has peaked too early. Would you agree with that?
CARDONA: Well, I think, again, it all depends on the voters, T.J. and that has been the bottom line for this topsy-turvy primary process. Because what we're seeing is, though, for the elite Republican strategist, Romney has been and continues to be the front-runner and the presume nominee. Evangelical conservative voters have never been enamored with him and they're looking desperately for the anti-Romney candidate. Right now, it's Newt's turn because everybody has seemed to rise by whatever it is they don't do or they say or don't say.
The issue with Newt is he has a huge record that can be scrutinized, and that's what we're seeing now.
HOLMES: And, Lenny, if we all agree that Mitt Romney has been steady at that 20 percent to 25 percent in all these polls. MCALLISTER: He has been steady, but here is the thing. Newt Gingrich is going to fend off his critics in a way that Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann, and Rick Perry have not been able to.
HOLMES: How?
MCALLISTER: And let's be honest, too. Mitt Romney basically had Rick Perry coming after him in a debate and he didn't do it very well. He wants no part of Newt Gingrich coming after him in a debate. If it comes between Gingrich and Romney in a debate, Gingrich wins that. He's going to deal with the turbulent water a lot better than the other three predecessors that were towards the top of the polls just a couple months ago.
HOLMES: Maria, do you agree with that?
CARDONA: Well, I don't -- no, I don't think so, because the issue is with Newt is that -- and we saw this when he first came into the race, he has two issues for him. One of them is discipline. He is very undisciplined. And he is very -- it's difficult, very difficult for him to stay on message.
And the other one, and I think this is counterintuitive, is that he is actually too moderate for the primary process. And that has really come up to haunt him, as well. The first time that he started to run this time around, he came out and the first thing he said about Paul Ryan's plan was that it was right wing social engineering, social engineering. So I think on another issue, the mandate for health care, the individual mandates, he was for that, as well.
HOLMES: But hey --
CARDONA: And at one point he was for cap and trade. I think all of those things are going to come back to haunt him.
MCALLISTER: But here is the thing about that, though, Maria. Here is the thing about that. If that were the case, how come he didn't stay buried at bottom of the polls? Rick Santorum hasn't been able to get above two. Jon Huntsman has never been able to get above one. How come Romney has been able to go from one to two to eight now to 22, 23, 24 in these polls?
The truth of the matter is, he is a conservative with a record that liberals will attack, but he's going to be able to fend this off right now. He is catching lightning in a bottle right at the time. I do believe he's going to gain momentum just in time for Iowa. He's going to fend off these attacks and he's going to do just fine because he's going to be able to talk about things and articulate them very well. The only one that's been super presidential on those debate stages has been Newt Gingrich, and everybody admits that.
HOLMES: All right, maybe 15 seconds or maybe a yes or no on this. Herman Cain you both brought up pit seems like people are more turned off by his lack of handling of foreign policy than it was with the sexual harassment complaints and allegations against him. Maria, do you think that turned off voters more than the actual harassment allegations?
CARDONA: I think both things have really turned off voters in terms of Herman Cain. But I agree with you that his complete lack of knowledge auto foreign policy is something that has given folks pause. He's asking people to give -- to trust him with the highest oath of office and to be demander in chief. Right now, everybody he has said does not point to that.
HOLMES: Lenny, wrap it in a few seconds for me.
MCALLISTER: I do believe it's been both more the handling than the actual allegations. But the combination of the two has not been good for his campaign.
HOLMES: Lenny, Maria, good to see you both. You all enjoy thing the Thanksgiving holiday, and looking forward to having you two in studio with here with us in a couple weeks. We're bringing down our folks to Atlanta.
CARDONA: Thanks so much.
MCALLISTER: God bless and everybody have a great weekend.
CARDONA: Next week the GOP candidates in D.C. up for a presidential debate that CNN will be putting on along with our friends over at the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute. That's at 8:00 eastern next Tuesday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: It's 43 minutes past the hour now. Reynolds often helps you out when you're flying. He lets you know about the weather where you're going to. But that's the only way he can help you out. He's helping you find some deals. Reynolds doing some reporting here for us.
WOLF: Absolutely. A lot of it has to do with volume. You can do a lot a little bit of homework. If you go with the first available, usually it's not one of those things that's not exactly the best deal. So you have to do some research, be very patient and be careful of which days you pick. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF: If you've waited to buy your ticket home for the holidays, your procrastination may pay off.
LAUREN SULLIVAN, CHEAPFLIGHTS.COM: We recommend waiting until after thanksgiving to look for flight deals. And we suspect the first week of December is when you'll find the lowest fares.
WOLF: Flights on the days leading up to Christmas are often the busiest and most expensive. So consider a late start to your holiday.
SULLIVAN: Fly on Christmas morning. You're going to get the best flight deals then and also airlines make an effort to make it feels festive on the holiday itself. The same thing applies to the New Year. So if you're able to fly leading up to the countdown, you can celebrate it 35,000 feet in the air.
WOLF: If you want to bring along presents, think about avoiding the baggage fees.
SULLIVAN: A lot of times, it makes your sense to ship your presents or to buy them online. If you have to bring your presents, don't wrap them because airport security can go through them.
WOLF: And leave space in the bag for the gifts you might get this holiday season.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Speaking of --
WOLF: Fire away.
HOLMES: Speaking of gifts, you're talking about gifts people might get. I've got a couple of girls at the house. Do they still play with the dolls?
WOLF: They do, indeed.
HOLMES: They're going to love this doll. Folks, if you haven't seen this yet, there is a talking dolls, and dolls, you expect them to see cute fun things for kids, right. Some people are upset and think this doll should be pulled off store shelves because it says something offensive. I won't tell you what it is. I'll let you listen to it and you tell me what you think you hear. Turn your TVs up a little bit here. It's hard to hear and it's really short. But turn it up for a second and take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Did you catch that, folks? I'll play it for you one more time. This is this triplet doll called the interactive triplets, You and Me Interactive Triplets. So listen to it one more time. It's short, it's quick and turn it up and pay close attention.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(INAUDIBLE)
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WOLF: It sounds like crazy witch, you know, on a broomstick, cast spells, caldron with smoke and stuff coming out.
HOLMES: Or you could throw a "b" in there. Some would. Some say it's obviously, it's clear. But Toys r Us says whatever you think you're hearing, they say it's not what you're hearing. They say you're just hearing baby babble.
WOLF: That's a heck of a baby. That's a belligerent baby. That's a baby that has a lot to say.
HOLMES: They're not going to stop selling it. We'll hear more of this.
Meanwhile, Oklahoma State playing Iowa State last night. A lot of the line for the football team, but the game seemed secondary to what was going on on the Oklahoma State campus, a tragedy there after two of the university's coaches were killed in a plane crash on Thursday. We'll show you how both teams last night pay tribute. Stay with us on this CNN Saturday morning.
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HOLMES: It's about 10 minutes to the top of the hour. Let's say good morning to Joe Carter with our HLN sports. Good to have you back with us. What a couple of weeks it's been for Mr. Ramos here.
JOE CARTER, HLN SPORTS ANCHOR: Oh, my goodness. It's an incredible story. It's come full circle for him. He's back in D.C. right now. The team doctors need to examine the catcher. They gave him a clean bill of help. They said he's in great shape. What a wonderful sight that is to see Wilson Ramos hugging his teammates in the locker room just last week. He was kidnapped from his parents' home at gunpoint, held captive for two days in the Venezuela mountains. Police had to swoop in, rescue him. They traded shots with the kidnappers right out of a movie script.
He is going to return to his native land Tuesday, if you can believe that, because he's going to rejoin the baseball team, the winter league down there. That was the initial reason for being down there. He left the nationals, went back to his home in Venezuela, was going to play with that baseball team. He's going to rejoin that team, if you can believe that, on Tuesday. But he said being free now and bees rescued feels like he's been born again.
HOLMES: It's not unheard of in Venezuela.
CARTER: Not down there. They've been kidnapping professional athletes' parents and people in relation to professional athletes, but he's the first professional athlete I've heard of in a long time.
HOLMES: Let's turn to Oklahoma State. Number two team in the country, national championship implications. But that seems secondary to what's going on at the school.
CARTER: Yes. As you can see here, the team was 234 Iowa last night, Ames, Iowa. The initial of the two basketball coaches killed early Thursday in that plane crash, undefeated, their eye on competing for a national championship. But Iowa State, got to give credit where credit is due, unranked Iowa State pulled off a huge upset, the first time in school history that they've beat a team ranked second in the country. They beat them in double overtime. Now you look forward and think, who is going to be competing in the national championship game? You've got a whole bunch of one loss teams out there. Oregon, Alabama, Arkansas. And Oklahoma State is on this list now, as well. Arkansas plays LSU, LSU being the only undefeated team besides Houston, but Houston is never going to play in the national championship game. LSU and Arkansas are going to play, what, two weeks?
HOLMES: Always the day after Thanksgiving. That's coming up in two weeks.
CARTER: They have a game today and a game next Friday.
HOLMES: The Houston, folks --
CARTER: I know.
HOLMES: Sent your hate tweets mail to him, please, not me.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: Joe, good to have you, as always, buddy.
Earlier, we were telling you about a coach and his controversial comments. He is now on administrative leave after he called one of the students a, quote, "future welfare recipient," and it was actually caught on camera phone.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Future welfare recipient.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Students who don't get good grades.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The coach wasn't shy about repeating it for the camera. We asked you to weigh in, and, boy, did you this morning. A lot of you said the coach is wrong. But some of you said the coach is correct, like this person saying "Students who earn Cs, Ds, and Fs will have a terrible time in our current economy. Education is key." Another from Jack says "That teacher should be fired. No tolerance for treating our children this way." Another one says "Fragile, politically correct panic attacks? Coaches motivate students. It's not always with kid gloves." And one more here saying, "Coach apologized because he got caught. Kudos to the son and father for evidence. What's to investigate now? Video doesn't lie." Thank you all for chiming in. Got a lot of responses from you today.
Also this morning, help for busy moms faced with preparing quick and easy meals for the kids, that helps. It's next.
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HOLMES: OK, Moms, they're busy in the morning. A lot going on in the house. Mom is trying to get ready herself and get the kids out the door. But in this week's "Health for Her" Elizabeth Cohen shows us how to prepare a quick and even nutritious meal for the child.
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DR. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: For many families, morning are hectic. How do you fit in a healthy breakfast? Registered dietitian Dana Nahai says the key is planning and prep because he need to include something from three different food groups.
DANA NAHAI, REGISTERED DIETICIAN: Whole grains, proteins, and fresh or frozen fruits.
COHEN: Many parents turn to cereal in the morning.
NAHAI: Even the organic breakfast cereals have a lot of hidden sugar and sodium in them.
COHEN: Prepare some foods the night before, like oatmeal.
NAHAI: With a little bit of milk, brown sugar, cool that and place in it refrigerator.
COHEN: In the morning, reheat it and add fruit like blueberries. You can also make whole wheat waffles adding yogurt, fruit and nuts, or slice apples and put it in a whole green peanut. Dana also suggests --
NAHAI: We have taken some deli ham, mild flavored mozzarella, placed it in the tortilla and folded it like a crepe.
COHEN: If you do your homework, you can help your child get the best start to the day.
With this week's "Health for Her," I'm Elizabeth Cohen.
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HOLMES: Just a couple minutes from the top of the hour. We will reset things for you here in just a moment. When I come back, get you caught up on the very latest news of the day you need to get your day started, including the reported capture of one of Muammar Gadhafi's sons. Stay with us.
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