Pre-Winter Wallop; Endorsements Coming In; Legend Gives Back
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tradition to carry it on now. I think it's excellent.</s>HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The store's down says he wasn't looking to boost sales with the promotion and he has not. Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. Welcome back to the NEWSROOM. Stay informed all day right here. Here's what's on the rundown now. A serious case of winter. The Great Lakes and Northeast. Closed schools, slick roads and delayed flights. The west outraged over the treatment of women. Now the Saudi king pardons a rape victim who was sentenced to 200 lashes. Inmates on the run. They chiseled cinder blocks out of the jailhouse wall and jumped a 25 foot fence. The great escape on this Monday, December 17th. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Winter is still a few days away, but it's on the doorstep of much of the country. From the Great Lakes to New England, a major storm dumps snow, sleet, and freezing rain. About a foot of snow has fallen from Chicago into Michigan. Hundreds of school districts are closed and the storm is also being blamed for at least four deaths. In Massachusetts, the roof of this drugstore buckled under the weight of the snow and freezing rain there. One customer was slightly hurt. For the most part, the snow is over for today. But as you can see, the problems will linger longer. Want to head into the great white north now. CNN meteorologist Reynolds Wolf has been out in the cold and snow all weekend long and he's still thawed out, which is amazing. He's in Syracuse, New York, this morning. Hey there, Reynolds.</s>REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey. The snowy Syracuse, New York. I mean it's beautiful. It's a busy morning. I've got to tell you that despite the snowfall we've had -- hey, good morning, sir -- despite the snowfall that they've had, the city really hasn't missed a beat. I mean yesterday when we had much of this fall, thankfully it wasn't Sunday, so you didn't have to deal with the rush hour. They really lucked out on that. City officials have been very happy in that prospect. However, they had about 17 inches of snowfall and still whether it's a work day or not, people need to get around. They got to, you know, do the very best in every day life. They're got to go to the store, they've got to go see relatives, they've got to pick up kids. So they had to work their way around a lot of this snow. But a lot of these businesses stayed wide open. We had, again, as mentioned, 17 inches of snowfall. Had a little bit of snow just this morning, but that is beginning to taper off. Now you can see right behind me, a lot of these businesses are open. And even beyond that, you can see the hill, the trees, and even atop, a patch of blue skies. And those blue skies let us know some dry air is beginning to move in. Now with that dry air, what we can expect, these showers are going to come to an end. Not much in terms of snow showers. So they're going to be getting a welcome break here in the Syracuse area in terms of the snowfall. However, though, later on this week, Heidi, we are expecting a snow system, a bigger system, to make its way into the Pacific Northwest. We see a clipper system that might form in the northern half of the Great Lakes and could bring a few more inches here to the Syracuse area. But certainly not at the magnitude of what we've dealt with over the last 12 to 24 to 48 hours. In sunny and somewhat Syracuse, to say the least, let's send it back to you in the studio.</s>COLLINS: Hey, you stole my line. That's exactly what I was going to say. All right, Reynolds, we'll check back a little bit later on. Thanks so much. The snow, though, is still affecting travelers. Meteorologist Bonnie Schneider is in the severe weather center now with a look at all these airline delays. Hi there, Bonnie.</s>BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Heidi. What I've done with Flight Explorer now is I've put in all the planes across the country that are headed to LaGuardia Airport. And it's very interesting because when you take a look at this, you'll see some circling happening over central New Jersey. That's because the planes are taking their time. There's a ground -- major ground delay at LaGuardia right now. So a lot of traffic, weather, wind a factor. Some of the planes you see are coming from Chicago, Miami, Charlotte, North Carolina, and they're going to get to LaGuardia, it's just going to take a while. So if you're picking somebody up at the airport, expect delays that look like this. Over two hours in some locations. And also we'll be looking at delays at Chicago's O'Hare Airport. Not to bad, 30 minutes. It was much worse over the weekend. Ground delays in and around San Francisco. Well, Reynolds mentioned the snow in Syracuse. We still have that now. Some lake-effect snow coming into the region. Very light in nature. We're not looking at any serious accumulation compared to what we saw over the weekend. But temperatures are brutally cold. It's only in the 20s. Some places in the teens, like in Toronto. The current temperature is 18 degrees. The winds are still quite fierce, and that is taking down the wind chill factor to really the extreme level. Right now it feels like it's only 2 degrees in Albany. We have a live picture of Albany, New York, the state capital, to show you. And, wow, it looks cold there. And it is. You can see the snow on the ground and I'm sure a lot of people are shivering if they're out on the streets. But it's OK, we're actually going to see a little bit better weather there later on. At least the sun is shining. But we did have a lot of snow not just in New York, but also in Indiana. We have an i-Report to show you of what it looked like out there from Greg Porter. And the i-Report shows that there were a lot of spinouts in an around that region. You can see a ambulance there in the distance and some folks -- the video is kind of shaky, but, of course, there were a lot of traffic accidents. Finally our last stop is California. We're looking for snow here. A big winter storm is coming in. Winter storm warning, 1 to 2 feet at the higher elevations. And it's actually going to be the beginning, Heidi, of a series of storms coming through. So from east to west this week we'll be tracking extreme weather.</s>COLLINS: All right. Well, we're glad you're over there doing that for us. Thanks so much, Bonnie. We'll check back a little bit later on. Meanwhile, want to get you to New Jersey now. We are looking at the governor there, Jon Corzine, getting ready to sign into law a bill that was approved last week by the legislature. This is a bill to wipe out the death penalty in the state of New Jersey. In fact, New Jersey will become the first state now in four decades to end capital punishment. So he is getting ready, in just a few moments, to actually put his signature on that bill. Once again, the story coming from New Jersey and Governor Jon Corzine signing that bill. So there you have it. Also, want to get onto the campaign trail now. Country first, party second. That's the message from Senator John McCain. A short time ago he got an endorsement from across the aisle. Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman endorsed McCain in his Republican presidential bid. You, in fact, saw it live on CNN this morning.</s>SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN (I) CONNECTICUT: I have seen John time and time again rise above the negativism and smallness of our politics to get things done for America. And I have seen him time and time again work with people on the other side of the aisle to make America stronger and safer.</s>COLLINS: That endorsement was made in New Hampshire, which holds the country's first presidential primary coming up next month. On the Democratic side now, John Edwards is picking up his own endorsement. This one from Iowa. CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is joining us now from Des Moines. Good morning to you, Suzanne.</s>SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. This endorsement just hours away now. This one going to Senator John Edwards. It's of Iowa's first lady, the governor's wife, Mari Culver. Now you may ask, why is this important? Well, remember back in 2004 it was the former governor's wife, it was Christie Vilsack, who gave the nod to Senator John Kerry. He went on to win the Iowa caucuses. So why does this matter? Everything matters now. Now is the season of endorsements. The time of endorsements and certainly Senator Hillary Clinton hoping that this will turn her campaign around as well.</s>MALVEAUX, (voice over): Dogged by bad press and bad weather, Senator Hillary Clinton's campaign looked like it was grounded. But then something happened. Clinton got the coveted endorsement of Iowa's most important paper, the skies cleared, and she took off. You couldn't get a better metaphor.</s>SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And if you stand up for me, I promise you, I will stand up and fight for you every single day that I'm president.</s>MALVEAUX: The makings of another Clinton morphing into the comeback kid? Well, it may be too soon to tell. But the nod from Iowa's "Des Moines Register" does help. It echoes her campaign's central theme, experience matters.</s>H. CLINTON: Well, I'm running because I think I can take the experience of my lifetime, particularly the work that I have done over the last 35 years, and put it to work for everybody.</s>MALVEAUX: She uses the argument mostly to set herself apart from her closest opponent, Barack Obama. Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, is fine tuning the message. Mixing it with part flattery.</s>BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Obama is a person of enormous talent, you know, staggering political skills.</s>MALVEAUX: Part inquiry.</s>B. CLINTON: Who is the best agent of change? Not the best symbol, but the best agent.</s>MALVEAUX: And part zinger.</s>B. CLINTON: I mean, in theory, we could find someone who is a gifted television commentator . . .</s>CHARLIE ROSE, "THE CHARLIE ROSE SHOW": You think?</s>B. CLINTON: And let them run. They'd have only one year less experience in national politics.</s>MALVEAUX: Obama' comeback.</s>SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When I was 20 points down, they all thought I was a wonderful guy. So, you know, obviously, things have changed.</s>MALVEAUX: And, Heidi, the feud over Obama's experience has heated up so much that some voters are calling this the battle of Bill versus Barack. I should also let you know as well, Senator Barack Obama did get a very important endorsement. That from "The Boston Globe" this past weekend. Heidi.</s>COLLINS: All right. Well, it's all starting to happen, isn't it, Suzanne?</s>MALVEAUX: Absolutely.</s>COLLINS: Thanks so much. Suzanne Malveaux reporting live from Des Moines, Iowa. Thank you, Suzanne. Ron Paul on a money roll. His campaign says the Republican presidential candidate raised an astounding $6 million in a one-day Internet drive on Sunday. The latest fund-raising feat called money bomb. Paul's campaign brought in $4.2 million in its last online fund raiser. Want the most up to the minute political news anywhere available? Cnnpolitics.com is your one stop shop. It's the Internet's premier destination for political news. Cnnpolitics.com. A daring jail break in New Jersey. Authorities say two inmates escaped from the Union County Jail by removing cement blocks from walls and squeezing through the openings. Then they jumped to a rooftop and made their getaway over a 25 foot high metal fence. And that's not all. Authorities say the inmates left dummies made of pillows and sheets in their beds and covered the holes in the wall with pictures of women wearing bikinis. Jail officials say inmates won't be allowed to put girly pictures up on the walls anymore. A manhunt for the escaped men is underway. A special delivery for Iran. Nuclear fuel. Russia sent the first batch over yesterday as part of a $1 billion contract to help Iran build a nuclear power plant. But the U.S. and others are worried Iran could eventually build nuclear weapons. Russia says Iran has promised in writing the fuel will only be used at this site. And the International Atomic Energy Agency also watching closely. Two weeks ago a U.S. intelligence report said Iran stopped working to develop nuclear weapons in 2003.</s>COLLINS: The Army looking for ways to keep soldiers in place. Realizing the key may lie with their families. That story ahead right here in the NEWSROOM.