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Starting Point with Soledad O'Brien
Winter Storm Ramping Up on East Coast; Nightmare Bacteria on the Rise; Jeb Bush Weighs in on Immigration; Interview with Jhaqueil Reagan and Art Bouvier; College Costs Soar; It's a Brad, Brad World
Aired March 06, 2013 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching STARTING POINT, snow falling in the nation's Capitol right now. We've learned that more than 900,000 public school students in Washington, D.C., as well as some of those in parts of Virginia and Maryland, Ohio, will all be out of school today because of this oncoming snowstorm.
Winter weather alerts are in effect for much of the central eastern part of the country. There were storm grounded flights from the Dakotas to Ohio. More than 93,000 customers are now without power, most of them in Virginia, and thanks to a very thick coat of heavy, wet snow which is wrecking the power lines. Karen Maginnis has got a look at the forecast for us this morning.
Karen, good morning.
KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Soledad.
As we can see at the live picture of the Capitol behind me, the wind is picking up; the snow rate has definitely picked up. And for the Capitol area, the estimates have been all over the place as to how much snowfall they would receive. It is expected between 5 and 10.
Now to the west of Interstate 95, there could be as much as 20 inches of snowfall. Our correspondent Joe Johns is in the Winchester area, 20-plus inches of snow expected there. So a big wallop across north central Virginia, less so as you go towards the east.
Now the storm system as it is ramping up -- it's not dying down -- we are looking at the Northeast and New England over the next 24 to 48 hours, Soledad, 2 to 4 in the metro New York area and, for Boston, you could see 4 to 8. Could be one for the record books for Washington, D.C.
O'BRIEN: When you say that, could be one for the record books, really hate when you say that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Snow boots, no big deal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now Congress won't be able to get anything done, oh, wait a minute, oh.
O'BRIEN: Oh, darn!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Yes, oh.
O'BRIEN: Thank you, Karen.
All right, John Berman? Update on the day's top stories.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right. Thanks, Soledad.
The CDC warning about a potential health nightmare with people infected at the hospital. They are calling it nightmare bacteria -- that's what they're calling it -- that has resisted even to the strongest antibiotics and has infected patients in nearly 4 percent of all U.S. hospitals.
The CDC says cases of bacteria known as CRE are on the rise and they kill up to half of the people who get bloodstream infections from them.
Attorney General Eric Holder refuses to rule out the possibility of using drone strikes against U.S. citizens on American soil. He says they could be targeted in extraordinary cases, Holder expressing that view in a letter to Senator Rand Paul.
The Kentucky Republican had been threatening to hold up confirmation of John Brennan as CIA director until his questions about the administration's domestic drone policy were addressed.
Electric carmaker Tesla's latest legal challenge against a BBC show is out of gas.
That's a good one.
Tesla accused has accused the show "Top Gear" of defamation after "Top Gear" said Tesla's two-seat roadster fell short of its advertised range on a single charge.
An appeals judge ruled it was not defamation, saying viewers could tell that the "Top Gear's" high-speed track was testing different compared to a normal driving style. He also threw out Tesla's claim that those claims hurt sales in the U.K.
A new book, "Media Interviews 2016" anyone? Jeb Bush back in the national spotlight this morning after injecting himself into America's immigration debate.
The former Florida governor just wrote a new book about overhauling our immigration system; he seems to be supporting legal status for illegal immigrants, but not a path to citizenship. And this is angering some immigrant rights groups.
So when Bush began backtracking on this issue, kind of muddying it up a little bit, CNN's chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper tried to pin him down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEB BUSH, FORMER GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA: I have supported both, both the path to legalization or a path to citizenship with the underlying principle being that there should be no incentive for people to come illegally at the expense of coming legally. Today, basically the only path to come to this country, other than family reunification, is to come illegally.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: So one of the time-tested things you do when you are running for president is to write a book. So a lot of people are wondering is Jeb in for 2016? He told Jake Tapper he doesn't even plan to begin to think about it for at least another year.
O'BRIEN: Because 2014 is a good year to market your book if you're running for the presidency.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jeb is running.
BERMAN: He says he's not going to think about it for another (inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right, right, right.
O'BRIEN: We'll think about it for him. And we think he's running.
All right. So here is a great story that shows how good deeds can pay dividends for everybody. A young man, whose name is Jhaqueil Reagan, 18 years old, dropped out of high school to take care of his siblings after his mom died.
So late last month in the middle of that winter storm that was shutting down all the public transportation, this kid walks 10 miles because he has an interview for a job, a minimum wage job. So he gets lost. And on his walk, he crosses paths with a restaurant owner, whose name is Art Bouvier.
And he was so impressed that this young man was going to walk 10 miles each way to an interview that eventually he offered him a job.
So Art posted his experience with Jhaqueil (ph) on Facebook; that post has been "liked" 27,000 times, shared 7,000 times.
Good story but then they decided to pay it forward, make the story even better. So let's chat with Jhaqueil and art, who are both with me.
Welcome, guys.
I'm going to start with you if I can, Jhaqueil. Give me a -- why were you walking the 10 miles to this interview?
JHAQUEIL REAGAN, FACEBOOK CELEBRITY: Well, I didn't have -- I didn't have money for the bus, and I didn't have my own means of transportation. So my only reliable source was my own two legs.
O'BRIEN: So you took off because you just -- you had to walk. And I now, Art, you ended up running into Jhaqueil. What did you think when you realized that he was walking 10 miles just to get to the interview for this job?
ART BOUVIER, OWNER, PAPA ROUX RESTAURANT: I thought that, even with my own business to run, I had thought so, maybe not in this snow and ice. So here is a kid that's just going for an interview. I was pretty impressed that he would do what it took to get there for the hopes of a job. And I thought, well, he'll definitely show up for a shift if he has a job.
O'BRIEN: So you offered him a job. Why did you think that he would be -- you know, you could have just sent him on his way. You could have given him a lift to the job that he was going to interview for. But you actually ended up giving him a job, why?
BOUVIER: I didn't know he was going for an interview when I gave him a lift. I just knew he had a destination that was far away, and it was a long walk and a road with no sidewalks, covered with ice.
And it was on the drive that we talked to him and found out that it was an interview, and, you know, my gears started clicking and I talked with my wife later and we decided, you know, he's probably going to be a kid that will show up every time he's scheduled. So let's give him a shot.
O'BRIEN: He's probably a good investment.
BOUVIER: I thought so.
ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Art, Roland Martin here. I talk to a lot of young folks, and I always ask the question, how do I get ahead. What's the secret? And it's amazing; few people talk about work ethic and they talk about commitment.
Is that really what stood out, the fact that someone had that kind of determination, that speaks about their character and how they will operate?
BOUVIER: Well, it speaks about more than that. We've got a team full of kids that just go at it all day long and if I throw them somebody that doesn't have the stamina or the work ethic, they'll reject them.
So I just -- I kind of needed a fast-forward interview process of, this kid will plug in, this kid will go and it worked out. We've done it more even since then, because I just say we're busy, show up to work; we'll tap you out if it's not working out and if we don't tap you out, you'll get an application at the end of the day.
O'BRIEN: I love that strategy.
So, Jhaqueil, tell me how you like this change since you've gotten this opportunity. I know you were also homeless in addition to walking to try to get that job interview. Lots has changed for you.
REAGAN: Yes, a lot has changed for me, and I got myself an apartment now, staying with my fiance and her son and, I mean, it couldn't be better.
O'BRIEN: Lots of people know about your story, too.
And art, I guess one of the things I like best about this story is that your good deed really has paid off for you, too. Your restaurant is busy. I mean, folks now, you know, are seeking you out; you've had to hire more people, right?
BOUVIER: Yes, the restaurant certainly is busy. Obviously, that was not the intent. I sought no media publicity. I simply put on Facebook that I had met a guy and that should have stayed with just my customers that read my Facebook.
Going viral like it did, redefining viral like it did, is amazing and awesome, unexpected, and we're now looking to put that to good use. And there's a non-profit foundation that's going to come of it to help others.
O'BRIEN: Tell me about that non-profit foundation, because ultimately this is like the cherry on top of the cake. I love this whole thing. You really -- and, again, Jhaqueil, I think what you've done is to think about other people at a time when you really could use the help.
Tell me about the non-profit.
REAGAN: Go ahead.
BOUVIER: OK. And Jhaqueil has asked me to be interim director and spokesperson so I'm happy to.
O'BRIEN: It's a good choice, Jhaqueil well don.
MARTIN: Jhaqueil delegated.
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: He's going to be running your company soon, Art. Careful
BOUVIER: I know, so the blessings and outpouring of support that have gone global. We've even heard from Beijing, China and from you got the story back in languages I didn't know existed. And there's been so much support that Jhaqueil's immediate needs are more than met. And he and I have been discussing in kind of a mentorship role that keeping all of that even after his needs are met would be greed. It would certainly be viewed as greed, but it would actually be greed. So Jhaqueil has decided to take after his needs are met, about 50 percent of the total donations will be used to seed this foundation the Jhaqueil Reagan Foundation and the tagline we've come up with is "doing good while treating people well." And the foundation will be used to help others in similar situations. If they have transportation needs or even clothing needs, resume skills, anything they need. If the foundation can take care of their needs, it should.
O'BRIEN: Wow that's great. Congratulations guys. Art and Jhaqueil good for you. I think that's great.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: I'm going to give the information out there, right? So it's the Jhaqueil Reagan Foundation. The address is 973 North Shadeland (ph) Box 323 in Indianapolis. There's the information right there. You know what we'll do, we'll tweet this out as well. And anybody who wants to follow me @soledad_obrien will be able to find that.
MARTIN: We'll get a bunch of kids going out --
O'BRIEN: Thanks guys. We appreciate. Got to take a break. Still ahead this morning, going to talk to the star of Bravo's hit show "It's a Brad, Brad World." Season two debuts tonight. The celebrity stylist Brad joins us live. That's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back to STARTING POINT.
Just in to CNN a private sector jobs gauge that was pretty strong it showed ADP showed 198,000 private sector jobs added in February. ADP noting that was the lowest level since October but stock futures popped on the news. Dow futures now up 126 points, so yesterday's record high optimism continuing this morning by the looks of that -- that job report. We get the official jobs report, of course, on Friday.
Today's "Smart is the New Rich" a record high in stocks of course this morning another record high hitting you in the wrong way. Last year was a record jump in the cost to go to a public university. A new report show the average tuition nationwide jumped more than eight percent in just one year, driven by another record. A record drop in state funding for public universities down nine percent on average per student. States are strapped. So higher education funding gets cut. And you're seeing it across the country.
Here are the four states with the most dramatic increases, this is for full time students over five years. In Georgia, students at public universities paying 77.5 percent more than they did in 2007; New Mexico 54 percent; Minnesota and Virginia more than 40 percent increases. I guarantee you families do not have the means to be saving 40 percent more than they were just five years ago.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Oh my God. Well you know a lot of the cost is shunted to students. I remember you know my husband and I run this foundation, we send these girls off to college and a number of these girls come in with so much debt like $40,000, $50,000, $60,000. Even when they get out and they get a job if they get a job they just cannot manage that debt.
UM1: The university presidents and university administrators like corporate CEO -- it's insane, with this idea that they have to compete for this talent. It's nuts.
ROLAND MARTIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It's also why you see an explosion of folks who are going to community colleges and two-year institutions --
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: Right, right.
MARTIN: -- because they're saying look, you know I'm going out of state or I'm going across the state, you go there, get your two-year degree and then you can move on to a four-year.
O'BRIEN: It is just crazy financially.
All right we have got to take a break. Up next, it's the second season of the reality show "It's a Brad, Brad World" kicks off tonight, star celebrity stylist Brad Goreski joins us with a preview of all the drama on his show. It's nice to have him. We're back in just a moment.
MARTIN: Look at those shoes.
O'BRIEN: Hi Brad.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Welcome back.
We first met celebrity stylist Brad Goreski when he was Rachel Zoe's assistant. Now he has his own show documenting life as a stylist to the stars season two of "It's a Brad, Brad World" debuts tonight. Here is a little bit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRAD GORESKI, CELEBRITY STYLIST, "IT'S A BRAD, BRAD WORLD": I'm shooting editorials, I'm flying all over the world. The stakes are very high. What more could you ask for?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's making the stars red carpet ready.
GORESKI: Rusheta Jones, Stacey Keibler. Wow, best dressed list. You do understand that we're about to make fashion history.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Next level.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Next level. It's so great to have with you us this morning.
GORESKI: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: I was like so stressed for you when you worked with Rachel Zoe like it was very stressful watching you.
GORESKI: I was a little stressed for me too.
O'BRIEN: Yes so then -- so then when you went in to do your own show is it -- is it much more fun because you're running things or is it equally stressful?
GORESKI: It's a different kind of stress. You know the stress of being an assistant is different than the stress of being a boss because I make the decisions and when you're an assistant you're executing the wishes of your boss.
MARTIN: And you can get fired.
GORESKI: And you can get fired. I can't fire myself. I did not get fired which is great but I try now with my assistants to be like you know aware of the amount of work I'm giving them and to just kind of check in with them.
O'BRIEN: Oh you're a good boss?
GORESKI: I try. Yes.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: That will wear off.
GORESKI: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Season three and that's it.
MARTIN: He's going, yes, right.
GORESKI: I constantly like trying to like gauge what's going on with them.
O'BRIEN: Because they're going to do their own spin-off show in a couple years.
GORESKI: I hope so.
O'BRIEN: What's the -- what's the craziness that's going to happen in season two?
GORESKI: Well this season you really get to see me working with my clients, it's the nitty-gritty of the styling world. So you see me in fittings with Minka Kelly on tonight's episode show, Rusheta Jones upstairs --
O'BRIEN: I love them.
GORESKI: She's amazing and then me doing my job all over the world. I work with Kate Spade New York as their brand stylist, with J. Brand, we go all over the place and then of course more with me and my boyfriend Gary Ginetti, who I've been with for 12 years.
O'BRIEN: He's hilariously funny.
GORESKI: He's great, he's really, really good.
O'BRIEN: So -- so when you watch the Oscars or do -- I mean, do you sit there and just judge, judge, judge? Yes you do, right?
GORESKI: Yes and no. You know I am very friendly with the majority of the stylists that are in Los Angeles and we see each other all week long so we definitely, you know, go like --
O'BRIEN: People hated that dress that Anne Hathaway had on. I loved it. I mean I think she's a beautiful woman and can wear a paper bag and she looks fantastic.
GORESKI: Here's the thing that's happening. Anne Hathaway won an award the Oscar for best supporting actress in a role that she was fantastic and I think the fact that her dress is overshadowing, the fact that she gave a great performance is a little upsetting. And my -- my -- my wish is that everybody just release Anne Hathaway and let her enjoy all of her assets.
O'BRIEN: I know what is it with Anne Hathaway?
MARTIN: Get over it.
GORESKI: Yes.
MARTIN: I mean, as opposed to feeding into it and -- say guess what? Get over it.
BERMAN: Twitter jail is a tough thing to break out of.
O'BRIEN: Did you -- did you work with stylists I mean, as a model do people judge you as you know every time you show up at something did you care about that?
CAMERON RUSSELL, MODEL: Models are allowed to show up in really bad clothing and then the stylists take over from there.
GORESKI: But models I find also usually have great street style.
RUSSELL: Pretty simple.
GORESKI: Usually a leather jacket, a baggy t.
O'BRIEN: Because they have legs up to their necks. I'd wear a leather jacket and jeans, too, if I were eight feet tall.
MARTIN: Who do you know that doesn't have a style and you say, you know what, they handle their own business. I like what they do.
GORESKI: Well, Diane Kruger says she doesn't really use anybody. She deals directly with the designers and she's actually one of my red carpet favorites. Yes, she's -- most people have it, though, because I think what people forget is that we provide a service and the service is that these actresses are really busy promoting their films, they're doing all kinds of press, they're filming at the same time, they have families. I come in with a rack of beautiful clothes and say you should wear x, y and z and it helps to make everything a little bit easier.
O'BRIEN: What if someone picks x and you're like ooh, hating x.
GORESKI: I'm very honest. You'll see that on the show top because I want my clients to feel great when they walk out the door. I don't want them to look. And that's my job to is to push them a little bit out of their comfort zone and say like, you should try wearing more color or you should try wearing more strapless.
RUSSELL: Who's the most adventurous? Who will wear like the craziest thing?
I would say of my clients, Rusheta Jones and Jessica Alba. Actually Christina Ricci does, too. She loves to wear some quirky style.
MARTIN: Speaking of color, the socks and the shoes you have.
GORESKI: Want to put them up on the table.
MARTIN: I saw you walk out. Yes, come on.
I saw your shoes. I got my Texas boot, baby so you got the red socks.
GORESKI: Yours are from Texas, mine are straight from West Hollywood.
MARTIN: Ok. Got you. So you've got the red socks with the red sole.
O'BRIEN: That means very, very expensive, red sole. This thing here says a lot of money right there.
GORESKI: That's right.
MARTIN: And this means do not mess with me. I will kick your butt.
GORESKI: So do these, by the way.
MARTIN: Then I'll pray for you.
O'BRIEN: I love it. I love it.
Brad Goreski, it's so great to have you on. Congratulations on the second season. I'm such a big fan of your show.
GORESKI: Thank you so much for having me on I really appreciate it.
O'BRIEN: You bet, you bet. Second season of "It's a Brad, Brad World" will premiere tonight 10:00 p.m. Eastern on Bravo. Could you just take your feet off my table, please. Thank you.
"End Point" is up next. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: "End Point" Roland you want to start us off?
MARTIN: I'll defer.
O'BRIEN: What a gentleman.
RUSSELL: Well, I was going to say that I think two-thirds of U.S. demand is consumer spending we should be worried about the huge debt that our young people are carrying because of student loans. And it's going to be hard to revive the economy if they have all this debt.
O'BRIEN: That is brutal and you sort of look at the end point out. It's really impossible to see a solution to that. Let's talk about your book Dan Baum "A Road Trip". I'm going to hold it up for you.
DAN BAUM, AUTHOR: Wanted to talk about my book. "Gun Guys."
O'BRIEN: "Gun Guys" is the name of the book.
BAUM: I would say in my 15 seconds that if you're going to think about gun policy it would be good to know why guns appeal to people as they do and my book would help.
O'BRIEN: Talking to people kind of in the middle as opposed to those at the edges.
BAUM: All kinds of guns.
O'BRIEN: You have given up your time this morning. So we'll get back to you another time.
MARTIN: I'm selling the boots.
O'BRIEN: Said with love, but we're out of time.
Coming up tomorrow on STARTING POINT, we're going to talk to actress Eva Longoria. She's with us live tomorrow.
"CNN NEWSROOM" with Don Lemon begins right now. We'll see everybody back here tomorrow morning.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Inch by inch and mile by mile, a massive winter storm burying records and taking aim at Washington.
