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CNN NEWSROOM

Treacherous Winter Weather; Merrill Newman Back with His Family; Crowds Gathered at Mandela's Home; Positive November Jobs Report; A Focus on Locomotive Engineers

Aired December 7, 2013 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Deborah Feyerick.

Our top news story this hour, it is the winter wake-up call that a few hundred thousand people are dealing with today across several states, particularly the South. December's harsh reality rolled in across Texas today, where a lot of people are going nowhere on miles and miles of Dallas highways. Some slush that covered the area on Friday froze to a very hard glaze overnight. That means that roads are impossible to navigate. Ice-covered power lines are snapping.

And, yes, thousands of wannabe travelers -- well, you know where they spent the night, at the Dallas-Ft. Worth airport. Nearly every single flight was canceled.

Well, from central Texas, just think about it, draw a line north and east across Arkansas and up the Mississippi Valley to the Great Lakes. Temperatures are far below average right now, even in places where a deep freeze is usually nothing new. Northern Ohio and the Great Lakes.

Well, two very brave, very bundled up CNNers are out in the middle of this cold snap today, Ed Lavandera in Dallas who we've heard has not taken his hands out of his pockets for hours, I'm with you on that one and Indra Petersons is in Memphis.

Ed, we're going to go to you first. Where you are standing, it was 80 degrees just two days ago and now here you are, you look like you're ready to go skiing.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We probably could. This is basically an ice rink. If I had a hockey stick and a hockey puck, I'd just go to work here. But it's not snow and that's what makes this so miserable in a lot of ways, it's not even something you can get out and enjoy a whole lot of. And not only is it miserable in the ground or a beautiful park like this Clyde Warren Park in downtown Dallas but it's even more miserable on the roadways.

I was driving around yesterday and it was very slushy on the roadways and the problem is the temperatures dropped well below freezing. All of that slush really hardened up and in the places where the slush and that water was still on the roadways become very slick and it's that kind of ice you don't necessarily see very well and that's why we're seeing so many accidents on the roadways today especially along Interstate 35 where earlier today a man in a pickup truck slipped off the road over - on an overpass over a lake and the truck went plunging into the lake water.

Firefighters dove in to try to rescue him and they were not able to do that and he died there at the scene. So the roadway's incredibly dangerous and that's something we'll be continuing to monitor. And then you've got the situation at the airports, 90 percent of the flights out of DFW Airport yesterday were canceled, 50 percent of them canceled today.

At least the good news is that there's not more rain and sleet falling on the round here today, but because the temperatures are so low and will stay below freezing for at least another day and a half or so, this cannot melt away, Deb?

FEYERICK: And Ed, at the airport do they even have the de-icing machines that you find in Chicago or New York or elsewhere?

LAVANDERA: They definitely have that. You know, the equipment problem really has more to do with the roads, I mean, this - an event like this only happens every three or four years or so, I would say, so it's not like the transportation departments and the city street departments invest in the big plows that can clear it all away. They've got to use the sand trucks and the salt machines, so that's why the roads become so treacherous, because it's not something that city governments and state governments invest a whole lot of money in when it's something you only have to deal with every three or four years.

FEYERICK: Absolutely. And frightening pictures of those cars there on the overpass, Ed Lavandera, thank you so much. We appreciate that report.

Now were going to turn to Indra Petersons. She is in Memphis. Indra, the average temperature there in early December usually about 54 degrees, today you were likely to see 20 degrees. How are people in Memphis actually dealing with what is a weather emergency?

INDRA PETERSONS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, 20 degrees would actually feel good because you forgot to add in that wind-chill, it's feeling like single digits out here and that's one of the concerns and one of the reasons they actually canceled the marathon this morning. If you keep in mind the arctic blast is bringing those cold temperatures in here and many people are without power, 5,000 people lost power and now only about 500 people in the Memphis area still without power. But the concern with the marathon is a lot of people. Again, 20,000 people were expected to be in town for this marathon today. They were concerned they were going to be commuting to the marathon right at the peak of this ice storm.

We actually met up with a couple of the people that made the journey anyways. Just listen to their treacherous ride over.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN LISS, MARATHON RUNNER: We had an exciting ride down, took us nine hours which is normally four to five-hour trip. Windshield wipers icing up. Lines down over the highway, on 55. It was closed for a time. And winter everything from ice to snow. It was a - it was a journey.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PETERSONS: Exactly you can see why they did cancel that marathon. In fact, it's going to be a two-punch storm. Right now people will be trying to make the trip home and another ice storm is expected overnight tonight, the concern remains we still have ice on the ground in many locations here and there's still an ice on the way. Even if you don't get half an inch of ice from one of these storms which is usually, typically the amount that can bring down those power lines. It makes it weigh 500 pounds, well, you can still get half an inch of ice from two storms. There's already a quarter of an inch out there and now you bring that second wave, you need just a quarter of an inch and we're still concerned with losing power again tonight and we start off talking about those cold temperatures. Just imagine people already without power and potentially many more could lose power tonight with temperatures still below freezing. Deborah.

FEYERICK: Very tricky. All right. Indra, thank you so much.

Well that is certainly the way it looks right now, but the line of cold, ice, snow and sleet it's still moving. Alexandra Steele is in the CNN Severe Weather Center, and Alexandra show us exactly where it's going to start getting really, really nasty.

ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And, Deb, the ice and snow is going to find you, so it will make its way up the eastern seaboard. So here's the ice storm setup, cold arctic air coming down from the northwest, but warm, moist air here in the southeast. So, a lot of warm air with just a very shallow cold air. That's what creates the freezing rain and that is the most perilous.

So, here's how it's going to play out. It's a one-day affair, it's predominantly tomorrow, and here's tomorrow morning. You can watch Roanoke, Roanoke to Richmond, i-81, that's really where the greatest ice will be in terms of accumulation of it. And then by Sunday night it makes its way farther north, the ice and the snow and then it's more snow here for New England, changing over to rain in some of the bigger cities.

So, here's the timeline. In Washington, D.C., we're going to see it tomorrow, snow starts by noon. Changes over to sleet, and then tomorrow night we're going to see change over to freezing rain and sleet. So, on the whole, we'll get about one to two inches of snow and maybe a quarter of an inch of sleet which is certainly substantial.

In Philadelphia we'll see the snow and then sleet coming in the afternoon. Nighttime, again, that rain changes over, too, again, snow and sleet, maybe around an inch of snow and sleet combined. And then farther north to New York, late Sunday night, we'll see snow and sleet, then change over to rain. Overnight rain on Monday. About an inch of snow or sleet. So, what we're going to see and the difference between this ice storm than what we've seen yesterday from Dallas to Memphis, and where Ed Lavandera's was, is that it won't be cold for long.

By Monday we're in the 40s in New York and in Boston and in Washington. So, whatever ice does fall, it will quickly change over and melt, and so the ice won't be as perilous, Deb, on Monday because the temperatures will finally rebound and I'd be a lot warmer.

FEYERICK: Right. So a little bit dangerous. It's interesting, I was with someone today, and they said finally it feels cold. But this is very cold. All right. Alexandra Steele, thank you so much for that.

STEELE: Sure, Deb.

Well, home from North Korea for the second time, an American who once fought in the Korean War lands in the U.S. after being held captive for the past six weeks.

And paying respects. Throngs of people gathered at this hour outside the home of Nelson Mandela. We will go live for you to South Africa.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Tired but grateful an 85-year-old U.S. war veteran who was detained in North Korea for six weeks, he's now safe on American soil. Merrill Newman arrived at San Francisco International Airport just a few hours ago. North Korea's news agency said Newman was released for humanitarian reasons, but it happened just one week after he made a public apology for his service during the Korean War.

Dan Simon joins us live outside Newman's home in Palo Alto. Dan, what do we know of Newman, is he expected home anytime soon?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a good question, Deborah. Apparently he's not headed here. They've made some kind of alternative arrangements for him to stay at least for the next few days. You can see behind me there's some yellow ribbons at the entrance. This is the retirement home where he lives. As you can imagine his family and his friends just so grateful to have him home. This is what he said just hours, a few hours ago when he arrived at the San Francisco International Airport.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MERRILL NEWMAN, RELEASED BY NORTH KOREA: Good morning, I'm delighted to be home. I want to thank the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang and the American embassy in Beijing for all their help. It's been a great, great homecoming, and I'm tired, but ready to be with my family now. And thank you all for the support we got. And very much appreciated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: Well, Newman was an intelligence officer during the Korean War. He was part of some top secret missions. He apparently felt he had some unfinished business in the country and wanted to go back and visit, you know, he fought some 60 years ago, but apparently while he was there he said the wrong thing to someone and so he was taken into custody. He was there for six weeks. He is known to be an adventurous person, somebody who traveled around the world. So the people who know him, it wasn't completely surprising that he wanted to go back to North Korea, but he certainly got more than he bargained for. Deborah.

FEYERICK: And, Dan, is there any indication why the North Koreans actually released him after holding him for six weeks?

SIMON: Well, it seems like that apology certainly had something to do with it, that's sort of stilted on-air apology, it seemed to have been written for him. As you said, his release comes just a few days after that. And he also made reference to the fact that the North Korean government said he was released for humanitarian purposes.

We should also note that, of course, the United States has no formal relations with North Korea but a senior administration official told CNN that he was released after the White House had some direct communication with the North Korean government, so that seemed a bit unusual.

FEYERICK: It was interesting to know the behind-the-scenes story. Dan Simon for us, thanks so much.

Well, plans for a final good-bye for Nelson Mandela are beginning to come into focus as details are announced about his funeral and his burial.

Crowds gathered outside Mandela's home in Johannesburg today celebrating and remembering the 95-year-old former president who died on Thursday. CNN's Robyn Curnow is live in Johannesburg, and Robin, you're outside his family home. What is the atmosphere been like there today?

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you can hear, it's loud and celebratory, it's not about a party but it's about the way South Africans say good-bye to somebody and they do that in songs. And this music, this laments, these songs have been going on literally nonstop since Thursday night when that announcement came that he died and what is clear about this crowd behind me in this suburban street in Johannesburg, it's very much a Mandela crowd. It's mixture of white and black and rich and poor and young and old and different people from different walks of life coming for their own special intimate reason to pay respects to the man they call taza (ph), father. Take a listen to what man had to tell us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is for me a good time to reflect on what Mandela has done. I think I know to many Mandela was reconciler, but to a few of us Mandela was a liberator. He saved us from something, something that was meant to harm us, and I think he led us very well. To us he was a commander. To us Mandela was a kind of a messiah, we love him. And I think he's very much still alive inside of us. And I think on this day we want to pay homage, came here with my children, to show him who this man was and what we must be in order to carry on his legacy. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: You know, everybody has a different reason for feeling close to, for feeling sad about the death of Nelson Mandela, but really don't underestimate what he did for this country in terms of knitting it together. More than 20 years ago this country really was on the brink of civil war. It was unclear how things would progress, and it was Nelson Mandela's very steady, very wise, very calm leadership that enforced reconciliation and forgiveness, that really changed the history, the path of this nation which created this democracy, and you can see it here today in the song and the dancing. People knitted together in sadness but also in thankfulness.

FEYERICK: And, Robyn, what is the plan for the funeral? Because I know there are a number of days ahead that rites will be administered essentially.

CURNOW: Well, we've seen two events that are very different events. Tuesday will be a memorial service at a soccer stadium here in Johannesburg, and next Sunday will be a very rural affair, rural funeral, in the hills of his boyhood home which will literally be a tent in this very remote area of (INAUDIBLE).

Now, the South African authorities are telling me they're encouraging heads of state to go to Tuesday's event because the logistics, security of getting heads of state into this small, rural airport and then to the sort of the hill, the hilly tent funeral is going to be very difficult, so we're going to see Barack Obama and many other heads of state and royalty coming here on Tuesday.

FEYERICK: All right. Robyn Curnow for us there in South Africa, thank you so much.

Well, ever heard of a dead man's pedal, it could mean the difference if you make it safely across a railroad track. That story, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Well, Wall Street loved Friday's job report, driving the Dow Jones up 200 points, but while 203,000 jobs sounds like a lot, and it is, it's not enough to make up for the millions of jobs lost in the middle of the recession. Alexandra Field joins me now. Alexandra, what is the bottom line of this report? Are we roaring our way back to a solid economy or are we still sort of limping along?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK. Well, Deb, for a third year in a row we are adding more than two million jobs in the economy. So clearly that is good news but it isn't yet enough to make up for the nine million jobs that were lost between 2008 and 2009, what's especially good about these November jobs numbers though are that we are seeing that there are more higher-paying jobs being created.

We're talking about $24 and $25 an hour jobs in industries like transportation, warehousing, construction, health care, manufacturing. Better paying jobs than we've seen created in the past and these jobs come on top of job gains in industries where we would expect to see some hiring this time of year, things like bars, restaurants, hospitality, retail. Now, who's getting the jobs that are being created? Well, we're seeing a lot of young people who are collecting paychecks now who weren't collecting paychecks before, young people are groups who have struggled to get jobs since the recession hit.

We're also seeing the recently unemployed are having more luck securing those jobs than say the long-term unemployed.

FEYERICK:: What about some of the older Americans, because a lot of people either retired early or they decided just they got so discouraged, they decided to move on? What is information telling you?

FIELD: This group continues to struggle the most. There are still 11 million people who are searching for jobs, who are actively looking for jobs, who can't find jobs and more than four million of those people are in that long-term unemployed and the way to support isn't showing an uptick in those people getting jobs. And the news remains bleak for them even as we see these gains among the younger demographics.

FEYERICK: Right. So good news for those who are finding the jobs but still very difficult for those who are not. All right. Alexandra Field, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

And you thought your job was tough, well, try multitasking while being in charge of one million pounds of speeding steel. On board with a train engineer coming up next.

But, first, Dr. Sanjay Gupta with a preview of what's coming up at the half hour.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Deb, it's a statistic that I talk about all the time, someone dies every 19 minutes from a prescription drug overdose and most of these deaths, Deb, involve painkillers. So, we're exposing one prominent physician who some say was writing these prescriptions with reckless abandon. We got that bottom of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Well, Obamacare may have a new problem. Congress itself could miss its Monday enrollment deadline, some congressional lawmakers and staffers say that they're having trouble trying to enroll. CNN obtained an e-mail sent Thursday by the House chief administrative officer, it describes "significant problems" preventing members of Congress and staff from signing up. (INAUDIBLE) spokesman is disputing those claims.

Meanwhile the Obamacare web site's front page is sporting a new design that is supposed to actually make it easier to use.

Well, if you hop on a train, your commute Monday morning or whenever you commute, your life is in the hands of the engineer, the deadly commuter train wreck in the Bronx last weekend now shedding new light on the high-pressure duties of driving trains.

CNN's Chris Frates talked to a Chicago man who guides a million pound commuter train while carefully balancing signals, speed, and safety.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As passengers rush through their morning commute engineer Jeff Klein scales 12 feet into this locomotive and gets ready to take responsibility. For hundreds of peoples' lives.

With the throttle and two brakes, Klein alone controls this one million pound behemoth during its three-hour run. And he's got a lot on his mind.

(on camera): What were you watching coming out of the station?

JEFF KLEIN, LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEER, METRA: The signals. Crossings. Crossing protection, the gates, pedestrians. Speedometer.

FRATES (voice-over): Piloting a seven-car train 100 miles through 18 suburban Chicago stations Cline has to be able to divide his attention among signals, sounds and safety.

(on camera): About how fast are we going?

CLINE: Sixty miles an hour.

FRATES: And how long would it take to stop?

KLEIN: A controlled stop? Like coming into a station, probably take about 0.4 of a mile.

FRATES (voice-over): And that would take almost a full minute. Then there's the dead-man pedal, designed to stop the train if the engineer is unresponsive.

KLEIN: Well, that was the dead-man pedal. If you move your foot off of it just the wrong way, it will start to - that sound you heard, and then it will stop the train.

FRATES: To get the feeling of what it's like to control these rolling caravans, we headed to Modoc Railroad Academy and talked to instructor David Rangel.

DAVID RANGEL, FOUNDER, MODOC RAILROAD ACADEMY: Today the passenger locomotive engineer is being asked to do so much more than ever before. He is asked to do the job of two or three people. This is the cabin of the locomotive.

FRATES (on camera): OK.

(voice-over): But there's no amount of training that can prepare the engineer for, fatigue.

RANGEL: We are dealing with humans in the cabs of those locomotives and we have frailties.

FRATES: Back on the rail, making the return trip to Chicago, Klein said he's got too much to worry about to be distracted.

KLEIN: Again, there's always something going on, the alerters going off, everything that's happening in front of you, for me it's not real easy to lose concentration.

FRATES: And now he'll grab some rest before doing it all over again in just a few hours.

FRATES (on camera): Every day hundreds of engineers are traveling on thousands of miles of track and driving a train is a lot like playing chess you have to think several moves ahead, only you have to do it at 70 miles per hour.

Chris Frates, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: Interesting perspective.

Well, I'm Deborah Feyerick. I will see you right back here at the top of the hour with lots more.

But first, some surprising good news about cancer. "SANJAY GUPTA M.D." starts right now.