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Female Park Ranger Shot and Killed; Countdown to Iowa Caucuses; Bloody Start to 2012; Winter Blasts Hitting the U.S.; 2011 Was the Year of Big Trials; Google Earth Shows Window of the Past of Japan

Aired January 01, 2012 - 18:00   ET

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

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: You're in THE CNN NEWSROOM.

Hello, everyone. I'm Natalie Allen, in for Don Lemon tonight.

We begin with breaking news.

A female forest park ranger fatally shot today inside Mt. Rainier National Park in Washington state. A search is under way for the gunman. Park officials say another ranger attempted to pull over a driver who then ran away. Ranger Margaret Anderson then stopped the man who opened fire, killing her before fleeing on foot.

The park has been closed while the search continues. Anderson, who was 34, is survived by her husband and children, ages 2 and 4.

Joining me by phone is park spokeswoman Lee Taylor.

And, Ms. Taylor, tell us what is the status of the search right now. Have you located the man you're looking for?

LEE TAYLOR, MOUNT RAINIER NATL. PARK (via telephone): No, we have not located the shooter. He's still at large in the park. We have other agencies assisting us with trying to apprehend him.

And meanwhile, we've been evacuating visitors from the lower parts of the park and we've got about 85 people who are staying put in our main park visitors center until we think it's safe for them to leave.

ALLEN: But you already had a lot of people in the park, right, when this happened?

TAYLOR: Yes, it was a busy day. It was a sunny day with, you know, nice weather and the holiday weekend, of course. So people had come up to play in the snow and go snowshoeing and cross country skiing and -- so, yes, there were quite a few people in the park when this happened.

ALLEN: Well, tell us what happened. We understand one of the park rangers tried to pull this man over. Take us through that.

TAYLOR: Yes, that's right. We had Ranger Dan Komecha (ph) who tried to pull this person over. He refused to stop. And so, Ranger Anderson set up a blockade with her patrol vehicle to intercept him and when he reached that point, he jumped out of his vehicle and fatally shot her and then apparently fled into the woods on foot abandoning his vehicle.

ALLEN: Do you have any more information about him or did you get any information from his car?

TAYLOR: Well, we were able to identify the registered driver of the vehicle, but we don't know if the gunman is the person who, you know, is the registered owner of the car. Since nobody has else was on scene when the shooting took place, we don't -- we just don't have any specific information about the gunman.

ALLEN: It is such a loss for all of you and we understand that the victim, Anderson, that she was married to a park ranger, as well. How long did she work there? What can you tell us about her?

TAYLOR: Margaret Anderson worked at Mt. Rainier for about four years. She's an expert ranger, a very dedicated public servant and committed to park visitors and was an excellent ranger. Her husband also works in the park as a law enforcement ranger and they have two small children.

So, it's a terrible loss. It's a great tragedy for the park service, and all of us are grieving that loss greatly.

ALLEN: Absolutely. And still a dangerous situation with the shooter on the loose. Thank you so much for your time. We know you're so busy -- park spokeswoman Lee Taylor.

We'll keep our viewers apprised of developments.

The New Year begins in flames and smoke as an arson spree in southern California intensifies. Seven more suspected arsons overnight bringing the total to 39 that have scorched neighborhoods in the Hollywood area since Friday. Los Angeles investigators say cars are being torched with the flames spreading to houses. One of those homes once belonged to Jim Morrison, lead singer for The Doors.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. KELLEY FRASER, LOS ANGELES CO. SHERIFF'S DEPT.: Every lead, every possible rumor, you know, perception, whatever it is, our investigators are active. They're taking this as we've talked about real personal and they're going to commit themselves and they're not going to just discard any kind of rumor whatsoever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: So far, only one injury to a firefighter, minor one, but the mayor of West Hollywood -- West Hollywood being the site of seven of the fires says his city is densely populated and burning a car next to a house is like setting off an explosive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR JOHN J. DURAN, WEST HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA: Many of these buildings with open carports are rent-controlled apartments. They're very dense. They're in parts of West Hollywood and Los Angeles where we have 20,000 people living per square mile. Each of these buildings contains hundreds of residents, many of them frail seniors; many of them families with children that can't move as quickly as young people.

And so, it's a new form of urban terrorism that we are seeing in our community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: A $60,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest.

Well, less than 48 hours until the very first votes are cast in the 2012 presidential race, the Iowa caucuses are Tuesday and many of the Republican hopefuls are spending the holiday making their last sales pitch to voters. The time is now.

Here's how the field looks in the latest, closely watched "Des Moines Register" poll. Take a look at those top three: Mitt Romney at 24 percent, Ron Paul at 22 percent, Rick Santorum now up to 15 percent. Very close heading into the final stretch.

I want to bring in Dana Bash, standing by live for us in Des Moines, Iowa. Also want to welcome Rick Green, editor of "The Des Moines Register."

But, first to you, Dana, the surprising thing here is the rise of Rick Santorum, isn't it?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, absolutely. He was in -- he was kind of an asterisk for months and months and months even though he has been working I think you can argue the hardest here in Iowa, he's been to all 99 counties. He is effectively moved into this state. And, look, it's paying off, and he's kind of surging at the right time.

The issue has been prior to this that social conservatives had really been split among other candidates, Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann and now, it looks as though they're settling on Rick Santorum. And he is -- and Rick can speak more to this because it was, their newspaper's poll.

But the fact of the matter is, just even the past two days, he seems to have surged tremendously and he's kind of a steady as she goes social conservative and fiscal conservative saying all the right things, question is whether or not it's going to pay off when it comes to the key question that Iowa voters do have, these Republican voters, which seems to be electability.

ALLEN: So, which brings us to Ron Paul -- still second in "The Register's" poll. But is his support starting to wane?

BASH: It looks that way. It looks as if his support definitely is starting to wane. Look, he has been a steady presence in the lead, at least statistically tied for the lead for awhile here in Iowa. He also has a tremendous following. He only got about 10 percent four years ago. He, of course, ran for president then, but he kind of never left and certainly his operation never left here.

So, he has a really good organization here, a really good ground game. But it looks like the fact that he's gotten more scrutiny as he has become a higher profile candidate seems to have hurt him because his negatives are pretty high. Still, the fact of the matter is, people here who, Natalie, want to vote for someone who wants to reduce the size of government, reduce the debt, they still say that Ron Paul is their man when it comes to those issues.

ALLEN: Well, and one of the things, of course, we heard about is the lack of love, could we call it, among Republican voters for Mitt Romney. Is that starting to change?

BASH: You know what, it looks like it. And, again, I know you're going to talk to Rick from "The Des Moines Register." This to me -- this stunned me because exactly what you said -- the lack of love for Mitt Romney.

In this new poll which we've been talking about because this poll is so historically reliable when it comes to the caucus, he really is viewed as somebody who has voters who are enthusiastic about him. I can tell you, Natalie, I was here four years ago, basically moved in here four years ago, reporting on the campaign, following Mitt Romney around and following the eventual winner of the caucuses, Mike Huckabee, and definitely there was almost no enthusiasm for Mitt Romney.

He had a lot of money here. He had a good organization but money didn't buy him love. And it looks like this time, he came in, of course, very late to Iowa, and he is gaining a lot of enthusiasm.

ALLEN: It's interesting to hear you say you moved in there about four years ago and here weaver a couple days before and it's anyone's game. We think --

BASH: I don't remember it being this windy before.

ALLEN: Yes. I know. The political winds are certainly blowing, aren't they, Dana?

OK. So, to Rick, you know Iowans better than anyone. And you are certainly used to the ire of the wind. Which candidate is really turning heads there in your opinion?

RICK GREEN, EDITOR, DES MOINES REGISTER: Well, clearly, it is Rick Santorum. We had our final meeting with our pollster yesterday morning over at "The Register" and we had seen the numbers uptick particularly after Wednesday. Thursday night, we thought he had a pretty good night. Friday, he came back in and essentially doubled where he started the week.

We're taking a very, very close eye if he can maintain the momentum. That's the big question.

The second question that's out there starts with the letter "E" -- electability. There are a lot of Republicans, very prominent ones, that are poring over our data, taking a very look close at the one who is most electable. There are a lot of issues that define. Obviously, the social conservatives, the evangelicals, there's a very, very powerful streak in that area.

But a lot of attention has been focused on the economy -- who can create the job, who can turn things around from an economic standpoint. They want to figure out who can knock off the president, perceived as a vulnerable incumbent.

Mitt Romney's electable numbers are very high, higher than anybody else's. He's standing at about 48 percent. The closest one to that is former Speaker Newt Gingrich who's at 13 percent.

Rick Santorum, despite the surge, despite him doing well the past two days of our poll, is only standing at 7 percent in terms of electability.

I think a lot of Republicans around the state right now, caucusgoers, as well as some very influential Republicans are taking a close look at that. At the end of the day, that's going to be a big determining factor, I think.

ALLEN: We are all watching. Rick Green and Dana Bash, we appreciate it and we'll see you again very soon.

We have been talking a lot about who the voters of Iowa will support. But what about the money men, the powerbrokers, the people on Wall Street who have the clout and the cash to make a huge difference in this election? Who are they supporting?

For that, we go to our Susan Candiotti, standing by live for us.

Susan, which candidates are getting the most money from Wall Street?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, perhaps at this stage, it's not surprising but we'll fill you in. Wall Street is already digging deep to line the pockets of contenders for president. Here's a look at the latest numbers for the GOP.

So far, Mitt Romney is way out in front. The Center for Responsive Politics says the former Massachusetts governor has received more than $3.8 million from Wall Street stockbrokers, brokerage companies and bond dealers through December 5th. Romney's take is about five times more than the rest of his competitors combined. Next is Texas Governor Rick Perry, followed by Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, Texas Congressman Ron Paul and Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, with the rest trailing her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER HAMBY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, you want to make nice with everybody if you're a donor at this early stage in the race. I think typically when you talk about the financial sector, you're going to see donors giving more broadly to the sort of establishment-friendly kind of Republicans, your Mitt Romneys, Jon Huntsman, Rick Perry, all of these candidates raised a lot of money on Wall Street. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: (AUDIO BREAK). Remember, these are not necessarily the companies themselves, they also include others that include people who work for political action committees that are associated with the Wall Street firms or individuals who work for these companies.

Now, at the top, Goldman Sachs, $2 million. The securities firm had to pay record fines to settle a fraud case involving subprime mortgage, you might recall. Goldman Sachs is also Romney's top Wall Street donor.

Coming in next is Bain Capital, a firm whose specialties include corporate takeovers. Romney is a former director there and still has ties. But donors tied to Bain Capital give the majority of their money to Democrats.

Paulson & Company, a hedge fund, ranks third.

So far, GOP candidates, including House and Senate leaders, are getting 75 percent of the Wall Street dollars, compared to 25 percent for Democrats.

Still, President Obama is cashing in, collecting $1.8 million. That trails Romney but, of course, it's still early.

Keep in mind: people donate to candidates for many reasons, sometimes they back their favorite, but other times, they hedge their bets with a candidate they think will win. So, fasten your seat belts, Natalie, and open your wallets. Happy New Year.

ALLEN: Yes, it's going to be a New Year of donations for sure from Iowa to Wall Street. Susan Candiotti for us, thanks so much for those numbers.

Well, we are warned every New Year's Eve about the dangers of getting burned by fireworks. But this maybe a new one: revelers injured when they swallowed fireworks. We'll have that story in two minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: Checking stories making headlines around the world now.

New Year's celebrations got out of hand in the Philippines. Health officials say firecrackers injured around 450 people in the capital, Manila. Another 18 were hit by strayed bullets fired into the air. Four people became sick after apparently mistaking fireworks for candy and swallowing it.

On the bright side, officials say the number of injuries is down from last year.

Argentine authorities are investigating the death of a state governor early today. A spokesman confirmed Carlos Soria's his death but refused to elaborate. State media reports a gun shot wound to the face killed the governor at his official residence. Soria became governor of the Rio Negro province last month. He previously served as the head of Argentina's intelligence agency.

Argentine sports fans meantime are mourning a motorcyclist who died today after falling in the first stage of the Dakar rally. Thirty- eight-year-old Jorge Boero went into cardiac arrest after falling and died on the way to the hospital. His father was a well-known race car driver who died in 2004. Boero died riding along the Atlantic coast about 300 miles south of Buenos Aires.

2012 is off to an ugly start in Syria. Government opposition activists say 10 people were killed today. The arrival of Arab League monitors the past week has done nothing to end the violence. And now, critics within the Arab League say the monitors should leave.

Mohamed Jamjoom was keeping a close eye on developments from Cairo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Reports of more violence and more demonstrations on the first day of the New Year in Syria. And the flash point city of Homs reports that people gathered there New Year's Eve into the New Year for an anti-government demonstration in which they were chanting anti-regime slogans and saying that they wished for a New Year free of the Bashar al-Assad regime. There were also amateur videos reporting to show cakes that were baked that were on display, wishing Syria a New Year without its president, Bashar al-Assad.

Also reports on January 1st of demonstrations in Homs, also demonstrations in the province of Idlib. Also reportedly on January 1st, a huge funeral procession for a child who was reportedly killed in Hama. Meanwhile, the Arab parliament, which is an 88-member advisory committee to the Arab League, called on the Arab League to withdraw its mission to Syria because violence continues even though those Arab League monitors are on the ground there.

The Arab League issued a press release later in the day in which they said that it was only the Arab Council who could stop that mission, who could withdraw those observers, and that the observers on the ground there remain committed to their mission.

Mohamed Jamjoom, CNN, Cairo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Iran says a ban on its oil could send the global price rocketing to $200 a barrel. The latest threat comes as the Iranian military test-fired medium-range missiles today near the Strait of Hormuz. The strait is a vital waterway for oil tankers sending supplies abroad. The anti-radar missiles were tested as part of military drills.

And Iran didn't stop there. A news agency today also reporting the country has succeeded in building and testing its first nuclear fuel rod. The rod is said to contain natural uranium. It's been placed in the core of a Tehran research reactor. Iran still insists its nuclear program is peaceful. Western powers doubt that and some have accused Tehran them of working towards a nuclear weapon.

He was once considered an also-ran candidate. Now, Rick Santorum near the top of the polls in Iowa. Up next here, we're asking our political analysts: is it because he's gaining tractions or because the leaders are losing it?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: Back to Iowa.

One of the biggest surprises in these final days before the caucuses is the rise of Rick Santorum. For months, he struggled to gain traction but take a look at where he is in the latest "Des Moines Register" poll. He's in third place with 15 percent behind front- runners Mitt Romney and Ron Paul, quite a reversal in recent days.

I want to bring in L.Z. Granderson, a contributor to CNN.com and senior writer at ESPN, and CNN contributor Will Cain.

Happy New Year, gentlemen.

L.Z. GRANDERSON, CNN.COM CONTRIBUTOR: Happy New Year.

ALLEN: All right. So let's get right to it.

Will, is Santorum's rise an indication of growing popularity, or is it a result do you think of so many of his rivals falling flat early in this campaign?

WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Both. Definitely both. Santorum's rise has correlated with Newt Gingrich's fall. So we can see some of that support is going over to Santorum.

But let's not take away what Santorum has accomplished. He's put in a lot of hard work. He's visited every county in Iowa. I said this before, his campaign seems tailor-made for Iowa -- social values, family values, social conservatism, that plays well to Iowa. So, you would expect that Rick Santorum could do well in Iowa and now it looks like he is doing well.

ALLEN: Well, I want to play this sound from NBC "Meet the Press" this morning. David Gregory pressed Santorum about his endorsement of Mitt Romney back in the 2008 campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So I --

DAVID GREGORY, MODERATOR, "MEET THE PRESS": Romney will stand up for the conservative principles that we hold dear. But you didn't say "compared to".

SANTORUM: Well, of course, I'm not going to say compared to. I mean, I'm trying to advocate for his candidacy at a time when --

GREGORY: So, you didn't mean that then?

SANTORUM: Well, I was saying that relative to John McCain. And that's what I mean then. Remember, it's not like I was an early supporter of Romney. I endorsed him actually seven days before he dropped out of the race. So, maybe I was a little bit of a --

GREGORY: Does he have conservative values, conservative principles?

SANTORUM: Of course, everybody on that stage that is in these debates has conservative values vis-a-vis President Obama.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: L.Z., do you buy his explanation there that he endorsed Romney purely for political reasons?

SANTORUM: Absolutely not. You know, Rick Santorum -- I have been trying really hard not to call him a knob but I don't know what else I can do besides say that, because the guy continues to put himself in these positions where he looks like a weak leader. He looks as if he's always flip-flopping even with his own principles.

I mean, he criticizes Romney in his flip-flopping where he had very similar views about abortion as Romney did. And then he flip-flopped his own views with regard to abortion when it got time for him to start to run for president.

So, I don't understand the guy. I don't -- I can find very little with him talking about the economy, very little talking about jobs. It's always about abortion. And he thinks about gay people more than I do. And I'm gay. So, I don't get the guy.

(LAUGHTER)

ALLEN: Let's turn to Ron Paul, we'll leave it there for Santorum. Let's turn it to Ron Paul who is second in that "Des Moines Register" poll.

There's always a question about whether he is too outside of the mainstream to be electable in a general election. Here's what he said this morning on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RON PAUL (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm pretty electable. I was elected 12 times once people got to know me in my own congressional district. So, I think that's more propaganda than anything else. So, we'll wait and see and we'll know a lot more about how the election goes tomorrow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Will, is Ron Paul letting the Iowa poll numbers get to his head? CAIN: No, I mean, that's perfectly rational reason he just gave. Look, here's my issue with Ron Paul. Is he electable?

Tim Ferriss wrote a book a couple of years ago called "The Four-Hour Workweek." And in that book, he talked abut Pareto's position. Pareto's principle is that you can break most things in the world down to an 80-20 proposition. In business, 80 percent of your business comes from another 20 percent of your clientele. Simultaneously, 80 percent of problems come from another 20 percent of your clientele.

I think this applies to Ron Paul. Eighty percent of what he says is great -- small government, constitutionalism, dedication to liberty. But 20 percent is a total deal-killer.

The interesting thing is that 20 percent is different for everybody. For some, it's that he would legalize drugs. For others, it that's he'd pull troops out of Afghanistan, Iraq, Germany, Japan, and South Korea. And for others is that he would kill the Federal Reserve.

It's different for everybody but it's always a deal-killer. That is why he's not electable.

ALLEN: All right. Well, I want to switch gears to the man all of these Republicans want to beat, President Obama. Yesterday, he signed a defense spending bill that allows the military to indefinitely detain terror suspects, including American citizens in the U.S.

But he gave a statement along with it saying, "I want to clarify that my administration will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens." That from the president.

L.Z., he said he signed this with serious reservations and he's essentially vowing not to follow parts of it. Why did he sign it at all?

GRANDERSON: You know what? There are moments in this man's presidency that I really regret not seeing Hillary in that position -- and these are one of those moment, right? Because there is no reason to not veto that part of it because it's horrendous. It's against what we believe in this country. And for him to sign that bill and then come back and say, but I'm not going to use it or who is going to say that the president after you won't use it, and you're the president that gave that president the permission to do so.

I think it's -- the only thing I can think of why he might have signed that is so that he doesn't appear to be weak in terms of handling terrorism, because of the troop withdrawal in Afghanistan and Iraq. But I just think it's a horrible bill. He shouldn't have signed it, and I think it's going to come back and bite him in the butt when he runs in the general election.

ALLEN: We'll have to end on that one.

CAIN: Or --

ALLEN: Thank you both so much. We got to go. L.Z. Granderson, Will Cain, we appreciate your perspectives and your comments.

For the latest on what the candidates are doing to win last-minute support in Iowa, be sure to join Wolf Blitzer and the CNN political team for "Countdown to Iowa: The Final 48 Hours." That's coming up in about 90 minutes, right here on CNN.

A brutal way to start the New Year, a major winter storm taking aim on several states. Meteorologist Bonnie Schneider will have the forecast in two minutes.

But, first, CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta has launched a new program called "THE NEXT LIST." Each week, Sanjay will profile innovators from all walks of life and all fields of endeavor. This week, he talks with Christopher Brosius, a former cab driver turned award-winning perfumer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER BROSIUS, PERFUMER: Being self-taught is actually -- it's very much a blessing and a curse. The curse part means that I do not have or did not have a lot of the technical experience that people who were classically trained in the very few perfume schools that exist do. They knew how to make certain chords because they were taught how. They know how to work with certain materials because this is the knowledge that was passed down through these schools. I had to figure out everything myself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: Twenty inches of snow, 50-mile-per-hour winds. The New Year was predicted to enter in a bitter and brutal way in Michigan.

And Bonnie Schneider is here to tell us it certainly did -- Bonnie?

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's coming in with a big blast of cold air. And, Natalie, as that cold air works its way across the warmer waters of the Great Lakes and it's a recipe for a lot of snow and strong wind. And you've got to se these gusts we've seen so far today. It's been brutal out there for the first day of the year. In Pontiac, Michigan, the wind gusted to 51 miles per hour; Ann Arbor, 48. Intense winds making a big difference in the weather we're seeing across much of this region.

On the radar picture, what you're looking at is heavy snow particularly for the state of Michigan, from north to south, that's where the heaviest bands are, even some sweeping into Chicago. As we zoom into the region what we're looking at is definitely snowy conditions across much of Michigan. and that will continue straight through today, straight through tomorrow. The blizzard warning that's in effect goes until 7:00 p.m. Tomorrow night, for the counties you see highlighted in red, into Michigan, 12 inches-plus. That's a foot of snow. With the intense winds the gusts of 55 miles per hour. Wow. that is going to create immense snow drifts. So we're watching for very, very intense bands of snow to work their way across Michigan and much of the region. So the winds are going to be fierce across areas of Ohio, all the way to Upstate New York and even into Vermont. And, of course, that will make the temperature colder and a lot more snow to pile on up.

We're looking at future casts now. It will show the lake-effect event should be wrapping up as we go into the next 48 hours. Overall, we'll be monitoring this as well as the blizzard warning in effect, Natalie, for parts of Michigan straight through tomorrow night.

ALLEN: Dangerous situation.

Bonnie, thanks so much.

You could call 2011 the year of big trials. Casey Anthony, Conrad Murray and the Connecticut murders drew the attention of many of us. These trials not only gained massive media attention, they also changed the legal landscape.

Joining me now, former prosecutor, Holly Hughes, to break it all down.

Holly, you've obviously been following all of these trials. Let's begin with the one that pretty much had the country riveted. That's Casey Anthony. How do you think that trial changed the legal landscape?

HOLLY HUGHES, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY & FORMER PROSECUTOR: Well, Natalie, it changed it in two very significant ways. It changed the way the legal players in the field act, the judges, the lawyer, the legislatures. And it changed the way the public will act when they're called in to participate in that process as a juror because, as you know, when the verdict came down and it was so unpopular, jurors in this case got death threats. so now when you're called to serve on a jury and it has any kind of publicity behind it, you're going to be really skeptical about whether or not you want to do your civic duty and be involved in that process. So that's how it changed the public. And legally speaking, we're seeing a lot of states enacting legislation saying if you're the caregiver for a child and you don't report that child missing or dead within 72 hours, we can now charge you with a felony, which would have been an additional way to get Casey Anthony.

ALLEN: It certainly had a lot of legal ramifications. And, of course, the country riveted for so long because it was such a tragedy.

The other one, Michael Jackson's doctor, Conrad Murray. How do you think this will be impacted in the future from this trial?

HUGHES: What we'll se the legislature back in California is now, because so much light has been shone on them with this house arrest bill, they came up with realignment. Which means if you're convicted of a nonviolent felony and they consider involuntary manslaughter none -- yes, your eyebrows are going up, Natalie. That's the reaction of most of the country. They say, what, you killed somebody, and it's possible you could serve a four-year maximum sentence on house arrest. Now that spotlight has been turned on California and they're starting to rethink how they classify involuntary manslaughter, number one. And, number two, if this whole house arrest idea is such a good idea after all.

ALLEN: So we had Michael Jackson, superstar; Casey Anthony, a little girl; and then, of course, a case that some people might have forgotten about but it was very horrific, the Connecticut murders of the family, the Petit family. And Joseph Komisarjevsky on trial for that one. And this case probably had the biggest impact on the death penalty.

HUGHES: It did. And that's what's fascinating. We see a lot of states trying to abolish the death penalty. There are so many people who are anti-death penalty that they are lobbying legislations. And Connecticut was getting ready to abolish their death penalty, Natalie. And when this case happened -- you remember the details. This was a family. They beat the father, tIED him up and left him in the basement. They raped two young teenage girls, the mother. Then they burned these women alive.

ALLEN: Horrible.

HUGHES: So when people heard these horrific facts, they put on the brakes and the public put on the brakes and said, hey, wait a minute, you know what, maybe there is a case where the death penalty is appropriate. And so what we saw was the public giving an outcry and the legislature in Connecticut responding to the public and saying, OK, you're right, we're going to hold off on abolishing the death penalty. They kept it in place. And guess what, Komisarjevsky got the death penalty, Natalie. So it goes to show you that the public out there thinks there are times when it's appropriate.

ALLEN: All quite interesting.

We appreciate it.

Former prosecutor, Holly Hughes.

Holly, thanks for breaking it down.

HUGHES: Thanks so much.

ALLEN: Happy new year to you.

HUGHES: Yes, you too.

ALLEN: New images of one of the biggest stories of 2011. If you thought these pictures of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan as it happened were gripping, new scenes just released will give you a different view of the destruction.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: Japan, of course, struggling to rebuild from the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the country last March. It could be decades, though, before some places are back to normal. But Google is offering a window on the past.

Josh Levs has a look at what Google Earth can show us. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is historic, this kind of documentation of the unbelievable devastation that we witnessed in Japan earlier this year. You'll see it in a brand-new way from Google, and it's called Memories for the Future. And I pulled up Oshuchi (ph), one of the areas we talked about. The devastation was absolutely incredible. What Google has now are images of what it has looked like recently, as recent as October. And this is after much of the debris was picked up. Let me show you one more picture, then I'll tell you about an interesting feature. We're looking at this in Miyagi prefecture. We have reported numerous boats washed up onto land, many still there. Look at that. Thanks to this feature, you can see what it looks like now.

I want to jump you over to a map. Let's do that. I want to show you areas I'll pinpoint for you, and then we'll do something interesting. We'll see before-and-after pictures. And we're starting off with Onagawa. This is where it becomes the most powerful. Let's zoom back to my screen here. This is Onagawa on this feature. This is what it looked like before the earthquake and the tsunami. This is one busy street corner. You can see shops. You can see a book store in one corner here. Let me show you the same area after the earthquake. Exact same spot. Boom. This is what it looks like now. What you see a series of before-and-after pictures. Absolutely incredible.

Let's jump back to that map. I want to zoom you a little bit west. Still inside Miyagi Prefecture. I'm highlighting some places we at CNN told you about this year. We're going over to Ishinomaki. Here's a before picture. What's different in this is a residential area? These were homes. You can see multi-family homes and apartment buildings. And you see cars outside. This is a before picture. Now, boom. Never been anything like this, folks. Same spot, same areas. Heartbreaking. This picture, by the way, I'll tell you, is from July. In some cases, there's been more cleanup since then.

There's a third one I want to show you. Let's go back to that map. We'll zoom southward a little bit, because probably the place you heard us talk about most is in Fukushima. We have an example for you here, which is Soma. That's inside Fukushima. This before picture was taken on a cloudy date. There are homes here and you see it was a residential area and a little bit of a business are there in Soma. Same spot now. I'm going to click on. Everything is gone. Everything absolutely gone.

Now, what's amazing about this feature, you can see all sorts of areas of Japan with before-and after imagery. I want you all to have the opportunity to check it out for yourself. I posted it and all my pages online. You've got my pages there. It's CNN.com/josh. And it's on Facebook and Twitter. I'm at joshlevsCNN. Go ahead and take a look.

Obviously, to this day, our thoughts and prayers, Natalie, with all those effected. And I'll tell you, the latest number we have, more than 15,000 people killed in the earthquake and tsunami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: A long way to go.

Fireworks go up and dozens of birds go down. Dead from shock. We'll have that story right after a break.

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ALLEN: A mystery in Arkansas. Birds falling dead from the sky on New Year's Eve for the second year in a row. Wildlife officials say between 50 and 80 blackbirds have been reported dead. The exact same thing happened in Beebe last New Year's eve but on a much bigger scale. 5,000 birds found dead in a square-mile area. Tests are being done to find out what killed this latest group of birds. But officials are speculating they were startled by New Year's Eve fireworks.

Headlines across country. This evening, a North Carolina man is in federal custody, charged with trying to board a commercial flight with an explosive device. It happened Saturday in Midland, Texas. TSA agents say they spotted a suspicious item in what they call military grade wrapping in the man's carry-on bag. They arrested Trey Scott Atwater, briefly evacuated the airport, and then declared an all- clear. No word on exactly what type of explosive Atwater is charged with carrying.

Two more states made same-sex civil unions legal today. This is Hawaii, Governor Neil Abercrombie signing the law a few days ago. Hawaii and Delaware make five U.S. states that now recognize same- gender civil unions. Six other states and Washington, D.C., allow same-sex marriage.

All right. How about this one, Banana Sam is back. You may remember the squirrel monkey that was taken Friday from the San Francisco Zoo. Well, our affiliate, KTVU, reports a Good Samaritan spotted the 17- year-old animal in a tree at Stern Grove Park and somehow coaxed it into his backpack and then notified police. Zoo staffers noticed the little guy missing after spotting holes cut through the mesh fence of Banana Sam's exhibit. But that one has a happy ending.

Well, you want a Sprite or a Coke or even a Kool-Aid? It will cost you more this year to indulge. We'll tell you about a tax on what is considered sinful food and drink, and where it is happening. That is on the other side of this break.

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