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EARLY START

Deadly Blizzard: Northeast Digs Out; ISIS Releases New Hostage Video; Deadly Hotel Attack; Obama Back Home in Washington; Patriots: Deflate-Gate Not a Distraction

Aired January 28, 2015 - 05:00   ET

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


CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The Northeast digs out. Some areas just smacked with catastrophic deadly snowstorm.

Overnight, the last of the travel bans lifted. Airports slowly getting back to business, but it will take time for cities to clean up this mess.

Team coverage from the places hardest hit and also talk about what comes next.

Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Berman. It is Wednesday, January 28. It is 5:00 in the East.

And, breaking overnight, the dig out begins in the Northeast. northeast starting to dig out from this huge, deadly blizzard. Record-breaking snowfall, we're talking three feet in some places from long island, New York, all the way up into Maine. Catastrophic flooding in Massachusetts where a wind-blown tidal surge breached the seawall in Marshfield, and forced evacuations in the coastal town of Scituate as well.

Overnight, the worst of the 2015 blizzard did pass. In Massachusetts, the statewide travel ban, that is over. It ended at midnight.

I want to bring in our national reporter Nick Valencia. Nick reporting from Scituate in Massachusetts -- Nick.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL REPORTER: It's coastal communities like this one in Massachusetts, Scituate, that bore the brunt of that severe weather system that moved through Massachusetts. The bad news for this community is that they may not be out of it just yet. A coastal flood advisory is still in effect for Scituate until 7:00 a.m. and high tide happening between 5:00 a.m. -- 4:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m., so there still could be more problems to come.

But for now, it seems that they may be in the clear. Less than 24 hours ago, that wasn't the case. So much so that the National Guard sent two teams in here to rescue some families, families that chose not to evacuate despite the guidance of the Massachusetts governor. Some people here in this community, they've been through things like

this before. So, they thought they'd stick it out. That simply wasn't the case. Some people had to be picked up by the National Guard. For now, we understand the majority of residents in this area have been evacuated and are staying in a local hotel.

The worst, though, seems to be over for now. The snow appears to have stopped, but that breeze and that wind is still a major issue here. The bad news also is this weekend, there's expected to be more snow in this area.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Nick Valencia, thank you for that, Nick.

Now, the blizzard of 2015 proved deadly and dangerous in New York state, leading to the deaths of two people. It didn't stop some surfers, though, from risking it all for a thrill. It's almost hard to watch these pictures. It looks so cold and dangerous, major swells out there off Long Island. These guys riding the waves on the tip of Long Island. The tip there, that bore the brunt of the blizzard's impact in New York state. New York City dodged the worst of it, despite the dire forecasts.

Our Ana Cabrera faced the storm for us on Long Island. Here she is with the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, after more than 24 hours of pounding waves, relentless snowfall, whipping winds, the folks here on Long Island and especially here in Montauk are breathing a very big sigh of relief. It seems the worst is over.

But the misery is still upon us, with more than two feet of snow blanketing much of this region. In fact, the latest snow reports we got from just down the road in Southampton was 28.8 inches, with wind gusts continuing overnight in the 20s and 30-mile-per-hour range still causing drifting snow and dangerous driving conditions, not to mention very cold temperatures, dangerously cold temperatures that claimed at least one life, an 83-year-old man with dementia who was found frozen outside his home. We also have learned of a 17-year-old who died while sledding after hitting something and suffering a serious injury.

So certainly a devastating storm for some families, but a lot of people here telling us it could have been much worse. We watched the coastal flooding. And even though the beach was battered with 16-foot waves, we do know that much of the beach was saved. No homes reporting major damage from flooding or anything like that, and even the power remained on for the majority of the residents here in Long Island -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: That's Ana Cabrera with a story from Long Island. What about Maine? Maine sort of the tail end of this storm and the high winds are still

a problem there, knocking out power to thousands of homes and businesses. It makes driving awfully rough.

Our national correspondent George Howell reports from Portland with the latest -- George.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, Christine, I want to show you here really the tail end of this storm where they got most of the snowfall. Portland, Maine, look around here. And you see these snow berms. I mean, in some cases, I mean, these are really up to my waist. They got some 16 to 18 inches of snowfall here in Portland.

It's not unusual for this city to get that much snow, but again, in one storm system, it is a lot for them to deal with. We've seen snowplows going up and down the street doing their best to clear the roads.

And then, Jordan, can we look down the street there? I want you to see where the snowplow is.

You see also the blowing snow? We've seen a lot of that. The winds have been very intense out here to the point where it could lead to whiteout conditions for a lot of the people, you know, if they were to venture out onto the roadways.

Again, most people are staying home. They were advised to stay off the streets, while crews did the work that they need to do. And now, it's just a matter of waiting for all of the snow, guys, to melt and go away. That could take several weeks for business to get back to normal here in Portland -- John, Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Thanks for that, George.

Now, large swaths of Connecticut paralyzed by this blizzard. The storm dumped up to 30 inches of snow in some parts of that state. This is the scene in New London, Connecticut, one of the hardest-hit areas. You can see people digging out using snow shovels, snowblowers. Plows were out in full force clearing those roads.

BERMAN: More than two feet of snow on the ground on Rhode Island. The streets littered with cars like this after residents decided to spare themselves a night in the cold. Not just cars left behind in the storm's wake.

Look at this -- a revolutionary war replica ship was knocked to its side by strong winds. The mast broke, and there was a hole that opened up in the hull. The travel ban in Rhode Island was lifted overnight, but state officials urging people to stay home if they can. The conditions are still dangerous. They still want the crews there to get the cleanup work done.

ROMANS: Yes, there's still a lot of work to do. Some parts of the Northeast are facing even more snow.

Let's bring in meteorologist Ivan Cabrera. He's been tracking this for us.

More snow?

IVAN CABRERA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: More snow for the weekend, yes.

You know, I was just on the Twitter machine, and one of the local meteorologists in Boston who probably hasn't slept in, I don't know, maybe a week, tweeted, "Please make it stop. Just make it stop."

It stopped at this point. We just have some flurries left over. As far as the coastal flooding, there are still advisories out. It's no longer a warning which means the threat is not as great. And so, we're talking about, at this point, high tide coming up in about an hour along the north shore here. We could see some minor coastal flooding. But that would be about it, certainly not what we saw yesterday.

But look at the radar here. This is nice. I haven't been able to show you this in a while. Massachusetts actually not seeing a lot of snow on the radar right now. So, the storm is over.

And we have to wait for the National Weather Service to get the exact totals here, but we're talking records. And this is what I was referring to before. If this is your car, oh, I remember putting up the -- yes, this is what you do. In fact, back in the day in the '90s when we had cars with antennas, now we've got those little stubs, we would put the flags on top. You would know which one is your car, because just look at that. It's mountains of snow.

All right. So, it's cold, it's snowy, but look at this. This doesn't help. On the backside of this storm now, what we've been left with is an arctic air mass. And so, we're talking about temperatures -- look at Providence, Boston, 13 degrees. And the wind it making it feel like it's below zero in some areas. That's going to be the case throughout today.

So, we are not going to be melting the snow any time soon because not only are the temperatures, but the sun angle this time of year, this is not an April snowstorm here. So, that's not going to help either. So here are the records here: 24.4 as I talked about before. That's not final yet.

But it's enough that we know now that that is the snowiest day in any given January in Boston's history. That is dramatic stuff here and Worcester, 34.5. It's never snowed that much in any month, any year since we've been keeping records. There are your three feet totals across other towns in Massachusetts here.

So, now, Boston, with that 24.4, John and Christine, is now the top six snowstorms in history. So that is something. We may surpass the fifth one here. We'll just have to wait for the final numbers.

And then, yes, a little more snow for the weekend but not a big storm. ROMANS: You know, it's only January.

CABRERA: That's the problem, yes.

ROMANS: Who knows?

All right. Ivan Cabrera, thanks, Ivan.

Airlines getting passengers moving again. Cancellations this morning focused in Boston where the storm hit harder. But most flights are back on track in New York and Philadelphia. And regular service should resume this afternoon at Boston Logan. Those airports basically shut down for the storm. The last two days, about 8,500 domestic flights canceled.

How many people is that? Four hundred thousand travelers affected. The cost to the economy, about $230 million in lost economic activity. This is a forecast from the U.S. Travel Association. That doesn't count the cost to the airlines. That's just what passengers -- just from the passenger end of it.

This morning, airlines are facing a massive backlog of stranded travelers. They expect to be operating as usual by Friday, rebooking passengers into next week.

BERMAN: OK. Some news overnight: ISIS releasing a new video featuring a Japanese hostage. We'll tell you what ISIS is now demanding for his release and what they're promising to do if their demands are not met. We are live in Tokyo, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Time may be running out for two hostages being held by ISIS. A new video released by the extremists has a message reportedly from Japanese hostage Kenji Goto. He says he will be killed within 24 hours along with a captured Jordanian fighter pilot if a female terrorist on death row in Jordan is not released.

I want to bring in Will Ripley live from Tokyo.

Good morning, Will.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, less than four hours from this apparent ISIS deadline, it is a very tense time here in Japan.

And we want to show you something live that's happening right now. A candlelight vigil outside of the prime minister's residence for Kenji Goto. We're told dozens of people are gathered there at this hour. This is a smaller rally than some protests which had about 200 people which we have seen in recent days.

People in the Japanese public who are putting a lot of pressure on the government, on the prime minister, Shinzo Abe, to do everything possible to secure the safe release of Kenji Goto, a freelance journalist, who was captured in October. But there's another life on the line here. A Jordanian pilot, Muath

al-Kasasbeh who was captured by ISIS last month, he was brought into the mix because in this new ISIS video where you see a picture of Goto, he's holding a picture of this pilot. And he says according to ISIS, that both Goto and the pilot will be killed in a matter of hours if Jordan does not agree to hand over a terrorist, Sajida al-Rishawi, responsible for an attack that has left dozens dead.

We know that negotiations on the ground in Jordan are under way right now. We believe that government officials are communicating somehow with ISIS, whether it be indirectly through intermediaries. We don't know the specific details, but we do know that we are getting very close now, uncomfortably close to the deadline where ISIS has promised to execute two innocent men if their demands are not met, a very difficult situation.

At least two families, the families of these hostages in agony and so many others as we're seeing from these vigils as well, praying for the safe return of Kenji Goto and the Jordanian pilot as well, Christine.

ROMANS: Yes. So many people concerned about the fate of that pilot as well.

Thank you so much, Will Ripley, for that.

BERMAN: We do have breaking news this morning. The Libyan branch of ISIS is now claiming responsibility for an attack on a luxury hotel in Tripoli that killed at least 10 people. Among the dead, an American security contractor, also a French citizen and five Libyans.

The attack on the Corinthia Hotel began with a car bomb. It was followed by gunmen storming that building. Libya's interior ministry says the siege is now over and the gunmen are dead. But it was a terrible attack.

Let's get the latest right now. I want to bring in senior international correspondent Nima Elbagir. Nima, what's the latest?

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Libyan government -- the Tripoli government has now said that they believe the intended target of this attack was their prime minister, but it happened at a time when an American delegation was staying at the Corinthia. The Corinthia is seen to be one of the remaining secure locations in Tripoli. It's a hub for both diplomatic traffic but also government activity.

This really is being seen both domestically in Libya and internationally as a real escalation, the scale of the coordination of this attack far surpasses anything we've seen even with the violence in recent months in the east of the country to have carried this off to this level of coordination, to have targeted such a heavily secured target really does send the message that nowhere in Tripoli, nowhere in Libya is safe.

The ISIS affiliate that's claiming responsibility for this, John, they say that it's in retaliation for the taking by U.S. Special Forces to the States of Abu Anas al-Libi, a man that the U.S. has alleged was involved in al Qaeda, he died in custody. This, ISIS is saying, is the price that must be paid for that -- John.

BERMAN: Another example of ISIS taking advantage perhaps of chaos, a power vacuum in yet another country.

Nima Elbagir, thanks so much.

President Obama is back at the White House this morning after visits to India and Saudi Arabia. This afternoon, he will speak at a farewell ceremony for outgoing Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

The White House also announced a reversal on the president's decision that would have ended the popular 529 college savings accounts. It would have ended the tax savings, but a lot of people say it would have essentially them. He faces an uproar from parents and from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. The president now says that Congress should go ahead and keep the 529 provisions as they are in the upcoming budget.

ROMANS: Even top Democrats in his own party were saying that's going to be a no go for people.

New details this morning about the government worker who accidentally flew a drone onto the White House grounds. The unidentified employee works for something called the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency. CNN has learned he told the secret service he was drinking before launching the drone. Prompting the joke here on the anchor set, don't drink and drone.

The president says the incident highlights the need to regulate all unmanned aerial vehicles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've actually asked the FAA and a number of agencies to examine how are we managing this new technology, because the drone that landed on the White House you buy at RadioShack. You know that there are companies like Amazon that are talking about using small drones to deliver packages.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Prosecutors still have not ruled out the possibility of filing charges against the employee who crash-landed his drone on the White House lawn. Sources tell CNN he will likely face discipline action at work.

BERMAN: For those that have been with us all morning, it is the third time Christine Romans has made the drink and drone joke. The question is will there be a fourth? You'll have to stay tuned to find out.

Other news: House Speaker John Boehner reportedly threatening a lawsuit against the president, still trying to overturn the president's executive action on immigration. Republican officials say that the speaker is preparing a resolution that could authorize different forms of legal action against the Obama administration. Last year, House Republicans filed suit against the president over the Affordable Care Act.

About 20 minutes past the hour.

Media day at the Super Bowl. What's the point of this? Why even bother? Andy Scholes with all the details in "The Bleacher Report" live in Phoenix. That's next.

ROMANS: This week's storm has made air travel a big headache for hundreds of thousands of passengers, but there are some things you can do to ease the pain of flight delays and cancellations. By law, airlines are not required to compensate you financially for a canceled flight. But most will rebook at no charge.

The first thing you should do is call the airline and try to rebook. Remember, your phone is much faster than getting in line at the airport. If the delay is significant, find out if your airline will put you on another airlines flight. But keep in mind: they are not required to do so.

As a last resort, you can ask for compensation, although it's up to the airline's discretion what you'll get. But it never hurts to ask.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Without a doubt, the most shocking part of the Super Bowl every year is media day. Shocking because of its inanity. The big topic this year, what else, deflate-gate.

ROMANS: Andy Scholes is in Phoenix for the big game. He's got more from this morning's "Bleacher Report." He enjoys the media day. That's his job.

Hi, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, good morning, guys. Media day always a blast. We're right at the heart of the Super Bowl.

As you can see, you've got the giants Super Bowl XLIX roman numerals lit up right behind me. That did that just for us here on EARLY START. That's pretty cool.

Right next to us, the US Airways Center. That was the site for media day. As always, it was a crazy atmosphere. You had puppets, a guy wearing, like, 15 GoPro cameras, even clowns in attendance.

Of course, the big topic remained deflate-gate. Patriots owner Robert Kraft came out in defense of his team on Sunday going so far as to say he expects an apology from the NFL if they find no wrongdoing. The Patriots players say they appreciate their owner having their back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

ROB GRONKOWSKI, PATRIOTS TIGHT END: It means a lot. He's a great owner. And it's great to see him on our side. It just shows how much support he has for us players. Obviously, when you have doubters, you always want to prove your doubters wrong. We want to go out there and show everyone what's up.

TOM BRADY, PATRIOTS QUARTERBACK: We've always done a great job overcoming obstacles and being mentally tough. You know, we've just got to do it for one more game.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

SCHOLES: The Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch, well, he's not a big fan of media day. He was fined earlier this season for not speaking with reporters. And if Lynch didn't make himself available yesterday, he was reportedly looking at a $500,000 fine.

So, to avoid that, Lynch sat at his podium for the minimum required 4 1/2 minutes. He answered 29 questions all the same, "I'm here so I won't get fined." Lynch then got up and left media day. Classic.

Well, not too far from here, Tiger Woods is getting set to play in his first PGA Tour event of the season at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. And yesterday after a practice round, Tiger, he finally -- he finally answered the mystery surrounding those pictures of him in Italy with a missing tooth. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIGER WOODS, PRO GOLFER: I still had my mask on, so no one knew who I was, trying to blend in because there's not a lot of brown dudes at ski races, OK? And a dude with one of the video cameras on his shoulder was kneeling right in front of me, stood up, turned and caught me square in the mouth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Tiger said he got his teeth fixed when he got back to Florida. They, of course, look fine now, guys. So we got tooth-gate out of the way. That whole scandal is fixed.

Now, we've got deflate-gate still going on here in Phoenix.

BERMAN: So we know the balls did not deflate because Tiger bit them or something, right?

SCHOLES: Correct.

BERMAN: So, there's no connection between deflate-gate and the missing tooth.

SCHOLES: No, but they did converge here in Phoenix. At least we got one of them answered.

BERMAN: Fantastic. Andy, thanks so much.

ROMANS: Tiger did say it was really painful. Even the flight home, he said it was one of the worst days of his life because he couldn't even breathe without that tooth hurting. Anyway, we wish him well. Happening now, the Northeast digging out from a deadly monster

blizzard. It's not over yet, folks. There's a new storm on the way.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)