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CNN NEWSROOM

New Videos Show Missing Doctor Singing, Talking To Her Mystery, "Love" and "Baby"; Church Nativity Scene Features Trayvon Martin; FDA Hopes People Will Choose Healthier Snacks; Richard Simmons On 2014 Health Trends; NFL Coaches Axed On "Black Monday"; Volcano Erupts In El Salvador, Thousands Evacuating Homes; FedEx Worker Fired After Package Toss Was Caught On Security Camera

Aired December 30, 2013 - 14:30   ET

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


BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. Bottom of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

A young doctor in Michigan has been missing for almost a month. She is 30-year-old Teleka Patrick. She didn't show up for work December 6th in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The night before, her car was found abandoned in Indiana. And now there are these new videos uploaded to YouTube providing some crucial clues in a case that has thus far really stumped investigators. CNN's Alexandra Field has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TELEKA PATRICK (singing): You walked into my life.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Investigators are examining new YouTube videos of Teleka Patrick serenading an unidentified love interest in their search for clues in her disappearance.

PATRICK: Hi, baby. Good night.

FIELD: In the video she apparently shot herself, Teleka repeatedly refers to someone as "love" and "baby."

PATRICK: Hi, love.

FIELD: Investigators wonder if this person may have information about what happened on December 5th, the night Teleka vanished.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The search has been intensified, but to date no leads.

FIELD: Surveillance footage from that night shows her trying to check in at the Radisson Hotel. Authorities say this is the place where she was last seen boarding the hotel's shuttle bus that took her to her car parked at the medical center where she worked in Kalamazoo. The 30-year-old had just graduated from medical school and was only months into her residency at the hospital.

Just hours after she was captured on this surveillance camera, authorities found her car abandoned with a flat tire off Interstate 94 in Porter, Indiana, about 100 miles from where she worked, inside, a credit card, cash, and her driver's license. Her bizarre disappearance has investigators in two states stumped after searches have turned up nothing. These new videos are raising more question than answers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are desperate to hear something.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Alexandra Field joins me now. When you hear the desperation from the mother, what kind of help are they getting in finding their daughter?

FIELD: Well, they're asking everyone to help them out. They tell us that Talika had actually bought plane tickets to visit them in Florida over the holidays. They believed she had no reason to take off voluntarily and they are now offering a $15,000 reward for someone who can give information leading to her safe return. They are certainly holding out hope at this point -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: What about any kind of possibility of foul play? What has police said?

FIELD: Well, police say that they were able to bring in dogs when they first located her car. Dogs hit on a human scent coming from the car and followed it to a roadway about 30 feet from the car. At that point, dogs lost the scent and they have no evidence to support any theories of foul play, but at the same time, they really have no evidence that she could have left voluntarily so this one is definitely stumping investigators.

BALDWIN: Alexandra Field, thank you very much.

A nativity scene outside a Southern California church is raising some eyebrows instead of Baby Jesus it features a bloodied sculpture of Trayvon Martin. Tom Wade of L.A. affiliate, KCDS, has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's the horror in gun violence that none of us want to look at it.

TOM WADE, KCDS REPORTER (voice-over): It's a nativity scene unlike any other. Instead of the Baby Jesus, the focus of this scene is a hooded figure dripping in blood. The artist, John Zachary, says it's meant to depict Trayvon Martin, the unarmed Florida teen who was shot and killed. Zachary wants people to think about the human cost of gun violence.

JOHN ZACHARY, ARTIST: I saw a picture on the internet of Trayvon Martin laying there right after he had been shot, uncovered, just heart broken. I thought, God, this is terrible. Nobody should see that. Then I started thinking about it and I thought everybody should see that.

WADE: Zachary says there's a reason he used the nativity scene to make this statement.

ZACHARY: I wrote a piece about it connecting it to the murder of the innocence in the time of Jesus's birth when King Harry proclaimed all children under the age of 2 should be killed to try to kill Jesus unsuccessfully.

WADE: The unconventional nativity scene sits in front of the Claremont United Methodist Church, a congregation known for its tradition of putting up thought-provoking nativity scenes.

REVEREND DAN LEWIS, CLAREMONT UNITED METHODISTA: In the past, we have had a scene of the homeless family, a desert war scene, a single mother with a child in prison.

WADE: The response has been mixed. On the church's Facebook page, one called the congregation godless. Another said the scene was horrible, but church officials say response from the local community has been largely positive.

BETH BENJAMIN, CLAREMONT RESIDENT: I totally believe it's drawing attention to violence and it's pretty non-Christian world.

LEWIS: It's meant to be thought provoking. It's not meant to be a substitution for the nativity.

WADE: Zachary says he understands why some may be upset by the images he's created. But he believes this touches on the real meaning of Christ's birth.

ZACHARY: In order to celebrate his teachings, that we need to continue it, which is, I think, what this is kind of doing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Tom Wade, our affiliate in Los Angeles, KCDS, with that one today.

Coming up, in the not too distant future, you could be seeing the number of calories of your favorite snack foods that we know we should not be eating that we do anyway, sometimes, at a vending machine near you. Would that make you think twice before grabbing that soda? We have the numbers coming up next.

After you've had one too many visits to the vending machine, are you planning to finally get fit in 2014? Well, I have just the guy for you, Richard Simmons. What is this? Boy, we're dancing already and we haven't even begun the segment. I'm loving it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Coming soon to a vending machine near you, calorie counts for the snacks inside. This is part of Obamacare and the push to get all of us eating healthier. I have been in New Orleans the past couple of days and I know I will be paying extra attention as the restaurant there were too good to pass up. The companies who own these machines are not thrilled about this. Christine Romans explains why.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, snack time will soon be calorie counting time after new FDA regulations go into effect early next year as part of Obamacare. The new rules allow more information for you. More than 10,000 vending machine companies nationwide who operate 20 or more machines will have to displace this, the calorie counts. Similar to what you see in menus in restaurant.

It will be on vending machines now. Customers will see the calories next to their snack choice. Typical vending machine options include things like Lays potato chips, 240 calories, Skittles, 250, Snickers 250. You'll be able to see it right there. Now the FDA hopes this will help consumers go for alternatives that will help you stick to your New Year's resolutions.

Bakes Lays for example, 210 calories, Fig Newtons, 190 calories, but they have fruit. Honey roasted peanuts, 160 calories, but they're high in protein. Now the program is expensive. The FDA estimates the cost of the industry will be about $25.8 million initially, $24 million a year after that.

The industry's trade group says complying with the law will be expensive for small companies with few employees and already low profit margins, but they also estimate if just 0.2 percent of obese adults ate 100 fewer calories a week, it would save $24 million a year in health care costs. The question is, by seeing the numbers, will it change your behaviour -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Christine Romans, thank you very much. You know, few people have tried to change our behavior more than one man, and that man is Richard Simmons. This fitness guru has spent his life trying to make your healthier. Listen, look at the calendar. There isn't a better time to do that than this week. Millions of us are making resolutions for the New Year. Richard Simmons joins me live from Los Angeles. You're my birthday twin, July 12th, right?

RICHARD SIMMONS, HEALTH AND FITNESS GURU: You're actually my daughter.

BALDWIN: That's the news we're breaking here in the segment.

SIMMONS: Let's talk about the $25 million government --

BALDWIN: Hang on, Richard Simmons. Hang on, let me ask you about the calorie count on vending machines and then lots of other things, but do you think --

SIMMONS: You just said --

BALDWIN: Do you think people will not reach for them?

SIMMONS: I think they take the 25 million people and give it to people out of work. I think we have a very smart consumer. They know what they're eating. It's really all about self-worth and not about looking at the labels on the back. Give it to the people out of work, and there are a lot of them in the United States. Just, you know, people have to watch their portions.

My whole philosophy has been love yourself, that's self-worth. Watch your portions, and move your body. There's no easy way to do this. When somebody wants a Skittle or a Snicker or a bag of potato chips, they get it. It's all about self-respect. At 268 pounds, from New Orleans, where you are, fried food --

BALDWIN: French Quarter.

SIMMONS: They deep fry you when you die. It's all about -- I have my studio for 39 years.

BALDWIN: Congratulations on almost having 40 years there. I was sitting in the French Quarter with some friends last night. We were all sitting and talking about resolutions and whether we believed in them, and I'm wondering if you believe in this? We have a prop. Stand by for a prop. What is that?

SIMMONS: Here is a prop. It's got your name on it and CNN.

BALDWIN: Will you open it?

SIMMONS: What it is, is a little card and you mail it to yourself. And in the card are numbers from 1 to 5. And on those five, you write the New Year's resolutions. The dreams about you your self-esteem, and then you mail it to yourself. Then when you get it, you show it to no one and you look at the every day. You know, I was never educated in the cardio aerobic world. I began just by saying, let's sweat and that was 70 videos and DVDs ago. Many people have come with stupid diets and --

BALDWIN: The trends.

SIMMONS: Ridiculous exercise routines and it's all about how many calories, how many fat grams. You know --

BALDWIN: But how do you get people -- you know, here's the thing, you go to the gyms in January, and they're packed with people, and slowly, it sloughs off. What's the key to, you talk about and you practice what you preach as far as balance and eating right and being healthy and working out, but how do you make it stick?

SIMMONS: It's consistency. And by looking in the mirror every day and giving yourself some compliments and by being non-judgmental and being kind to yourself and others. If we did that, it would be a better world.

BALDWIN: What do you say to yourself in the mirror in the morning?

SIMMONS: -- I say, try to help more people because there are more obese children and teenagers, young adults and seniors in the world right now more than ever in the history of the United States. And when you're out of work, a dollar hamburger looks great. And when you get a divorce or lose a job, you really just don't want to take good care of yourself, but just remember, you're one of a kind, and God could have made you a butterfly that lasts three months, but he made you a human being. I wish all of your viewers a prosperous and happy and healthy New Year's.

BALDWIN: Richard Simmons, what's the biggest of all the people you have talked to in your lifetime, what's the biggest compliment someone gives you when you reach out to help them?

SIMMONS: That I just simply made them laugh and that I gave them hope because with hope, you can cope.

BALDWIN: I want to end on a lighter note. Guys, roll it, hairdo. I have had this hairdo video stuck in my head. I have watched it a few times. Tell me what this is about.

SIMMONS: Well, I wrote 29 songs, and this year, I did a music video called "Hairdo" about all the different hairdos of famous women and another music video with Steve Iokie, the number one DJ in the world, and I'm going to the studio to do a third one, a rap song called "The Fighter." I love music, I think music is therapy. I wrote the songs and I like to make people happy.

BALDWIN: Richard Simmons, you have made all of us happy for showing up for a couple minutes on the program. Thank you so much. Best wishes to you. Happy, healthy 2014.

Coming up, it's not a good day for NFL coaches as the playoffs are set. Many who didn't make it got the boot, fast. You'll hear which ones.

Plus, a FedEx guy didn't go the extra feet to make his delivery. We'll tell you what happened to this package thrower.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Michael Schumacher, the auto racing legend, is fighting for his life. He fell on a ski slope in France. His head hit a rock and suffered serious brain injuries. He's only 44, retired in 2012. He dominated Formula One and owns all of the important records. Michael Schumacher fighting for his life there.

It is Black Monday for the NFL, Black Monday, regular season is over. The teams with the lousiest records are starting now to clean the house. Before I show you which coaches are fired, I want this guy on my team, La'roi Reynolds, Jaguars, no helmet. No problem. Sprints downfield, flattens that guy. La'roi Reynolds, he's a player.

But these three fellows, not so much, as of today, they are not even coaches anymore. Big name there on the left, Mike Shanahan fired by the Redskins. And now there are three more among them, Leslie Frasier of the Lions. In all, five coaches fired thus far on Black Monday. One more earlier this year.

Rachel Nichols joins me now from New York, host of "Unguarded." So you have out of D.C., big disappointment in Mike Shanahan.

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, people say in Washington, D.C., if you don't have an idea of how important football is in that part of the country, that the two most important people in town are the president of the United States, and the quarterback of the Washington Redskins, and not necessarily in that order. That's how seriously people take their football, and it has been hard. It has been gut-crushing because this is a town that hadn't had a lot of good news in that department in a long time.

And then last season, things finally started to feel like they were turning around. They won seven straight. They won the division. The new young quarterback, Robert Griffin III energized the whole city, and then it all came crashing down this season. They lost eight straight to finish out. That's the worst finish in 50 years, back- biting injuries, shifting allegiances.

And Brooke, I want to give you a taste of just how dysfunctional and paranoid things are around Washington right now. This morning, the organization was concerned about all the negative attention, right, that they're getting, so they blocked the media from coming into even the parking lot in this anticipation of Mike Shanahan getting fired. You had this clog of cars and news vans waiting outside this one-lane road to get in.

The problem with this, Mike Shanahan, who was trying to get in to the facility to get fired, couldn't get in. So they had to clear the cars out to get Mike Shanahan in to be late to his meeting to get fired. So this is what's going on, on this team right now. It's a problem.

BALDWIN: Wow. So throw Shanahan in there. You have so far six coaches fired. Is that it, Rachel? Are the rest of them safe by now?

NICHOLS: No, of course not, because this is the NFL. It's a tough business. I'm going to throw up on the screen here. Dennis Allen from the Oakland Raiders, still a lot of question marks about him and also Mike Munchak from the Tennessee Titans. You won't see a photo of Jason Garrett from the Dallas Cowboys and I know a lot of your viewers are wondering about him.

Some maybe hoping he would be on the screen right now, but in fact, owner, Jerry Jones, said he is safe despite his team blowing it again for a third consecutive year last night in their game. He's safe. He will be back next year. And on the other coast, John Mara, the owner of the New York Giants came out a few minutes ago and said that Tom Coughlin is welcome back on the team next season.

A lot of Giants fans interested in that. A light moment at the end, John Mara, the owner who of course inherited the team from his famous parents, someone asked him, is anyone's job safe in the organization, John, is your job safe and he said, you have to ask my mom.

BALDWIN: Mom always knows best. I can't believe the Shanahan story there. What a photo-op that must have been this morning. Rachel Nichols, thank you very much, as always.

Coming up next, incredible pictures of this volcano erupting. This is El Salvador. Folks, this hasn't happened in 37 years. Thousands of people, as you can imagine, are getting out of the area. This is not the only volcano erupting right now as well. You're watching CNN. Back in a minute. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Thousands of people are evacuating their homes after this volcano has erupted in El Salvador. Here it is shooting massive ash clouds up into the sky. It started erupting Sunday. Alexandra Steele joins me to talk about this. This hasn't happened for decades -- in decades, right?

ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. Take a look at this, unbelievable amount, three miles into the air. Let me show you, Eastern El Salvador, so you can see where that is. It's called the Chaparestique Volcano and the problem is where it is and the coffee plantations are getting really soiled by this. They have 23 active volcanoes. This certainly is the biggest.

Also, they have 26 eruptions in the last 500 years. Last significant eruption was in 1976. So this is 7,000 foot, three miles into the air, and of course, this coffee crop had already been reduced because of rust, Brooke, on the leaves, so this kind of adds insult to injury. That's just one aspect.

Three thousand people live within about a mile and a half. Believe it or not, no deaths recorded. Some people taken to the hospital because of respiratory issues but --

BALDWIN: Look at the roads and the people covered in stuff. Alexandra, thank you very much. We'll be watching that in El Salvador.

Now to this, hopefully all your holiday packages were delivered on time this year, and hopefully, they were delivered a little more carefully than this. Thud. Home security cameras catching this FedEx worker as he kind of frisbees the package on the front steps. The woman who opened the package said the box contained doll clothing, but what if it was electronics, what if it was glass.

Zain Asher is in New York for us. Of course, we're talking about it because we see the video and hear the thonk. What is FedEx saying?

ZAIN ASHER, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE/BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It wouldn't surprise you to hear the worker has since been fired. He does not have a job anymore. FedEx said he wasn't playing by the rules. You can hear the thonk from about 20 feet away. What is worrying is this season, UPS and FedEx haven't especially won the popularity contest, but the package contained doll clothes. But I don't think it matters what was in the package. I think it's a matter of principle.

You don't simply throw something at someone's house like that. This is not the first time this has happened. Take a look at another video we have of a delivery worker in China, basically throwing packages onto a conveyer belt.

BALDWIN: Yes, where he's missing the conveyer belt.

ASHER: Yes, and it lands on the ground, so this happens more often than we would like -- BALDWIN: Pay attention, do this gingerly. We mentioned packages being delivered on time. I know that FedEx and UPS had a pretty rough, you know, Christmas week. A lot of packages not making it on time at all, what's the fallout there?

ASHER: A lot of people voicing their frustration, especially on social media. We reached out to FedEx and said what issues remain with holiday deliveries? They said and I'm quoting here, "Any isolated issues have been resolved." We've also reached out to UPS. We have not heard back from them.

But you know, this is sort of been a perfect storm for these shipping companies. First of all, you had bad weather, and they didn't really anticipate the level of packages, the amount of packages that would be delivered online this holiday season, and then you had fewer shipping days, fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, as well, so they basically overpromised and under delivered. Should never do that, by the way.

BALDWIN: Note to self. Zain Asher, thank you very much.

ASHER: Of course.

BALDWIN: Now this. Here we go, we continue on, hour two. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for joining me. We begin with some of the biggest stories, rapid fire. Roll it.

BALDWIN: Mysterious videos may hold a clue to finding a missing doctor. The videos uploaded to YouTube show Talika Patrick singing. Police want to know who she is talking to. The 30-year-old doctor in residency did not show up to work in a Kalamazoo, Michigan, hospital on December 6th. Police found her car abandoned about 100 miles south. And another video shows Patrick at a hotel here in Kalamazoo. She spent about 10 minutes talking with employees and then she walks away. Police say it's the last time she was seen.

The future of drones in America getting a bit clearer now, the government today announcing six sites across the country where drones will be tested. They include Texas A&M and Virginia Tech. We're told two dozen states came up with proposals on how to fit drones into American air space.

And just two more days until Colorado becomes the first state to legalize retail sales of marijuana for recreational use. Thus far, only about 14 businesses in the Denver area have received licenses to tell pot to anyone over the age of 21.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDY WILLIAMS, PRESIDENT, MEDICINE MAN MARIJUANA SHOP: I think 30 percent of the new business is going to be from out of state, and then we're going to have people like soccer moms coming in who would like to smoke a joint after their kids in bed, and then a lot of people who don't have an ailment who can get a card who are now able to come in and shop legally if they want to use marijuana.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Did he just say soccer moms? OK, long lines are expected outside pot stores starting January 1st. The city of Denver said it's ready.

Two hikers triggered a major avalanche but walked away with minor injuries. They were on New Hampshire's Mt. Washington when this happened. This avalanche carried them some 800 feet over the rocks and the cliff and the ice.