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LEGAL VIEW WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD

Winter Storms Hit Midwest, New England; Flight Cancellations Abound; Whitney Houston's Daughter Hospitalized

Aired February 2, 2015 - 12:00   ET

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


ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. And welcome to LEGAL VIEW.

You might think this is Groundhog Day because it sure does feel like Groundhog Day, especially if you're in the Northeast and it's because of a winter storm. In fact, this is the second round of winter weather in a week. Winter storm warnings in nine, count them, nine different states.

In fact, Boston is declaring a snow emergency. It's banning people from parking on the streets. Parts of Massachusetts are expecting up to 14 inches of snow. And, remember, they already got walloped there last week.

The Midwest is also not getting a pass on this one. They're getting slammed too. Up to a foot of snow forecast for parts of Iowa, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. If you're in Chicago right now, I am very sorry to say, you probably know this, you've got more than a foot and a half of snow over the weekend. It happens to be one for the record books, too. It's the fifth largest snowstorm in Chicago's history.

In Cleveland, the story is all about the wind. It was so bad, it nearly blew our Martin Savidge away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is the wind and it is blasting us. Right now coming from the exact opposite direction of yesterday, which means this storm's moving away. But it's like needles against the side of the face. It's 20 to 30 miles an hour.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: It just sounds like it hurts. A story in Nebraska, dangerous conditions there turned deadly. Two people were killed in different car accidents yesterday.

And the mayor of Toledo, Ohio, Michael Collins, he's in the hospital today in critical condition. The 70-year-old was headed home from a news conference of all things yesterday afternoon when he went into cardiac arrest and then his car slammed into a utility pole. Affiliate WTBG says that a woman actually had to break a window to get him out of the car and perform CPR. I want to get right to our incredible team that's providing you

comprehensive coverage of this storm that's really sweeping across the country.

Martin Savidge, as you saw, still has the assignment in Cleveland. He's in the middle of those three boxes beside me. Brian Todd is at a mobile unit near Wilmington, Massachusetts. He's out of the car, on the left-hand side of Martin. And on the right-hand side of Martin, Ryan Young is getting his first taste of winter as a CNN reporter in Chicago.

I'm going to the veteran here, Martin Savidge, not just because you're the veteran at CNN, because you have the worst assignment of everyone. You are getting hammered by wind and what feels like little nails of snow. Get me up to date in Cleveland.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK, they're going -- going to --

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure. Well, we're at the heat of the day, actually. And, ironically, this is the time when the winter storm warning for Cleveland is supposed to expire, although we're still getting snowed on here, still getting wind.

Let me show you the impact. The wind is not just causing snow problems, it's causing power problems. Here's a line down. It's been shut down, so it's not a hazard. But as a result, the traffic lights in the center of Cleveland are nonfunctioning. If you think it's bad with the snow on the ground for traffic, just try driving in the slippery conditions and no traffic lights. There are officers out there trying to control things here.

The snow drifts on the street are now freezing solid, so they're not going to be plowing these away anytime soon. And as you mentioned, it is the wind and it's coming straight out of the east now. It means the storm is going away. However, it doesn't look like it's going away.

The airport is open, but many flights canceled, or definitely delayed. Every school up here practically I think is closed, including all the major cities in the north.

And then you talk about Toledo and the mayor there. They've suffered even more. More snow, about eight inches there, 13 up there, high winds and it's the bitter cold. We're still below zero with the windchill and yet this side of this face is still feeling like nails.

Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Oh, I'm sorry for laughing, but I only know I can do this because you and I both are from Canada and I'm -- I want to just be quite for a moment and I'd like you to also just hold your mike out so that our viewers can hear the wind. It's just -- it's howling past the mike. Let's listen for just a second.

So, Martin, with that sound, I want to take you back to the days when we listened to our radio reports when we were kids, exposed skin freezes in a certain number of seconds when you have a windchill like that.

SAVIDGE: Right.

BANFIELD: I know you said that -- your feels like temperature, you're around 11 degrees, but it feels like I think one degree, but I think it would really be below zero with that kind of a wind. Do you have any idea what that exposed skin freezes in how many seconds index would be?

SAVIDGE: Well, I mean, you're still, obviously, talking minutes, I believe, when you talk about freezing. But that's why I'm doing my best sort of radio announcer impersonation here is actually -- this gloved hand is to protect this side of the face because, once it gets wet, which it does with the melting snow, it accelerates that freezing problem.

So we're doing better now. When we started this morning, we were at, I believe, seven below zero. I'm no medical experience, but I think if I stayed out for longer than maybe 10 minutes, I would be facing at least the potential for frostbite, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Oh, my friend, I remember the days in Winnipeg of my mouth freezing and I was unable to even broadcast, it was so difficult. Please be careful because this is dangerous. You and your crew need to go and get some temperatures in the car and we'll come back to you in a little while. But, poor Martin. He's doing a great job out there, though.

OK. So, next up, Ryan Young. The man from Miami got the assignment in Chicago. Wow, that was pretty mean of us, but you're doing it. Oh, you're so adorable. You're helping them push a car.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

BANFIELD: This is another induction.

YOUNG: Yes, we are.

BANFIELD: Oh, gosh, look at you.

YOUNG: We -- we were -- we were on a side street and, unfortunately, this guy got stuck right next to us. So everyone's been helping to push cars out and we've been doing this pretty much all morning long. I can tell you, with the winter-like conditions, people have been trying to carve themselves out. But this is the issue on the side streets and, obviously, people are trying to get to work and trying to get out of their homes and it's a -- it's a daunting task, especially around these neighborhoods where the streets haven't been plowed. And that's one of the reasons why we came over here. So this is like the third or fourth car that we've tried to help push out. But as you can see, it's just a big mess.

BANFIELD: So, Ryan, I know this is a long way from Miami. I know this is a far cry from what you're used to. But, I mean, the truth of the matter is, where you are in Chicago, I think those guys who are pushing the car might be used to this, but they're breaking records in Chicago. I'm sure it's no surprise to those people that you've been coming in contact with.

YOUNG: Well, 19 inches so far. We've talked to most of the people here and they said, look, it's a big snow. They didn't have any issues. But now they're getting upset because the side streets, as you see -- look at the back up here. They're upset about that. They want their life to return to normal. The major arteries, they're OK. But the side streets are the issue. And, of course, if your car is buried, that's the last thing you want to hear is that they're going to come around later on to clear these side streets. A lot of the cars that are up and down this lane here have damage because people have been sliding into the cars and hitting them, but you can't stop from trying to help somebody as they're trying to get out of the snow.

BANFIELD: No, this is just the biggest pain in the butt when it comes to, you know, just trying to get mobile. This is why they have snow days. The kids can't get out, parents can't get to work. Everybody's on foot.

All right, Ryan, stay warm and good job. Welcome to CNN. Nice to see you. You're doing great.

YOUNG: Thank you.

BANFIELD: I feel so bad, that's his first assignment. He didn't get the Super Bowl. It would have been much better.

OK, I want to go to Brian Todd, who's standing by in Lawrence, Massachusetts. I can't imagine it's any more pleasant where you are. Sir, you're not wearing your hat but that does not -- that belies the fact that it's really nasty out there.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's very nasty out here, Ashleigh. And here's a problem we're running into. We're on Lowell (ph) Street here in Wilmington, Mass. No place to put your car, if you think you're going to get stranded, if you want to pull off the road. We've seen about three or four vehicles just get stranded in this stuff, in this driveway going into this gas station. When you need to pull off the road because the conditions are this bad, whiteout conditions, you get about a foot of this slushy stuff that you get stuck in, and that is a problem.

We're going to go from this camera outside to my dash camera. We have a three-camera capability in our vehicle. Our photojournalist, Khalil Abdulah (ph), is going to put that camera down. I'm talking into the dash camera right now. We're just outside Wilmington. You can see the whiteout conditions behind me. And as I move from here into our vehicle camera inside, we're going to pull out and we're going to try to get on the interstate, 93. It's one of the major thoroughfares here in Massachusetts. And, again, it's covered.

What we're told by state officials and we also just talked to plow truck drivers who were having this problem, even though there's less snow coming down in this snowstorm than there was last week, Ashleigh, the visibility is much worse now. And it's gotten worse just in the last couple of hours that we've been on the road. I'm going to switch from my camera here back out to the dash camera as

we get in -- on the exit to Route 93 south toward Boston. And -- well, here we are. Look, we're blocked. We can't get on the highway because this plow truck is here waiting for someone to exit. So we were going to -- this is the way things are going when you try to navigate your way around the interstates here. I can tell you, though, that that Interstate 93 is covered in snow. There are whiteout conditions. And state officials are telling us that what they're really worried about is a couple of things, more people on the road than there were last week because there's no travel ban, and later on there's a cold front coming. These road temperatures are dipping right now and they're going to freeze. They call it flash freezing. That's what's going to happen. A lot of these roads are going to freeze, maybe even before the salt trucks and the plow trucks can get gone and get them cleared. So as we move on to I-93 here, that's where I'll leave it with you. We're moving now, Ashleigh, but the conditions are very dangerous right now.

BANFIELD: Yes, be very careful because I could see a little melt dribbling down your windshield. I don't know if it's from your defroster or whether there's any kind of melt going on, but we've got some really freezing conditions south of you in the New York/Connecticut area and it is going to get really deadly real quick. So, Brian Todd and your crew, be safe as well. And my thanks to Martin Savidge, Ryan Young, our new guys, and Brian Todd for their intrepid winter reporting.

By the way, if you are just over it, hello, welcome to the club. And I've got some bad news for you, groundhog Punxsutawney Phil, that little rodent with a mean streak, he's done it to us again. Yes, everybody's cheering. He's really, really cute. But he saw his shadow. That means the forecast is for six more weeks of winter. That's an annual appearance. I'm getting tired of it, though. Rarely it bring good news these days. Oh, Phil, Phil, Phil.

Okey-dokey, Super Bowl fans who are trying to fly back into Boston may be out of luck because just along with about anybody else out there trying to get in or out of the Midwest and the Northeast, no such luck. Thousands and thousands of flights are canceled. See all the red? The sea of red? We're going to explain who's in, who's out and who's stuck and staying put.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Welcome back to LEGAL VIEW.

But this is really a winter story where the law and winter intersects because snow is hammering the Northeast so badly that there are two trials in Massachusetts that are delayed. We've been keeping a close eye on them, but they're dark today. The pre-trial hearing that was scheduled for Boston bombing Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, canceled. And for the second time, snow has shut down a former New England Patriots trial. Aaron Hernandez is on trial for murder and that courtroom, also dark today. And, of course, he will not be celebrating with any of the other New England Patriots or their fans. Snow is causing air travel delays across the country too. There have

been thousands and thousands of flights canceled so far. We've got a couple of people on this story, the travel woe story, from different angles. Chad Myers is live outside in the rain, looking very wet, cold and miserable, as I expected. And drier but in a very complicated place is Jean Casarez. She's at LaGuardia Airport, where I can only imagine there are dozens of people who are very frustrated, trying to get where they're going and getting no love.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So true. Exactly, very upset here the people are. And the numbers keep going up. Right now, Ashleigh, we've got new numbers. Over 3,400 flights have been canceled around the country. Now, Chicago O'Hare is the number one airport in the country, but number two, you're looking at it right here, LaGuardia and Newark are neck to neck with airport cancellations.

And this morning, it was desolate. There was no one here expect some people that worked here. Now the passengers are starting to come to the airport. And the longest line that I see right here, this is customer assistance. It's not check-in. These are people that have been canceled. And I am hearing horror stories from these people that were canceled yesterday, now they're canceled today, they can't get through to a live person, they come to the airport. And we have a law student from Michigan University Law School that's trying to get back so she can get on with her course to become a lawyer. She's probably one of the most unhappy people of all right now, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: All right, Jean Casarez watching things for us at LaGuardia.

And Chad Myers is watching things from Columbus Circle.

I love the fact that you tell people it make look nice and clear and pristine behind you, but it's because there's an army of workers who are clearing the concrete behind you.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: No question.

BANFIELD: And it is going to be a dangerous day here. Can you get me up to speed on the story in New York and the area surrounding it?

MYERS: If you walk on a piece of concrete that was not cleaned like this, it's going to look like this. That is what our luggage looks like.

BANFIELD: Oh, wow! Wow!

MYERS: That's what -- that's the ice. This is a ten-pound case that I can barely pick up because of the ice that's accumulating on it right now.

Now, we'll go to this shot over here and you see what the trees look like. They are ice coated. They are covered and they are getting heavier. It is 29 degrees and it is raining. That is not a good combination.

I just got a call from California and they said, how can it possibly be raining at 29? Why is it not snowing? Because at 6,000 feet it's 35 degrees, so making raindrops. Those raindrops are falling through the sky, hitting the ground and making that and making that. Some of those tree limbs could come down. Some of those tree limbs could bring down some power lines. Or when the ice falls off, sometimes the tree limbs snap back up, and that's when the power lines come off as well.

BANFIELD: Oh.

MYERS: So kind of a double whammy.

We know that there's some ice building up on some of the buildings up here, so at some point in time, when it warms up, that ice will fall off. Bad for pedestrians. A lot of things going on that are not pleasant, and then you have all the snow from Boston all the way across still into Pennsylvania and New York. Remember, now, from Omaha to Lincoln, to Des Moines and Chicago, and I can keep going from South Bend to Toledo and Detroit, it just keeps going. That's where the snow has been.

Here's where the snow is going. We still have snow into Maine, all the way up to Massachusetts. Here comes the storm right now, making that 29 degree and rain for New York, but still making snow for Boston. And all of a sudden those arrows are coming from the wrong direction. Ashleigh, they are coming from your home country and they're cold.

BANFIELD: Oh, there we go.

MYERS: Tomorrow morning, where I'm standing, it will be 8 degrees. I know. We're not blaming Canada, because it's coming from farther north than that.

BANFIELD: Yes. But I was just going to say, blame Canada.

MYERS: I'm blaming Santa Clause.

BANFIELD: Yes, perfect, perfect, because he's asleep at the switch. Just quickly, I want you to give me 10 seconds on flash freezing. Are we still at risk for flash freezes on like I-95, the busiest travel corridor in America?

MYERS: Anything that looks shiny and wet tonight, about an hour before sunset, when the power of the sun, although it's not coming through like a bright sunshine, it's warming it up a little bit, 10 minutes or so right after that it's going to flash freeze. Everything's going to get icy at once and people aren't going to realize that it's happened. So watch out as we start to get to dark.

BANFIELD: That is scary. All right, Chad, stay warm. Thank you for that. Great information.

MYERS: You're welcome.

BANFIELD: I appreciate it. Or team is just doing a terrific job, and it's painful work, folks, so we're very thankful for their efforts.

We've got other news to report to you, and this is really a sad story. Whitney Houston's daughter is right now in a medically induced coma. This is after she was found unresponsive in her bathtub, just like her mother had been three years ago. We're going to get you updated on what we know about her condition and, of course, the investigation into the circumstances, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Still hard to believe that almost three years ago to the week that Whitney Houston turned up dead in a bathtub in Vegas, her 21-year-old daughter was found unresponsive, no heartbeat, in a bathtub in her townhouse in Roswell, Georgia. Three years almost to the week. Today, Bobbi Kristina Brown is said to be in a medically induced coma at a Roswell Hospital, just north of Atlanta. And my CNN colleague, Nick Valencia, is there.

So many people shaking their head at the possibility that this could be almost a similar circumstance, but we really don't know a whole lot about the circumstance in its entirety, do we?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not at all, Ashleigh. It is, some would say, an eerily similar circumstance and other are hoping that it's just a bizarre coincidence. Bobbi Kristina Brown, the 21-year- old, only child of Whitney Houston, is remaining hospitalized, remains hospitalized here at North Fulton Hospital. We don't have any information about her current condition. The hospital is not releasing that information. But we are told and read media reports this morning that the family is being told to prepare for the worst.

What we just don't know is what happened inside that Roswell residence around 10:30 on Saturday morning and just how long Bobbi Kristina Brown was face down in that bathtub and how long she wasn't breathing for. Of course, Ashleigh, the longer she was without air to her system, to her body, it's going to be more difficult for her to recover.

Also I asked this weekend if drugs or alcohol had any factor in the incident on Saturday. Of course there has been long speculation about the 21-year-old's chemical dependency. Roswell Police said, on an initial sweep of that residence, that they did not see any obvious signs of drug or alcohol playing a factor, but they did carry out additional search warrants. The results of those that we don't know, cannot report. We just haven't heard back from the records department.

But a statement over the weekend from Bobby Brown is asking for privacy for the family as they deal with this. They're asking for love and support for the family. Right now it's just a wait-and-see game to her well-being.

Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: And just a quick correction. I misspoke. I said that Whitney had died in Vegas. She was, in fact, in Los Angeles, the Beverly Hilton Hotel. And it was right before -- it was a pre-Grammy party, if I remember correctly.

Do we know if there was any events or any circumstances prior to or, you know, in the near future for Bobbi Kristina that might give some indication as to maybe what she was thinking or where her head space was at this time before this happened?

VALENCIA: Well, if you glean anything from her social media pages -- I mentioned that concern from inside the family, that was no secret. But if you look at her social media pages, her Instagram, her Twitter account, it seems as though that she had been making some positive strides, getting back to working out, staying living a healthier lifestyle, wanting to resurrect an acting career. It is worth mentioning also that a Lifetime movie did come out a week or so ago on her mother that portrayed her mother as some would say in a negative light, saying that her fame and fortune was based off the success of Bobby Brown. There's a lot of blogs and reporting out there this morning that say that that could have contributed to it. That is just speculation, though, at this point, Ashleigh. We don't know if there was any upcoming events for Bobbi Kristina Brown. She had -- her last post on social media was about 2:00 a.m. Saturday morning and it was just eight hours later that she was found in that bathtub, unresponsive, not breathing, by her husband and a friend.

Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: So this is just heartbreaking for everyone involved, particularly for her dad, you know, Bobby Brown. He put out a statement yesterday. It was very, very short. Very to the point. Effectively just confirming what the media was reporting, that his daughter was, in fact, in the hospital. But, I mean, it was really clear, no additional information will be forthcoming. So, Nick, has he been at the hospital? Has anyone seen him coming or going? Do we know if he's going to be -- go ahead.

VALENCIA: Well, we have -- we have not physically seen him, but there are reports that he was flown from California to Georgia with the help of Tyler Perry on that jet, Tyler Perry's jet. We have not seen any members of the family. As a matter of fact, when I came here on Saturday, just after the news broke, I went into the hospital to try to talk to a hospital spokesman. They said they didn't even have that available for us. And then they asked us right after that to leave the property. So we haven't seen anyone coming or going.

We're actually right across the street from that hospital. It was -- it's gone from very little activity outside this hospital to a lot of, as you would suspect, a lot of media presence here outside. Everyone waiting for word on the condition of that 21-year-old Bobbi Kristina Brown, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Certainly. Our thoughts and our prayers with her family. This is a terribly difficult situation for them to be in. Nick Valencia reporting live from Roswell, Georgia, thank you for that.

I am sure that many people are sort of coming down off of their Super Bowl buzz in one way or another, or they're desperately depressed their team lost. The Patriots are probably preparing for a big parade tomorrow. The problem is we've got knee-deep snowfall in a lot of places. Look at your maps. That is a lousy place to live if you live in the right-hand side of the country, effectively. We're going to have more on this big winter storm that's still on the move and making a big mess across the Midwest, the Northeast. How much worse can it get? And who is in the path next? That's coming up, next.

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