Transcripts For CNNW Starting Point 20121226

House down. His chilling words left behind in a note. Aloha means goodbye. President obama cuts his hawaiian vacation short to deal with the fiscal cliff. It is already too late . Good morning, 7 00 in the east. Im alina cho. And im drew griffin. Soledad obrien is off today. Starting point begins right now. Our starting point, a cruel one. A onetwo christmas punch from mother nature. Tornadoes and blizzards tearing through the south and midwest. Oh, my god. We need to go. Its right there. Mobile, alabama, took a real beating. A twister blowing up transformers, leaving more than 25,000 customers without power. Reports to damage to homes, a high school, and church. It came in behind the church right there, and then all green fluorescent lighting and popping transformers left and right. And we heard the crashing and everything and the power went out. I prayed to god as loud as i could, and i was just praying for my safety, and i knew the church was shaking. I just prayed that the church stayed put. Here is the other half of this story, blizzard conditions blanketing much of the midwest and the northeast will get it next. We have meteorologist Bonnie Schneider and correspondent George Howell monitoring these threats. George, lets begin with you. A lot of tornado sightings in the south overnight. Drew, were talking about a storm system that left two people dead on Christmas Day and 200,000 people waking up this morning without power. A storm system came in throughout the night and some 30 tornadoes reported, according to the National Weather service. You can see it from the video. And from pictures that people took of frightful scenes throughout the night. Strong winds and tornado touchdowns from texas, alabama, and knocked down trees and power lines, sxont ground, damage is extensive. Several homes and businesses are damaged. When you look at these pictures, you get a sense of how powerful wind were last night. This woman keeping a close eye on a tornado she saw just outside her window. Christmas day tornado. Going through mobile. Oh, my god. Look. Thats a tornado. Oh, wow. Oh, jesus. Look at that tornado. Oh, my good. Thats cool. Jesus, please keep your hands on whoever is over there. So, again, as i mentioned, some 200,000 people without power this morning, and when you tuk down the list state by state. What it means, 186,000 people without power in arkansas. 27,000 people in the dark in alabama. More than 4,000 affected in mississippi and more than 3,000 people in louisiana without power. A strong storm system that affected a lot of people and still parking a punch. Thank you, george. And heavy snow and driving winds expected to create blizzard conditions today in parts of ohio, pennsylvania and missouri. We have seen snow as far south as texas. Meteorologist Bonnie Schneider tracking a storm in the cnn Weather Center in atlanta. Good morning. This snow is so unusual. To have so much so far south on Christmas Day. More to show you what its been looking like across arkansas, and incredible amounts of snowfall accumulating. How do you drive in conditions like that . A lot of accidents, unfortunately, because visibility when you have blowing and drifting snow. Ten inches of snow on the ground right now in arkansas. So, wow. Its not getting any better any time soon. A large storm system bringing heavy snow through lower sections of indiana to ohio and snowing heavy and hard in Southern Illinois in carbondale, the boot hills of missouri, cape girardeau. Were looking at paducah, kentucky, this area, up to a foot of snow, and blizzard warnings in place. Blowing and drifting snow in place. And working toward cincinnati and pennsylvania later on. I slide further to the east, notice the snow hitting the city of cleveland, pittsburgh, buffalo, burlington, a lot of snow in interior new england. Were looking at over a foot of snow. A couple of inches for new york city and boton. If thats not enough. We have severe storms right now sweeping across the southeast. These are the same storms that brought the tornado you saw pictures of earlier to mobile, alabama. Were not done yet. Frequent lightning strikes, in georgia. Luckily, today, a smaller geographic area, but a busy day, people heading back to the stores and traveling today. Right here across parts of South Carolina and parts of north carolina, are you seeing the threat of Severe Weather and the eastern half of georgia, jacksonville, florida. If you are driving in the region, please make sure you are aware of damage. We have mountain snow out west. A really unsettled weather pattern and unusual for this holiday week. Alina. Have you been very busy, bone eschneider. Other top stories, wleerning about that guy that killed firefighters on Christmas Eve morning. The man left a. I still have to get ready to see how much of the neighborhood i can burn down and doing what i like doing best, killing people. Early monday morning, that guy set fire to his suburban rochester home, luring firefighters and began shooting at them as they arrived on the scene. He killed himself monday morning after shooting four firefighters. The town of webster paying tribute at a Memorial Service. In afghanistan, three people dead, seven civilians injured after a car bomb tar getted a u. S. Base. A minibus exploded at the gate of camp chapman. It was also the target of a suicide bombing that killed seven cia contractors and a jordanian in 2009 when a double agent, loyal to extremists, blew himself up. Syrias military police chief has defected. Recording a video that aired on arab tv network, announcing he is defecting because the syrian army is no locker acting in the spec interest of the people. The decision follows two brutal attacks on hungry civilians standing in bread lines and comes at a time when rebel forces are said to be making gains over Government Troops over control of major cities. Andruw jones, free on bone this morning after being arrested outside atlanta on christmas on a battery charge. The Gwinnett County Detention Center tells us there was a domestic dispute with his wife. The Center Fielder won ten straight gold gloves with the braves. Played with the new york yankies last year and recently signed with a team in january pan. Shinzo abe has been elected prime minister. He held the same position six years ago but resign because of health problems. He helped his party dominate elections last month. He promised to revive the economy and create a Recovery Plan for last years earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster. Six days to go before the fiscal cliff deadline and tomorrow could be make or break in determining if we steer clear or go over the edge. President obama is cutting his hawaiian vacation short and is leaving tonight and will be back tomorrow. That is when the house and senate is expected to reconvene. Starbucks weighing in with the own fiscal cliff campaign. Workers at 120 d. C. Area stores are asked to write this on their cup. Come together. Yeah, he says its a way to send elected official as a respectful but potent message, urging them to come together to fin common ground. Not grounds, ground. All of the bickering in washington, all it will take is a cup at starbucks, i think it will push everybody over the edge. Get a deal. Ahead, a u. S. Marine who languished in a mexican prison for months, gets to spend the holidays at home with his family. Coming up, well talk to one of the lawmaker whos helped win his release. Youre watching starting point. Everybody well dont you know its me now . Yeah whos it, whos it huh . Willys back with a brand new beat now, yeah doin it doin it up heyyy yeah, tryin to bite my style heyyy yeah, how you like me now . Na na na na na na na na and everybody go uh time for citi price rewind. Because your daughter really wants that pink castle thing. And you really dont want to pay more than you have to. Only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. And if it finds one, you get refunded the difference. Just use your citi card and register your purchase online. Have a super sparkly day ok. [ male announcer ] now all you need is a magic carriage. Citi price rewind. Start saving at citi. Com pricerewind. Citi price rewind. Customer erin swenson bought so, im happy. Today. Sales go up. Im happy. It went out today. Im happy. What if shes not home . together she wont be happy. Use ups she can get a text alert, reroute. Even reschedule her package. Its ups my choice. Are you happy . Im happy. Im happy. Im happy. Im happy. Im happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. together happy. I love logistics. Our lawmakers are due to washington this week, lets hope they have some leftover christmas spirit. They only have six days to avoid the fiscal cliff. The president will leave hawaii tonight to come back to d. C. Lets speak to a republican from florida. Congresswoman, you played a big role in getting a marine out of a nightmarish prison in mexico and back to his family for christmas. First, i want to ask you about the fiscal cliff and whats happening in the next couple of days. First, do you think its possible well get anything other than a bandaid between now and six days from now when the triggers kick in . Im very optimistic if all of us pull our weight and do some serious conversations well have a bipartisan solution, because nobody wants to go over this fiscal cliff. It will damage our economy. It will hurt every taxpayer, the largest tax increase in history. It will affect everybody, and anyone who is watching who thinks, oh this isnt going to impact me, you will fin out d o will, and we know the problem is a lot of spending. Not that were not taxing people more, were just spending too much. We hope that the president understands that as for as republicans are concerned, were willing to negotiate and have a civil conversation, but also hes got to bring in some spending cuts and tax reform, because americans want tax reform and we dont want to hurt the economy, and, look there, are not enough millionaires in the United States to tax them all to be able to spend our way out of this problem. So lets lets give up a little bit each side can concede a little. And i think we can fin middle ground. Im optimistic. We had your colleague nan hayworth last hour. She was expecting work to be done in the senate. The house did its best, boehner did his best, now its up to the senate to come up with something. Is that your position now, your understanding of how your house leadership is handling this . Basically the ball is in the senates court . All you have to do is look at what harry reid, the leader of the senate has been saying from day one. Every time that Speaker Boehner put forth a commonsense plan to fix this problem, harry reid would say, right off the bat it is doa, dead on arrival. Not one thing that Speaker Boehner proposed that reid said, oh, we can work with that. Its about scoring political points. The American People are tired of all of us, i understand that. We just make used car salesmen look good. Thats the only group is below us. But weve got to get our act together, and prove to the American People that we can regain the trust that they once had in us and get the job done. And as you say, not kick the can down the road. They want to us work this out. I hope we do. Lets talk about something a little more bright. The former marine stuck in mexico. If you dont know the story, he was basically trying to go on a surfing trip. An old winnebago and a bunch of surf boards and some sort of antique, torn apart gun that he wanted to use to hunt rabbits and birds. He got caught up in the judicial system and was languishing in prison, a pretty rough prison across the border and nobody from the United States seemed to be caring much about him, isnt that what was going on, congresswoman . Absolutely. This is a feelgood christmas story with a wonderful, happy ending. I had an email from olivia, john hammers mom, about what a wonderful christmas they spent together. Mike thompson, a congressman from california, hes a democrat, hes the congressman who has the whose clinic for post Traumatic Stress syndrome, john hammer was a patient in. He served in iraq, in afghanistan, in a fierce fire fight in fallujah. And this rifle he was taking into mexico, he went to u. S. Custom Border Patrol and registered it with them, they waited, they photographed it. They told him, sure, you can bring it into mexico. Just register it. And it was when john was registering the firearm, he was arrested for his trouble, and he had been there since august, chained to his bed. A nightmare scenario, so the Bipartisan Group of legislators were able to get together to bring john hamer home, maybe we can fix the fiscal cliff problem. Here is what we can. Here is what john hammers mom had to say about the homecoming, which was really a Christmas Gift to them. Take a listen. It was like my first night that i slept all night long without getting up, and it was just the thought of not wondering whats going on with him, can anyone hurt him tonight . Thats my thought. Hes eating, able to have a meal. You know, congresswoman, i have to ask you one pointed question. Why did it take you guys to get involved . Where was the state department . Where was anyone trying to take care of this u. S. Citizen stuck since august in a mexican prison . I dont want to blame our officials more than i blame the mexican authorities for putting him in custody. He was facing 12 years in jail for doing the right thing, registering the firearm. Which is not really a killer machine. It was to shoot birds and something that had been in the family years and years and years. But anyway, u. S. Officials kept getting us a status report, how john is doing. We said status report . Why arent you actively loeshing to get john hammar home. We had to shake up the democracy. John is pretty sick right now. You can imagine he was not eating well and dehydrated, had the stomach flu. He hasnt made any public appearances, hes got to chill out a little bit and get better and were just praying hard and worked hard and this is a very religious family. I think their faith carried them through this ordeal. They tried to do it the right way, quietly and month after month, john was still stuck in a mexican jail and so we went to bat for him and thanks to so many people praying and working hard for him, hes finally home. They are constituents of my congressional district. Very glad this has a feelgood ending, but a lot of these kinds of difficult situations when people go abroad, theyve got to remember there, is no place like this wonderful country that has this wonderful judicial system. Mistakes happen here, but nothing like home. Congresswoman, thank you so much. Give us another feelgood story in six days or less we hope. Take care. Were hoping, praying, and working too. There you go. What a great gift for that family to have their son back in time for the holidays. Ahead on starting point the Decision Just made thousands of miles away that could affect couple whos are trying to adopt children right here in the u. S. Plus, the numbers are in. And they are not good. Find out what might to be blame for disappointing Holiday Shopping season. Welcome back to starting point. Blizzard and winter storm warnings from the deep south to new england. One place where the snow begun to fall quite heavily is seymour, indiana. We want to go live to our reporter from affiliate wkly. Lexi what is it like where are you this morning . Good morning to you. We definitely are seeing conditions not changing. The big thing here is the wind. Really blusterery out here. Almost knocked me over a few times. Let me give you a live look. We pulled into this parking lot at 5 45. Our tire mark are completely gone. The roads completing snow covered. A number of snow plows through here. They are preparing cars for these conditions. Overall, if you dont have to drive or go to school or anything this is the good weather. Snowball, smoeman making weather. I started my snowman out here earlier, not coming along very well. The wind, like i said, been kind of painful plowing into my face and things like that. The wintry mix in see more, indiana, now, back to you. Lets hope its over. Lexi sheen, thank you very much. Kids are off. Have fun. 24 minutes after the hour. Lets get you up to speed on the rest of the mornings stories. The female officer who killed americans in afghanistan is an iranian citizen. There is no evidence linking her to terror groups with ties to iran. More than 50 people have been killed this year in socalled insider attacks by Afghan Soldiers and Police Officers or attackers dressed like them. Also new this morning, russias parliament approved a controversial measure that will ban American Families from adopting russian children. According to Russian Media reports. That goes to president putin to be signed into law this is seen as retaliation for a new u. S. Law that imposes travel and economic restrictions on human rights abusers in russia. It was a black christmas . Initial holiday numbers not very good. A report from master card said holiday sales growth slowed by more than half this year, and the weakest Holiday Shopping season since 2008. The report said shoppers were not in a subpoenai inspending m of the fiscal cliff threat and hurricane sandy. Box office gold for les miserables. It blew away all expectations. Raking in 18 million on opening day. Strong number one. And number two, jangle on chains, starring jamie fox and leonardo decap icaprio. And then the hob bot, parental guidance and jack reacher. In the next half hour, well preview some of the top picks with Christopher John farley of speak easy. The wall street journals culture website. Well look ahead to the movies. Ahead on starting point, we showed you the Winter Weather in some parts of the country. The other danger . Tornadoes. A man rolling the camera as he started to steer his family away from a twister, thats next. Aww man. [ male announcer ] returns are easy with free pickup from the u. S. Postal service. Well even drop off boxes if you need them. Visit usps. Com pay, print, and have it picked up for free. Any time of year. Nice sweater. Thank you. Welcome to chevys yearend event. So, the 5. 3liter v8 silverado can tow up to 9,600 pounds . 315 horsepower. Whats that in reindeerpower . [ laughs ] [ pencil scratches ] [ male announcer ] chevys giving more. Get the best offer of the year 0 apr financing for 60 months plus 1,000 Holiday Bonus cash. Plus trade up for an additional 1,000 tradein allowance. Hurry. Bonus cash ends january 2nd. Welcome back to starting point. Im drew griffin. Im sol dadalina cho. Christmas day brought nothing but chaos for some in the south and there is plenty more to come. Oh, my god. We need to go. Its right there. Damage reported overnight in places like mobile, alabama and a tower cam video from cnn affiliate wala, capturing a twister blowing transformers and knocking out power to 25,000 customers. Throughout the midwest, another holiday headache, snow, and lots of it. Up to a foot in some places, parts of the northeast could face blizzard conditions today. Guess what . This may be the beginning of a mess. Heavy snow, driving winds, expecting to create blizzard conditions today. And snow far south as texas. Meteorologist Bonnie Schneider tracking the system for us. Bonnie. Drew, its interesting to note that the snow that occurred is so unusual that it shattered a record, in little rock, arkansas, nine inches of snow on Christmas Day. That hasnt happened in 86 years. Highly unusual to see this much snow as far south as texas and oklahoma and arkansas on Christmas Day. Thats exactly what weve seen here going forward. Its important to note that its not over yet. Well see more snow and possibly more records. Its snowing right now across indiana, much of Southern Illinois and even western tennessee. Memphis, are you getting snow. In terms of heavy snow. Not too much nor memphis. Drive a few hours up i55 at cape girardeau, and thats where you are likely to see a foot. Southern ohio, stretching all the way to pennsylvania. Pittsburgh and cleveland, all looking at snow for today and tonight and heavy snow in the northeast. And interior new england where we could see up to a foot. Not out of the way here for the threat of strong thunderstorms. Even though there is a lot of colder air from the south. Look at the squall line of strong storms. Frequent lightning stretching across the panhandle of florida. The biggest threat will be extreme northeastern north carolina. Wilmington, myrtle beach, damaging winds and possible tornadoes. A big day for Severe Weather this . A smaller area. So cold, temperatures in the Single Digits and below zero with blizzard conditions. Highs today, and even though you see highs in minneapolis, and kansas city, 28. The morning temperatures much colder. Todays high. 36 degrees. Just yesterday, we had temperatures in the 70 as long the gulf coast. 20 degrees cooler than new orleans, and to stay warm in south florida, the front not making it through there. Keep in mind, the temperatures this cold in oklahoma and arkansas, that snow will stick and with so much of the on the ground and so much still falling it will make for troublesome travel throughout the day. Something were monitoring very closely. Well continue during the cnn Weather Center. You know, there was a 21car pileup in oklahoma city. Bonnie, take a look at video that we got in of a wedge tornado seeing ripping through mobile, alabama. I want to take a look at another view, as a car race ahead way from the storm. The people who captured this on camera were actually on their way to their familys christmas celebration. David was driving. His wife shooting the video and david joins us on the phone this morning from fair hope, alabama. David, take it you are not a storm chaser. You probably were going to use that camera to shoot people opening up gifts, instead of a tornado . Yes, sir, thats correct. What was going through your mind when you decided, number one, look at that tornado and number two, honey, get out the camera . Before we had hit that area, i told my wife, on the way over, any storms hitting our area, to go ahead and keep the camera handy, and videotape them, see if anything happens. Did you at any point, think if you knew storms were headed your way, maybe we ought to stay home . I know we need to get to grandmothers house, but maybe we should delay it a bit . We thought about not going at all and spoke with family and said if he we didnt feel comfortable, just stay at home. And we seen a break in between the storms and attempt to make it over there. Didnt actually realize how severe it was going to end up being, and we tried to head that way. When you guys were were seeing the video now. I dont know if you can see it. It seems like are you going parallel with the tornado. Did you feel at any time this was going toward you . Yes, sir. We were heading north bound on i165 when the tornado formed to our left side and we proceeded to head to i65. D northbound, and you could see the tornado coming toward us at our left. Probably about two miles. We kept going to decided at that point we were going to get off at the next exit and head back home, and when we did, it was actually a large circle and we came back through, and headed south, back toward fairhope, when we came back through town, i guess you could say the back roads, thats when we ran into the devastation where the tornado seemed to have went across the interstate and went through pritchard, alabama. The video is so ominous. You can just see this enormous funnel cloud, and it appears youre fairly close to it. How scared were you as you were driving alongside it . We were absolutely terrified at that point. Toward the end of the video when it cut off, i could see ahead of me, the clouds looked like they were forming a tornado, and i just kind of, you know, decided that we were going to get out of there very quickly as possible, and, you know, me and my wife, we were shaking to death. We were scared. We had our 1yearold daughter with us in the car, so it was really a tough thing to see coming toward us. David, were certainly glad that you your family are well and okay. We hope things go well in putting damaged homes back together and damaged lives back together. Thank you for sharing the video. Merry christmas to and you your family. Thank you, you as well. President obama heading back to washington to tackle the fiscal cliff today. He will get to d. C. Just as the house and senate expected to reconvene tomorrow. Not much time left for a notoriously slowmoving washington to get something done. Brianna keilar following the drama from honolulu, hawaii. Shes there with the president. What is the latest. President obama is officially cutting short his christmas vacation and heading back from hawaii. Tonight, hawaiian time, early in the morning on the east coast and returning to the d. C. Area on thursday. As the senate is set to reconvene and all eyes really are looking there to see what Senate Majority leader harry reid can cobble together in order to get republican support to avoid the fiscal cliff. Hell also have to put together something that will get republican support in the house. This is a lastditch effort and will be obviously very difficult if it succeeds at all. At this point, the white house still wants that threshold for income tax rates to be at 250,000. Its unclear, exactly what the Senate Proposal is going to look like. As we understand from sources, al inna, it could be a couple of days, even though this are reconvening tomorrow, it could be a couple of days before they outline the proposal. Were told by sources they are waiting to get republican support in the senate but to build pressure in the house. If they move the deadline close move the timeline from unveiling a proposal as close to the new year as possible it increases pressure on the house and, of course, if the house doesnt take up the bill, you can see that were already sort of setting the scene for the blame game. Democrats would point the finger at republicans for going over the fiscal cliff. Thats been going on for a while as you well know, brianna, and as the president cuts his vacation short, we know what that means, are you cutting your working vacation short. Ill be back soon to see you. Listening to those beautiful waves behind brianna. Thank you. From brianna to rihanna, ahead on starting point. Rihanna and chris brown. What looks like more proof these two are back together again. A story trdrew has been watching very, very closely. Youre watching starting point back after this. Learnin, plus, inbranch seminars at over 500 locations, where our dedicated support teams help you know more so your money can do more. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. Our teams have the information you want when you need it. Its another reason more investors are saying. [ all ] im with scottrade. Its another reason more investors are saying. A hybrid . Most are just no fun to drive. Now, heres one that will make you feel alive. Meet the fivepassenger ford cmax hybrid. Cmax says ha. Cmax says wheeee. Which is what you get, dont you see . Cause cmax has lots more horsepower than prius v, a hybrid that cmax also bests in mpg. Say hi to the allnew 47 combined mpg cmax hybrid. Its lots of things. All waking up. Becoming part of the global phenomenon we call the internet of everything. Trees will talk to networks will talk to scientists about climate change. Cars will talk to road sensors will talk to stoplights about traffic efficiency. The ambulance will talk to patient records will talk to doctors about saving lives. Its going to be amazing. And exciting. And maybe, most remarkably, not that far away. The next big thing . Were going to wake the world up. And watch, with eyes wide, as it gets to work. Cisco. Tomorrow starts here. 42 minutes after the hour. This mornings top stories. Tornadoes tearing up parts of the south overnight. Three deaths blamed on the storms, and hundreds of thousands are still in the dark. 186,000 people without power in arkansas alone. More than 27,000 without power in alabama, and thousands in the dark in mississippi and louisiana as well. And a devastating snowstorm is crip ripling parts of the midwest. See mocecsee seymour, indiana, coming down hard. And blizzard conditions for ohio, pennsylvania and new jersey. Some places could see a foot of snow or more. George h. W. Bush, forced to spend Christmas Day in a houston hospital. He was treated to a special holiday meal. 88 years old. Been in the hospital for more than a month with a lingering cough. Doctors are cautiously optimistic for a full recovery for the president. Before heading back to d. C. , president obama and the First Lady Michelle Obama kept up a christmas tradition. Visiting marines at a base in hawaii, thanking them for their service. The greatest honor i have as president is being commander in chief and the reason its an honor is because not only do we have the finest military in the world, but we also have the finest fighting men and women in the world. Mrs. Obama and their daughters will not be cutting their vacation short. They will stay in hawaii. Good for them. L. A. , the best record in the nba. No, not the lakers. The clippers look at billy crystal. They won their franchise record. Hes court side a lot apparently. A record 14th game in a row on christmas night. Beating the nuggets, a score of 1121000, 226 on the year. Earlier in the day, in the very same building, the l. A. Lakers beat the knicks, winning their fifth game in a row, and look who is court side, take a look. Rihanna, chris brown, together. You know, the guy who beat her up in his car the night before the 2009 grammys . Brown pleaded guilty to assault after that. He is it still on probation. Ahead on starting point what could be the surefire movie blockbuster of next year. Leonardo dicaprio in a classic remake with a modern twist. That and more of the big releases to come in 2013. Initiated. Neural speeds increasing to 4g lte. Brain upgrading to a quadcore processor. Predictive intelligence with google now complete. Introducing droid dna by htc. Its not an upgrade to your phone. Its an upgrade to yourself. [ sniffs ] i took dayquil but my nose is still runny. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesnt treat that. Really . [ male announcer ] alkaseltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ breathes deeply ] awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is. Thats the cold truth one more week to the you new year and already caught up on the 2012 news, get ready for the 2013 new releases. Expect movies with big special effects and lots of sfwlom zombies, aliens and parasis. Not your cup of tea . How about a famous love story in 3d . We have the editorial direct for for wsj blogs and he is here with his 2013 movie picks. Good morning, chris. Nice to see you. Happy holidays. Lets talk about the one movie on the list i really want to see, the great gatsby. The guy behind moulin rouge turning his attention to the f. Scott fitzgerald classic. It has leo dicaprio. Its the jazz age and age of hiphop. Kanye west over the scenes from the jazz age and great gatsby. It will be interesting to see if this style really works. Beautifully shot. A classic sort of it looks like it will pull you in. We will have to see if to see if all this really works. I wouldnt think that would be a blockbuster type of movie with special effects and stuff that draws the really huge numbers, right . A movie like that, if it gets really good reviews, given that it has leo dicaprio, kerry mulligan, a star with a lot of critical acclaim. All of that combined. But, again, we have to see it to see if it all works. I have seen the trailer for world war z it looks pretty good. You have brad pitt, in peril, a lot of special effects. Again, one of the movies people are looking book and the book ws much acclaimed because its a book that sort of tells the story of these zombie wars but tells it as an oral history as if it really happened so this movie is going to draw on some of the acclaim of the book and hopefully get a larger mainstream audience because of it. Do we want to show a clip of this . Lets look at it right now. Terry, what is this . This is worldwide. Theres no one doing better than we are. We dont know. Im scared. How do we know theyre coming . Theyre coming. It looks good. Thats what im talking about, right, guys . Mowing down the zombies on the bridge. Like it. I saw the trailer in the Movie Theater and people were jumping out of their seats. Its great. Its a thriller. And the walking dead theyre walking, not that theyre moving too quickly. These are the sprinting dead, theyre fast, thats scary. You got to avoid these things. The host. Based on a Stephanie Meyer book, behind the twilight series, she wrote a book for adults and adapted it to the movies and well see if she can get audiences beyond the twilight audiences but still its for adults, its about aliens that take over human beings but its told from the perspective of one of the aliens who has taken over a human being. Im surprised about this when i read this, i thought i was reading it incorrectly but theres actually going to be another hobbit film . Two more. You cant get enough of the hobbit. Next year the hobbit the desolation of smog and after that another hobbit movie, it will be a hobbit trilogy. Peter jackson is just really churning them out. Will tolken wrote a lot of books and hes jackson is turning them out one another. Theres some in the Tolkien Community wonder if theres too much hobbit. He stretched one book to three movies. I dont know if you saw the first one. Three movies that will make a lot of money. The first is almost three hours long. Were they all shot at the same time like other movies . All pretty much shot at the same time. Theres still work to do on the other two post production stuff but Peter Jackson has the last hobbit movie and second pretty much all done on his computer. Just doing post production stuff. And shooting it in his native new zealand. Its a boon for the economy. Wonderful setting. Theres going to be a star trek film coming out . Why not. J. J. Abrams, people thought he couldnt do it, casting young actors, schatner and kirk and spock, younger guys playing the roles and it was a huge hit, coming down with original story star trek into darkness see if he can establish this old franchise with new faces. Any sleepers that are not on the list that youre looking forward to seeing . Im looking forward to old boy a spike lee adaptation of a south korean thriller based on a japanese manga so that seems a little bit out of left field but this is a wellrespected south korean film, a manga from japan, a lot of boys are into. What is the storyline. About a guy trapped in a hotel room for 15 years and afterwards is given a few days to figure out why he was trapped in the hotel room or he will be killed so its a psychological thriller, its very strange, its different, and spike lee had a huge hit with inside man so he knows how to do thrillers. This could be a big hit for him. We have to wait and see. For people like me still catching up on the movies of 2012, if you had to pick the top five say that you should try to see not before the end of the year but maybe before the end of january, before the oscars, what should you try to see . Definitely the sessions. Its a helen hunt movie and its a little bit controversial. Theres a lot of nude nit it but its a touching film about a man who is sort of, can he barely move, and he wants to sort of experience sexual relations for the first time and enter helen hunt and its in her role in the film is much buzzed about and i think its worth seeing, id say les mis, hugh jackman does a terrific job in the film. Those are the two main films id go out and see before the oscars begin handing out awards next year. Also on my list lincoln. Argo ive seen, and Silver Linings playbook. Its worth seeing, an interesting storyline, two people who really are facing some emotional and psychological difficulties who come together and find some romance. Great cast, Robert De Niro and bradley cooper. And jennifer lawrence. All right, chris farley thank you so much. Thank you for reminding me i havent seen any movie this is year but i will. Thanks, appreciate it. Ahead on starting point free condoms for High Schoolers . Thats right. City of philadelphia says its to help avoid a Health Crisis but is it just promoting sex . Well talk to one of the people behind the plan. And a dual storm danger the day after christmas the continued threat of tornadoes in the south, dozens spotted yesterday. Plus blizzard warnings to the north. The snow is already coming down hard in some spots. We are tracking the storms for you and thats next. [ male announcer ] its that time of year again. Time for citi price rewind. Because your daughter really wants that pink castle thing. And you really dont want to pay more than you have to. Only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. And if it finds one, you get refunded the difference. Just use your citi card and register your purchase online. Have a super sparkly day ok. [ male announcer ] now all you need is a magic carriage. Citi price rewind. Start saving at citi. Com pricerewind. Citi price rewind. So as you can see, geicos Customer Satisfaction is at 97 . Mmmm tasty. And cut very good. People are always asking me how we make these geico adverts. So were taking you behind the scenes. This coffee cup, for example, is computer animated. Its not real. Geicos Customer Satisfaction is quite real though. This computeranimated coffee tastes dreadful. Geico. 15 minutes could save you 15 or more on car insurance. Someone get me a latte will ya, please . Severe storm threat turns deadly. The risk of more tornadoes and a blizzard across a big chunk of the country today. Chilling words left mind in a note. What detectives are learning about the sniper who set a deadly trap for firefighters. And vacation over, president obama cuts his trip to hawaii short but is there enough time to find a fiscal cliff compromise with republicans or will your taxes go up . On that note, good morning. Im drew griffin. The question Everyone Wants answered. Good morning, everybody, glad youre with us. Im alina cho. Soledad is off this morning. Its wednesday, december 26th. Starting point begins right now. 8 00 in the east, our starting point a christmas to forget for millions of americans in the south and midwest, battling blizzard conditions and tornadoes. Oh, my god, we need to go. Its right there. Mobile, alabama, took a real beating overnight, a twister blowing transformers, and there are reports of extensive damage to homes, a high school, and a church. 200,000 people across the south are without power this morning. It came in behind the church right there, and then all green floors reent lighting and it was like popping transformers left and right and heard the crash and everything and the power went out. I prayed to god as loud as i could and i was just praying for my safety, and i knew the truck was shaking. I just prayed that the truck stayed put. Heres the other half of mother natures onetwo punch. Blizzard conditions, blanket much of the midwest. Going to give you a live look of seymour, indiana, the snow still coming down hard in much of the city, these conditions going down as far as texas and the northeast is next. Meteorologist Bonnie Schneider is monitoring the events from the cnn Weather Center in atlanta. We are looking at recordbreaking snowfall in arkansas, so unusual to see know on christmas. Little rock, nine inches of know hasnt happened in 86 years. This is a monumental storm that by no means is over yet. In the wake of the storm the temperatures are so cold in oklahoma and little rock the snow isnt going anywhere, it will stick and many places watch it to fall and continue to do so. The radar, the snow is exiting memphis, tennessee, but hammers areas of indiana and illinois, the snow band stretching eastward into areas north of cincinnati, coming into eave land and erie, pennsylvania. Strong thunderstorms are hitting the carolinas hard, they brought tornadic damage in alabama. Heres a look at the snowfall totals, these are blizzard warnings, means we will see strong winds, blowing and drifting snow, dangerous driving on i64, i55, all the way to i65 in ohio and sliding to the east the blizzard warnings are also in ohio, well see winter storm warnings and a lot of this in the new york city metropolitan area will impact you. You will get freezing rain and lighter snowfall, possibly a couple of inches. If you head north and west the suburbs well see more measurable snowfall you have to shovel out. In boston you have the ocean influence so youll see about an inch or two. You head into worcester, mass. Oh, boy, it will get heavy and hard, heavy amounts of snow, measuring it by the foot and upstate new york and interior new england our snowfall models show darker purple some of the heaviest of snow, unusual for this time of year. Never a good idea when measuring by the foot. Bonnie schneider thank you. As we told you the area around mobile, alabama, was hit especially hard. Tens of thousands of people there still in the dark. On the phone is john kilcullen, director of Emergency Management there. Good morning. Glad youre with us. As the sun comes up, what is the main challenge as you try to clean up . Our main is power restoration, recent update we have about 7,300 customers that are currently out of power, thats down from a high of about 23,000 last night so theres been progress in that area. Debris removal, theres a lot of storm debris that will need to be cleaned up thats blocking some roads and then we will continue with our damage assessment, and then provide whatever assistance we can do with businesses and homeowners that are doing emergency repairs to damaged structured. Do you have any idea of how many people are out of a home . Have you been able to do any surveys yet . You know, damage to some residences is extensive in some portions of the city. We did have one shelter available, only about four people took advantage of that overnight so i think most people were able to find accommodations either with friends or relatives or in local motels. I think we need to remind our viewers that this tornado came through on Christmas Day. When you talk about the lights going out, that also means the christmas lights, and though nobody was hurt im wondering if spirits were damaged there in mobile. I think very briefly during the immediate aftermath of the storm but i think relief quickly set in, when we realized that there wasnt any personal injuries or like the Property Damage can be fixed relatively quickly so i think it transitioned rapidly to a spirit of lets get things back together. Thats great. Mr. Kilcullen, director of operations at the Mobile County Emergency Management team we thank you for joining us and best of luck to everyone in mobile with the cleanup today. Thank you very much. President obamas cutting his vacation short and heading back to d. C. To tackle the fiscal cliff, returning tomorrow just as the house and senate are expected to reconvene. With the way things work in washington, can anything be done before years end . White house correspondent Brianna Keilar following this. What is the latest . Reporter its honestly very unclear, drew, if something is going to happen. Obviously we will see some actions to try to avert the fiscal cliff. President obama cutting his vacation in hawaii almost two weeks short to head back as the senate and the house reconvene and we are looking to the senate, where Senate Majority leader harry reid will be trying to put together a bill that can get some republican support in the senate but also and more importantly some republican support in the house, where obviously we saw negotiations fall apart with president obama last week, so were waiting for this proposal to see kind of what shape it takes. The white house wants those bush era tax cuts on the First Quarter Million Dollars of earnings to be preserved, thats what the white house has been pushing. Its unclear if that is going to be the proposal that harry reid puts out, if maybe it will go higher in order to get some republican support. We dont know at this point and we understand talking to sources, to democratic sources, drew, that even though the senate is reconvening on thursday, it may be a couple more days before we see proposal as they try to not only get republican support but build pressure on the house. They will move the unveiling of their proposal as close to the new year as possible to essentially say here is our proposal, assuming they get it through the senate, here is our propos proposal, what we passed, you have to take it up or the fiscal cliff were about to go over were going to blame you for it, drew. Brianna, do you know how closely senator reid and his staff are working with the white house so they come up with a plan not only the senate will pass but the president will actually sign so they can just, two branches of the government will present it to the house i guess is the strategy here. Reporter thats right. Theres a Good Relationship between the white house and senator reid. Theres been an open line of communication for the last few days, theyve been discussing a proposal very much in the works. The issue here, drew, is that so far theres no discussion between Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans or the white house and Senate Republicans or the white house and Senate Democrats and House Republicans and there needs to be agreement because the expectation, if something passes i will say this, if something manages to get through congress, it is going to require democratic and republican votes, so at some point, they all have to be talking and that still isnt happening at this point. Briannna, thanks. Seems like they should go to hawaii, sit on a beach and cool off. I guess youre coming back to d. C. , thanks a lot. Reporter i am, thanks. Thats the solution. Thats the solution. Could be. Nine minutes after the hour. Other top stories were learning more this morning about that sniper who killed two volunteer firefighters on Christmas Eve morning. According to police 62yearold William Spangler left behind a note i still have to get ready to see how much of the neighborhood i can burn down and do what i like doing best, killing people. Early monday morning spengel sent fire to his fire and began shooting at firefighters as they arrived on the scene. He killed himself after shooting four firefighters, killing two of them Christmas Eve. The town of webster, new york, is paying tribute to the victims at a Memorial Service and that happened last night. Syrias military police chief has defected, that dealt a blow to the assad regime. Major general al shalal announcing he is defecting because the syrian army is no longer acting in the best interests of the people. It came after this, two deadly attacks on civilians who were waiting in bread lines. His decision comes at a time when rebel forces are making gains over Government Troops for control of syrias major cities. Japans parliament has elected shinzo abe as the prime minister. He says is he okay health wise now. Abe has promised to revive the economy, address japans debt and create a Recovery Plan for last years earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster. I hope you have a gift receipt for that. Shoppers expected to flood stores to return or Exchange Gifts they dont fit, dont want. An analyst tells the wall street journal 10 to 15 of holiday sales come back as sales and exchanges. A bus bomb targeting. We are live from the pentagon with details. His time has come again, a man from the 60s is getting a start again, Lester Chambers joins us back. Welcome back to starting point. Weve been talking about the blizzard and storm warnings from the deep south all the way to new england. Well look at seymour, indiana, lexi sheen has drawn the short straw, shes from wlky and getting hammered. Reporter thats right, drew. Things have calmed down. Let me give you a look behind me. You cant see the tire tracks from where we came in 5 30 but the roadways are snow covered, two, two and a half inches have fallen since 4 00 this morning. We barely missed having a White Christmas in seymour, indiana. Indiana state police are advisi advising people to stay off the roads. They are urging everyone to stay home if it is at all possible and kind of a good day to do that. We were pointing out earlier this is the good snow, the stuff the kids like to play with, snowballs, snowmen, all of that good stuff but it is still dangerous. The roadway is slippery, slushy, we have a hard time seeing the center lines here on the roadways in seymour, indiana, where about two to two and a half inches have fallen. Drew . Where is seymour in relation to the big cities in indiana . Reporter well, our station is actually based in louisville, kentucky, so we just drove 65 Straight North for an hour, an hour and a half from indianapolis. Pretty far south. Theyre not used to it on christmas i imagine . Reporter not too used to it. Weve seen a lot of the snowp w snowplows and salt trucks, its intimidating to drive through the snow. Lexy we appreciate you driving through it and not us. Isnt that right . Take care. We are going to get a dusting here in new york city, so our Bonnie Schneider says. Here are some of the other top stories, george h. W. Bush spent Christmas Day in a houston hospital with his wife, barbara, and other relatives at his side. The 88yearold former president has been there for about a month with a lingering cough. Doctors were hoping to have him home by now at least by christmas but they do say they are cautiously optimistic about a full recovery. All is calm so far in cairo, egypt this morning, after egyptian president Mohamed Morsi signed the new constitution into law. Egypts Electoral Commission announced voters approved the nations new constitution which was drafted by morsis Muslim Brotherhood allies by a margin of 64 , that happened yesterday. Cairo was gripped by violent protests that turned deadly before the vote with critics fearing an era of islamic rule and fewer personal freedoms. China launched this, the longest bullet train line in the world, the first one that left beijing this morning zipping down to guangzhou, about the distance from new york to key west. The trip will take eight hours. It would be nice to have that here. American soldiers targeted in a bomb attack overseas. Well go live to the pentagon after this. But theyre here. Yes. Are you. . There . Yes. No. Are you them . Im me. But those rates are for. Them. So them are here. Yes you want to run through it again . No, im good. You got it . Yes. Rates for us and them now thats progressive. Call or click today. Your soups are so awesomely delicious my husband and i cant stop eating em whats. That. On your head . Can curlers tomato basil, potato with bacon. Weve got a lot of empty cans. [ male announcer ] progresso. You gotta taste this soup. I get congested. But now, with zyrtecd®, i have the proven allergy relief of zyrtec®, plus a powerful decongestant. Zyrtecd® lets me breath freer, so i can love the air. [ male announcer ] zyrtecd®. Behind the pharmacy counter. No prescription needed. We welcome you back. Update to a developing story out of afghanistan the taliban claiming responsibility for a car bomb attack at a u. S. Base and coast. Three people were killed. Police say a mini bus exploded during a Security Check at the gate of camp chapman the same base where a double agent blew himself up in 2009, killed seven cia contractors and jordanian intelligence official. Were learning about the female Police Officer who killed a u. S. Contractor in afghanistan. Barbara starr following the developments, she is working her sources. Good morning, barbara, what do you know . Good morning alina, good morning, drew. The afghans are saying this woman was an iranian citizen, a member of the Afghan Police forces, they say, and they had a press conference showing what they say is her iranian passport. They believe that she came from that country, she was a citizen, married an afghan. Now weve not had official confirmation from nato, they showed the passport and also showed other documents they said were fake identity documents so some of this is still fairly murky. The afghans say the woman hid a weapon under her clothing, went to the restroom, got the weapon out and was looking for someone to shoot, someone she felt was important and came across this american contractor. This man has now been identified as 49yearold Joseph Griffin of mansfield, georgia. He worked for dinecorps international, a major contractor in afghanistan with training the police and also a veteran of the u. S. Military. Alina, drew . And what about this car bomb attack, barbara, do you have any more information on that . Well, this is still emerging. Apparently several people injured. This area, as drew said, has seen plenty of attacks in the past, most notably the one where a number of cia people were killed. This is an area ive been there many times, this is quite close to the pakistan border so many times what the afghans will tell you is the people who attack here are taliban or people coming in from pakistan, insurgents coming across the border and i would say this is one of the constant themes in both of these attacks, weve heard again and again from the afghans over the years, they believe that many of the attacks in their country are from pakistani agents or outsiders from iran, a lot of this still remains always to be under investigation. Alina, drew . Barbara starr, thank you very much. Ahead on starting point the worst may be yet to come, the latest on blizzard and storm warnings how it could affect your post Christmas Travel plans. Free condoms for High Schoolers, dispensers are put up in two dozen high schools in philadelphia but some say this is crossing the line. Were going to talk to one of the people who is supporting the plan. Im going to dream about that tiramisu. What a night, huh . But, um, can the test drive be over now . Head back to the dealership . [ male announcer ] its practically yours. But we still need your signature. Volkswagen sign then drive is back. And its never been easier to get a passat. Thats the power of german engineering. Get 0 down, 0 due at signing, 0 deposit, and 0 first months payment on any new volkswagen. Visit vwdealer. Com today. Time for citi price rewind. Because your daughter really wants that pink castle thing. And you really dont want to pay more than you have to. Only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. And if it finds one, you get refunded the difference. Just use your citi card and register your purchase online. Have a super sparkly day ok. [ male announcer ] now all you need is a magic carriage. Citi price rewind. Start saving at citi. Com pricerewind. Welcome back to starting point. Its 27 minutes after the hour. Im alina cho. Im drew griffin. Soledad has the week off. A blizzard blankets the midwest and tornadoes tear up parts of the south. Oh, my god. We need to go. Its right there. Were getting reports of extensive damage in places like mobile, alabama. This video from wala you can see the twister blowing up transformers and knocking out power to more than 23,000 customers in that area alone. 7,000 of those are still in the dark this morning. More than 200,000 are without power across the extended region. On top of the tornadoes, snow piling on by the hour, some places could see a foot. Blizzard conditions expected in the northeast and much further south theyre already dealing about this snow that theyre not used to. Meteorologist Bonnie Schneider has been tracking whats happened and whats coming. Bonnie . Thats right, drew. We are looking at heavy bands of snow. Look at our radar picture and see the brighter white, that indicates the snow falling heavy and hard, across kentucky, indiana as well as illinois. Lets show you indiana, one region getting hit hard now. We have pictures of how hard the snow is falling. Look at the big flakes. Accumulation will be heavy and its not letting up any time soon. If you have to travel, this is in Southern Indiana and seymour, if you have to travel, wait until the storm is over because it will be a slow moving storm system impacting i55 and i70. Ahead of the system we have some strong thunderstorms and were watching that across the carolinas, coming down heavy and hard in the triangle area, well look for that to continue and looking at the snowfall thats accumulated, i want to point out how unusual this is. On Christmas Day we talk about White Christmas but it doesnt happen in arkansas often. Nine inches of snow havent seen that much snow on Christmas Day there in 86 years so were going bab back. The snow is not going to melt, its only 2 degrees in dallas, texas, big changes from yesterday. In terms of whats ahead, six to eight inches across lower sections of illinois and accumulations tonight and tomorrow. New york city may get freezing rain and lighter snow but north and west of the city it will be coming down heavy and hard, holds true for boston as well. Huge storm impacting millions of americans this holiday week. Bonnie schneider thank you so much. 29 minutes after the hour. The rest of your top stories. The sniper who killed two volunteer firefighters Christmas Eve morning left behind a note and according to police, 62yearold William Spengler wrote in part, i still have to get ready to see how much of the neighborhood i can burn down and do what i like doing best, killing people. Police also recovered human remains inside spenglers home. They think it is the snipers 67yearold sister. A new poll indicating only half of americans believe congress will strike a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff by the end of the year. The poll shows 50 thought a deal was very sore somewhat likely. 48 said a deal was not likely, a much tighter than a poll earlier this morning. President obama cutting short his hawaii vacation, he should arrive in washington tomorrow when the senate and the house reconvene. Andruw jones free on bond after being arrested outside of atlanta on Christmas Day on a battery charge. The gwynnet county Detention Center says there was an apparent domestic dispute with his wife. He played with the new york yankees last year and recently signed with a team in japan. Los angeles is deciding to push up its gun buyback program. In originally set for next may but it will happen today. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will hand out grocery cards in exchange for guns. David gregory described a 30round magazine during a meet the press. A magazine for ammunition that carries 30 bullets. If we replaced them and only have a magazine that carries five or ten bullets, isnt it possible we could reduce a carnage . I dont believe thats going to make one difference. We dont know if that was real or just a prop but heres the law, having a large magazine is illegal in d. C. If the device holds more than ten rounds of ammunition, whether or not its attached to an actual gun. 32 minutes after the hour. We turn to controversy in philadelphia with a new plan aimed at curbing unsafe sex among teens by providing free condoms in schools. According to the cdc, 61 of High School Students in the city have had sexual intercourse. 40 of those sexually active teens did not use a condom and about onequarter of new hiv infections in philadelphia alone are among teenagers. Condom vending machines are being installed over christmas break in that city and School Nurses offices in 22 philadelphia high schools, with the highest rates of std infection. Don schwartz is the deputy mayor for health and opportunity and joins me to talk about the plan. Great to see you. One school nurse in your city has said i cant imagine the parents of a 14yearold being happy about this. Are you seeing much objection from parents and how concerned are you about that . Were very concerned about pashts and their understanding that condoms are an important part of general prevention. We also believe parents need to be educating their kids and talking to kids about appropriate sexual behaviors to assure all of the young people in philadelphia are prepared when they think about having sex for the first time. We believe that our role is to assure that as partners for parents, we provide what young people may need if theyre going to act responsibly in terms of sexual relations. You talk about education and i just want to throw out numbers. 25 of new hiv infections in philadelphia alone are teenagers. 15 of philadelphia students say they werent taught about hiv or aids in school. Some might argue maybe more education might be the answer, not condoms. We dont think its one or the other. We think most are important. Were including education not only in schools but also include the internet and were providing condoms as weve been doing now for more than a year in a number of locations throughout the city for young people. Lets talk a little bit about the program. Tell me a little bit about how it will work, because the part that i sort of took to was that they will be free to students until unless parents sign a form to opt out. Im curious to know how you expect to be able to Police Something like that. Well the dispensers themselves are in Nurses Offices in schools, and School Nurses will have a list of young people whose parents have opted out or said that they cannot go into the Nurses Office freely and take condoms. Okay, and how encouraged are you that this is actually going to work . You look at for instance seattle in 1993, they made condoms available in ten high schools through vending machines and baskets and School Clinics and a study actually published six years later showed that condom use not only didnt increase, it decreased. How hopeful are you that this will be different in philadelphia . I think if you look at condoms as the only intervention, were not going to see the right end point so condoms are part of a larger intervention, both to raise awareness about safer sex and to provide obviously a tool if young people are interested in being safer in their sexual behavior. What you have to realize is that ten years ago, we had higher rates of condom use among young people than we currently do. At the same time infection has gone up dramatically in the city so while we dont think condoms are the full answer, we believe they are part of the answer and an important part of that answer as we and pa of the Health Department and people who educate our children in schools need to Pay Attention to. It is an interesting approach. I wish you the best of luck. I hope it makes a difference. Don schwartz with the city of philadelphia i thank you for joining us. Thank you very much for your interest. Coming up its covered by art is from sheryl crow to the ramones. Lester didnt have much for his song but hes coming back. But she loved it so much. I told her it was homemade. Everyone tells a little white lie now and then. But now she wants my recipe [ clears his throat ] [ softly ] shes right behind me isnt she . [ male announcer ] progresso. You gotta taste this soup. Welcome to chevys yearend event. So, the 5. 3liter v8 silverado can tow up to 9,600 pounds . 315 horsepower. Whats that in reindeerpower . [ laughs ] [ pencil scratches ] [ male announcer ] chevys giving more. Get the best offer of the year 0 apr financing for 60 months plus 1,000 Holiday Bonus cash. Plus trade up for an additional 1,000 tradein allowance. Hurry. Bonus cash ends january 2nd. Time for citi price rewind. Because your daughter really wants that pink castle thing. And you really dont want to pay more than you have to. Only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. And if it finds one, you get refunded the difference. Just use your citi card and register your purchase online. Have a super sparkly day ok. [ male announcer ] now all you need is a magic carriage. Citi price rewind. Start saving at citi. Com pricerewind. Anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating . Yeah. One Phillips Colon Health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. Approved [ female announcer ] live the regular life. Phillips. Time has come today thats a click from the chambers brothers time has come. It was a major hit in the 1960s, came to represent an era of a period of more than 100 movies and tv shows and a video game that sold millions of copies and covered by artists from sheryl crow to joan jett to the ramones. Decades later the band and Lester Chambers dont have much to show for it. The 72 years old has been living on Social Security and charity but now the help of a cofounder of a website readit that might chance. Lester joins us live along with his son, dylan, from san francisco. How are you guys doing this morning, and lester were fantastic. You look different than the video. Things have changed some. Yes. Hey, hey, everybody. Hey, dylan, were having trouble fitting your hair in this tv box. Scooch a little closer to your dad so i get the full effect. Here we go. It looks great. I want to see all of it. Lester, your story is not uncommon. Youre in the 60s, rock n roll scene, a great hit, irmoving along and suddenly you look at the paperwork with the Record Companies et cetera and youre getting the short end of the stick, right, isnt that how this all started . Yeah, very much too short, stick got too short so i started to look around and see what was wrong. And what was wrong . Well, what was rock, there were no reports, there were no statements, nobody saying you did this. They were just doing as they wanted to, as they willed. Before the internet really it was so hard to try to get information from them because were cold calling people who want to laugh at you and hang up and say get a lawyer and no lawyer wants to take this case because we have no money and its like they know that its a contingency case and going to take years so fortunately with the internet youre able to put something out that reaches millions of people and gets their attention. Dad worked from 1967 to 1994, before he saw his first royalty check ever, of anything that they did. Wow. Thats almost 30 years without getting paid for your music and the album spent five consecutive weeks at number 11 on the billboard charts in 67 and 68. For them not to get a royalty check for 30 years . Its extraordinary. Dylan, i know that you are your dads rock for many of those years, sort of trying to make do, and did i hear this correctly, did yoko ono at one point provide a home for to you stay in . Well, actually she yes. Might as well have. She got in touch and donated enough to pay for dads medical for a year and for our rent for a year and said find him a great place, get them set up. Dad and john were great friends back in the day and used to hang out in the village all the time. God bless you, yoko. Youre a life saver. Lets come up to present day, lester. Youre back recording. Right. This whole internet thing that dylan was talking about began on a website that quite frankly i didnt know much about until six months ago and read2, a Community Coming together and donating money to your cause. Exactly. I was sitting home one day and the phone rang and it was alexis telling me what he wanted to do and help me do, and im going, oh, my god. He had seen the picture we had put up in march of dad holding his gold record over his face with what had been going up throughout his career and overnight that picture went viral, it was shared like 30,000 times on facebook, liked 100,000 times ezy, yoko ono, alice cooper, countless artists posted on their personal website to raise awareness and alexis saw it on readit, because it became the top number one page and says oh my god, this is perfect. This is what some people are trying to do to show its not us ruining the older musicians career. Its the fact they werent taken care of from the beginning. I think we should remind or tell people that alexis ohaney, is that correct. Yes. Is the cofounder of readit, so he is the one who made that call that really in many ways has saved you. So tell us how that totally. Fundraising campaign is working . Right now its working beautifully and we have reached our goal as far as enough to record the first cd and we hope to just go from here to many, many more and we also intend to record my son, michael dylan. Yeah, baby and his group midnight transit. Dylan chambers and midnight transit. Ive been on stage with dad since i was 4 years old. You look like youve been on stage, you look like a performer. No, hes the shy type i can tell right here. I feel odd when im not performing. Im like whats going on, were not rocking and rolling. Hes always on stage. When are you going to release something . I dont know if you know this, but you dont have to release a cd or album, you can do one and knock it out. Were going to be doing Christmas Songs are out so you can check those out online. Yes, Merry Christmas, happy new year and jingle bells. Merry christmas and happy new year to you, and we are so glad youre able to record again and get back into the game and actually get paid for it so Lester Chambers spread the word to other artists. My whole life story has been that i would like so much for Young Musicians that want to be musicians, i want them to enjoy being a musician, and they need to get paid to enjoy it. Theres no other profession like contractors, plumbers, they dont get paid bottom barrel for doing what they do. You work hard at your craft, spend years developing it, you want people to appreciate it and live comfortably. Amen to that. Thanks and thanks for alexis. Hes been a wonderful, wonderful man. Sweet relief, theyre a life saver, too. Theyre out of san francisco. We appreciate it and good luck and Merry Christmas and all that stuff. Take care. Thank you very much. And look forward to Lester Chambers and the met stoppers. Were coming. Were not going to bed now. Were too excited. Great, we look forward to it. The best of luck to you. Coming up my one on one conversation with matt damon, hear him describe the trip overseas that changed his life and has him giving back in a big way. Thats next. Ally bank. Why they have a raise your rate cd. Tonight our guest, thomas sargent. Nobel laureate in economics, and one of the most cited economists in the world. Professor sargent, can you tell me what cd rates will be in two years . No. If he cant, no one can. Thats why ally has a raise your rate cd. Ally bank. Your money needs an ally. The snow is piling up if youre trying to head back home on the christmas holiday, beware airports canceling flights. We want to get a firsthand look at the conditions on the ground, lexy scheen, from wlky, live in seymour, indiana. Its coming down. Reporter its picked up in the past 15 or 20 minutes. What ive learned about the blizzard warnings today its all about the wind. The wind has been really kicking up so far this morning. Ill give you a look at whats behind me. Weve probably seen two inches fall over the past four, four and a half hours. The roadways are completely covered. People are asked not to drive on the treacherous roadways. We barely missed the White Christmas, a matter of hours between the White Christmas and the 26th. The blizzard warnings are in effect until 7 00 tonight, its racing down, the powdery feel to the snow but certainly tough to drive in, guys and again, two, two and a half inches in only about four hours so its coming down hard in seymour, indiana. Lexy, are you getting any word how much snow youll get before its all over . Reporter theyre saying anywhere from about a half a foot of snow to eight inches. When we were driving up from louisville, kentucky, earlier we were seeing rain. The further snort north on the interstate there was more. Lieu izviloui louisville is expecting about an inch. We saw a plow go behind you. Do they have enough equipment to keep the big roads open . Reporter i wouldnt say this is quite normal but for the most part the major roadways are open. There have been a few accidents that shut down some of the said streets. Interstate 74 was shut down in another portion of indiana later this morning. The salt trucks and snowplows are out, doing their west to make sure these conditions are safe for drivers. Silver lining youve been saying is great for the kids. Reporter exactly. Thanks, lexy. Fun to have you this morning. Reporter thanks. Up next my conversation with actor matt damon, the lifechanging trip that moved him to take action to help others around the world. Thats next. Aww man. [ male announcer ] returns are easy with free pickup from the u. S. Postal service. Well even drop off boxes if you need them. Visit usps. Com pay, print, and have it picked up for free. Any time of year. Nice sweater. Thank you. When matt damon isnt busy shooting movies hes spanning the globe helping the less fortunate. Would you believe nearly 1 billion people around the world struggle to find clean water, things we are used to like faucets and toilets. Damon began his quest to change about that six years ago after he met a 14yearold girl on a trip to zambia. I spoke to him recently as part of my special big stars, big giving. Take a look. Its very hard for us to understand. You wake up in the morning if youre thirsty, theres a faucet there, in the bathroom, in the kitchen and clean water comes out of all of them. Reporter for nearly a billion people around the world, there is no Affordable Access to clean water, more than double that number lack proper sanitation. Every 20 seconds a kid is dying, losing their life because they do not have access to clean water and it doesnt have to be that way. Reporter in 2009 damon and world renowned water expert gary white founded water. Org. Were approaching it differently than other organizations. Reporter their mantra, wells are great but charity cant help everyone, so white pioneered a concept called water credit. We knew that women in india were paying 125 interest on loans to loan sharks so they could build a toilet. We said take microfinance and layer it in here and get people access to affordable loans so they can buy that toilet and get that connection. Depending on where you are that could mean a faucet in your own home or toilet with clean running water. Water credit is working. White says loans are being repaid at a rite of 98 in places like haiti. That was my first grass runway. Reporter what damon and white are trying to eliminate is the need to walk for water, taking time away from work or school. The water is there. Yes. All that time that youre wasting going and standing in the line you now have to go to your job, its the difference between hope and looking forward to a better day, and an existence that just basically is about, you know, scavenging for water. How do you get people in the western world, where water is plentiful, to care . Weve talked about different ways to do that, maybe hard of hearing humor. Take ben stiller, he gets attention for his foundation stiller strong by producing hilarious videos. Matt damon he claimed water. How did he claim water, aquaman . Consider this, damon talks about water on youtube, 4,000 hits. This video with sarah silverman. Knock, knock whos that knocking at my door reporter viral. Damon says his strong suit is getting people to care. Because theres a lot of lowhanging fruit so to speak. Th