Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Saturday Morning News
Arctic Blast Grips Much of U.S.; Hacker Groups War With U.S. Government; Lance Armstrong Won't Talk to Anti-Doping Agency; Gun Control March in D.C.; New Orleans Football Fans Target Goodell; Discussion On Manti Te'o; Creating the Perfect Snow Skis; Convicted Murderer Obtained Arsenal; Hannah Storm Recovering From Propane Explosion; Best Eats in Hong Kong
Aired January 26, 2013 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Randi Kaye.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. 8:00 here on the east coast. Thanks for starting your day with us.
KAYE: For much of the country this morning, it is bitter cold. The National Weather Service is warning of bitterly cold, possibly deadly conditions this weekend for much of the northeast, the mid-Atlantic and the Midwest. The Tennessee Valley and the Carolinas also on ice and any reprieve -- well, could still be days away. Frigid air also is making life even tougher for victims of superstorm Sandy.
Many still don't even have basic utilities to heat their homes. Our national correspondent Susan Candiotti joins me now from Staten Island.
Susan, good morning. I understand you spoke with a resident there who still can't get home. What is life like for these people right now?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's tough for everybody, Randi. You can imagine it's about 15 degrees outside. With the wind chill right now, feels about five. So all this cold is just adding to the misery of people who are still recovering from superstorm Sandy back on Halloween.
You look around Staten Island, it's not hard at all to see houses that are still boarded up, debris everywhere, construction workers trying to get things back in shape. Larry Gonzalez, here's his story. His home was filled, because of the storm surge, with at least four feet of water. But not only that, he said a few hundred gallons of heating oil ran through his house. And you can still smell it.
You can still see some of it. And he's in a dispute right now over whether his house should, in fact, be demolished or is able to be cleaned up. He just doesn't think that's possible. Here is what Larry told me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY GONZALEZ, SANDY VICTIM: They told me it can be cleaned up. When I asked them if they would bring their kids in here, they all told me no or they don't answer me. If you're not willing to bring your children in here, don't expect me to bring mine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CANDIOTTI: For now, Larry and his wife and children are living in a FEMA paid for apartment. So they do have heat. They're being taken care of now. But the question for him and so many others is they don't know what lies ahead. That's the biggest problem right now, Randi.
KAYE: What exactly is the city -- or what is FEMA doing to try and make sure that these folks don't freeze?
CANDIOTTI: For one thing, I'm going to show you this tent over here. There's a woman that runs a tent over here and she at least is providing a place for people to hang out, to get a hot meal and basically for people to talk and help each other through this.
The city is providing -- if you call them and you don't have heat in your house, you're a victim of superstorm Sandy. They will get you, they say, into a hotel that very same day. It might not be around where you live, but they'll get you some place safe and warm and you can stay there for as long as it takes.
KAYE: They'll take it no matter where it is.
CANDIOTTI: They also said today -- that's right. They're also going door to door today to make sure that people have the word on that, to make sure they know they can get help.
KAYE: Susan Candiotti for us. Susan thank you and stay warm yourself there.
CANDIOTTI: You bet.
BLACKWELL: The hacking group Anonymous has declared war on the U.S. government. After hacking the Federal Sentencing Commission's overnight, here is what the site looks like right now. All morning it's been going from being totally shut down to showing a video and this long letter that demands many things. It's here in green on this black page.
KAYE: The video and the letter addressed to the citizens of the world threatens, quote, chaos. And Nick Valencia has been looking into this for us this morning.
Good morning to you.
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
KAYE: So what exactly are the demands coming from Anonymous? I mean how real is this threat?
VALENCIA: They're very real threats. In the past they've followed through on similar threats in disabling websites like the FBI and the government websites of the Department of Justice. Not the first time that they've taken down the DOJ. They're a group comprised of mostly I'm sorry, anarchist-type computer hackers and they've got a lot of global support. They are a leaderless organization. Again, they've got a lot of global support.
And right now, they're demanding fundamental changes to the Department of Justice. They believe a past high-profile hackers have been victims, they say, to draconian, overzealous charges by the Federal government. That's why they said earlier this morning it was a very symbolic move to take down the ussc.gov website.
BLACKWELL: And what do they say in this long letter on the page about exactly why they're doing this and why they're doing it now?
VALENCIA: We have an idea. A couple of weeks ago, the co-founder (INAUDIBLE) actually Internet activist, Aaron Schwartz in New York, he took his own life. Members of Anonymous are saying that the U.S. Department of Justice, the charges brought against him -- he was facing 35 years in jail and a $1 million in fines, that that's the reason. They're citing that as culpability, the reason why he took his life, these Draconian prosecution charges against people like him.
In fact, in this statement, they mention Aaron Schwartz. I want to read a section of that statement. They say, "With Aaron's death, we can no longer wait. The time has come to show the United States Department of Justice and its affiliates the true meaning of infiltration. The time has come to give this system a taste of its own medicine. The time has come for them to feel the helplessness and fear that comes with being forced into a game where the odds are stacked against them."
KAYE: Certainly speaks a lot to how they felt about the case of Aaron Schwartz. But what about these warheads? They are sort of these virtual warheads that are named - they each have the name of a Supreme Court justice. What are these about?
VALENCIA: Yes, Randi. We tried to look into that a little more and in fact the details given on this statement by Anonymous, they're very vague. They don't go into detail about exactly what kind of damage or the extent of damage these virtual warheads will cause.
What we do know, though, is that they're asking syndicates of Anonymous to download these files and just to be ready when they say go. They're calling this Operation Last Resort. It's a very ominous warning, saying that it's no holds bar against the U.S. government.
They're not in it to negotiate. This is an ultimatum. Either change the way you come after the hackers or we're going to come after you and they already have.
BLACKWELL: Things could change pretty quickly. Nick Valencia, thank you and if anything does change, let us know.
KAYE: Now to Lance Armstrong and a deadline from the U.S. anti-doping agency. They say he's got less than two weeks to testify if he ever wants that lifetime ban overturned. But Armstrong's attorney says that's not going to happen. He cites scheduling conflicts as one of the reasons.
The other is that Armstrong and his attorney don't believe the U.S. agency has any real power. So they want to talk to international sports authorities instead. Remember, it was a week ago that Armstrong admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs.
Here is the head of the U.S. anti-doping agency with CBS' Scott Pelley.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT PELLEY, CBS NEWS ANCHOR: He suggested that cycling in those years was a level playing field because everyone did. He wasn't doing anything special.
TRAVIS TYGART, CEO, U.S., ANTI-DOPING AGENCY: It's just simply not true. The access they had to inside information, to how the tests work, what tests went in place at what time, special access to the laboratory. He was the one in an entirely different playing field.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: Tygart says the USADA will go ahead with their investigation whether Armstrong cooperates or not.
BLACKWELL: Turning to Washington now and the end of the line for Hillary Clinton. Her time as secretary of State is almost up. No more hearings, no more official trips overseas. Clinton and her soon-to-be ex-boss sat down with "60 Minutes" for a kind of exit interview.
Let the president tell us why he's there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED CBS CORRESPONDENT: Why did you want to do this together, a joint interview?
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, the main thing is I just wanted to have a chance to publicly say thank you because I think Hillary will go down as one of the finest secretary of States we've had. It has been a great collaboration over the last four years. I'm going to miss her, wish she was sticking around. But she has logged in so many miles, I can't begrudge her wanting to take it easy for a little bit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: You may have noticed something different about Hillary Clinton this week, her glasses. The thick rimmed black glasses are not a fashion statement. An aide says she's wearing them instead of her contacts because of lingering issues stemming from her concussion. Medical experts say the type of lenses that she's wearing is likely a treatment for some double vision. We have got much more ahead this hour.
BLACKWELL: Here's what's coming up.
KAYE: This man was convicted of murder. So how did he get a gun permit? The story you haven't heard about a narrowly avoided massacre. New Orleans will soon be welcoming the NFL, though maybe not its commissioner. Why Roger Goodell might find himself locked out of some of New Orleans restaurants.
A horrific fire leaves an ESPN anchor severely burned. She talks to Dr. Sanjay Gupta as she returns to the scene of the accident for the first time.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: Oh, cold day in Washington, D.C.. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. It's snow there at the capitol dome. We're going to check in with Alexandra Steele in just a few minutes to find out exactly how long this cold snap will last and when we're going to see some warmth and some sunshine. Thousands of people are expected to be in D.C. at the national mall in Washington shortly. They're calling on Congress to toughen up gun control.
CNN's Emily Schmidt is at the national mall, joins us now. Emily, how big of a crowd, especially considering the temperatures there, are people expecting and what's it seem like right now?
EMILY SCHMIDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor, This is going to be the gathering spot. They're going to be gathering in a couple of hours to do this march on Washington. They call it the march on Washington for gun control. Organizers say, frankly, they have no idea how many people they're going to get.
That's because this started as an idea on Facebook. Two people who said right after the Newtown shootings, we have to do something. What can we do? They decided a march on Washington was one of the best ways that they could do it.
Right now on Facebook, there are more than 5,000 likes for this. We know there will be celebrity speakers here, including Kathleen Turner. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan tweeted last night that he is looking forward to being here today. How does that translate to people being here? In some ways organizer Molly Smith says it doesn't matter. It's all about taking action.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOLLY SMITH, MARCH ORGANIZER: It's been a remarkable learning experience, the realization that we're citizens and this is an active citizenship and being a citizen isn't just sitting around, gasping about it and talking about it or being an arm chair activist. It's actually moving into it, physically, with your body, embodying citizenship.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHMIDT: Victor, one of the things that they're planning to do today is make their voices heard simply by their presence. They are hoping there will be thousands of people here. One indication that they have is that it costs $49,000 to put on this march in Washington. They have raised almost all of that now, if not gone over a bit, just by grassroots donations. The largest donation, $1,000, the smallest about $5. They've had people going through social media, saying this is important to them.
What we're going to see in a couple of hours is that people will be gathering here at the reflecting pool right at the base of the capitol. Then they're going to march silently, only holding signs that have the names of victims of gun violence. They're going to head up this direction, down Constitution Avenue. The whole time, they say, being silent. They will end up at the Washington monument. The speeches will begin there -- Victor.
BLACKWELL: Emily Schmidt in Washington for us. Thank you.
Beyonce's performance, not live. Manti Te'o's girlfriend, not dead. Actually she never existed. And the Republicans fight with Hillary Clinton. That was the real deal.
In case you missed it all, here's a look back at the week that was.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: I take responsibility.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's inexcusable.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN'S "THE SITUATION ROOM": The dramatic new confession.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Manti Te'o speaking out to ABC's Katie Couric.
MANTI TE'O, NOTRE DAME: What I went through is real.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did she lip sync or not?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An ongoing scandal.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you sing the thing live or not?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just don't care.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did she fake it? Did he lie about it? And what did she know when? Republicans wanted an answer to that question this week when they hammered Hillary Clinton on the attack in Benghazi.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You let the consulate become a death trap.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Had I been president at the time, I would have relieved you of your post.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were misled that there were supposedly protests and then something sprang out of that, an assault sprang out of that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hammer, meet Hillary.
CLINTON: The fact is we had four dead Americans.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I understand.
HILLARY CLINTON: Was it because of a protest or because of guys out for a walk one night and decided they'd go kill some Americans.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was waiting for her to say, what? What did you say?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It wasn't all sparks though. There were some tears.
CLINTON: Sisters and brothers, the sons and daughters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And some lighter moments. I bet Beyonce wasn't laughing this week after that big flap over the lip flap. Actually, no, we can't. Is this thing on?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was there a second singer on the grassy knoll?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And who cares, right, Anderson?
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER 360": So what? It's not like she pulled a Milli Vanilli.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Prince Harry certainly was not faking it as Captain Wales. The Apache pilot is back home after a 20-week deployment in Afghanistan and, ladies, he's looking.
PRINCE HENRY OF WALES: If you find the right person and everything feels right, it takes time especially for myself and my brother.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Speaking of love, there's a lot of it at the Sundance Film Festival this week, maybe a little too much. Yes, sex, the center of several of this year's featured films. Some critics call them filthy films.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's ridiculous.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, it's not on the verge of pornography at all. It's lovemaking. These are two people that are in love.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These two people definitely are not in love.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I never met Manti Te'o in my entire life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In his first TV interview, the star linebacker says, OK, sure, his online girlfriend was not real but his emotions were.
TE'O: What I went through was real, the feelings, the pain, the sorrow. That was all real.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Either you're the most naive person on the planet or this is the saddest story, I think, ever written.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We couldn't agree more. And that's the week that was.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: And we've got more on Manti Te'o coming up. Listen, he's still a football player looking ahead to making it to the pros. With this hoax hanging around his neck, what can he expect at the next level? We'll take a look.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: Sports now and a special celebration in Miami last night. You're going to find out really soon why people were celebrating. One arm half court, he hits it. Then, look at this, he is tackled by LeBron James.
This guy's name is Michael Drice (ph) and now he is now $75,000 richer. That money came from the LeBron James Foundation. I think I'm going to show this again. Drice was chosen by the foundation to try the shot. Then they flew him in from Illinois. It's amazing. Drice says he had been practicing the shot for two days but he'd only made it once. Make that twice, clearly saved the best for last.
KAYE: Just over a week away now from the Super Bowl in New Orleans. The 49'ers and the Ravens will get there this week. They are expected to be welcomed with open arms. But one man coming to the game may not get such a warm welcome. Talking about NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. That sign is popping up in some windows.
BLACKWELL: Of course that's because of the commissioner's heavy hand in that whole bounty gate scandal, the one where Saints players allegedly paid each other a little extra for hurting their opponents. Now Goodell suspended Saints coach Scott (INAUDIBLE) for the entire year. Former NFL linebacker Coy Wire is joining us now. Good to have you. Is this going to follow him the whole time he's there?
COY WIRE, SPORTS ANALYST: I think so. I don't know if he's going to be running the streets in New Orleans like everyone else. He may be hiding out a bit. I think a lot of people blame him for taking away the coach down there and obviously it had a huge impact on how their season went. I think he is in a difficult situation. He's trying to do the right thing for the sport, make the game safer, make all the right decisions. I see it kind of like being when you're young and your parent used to ground you and you had these rules that you had to follow. You kind of resented them at the time but then some day you look back and you say, you know what? They did have my best interest in mind.
KAYE: A lot of people say that he has done plenty of good for New Orleans. He helped keep the Super Bowl there after 9/11. He helped save the super dome. One quote from Mayor Mitch Landrieu just last week, he said I know everybody in the city is belly aching about the last year, but here is the thing. Roger Goodell has always been a friend to the city of New Orleans. So others have said, the "Times Picayune" editorial said it's time to move on. You don't have to forgive, but you do have to forget for at least a week, bury the hatchet. So you think they'll get past it? WIRE: I think eventually. Right now they're going to rib him a bit, because it hurt that city. We know the dynamic team they have been. Clearly they weren't the same team without their head coach. And a lot of people think it was Mr. Goodell's fault. But you got to respect him for what he has been able to do and help the game evolve when it comes to safety.
BLACKWELL: (INAUDIBLE)
KAYE: That's for sure. Let's talk about Manti Te'o. He explained himself to Katie Couric this week. I'm sure you saw that interview. He said he was a victim but he does admit that he lied just a little bit. We're talking, of course, about this fake nonexistent girlfriend. But his next step is the NFL. He has to talk to (INAUDIBLE), he has to be interviewed about the draft. How much will this weigh in to what these interviews will be about?
WIRE: He is going to be put through the ringer. I remember being drafted and before the draft, at the combine you're sitting in the room with the GM and the head coaches and then there's a psychologist in the room, too. They're going to be throwing questions at this guy. So they're really going to test his character. I think that's been challenged through this. I feel badly for him because he's not going to hear the end of this for a long time. He has been made a fool of in front of the entire nation. I remember when I had to go in as a rookie, they make you stand up in the cafeteria and sing in front of everybody. If you didn't sing well, you got made fun of.
KAYE: So they'll be looking at his mental state.
WIRE: I think that it's definitely going to hurt his draft status because regardless of whether it was because of this situation or not, in the national championship game on a big stage against big-time players, he played really poorly. If that was because of his mental state, that shows a weakness. You don't want to invest big dollars in somebody who on a big stage under stress and torment mental strain is going to flop. That's what happened in that national championship game.
BLACKWELL: Let's talk about big dollars and the endorsements. Aside from maybe match.com, who is going to come along and offer this guy an endorsement with this hoax?
WIRE: You're exactly right. As a company, you never want to have someone endorsing your company who has shown weakness. I think that's what has come through all of this. And so whether it's match.com, eHarmony or online identity theft, those would be good companies for him. But it's going to be a difficult situation.
BLACKWELL: Let's talk about something else, another trend that's online. We see Te'o'ing. Now there is --
KAYE: Kaepernicking (ph) love it.
BLACKWELL: Where it's this, the biceps. This is really catching on. He wants to trademark kissing his arm. It's unbelievable. WIRE: I laughed about that. I said come on. That's as arbitrary as giving a thumbs up. At least get some originality. That's been done before. I looked into it. It looks as if the guy has good intentions. I think it's Camp Taylor, the money that's going to be raised from the T-shirts that he's going to sell with that. It's going to go to kids who have congenital heart disease.
KAYE: At least there's something good there, not all ego (INAUDIBLE).
BLACKWELL: It's a little ego.
KAYE: Can you do it? There you go. Thanks very much.
BLACKWELL: One of the world's most powerful and mysterious group of hackers of online information is declaring war on the U.S. government. What they say pushed them to attack a government website overnight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Bottom of the hour now. Welcome back everyone, I'm Randi Kaye.
BLACKWELL: And I'm Victor Blackwell. Thanks for starting your morning with us.
Here are five stories we are watching this morning.
KAYE: First the online hacking group "Anonymous" has declared war on the U.S. government, after hacking the Federal Sentencing Commission's Web site overnight. In a video they posted on the site along with a letter addressed to "Citizens of the World", "Anonymous" is threatening chaos if the government doesn't meet their demands which include limiting the power of federal prosecutors to go after and quote, "destroy the lives of hacktivists" they apprehend.
The group says this month's suicide of Web activist Aaron Swartz triggered this latest attacks. Swartz is facing federal fraud charges and could have face 35 years in prison.
BLACKWELL: The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency says Lance Armstrong has until February 6th to testify if he ever wants that lifetime ban overturned. But Armstrong's attorney says that's not going to happen. He says they don't believe the U.S. agency has any will power so they want to talk to international sports authorities instead. Remember it was a week ago that Armstrong admitted to using performance enhancing drugs.
KAYE: It was a great week to be in the markets. All three major U.S. indices logged a fourth straight week of gains, the S&P 500 closed yesterday at $1,502. It was the first time the index closed above the $1,500 mark since 2007. Earlier in the week, the Dow Jones also hit a five-year high.
BLACKWELL: And remember this woman, Casey Anthony, she was acquitted of murdering her two-year-old daughter, Caylee back in 2007? And she's on a mission to clear her name. She's convincing a Florida appeals court, happened Friday actually, to throw out two of her four convictions of lying to authorities in the murder investigation. Anthony has vowed to, quote, "keep fighting" and can still appeal the remaining two convictions to the Florida Supreme Court.
KAYE: Authorities are investigating a five-alarm fire that engulfed a comedy club in Fairfield, California. People were inside the building when the flames broke out. Luckily, everyone got out safely and no injuries reported. Those are some pretty spectacular flames there. One witness says that the flames were just raining everywhere.
BLACKWELL: For much of the country, the weekend weather forecast is simple -- more cold from the Midwest to the northeast, bitterly cold. Potentially deadly conditions are predicted. Even the Tennessee Valley and the Carolinas are on ice.
Meteorologist Alexandra Steele is with us now. And this is just -- I was thinking about going to D.C. for a couple of days and they said, hey, it's 20 degrees and snow. I said I'll see you guys in a couple of months.
ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Oh, it's over. Come on now.
BLACKWELL: The snow is still there, right?
STEELE: We had, an inch. An inch, we had an inch of snow, actually there are some snow showers around the -- around Washington this morning. But negligible in scope, it will probably die out in an hour so -- so no problems at all. What we do have though, is an ice storm developing in the upper Midwest. So let me show you that.
Quiet now in Chicago, although yesterday they finally got their one inch of snow -- they haven't had one inch of snow since last February 24th. So historic, those records have fallen now but they finally got that inch of snow.
So here's the scenario an ice storm will develop, a little piece of the energy. That's really in the central Rockies today around Denver. It will break off.
And I'm going to put this in motion for you. So as we head through from tomorrow morning, that's in Chicago. We have a winter storm watch, tomorrow morning through Monday morning. And you can see, this is Sunday at 1:00. Here is Chicago. And this is ice. It's going to be potentially freezing rain.
Now why it's freezing rain instead of snow is because the air right at the ground is below freezing, but the air at higher altitudes, above us, is above that. So it's coming down as liquid and then freezing on the ground, not coming down as snow.
So here's Sunday at 9:00, you can see. Here is the ice around Chicago. It could be substantial, actually. It could be about a quarter of an inch or so. That may seem minute, but in terms of ice, it is substantial, in terms of the power lines potentially, the trees, the sagging of the limbs, the breaking off, the roads being icy, the bridges so certainly we could see that.
And then on Monday it all moves into the northeast as, in western New York and upstate New York, once again snow and ice. So that's what we'll deal with on Monday.
All right, in terms of temperatures, we've had frigid air, the coldest air of the season. That will moderate as well. Believe it or not, we're going to pick up about 20 degrees for many of us. Warmer air, this ridge -- a ridge of high pressure, the big ridge brings warm air from the south. That's all you need to know.
And finally, that warmer air moves into the East Coast this week. So Tuesday, Wednesday, that's kind of the pinnacle of the heat. We're going to see if hit the bottom. Things are only warming up.
So Chicago in the 20s today; by Monday, you're at 44 degrees. St. Louis on Monday, 65 -- that will seem nice. Tuesday, look at Virginias in the upper 60s to 70, Indy even 61. 68 Nashville, Tuesday. And then on Wednesday, look at these 70s. Atlanta with 70s? We had 19 degrees yesterday. Today feeling like the teens as well with the wind chill.
So warm-up on the way for about two-thirds of the country. So things guys are only on the improve and really will change next week Tuesday and Wednesday.
BLACKWELL: It's good to end on an uplifting note.
STEELE: You've got to, right? We're a glass half full kind of gal.
BLACKWELL: Indeed. Thank you, Alexandra.
STEELE: OK.
KAYE: How is a mentally-ill man, who was convicted of shooting his mother to death, able to purchase an arsenal of firearms? Check out these guns police seized from him. We'll explain this bizarre case with our legal contributor Paul Callan coming your way next.
But first an engineer in Colorado uses math equations and skier's DNA to create what he calls the perfect snow skis.
CNN's Gary Tuchman explains in this week's "Start Small, Think Big."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Engineer Pete Wagner says a math equation create the perfect pair of snow skis, he's using algorithms to design custom made skis in his factory outside Telluride, Colorado.
PETE WAGNER, WAGNER CUSTOM SKIS: Our design algorithms take information about your skier DNA, like where you ski, your height and your weight and your age. Once it figures out what your perfect ski is going to be mathematically, then it actually creates a recipe for all our shop equipment here.
TUCHMAN: Computer-controlled milling machines design the parts that are assembled by hand, combining 21st century technology with skilled craftsmanship.
WAGNER: If you've got a set of skis that fit you properly, that's going to improve your balance, your comfort, your control.
TUCHMAN: Wagner came up with the idea after riding on a bum pair of skis.
WAGNER: I realized that I've been crippling myself with the equipment I was on.
TUCHMAN: So he used his background in engineering to make skis. He went from selling 200 in 2006 to more than 1,000 last year. But mathematic perfection comes with a price -- a pair of Wagner skis start at more than $1,700. Bob Gleason sells the skis in his shop.
BOB GLEASON, CO-OWNER, BOOT DOCTORS: The biggest con of course is the price but the pros on that is to have a ski which is exactly what you want that ski to be.
WAGNER: We're just having fun in here, we're essentially making toys for people and we're sharing our passions with other people around the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Welcome back, everyone, to CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Forty minutes past the hour now.
And now to the chilling case of Minnesota man who was discovered by police with an arsenal of 13 firearms in his home, including handguns, an AK-47 and a 50 caliber Desert Eagle. Christian Philip Oberlander was also found with a disturbing note to his mother that read quote, "I am so homicide" and quote, "I think about killing all the time" according to police. But even more disturbing is the fact that he got his hands on these firearms at all. He's a convicted felon who spent time in a state hospital for killing his mother with a firearm more than a decade ago, but had since been released.
The incident exposes the dangerous loopholes in the nation's gun laws and Minnesota's system of criminal background checks.
And joining me now is CNN legal contributor Paul Callan. Paul, this is such a disturbing case. At the heart of the nation's gun debate is this one. On one, gun advocates say don't take away our guns and just do the background checks. And on the other hand others say it's not enough. But in this case, it failed. So legally speaking, what is the fix?
PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well you know you're right, Randi. This is a terrifying example of the utter failure of gun control regulations that are currently in place. I mean this the functional equivalent of the -- the character Jason from the Halloween movie getting out of a mental hospital and then being armed with AK-47s, this Desert Eagle semi-automatic magnum and the other of the 13 weapons he had on him. It's a shocking, shocking case.
It happened because of a combination of factors. Number one, although Minnesota has a law that requires you to go to a police station and get a permit to purchase these kinds of weapons, they don't require you to be fingerprinted or share a Social Security number. So he went into a police station, reversed his middle name and his first name and they gave him a gun permit. Then he goes to a gun store to buy all of these weapons and he's supposed to get a federal -- he's supposed to clear a federal check, but there was nothing in the federal database to indicate that he had been confined to a mental institution --
KAYE: Right they purge those.
CALLAN: Well exactly, because, you know, people who oppose national records of mental health treatment have created a system where his name is not even listed in the national directory.
KAYE: Right.
CALLAN: And he was confined as mentally ill and dangerous until the year 2003.
KAYE: Right.
CALLAN: Of course, after killing his own mother.
KAYE: I think all he had to do was wait until he was 28 to get those records purged. But now if a disaster had been committed as a result of this flaw in the system, I mean, who would be liable, Paul, other than the suspect? Anyone?
CALLAN: Probably no one. I mean, I think people would be shocked to know that Congress in 2005, passed legislation that largely immunizes gun dealers and gun stores from liability and lawsuits like this. You would have to prove that the gun store actually knew they were selling the gun to somebody who was going to go out and do harm. And of course the gun store will just say, hey, we made a phone call and there was nothing in the record database.
In terms of the police and Minnesota, now they made a big mistake. His name should have been in their criminal record system, at least until he was 28 years of age. And they made mistakes. But there's immunity that protects them from suit. So in the end, had he killed people, they would have no remedy, in fact, under existing law. So it's a terrible situation.
KAYE: That's frightening.
CALLAN: Yes and really horrible.
KAYE: The suspect now in jail for being a felon in possession of firearms. How much trouble is he really in here?
CALLAN: Well he's facing five years under Minnesota law. I think because -- you know, they found a note in his house in which he ruminates about the fact that there's a monster in him that wants to kill and the monster wants to come out again.
KAYE: Right. CALLAN: You know I would have to say he is due for a civil commitment as mentally ill. And I suspect even if he doesn't go to prison for a long time, he'll wind up back in a mental institution. But who knows what will happen ten years down the line. Again, it's a frightening, frightening situation.
KAYE: Yes and apparently this is not an isolated example, as far as I understand it. I mean, how many more mentally ill convicted felons are there who were able to obtain permits to purchase firearms?
CALLAN: Well you know it's not at all isolated. And I think the frightening thing here is that ironically, groups that wanted to protect the rights of people to get mental health treatment and to put strict privacy limits on disclosure of that treatment have created a system where there's no national database. We're very, very protective about our medical records in the United States.
So these records of mental health treatment simply are not available to law enforcement authorities. And I think you're going to see a lot of cases like this happening in the future unless we radically change the way we keep records, regarding the mentally ill in the United States.
KAYE: Paul Callan, nice to see you. Thank you very much.
CALLAN: Always nice being with you.
KAYE: In wickedness and wrongdoing, stories range from gunmen to good grief. Here is your week of crime in just 60 seconds.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I heard about six shots.
KAYE: Three people were injured after a shootout at Lone Star College in Houston. None of the injuries were fatal.
A 15-year-old New Mexico boy admitted murdering his mother, father and three siblings Sunday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've never had a case like this, as far as I know.
KAYE: Officials say his original plan, a Wal-Mart killing spree and death by cop shootout. He will now stand trial as an adult.
A doctor found dead, bound and burned in a Philadelphia basement.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's just beyond comprehension that this could happen on our block.
KAYE: The man in custody? Jason Smith, an exterminator who was at the victim's apartment for a service call. Police say that before the murder the two had never met.
And finally Peter Robbins, the voice of Charlie Brown, was arrested Wednesday. The charges -- stalking and making repeated threats. He pleaded "not guilty".
That's your week of crime in 60 seconds.
A ball of fire from a propane grill left ESPN host Hannah Storm with first and second-degree burns on her face and her body. Now she's explaining what happened on that traumatic day.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: I promise we are tweeting right now. The next "Star Wars" movie will be directed by J.J. Abrams. You may know him as the creator of "Lost" and "Fringe". Last night Walt Disney announced Abrams will direct "Star Wars: Episode VII". This will be the first "Star Wars" film since Disney bought Lucas Film. Abrams said it is an absolute honor.
KAYE: Tina turner is about to give up her U.S. citizenship and become a Swiss citizen. The 73-year-old singing legend has been living in Switzerland since 1995. Reports say she passed her test and is waiting official approval. She said she can't imagine a better place to live.
BLACKWELL: Legendary actor Burt Reynolds is in intensive care in Florida. The 76-year-old is being treated for the flu. A representative said the star of "Gunsmoke", "Deliverance" was suffering from dehydration. He is expected to be moved to a regular room soon.
KAYE: A TV host said her eyebrows singed off and much of her body burned after a propane grill accident last month. And now Hannah Storm is back on ESPN Sports Center but she is still recovering from those burns.
CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta spoke to her at her home in Connecticut.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANNAH STORM, ESPN SPORTS ANCHOR: Immediately, it was a ball of fire. And it came right -- right here. And it was an explosion. I didn't hear it, because I was so terrified by the fire. And then I yelled inside to my daughter, who was setting the table, my 16-year-old. I said, "Mommy's on fire. You have to call 911."
So I came here. I turned the cold water on and I just started doing this. And my daughter was across the room, you know, on 911 and they -- of course, they're asking all these questions and I'm trying my best to answer them. But she said, mom, are you -- what are you doing? Are you splashing cold water on yourself? And I said yes. She goes "You have to stop." And I was like, what? How can I stop? I wanted to jump in the sink, you know. Just anything I could do to just relieve the pain and stop the burning process.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: What did they tell you to do?
STORM: I just stopped and I just started hopping around -- I couldn't -- I mean, I couldn't get any relief anywhere.
GUPTA: Did they tell you to do anything else, put anything else on there?
STORM: No. Just stop and we're on our way.
I knew that, you know, whatever I saw staring back at me in the mirror, that that was going to be my starting point. This was all -- all burned, all of this, like here. You can see that it's slow coming back. It was all the way around. I had some infection issues here. This was all just brown and burned and discolored.
I didn't think that it would be career ending. If it was career ending, though -- I mean, my family wouldn't love me any less, you know. My friends wouldn't love me any less. I mean, it didn't touch anything inside.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: So good to see she's doing well. You can see more of Hannah's story on "SANJAY GUPTA M.D." That's today 4:30 p.m. Eastern time and Sunday morning tomorrow morning at 7:30 am.
BLACKWELL: Lance Armstrong is defiant again. Just a week after supposedly coming clean on performance-enhancing drugs, now he says he will not testify. We'll tell you why.
But first, when traveling to other countries, other cities even, the best way to get a real taste of the place is through the local food. CNN iReporters teamed up with "Travel & Leisure" magazine to create a global list of 100 places to eat like a local.
Here is CNN's Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong with a sample.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL: Hello, I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. And when I want to eat like a local, I come to City Hall Maxim Palace (ph). You could tell by the line, it's a pretty popular place.
Yes, it's in a ball room and, yes, it has a view of the harbor that the tourists adore, but make no mistake about it. The locals love it here. So much so that they've been coming here for 30 years to get their dimsum fix, dimsum served the old fashioned way, by trolley.
Now you know why this place is called a palace. Now, crystal chandeliers aside, this place is massive. 120 tables serving some 800 people a day.
Now it is time to eat. If you see something you like -- oh, just hail the trolley, stop the server and pick a little bit of everything. Again, don't be afraid to try a little bit of everything. Deep fried squid, rice rolls, chicken feet, steamed pork buns, shrimp dumplings, barbecued pork, pastry, egg tarts and I don't even know what this is. Now if you pay a visit to City Hall Maxim's Palace here in Hong Kong, remember two things. Number one, be prepared for a long wait and also take your time to try everything and anything to really eat like a true local, including enjoying the chicken feet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Yes on the chicken feet. I think I'm going to have to pass. IReporters here's your chance to help us create a food lover's map of the world. Go to ireport.com/100places. Send us a photo of your favorite restaurant, the dish, why it's special and how you found this place.
The definitive list of "100 Places to Eat Like a Local" will be revealed in March. Some iReporters will -- will be on that list. Stay tuned to see if you're one of them.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: You might call it a late night takeover.
BLACKWELL: Yes, Matt Damon got a little revenge on his, let's say, pseudo enemy, Jimmy Kimmel, this week when he took over the late night show with his buddy Ben Affleck.
KAYE: Take a look at what might be the best late night laugh of the week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY KIMMEL, TALK SHOW HOST: Sincere apologies to Matt Damon, we ran out of time for him tonight. We'll get him on the air again soon.
Matt Damon -- apologies, we ran out of time.
Apologies to Matt Damon, we ran out of time.
I want to apologize to Matt Damon.
We ran out of time for him.
Matt Damon, the extremely overrated Matt Damon.
We ran out of time.
MATT DAMON, ACTOR: Now, I am going to be making a few changes tonight. Please welcome legendary actor Andy Garcia. Are you prepared to be my faithful sidekick?
ANDY GARCIA, ACTOR: Si, I brought my taser.
DAMON: What are you -- oh, come on, man.
BEN AFFLECK, ACTOR: I'm sorry. I just -- forget it, Matt. I couldn't do it to Jimmy.
DAMON: You've never done this show. You've never done it --
NICOLE KIDMAN, ACTRESS: No.
DAMON: Why not?
KIDMAN: He's just -- he's not classy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: He's just not classy.
KAYE: He's just not classy. Said with the Australian accent.
BLACKWELL: Right.
