Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Explosions in Rome; Gruesome Discovery in New York; Pat Robertson's Pot Shocker; Spielberg to Rebrand Dems?; Emanuel Cleared to Run; Attempts to 'De-Radicalize' Taliban; Wolf Blitzer's North Korea Trip; 'On the Case'

Aired December 23, 2010 - 16:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Explosions go off at embassies. Now the hunt is on to find out who sent these dangerous packages.

I'm T.J. Holmes. The news is now.

(voice-over): New York police make a gruesome discovery, a suitcase with a woman's body stuffed inside.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This block is relatively quiet. Maybe no one noticed it.

HOLMES: Now they are asking, do you recognize this man?

The CIA says, WTF. Their WikiLeaks Task Force makes for an infamous acronym.

Did Pat Robertson really say you shouldn't go to prison for smoking weed? Why is a leader of the Christian conservative movement taking a position on pot?

'Tis the season to be careful on the Internet. If you are online dating, you need to hear this.

And move over, Griswolds. This holiday display has drivers doing a double-take. This one with, you got to see.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Yes. Were you seeing that video correctly? It looked like a guy hanging there. You need to stick around for that video, had us all cracking up in the newsroom. Some people didn't find it funny, though.

Hello to you all, top of the hour here. I'm T.J. Holmes. A lot going on. Let's do this rapid fire style for you right now.

Let's start over in Rome. Two parcel bombs blew up there this morning and police have seen this exact type of bomb before. They say the explosives that hurt two people today are the same type of letter bombs sent to embassies in Athens last month. Two people were hurt when the bombs went off in the mailrooms of the Swiss and Chilean embassies in Rome.

Italy's interior minister blames what he calls an international anarchist movement, but so far there has been no claim of responsibility.

Up next, six Ohio State football players, six of them, are being punished for selling their Buckeye awards, gifts and apparel. I believe we have the video mixed up, not the right team there, so, again, I want to reiterate, it was Ohio State, six players being suspended. The items they're accused of selling include things like their Big 10 championship rings, a Fiesta Bowl sportsmanship award, a football jersey. Also they got discounts on tattoos.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM TRESSEL, OHIO SEE HEAD FOOTBALL COACH: I don't know what's in the minds of a 19-year-old, but it might be, well, I'm going to win for more of these years, so I'm going to help out at home with this one, you know, and not that that is sound thinking, but, yes, that's disappointing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, the NCAA says five players will have to sit out the first five games of the 2011 season. Now, among those five, their superstar quarterback, Terrelle Pryor, who was kind of a Heisman candidate since he's been in school there. Another player is going to have to sit out one game.

But you heard me right, the five games they are going to sit out are going to be the beginning of next season. All of them will be able to play in the Sugar Bowl against the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Also, just into the CNN, the Centers For Disease Control says 80 people are sick after a salmonella outbreak linked to alfalfa sprouts. The outbreak has been reported in 15 states and the District of Columbia. No one has died.

Next, weather. It turns out Southern California not going to wash away completely. Three long-awaited words for the West Coast: Rain is stopping. There's plenty of mopping up and cleaning up that still needs to be done. Look at this in East Los Angeles right here. A rain-soaked hill suddenly gave way, buried cars up to the doors in mud. Real danger now of flash floods and mudslides remains.

Up next, the Secret Service wants to know why a motorist was driving erratically through a former president's neighborhood in Dallas. They picked up a man outside the home of George W. Bush last night. He was reportedly there to visit one of the Bushes' neighbors. Police say the man never posed any threat to the former first family.

Next, the widow of the man who opened fire at this school board meeting, you have seen this video here, well, the wife, the widow, she is talking today. Rebecca Duke is her name. She's telling CBS News that her husband, Clay Duke, was frustrated with society, but he was an honorable man and never hurt her. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REBECCA DUKE, WIDOW OF GUNMAN: And I said, we will just get through Christmas and it will all work out somehow.

It was, I guess, just too much, I reckon, for everybody. I mean, just, like, everyone's struggling right now. It's really a hard -- a hard time.

Honestly, I don't know what triggered it that day. And that's going to be a question I'm going to be asking myself for the rest of my life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, Mrs. Duke also says she thinks her husband just wanted to scare people; he didn't walk into that meeting to kill anybody. She says her husband was an Air Force veteran who did two tours of duty.

Up next, it's a sentencing hearing that many Major League Baseball fans have been watching. The 23-year-old drunk driver convicted of killing Anaheim Angels pitcher Nicholas Adenhart may likely spend the rest of his life in prison. Andrew Thomas Gallo was sentenced to a term of 51 years life. Police say his blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit when he ran a red light in 2009, killing Adenhart and two others in another car and fled the scene.

Up next, it was a rough night on Lake Erie after a ship's crew was poisoned. The boat was heading to Montreal, but it had to make an emergency stop in Buffalo after the crew got sick. Apparently, rat poison pellets apparently got wet, vaporized, then got into the ship's ventilation system. More than 20 crew members had to be hospitalized.

Up next, a Tampa area steakhouse has made a rare find in its wine cellar, a bottle of Chateau Latour from 1947. Have no idea what that is. It is a double magnum, though. I know what that is, and it's a big deal. It could set a world record as the most expensive bottle of wine ever, expected to go on sale next month. Excuse me. I just get choked up about wine sometimes. It will go on sale next month for 30 grand. A Bernanke's Steakhouse known for its wine collection, at 500,000 bottles, believed to be the largest private collection in the world.

Also, check this out, some video for you. People love these, don't they? A little survivor, stray dog, stranded in the icy river there in Ohio. Two schoolteachers noticed the little guy from their classroom window, called in for help. Three hours later, they pulled out a hovercraft. The crew went out there, braved the ice, carried the dog to a warm ambulance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are just happy. Hopefully, he finds a good home. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we want to thank everybody, because this really was a Christmas miracle that everybody would care enough to come down. What great thing. It says a lot about Toledo.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: It does say a lot about Toledo.

But that is your rapid fire. It's the stories we are keeping a close eye on.

Also, is the man behind America's most beloved films about to help one of America's political parties? Not so fast on this one.

Also, video that police want you to pay close attention to. They are certainly paying close attention to it. They want to know who that guy is with that big suitcase because of what they found in that suitcase later.

Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right, 10 minutes past the hour now.

We have got some surveillance video we want to show you here, black and white surveillance video along a darkened street. And it may be the key to a grisly discovery. This is out of New York.

Take a look here. You see a man standing there by the steps. Now, you see a few people go by. The man standing there by the steps has a suitcase with him. Police say there is a dead woman in that suitcase. Shortly after this video was captured, somebody rummaging through the trash nearby found the suitcase, opened it, and found that body.

Police say the woman had been strangled.

Gil Alba is a former detective with the NYPD. He's on the phone with us from Westchester, New York.

Gil, we appreciate you being here. What do you make of the video when you see it?

(CROSSTALK)

GIL ALBA, FORMER NYPD DETECTIVE: Well, it was kind of creepy, somebody walking down a street with a body in a suitcase. So, even -- I don't care what neighborhood that is in. That is kind of creepy.

HOLMES: Where did the police go from here with this video? Are you really at the mercy of trying to find somebody who would recognize a guy in dark clothes and a hat on a dark street?

ALBA: You know what? I don't really think it's going to be that hard, and especially since it is out in the media. By the way, her name was Betty Williams. She was 28 years old. And she was strangled and she had head wounds, so -- and she was still bleeding.

So, I mean, somebody had to know -- just to walk down there with a suitcase and leave it between two garbage cans at 12:00 at night, at 12:15 at night, you sort of -- we are all like creatures of habit. We sort of know where we want to go. And you don't go places where you're not familiar with. So, that person probably knew a little bit about the neighborhood.

HOLMES: What else can you possibly, possibly glean about this person. To be walking down the street with a dead body in a suitcase, what does that tell you about the type of person we are dealing with right here?

ALBA: You know what? I'm not going to say he was -- maybe somebody said, listen, could you help me get rid of this body? So it doesn't necessarily have to be him that did something to her, but under these conditions, I mean, it looked like this happened right away to her, like she was just standing there, or wherever she was, somebody hit her over the head, strangled her and then had to find something, because she had a garbage bag, black garbage bag, over her head.

So, you knew somebody had to do that in a hurry. And this person walking down, just the mere fact that he can walk down with her with a body in a suitcase, I mean, that's pretty bad in itself right there.

HOLMES: We are showing video of the actual -- the corner, the restaurant. Do you know much about this neighborhood?

ALBA: Yes, that neighborhood, even though, you know, I'll tell you, it is Harlem, it's kind of mixed. It is a mixed neighborhood. If is a kind of a quiet street. So you could walk down there. And he was, you know, carrying that, actually dragging that suitcase back -- you know, it looked like maybe he was going someplace. So it didn't really seem that out of place.

HOLMES: And, Gil, go back to this video. We are showing this surveillance video, but it sounds like you are saying, even though the video, we do have that, that might not be the most important piece of evidence, in your opinion. Was I hearing that right earlier?

ALBA: You know, it is part of the evidence to see who this person is, but, you know, the suitcase, her body, what they find on it, any DNA, the fingerprints, even the suitcase, where did that come from? They can go back to the stores.

I'm sure they are going to do additional canvasses. This is the police looking for other cameras in the whole area. Any vehicles -- they probably know of every vehicle that's parked within a four- or five-block area. So they are going to check all that. And that's how they found this video. And hopefully they find some more.

But I think people are going to identify him from this -- from the video. And then you have -- you have to develop a case, of course, and that's where the DNA and everything else comes n.

HOLMES: Are cameras just everywhere?

ALBA: Are what?

HOLMES: Are cameras just everywhere these days? Can you not do anything walking up and down the street, certainly in New York and anywhere else?

ALBA: Yes. You're right, because you're walking up and down that block, and that is you why check with the supers of the building.

But you go on the main street, they have got all kinds of buildings and stores and everything else. So you know cameras are all over the case.

HOLMES: All right, Gil Alba, again, we appreciate you hopping on the line. Again, certainly hope they bring justice to this young lady, 28 years old, stuffed inside a suitcase.

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: Gil, thanks so much. You enjoy your holiday weekend, all right?

ALBA: OK. You, too.

HOLMES: All right.

Well, coming up, you have got to hear what is happening at the CIA. Boy, they are just comedians over there, are they not? Not really. Pretty serious stuff they do, of course, at the CIA, but some are wondering if they do have a sense of humor. You have to hear about the latest acronym. A lot of acronyms in Washington, D.C. You are going to love this one.

Also, speaking of Washington and the Washington circuit, this guy, where is he? Where is he? Yes, there he is. This guy known for working D.C., working it well, but it's Chicago where he wants to be. So where does he really live these days? Rahm Emanuel, he needs to declare a hometown to see whether or not he can become mayor of Chicago.

Joe Johns on this story for us. We're checking in with him coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, a lot of people never really saw this coming, but it's what's trending today and it is trending in a big way. Nobody thought they would ever hear Pat Robertson come out in favor of decriminalizing weed.

What are we talking about here? You got to hear this for yourself. You'll hear about his approach to marijuana possession, says shouldn't just lock everybody up.

Now this happened at a segment featuring faith-based programs to rehabilitate criminals during Robertson's "700 Club" show on the Christian Broadcasting Network.

Take a listen for yourself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAT ROBERTSON, RELIGIOUS BROADCASTER: We are looking up people that take a couple of puffs of marijuana and the next thing you know they got 10 years. They put mandatory sentences and these judges just say -- throw up their hands and say there is nothing we can do, it's mandatory sentences.

We have to take a look at what we are considering crimes, and that's one of them. I mean, I'm -- I'm not exactly for use of drugs, don't get me wrong, but I just believe that criminalizing marijuana, criminalizing the possession of a few ounces of pot and that kind of thing, I mean it is just -- it is costing us a fortune and it is ruining young people. Young people go into prisons they can come out -- they go in as youths and they come out as hardened criminals and it's not a good thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: So you hear what he is talking about there, he has done -- talking about or advocating for what a lot of states actually have done across the country already, decriminalizing marijuana. Not making it legal, decriminalizing, so if you have a small amount, you could get a ticket what amounts essentially to a traffic ticket, if you will, in some places.

That is what he is talking about. But still, caught a lot of people off guard.

Also trending today, the CIA. They are just some jokesters over there, aren't they? Take a look at. This "The Washington Post" reporting the spy agency has put together a special team to determine the impact of the massive leak of secret U.S. documents to the website WikiLeaks.

Now, listen to the team's new name, they are called the WikiLeaks Task Force. Simple enough. The "Post" says the folks at the CIA headquarters prefer to call it by its acronym, WTF. Perhaps the CIA can be forgiven for having a little fun with this thing, maybe. Very little about the secretive agency has surfaced, though, on WikiLeaks.

Well, we're always looking to get some questions answered, some questions that aren't usually getting answered, so we got to bring in Joe Johns for the "Political Pop."

Joe, good to see you, buddy.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I got to tell you.

HOLMES: What's going on? How you doing?

JOHNS: It is really hard to follow up Pat Robertson supporting decriminalization of marijuana and a CIA task force called WTF. I'm not going to top that.

HOLMES: You can do it, Joe. You can do it, Joe. Not too many people we could put in this spot, but we know you can handle it just fine.

Good to see you, buddy. We're talking about Spielberg and Pelosi, is this for real?

JOHNS: You know, come on, we love to talk about Hollywood on the Potomac, sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. This is a delicious prospect, I think you would say.

There is no question the Democrats are going to need some rebranding over the last couple of years after their shellacking, but here is what we know. The story got floated to several media outlets, including "The Washington Post," suggested Speaker Pelosi was trying to use Steven Spielberg as an adviser.

Spielberg's agent issues a statement saying Spielberg directs actors and not politicians. It's supposed to be interpreted as a denial. You know, we hear these things in Washington all the time. Really didn't say anything.

Now, here's what we know. Spielberg's active in Democratic politics and Pelosi may have some family connections here. Her daughter, Alexandra, is a filmmaker and journalist who started out at NBC News. So, will Spielberg refused to answer phone calls if the speaker calls for advice? You just got to be the judge on that.

HOLMES: OK. So officially least, we are supposed to think that, no it is a denial it is not really the case. We get you there all right.

Is Rahm Emanuel from Chicago or not? Does he live there or not? It is amazing that that was the big question.

JOHNS: Apparently, believe it or not, he does.

HOLMES: OK.

JOHNS: And he will be allowed to be a candidate for mayor of Chicago. It is a good thing for him, because he is far ahead of everybody else who is running for the job, according to a recent poll. But did he have to survive this battle, we knew about, against people in the city who challenged whether he met the city's residency requirement.

And actually, T.J., this had is the second time we have dipped into this story because the residency hearing was a just such a contrast, I guess what you'd call the frills and lace environment of the White House that Emanuel worked for years. We just had to run a little bit more of the tape to give you a flavor what the White House chief of staff is up to or more accurately, what he has got himself into.

Let's listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The real question before us today is has Chicago become a Banana Republic?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He can't live one place and have his car live somewhere else.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We all are aware of something called a calendar that's divided into 12 months.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I recommend that he is not placed on the ballot for trying to deceive the people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Queen Sister.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And make fools out of you-all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Queen Sister, very much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Peace and love.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We appreciate your comment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: I love that hat.

HOLMES: Oh, come on, Joe.

JOHNS: Sorry. Come on. I go to church sometimes, right?

Behind the scenes in Washington, Rahm Emanuel was not known as the most patient or gentle spoken guy in Washington. So, you know, to see him sort of swallowing his tongue here was pretty good.

HOLMES That's where we are going, the campaign hasn't even official -- can't start until he is really a candidate, they are talking about breaking down the 12-month calendar, you can't live here and your car can't live here? Are we serious?

But it is done now it is settled, right? No more questions about it.

JOHNS: Yes. Apparently -- apparently it is settled. I don't know how it could come back and perhaps they will get down to the business of who's most qualified to be mayor of Chicago now.

HOLMES: All right.

JOHNS: We will see.

HOLMES: Joe, and every woman at church on Sunday is going to whack with her hat when you go this Sunday, you know this.

JOHNS: It was a great hat. I didn't say anything bad about it. HOLMES: Joe, buddy, good to see you as always, man, we appreciate you. Thank you so much.

Coming up, we got an unusual program to tell you about in Pakistan. We will explain this one coming up next. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: The program I was just mentioning in Pakistan, unusual program. Its aim is to turn young men away from the Taliban and radicalism. It has a very cumbersome name, the De-radicalization and Emancipation Program.

Our Chris Lawrence traveled to Pakistan to see how this works.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Rashid Ali used to take orders only from the Taliban but tells me, those days are over.

RASHID ALI, FORMER TALIBAN: (INAUDIBLE) are terrorist. Only my friend is more (ph) in the Taliban and that is why I come here.

LAWRENCE: Ali was 16 when a classmate introduced him to the Taliban. At the time, they controlled this area of Swat Valley. Now, Ali is 18 and regrets he is he gave them food, supplies and information.

ALI: I did not like it.

LAWRENCE: He is one of 46 graduates of the De-radicalization and Emancipation Program. The Pakistani military captured them over the past year and is now setting them free.

(on camera): When these men walk out of this program, what's to guarantee they don't go become to the Taliban?

LT. GEN. ASIF MALIK, CORPS COMMANDER: We screen every individual by a psychiatrist, a psychologist and an intelligence expert, so they categorize these people.

LAWRENCE (voice-over): The hard-core killers were jailed an sent to court for punishment.

MALIK: Then there are sort of the foot soldiers who are working under pressure, who are sort of facilitators. This is that lot who are the facilitators who are not -- none of them is involved in any killing.

LAWRENCE: Some sheltered the Taliban, gave them weapons or intelligence.

(on camera): When we asked these men how they came to be involved in the Taliban, most of them said it had something to do with a family member, a close friend, a brother, a cousin that initially got them involved in the group.

(voice-over): So the program loops their families into the rehabilitation. Imams re-teach a more moderate form of Islam. The trainers teach them how to be electricians, welders, carpenters.

Ali is excited about his new life.

ALI: I want to become a doctor.

LAWRENCE: But even he admits this program would only work for about half the Taliban he knows.

ALI: Fifty, 60 percent.

LAWRENCE (on camera): Could be changed?

ALI: Yes. Could change.

LAWRENCE: But the other 50 will never change?

ALI: Could be possible.

LAWRENCE (voice-over): But not likely. Just look at the program's success rate. Ali is one of 46 graduates out of nearly 100 who started here.

(on camera): That's why the Pakistani military is going to trust but verify. Each of these men comes from a village and the village elders there had to sign off on them before they were let go. Those village elders will be responsible for what happens to them from here on out.

Also, the men have to report to a military station about once every 15 days. As they prove their conduct, that will stretch to once a month, once every six months, once a year and so on.

Chris Lawrence, CNN, Islamabad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Time for us now go "Globe Trekking" with stories around the world.

Heightened security across Italy today. Italian police have traced the origin of two mail bombs that exploded at the Swiss and Chilean embassies in Rome. They traced them back to Greece. All the embassies in Rome are undergoing increased scrutiny. The package bomb that exploded today injured two people.

Up next, Moscow praising the U.S. Senate's approval of the new nuclear arms control deal with Russia, START, you may have heard of it. Russia's parliament could vote on the treaty as early as tomorrow.

The plan slashes both side's nuclear arsenals to 1,550 deployed warheads, it limits each nation to no more than 800 launchers and bombers. The accord also opens up the way for more cooperation between the one-time bitter Cold War enemies.

Up next, after says of whiteouts in the U.K., retailers' favorite Christmas tune may be cha-ching. Eastern Europe optimistic that today could be the busiest shopping day on record across the U.K. Residents who hunkered down or were stranded by the recent snows are expected to rush out and make up that lost shopping time to the tune -- listen to this -- $1.3 million spent per minute. That would add up to about $2 billion in a single day.

Well, we have been watching that mess earthquake the mess in California. Because of the weather out there going to take a little while to dig out from a lot of that mud. The question is, is any more rain coming their way? We have the answer coming up.

Also, a scary shortage hitting the nation's hospitals. What if you need an operation? What if you need painkillers and they just don't have any?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We're talking your travel forecast, a drug shortage and embassy bombings. Time for a little "Reporter Roulette." We begin with our Reynolds Wolf right here in Atlanta -- Reynolds.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HOLMES: We're going to continue with this "Reporter Roulette." Our Elizabeth Cohen on a shortage of medication that impact our nation's hospitals.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: T.J. this shortage of drugs and hospital notice United States has proven deadly. So far, at least three people have died because they couldn't get the medications that they needed.

Now why are they suffering from a shortage? Well, there are lots of reasons. In some case, drug companies can't get the raw materials that they need. In other cases, drug companies have said, hey, this medication's just too expensive to make, we are just going to stop making it.

Now if you as a patient want to know what to do, go to CNN.com/thechart, and I have got tips there is if you are in the hospital or if someone you love is in the hospital -- T.J.

HOLMES: Thanks to our Elizabeth Cohen.

Next in our "Reporter Roulette", Dan Rivers in London with what authorities in Europe are saying tonight about the two blasts that went off at embassies in Rome today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN RIVERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The first explosion happened at the Swiss Embassy in Rome, seriously injuring a 53-year-old postal worker who opened it. There was then a second suspect package, which exploded at the Chilean Embassy, again injuring one person.

A third suspicious package was later declared a false alarm at the Ukrainian Embassy. So, three incidents in Rome.

There was then a fourth incident in Bern, in Switzerland. That, again, turned to out to be just a false alarm, a Christmas present that they felt could have been a suspicious package.

At the moment, we still have no idea who was responsible for the two explosions in Rome, but all the modus operandi of this incident points toward Greek anarchist group called the Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei.

Now, they have been involved in similar attacks in the past. Four of their members are due to appear in court in Greece in January for separate incidents in November in Athens.

They first came to prominence in 2008 targeting car dealerships with exactly these kinds of parcel bombs. We don't know if they are responsible in this case, but certainly, that seems to be likely, given the similarity in the types of devices and the targets that were selected.

Dan Rivers, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: All right. Well, President Obama, he is vacationing in Hawaii, fresh off a few legislative wins in Washington. Our Ed Henry is there, he will have the Political Ticker, up next.

Also, lots of information coming out about the Census, the 2010 Census, like what states have seen tremendous population growth in the last decade. CNNMoney's got the list for you, here are the top five.

At number five, as they say, do not mess with Texas. They got pretty low home prices there is and no state income tax, that's huge draw and apparently, it is helping them bring in some new resident.

At number four, Idaho, thanks to growing technology and science industry and possibly because of the success of Boise State, the population there grew by more than 20 percent since 2000.

Also, at number three, Utah, the state with the highest birthrate in the nation saw its population literally double since 1970.

So what other states are growing by leaps and bounds? The top two, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We told you about those 2010 Census numbers, they're in. Some states have seen major population growth in the last decade. So we gave you number three through five, here are the top two now. Arizona, the state has seen its population nearly quadruple since 1970.

And number one, the home of Sin City, Nevada. The population has exploded since 1950 from 160,000 to 2.5 million.

One person that I knew is a big fan of living, and I do mean living, out in Las Vegas, Nevada, our own Ed Henry.

My goodness, my man. I don't even know what to say about that shirt.

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Come on.

HOLMES: I know you --

HENRY: You got to love it. You know you like the style.

HOLMES: I know it's Hawaii, but did you have to, Ed?

HENRY: I had to. You know, I have seen you after hours and you got some style and you don't dress anywhere what you wear on that set in Atlanta. So I know you like what I'm rocking right now. You can appreciate it. I know John Roberts doesn't, I know Carol Costello doesn't, they were giving me grief this morning. Tony Harris made the "Random Moment of the Day," but I know you love it.

HOLMES: You do what you got to do in Hawaii. Yes I understand, I get it, my man, so I certainly support it.

The president has made his way out. You got a couple of extra days of not working, should we say, because the president was late getting out to you. But the president's there, what's the first thing on his agenda to relax?

HENRY: Well, he is here, I'm now working, president is working. And before he could relax, he actually was on the phone this morning, we are told by White House aides, with the Russian president, Medvedev. And immodestly, the White House says, in their press release, that the Russian president congratulated President Obama on that big victory on the new START Treaty there in the Senate, they talked about how historic this is.

But then it's on to a little bit of play for the president. He's now golfing at a local Marine base on the island of Oahu. We're also -- this just in actually to CNN, we've just learned and we've just posted on our blog that the president is going to extend his vacation by a day. He was supposed to leave on New Year's Day, he is now going to be leaving on January 2nd. We just posted that to CNN.com/1600 report.

And the reason, we are told by sources is the president wants to spend a little more time with his family. As you know, he was supposed to leave for Hawaii, as you suggested, last Saturday, just got in the middle of the night. He wants to spend a little more time with his wife and daughters. They will fly become to D.C. on January 2nd

A little bit of news from a nearby state, if you will. The 49th state, this is the 50th state here in Hawaii, Alaska, the state supreme court has now ruled that Republican Senate candidate Joe Miller, his claim has been denied that state law was not followed on those write-in votes there in that election. This is likely to clear wait for incumbent Senator Lisa Murkowski to finally be certified the winner in that race.

And finally, little bit of news about the president's former chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. It turns out the Chicago Board of Elections has decided that Rahm can run, for mayor that is. There had been some dispute whether he legally could run because he had not been living in Chicago physically for a while, though he still has a house there that's been rented out. Chicago Board of Election now says he can run, it is all legal.

And more importantly, perhaps for Rahm Emanuel, he seems to be running away with this. So it seems that he is like lit next mayor of Chicago, T.J.

HOLMES: All right, Ed, really, you're rocking the shirt, not everybody can pull that off, you can. So do your thing, my man.

Ed, good to see you, as always. Enjoy your time. When are you heading back?

HENRY: You know, I'm going to head back on the 30th, actually, cause I'm going to anchor "JKUSA" on the 31st and "STATE OF THE UNION" on January 2cd. So I'll be watching it from afar by then. That's maybe why I got a couple extra days on the front end.

HOLMES: Well, enjoy your time out there. We all know you work hard, but really, enjoy yourself. I might not talk to you again before the holiday. Have a good Christmas out there, Ed. Good see you, buddy.

HENRY: You, too. Merry Christmas, happy new year, buddy.

HOLMES: All right, well a lot of people out there have a new year's resolution, they like to find love and some people will try to find love online. If you do, you better stick around. You want to hear how some new laws may protect you and that search for Mr. or Ms. Right.

Also, take look at this home. If you were driving by this house, would you slam on the brakes, hop out and try to help this guy? Might not be the right thing to do. We will explain how this dummy is making other people feel like dummies.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Take a look at this video. And we're asking the question whether or not this is in poor taste. Is it funny?

You're driving by a house, you see someone hanging -- literally hanging on the roof, about to fall. Would you stop and help that person out?

Well, if you are a good Samaritan, especially if West Warwick, Rhode Island, you might feel pretty silly. Take a look at this.

Hanging the Christmas lights can be some dangerous stuff. You know how fancy it gets, people all up on the roof. This, it can happen if you're hanging lights.

But when people drove by, they saw this man hanging from the roof. A lot of people stopped to help, but it's actually a dummy. It's a display that was set up but is upsetting to some people. They say it could possibly cause accidents.

It was supposed to be just a little holiday fun, a joke, but do you think that's in poor taste? You decide for yourself.

Also, now, the script says a cute little monkey. Does that look like a cute little monkey?

This is a little monkey. It was terrorizing a Miami neighborhood for the better part of Tuesday night.

It got away from its owner, jumped through a man's window who was cooking dinner, got on his shoulder, and bit him on the ear. Now, animal control, they showed up, tried to coax it down with a banana. It didn't necessarily work. The monkey just did its thing, hung out until it was ready to come on down, and then went straight to the cage.

Let's turn over to Des Moines, Iowa, now, a pretty sticky situation. Tuesday, look at this.

A truck carrying a shipment of soda flipped, spilling all the cans all over a major highway there. The delays, you can imagine what they were like, and a sticky, sticky situation. The driver was not seriously hurt.

Well, we have been covering for some time now the tensions on the Korean Peninsula, and certainly the latest developments there, really a situation that is being called one of the most serious crises we have seen there in the past 60 years, really.

Our Wolf Blitzer has just returned, as you know, from North Korea, was there with the unofficial envoy, Governor Richardson. We're going to be talking to Wolf as he gets ready for "THE SITUATION ROOM." He's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We're getting close to 10 minutes to the top of the hour here now, getting close to "THE SITUATION ROOM."

As you know, former U.N. ambassador Bill Richardson calling his trip to North Korea a success. I want to bring in the man who was with him on that trip, our own Wolf Blitzer, standing by.

Wolf, hello to you.

We had the governor on a short time ago, last hour. He doesn't want to take too much credit, quite frankly, and understandably so, for maybe things calming down a bit. But how much credit do you think he deserves for things calming down ever so slightly, if you will, there on the Korean Peninsula?

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": I think he deserves lots of credit. I'm not necessarily saying he single-handedly calmed the situation down and convinced the North Koreans not to respond militarily to the live fire South Korean exercises they had earlier threatened, they would respond, the military with what they call catastrophic results. But I saw him in action up close during the course of those six days we were in North Korea, and he met with all the top leaders of North Korea, including the military brass, and he made the point very consistently, you can get a lot more for your country by showing restraint, by cooperating, allowing International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to come back in, working with the U.S. and other parties to create this military commission, a hotline.

And I think he had an impact. I'm not saying it was the only impact, by any means. And North Korea is unpredictable. What they did yesterday might not necessarily be a prelude of what they're going to do tomorrow. But I think he had an impact.

One other thing I just believed, not based on any hard evidence, but I suspect, based on what I heard, that the Chinese, behind the scenes, also were sort of urging the North Koreans, calm down, don't get too carried away, it's not going to be good for you, not going to be good for the region.

As you know, T.J., China has an enormous amount of influence in North Korea.

HOLMES: Yes. But, Wolf, we hear and report so much about it, and it's tough to do reporting out of North Korea, as you certainly found out. But we hear so much, and we hear about all this bellicose talk, and we just think everybody is just hostile, quite frankly, every leader they might have there.

But when you were there, and you're up close and personal, literally, with all these leaders, do you get a sense that they want to be in the mainstream of leadership around the world, or are they happy with being this little kid on the block that's annoying everybody, this little irritant?

BLITZER: They want to be accepted by the international community. I emerged from the six days I was there -- and I met with a lot of these North Korean leaders -- convinced that they would very much like to be in the mainstream. They have got some issues.

They are worried about their security. They are worried about what would happen if they didn't have that military power and that nuclear capability.

They have a long history -- everybody I spoke to, T.J., over there reminded me that North Korea, the entire Korean Peninsula, for that matter, was occupied by Japan in the years leading up to World War II, throughout World War II, until 1945. They keep making the point that it was Kim Il-sung, the founder of North Korea, who liberated the country, got rid of the Japanese occupation.

They keep saying the Japanese, they not only stole all of North Korea's natural resources, they enslaved the men. The women became what they called these comfort girls to satisfy the Japanese military.

You hear this all of the time. And they say the only thing that prevents North Korea from being occupied like that once again by the Japanese or anybody else is their military and their nuclear capability. That's why they say they have it.

You here it all the time. Obviously, T.J., they have no great love for the Japanese. Their memory, even though it happened 60 years ago, 70 years ago, their memory is very, very long.

HOLMES: All right. One last thing here, Wolf.

Rare access, certainly, that you got. I hear you could be going back. You got an invitation of sorts?

BLITZER: They did invite me to come back. I met with the top nuclear negotiator, Kim Gye Gwan, and he was very firm. He said, "We'd like to have you back. You're invited to come back."

I said to him, "When we come back, I would like to do a formal sit-down interview with you on CNN." And he said to me in English -- he said, "Why not?" So I will be happy to go back at the right time, and if I can get the access to the leadership that I would like to have.

And they watch CNN, by the way, T.J. They are all over us. They know everything that is going on because they are sort of obsessed with their image in the international community right now.

HOLMES: Well, great access you had. We appreciate it. I know you had limits in what you could and couldn't do, but we appreciate -- you were calling in plenty.

BLITZER: Let me just point out, T.J., in "THE SITUATION ROOM" over the next two hours, we are going to release some more video, some more still photos, get another slice of life inside North Korea, and all of it we are posting at CNN.com, a lot of this stuff.

So I think our viewers are going to get some access, some information about North Korea they may not necessarily have had before. A lot of it already is posted at CNN.com, but much more is on the way.

HOLMES: Good to let them know, good to get that in.

Wolf, appreciate you, as always, buddy. Thanks so much.

BLITZER: Thank you. HOLMES: Well, coming up, a lot of people out there, they -- I guess mostly (ph) traditional dating. You go out somewhere, you find a date. Maybe go to bar, find a date. Well, is that bar owner responsible when you end up with a dud?

Well, what about when you go online to find a mate? You might be interested to know about some changes coming to the online dating world.

Sunny Hostin is "On the Case." No online dating for her, let me just be clear there.

We're going to talk to her after the break.

Hey there, Sunny.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. There has been a ruling in pretrial proceedings against a University of Virginia lacrosse player charged with murder. The victim was his on again/off again girlfriend, also played lacrosse at UVA.

Her body was found in her apartment. Sunny Hostin on this case.

Sunny, hello to you. A lot of people will certainly remember this case of Yeardley Love.

Now, what does this ruling mean? What was the ruling? What does this mean now going forward?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, the judge ruled, T.J., that the defense cannot look through all of the victim's medical records over a period of time. And that's what the defense wanted.

They wanted years and years of her medical records. The judge says no. But the judge did say that this defense can look at medical records related to her use of Adderall, which is typically prescribed for ADHD. And a lot of college students use that to focus.

And so, certainly, they are going to get some information. But not at all the amount of information they wanted -- T.J.

HOLMES: What could this possibly mean for them though? Just quickly here on that, what could they do with that information? How could that help them?

HOSTIN: Yes. Well, it's part of their defense.

Their defense is, listen, she didn't die from this blunt-force trauma to the head, as the prosecution alleges. She died of perhaps a prescription drug situation that led to cardiac arrhythmia.

So, I think that is where they are going with it. And if they can make that connection that would be a pretty strong defense. So, many people are saying they are grasping at straws. I don't think so. I think they are doing their job and they're trying to defend this young man. Remember, he is only 22 years old.

HOLMES: All right. Let me take a weird transition here, but a lot of people interested here. Online -- a lot of people do online dating now. There are actual changes in the law that are supposed to protect you when you are trying to online date?

HOSTIN: Well, that's right. New York just passed what's called the Internet Dating Safety Act. And what it's going to require is that dating Web sites have to give users tips.

And back in the day, T.J., you know, people sort of met through friends. They did meet at bars. They met at school.

Now, a majority of people that are dating are using these online Web sites, and the Web sites don't do background checks. So, you're meeting people, there's sort of this question of anonymity, and you don't really know what you are getting into.

And so the Web sites don't check people's backgrounds, and that's something that our viewers should know. They don't conduct these background checks. But now they have to at least give some tips. I don't think the law goes far enough, but it's going in the right direction.

HOLMES: And I've got about 20 seconds to 30 seconds. Can you give me those? You have a couple tips, I do believe, that people need to hear.

HOSTIN: Yes, I do have a couple of tips that I think are important.

Tip number one, when you are doing these Internet dating Web sites, don't put in your online profile your last name, your e-mail address, your home address, your phone number, where you work. That sounds really common sense, but it isn't. People do that.

Tip number two, dump anyone -- dump anyone who pressures you for financial or personal information.

HOLMES: All right. Give me that third one.

HOSTIN: And last but not -- if you plan a face-to-face meeting, always tell a friend or relative your plans, don't meet up at your home. Go to a busy, public place and provide transportation for yourself.

HOLMES: Sunny, thank you. Sorry to rush you. I've got to head it over to Wolf right now.