Coming Snowstorm; Missing in the Gulf
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Right season, but the right place? This is what it looks like, all the way to Atlanta and beyond. Get ready for the northeast. You are next. A developing story off the Florida Gulf coast. The search is on for four missing boaters and two of them are NFL players. And retracing history. Civil rights icon Julian Bond shares his story. Hello, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. And you're in the CNN NEWSROOM. All right spring is supposed to be three weeks away. But winter isn't ready to give up just yet. A big snowstorm is rolling through the southeast and heading north with a vengeance. Traffic backed up along interstate 40 in western Tennessee. Hundreds of flights were canceled at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport and the snow caused several traffic accidents in Birmingham, Alabama as well. A winter storm warning stretches all the way into New England where they are predicting up to 15 inches of snow. Our i-reporters are getting involved as well. They're all over this story. Cindy Williams sent in these pictures to show us what the snow looks like in Phoenix City, Alabama. That's in the eastern part of the state, just across the border from Columbus, Georgia. And the snow was deep enough in Smiths, Alabama, to make snow angels just like that right. There ironically, Smiths is just five miles from Salem, Alabama, where three possible tornadoes were reported yesterday. And this is what it looks like in Memphis, Tennessee, right there. I- reporter Chris Stoner says he was snowing there - or he says it was snowing rather there for about 12 hours. All right. Well, that Tennessee snow may have been pretty, but it cause some real travel problems. Laura McPherson is the public information officer for the Tennessee Department of Safety. She joins us now by phone from Nashville. All right. Paint a picture for me because you've had snow there almost all day now. We're looking at some of the recent images which shows the roads are clear but is that indeed the case?</s>VOICE OF LAURA MCPHERSON, TENNESSEE DEPT. OF SAFETY: Well it certainly is in West Tennessee. Things have improved greatly. I-40 in Haywood County which is near Memphis. It's in our Memphis district for the Tennessee Highway Patrol. It's back open and the captain in that district tells me that vehicles are going about 45 miles an hour or better, which is certainly an improvement to what we saw early this morning and overnight. There are still some stranded vehicles. Troopers out on the roads trying to assist those people who are stranded still.</s>WHITFIELD: Yes, because right now, Laura, we're looking at images on this roadway where it is bumper to bumper. It's a real mess. And you can see that on i-40 here, is what I understand there were also some fender benders as well. So for the most part cleared up, at least in that area?</s>MCPHERSON: In that area. We're now getting reports of having problems in east Tennessee. We have several state highways and -- that have been shut down. I-26, interstate 26 near the North Carolina border, they are having some issues because snow is falling pretty heavily in that area.</s>WHITFIELD: OK. Laura McPherson, thanks so much with the Tennessee Department of Safety. Appreciate it. And all the best with the snow. All right. Well, the snow has certainly been coming down right here in Atlanta as well. All afternoon I was among those who was a nonbeliever. No way it's going to snow to this depth in Atlanta. But here we go. And look Jacqui Jeras is like, I told you so.</s>JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I know, you still haven't really apologized. You just -</s>WHITFIELD: I know, I apologized in the last hour. Good lord. I'm sorry for doubting you. The snow is here. We're all enjoying it.</s>JERAS: Isn't it beautiful, Fredricka?</s>WHITFIELD: Yes, it is beautiful, Jacqui. And you are beautiful in it.</s>JERAS: Oh, I'm in my element. We'll tell you that. It's big. It's wet. It is slushy. And it has been coming down since about 11:30 this morning in the Atlanta metro area. It almost looks like big feathers falling from the sky. That's how big some of these flakes are. Because of the moisture content in this snow, it's really tough to estimate just how much we've had. But my educated guess is that we're looking at probably two inches in the downtown area here. You know, take note that it's collecting on these surfaces. It's a good packing snow but it still kind of tough to make a snowman because a lot of this is still kind of melting. In fact, look at the table here. Look at how all of this was just white snow. And now it's just basically turning to slush. And one of our biggest problems is as our temperatures drop tonight, we're going to be dealing with some very, very icy roadways and yes, we're already having a lot of problem in terms of air traffic and this thing is going to be moving through the mid-atlantic into the northeast. This is a storm we're going to deal with for a good two days. All right. Let's show you what's going on in terms of snowfall totals thus far, across as far to the south. Germantown, Tennessee. That's a suburb of Memphis. There's still over five inches of snowfall there. Columbus, Mississippi, three inches. And an inch in Huntsville. The heaviest of snow as we show you our radar map is still coming down right here in the ATL down toward La Grange, into Columbus and then southeast of the Montgomery area. And we're seeing the snow also developing across the Appalachians chains. And we're going to start to see this change over to some snow across the Carolinas. The winter storm warnings have been posted in that area. Charlotte, looking for four to eight inches. And by the way, here in Atlanta, we've been upgraded to a winter storm warning from the advisory because we're expecting another one to two on top of what we already have. All right. Let's talk about the next map here and show you some of these delays that we're going to be talking about. If you are trying to travel and talking about those temperatures. 23 will be the overnight low. So bridges and overpasses are going to be iced. Anything that's not treated will be very, very hazardous. Let's talk about air travel now. We've had over 300 flights canceled by Delta. There's a ground stop in effect at the airport. Meaning you can't take off to get here at this time. Delays in the northeast corner already over an hour in Boston and Neward. And really we haven't see the snow begin there just yet. Let's go ahead and show you the northeastern radar. And the conditions there. We've had just a light dusting. There's a little wave of the first piece of energy pulled on through. But the snowfall accumulation map will show you just how heavy things are going to get. We think the real show begins after midnight tonight. And we'll put our next map into motion and show you those accumulations. We think Philadelphia into New York City. Hartford into Boston. We'll see those heavier snows. Likely we're talking, you know, eight to 10 inches easy out on Long Island. Over a foot will be possible in Boston. So travel difficult today, Fredricka. But just wait until tomorrow in the northeastern corridor. If you have travel plans, you might want to start thinking about rebooking your flight as we speak.</s>WHITFIELD: Yes. I'd say so. I think all the kids are going to be real excited here in the Atlanta area. We don't know yet but it looks like a snow day to me. It looks like me and little Johnny boy may do a little sledding tomorrow.</s>JERAS: I think it's going to be melting, honey. I think it's today or nothing.</s>WHITFIELD: We'll find a cardboard box or something. All right. Thanks a lot, Jacqui. Appreciate it.</s>JERAS: OK.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Well, this developing story we continue to watch off the west coast of Florida. The search for a missing fishing party of four men. CNN now confirming two of the missing are pro football players identified as free agent defensive end Corey Smith who last year played for the Detroit Lions and Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper. The U.S. Coast Guard says it is searching an area roughly 750 square miles west of Clearwater past Florida. And that's where the four men were believed to have gone fishing. The U.S. Coast Guard is asking anyone with any information on the fishermen's whereabouts to call them. All right. Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh hasn't minced words when it comes to his disdain of the Obama administration. He told the nation's largest annual gathering of conservative political activists in Washington to resist what he calls the president's negative outlook.</s>RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: President Obama has the ability - he has the ability to inspire excellence in people's pursuits. He has the ability to do all this. Yet, he pursues a path that punishes achievement, that punishes earners, that punishes, and he speaks negatively of the country. Ronald Reagan used to speak of a shining city on a hill. Barack Obama portrays America as a soup kitchen in some dark night in a corner of America that's very obscure. He constantly is telling the American people that bad times are ahead, worst times are ahead.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. So what was Rush Limbaugh trying to accomplish with those controversial comments? Deputy political director Paul Steinhauser joins us from D.C.. All right. What was the mission?</s>PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: I think the mission was he was trying to re-energize the base and who better than Rush Limbaugh. Because, you know, Fred, a lot of people on the right consider this guy a rock star. The republicans they didn't do so well, I think we can all agree in last year's election or in the '06 election. So step one for them is to re-energize the faithful, those on the right and there at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Committee. This big annual gathering of conservatives, that's where Rush Limbaugh was doing and he was taking on President Obama, basically saying he's a gifted politician but that he's trying to basically change the country at the detriment of capitalism and individual liberties and Rush Limbaugh says I want that to fail. There's nothing wrong with that. So that is Rush Limbaugh's message then. I think that's what he did yesterday when he spoke for well over an hour. It was supposed to be a 20-minute speech. Some republicans may not see eye to eye with Rush Limbaugh on this. We heard Eric Cantor, who is one of the top republicans in the House today say he doesn't want anybody to fail. I think democrats like this spread. They like the idea of Rush Limbaugh being the face of the republic party right now.</s>WHITFIELD: So Paul, all of that is taking place not that far away from the White House. That was all at the Shoreham Hotel there in Washington, D.C.. Meantime, Obama administration is trying to stay on course. They have made a selection on the new health and human services nominee. What do we know about Kathleen Sebelius and whether this is going to be the right fit?</s>STEINHAUSER: Yes. This is the second take here for President Obama when it comes to picking a health and human services secretary. Tom Daschle was his first take and of course, he had problems with his taxes and had to step down. Who is Kathleen Sebelius? She is a two- term governor of Kansas. So, as a governor who has been dealing with spiraling Medicare or Medicaid or health care costs, she knows a lot about that. She was also that state's insurance commissioner before she was governor. So she knows about health insurance. She knows about dealing with these issues. She's also a democrat in Kansas which is a heavily republican state. She knows how to work in a bipartisan way, to reach our to the other side. She was also one of Barack Obama's biggest supporters. You see her here right now with Barack Obama during the campaign trail. And she was a big surrogate for Barack Obama. Maybe the only negative is that she doesn't know Washington very well, unlike Tom Daschle, who was Obama's first choice. She doesn't know the ways of Washington that well and she also has a few anti-abortion groups who don't like her very much either.</s>WHITFIELD: Well, something tells me it's going to be a crash course for her, then.</s>STEINHAUSER: Yes, it's going to be a crash course for her. Administration officials telling us tomorrow will be the day that President Obama will officially nominate her.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Paul Steinhauser, thanks so much, joining us from Washington. Appreciate it.</s>STEINHAUSER: Thank you.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. This was a very recognizable voice for all of America. But particularly America's heartland. For almost 60 years.</s>PAUL HARVEY: The rest of the story.</s>WHITFIELD: Paul Harvey, sound familiar? Well, he is now dead at the age of 90. His daily broadcast for ABC Radio began back in 1951. Based in Chicago, Harvey's distinctive stocotto voice gave listeners a unique mix of news, colorful anecdotes, conservative commentary and commercials, reacting to the death, former President George W. Bush called Harvey a friendly and familiar voice in the lives of millions of Americans. His commentary entertained, enlightened and informed. So perhaps you would like to share some of your memories of Paul Hrvey. You can post them at cnn.com. And it's also the focus of "Larry King Live" this evening at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. From worst enemy to best friend. A few simple things that you can do to actually improve your credit score. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.