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CNN Saturday Morning News
New Hampshire Primary GOP Candidates; Two Missing Children; New Penn State Coach; Strong Surf In California; U.S. Teen Deported To Colombia; Using Slavery To Teach Math; Using Technology To Monitor Your Health; Karzai Endorses U.S. Taliban Talks; Protest with Flip Flop Drop; Unemployment Slips to 8.5 percent; Wild Card Weekend
Aired January 07, 2012 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN ANCHOR, SATURDAY MORNING: We are in CNN center here in Atlanta, Georgia. It's January 7th, 2012, 8:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 7:00 a.m. in Dallas, 5:00 a.m. in San Diego, California. Good morning. I'm Gary Tuchman.
An American teenager who was mistakenly deported is now back on U.S. soil this morning. We'll tell you how the 15-year-old Dallas girl ended up in Colombia and how she was located.
And what does slavery and math have to do with each other? A teacher gives a math test with word problems such as, if Frederick got two beatings per day, how many beatings did he get in one week? We'll tell you the full story and we want your reaction. Send your thoughts to Gary Tuchman CNN on Twitter.
Plus, he's on trial for murder. Joran van der Sloot sits in court yawning. Hear what the judge had to say about his behavior.
We start with the Republican presidential race and the battle for the granite state, New Hampshire. The candidates have two debates there this weekend. But that doesn't mean they're scaling back on the personal appearances. This is Mitt Romney holding a rally in Derry, New Hampshire. He's been dominating the polls in New Hampshire, but now Rick Santorum may have some momentum.
CNN political editor Paul Steinhauser joins me now from Manchester, New Hampshire, early in the morning.
Paul, you look good. You don't look too cold right now, which is a good sign. Is this a battle right now for second place though in New Hampshire? Is it inevitable that Romney's going to win this?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: I think that's a pretty fair statement, Gary. Mitt Romney, he's from neighboring Massachusetts. He owns a vacation home here in New Hampshire. He spends a lot of time here campaigning, helping other Republicans. It's home field advantage for Romney in New Hampshire, no doubt about that. He's been on top of the polls here for about two years.
Take a look at this brand-new one that came out last night. This is from NBC/Marist. This is the people likely to vote in Tuesday's Republican primary just three days away. Look at that, Romney, again, way up top at 42 percent. Ron Paul, the congressman from Texas at 22 percent.
This is interesting Gary. Look at Rick Santorum now, the former senator from Pennsylvania at 13 percent. He cracked double digits for the first time. He did it in another poll that also came out yesterday. I guess you could say he's getting some mojo from that very, very strong second place finish in Iowa back on Tuesday in the caucuses. Gary, so the battle here is for second place.
And hopefully, you know, the candidate who comes in second is hoping to get some good momentum going into South Carolina. Their primary comes 11 days after New Hampshire. Check out this, where does the race stand in South Carolina? Our poll, CNN/"Time"/ORC in South Carolina, we made some news yesterday when we put ours out, because look who's on top in South Carolina now, Mitt Romney. That was not the case a month ago. It used to be Newt Gingrich and you can see Romney surging in South Carolina. So is Rick Santorum. Newt Gingrich going the other way.
And ,Gary, as you can see behind me, we got the CNN Election Express. Dale Fountain (ph), the commander of the bus just rolled in late last night from Iowa. You know we're ready to go here in New Hampshire, Gary.
TUCHMAN: It's an awesome bus folks, I got to tell you. That bus is everything we need to broadcast television, to stay warm. It has great food and drinks aboard and everything about it, it's high-tech.
STEINHAUSER: Oh, yes.
TUCHMAN: What do we need to know about the debate this weekend? We have two. We have one tonight, one tomorrow. What's the viewers' guide here?
STEINHAUSER: I think it's pretty obvious when you're on top, like a Mitt Romney, you're going to come under attack. You're going to get a lot more attention from the other candidates. But now we're seeing the same thing for Rick Santorum.
This is something new for him. Remember, he was an afterthought a couple of weeks ago until he started surging in the polls and doing well in Iowa. So expect a lot of scrutiny and probably a lot of jabs from some of the other candidates at Santorum, not just Romney anymore.
And the other person to look for, Newt Gingrich. He's trying to jump- start his campaign. Remember, he was the front-runner Gary just about a month ago, a poor showing in Iowa, poor fourth place finish. He's going to try to show that he is the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney. Expect him to try to break out in performances tonight and tomorrow morning Gary.
TUCHMAN: Paul Steinhauser and I are both Boston University terriers. That's why Paul's such a smart guy. Thanks Paul, nice talking to you.
Trust CNN with the best political team on television for complete coverage of the New Hampshire primary. Join Wolf Blitzer, Erin Burnett, Anderson Cooper, Candy Crowley and John King for live coverage from this very studio Tuesday night 7:00 Eastern right here on CNN.
Mitt Romney isn't the only one on the campaign trail this morning. Here are the live events we'll be watching today.
Coming up in about one hour, Ron Paul will be greeting people who are coming to breakfast at the Windmill restaurant in Concord, which is the state capital.
Rick Santorum is in Manchester at 9:45 Eastern time. He's taking part in an event called the electorate and the economy.
At 11:00 Eastern, Newt Gingrich will be holding a town hall meeting in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire.
Around 11:30 which is three and a half hours from now, Jon Huntsman makes his third campaign stop of the day at the Holderness general store in Holderness, New Hampshire.
Be sure to stay with CNN throughout the day for the latest on the candidates.
Federal investigators are helping in the search for a missing toddler in Maine. Ayla Reynolds went missing from her bed December 17th. Her father noticed her missing in the morning hours after he put her to bed. The 21-month-old's grandmother says no family members had anything to do with the disappearance. Police say the family is cooperating in the investigation.
The FBI is also assisting with the missing child case in South Carolina. Eighteen-month-old Amir Jennings was last seen around Thanksgiving. The boy's mother was arrested and is still in jail for lying to police about where the child is. The family, though, is asking for help.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSELYN JENNINGS, MISSING BOY'S GRANDMOTHER: He loves nursery rhymes. He will repeat back to you. He's a very bright child. My family and I are requesting your support in helping us to find his location and to bring him home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: So sad. The family says Amir's mother has been dealing with depression. She's being held on $150,000 bail.
It looks like we'll have to wait until at least Wednesday to hear a plea from Joran van der Sloot. He was expected to plead guilty to murder yesterday in the death of a 21-year-old woman in Peru, but instead van der Sloot asked the judge for more time to consider his plea. You may remember that van der Sloot was also a suspect in the disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway in back 2005.
Penn State is ready to introduce its permanent replacement for legendary head coach Joe Paterno. It's New England Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien, the official announcement expected just a few hours from now.
O'Brien is taking over a program reeling from the sexual abuse scandal surrounding former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. The news was met by excitement from team members.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATT MCGLOIN, PENN STATE QUARTERBACK: I'm very excited about it. We heard the news late last night. I talked to a couple of my buddies on the team. They're excited as well. It's a fresh start for the Penn State program. And I'm anxious to get it going.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: You'll remember that Joe Paterno was dismissed as part of the cleanup from the Sandusky scandal. He'd been head coach since the 1960s. O'Brien won't be coming to happy valley right away, though. He's going to stay with the Patriots as long as they stay alive in the NFL play-offs. Wild card play-offs begin this weekend.
The surf in California has turned deadly. Just take a look at these huge swells. According to affiliate KTLA, Los Angeles, dangerous rip currents have already killed at least one swimmer, high surf advisory in effect for most southern California beaches. Some parts of the coast could possibly even see surf as high as 14 feet.
Meteorologist Alexandra Steele is keeping an eye on all of it. It's pretty bad out there.
ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Aggressive surf, no question about it. Here's a look. Here's where those advisories are through 6:00 local time tonight. So we will see it through this morning, through the afternoon but then it will abate later today. So in terms of the surf, what we'll see again maybe high tides also of about six feet for some right around Los Angeles. And that's around high tide at 7:22 this morning.
So certainly be mindful of that if you're heading out. More on the high surf and also Gary, where's the winter, right? Where's the snow, where's the cold temperatures? Also forecast for Tuesday in New Hampshire, all that coming up in a little bit.
TUCHMAN: Thank you, Alexandra. And I'm not complaining about the winter, at least yet.
A teen deported to Columbia is now back home. Her family wants to know why immigration officials didn't know she was an American. Her story is next.
And imagine winning the lottery. But when you go to cash your winning check, the check bounces. That story straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) TUCHMAN: Good morning, everybody. It's 10 minutes after the hour. Let's take a look at news cross-country. We'll start in Boston. Nothing ruins a robbery like a trooper in the store.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN MCKINNON, MASSACHUSETTS STATE PATROL: There was a man behind the counter. He had a hood up. It definitely didn't look right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: Massachusetts state trooper John McKinnon walked into this CVS when a clerk told him something strange was happening by the pharmacy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCKINNON: I pulled my hand gun. I said, let me see your hands. He turned and looked at me real quick and then he ran out and the chase was on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: McKinnon caught up with this man and blasted him twice in the face with pepper spray. The man now faces numerous charges Investigators say he demanded pharmacists give him painkillers.
To Newport Beach, California and a cheating scandal at a school there. Several students at Corono Delmar (ph) High are accused of prepping for a history test by buying test materials for teachers on Amazon.com. The students apparently found the book they were reading which included questions and answers. School officials say at least one student even tried to sell the material to classmates. By the way, these test documents are not on Amazon anymore.
In Chicago, 85 lotto winners cashed in their checks around Christmas and they bounced. Illinois lottery officials say the checks totaling about $159,000 did not have the proper security authorization. They blame short staffing because of the holidays. But they do plan to pay the winners, plus they'll be reimbursed for any bank fees.
One teenager's stunning saga has ended with her return to the United States. This is video of (INAUDIBLE) Turner arriving at the airport in Dallas, Texas. She spent most of the past year in Colombia, the nation of Colombia, in South America, after being deported by the U.S. government. The problem is, she's not Colombian. She's 15, American teenager. She just ran away from home.
After a shoplifting arrest in Houston, she convinced American Colombian officials, from both countries, that her name is really Tika Cortez, a 21-year old illegal immigrant. Why she did this, we don't know. Her family finally tracked her down on Facebook.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LORENE TURNER, TEEN'S GRANDMOTHER: We don't know when she was really deported, but that's when I saw her on Facebook, when I saw her picture. Colombia's right there to the side, you know where you are shows up on Facebook. And it had Colombia there. So I started looking it up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is this a Colombian newspaper?
TURNER: No, Facebook, on the computer. But I had a detective to check it for me. It wasn't a regular detective. Someone who came to the shop and they checked it. And she was in Colombia. I knew it all the time. But I just wanted to prove to other people that she was there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: Weird story. These are some of the posts that (INAUDIBLE) grandmother to look in Colombia. Well, was in jail, now I'm a free man and still feel like I'm loke up in this country. I believe she meant locked up. This one in August.
Then there's still one from June, I'm having too many problems in my life. Just found out I can't even go back to the states in another five years. Her family wants to know how the Federal government didn't figure out that she wasn't an illegal immigrant. Federal immigration officials are investigating the case.
Using slavery to teach a lesson about math. Ahead, you'll hear from some parents who are rightfully outraged about their children's homework assignment.
Look at these workmen building a snow village in Montreal, one of Canada's newest attractions. But they're having trouble finishing it and may never guess why.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TUCHMAN: Businesses across Canada are suffering from the lack of something usually very plentiful this time of year -- snow. Work on Montreal's newest cold weather attraction, a snow village is behind schedule. It's just too warm in Montreal to make the snow that sculptors need to build it. That brings us to Alexandra Steele. It's 16 minutes past the hour. Alexandra, a lot of people are wondering, might we miss winter this year in North America?
(WEATHER REPORT)
TUCHMAN: Some parents in the state of Georgia are outraged after an elementary school's homework assignment used examples of slavery and beatings in math word problems.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TERRANCE BARNETT, PARENT: I'm having to explain to my eight-year-old why slavery, or slave or beatings is in a math problem. And that hurts.
CHRISTOPHER BRAXTON, FATHER: Whoever put together this paperwork and everything else, the schools and everything, shouldn't teach it this way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: School officials say it was a cross-curricular activity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SLOAN ROACH, SCHOOL DISTRICT SPOKESWOMAN: The teachers were trying to do a cross-curricular activity. We understand that there are concerns about these questions. And we agree that these questions were not appropriate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: After the school finally acknowledged its mistake, the assignments were shredded.
We want to hear from you about this. Did the school do enough to handle this really strange situation? Tweet me at Gary Tuchman, CNN and we'll read some of your comments.
And in one minute, new technology that could get you off the couch and back at the gym. Don't go anywhere.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TUCHMAN: Big campaign day for the Republican candidates. We're giving you a live look in Derry, New Hampshire. Mitt Romney is about to arrive on the stage at the Pinkerton Academy field house. This will be Romney's only appearance today in the granite state. He's leading the polls in New Hampshire. He's been leading a lot time and we have to remember, he was the governor of next door Massachusetts.
A lot of people thought after Rick Santorum's second place finish, just losing by eight votes in the Iowa caucuses, that the latest polls which show Santorum closing in. They really don't as of yet. This is Romney's only stop before the debate tonight.
Well, we've had our fun today. But the holidays are over and it's time to start burning off all those extra calories that we ate, in my case, my wife's pecan pie. That's my favorite dessert and I (INAUDIBLE) It's the digital age, so there has to be a way to use a tablet, or a laptop to help us shape up. Wouldn't you think so, right? The answer is yes. I wouldn't pose that question if the answer wasn't yes.
Tech guru and HLN digital lifestyle expert Mario Armstrong joins us now. Mario, thank you very much for joining us.
MARIO ARMSTRONG, CNN DIGITAL LIFESTYLE EXPERT: It's my pleasure. Good morning. Thanks for having me on.
TUCHMAN: It's great to have you.
ARMSTRONG: I've got a way for you to work off some of that pecan pie.
TUCHMAN: I ate a lot of dessert. It's not good I guess. But I eat salads, too.
ARMSTRONG: They make vegan desserts, by the way. You should look into that.
TUCHMAN: We'll have to talk about that the next time. We have something interesting we want to talk about this time. You're going to give us the heads up on the new health and fitness gadgets that are premiering at this year's International Consumer Electronics Show.
First tell us what CES -- how big of a show is it?
ARMSTRONG: This is massive. This is probably the largest technology convention. It happens in Vegas. You're talking close to 130 or more thousand people from over 100 different countries attend, over 2,400 exhibiters. And the amount of exhibitor space takes up about the length of 33 football fields.
This is a massive conference, all of the latest technology that shows up in the stores, the services, all the things that could affect your life. Everything from smart refrigerators, to health and fitness, to tablets and cell phones, everything that you end up wanting to use or take a look at and want to buy shows their products at this particular show.
TUCHMAN: Thirty three football feels. That's 3,300 yards, that means 9,900 feet. That's almost two miles long.
ARMSTRONG: That's right.
TUCHMAN: All right.
ARMSTRONG: I'm there for four days. So I'm going to be tracking myself with a pedometer.
TUCHMAN: You're going to tell us, there's a new apparently smart watch from Motorola?
ARMSTRONG: Yes, that's right. I'm holding it right here now. This is called the Motorola moto active. Moto active is its name. It's a smart GPS watch that also tracks your fitness. So you can track your jogging. You can track walking or cycling. It will not only track all of your calories being burned, the amount of miles that you're going, your heart rate, it can also show you a GPS map of where you're going, where you've been and it's just one of these incredibly smart watches, because it also has an MP3 player. So what it can also do is over time, it learns what music you perform best to. And so you almost end up with this performance play list of music and sound. It has some wireless features in it as well so you could do blue tooth, ear phones. I've been impressed by it. I've been using it for the past week, I've been really impressed.
TUCHMAN: Are you old enough to remember the Dick Tracy show? Dick Tracy was a detective and he had this watch that he could watch TV on, talk into it and that's what it sounds like. The future has arrived.
ARMSTRONG: The future has arrived. TUCHMAN: There may be a solution for those of us who have trouble sleeping. Tell us about that.
ARMSTRONG: Yes, this is the lark sleep monitor. I've been testing this out for the past few days. This is awesome. What this is is a wrist band that basically you wear at night when you go to sleep. And you sync this up with your computer. What it does is it measures your sleep activity.
This is very important for health. Many people stress out. Many people don't get enough relaxation and get quality rest. They're having a rough time throughout the day or not being productive or being creative. So it links up to your smart phone or your tablet and you can actually create a sleeping plan for you. It's almost like having a virtual sleep coach.
So over time, it shows you a chart and can progress exactly how many times you wake up in the night and how many hours you actually slept and whether that was good or bad. Really, really impressive stuff to kind of really give you an idea of what your sleeping habits are.
TUCHMAN: Regarding health, there's a way I understand to check your blood pressure from your telephone, right?
ARMSTRONG: That's right. Well, see, the whole thing that's going on is that we want people to have technology that can help them manage their health better. You may have distant relatives or you may want to be able to get information to your physician faster. So this is a blood pressure monitor made by a company called iHealth. This iHealth connects to a dock, which then reads out the information onto your iPad or onto a smart phone.
So you can track your blood pressure progress over time and then e- mail these results to your doctor or to a trainer, so that you can really make sure you're taking care of your health.
TUCHMAN: Mario Armstrong, that's cool stuff. I expect that you'll be jogging in Las Vegas very shortly.
ARMSTRONG: We'll see. I'm looking for a Segway to ride around.
TUCHMAN: Oh, I see, taking the lazy man's way out.
ARMSTRONG: That's right.
TUCHMAN: Thank you, Mario. Take care.
Join us every Saturday at this time as our digital lifestyle expert Mario Armstrong gives us the scoop on his Segway on the latest technology.
And coming up next, we look at the country's new jobs report and hear what President Obama has to say about it.
Plus, peace talks in Afghanistan between the U.S. and the Taliban? What Afghan President Hamid Karzai says about the negotiations and where the Taliban may open an office there. Those details in about two minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TUCHMAN: It's 31 minutes past the hour. Welcome back. I'm Gary Tuchman. Thanks for starting your day with us.
Let's check some of our top stories. The 15-year-old Texas teenager who was mistakenly deported to Colombia is now back in the United States. You're looking at video of Jakadrien Turner at the airport in Dallas moments after getting off the plane yesterday. Turner, who is pregnant gave immigration authorities a fake name and was deported to Colombia last May. Immigration officials are investigating the mistake.
Meanwhile, in Peru, Joran Van Der Sloot suddenly changes his mind and asks for more time to consider how he will plea in his murder trial. The 24-year-old was charged with murdering a woman in Peru. He was expected to plead guilty yesterday to all charges. You may remember, Van Der Sloot was already a suspect in the disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway in 2005.
And with just days to go until the New Hampshire primary Mitt Romney is back in the state, you are looking at a live picture as Mitt Romney gets introduced at a rally in Derry, New Hampshire. Tonight, Romney will square off with the other GOP presidential hopefuls in Manchester for the WMUR ABC News debate. And there's another debate tomorrow before the primary.
The new December jobs report is out. And the big news, the U.S. unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent last month. That's the lowest number we've seen since February 2009, a month after Barack Obama took office; 200,000 new jobs contributed to that number. President Obama says we're on the right track.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're making progress. We're moving in the right direction. And one of the reasons for this is the tax cut for working Americans that we put in place last year. And when Congress returns, they should extend the middle tax -- the middle class tax cut for all of this year, to make sure that we keep this recovery going.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: Thomas Boston, a professor of economics at Georgia Tech joins me in just a couple of minutes to break down how the new job report affects our wallets. And also we'll discuss if President Obama is correct to say that we're headed in the right direction.
Well, this morning, Afghan President Hamid Karzai is back in direct talks between the U.S. and the Taliban, following news the Taliban may open an office in Qatar to facilitate talks. Foreign affairs correspondent Jill Dougherty joins us. Jill, why would the U.S. want to talk with the Taliban? And Mullah Omar is still on the loose, over ten years since they've been looking for him. JILL DOUGHERTY, FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: You know, that's an excellent question. And you think the Taliban, what is your image. You know people who chop off hands, won't let girls go to school. But there are other Taliban out there. It's a very mixed bag and now this news that they would be willing to open an office to begin some type of peace negotiations with the U.S. and its international partners is big news.
And as we know, there have been talks. They've been at times secret, and the government isn't willing to talk too much about it openly. But there have been talks going on for almost two years. But there are a lot of pros and cons obviously about doing this.
TUCHMAN: The big question, Jill, I mean, diplomatically, can this work?
DOUGHERTY: Well, let's go through the pros and cons. I mean, if you say, what are the cons, there are a lot out there. Number one, who are the Taliban? They are different groups, disparate groups. Number two, what do they want exactly. Nobody seems to know exactly what they want. They know one thing -- they want American troops, any type of international troops out of Afghanistan.
But beyond that, what do they support. Would they break ties with al Qaeda? That is really crucial. Would they renounce violence? Things like that
On the pro side, you could say that maybe this would work out the way it worked out in Ireland. Remember when you had the IRA, this was going back like three decades 30 years ago, you have the IRA and then eventually a political wing Sinn Fein and then eventually now Sinn Fein is part of the government.
So it could happen. It's a long way between that.
But let's listen to what Victoria Nuland, who is the Press Secretary for the State Department, said. It's an interesting quote. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VICTORIA NULAND, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: Are there individual fighters of strategic significance who are prepared to come off the battlefield and join the political process within the framework that the Afghans have discussed and that we have supported, namely, that they are now ready to denounce violence, to cut ties with al Qaeda and to work within the Afghan Constitution.
So you know, in any negotiated settlements, at the end of a conflict, there has to be a negotiation, right? So the question is whether this office were to open would play a positive role in that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOUGHERTY: Yes. So again, a lot of questions. Nobody is going into this with their eyes closed. And remember that case, an amazing case where there was a guy who was saying that he was a representative of the Taliban and it turned out that he was a shop keeper from Pakistan.
So you never know. But there is some hope that this might lead to something.
TUCHMAN: Jill, it's very interesting, and also very important. Jill Dougherty, thank you very much.
Well, the anticipated film about the killing of Osama bin Laden is getting the kind of attention that probably you didn't expect from the Department of Defense. Officials want to know whether the filmmakers got their hands on classified information.
Plus using flip-flops to protest: why people are dumping them outside a police station. Details coming up in "Morning Passport".
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TUCHMAN: A yet to be released movie about the killing of Osama bin Laden is already causing a stir, and it doesn't have a title yet. Listen to this. The Department of Defense says it will investigate allegations that the White House gave the filmmakers access to top White House and Pentagon officials with knowledge of the bin Laden raid.
Representative Peter King first raised this concern last summer. He said he wants to make sure that information about special operations, tactics, techniques and procedures weren't leaked. When asked about the probe, White House spokesman Jay Carney brushed off the allegations.
Legendary singer Etta James is out of the hospital. The "At Last" singer was released Thursday. James is battling the final stages of leukemia and had been in the hospital for the past two weeks. Her attorney wrote that James is quote, "Nearing the end of her time, but she's a tough lady". We certainly wish her the best.
And after seven seasons, the Hallmark Channel is canceling the "Martha Stewart Show". It will stop taping new episode this spring and re- runs will air until the end of summer. In the past the Martha Stewart Show was a star in the cable network. It earned two daytime Emmy Awards in its first two seasons, but recently the ratings for the show have dropped. Stewart fans, though, you don't have to worry, the Lifestyle experts at the Hallmark Channel are already in talks about developing a new program.
Well outrage in Indonesia, sparks an unusual national protest. A police station in Jakarta overwhelmed with people dumping flip-flops over the brutal treatment of a teenager. And joining me with our "Morning Passport" is Nadia Bilchik with details. Dumping flip-flops -- what's the significance of the flip-flop?
NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Well, the significance of the flip-flops is that this week a 15-year-old boy was sentenced to a five-year term for doing what? For allegedly stealing some flip-flops from an officer.
TUCHMAN: Ok.
BILCHIK: Now, he stole them last year, when he was only 14. And he only admitted to doing it after he was severely beaten. And then this week got the sentence of five years. So the National Commission for the Protection of Children has arranged a protest by dumping flip- flops in front of police stations around the country.
Let's hear what the National Commission for the Protection of Children had to say as to why they're doing this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We came up with the idea of 1,000 sandals which we see as being the symbol of resistance. Also as a compensation for the sandals that were allegedly stolen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BILCHIK: Now, this is a country where over 6,000 young children a year, literally minors, are held in prisons. So it's very concerning. And this particular Commission for the Protection of Children in 2002, they actually enacted the law for child protection. But it doesn't seem to have helped or stopped these kinds of things happening.
TUCHMAN: So what's going on with this child right now?
BILCHIK: Well, this child right now, after receiving his sentence, has gone back to his parents. Why? Because that's how effective the protests have been, there have been a lot more than 1,000 flip-flops. And I think it just shows ingenious ways of protesting. But I wanted you to hear from the Indonesian authorities as to what they say they are doing regarding minors.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The commission is pushing to abolish juvenile punishment in Indonesia. We hope it will be included in the bill. It means that first the child needs to be returned to their parents for guidance, then given training and education. And the harshest would be rehabilitation with the right intervention.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: By the way, is this legal, this protest?
BILCHIK: Well, it's unprecedented. So it's not really illegal, if you think about the Occupy protesters.
TUCHMAN: But that's in the United States.
BILCHIK: It's exactly -- but again, when you look at creative ways of protesting, they unprecedented. So it's not illegal. But what it's doing is causing a great deal of embarrassment for the Indonesian authorities. And certainly look at the video. It's causing a lot of worldwide attention, which is the pressure that has caused them not to actually act at this point, because the young man is back with his parents. And not seemingly serving the prison sentence at this point.
TUCHMAN: Nadia, you always find the most interesting stories. Thank you.
BILCHIK: The flip-flop revolution.
TUCHMAN: The flip-flop revolution.
BILCHIK: Worth $3.
TUCHMAN: You coined it. You should trademark that. Thank you.
200,000 -- that's the number of jobs added in the month of December, so what does this mean for the economy? Are things starting to turn around?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TUCHMAN: Some encouraging news on the job front. The unemployment rate is down to 8.5 percent, that's the lowest number we've seen since February 2009. Employers also added 200,000 jobs last month. But President Obama says there's still work to do.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now all together, more private sector jobs were created in 2011 than any year since 2005. There are a lot of people that are still -- there are a lot of people that are still hurting out there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: Here's a breakdown of those new jobs. 7,000 mining jobs were added; 21,000 jobs in leisure and hospitality; 23,000 new jobs in health care and manufacturing; and 28,000 retail jobs were created in December.
Now, while the numbers look promising, we still have people unemployed in the double digits. Asian-Americans lost jobs in the U.S. while white Americans picked up some. Hispanics are still struggling, but their rate dropped a bit. African-Americans still make up the majority of the unemployed with a dismal 15.8 percent.
Joining me to help us understand this situation is Danny Boston, professor of economics at Georgia Tech. Professor, even with our economy gaining some solid ground, we still have a lot of groups that are struggling. Why is that? What can be done?
THOMAS "DANNY" BOSTON, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS, GEORGIA TECH: There are groups that are struggling. And a lot of it has to do with the industries that there are various groups located in, particularly African-Americans and Hispanics. Those are the industries that were hit hardest, particularly manufacturing, and construction, and then retail. And if you look at the job picture as a whole, those industries, 30 percent of the jobs that have not been recovered are in manufacturing, another 30 percent in construction, and 15 percent in retail. So those are the industries where those groups are concentrated most heavily.
TUCHMAN: What I've heard a lot of people saying, and a lot of Republican presidential candidates on the stump, is that, hey, look at the month, December, it's Christmas season, holidays, New Year's, gifts, jobs are needed. This isn't going to stay this way. We may see more dismal numbers in January and February. Is there some credence to that?
BOSTON: Well, you know, they'll have to adjust their strategy, as far as I'm concerned because the numbers will get better. And I think they will get significantly better, because if you really look at the labor market as a whole, we have not been stalled because corporations were bleeding. They were not hurting. In fact, they're making record profits. They were just lacking confidence, and not spending.
But the latest investment figures indicate that private fixed investment went up 15.7 percent. Now they're beginning to spend. And the economy is going to grow very rapidly.
TUCHMAN: So your predictions for 2012?
BOSTON: My predictions for 2012 is that the unemployment rate will be down by election time. It will be at 7.5 percent or lower. I think that there are a lot of factors that are happening at one time that will allow the economy to grow very, very rapidly.
TUCHMAN: And what do you think about troops coming home from Iraq, troops coming home continuously from Afghanistan? Will there be jobs for them? Or will that be a troubled group, the U.S. military?
BOSTON: You know, that will be a troubled group, and I think that some special consideration has to be given to veterans, as the Administration has talked about. I'm a former veteran myself. In fact --
TUCHMAN: What branch of the service?
BOSTON: I was in the army. And I got a Purple Heart. And I know --
TUCHMAN: I didn't know that.
BOSTON: That's right.
TUCHMAN: You served where?
BOSTON: I served in Vietnam.
TUCHMAN: You served in Vietnam?
BOSTON: I served in Vietnam.
TUCHMAN: What were you, 12 years old? I mean Vietnam ended in 1973. That was 38 -- 39 years ago. You have to be at least 57, right?
BOSTON: I was a soldier boy.
TUCHMAN: Good for you. I'm impressed.
BOSTON: But there are adjustments that soldiers coming home have to make. Even if you are -- you know, if you have a normal life going in, coming out of a conflict situation is a psychological transformation. You have to be able to adjust to that. So there will have to be some type of special consideration given for these folks (ph).
TUCHMAN: Well, Danny Boston, thanks for joining us. Danny Boston from Georgia Tech, young looking man, I'll tell you. I thought you were going to say Iraq. That's very impressive. Thank you for talking with us.
BOSTON: Sure.
TUCHMAN: Well, leaving the dancing in the end zone, one NFL player known for his touchdown celebrations says "Thanks, but no thanks." He won't be "Dancing with the Stars". That's ahead in sports.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TUCHMAN: This is the weekend us football fans have been waiting for. Games all the time: play-off games, wild card weekend. So how wild will the wild card weekend be? HLN Sports' Joe Carter is here with me now. Joe's a Bronco fan.
JOE CARTER, HLN SPORTS: I am.
TUCHMAN: I'm a bear fan. You're the only one who has a chance to win a Super Bowl this year.
CARTER: That's a fat, fat chance.
TUCHMAN: The Bears have no chance. They're not in the play-offs.
CARTER: Well, ok. Yes, this is a great weekend. You said how wild will it be? Well, it depends I guess on which party you're attending. But we've seen the NFL grow in popularity over the years. And last year was a really good indication of how popular the play-offs are, because millions of people tuned in.
"American Idol" gets about 29 -- between 19 million and 29 million viewers. 33 million people on average watched each play-off game last season. The most people that have tuned in for a play-off game in 16 years for the NFL.
So we have games starting today -- of course, 4:30 Eastern is the big game between Cincinnati and Houston. It's the first time we're going to see two rookie quarterbacks go against each other.
Speaking of rookie quarterback, I remember when the NFL draft was taking place and people were looking at Andy Dalton saying, no, we're going to pass on this guy for a number of reasons, one of those being because he has red hair. Remember that?
(CROSSTALK)
TUCHMAN: I do. I thought that was a joke.
CARTER: Absolutely. Cincinnati did, too. They snatched him up. Here they are back in the play-offs for the first time in six years. So you've got that game.
Then you have the night game tonight, which I know the Saints are a huge, huge favorite, but I think this is going to be a good one. It starts at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, you've got the Lions at the Saints.
TUCHMAN: I mean two great quarterbacks. You know, Brees and --
CARTER: Great quarterbacks. Two great offenses -- really; I think we're going to see a lot of points. So don't let that point spread fool you. The Saints are an 11-point favorite. But Detroit, they can put up big numbers like we were saying in the commercial break. Just throw it up to Calvin Johnson and let the man (INAUDIBLE) for a touchdown.
And then on Sunday you've got the Falcons and the Giants, and then Steelers at my Broncos. Tim Tebow faces a mighty challenge going against that Steeler defense. I think we're going to see some good games this weekend. I think today's games are going to be a little closer than tomorrow's games.
TUCHMAN: I think that the Giants and Falcons will be the best game.
CARTER: Really?
TUCHMAN: I can't put my finger on that game. You know, it's in the middle. I think Atlanta is a better team.
CARTER: They are. They're a much improving team. Especially with Julio Jones the way he'd been the last few weeks. He's really come on and that offense is looking good.
TUCHMAN: So who do you pick for that one?
CARTER: Falcons. I've got Falcons, Steelers tomorrow. Sorry, Broncos.
TUCHMAN: Thank you very much for talking with us, Joe.
CARTER: You bet.
TUCHMAN: We'll see what happens.
Well, 2012 is just getting started. And dealnews.com released its list of items that will cost you more money this year. First up, airfare, American Express predicting that price for economy seats will rise about 5 percent in 2012. Next, food prices are going up; they rose six percent last year on higher wholesale prices. In other news, the main suspect in the disappearance of an Alabama teenager suddenly decides to change his strategy after his murder trial starts in another case. That story coming up.
2012 is just getting started and we'll tell you more about dealnews.com releasing its list of items that will cost you more money.
Let's start with the car. Car won't be cheaper this year, expect gas prices to inch up $4 a gallon.
Next, shipping; the U.S. Postal Service will raise rates more than 4 percent this year. And FedEx and UPS are expected to as well.
Finally, municipal fees -- that's what you pay for everything from dog licenses to vehicle registration, even local police may be writing more tickets.
But it's not all bad news. After the break, I've got a list of five items that will cost you less this year. So stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TUCHMAN: Before the break, we showed you a list of items with prices on the rise in 2012 from dealnews.com. But good news, prices will be falling on some items this year. So take a look with me.
First up, wine; retailers are slashing prices on bottles that are priced over $30. Next, car rentals, with plenty of vehicles sitting at idle places on rental agency lots, it's time to look for deep discounts with the car rental places this year on renting.
Next, iPads, specifically the iPad 2, because the iPad 3 is rumored to hit store shelves this year; so watch for some price cuts on the popular iPad 2, especially the refurbished models.
And then there's 3-D TVs; slow sales coupled with new designs of three-dimensional televisions and more makers means prices on these fancy televisions will plummet in 2012.
And finally, homes. With home prices falling three percent last year, don't expect a change in 2012, it will be bad for the sellers, good for the buyers. Expect prices to stay low throughout the year.
"YOUR BOTTOM LINE" is just about 30 minutes away from now. Christine Romans has a preview.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN HOST, "YOUR BOTTOM LINE": Good morning, Gary. Coming up on "YOUR BOTTOM LINE", it's your money and your vote. But what does your vote really mean? For the next 11 months we're going beyond precincts. We're going beyond exit polls. We're going straight to what politics means for your pocketbook. How you vote determines the direction of the American middle class. No pressure.
Plus, are you ready to find a new job in 2012? We're going to tell you how to get hired. And from camping and cooking to mortgages and taxes; today's girl scouts can get a badge for their money smarts. That's right.
That's all coming up at 9:30 a.m. Eastern -- Gary.
