Transcripts For CNN CNN Newsroom 20110111

sa safeguard the funerals of the victims. there's one organization in particular that has a habit of pushing an extremist agenda at high-profile events such as these. and that group has signaled it intends to have a presence at the funeral for 9-year-old christina green, the youngest of those six slain victims. that funeral is scheduled to happen this thursday. jessica yellin is live for me in tucson. jessica, let's talk here what the state legislature, they appear to be moving with unusual warp speed to get this done. >> reporter: that's right, brooke. leaders here are calling it arizona's first show of bipartisan unity in the wake of this tragedy. a bill will come before the house and senate today. one introduced by a democrat, one introduced by a republican. that would model itself after bills that have been upheld by the courts in other states, essentially blocking protesters from within 300 feet of a funeral for -- an hour before and an hour after designed to protect christina green's funeral from the westboro baptist church protesters. they're expediting it, usually this sort of thing would happen in a matter of days, weeks. it's expected today to pass the house twice, senate twice and get signed by the governor within perhaps five hours, brooke. >> we did get a statement at cnn from westboro. i'll share that momentarily. back to the point about the state legislature. they expedited it as you said to get this legislature moving here possibly as soon as the bottom of the hour. jess, my question is, is there a sense of shock perhaps among lawmakers or a sense to get out in front of these funerals first? >> reporter: absolutely. the democratic and republican county organizations here in pima county have organized and come together to themselves create a human sort of peaceful blockade if the westboro protesters do show up, that they would do what others have done in other states to stand there and create distance between the funeral and westboro protesters. another show of bipartisan unity. as well there's a woman who's organized what they're calling an angel action where organizers are building what they say are massive angel wings so individuals can stand with those wings also as a barrier between the mourners and any of these protesters. and all of this sort of speaks to the forward looking unity moment that people are experiencing here in tucson. one thing that came out of yesterday's state of the state speech, when the governor spoke was i heard so many republicans and democrats commenting on the speaker of the house, a republican, who they said gave the most moving speech talking about how arizona can lead the way in respecting each other as humans, even if you disagree on politics. i spoke to him earlier about what he'd like to see arizona lead on, brooke. >> i happen to believe that arizona can lead the way for the country many different areas, and certainly when we -- a tragedy has struck our state, the way that we react to, the way we respond, how we move forward i think can have a positive effect on the entire country. this is something that has personally impacted me, personally impacted really everybody in the state of arizona. and what it does is you learn, i think, what we ought to learn, is to value each other more and value those relationships more even when we don't always agree. this i think is a lesson that you don't always get that second chance to repair relationships and mend fences. >> reporter: and finally, brooke, he said personally he vows to make this in the legislature a conflict in the future of ideas, not a conflict of people, brooke. >> you mentioned the angel action, one of the leaders of the group talked about how you don't mess with tucson. we'll be speaking with her about how this works and how they'll be putting the wings on to shield members of the funeral from the protesters. huge news looking ahead to tomorrow. president obama coming to arizona to attend this memorial. what are the feelings in tucson about his visit? >> reporter: well first, this is the newspaper here. so clearly they welcome president obama's visit, right? and i've spoken to democrats and republicans all morning. little bit of a disagreement on whether he should talk about political tone. perk adams, the speaker of the house said that's perfectly reasonable that we should appeal to our better selves. i spoke to a pima county chairman that says if you speak about political tone that's assuming the shooter has a political motive. this republican said, we don't know that. so it doesn't belong in the conversation. still some disagreement on that topic, brooke. >> jessica yellin, i'll be checking back in with you doing amazing work out there for us in tucson. we'll see you throughout these next two hours. thank you, ma'am. also the surgeon leading the team that is caring for congresswoman giffords says she is still making progress. if fact today he told reporters despite having had a bullet pierce her brain she has begun to breathe on her own. let's hear what he had to say. >> i'm happy to say she's holding her own. her status is the same as it was yesterday. she's still following those simple commands. we've been able to back off on some of the sedation and she's able to generate her own breaths. she's breathing on her own. the only reason we keep the breathing tube in is to protect her airway so she doesn't have complications like pneumonia. >> here's something else that made us sit up. we're learning more about christina green. i want you to listen to bill heilman, the husband of susie heilman, the woman who took little christina green to the event hosted by congresswoman giffords. >> susie and christina were in line waiting to shake gabby's hand. they were there because my wife is very active in any community that she lives in. and she had become when the greens came to town about a year after we did, roxanna reached out to the community for help with baby sitters and yard work and other such things. susie answered the e-mail and linked up and became good friends. in that process the green children were at our house and aspiring grandchildren, we have kids that aren't married yet. we tend to enjoy little kids when we get a chance. susie and christina are generationally apart but birds of a feather. when christina was elected to her student council and started to express interest in government and the notion of helping people, my wife had been a social worker in new york and chicago and is of that ilk. susie started looking for an event they could share as they've done many other things. gabby's event made sense, from my wife's political preferences as well as it was a magnificent event to provide a positive female role model for christina. the two of them were together holding hands and most of what susie has shared with me about the specifics are on the edges of a morphine-induced haze, so there hasn't yet been a clear precise discussion. from time to time in moments of discomfort things come out. she's recalling and remembering and having flashbacks of uncomfortable moments. i don't feel prepared today to put together a cogent timeline of exactly what occurred. i hear her in her semiconscious ramblings screaming out, christina, christina, let's get out of here, let's get out of here and she keeps talking about the holding of hands and the realization she was on the ground and the bleeding was profuse. her memory seems to end there. >> breaks your heart, doesn't it? again, that was bill heilman, husband of the woman who took the late christina green to meet congresswoman giffords. he says his wife, in that morphine induced haze, he was speaking, susie was shot three times. her biggest medical issue is a fractured hip. also jessica and i were talking about this, there's this woman organizing a group of angels. they plan to block protesters at the funerals of the arizona shooting victims. i'll be speaking with her. that is next. also a message from the parents of the accused arizona shooter. we are now hearing from a neighbor who recently spoke with them. >> they're not going to come out. you guys can stay here until it freezes over. he's not going to come out. he did tell me to tell you guys that when he gets to where he can, right now he can't talk, guys. he can't get out three words without crying. >> we're going to hear more from that neighbor as well. a lot more to come here in the cnn newsroom. uh-oh. 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[ male announcer ] stop the uh-oh fast with kao. in just two days the family of a little girl will be laying her to rest. christina green was just 9 years old, 9, killed in saturday morning's shooting spree in tucson. among those who plan to attend her funeral is this religious group, they're based in kansas, notorious for picketing the funerals of service members, aids patients, and that is why i'm going to bring in kristin gilmer right now in tucson. kristin, i understand you're heading up a bit of an angel action which i want to get to in a moment. when you heard about this church picketing, plans to picket this funeral, little christina green, what did you say? enough is enough? >> well, obviously we're all shocked by the tragedies. it's horrible this happened in this town which is such a peaceful haven. and gentle place for people to live. all day saturday people were shocked. we were mourning, attending vigils. sunday morning we woke up and saw things posted on facebook and cnn and read the press release westboro released, we were disgusted, i was literally sick to my stomach. we're talking about victims that did nothing. in politics it should be a dialogue, it shouldn't be actions. it should be speaking and compromise. at this point it's definitely gone too far. that's the whole point of this counterprotest is to show you can say more with silence and positive actions to support a community than you can with hateful words and terrible actions. >> christin, as you stand there in silence and sort of try to stand there and peacefully, perhaps, be in the way of some of these protesters, you're also plans on wearing, correct me if i'm wrong, wings like angels. >> that's right. it's basically a shepherds project, a lady did this, she was matthews best friend. when he passed away people were protesting his funeral because he was gay. they wore angel wings that were ten feet tall so they blocked the protesters' signs and the funeral attendees' view of them. they've done this and want to take any negative energy from there and let people mourn in peace and let the community share our loss together. so we're doing everything we can to protect them. we will have 30 people. we've had a huge amount of people offer to do this. 30 people will be wearing the angel wings that are eight by ten feet. they'll be covered in white. it will be a silent protest and we'll be around them to cover them if they show up. >> is this for christina's funeral thursday? will you be at other funerals as well? >> if westboro threatens to be there, we'll be there. you don't come to tucson and our community which is such a loving, accenting compassionate place and try to bring messages of hate. if they're going to be at any place, we'll be there in numbers and strong and have a peaceful nonviolent silent counterprotest and showing the family all of our support, letting them know we'll protect them. we will protect them from any hate that tries to come and devastate our community more. it's actually pretty overwhelming to see the amount of unity and compassion and how much people are working together right now. it's pretty beautiful and today is the first day that i haven't cried from only sadness. i cried because i was overwhelmed how much people were willing to give and help. and it's really beautiful thing in lieu of the tragedies saturday. >> i read you said nobody messes with tucson. don't mess with your city. christin gilmer with the angel action plan. something i want to share with you. cnn reached out to westboro baptist church today. they gave us a detailed statement in reply. i'm not going to share their entire statement out of respect for the dead and injured. westboro baptist church says god sent the shooter in response to disobedience. suffice to say the rest of the statement is filled with ugly, despicable allegations against congresswoman giffords, also against judge roll and against 9-year-old christina green who were murdered saturday. these people's actions and words seem the most unchristian like anyone can imagine. we still have not heard anything yet official from the parents of the accused arizona shooter but we are hearing from this neighbor who did speak with him when inside their home, in fact. we are going to hear from him next. plus the winter storm that caused this mess here in the southeast heading northward. so how bad will it be for you up and down the northeast? here we're going to check the forecast, that is ahead as well. welcome back. the arizona republic's reporting that shooting suspect jared loughner will be held in a federal prison facility, it's just north of tucson. just yesterday our ted rowlands brought us live reports of loughner's initial court appearance in phoenix. i want to bring ted back in live here. are we learning anything new today about the suspect? >> reporter: well, only through a neighbor, a little bit about -- not necessarily the suspect, the suspect's parents who are going through as you might imagine a very difficult time here. a neighbor went over there to help them with their mail, et cetera, and check on them. he came out and said they are just wiped out, crying in their house. basically barricading themselves in their house. we were told they might make a statement, but we haven't seen that yet. either written statement or we were told there was a possibility that they would come out and address the media, address the world really about what their son allegedly did. we haven't seen that yet. as for the shooter, himself, we have not gotten any information, more than what we got yesterday in court. that was that he seems like he understands things that are going on around him. he absolutely understood the proceedings in yesterday's hearing. although he still apparently is not helping authorities with the investigation. >> ted, let me interrupt. i know you mentioned one of the neighbors going into the loughner's home. we actually have a piece of that. it's an interview from a cnn affiliate. he said he was summoned to the loughner home by loughner's father just yesterday. i want to play a portion of that interview. >> 30 minutes ago was the first time i've ever been in this house. >> reporter: what were you doing inside? >> he called me to bring the mail in. >> reporter: who's he? >> randy. >> reporter: the father? what's the mother's name? >> amy. >> reporter: amy loughner. enhe asked you to bring the mail, did you ask him how he was doing? >> he was crying. it was obvious. >> reporter: tell me more. >> he said, i need your help. i said, what do you need? he said, i need you to bring my mail in. i said, i'll be right there. >> reporter: did randy and amy talk to you about concerns they had with jared? >> no, they wouldn't do that. they're just what reminds me of, to try to explain it, they're like mountain men. they want to be alone. they didn't bother me. i mean -- >> reporter: the whole family wanted to be alone or just jared? >> the whole family. >> reporter: they're all reclusi reclusive? >> nobody would talk to you. >> reporter: tell me what other sense you got from them when you spoke to them on the phone. >> when he called? that he needed help. that was a loud help me. >> reporter: did he say anything about the incident, anything about jared? >> no. i said something about jared and -- do you need to know what's happening to jared? i seen it on the news. he said, i know everything, and started crying. >> reporter: so you asked him, you said, do you know everything about jared, your own son? >> yeah. >> reporter: he said, no, i saw it on the news ? >> he said he knew it. he didn't say how. >> reporter: do you have any idea what the family's doing now? obviously, clearly they're not home. >> yeah, they're home. she's in bed and she's just broke down, this nervous wreck. and he's in there crying. mr. loughner. >> reporter: randy is? >> randy is. >> reporter: okay. why did they need help getting the mail? they didn't want to come out? >> they're not going to come out. you guys can stay here until it freezes over, they're not going to come out. he did tell me to tell you guys that when he gets to where he canal, right now he can't talk, guys. he can't get out three words without crying. >> broken down, crying, ted, i can only imagine that the media presence out of loughner's home waiting for one of them to come out, either randy or amy. any indication we could be hearing from them even if it's through a statement? remind me the next time we're going to be seeing jared loughner in court. >> reporter: we'll see loughner in court at the end of the month in phoenix. that's where the proceeding, the next proceeding will take place. it will have a different judge. all the judges in arizona have been recused. it will be a judge the united states will bring in from another satate. that will be at the end of the month. as to when the parents will talk, who knows. i tell you, they're really the key -- a lot of people are interested in how could this young man have done something so horrific? the fact he's not cooperating with authorities, the parents i think a lot of people think are the next -- the only way in, gateway into what could have happened here. so they say they're going to talk at some point and obviously as you heard there, they are in a lot of pain, themselves. when that happens, who knows. >> ted, to clarify when you say he's not cooperating with authorities you simply mean he's not speak ing to authorities, still invoking the fifth amendment right, correct? >> reporter: not helping in that he's not speaking. >> got it. ted rowlands in arizona. appreciate it. want to remind you, we're monitoring what's happening in the arizona state legislature. this afternoon, possibly any minute now where lawmakers are about to vote on whether to ban protesters from these funerals. these shooting victims' funerals. so as soon as anything happens there we're going to update that for you immediately. and also, another huge story we've been watching the past couple days. it sounds like a couple of days to come here. talk about a travel nightmare. thousands of flights already canceled in the southeast. and now the storm that has caused all this mess making its way northward. we're going to tell you what you can expect, where, next. can a trading site help make you a sharper trader? mine can. td ameritrade can. they've got trading specialists i can call for help. and paper trading. free practice trading that helps me hone my technique. complex options. and free tutorials. online or in person. can a trading site really make a difference? if it can't, why are you trading there? number one in online equity trades: td ameritrade. trade commission-free for 30 days, plus get up to $500 when you open an account. so how exactly bad is it here in the south? case in point. look at these pictures. these are big rigs, you know, 18 wheelers, brought to a grinding halt by ice, ice covering the atlanta freeway. a truck in the front of the pack jackknifed. several sections of the interstate look pretty much like this today. part of interstate 285, that's atlanta's beltway, it's totally shut down covered by at least an inch of ice. some of i-20 blocked by tractor trailers as well. in fact, there was so much ice, so many cars and so many accidents, transportation trucks are having a hard time getting out there to clear the roads for drivers. in alabama, this is birmingham, got a little guidance driving on icy roads. parts of alabama got up to 10 inches of snow. transportation crews there working around the clock to try to clear that stuff out of the roadway. driving not so much a good idea in knoxville, tennessee, as well. check out this truck. it slid on top, on top of a highway guardrail. roads were so slick wheels locked up on big rigs trying to navigate up hill, up to 6 inches of snow fell around knoxville. and as for air travel, not too fun either. the world's busiest airport not nearly as busy as usual today. airlines canceling flights at hartsfield-jackson in atlanta. david mattingly is there keeping an eye on the runways at heart s hartsfie hartsfield. is it better today or is it worse? >> reporter: well, that just depends on who you ask. there are so many people here that have been stranded since sunday. there have been two days of massive cancelations. delta, the largest carrier out of this airport canceled 1,900 flights on friday, 1,400 today. there's a couple of hundred flights getting in the air today from delta we're told. so this being the world's busiest airport, it's all on the ground, not so much in the air today. there are so many crowds here. a lot of people standing in very long lines trying to get new tickets. their flights canceled. now they have to try to make other arrangements. you know that weather system that came through here? it's now moving up north and causing problems up there. some of these passengers getting hit on both ends, not just here at their connection, but at their destination now as well. and what we're hearing from delta is they don't know when that they're going to get all this cleaned up because it took two days of massive cancelations to bring us all this that you see behind me right now. they're not exactly sure with that weather system in play how long it's going to take to get everything back to normal, brooke. >> oh, we all feel for them in that airport stuck, stuck, stuck. david mattingly, thank you. you talked about this northeast weather. the northeast most definitely bracing for the next big hit of winter weather. chad myers, we got a couple inches here down south. i have a bad feeling up north we're not talking inches, we're talking feet. >> could be a couple feet in some spots like berkshire, springfield maybe. new york city gets about 8 inches. it starts after dark tonight and is over by tomorrow morning. it's that fast. snow could come down at 2 inches per hour for a time. here's a look at all the planes we have out of atlanta right now. there should be about 160, 170 planes. there are 33 in the air right now that have left atlanta. so you can imagine that there should be another 140. that means there's a lot of people that thought they were going to get on an airplane today then they're not. here's the snow forecast for what's going on. the big storm is going to run up the east coast. it will affect d.c. a little bit. maybe a couple inches in d.c., maybe 4 in philadelphia. the snow starts to pile up in new england after it gets by new york. i would say a good number for new york would be 8 inches. purple here for connecticut, rhode island, parts of massachusetts, up into new hampshire and parts of down east maine, you could see a foot. that's where the foot possibility could be for tonight. this is all over. in 24 hours it's all done, this storm is completely all over. though it's still in the midwest now, it's going to run in with moisture and these are going to connect and collide almost like a perfect storm. forget about that book that was written there. it's going to be just like this. here's atlanta, georgia d.o.t. now. see cars are moving. this is great news. you know what, you want to be off the roads in atlanta by sun set. everything that looks like slush is now, but in about two hours it will be a big ice chunk. >> off the roads as in with or without your ice skates? >> did you see that? >> let's -- do we have that? we have that video, don't we? let's look at this video. do you remember the guy on park avenue in new york with the skis? i guess this guy says, we'll take your skis and raise you ice skates. i think this is peachtree. >> one of 44 peachtree streets in atlanta. >> whatever it is, this guy or gal rocking the skates. >> he comes back in here and makes a hockey stop at the very end. this is what the -- look at the shine. you could drive a zamboni down the streets of atlanta. >> look at that nice stop. i'm being told this guy is from indiana. so this is nothing for him. >> he's going to have to sharpen those skates because probably a bunch of rocks got on there. >> this is the video seen all around cnn today. jeff, thank you. and want to remind you from ice skating there in atlanta to what's happening in arizona. big story developing this hour. the arizona state house is about to vote on whether to ban protesters from funerals for those tucson shooting victims. when we come back, we're going to talk more about it with an arizona state lawmaker who's also a good friend of congresswoman giffords. also, will north korea pose a direct threat to the u.s. in the next five years? according to the u.s. defense secretary, that answer is yes. we're going to fell you more about that story coming up. we are going to take our eyes off tucson for a moment here. i want to let you know about other stories happening in the world today. that including vice president joe biden dropping in unannounced to visit u.s. troops there in afghanistan. he promised american forces not necessarily combat troops will remain in afghanistan for as long as they are asked to stay. what does that mean? that means even beyond the year 2014 president obama's deadline for removing all combat units from afghanistan. next, also out of the country today, defense secretary robert gates, he is in beijing talking cooperation, military technology, and north korea with chinese military officials. he has pulled no punches about north korea saying pyongyang's nuclear missile program is a, quote, direct threat to the united states. gates is on a four-country tour of asia. next, move over at&t. you're no longer the only iphone service provider here. verizon wireless, huge news today, announcing the date will be february 10th. that is when they will start selling the iphone. so existing verizon customers will be able to preorder. at&t has been the exclusive carrier of the iphone for four years. we've been talking a lot about this movement within the arizona state legislature to try to safeguard the funerals of some of the shooting victims. 9-year-old christina green is to be buried thursday. an organization with an extremist agenda is planning some sort of protest. joining me now from tucson, state representative matt heinz. matt by the way is also a friend of congresswoman gabrielle giffords. we're going to get to him momentarily. i also just want to remind you here, we are watching the state legislature in arizona. and as is jessica yellin who is out there for me in tucson. and we're waiting and watching this hour, jessica, from what i understand, they're talking about this funeral protection zone bill. so the state legislature sort of expediting the process, the crossing of the ts, the dotting of the is to try to get this possibly through. i know they need two-thirds majority in the house then it goes on to the state senate to try to i guess what would it do? make it illegal for some of these protesters to get there or keep them at a safe distance? what's the language? do we know yet? >> reporter: yes. the language of the bill says that, brooke, it would require that protesters trying to protest any funeral at a synagogue, at a church, it lists a whole different kind of facilities, have to stay 300 feet away from funeral proceedings beginning an hour before to an hour after the funeral. i'm told by state legislatures that that is the same language that has been upheld by courts when it's been passed in other states. and they're doing it specifically to protect the funerals of these victims from the westboro baptist church protesters who as you might recall have protested military, fallen heroes funerals, showed up at elizabeth edwards' funeral and they represent all sorts of views, but it's essentially to call attention to their own causes and those who are in mourning right now obviously would like to be able to pay attention to their own grief and the remembrances at hand. so you said that this is an expedited -- the speaker of the house said it's unprecedented. they expect this bill to be introduced and over with within five hours. usually takes weeks, brooke. i should say they just convened. >> they just convened. we don't know yet if it will be the top or bottom of the session. we'll be watching and waiting. we're going to continue that conversation and wait to see if it passes. let me ask you this, though, jessica. i know within the house it needs the two-thirds majority to pass. obviously meaning it will need bipartisan support. do you know, you know, working your contacts there on the ground in tucson, if there is any resistance to this particular bill? >> reporter: i haven't found it. the sponsor in the house says, look, somebody's going to stand up and say this is a first amendment issue raised. they expect enormous bipartisan support, two-thirds in each body. they don't expect significant resistance. i'll let you know if there is any, brooke. >> jessica yellin, thank you. we're waiting for matt hinseinz member of a state house, about this particular bill, about why both republicans and democrats find it important enough to expedite this process and get this done before these fauunera including 9-year-old christina green's on thursday. we'll be talking to matt who's also a good friend of congresswoman gabrielle giffords. stay right here. cold. 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(announcer) icy hot patches. targeted no-mess relief. icy to dull pain. hot to relax it away. pain's no match for the icy hot patch. welcome back. did you know that one pirate attack on international waters can actually affect how you and i pay for gas and groceries? i know we report on all these types of events every year, and right now the water is warm and the shipping industry is braced for pirates. a half a dozen ships have been hijacked just since christmas. do you really know what a pirate is? in a rare one-on-one interview zain verjee introduces us to a young pirate. this is her special week of coverage, high stakes on the high seas. >> reporter: look into the eyes of a real pirate. that's all he let us see. his eyes. his name is getty abdee from somalia and becoming a pirate he says was his best career option. there are no jobs and no money in somalia, he tells us. that leaves no options, says gedi. you either join the al shabaab militia or government forces or if you have relatives you become a pirate. gedi says his uncle, a pirate leader, phoned him one day, told him to visit the coastal town of haradrdhere. like the young men in this picture, he said i was taught to handle a gun, ammunition, how to swim, survive and how to attack ships. there's no shortage of men like gedi. according to one security consultant, more than 400 hostages are now being held from roughly 50 different hijackings since january 2010. british captain collin dodge was once a hostage. >> they were a sort of rugged bunch with rags around their heads and they were all aged between about 30 and 40. some were nasty looking. some smiled a bit and were semi-pleasant. they all chew this weed all the time. >> reporter: gedi quit the piracy business after three years because of the danger. i asked my uncle to free me so i could have a better life, he says. gedi says he got $60,000 from his cut of the ransom from a spanish ship hijack in 2009. more money than most hijackers get. his uncle was generous with him. i used the money to send my sister to britain and my brothers to the u.s., he tells me. as for gedi, "i'm waiting for a visa to mexico," he says, then cross the border into a country he believes will offer him the best life, the united states. zain verjee, cnn, london. >> tomorrow zain talked to a man who was kidnapped by pirates, lived to tell about it and is making it his mission to fight piracy and the businesses they run on the high seas. that's tomorrow in the 3:00 eastern hour. coming up, what's trending today? one story, actor owen wilson about to be a bad. we're going to tell you what else people are talking about next. all of a sudden, it's like an earthquake going off in your body. my doctor put me on an aspirin regimen to help protect my life. [ male announcer ] aspirin is not appropriate for everyone. so be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. to my friends, i say, you know, check with your doctor, 'cause it can happen to anybody. [ male announcer ] be ready if a heart attack strikes. donate $5 to womenheart at iamproheart.com, and we'll send you this bayer aspirin pill tote. donate $5 to womenheart at iamproheart.com, metamucil uses super hard working psyllium fiber, which gels to remove unsexy waste and reduce cholesterol. taking psyllium fiber won't make you a model but you should feel a little more super. metamucil. down with cholesterol. wanted to show you this live picture. this is tucson, arizona. this is just outside the home of jared lee loughner's parents. he's the accused shooter in saturday's shootings in tucson. we noticed a sudden uptick in activity. it looks like perhaps reporters getting microphones ready. will his parents randy and amy come forward today and speak? we don't know. we're watching very, very closely and as soon as someone does stand up and speak, perhaps even a member of the family giving some sort solve statement, we will bring that to you live here on cnn. it is now time for what you're talking about, what you're tweeting about, what's trending. first up today, michael douglas had great news to share. also owen wilson and his girlfriend do as well. finally miss britney spears, gosh, do i have to say this, has done it again. hln "showbiz tonight" host brooke anderson. i see people in the studio shaking their heads at me, brooke anderson. >> oops, she did it again. >> first, let's get to some awesome news, hopefully, more michael douglas. i woke up and watched this the interview this morning on the "today" show. he has this throat cancer and he says he's got it beat. >> yeah, this is terrific, brooke. michael douglas is saying that he's cancer free, that his tumor has been completely eradicated. so it's fantastic. you know, just last august, michael was diagnosed with stage 4 throat cancer. the 66-year-old actor underwent intense chemo, intense radiation. the overall survival rate for patients with the later stages of throat cancer is said to be about 50 to 60%. douglas sounded upbeat. he sounded hopeful when he spoke with "today's" matt lauer about his recovery and let's listen to a little bit of what he said. >> i feel good, relieved. the tumor is gone. but i have to check out on a monthly basis now to maintain. i guess that total euphoria, probably take a couple of months of getting checked out to feel -- but it's been a wild six-month ride. >> oh, i'm sure it has been. and douglas has said that he's been eating like a pig, trying to gain back the 32 pounds that he lost from radiation treatments. he's been able to gain back about 12 of those 32 pounds so far. got about 20 more to go. but brooke, michael also revealed that he wasn't just fighting cancer, that he was also battling the paparazzi and their intrusion. he mentioned that he was not happy with the photos, the tabloid photos of him when he was really gaunt, suggesting those pictures could have been touched up. and this is really interesting. michael said that those pictures concerned his father, kirk douglas, so much that kirk, who is 94 years old, traveled to new york to see him, check on him, make sure that he's okay. but, brooke, it looks like now michael is doing really well, he's feeling great. he's cautiously optimistic, he's hopeful. so fingers crossed that he and his doctors can remain optimistic. >> gosh, it's one thing to have to deal with, you know, i think you said, stage 4 throat cancer, and then quite another to deal with the paparazzi chasing you around town. it's awful. but, of course, best wishes to him and his family. secondly, owen wilson, funny guy, owen wilson, a dad. >> yeah, about to start changing diapers on a regular basis, "showbiz tonight" can confirm that owen wilson and his girlfriend of more than a year, jade duell, are having a baby. reports say that the baby is due any day now. that jade is in hawaii and they want to do everything as naturally as possible. so good luck. god speed. i'm sure it's going to be a beautiful experience. brooke, owen has previously dated kate hudson, one of his high-profile relationships. >> and finally, let's go there, miss anderson. britney spears, she's out with a new single, and according to my ap extraordinaire, troy, he says the single is off the chain. do you agree? >> off the chain! i love that, troy. it's a big day for britney spears. her much anticipated new single, "hold it against me," is finally out. it's an upbeat dance song, which is britney spears' bread and butter, of course. and here's a quick listen so you can decide what you think about it. ♪ me it clear, little question ♪ ♪ wanna know just how you feel ♪ if my heart was beating loud, if we could escape the crowd somehow ♪ ♪ if i said i want your body now ♪ >> i've got people in the studio -- >> i like it. and this is the first single britney has released. >> it's been a while, right? >> first single in over two years since her sixth album, "circus." it's already shot to number one on itunes. it was released early because it was leaked, but it looks like she's got another hit on her hands, and that's great, and remarkable considering everything that she's been through with her career. >> might have to add it to the old running mix on the ipod. brooke anderson, thank you for that. >> sounds good. we are also monitoring what is happening, of course, today, this afternoon, there in arizona. state house, we are watching and waiting this vote to essentially ban protesters from funerals. they would have to say -- they would have to stay 300 feet from the funerals of the victims of the tucson shootings. so we'll have more on that. also coming up, i'll be checking in with wolf blitzer in washington about the big political stories of the day. we'll be right back. cnn equals politics. wolf blitzer joins me now from washington with the latest on the cnn political ticker. before you get to the ticker, i'm just getting news, we know about that memorial service tomorrow in tucson, arizona, and we know that the president will be there. we're also now learning that the former arizona governor and now homeland security secretary janet napolitano will be in attendance as well. >> and she knew, obviously, the judge, the federal judge, john roll, who was killed in that assassination attempt oon saturday. so she has good reason to go back. and as you pointed out, she's a former governor of arizona. this has been a hard, a very tough battle for her as well, because she knows all these people. she obviously knows the congresswoman, gabrielle giffords, as well, who's struggling to survive in that hospital. the doctors are saying she's doing better than they originally thought and that she's off that respirator, she's breathing on her own, to a certain degree. so that's all very encouraging. even as this goes forward, though, brooke, politics is going forward as well. and there's some spillover from what happened in arizona on the political campaign trail. one of the likely republican presidential contenders, tim pawlenty, now the former governor of minnesota, he's disagreeing to a certain degree with sarah palin, who might be running for president herself. that whole ad that she ran on her website targeting some of these congressional democrats, including gabrielle giffords, it's a device pawlenty now says to "the new york times," i would not have chosen to do, showing the crosshairs of a gunshot, in effect, targeting the democratic candidates whom she wanted defeated. everyone has their own style, pawlenty says, and their own choices, but i don't want to have anyone infer that there's evidence in this case that it caused or was a contributing factor. we do not know that. tim pawlenty, sort of distancing himself from some of the style of the way that sarah palin campaigned for tea party favorites during the course of the recent campaign. but it's just one element. some other republicans think there may be an opening for them. by the way, he's busy out there in iowa, new hampshire, but another republican potential presidential candidates are pretty busy themselves. newt gingrich is heading to iowa pretty soon. he said he'll announce in the early spring whether he's seeking the republican presidential nomination. rick santorum, he's heading to new hampshire. he's the former senator from pennsylvania who was defeated there, but now he's thinking of running for president. he's a conservative, he's heading to new hampshire. and michele bachmann, the conservative congresswoman, the republican from minnesota, she's heading to iowa herself. so there's a lot of activity out there on the campaign trail. today, at least, sarah palin's been relatively low-key and not speaking out. i assume that will change in the coming days. it always does. brooke? >> wolf blitzer, thank you. we'll check in with you in this hour to see what you have coming up in "the situation room." also, another political update for you in half an hour. you can always get online, cnn.com/politics.com, or get on twitter, @political ticker. now top of the hour. watch this. the tragedy in arizona is now sparking a tough national conversation. how should the country handle people who behave erratically? and do we always have to wait until it's too late? i'm brooke baldwin. the news is now. >> back in 1960, we put mentally ill people who were threats into a system that incarcerated them. >> is there a gap in our mental health system? a well-known lobbyist found dead in her own garage. she and her husband connected to the nation's most powerful people. joe johns with the details of a loss everyone is talking about in washington. massive flooding in australia. cars washed away, dozens missing. when will this end? north korea and its long-range missiles could be a real threat to america within five years. so what made the defense secretary just say that? hello once again, everyone. i'm brooke baldwin. a lot of news happening right now. let's begin with this. gabrielle giffords is breathing on her own! that is wonderful. that is also, according to the congresswoman's doctors. she does remain in critical condition this hour, four days after a gunman opened fire there in tucson. jared lee loughner is the man accused of killing six people and shooting 14 more. coming up, i'm going to ask some tough questions about his mental health in this country and what should happen to people who appear unbalanced, next. that is the national commission assembled by president obama to investigate last year's bp oil spill. that final report is out today. conclusion -- the deepwater horizon rig blew up and sank due to a lack of research, lack of funding, and lack of oversight. the report goes on to warn the industry that a similar, possibly worse disaster is inevitable if safety and accident prevention does not take a higher priority. next, vice president joe biden says the west will stay in afghanistan beyond 2014 if the afghans ask. th is a bit of a walkback from last month when the vice president said that the u.s. would be totally out of 2014, quote, come hell or high water, end quote. either way, the obama administration plans to begin withdrawing some troops from afghanistan this july. next, secretary of state hillary clinton, there she is, she is on the road, meeting leaders in yemen. clinton says american aid there will soon expand to include social and economic development, not just weapons, military supplies, and training. the u.s. regards yemen as a key can al qaeda battleground. next, orange jumpsuits, hoods on their heads. you see this? more than 170 human rights activists stood in protest, this is outside of the white house today. that is the same number of terror suspects locked up at the u.s. military detention facility down at guantanamo bay. today marks the detention center's opening nine years ago. one protester out of this crowd shouted at the group to face the white house, what he called the home on your captor. next, a male model is now charged with murder after a journalist was found dead in a lavish new york city hotel. police say renato seabra beat and mutilated his victim. it is not yet clear how they knew one another, but we are told they were staying at the hotel together. seabra reportedly confessed to police, saying he wanted to get rid of the man's homosexual demons, his words. next, lawyers for julian assange who says their client could be put to death if he is extradited to sweden. the wikileaks founder is currently in britain, wanted on swedish sexual misconduct allegations. his defense team says an extradition could result in an imprisonment at guantanamo bay and possible execution. assange's leaking of confidential government cables has drawn the ire of u.s. officials. his hearing is scheduled for next month. next, a lawmaker in new york wants to force automakers to install breathalyzers in all cars. and assembly man felix ortiz wants it to happen in four years. the ignition interlock devices -- have you heard of these -- they would force every driver to take a breath test before even turning on the car. the twices are already mandatory for people convicted of driving drunk in new york. next, it is a big hunk of glowing rock, and wow, very hot there. but you should know, the name of our newly discovered neighbor planet, it is kepler 10b and it's about 560 light years from us here in the u.s. nasa astronomers say it's the smallest known planet outside of our solar system. they have been crunching the data about the planet for about eight months now. they want to know if perhaps it once supported liquid oceans. next, a fake tweeter declares a fake snow day. have you heard about this today? a school district in arkansas says a jokester set up a similar twitter handle to make the announcement. by the way, sorry, kids, the schools were open. the district says it filed a complaint officially with twitter. next -- >> don't do it! don't do it, steve! >> don't do it! >> oh, darn. >> he does it. his kids dared him to do it and then says, don't do it. >> a dad in north carolina takes a polar bear plunge. and from there, he hits the hot tub. and finally, let's take a look at the big board. look at him go. i'm cold looking at him. we see the dow up about 35 points at 11,671. alison kosik been looking at those numbers all day long. she's live at the new york stock exchange. and alison, big news from myspace today. what can you tell me? >> yeah, not such a huge surprise here. you know, since facebook has entered the scene, myspace announcing it's cutting half its staff, laying off 500 workers. and i don't know if you remember this, but myspace used to be the number one social networking site, but then, of course, came facebook. now facebook is number one, with about 500 million users, eclipsing what myspace has, about 130 million users. so myspace really going through some struggles right now, some restructuring, you know, trying to find who its audience is. you know, myspace even recently said, it's not even trying to compete with facebook anymore. it seems that facebook is kind of out of their league already. so kind of you're seeing that white flag from myspace. >> yeah, i didn't even realize myspace was still around. >> there you go. >> another bit of business news, not too long ago general motors filed for bankruptcy, now the company's spending big, big bucks on the super bowl. >> yeah, this is kind of ironic. sure, what you just mentioned is the true irony in this. gm saying it's going to advertise during the super bowl, the first time since 2008. you know, brooke, i guess gm was a little too busy filing for bankruptcy, getting a federal bailout during the previous year. but it's going to go ahead and advertise with some commercials that sell for up to $3 million for 30 seconds! its ad budget is going to be 1 to 2% more than last year. if you're wondering, some of the focus is going to be on its plug-in electric vehicle, the volt. but interesting, you know, got a bailout, filed for bankruptcy, and voila, its advertising, some of the most expensive space on tv. >> what a year, or, i guess, two years, really, for gm, it has been. alison kosik there for me in new york, thank you. and from the volt to another pretty cool gadget a lot of people have. coming up, a major announcement from apple. the tech giant is talking about a big deal with verizon. we'll tell you everything you need to know about that. and how about this story? north korea will be a direct threat to us here in the united states in five years. at least, that is according to defense secretary robert gates. but how serious of a threat are we talking? we are live at the pentagon, next. [ woman ] when my dance company went on tour, i took emergen-c. with 1,000 milligrams of vitamin c and energizing b vitamins, it made every performance count. emergen-c. feel the good. before i get you to the pentagon, i wanted to show you this live picture one more time from our affiliate there in tucson, this is kvoa. this is outside of jared lee loughner's parent's home. jared lee loughner, the accused shooter from saturday, there in tucson. and it appears there has been a bit of an uptick in, you can see, reporter activity there. looks to be sort of a makeshift podium with a punbunch of microphones, which perhaps could mean we could hear from his parents with whom he lived, randy and amy loughner. so as soon as we see someone step in front of that podium, we will certainly bring that to you live here. we're watching and waiting for that. and as we watch and wait, let's talk about north korea here. some pretty disturbing comments by the u.s. secretary of defense. robert gates says it is only a matter of years before north korea is capable of hitting the united states with a missile. but how real is this threat? barbara starr, live at the pentagon for me. and barbara, what exactly did secretary gates say? and why is he saying it right now? >> well, you know, brooke, he is traveling in china right now, meeting with top chinese officials and the chinese military, trying to get closer to them. but underneath the surface there, of course, the u.s. always tries to work with china, to leverage north korea. so, of course, the north korean question came up with reporters. and gates, in fact, said that he thought north korea and its missile program could pose a direct threat to the united states, possibly within five years. that they could be developing a missile capable of hitting alaska or the west coast of the u.s. we already know that that missile program is under development by the north koreans. here's what gates precisely had to say. he said, "i think that north korea will have developed an intercontinental ballistic missile within that time frame, five years, not that they will have huge numbers or anything like that, but they will have, i believe they will have a very limited capability." of course, any capability by the north koreans to hit the united states is something the administration would like to not see happen, brooke. >> wow. and barbara, we remember it was just a couple of weeks ago, there were fears, very real fears of war between north and south korea. i know it's quieted down just a bit, but the secretary says the threat is still out there. >> well, he does. because what the u.s. continues to see is north korea's intentions to develop these weapons, to have the capability to use them. but whether they will or not remains the question. and on that missile program, it's been in the works for many, many years. they've had a lot of technical troubles. so when gates comes out and says "five years," you have to wonder, why does he say five years? does he know something we don't? are the north koreans actually making progress on that missile program? and could they really make the effort and have something workable in such a short period of time? brooke? >> barbara starr at the pentagon. barbara, thank you. a teenage girl disappeared just two weeks ago. so is this missing cheerleader from texas in hiding? that is what one investigator told a classroom of kids. so what exactly does he know? that's ahead. and the bizarre death -- have you heard about this -- this lobbyist in washington, mother of three. it is shaking capitol hill. was it a freakish accident? joe johns has those new details out of d.c. that is next. welcome back. i want to tell you about this mysterious story we've been following here at cnn. there's this woman linked to some of the nation's top politicians. she died yesterday after being trapped in a fire in her own garage. her name was ashley turton. she was an energy lobbyist, mother of three, and wife to a top white house staffer. and really no one knows exactly what happened. joe johns joins me now in washington. what do we know, joe? >> well, you know, first, the human side of it, brooke. this is a huge tragedy for a family that's well known to a lot of people here in washington, and also, the fire department, as they put it, called it a real head scratcher for the investigators. dan turton is a top staffer at the white house. i first met him years ago when he walked for then-congressman richard gephardt over in the house of representatives. his wife, ashley, who was killed in this accident, was also well known as the chief of staff for democratic congresswoman rosa delaro. more currently, she was a lobbyist for progress energy. they have three kids. authorities are still describing the accident that killed her as a crash, and then a fire. so mystery. >> so, help me connect the dots, joe johns. because i know from what i read, this happened in the family garage. there was some sort of fire. there was a crash, and it ends in her death. how does that happen? >> that's the disconnect. the police have their crash reconstruction team trying to unravel it. i don't remember what they call it. they're working with the fire department, which is pretty sure this crash occurred at extremely low speed, so the essential question is, how does a very low-speed crash cause a fatal fire? and we're being told the investigators are doing a complete evaluation of the car itself, vehicle maintenance records, as well as reaching out to bmw, the manufacturer of the car, to try to find out whether there are any recall issues, structural issues related to the automobile that could have been a factor. >> do we know, joe, if, you know, the feds are looking into this at all? i know you mentioned bmw, it was a bmw suv. have they said anything yet? >> they really haven't. first of all, we did check with nhtsa the national highway traffic safety administration, these are the people would investigate something like that. and they just got back to us, saying the agency has not seen any evidence of a trend in defects in bmws, in case you were wondering. but we haven't heard back yet from bmw itself. that there are a lot of things the investigators are look in to. was she trying to maneuver around, say, another car that was in the driveway at the time, perhaps a lawn mower, we're hearing, might have been in the garage. that could have been a factor. a bench, or maybe she hit the garage door. there's all kinds of stuff they're looking at, but they really don't have any answers at this point. >> it sounds to me like a lot of questions still, yet. but, of course, so sad for her three children and her husband as well. joe johns, let us know what you learn here in the coming days. joe, thank you. also want to take you back out live and show you that live picture one more time out of tucson, arizona, as there appears to be some sort of podium erected with a bunch of microphones there. it appears that members of the media are waiting for someone to speak. this is just outside of the accused shooter from saturday morning's shootings. this is where he lived. he lived with his parents, randy and amy loughner. will they come out and speak to members of the media? that's the big question on a lot of people's minds at this moment. it could happen at any minute. we're going to keep a close eye on this, and of course, if they speak, you know we will bring that to you live. also, 3-d, it is a huge moneymaker for hollywood, but will the future of movies still be a thing of the past? huh. that's ahead. also, witnesses are calling it an island -- excuse me, an england tsunami. that the flooding there in australia. look at these pictures! folks, it's getting worse, and it's coming without warning. holla granny is standing by. she's going to walk me through this story. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 tdd# 1-800-345-2550 if anything, it was a little too much. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 but the moment they had my money? nothing. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 no phone calls, no feedback, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 no "here's how your money's doing." tdd# 1-800-345-2550 i mean what about a little sign that you're still interested? tdd# 1-800-345-2550 come on, surprise me! tdd# 1-800-345-2550 [ male announcer ] a go-to person to help you get started. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 regular detailed analysis of your portfolio. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 for a whole lot of extras at no extra charge, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 talk to chuck. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 [ male announcer ] in the event of a collision, the smartest thing you could do is cut the fuel supply... ♪ ...unlock the doors, and turn on the hazard lights. or better yet, get a car that automatically does it for you. ♪ ♪ could we soon see the death of 3-d at the movies? that suggestion is trending today. according to a study by one research firm, tickets are just too expensive. in case you haven't been to one, most people pay a premium to see a movie in 3-d. also, with more and more 3-d movies coming out, the research suggests there will be a bit of a risk that the novelty will just wear off. more than 40 are scheduled to be released this year. wow. 40 3-d movies? here's the bottom line. many people obviously very excited about 3-d flicks, but the industry runs the risk of overselling and overpricing, so we'll have to wait and see. and now time for glob trekking. a look at some of the big stories percolating outside the united states. hala gorani joining me. two stories we want to talk about today. in this first story, the situation in australia. we've been talking about this for weeks, which obviously tells me that this is getting worse. >> right. there have been abnormally high rainfall issues in australia and that part of australia, eastern australia, and we have at least ten people who have been killed. and what has been called an inland sntsunami. this looks like a raging river employeeing down in the middle, essentially, of what normally is a busy thoroughfare. and you see people there scrambling, doing what they can. but people stuck in their cars were just swept by the water. and here's the big issue. the mayor of brisbane is saying, brisbane and queensland and eastern australia is saying, it's bad today, it will be awful tomorrow, and on thursday, it could well be devastating. because they're expecting more flash flooding. >> worse than what we're looking at? >> worse than what we're looking at and in a wider area. so many people have heeded the calls of authority to leave the area and seek shelter elsewhere, if they have family and friends outside of the area that might be affected. and also, people are just trying to figure out ways to protect their businesses, because billions of dollars in damage right now. so far. >> i think just to help put in this perspective for us too here in the united states, they were saying it's like the size of texas under water. >> well, and australia is, of course, a huge continent, country, continent, and anything that happens there in wide areas is actually, as you said, geographically very, very significant. and we have tens of thousands of people affected. >> look at them being airlifted off the roof of his home, presumably. >> and these are the lucky ones, those who were caught in these raging waters, because so many in their cars were caught off guard. this is flash flooding. the kind of flooding you can't anticipate. it's not water levels rising gradually or incrementally. boom, it just happened. inland instant tsunami. >> we'll watch the australia situation, which will turn devastating, as if it isn't already. and also, we've been talking about sudan. this is a referendum. >> a referendum for independence in southern sudan. sudan, talk about a big geographical area. some associate sudan with darfur, which had its own major issues which many have called a genocide in that region. here we're talking about southern sudan wanting to secede from northern sudan and creating the world's newest country. >> the vote started sunday. >> it started sunday. it goes to saturday. this is so logistically it allows for the millions of people who want to cast their ballots to be able to get to polling stations. >> and we also can't talk about sudan without talking about the civil war. >> right, the civil war between north and south was ended in 2005. part of the agreement was for southern sudan to be allowed to go ahead and organize a referendum and decide for itself whether it wants to be part of the wider sudan with khartoum as its capital or whether it wants to secede and become independent. here is sort of the interesting issue. southern sudan is where the oil is. >> and that's really the crux of the issue. >> that's the crux. when you have money and oil revenue, so it's interesting to see how china is playing into all of this. but the big fear for people looking into humanitarian affairs, as well as nick christophe, if you want to read about this on "the new york times" website, the big issue is will this lead to another humanitarian catastrophe and more conflict between north and south. >> so far, how is the referendum going? going fairly smoothly? are people watching over that? how's that process? >> rate now so far, no major violence as far as the -- in the process of voting itself. they still have several more days and then it will be a question of counting the ballots and making sure that 60% participation is reached. that's the magic number. that's what makes the results valid. >> so soon enough, we could see in southern sudan will be our world's next new state. >> yep. >> huge news. hala gorani, thank you. >> thank you. their son is accused of carrying out the deadly rampage in arizona. so are jared lee loughner's parents about to make a statement? we're watching that scene there unfolding. live pictures outside of their home in tucson. plus -- weather! they're having fun. not everyone is, though. let me tell you why here in the southeast. a winter storm has crippled the southeast, and as it leaves this region of the country, it is heading straight up to -- along the east coast here. they're lining up now -- that kind of looks like fun, i've got to be honest. they're lining up now. we have the parents of the arizona shooting suspect, a winter weather nightmare, and apple's big, big deal today. time to play "reporter roulette." i want to begin in tucson with ted rowlands. and ted, today is the first time we've actually heard from some of the family members of the shooting victims. talk about that. and from what i understand, you actually talked to one of the husbands of a shooting victim? >> reporter: yeah. bill heilemann. his wife was the woman that took that 9-year-old little girl, christina green, to the congress on your corner event. she is recovering from three gunshot wounds. she says she remembers some of the things. he says that the one thing right away out of surgery she asked was, what about christina? of course, christina was killed, shot and killed in the rampage. she was pronounced dead here at the hospital. the one thing that it was just amazing talking to this man is that the family -- imagine your 9-year-old is shot and killed with a neighbor, what would you do? well, he says this family, the green family has reached out to them and it is a complete opposite of what you might think. he says they're getting incredible support. listen to this. >> and yet we have quite the opposite. and to anyone that's a parent, to me, that's a level of strength that is almost unimaginable. they've been good friends. i guess, if i were to say, you know, who if anyone could handle something like this, it may well be them. but i think the reaction is just too much to expect out of anyone. and it just blows me away, the grace that they're showing. >> he says, brooke, his wife does go to the dark side, if you will, and starting to blame herself a little bit, but she has got a lot of support, and obviously, having the support from the little girl's family goes a long, long way. >> my heart just breaks for these families, ted, it really does. and then you have, you know, another set of parents. you have the accused shooter's parents in tucson. there appears to be -- we've been watching this live picture, appears to be some buzz, some reporter flurry outside of this home here. do you have any idea if these parents are planning on speaking? >> reporter: well, according to a neighbor that went into the house to sort of check on them, get their mail, the husband said -- the suspect's father said that at some point when they're ready, they will make a statement. whether it will be a written statement or whether he'll come out of the house, it's just a wait and see kind of game. according to this neighbor, this family is, as you might understand, completely broken down. the mother of jared loughner is crying, apparently, in a room, and so is the father. very difficult for them, as you would imagine. but as you can see, those live pictures, people really want to hear from this family to get some insight on how this 22-year-old young man could have possibly done what he is accused of doing. >> they do, indeed. we're watching and waiting for that picture. ted rowlands for me in tucson. thank you. back east, not exactly a great week if you were trying to hop on a plane. flying through the south and northeast, a bit of a mess. we have david mattingly at a pretty busy airport there in atlanta, hartsfield-jackson. david, i'm afraid to ask, how's it going? >> reporter: it's actually going a little bit better right now. the best we've probably seen all day, after two days of massive cancellations, the largest carrier here, delta, canceling 1,900 flights yet, 1,400 flights today, finally, the crowds of people that were here in line earlier today to try and change those flights to finally get on to their destination actually is starting to look a little bit manageable right now. and something we haven't seen all day, we've been looking at this board, watching the flights change all day. this is the first time all day that the flights that are actually moving and leaving on time outnumber the canceled flights. so that is a big, big change from what we've been watching all day. we did ask delta, again, the largest carrier here at the busiest airport in the world, how long is it going to take to get your schedule back up to a normal day? and we were told they're not sure because that weather system that blanketed the south with the ice is now creating all sorts of problems up in the northeast. so they're really not sure how long it's going to take to get all those kinks in the schedule that was caused by these two days of massive cancellations, to get those kinks straightened out. but i can tell you right now, there are a lot of people who have been stranded in atlanta since sunday, some of them sleeping right here in the airport. who are going to be very happy to get on a flight and get on to their destination today. >> i like hearing the words "better" and "manageable," i'm sure they do as well. david mattingly for us there at hartsfield-jackson in atlanta. thank you. and finally a long-term rumor comes to fruition. iphone customers with verizon can finally get an iphone. richard, how much will these phones cost? >> reporter: beginning february 3rd, customers can start ord ordering online with verizon, or february 10th go into a verizon or apple store and purchase the device, and still go online. as for the price, $199 for a 16 gigabyte device, and $299 for a 32 gigabyte device. two-year contract for this deal, if you're going to go for an iphone that is now with verizon wireless. brooke? >> so, richard, compare the at&t iphone versus the verizon iphone. is it the exact same phone, or are there any differences? >> it's very similar. company executives didn't want to get too much in detail, but we can tell you there's hd video recording, face time video call, five megapixel camera. you won't be able to surf and also talk at the same time, but this verizon phone will have one new feature, this hot spot wireless with connection capability to up to five additional devices. >> wow, okay. and i guess those of us who have verizon, or people who have verizon, pretty thrilled with the news? >> reporter: well, we talked to random survey of people inside a verizon store. as you know, and many of our viewers may know, there's been a lot of complaints about call dropouts with at&t service. there were some people who said they still are sticking by at&t, but one analyst we talked to said there's been a huge pent-up demand to have consumers to have a choice, to be able to go to verizon, either upgrade or just buy this product right out of hand. >> richard roth, thank you so much. and that is today's "reporter roulette." governor jerry brown has only been in office for a couple of weeks here, but he is already proposing some big, big changes in california. so is this version, we'll call him jerry brown 2.0, is he very different from his predecessor, arnold schwarzenegger? your cnn political the ticker is next. but first, we are just getting words there some action in arizona. they're holding this emergency vote involving the funerals of the shooting victims. we'll have a live report on what's happening there in the statehouse, next. when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn't cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to 80% of your part b expenses. if you're already on or eligible for medicare, call now to find out how an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company, helps cover some of the medical expenses... not paid by medicare part b. that can save you from paying up to thousands of dollars... out of your own pocket. these are the only medicare supplement insurance plans... exclusively endorsed by aarp. when you call now, you'll get this free information kit... with all you need to enroll. put their trust in aarp medicare supplement insurance. plus you'll get this free guide to understanding medicare. the prices are competitive. i can keep my own doctor. and i don't need a referral to see a specialist. call now to get a free information kit. plus you'll get this free guide to understanding medicare. and the advantages don't end there. choose from a range of medicare supplement plans... that are all competitively priced. we have a plan for almost everyone, so you can find one that fits your needs and budget. with all medicare supplement plans, there are virtually no claim forms to fill out. plus you can keep your own doctor and hospital that accepts medicare. and best of all, these plans are... the only medicare supplement plans endorsed by aarp. when they told me these plans were endorsed by aarp... i had only one thing to say... sign me up. call the number on your screen now... and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan. you'll get this free information kit... and guide to understanding medicare, to help you choose the plan that's right for you. as with all medicare supplement plans, you can keep your own doctor and hospital that accepts medicare, get help paying for what medicare doesn't... and save up to thousands of dollars. call this toll-free number now. want to get you to this developing story out of arizona, out of the statehouse, and arizona state lawmaker, matt heinz, good enough to pick up the phone in the midst of this whole thing, drafting some of this language before this vote, joining me in tucson. thanks for hopping on the line. i want you to first explain to me, this funeral protection zone bill, what is it and where does the legislation stand right now? >> sure thing. it's good to be here. and forgive me, i'm in the legislature right now, so i may have to run away quickly -- >> that's fine. >> but the bill as drafted, and this is receiving bipartisan support and support from the governor's office, allow for a protective zone of 300 feet surrounding the property where any funeral is occurring. for example, a cemetery or a funeral home, church, synagogue. and this actually is based on a legal language that has been enacted in about 45 other states and it allows for that zone to prevent disruption for one hour prior to and then one hour after the funeral event. >> so just to be clear, for people who aren't quite sure protests we are talking about, there is word from that church in kansas of them coming to arizona to protest some of these funerals, including 9-year-old christina green's on thursday. that's part of the reason why you're trying to draft this language. when is the vote scheduled to happen, matt? do you know? >> sure. and i do need to be specific, this law, this will have the effect of protecting that funeral as well, but this is not a specific law to any one particular case. >> got it. >> the law is, it has an emergency clause attached to it, which means once this vote occurs, which i expect in the next 10 to 15 minutes, and then goes up to the governor's desk for her signature, which it will receive, i am told, then the law is immediately enacted. >> and this is really, matt, unprecedented, this sort of warp speed, if i can use that phrase here, going through the house and then the senate and then the urgency for the governor to need to sign this into law. >> it is. and i can't certainly promise this, but based on the response i've been hearing from my colleagues on both sides of the aisle here in the house and senate, i suspect that there will be -- i believe this will be unanimous. >> you believe it will be unanimous. so it has to have the two-thirds majority in the house, and then it goes on to the senate. do you think or have you heard from anyone, has there been any kind of resistance here, or is this pretty much a done deal? >> no. this is -- everyone is standing behind this. this is a strongly supported measure from the executives on down to both the senate and the house, again, in a bipartisan manner. >> what if, and i just have to throw this out there, what if this vote still does not keep those people from showing up at these funerals and protesting? is there a plan "b"? >> you know, i don't think i need to worry about that. i'm pretty sure that the community of tucson is already going to present itself and protect those who are mourning the loss from the tragedy this weekend. i have every confidence that thereby hundreds of people there to help protect these families in their time of need. actually, i'm glad you brought that up. i was speaking with wound of the leaders of the group, christine gillmer, who was talking about this whole angel action. so totally separate from what you're doing there today in tucson. she told me 30 other people will be showing up at these funerals, and obviously, not in protests. she said it would be a silent sort of peaceful showing of support, wearing these big, massive angel wings. and she kind of said, look, it's not time to mess with tucson. what do you make of this, that people are planning on showing up in wings, shielding these people in mourning from some of these potential protesters? >> i think that's a beautiful gesture, to shield the families at this the time from this despicable act. >> matt heinz, i appreciate you getting on the line. and hey, do me favor, as soon as, if and when the vote happens, let me know. a lot of people following this story very closely with you around the world and in tucson. thank you. >> thanks for having me. and now to washington. i want to bring in my colleague, mark preston, with an update, the latest news off the political ticker. mark? >> hey, brooke, how are you? before i get to some political news regarding what's going on out in tucson, let me first talk about a story that's probably not gotten the attention that it deserves. it is the budget shortfalls that we're seeing in states across the country, and governors are having to deal with it. specifically new governors. in california, we are looking at jerry brown talking about having to cut $12.5 billion out of his state budget. that is massive cuts. what does that mean? it means programs such as medicaid is going to get cut. we could also see a decrease in some of the state workers' salaries. so new governors, again, such as jerry brown, facing a budget shortfall of $25.4 billion over the next 18 months in california. to see more about this story, go to cnnmoney.com. talking about tucson, a new cbs poll out is addressing the issue of whether the political rhetoric has gotten so heated, and specifically, has the political rhetoric, did it lead to the violence that we saw out there this past weekend? well, 57% of americans said, no, in fact, the political rhetoric that we've talked about so much over the last three to four days did not lead to the violence out in tucson, while 32% of americans said, indeed, it did. and this is something that has just come across my e-mail in the past 45 minutes. senator bernie sanders from vermont, he is an independent. and in an e-mail he sent out to political supporters, he had some very strong language for john mccain. john mccain is the senior senator from arizona. he commended john mccain for putting out a strong statement following the shootings out in tucson. however, he's calling on mccain to do more. and let me read to you what he says. he says, i believe senator mccain and other arizona republicans need to do more. as the elder statesmen of arizona politics, mccain needs to stand up and denounce the increasingly violent rhetoric coming from the right wing and exert his influence to create a civil political environment in his state. i've spoken to bernie sanders' office and they tell me the senator has not yet spoken to his colleague, senator john mccain. i called john mccain's office, he is traveling right now, so no comment. so when we're talking about civil discourse and people getting along, we're seeing some very strong language between bernie sanders and john mccain. >> how about that. mark preston with some of the stories hot off the political ticker. mark, thank you. and as people debate gun laws after this tragedy in arizona, there may be a bigger debate here over mental health here in the u.s. what should this country do with those who are unstable? it's an important conversation and we're going to have it, next. as we and family members and investigators are trying to get to the bottom of this mass shooting in arizona, much now is being made of the state of the history and state of the mind of the suspect here, that being jared lee loughner. he has been kicked out of a college, several of his teachers and classmates described his behavior as erratic, even scary. so joining me now from cleveland, ohio, is forensic psychiatrist dr. philip resnick. he's assessed such high-profile killers such as unibomber ted kaczynski, oklahoma city bomber, timothy mcveigh. so dr. resnick, thank you for coming on. i think this is an important conversation. and i know you can't diagnose someone based upon what you read in the newspaper, what you see on television, but if you can give me just your general impressions of this accused shooter here, jared loughner? >> yes, i certainly can't make any diagnosis, but certainly, evidence of some degree of mental illness is evident. >> there has been some talk, possibly, of paranoia or schizophrenia. would that be accurate? >> again, there's actually -- it's not possible for me to make a diagnosis, it would violate kind of ethicalcannons. but people like him with similar symptoms might have schizophrenia. >> i know you've assessed some high-profile killers. does this suspect in this case, jared loughner, or his behavior, reports of his behavior, does it remind you of anyone? >> well, actually, it reminds me of cho, the virginia tech shooter, as someone who engaged in a lot of minor, inappropriate activity, scaring fellow students, scaring professors, and then people not -- even though he went to a mental health clinic once -- people not putting the pieces together. that's what this situation reminds me of. >> but it's important, though, doctor, you know, not all mentally ill people are violent people. so what makes someone ultimately act out violently? >> well, you're absolutely right, that the vast majority of mentally ill people are not violent. one of the things that causes people to act violently are persecutetory delusions, where they're fearful, and that is often a factor, where they believe they're protecting themselves. in this kind of situation, where a man takes many, many weapons and ammunition with him, there's clearly an intention to suggesting more of an assault, and in that situation, it's less likely that he is fearful, but for some reason, in this type of situation, it is more likely that he feels some compulsion, and of course, no one will know the explanation for that until they talk to him. >> right. we don't know yet. and it's important to point that out, specifically, the motive. but that's interesting, you talk about delusions. and when you read the reports from what his friends say and classmates and his algebra teacher, we heard from, loughner was showing serious signs of instability. there was one classmate who said she sat in this pima community college and said she always wanted to sit near the door in class in case loughner showed up with a gun one day. but you can't have someone detained involuntary who shows sign of mental illness, is that right? >> no, they have to be evaluated and you can't be put in a hospital unless they're frankly dangerous to themselves or others. >> how do you ultimately -- how does that work? unless they are ultimately dangerous, you know, there is imminent danger to themselves or others, how does that work? do you have to wait for a crime to be committed? >> no. if someone makes threats or if someone is showing signs of illness, they can be taken to a psychiatrist, either voluntarily, to be evaluated, but you don't have to wait for an actual crime. >> i want you to listen to, it's the pima county sheriff, his observations about suspects with mental health issues. here he is. >> back in 1960, when i was a young cop on the beat, we put mentally ill people who were threats into a system that incarcerated them. today, they're out on the street and we're paying a price for it. >> so you heard what he said. does the system then, today, dr. resnik, does it help the people who need help the most? >> well, it's true, there's been extraordinary de-institutionalization, and in the 1950s, we had about 470,000 people in state hospitals. today, we have 70,000. and we have three times that many psychotic people in prison. this is sometimes called transinstitutionalization, where people are not getting help in hospitals and often then get in trouble with the criminal justice system. >> why is that happening, and how can we as a society change that? >> well, part of it is that we have better treatments than we did in the 1950s. we have antipsychotic medication. and part of it is a philosophy of trying to treat people in the community rather than a hospital. and that would work if we had sufficient resources. but as states have cut their budgets, mental health often gets cut and often there are not sufficient resources to really provide good care for our outpatients. >> the budgets, the budgets. i hear you talking dollars and cents, dr. philip resnik, i thank you for coming on. >> thank you. and did a missing teenager run away? nope. one investigator says she is alive and in hiding. so what exactly does he know? sunny hostin is on that case. that's next. first home loan, and this is her sister tina, who i also helped do her first home loan. it was unbelievable how well it all fell together. kathy said, "well, let me give you rachel's number." easy. easy. easy. the whole loan process was simple and convenient! that's why i love quicken loans! [ male announcer ] and you'll be glad to know j.d. power and associates ranks quicken loans "highest in customer satisfaction." to learn more call 800-quicken or visit us at quickenloans.com. sunny hostin is on the case. and sunny, i think it was last week that we talked about that 13-year-old cheerleader in texas. she disappeared on her way to a sleepover at a friend's house, this is in colorado city, texas. hailey dunn had been missing for two weeks, but now apparently there's a state investigator coming forward who says he's confident that she's alive, but in hiding. how does he know that? >> you know, he doesn't know that. and in fact, he said he doesn't really have any evidence to support that. that that is a feeling that he has. but i think it's very clear that investigators are still investigating this on sort of two tracks. they're investigating it sort of as a runaway, perhaps, and they're also investigating it as possibly an abduction or some sort of criminal activity afoot. so i don't think there's any indication, concretely, brooke, that she's just hiding. >> so no concrete evidence here, but the city -- one city official is still very much calling this an extremely aggressive criminal case. >> that's right. that's right. and again, that's sort of one of the tracks that they are really covering. they're trying to figure out whether or not she's abducted. they're trying to figure out whether or s

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