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Snowstorm Slams Again; Worst Play Call; Whitney Houston's Daughter in Coma

Aired February 2, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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


BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, there, and happy Monday. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Right now, sorry, we have to talk about snow. This snowstorm is pummeling the Northeast as I speak. I'm looking at it out of my window. Twenty-five million people are in its path and the snow is expected to continue falling until midnight for those of you in New England. In fact, Boston could get another foot of snow. Temperatures are expected to drop overnight. That, of course, means ice, freezing roads, dangerous cold with windchills dipping below zero tomorrow morning. Bundle up.

The storm just slammed the Midwest. Cars were spinning out across Chicago. Mayor Rahm Emanuel says the city got as much snow yesterday as it did in the entire month of January. Think about that for a second.

This is having a ripple effect, of course, at airports. More than 3,000 flights are canceled today. So we are covering all angles for you right now. I have Martin Savidge live in Cleveland, Miguel Marquez on the roads in Rhode Island, Jason Carroll at LaGuardia Airport in New York, and Jennifer Gray is back in Boston.

So here we go. Martin, let me just begin with you. I have heard the whipping winds in your live shot. I feel for you, sir, standing out in that cold. Tell me how bad it is.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's just -- you know, well, it's gotten brighter, which is nice. I mean the sun is out and clearly that helps the snow crews because now they can make some headway. We had blizzard-like conditions just 45 minutes ago. So it's changing very, very quickly.

But what hasn't changed is that wind. It is just howling in from the east and it's like a jet engine literally roaring away, only it's a subzero jet engine and it's blasting right through here and it just is painful to spend any long periods of time out here. It's also hampering snow removal because ice, snow - or snow melt caused by salt doesn't work as effectively when the temperatures are really low.

Power lines are down. I don't know if you can see, there's one just behind us here. That has been done, well, ever since we got out here at 5:00 this morning. And that's a problem because it's knocked out the traffic signals. If it wasn't dangerous enough to drive on these slippery streets, when you don't have traffic signals, it make it even worse. The police are out and they have to stand in these conditions.

Schools are closed. Airports, open. Flights, delayed, many canceled. And on top of that, we've already talked about the power outages.

The good news is, this storm is going away from us, but it's not quite moving fast enough. It is still very cold and will remain that way. It gets worse later in the week.

That's it in a nutshell, Brooke.

BALDWIN: It looks absolutely miserable, Martin Savidge. You say the sun is out. I will take you at your word. It doesn't look like it from here. Bundle up. Get inside. Get out of here. We have a four box, but we can make you go bye-bye for now. Martin Savidge in Cleveland.

Miguel Marquez, let me go to you. You are - yes, step out of that shot, please. Go get warm.

Miguel Marquez, let me go to you. You are driving. Where are somewhere - where are you, near Providence, Rhode Island? How are the roads?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're on I-95 southbound just north of Providence, Rhode Island, and it is miserable out here. The roads are as bad as we've seen them all day. We've been up since about 5:00 driving on these roads and it's been a mix of rain, sleet, of ice and snow. As we were -- when we were closer to the ocean, it was mostly rain and some ice. As we've gotten farther north now, we just went up into far southern Massachusetts, and it was -- it just gets worse the farther away you get from the ocean and the farther inland you get.

We've seen cars spun out all the way along I-95. There was one just south of Providence where they spun out and it blocked traffic. Not a lot of cars out for very good reason. These roads, treacherous. The plows at this point can't keep up with this. These guys got hit by about two feet of snow in the last snowstorm and they're getting up to 13 inches this time and about a quarter inch of ice. Absolutely horrendous conditions out here, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Yes, not quite the travel ban that we saw in so many of those states last week, but, still, go slowly. Miguel Marquez, we'll check back in with you there in the Providence, Rhode Island, area.

If you are not on the roads, I know many of you are trying to get out by plane. So let's go to LaGuardia in New York where Jason Carroll is watching all those different flight delays.

I mean is that the story, Jason? Is it more delays? Is it cancellations? What's the deal?

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes. Yes, that's the story today and it was actually the story last week as well. I feel like it's a snowy case of cancellation deja vu. I was standing in this exact same spot about this time last week telling the same story about all these cancellations. I feel bad having to do it again, but that is the same story. If you take a look behind me, you see a lot of people starting to go, looking at the board there, to the cancellation board. That's obviously what you don't want to see when you come to the airport. You see that cancellation sign.

We've seen a number of cancellations here at LaGuardia. I want to give you the latest flight cancellations from across the Northeast. Actually, Chicago has the most at 507. LaGuardia at 362. Newark at 309. Boston Logan, 278. And Detroit and Reagan at a tie for 113.

You know, what's happening is, Brooke, the airlines are issuing basically what they're calling like these weather-related coupons to help people so that if they're coming to the airport and they find that your flight has been canceled - hi there. How's it going? Cancellation flights. That's what we're doing here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

CARROLL: I know, everyone's talking about it. Everyone's saying, oh, you're talking about the cancelled flights. But, you know what, (INAUDIBLE), Brooke --

BALDWIN: They're like, you, again, Jason Carroll. That's a bad sign.

CARROLL: I know, they see me here, they're like, not you again. It's like, yes, sorry, it's me. Yes, sir, I am talking about the canceled flights.

But the airlines are doing what they can. Carriers such as American Airlines, Delta, JetBlue giving these weather waivers so that if you find that your flight is being canceled due to weather, they're giving you an option to change your flight without incurring costs. So that's something that's definitely helping when you're out here at a spot like LaGuardia. But, unfortunately, it might get worse before it gets better. We'll see

Brooke.

BALDWIN: Oy, yi, yi. Check ahead of time. We say that over and over, check ahead of time.

CARROLL: Yes.

BALDWIN: Jason Carroll, thank you very much, the bearer of bad news for all those travelers around you we're afraid.

CARROLL: Sorry.

BALDWIN: Let's hop - let's hop to Boston now, to my colleague, Jennifer Gray.

We were out in it all week last week and I just can't believe it. I mean here you are again. At least, you know, their team won the Super Bowl last night. I kept thinking, at least all these people get to sleep in after the big win?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. You know what, I'm sure it's a Super Bowl miracle here in Boston, the people they got to sleep in today, not go to work, not go to school. They got to enjoy the game and enjoy today as well. Surprisingly, though, they're actually going to still go on with the

parade tomorrow at 11:00 and it's going to be a mess. They are getting those plows out. We have one right here aside from our live shot that's trying to plow where we are, but a lot of the streets are just a slushy mess. Of course, you have those snow mounds, Brooke, as we saw all last week. They're still out here as well. And so there's going to be trouble for people finding a place just to stand because of all those snow mound out there. Hopefully they'll be able to get those streets clear where the parade's going to be.

But still, with temperatures hovering right around freezing, right now we're at 29, but we have had a little bit of a wintry mix and we're expected to get somewhat of a wintry mix over the next couple of hours and then temperatures are going to plummet. And so everything on the ground, the slush that we have right now, is going to freeze. And so the worry is now that flash freeze that's going to make travel a nightmare on the roads. Of course, we had, what, 24 inches of snow just last week and now we have about a foot on top of that. And so just so much snow here in the city and they're trying to get it out as soon as they can.

Let's go to those weather maps because 29 degrees right now in Boston. We have had a little bit of a mix. Of course, we are looking at the snow and the continuing north of New York City, but still seeing that mix, of course, there in the city. And so that is going to mean trouble for New York as well. Still dealing with that flash freeze for the overnight hours. So be very careful on the roads there.

There's a look at the radar here in Boston. Of course, dealing with snow and then -- oh, quick little changeover. That just fell off the roof. A quick little changeovers as we go through the next couple of hours. Additional snowfall that we're expected to get anywhere from, say, 10 to 12 inches possible in Massachusetts. Of course, in New Hampshire, Maine, even more possibly.

Let's time this out. We all want to get it out of here. By 10:30 tonight, it looks like most of it will be offshore heading into Maine and then quickly clearing out, but temperatures are going to be very, very cold, in the single digits by parade time tomorrow, Brooke, and it is windy, you can tell. Winds 30 and 40 miles per hour gusts out here in Boston throughout the day and this evening as well.

Back to you.

BALDWIN: She does the forecast in the frigid weather. Jennifer Gray, thank you very much.

One interesting little factoid, driving out of Boston last week, surrounded by those two feet of snow, my cab driver was telling me they actually have things called snow farms. Did you know that? Where they actually take all this snow like around downtown Boston and they haul it out to snow farms because they know so much more snow is coming in and they want to prevent potential flooding. So, learn something new every day, I suppose.

Thanks all to you for braving it for us, for telling the story that is really crippling much of the northeastern part of the county. We'll check back in with you.

Meantime, just ahead here on CNN, new information on the condition of Whitney Houston's daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, found face-down in the bathtub, nearly three years after her mother died in the tub as well. More on that story.

Plus, measles now spreading, 14 states now. Hear what other diseases are on the rise because a lot of these kids are not getting their shots.

And some critics say it was the worst call in Super Bowl history. We'll talk about the Seahawks' last minute decision with a current NFL running back and we will literally take you inside the meeting room where Nationwide executives decided to go with this controversial ad. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That is Katy Perry, star of last night's Super Bowl halftime show. The highlight of the night for a lot of non-football fans, although I may add Missy Elliott, that was awesome. The Seattle Seahawks fans, for them, the low light of the night came at the very end of the game on this play.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ballman (ph) sets up on the left. Play clock at five. Pass is intercepted at the goal line by Malcolm Butler! Unreal!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: What? We have a whole other segment on Malcolm Butler coming up, but unreal. Yes, that's one word for that. Seahawks fans might have some other choice four-letter language to describe what just happened there. But this is why. The Seahawks have Marshawn Lynch, probably the best running back in the entire league, nickname beast mode. You hand the ball off to this guy and you might win the game. Worst case scenario, he gets stuffed and you at least have two more plays to run. Instead, you heard the interception, the Patriots intercept this rookie, intercepts the pass, they win the game.

ESPN's Ian O'Connor (ph) described it as, quote, "the dumbest and most damaging call in Super Bowl history." Players took to Twitter. They were not at all any more forgiving. Let me read you a couple of these. Jets defensive end Sheldon Richardson tweeting, "you have a running back named beast mode and you line up in shotgun formation and throw the ball on the one yard line? The real MVP is Seattle's offensive coordinator." Ouch. Hall of Fame running back Emit Smith wrote simply, "that was the worst play call I have seen in the history of football."

Let's talk about this with Carolina Panthers' running back DeAngelo Williams. He joins me now.

DeAngelo, good to see you. DEANGELO WILLIAMS, CAROLINA PANTHERS RUNNING BACK: Hi, Brooke. Good to

see you, too.

BALDWIN: OK. So you were colorful on Twitter as well, but I wanted to hear it from you directly. You were watching. You saw what happened.

WILLIAMS: Yes.

BALDWIN: Your reaction was?

WILLIAMS: I cannot believe they just made that call. And I think it's hilarious, too, because I mean you can kind of see the devaluation of a running back throughout the league and, you know, with the quarterback position being the highest paid position and there's been a throwing (ph) league, in my mind I'm thinking, maybe he thought that that would work. I know for a fact that if they were to hand the ball to Marshawn Lynch, that they would have scored a touchdown. And this is why I know for a fact. Because if you go back to Tom Brady's interview, he said that he was grabbing his helmet, getting ready to go back on the field to go try to win a football game. So he knew that they wasn't going to be able to stop beast mode.

BALDWIN: Yet, we saw what happened. And so you're buddies with Marshawn. I mean you say it's hilarious. I'm guessing he's not laughing at all.

WILLIAMS: No.

BALDWIN: You told me in commercial break when we were chatting, you haven't talked to him, but what do you think he's thinking today?

WILLIAMS: Well, I'm not going to put my thoughts into his head, but, I mean, as a running back and every running back out there, we all kind of felt the same way. Like, if I'm the offensive coordinator, which I'm not, I would have made the call to give it to him. You have one timeout. You have seconds left on the clock. You have beast mode in the back and he hadn't been stopped for a negative yard play the whole game. You just give him the ball.

But I wouldn't put my thoughts into his head, but if I was him and it was me, I would have - I would have said, hey, put it in my hands. When the play came through, hey, give me the rock, let me - let me try to help our team win because you want to put your most successful players in the most successful plays to win a game of this magnitude.

BALDWIN: So, obviously, I've never played football. I imagine in a huddle you hear what the play is, the, you know, the coach calls the play. If you're Marshawn, if you're the running back and you hear this is all about - this is a pass, can you say no?

WILLIAMS: I mean you can say no, but you're still going to run that pass play. The only one that has the opportunity to trump the offensive coordinator call is the quarterback. And the only way he could trump that call is call a time-out, which he would have burned that final time-out. So I think he was kind of handcuffed to the call when they gave him the call. I mean Pete Carroll's - he's obviously done a great job. I mean they won the Super Bowl last year. I just think this year, going into it, they played chess when they should have played checkers. I mean it's -- you've got to put your guys in the best place to win.

BALDWIN: So, I mean, you have Pete - the coach, Pete Carroll, saying, you know, right afterwards, it was my fault totally. You had the quarterback, Russell Wilson, you know, refuting all of that. His quote was, I put the blame on me. I'm the one who threw it. At the end of the day, DeAngelo, where does -- who does the buck stop with?

WILLIAMS: Well, it's going to stop with all three of the guys. It's going to stop with the offensive coordinator, it's going to stop with the head coach, and it's going to go with Russell Wilson, of course, because each person's perception is their reality. So whoever they feel is to blame for this, that's who they're going to blame. And there's only three people that they can blame. There's nobody else they can blame. They can't blame beast mode, the offensive line, because nobody else was involved. You know, and Pete Carroll being the head coach that he is, he's supposed to take the blame because you are the head of your team. You supposedly are supposed to make all of the calls in the general public eyes when we all know that it's the offensive coordinator, and you just say yes and you just say no and the call is being made.

BALDWIN: OK.

WILLIAMS: The quarterback is the one who executes the play. You know, was it a poor pass? I don't know.

BALDWIN: OK.

WILLIAMS: Was it a great play by Butler? Absolutely it was a great play by Butler. Patriots win.

BALDWIN: OK, can we talk about the Patriots -

WILLIAMS: But there's no doubt in my mind --

BALDWIN: Go ahead.

WILLIAMS: Yes, go ahead.

BALDWIN: With the Patriots -

WILLIAMS: But there's no doubt in my mind - there's no doubt in my mind that they if they give the ball to Marshawn, it's a different outcome in the Super Bowl.

BALDWIN: I think a lot of people would agree with you. But can we talk about the Patriots, because they did - they did win.

WILLIAMS: Yes. Let's go. Right.

BALDWIN: And do you think - do you think Tom Brady and Coach Bill Belichick, I mean will they go down as the best coach/player pair in all of NFL history, do you think? WILLIAMS: They will, but out of the four Super Bowls they won, they'll

have two asterisks beside two of them, that would be -

BALDWIN: Uh-oh, why?

WILLIAMS: Deflate-gate and spy-gate. They're both have an asterisk beside --

BALDWIN: Spy-gate. See, I hear all the - I hear the Patriots Nation eye roll, DeAngelo, hearing you say that.

WILLIAMS: Hey, but there - but you have to understand this, too. Like - you know, I'm a Brandon Lafell (ph) fan. He played with us last year. You know, I congratulate him and the Patriots together. But at the same time, like, their has -- you have to agree that it has been some serious things going on to where, you know, every year that they make it to the Super Bowl, some things are questioned. And the only reason why deflate-gate is not an issue now is because they didn't give Marshawn the ball.

BALDWIN: I think they would pull out another some sort of, you know, physicist to prove you're wrong.

WILLIAMS: Yes.

BALDWIN: But, listen, I know you're buddies with Marshawn. I see where the loyalty is. DeAngelo Williams, thank you so much for spending the time with me. I really, really appreciate it. Thank you.

WILLIAMS: Thank you for having me.

BALDWIN: Thanks.

Coming up next here on CNN, Whitney Houston's daughter, Bobbi Kristina, is now in this medically induced coma after being found unconscious in her bathtub. New information just into us here at CNN from the police report. We'll have that for you.

Also ahead, this outbreak of measles across America has a lot of you on edge. Should parents be forced to vaccinate their kids? We'll talk about that coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The late Whitney Houston's only child, 21-year-old Bobbi Kristina Brown, remains in this medically induced coma at a hospital in Atlanta. Medics raced her to the hospital Saturday. That morning, police say her husband found her face-down and unresponsive in a tub full of water inside their home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

911 DISPATCHER: responding to an ECHO-level response. Possible cardiac arrest. 21-year-old female in the bathtub, facedown. PD's en route.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: This tragic incident, eerily similar to the circumstances of her own mother's death nearly three years ago to the date. It was February 11th when Whitney Houston drown in that Beverly Hills Hotel bathtub. She also was found facedown.

CNN's Nick Valencia is in Atlanta, out that hospital, where family members have gathered, including Bobbi Kristina's father, singer Bobby Brown. Also with me is CNN legal analyst Sunny Hostin, who has sources close to the situation.

So, Nick, to you first. What more do we know as far as what happened?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you mentioned, Brooke, we know that Bobbi Kristina Brown, the 21-year-old, only child of Whitney Houston, is still in medically induced coma. Her current condition, though, is unknown. The hospital being very tight-lipped about releasing that information.

Here's what we do know is that she was found, as you mentioned, facedown in a bathtub at about 10:30 in Roswell, about 45 minutes outside of Atlanta. What is unclear, however, is just how long she was not breathing, just how long she was unconscious. Of course, that will contribute to just how well her recovery is, if at all. We're told this morning, according to media reports, that the family has been told by the hospital to prepare for the worst.

It is unfortunate to say, Brooke, but there has been loads of speculation surrounding the chemical dependency of Bobby Kristina Brown. Concerns within the family, which is why it was worth asking this weekend, the Roswell Police Department, if drugs or alcohol played any factor in this incident. I was told by Roswell Police that on an initial sweep of that residence, there was no obvious signs of drugs or alcohol at play. Of course, there were additional search warrants that were carried out over the weekend. The results of which are still not known.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: All right, Sunny, I want to come to you in just a moment, but first, you know, we haven't really heard from Bobbi Kristina much since her mother's death. I want to just play something. This is when she sat down with Oprah and told Oprah, this is 2012, she said she was doing OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOBBI KRISTINA BROWN, WHITNEY HOUSTON'S DAUGHTER: If you were to ask me this months ago, I would have said, I wouldn't be able to get through it. I would have said no. I would have went right with her. I wouldn't have gotten through it at all. But -

OPRAH WINFREY: You're getting through it?

BROWN: Yes. Yes. I am. It's -- it's so surreal that, you know, I still walk in the house, like, mom? Yo know, I still, you know, call her name. But it's -- I've accepted it. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Sunny, you have sources close to the situation. Tell me what you're hearing. Also, just a little bit more context as far as how close she is to her father and who her husband is.

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Brooke, her father is certainly at the hospital. He has been at her bedside. He flew in. However, they have had a difficult relationship by all accounts. That is what my sources are telling me, but that he is certainly there. And in terms of her husband, I will tell you that while in January Bobbi Kristina did sort of, you know, Instagram some photos of wedding rings and said, I'm happily married, there are members in the family that are saying that they may not be legally married and so that's something that has (INAUDIBLE) a bit of (INAUDIBLE) within the family, no question about it.