tv Starting Point CNN March 1, 2012 7:00am-9:00am EST
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behind me. this home, you can tell it's a home, because there's a car in the garage. outside of that, it's hard to tell. let me show you something where, really, the bulk of the deaths occurred. it's this way. kevin, if you'll follow me. this is a home that has been completely wiped off its foundation. you can see down here into the basement the women who lived in this home died. the winds were coming, basically, this direction. this home was right directly in the path, the homes that lie down that way, as well. there is a number, they don't look like anything's there and that's because the homes aren't there any more. they were literally wiped off their foundations. the thing about tornadoes that is always so strange, of course, you can have a home wiped off the foundation and literally right next door is a home where there is almost no damage at all. this home lost a little siding and a broken window, beyond that, it's not really bad. that's what i always find very challenging in covering
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tornadoes. so much loss and then some people who are able to get out of the area with just their lives. today, of course, a number of people who are injured. 100 injuries or so reported. many of them came right from this area and no surprise because look at the damage here. people had to hold themselves out of the rubble, in many cases, or wait for rescuers to come in. we'll have a chance to talk to some of those victims, as well. want to introduce you to family members. can i bring you over here for one second. the the osmonds lost their mom yesterday. thank you for talking with us. you basically did this very walk right after the tornado hit. >> basically 24 hours ago i made this same walk that i just made this morning coming in to talk to you. >> what was it like? the lights weren't on. >> red and blue lights everywhere. of course, it's dark and emergency vehicles were already here and some emergency services
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personnel, but other than that, there was nobody here at the time that i walked in here yesterday. >> did you hear people crying for help? >> no, actually i didn't. between the engine noises of the emergency vehicles and things. no, i personally did not hear anyone crying for help. >> you ran to your mom's house, which is around the corner a little bit. >> around the corner, yes. >> what did you see? >> nothing, literally. her house is literally gone. nothing there but the car sitting there that was in the garage. >> and i know you had to then go in and try to figure out where she was and -- >> i was fortunate in that respect. i walked, ran, rather, up here and the first person i saw was a police officer. and he asked me who i was looking for and i said, my mother lives in what used to be right there and pointed over that and he asked me her name and he said, you're lucky, she's in the ambulance right here. >> i know carolyn went into the ambulance, carolyn went into the ambulance.
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tell me about mary, your mother, was in the ambulance. was she conscious at all? >> yes. >> she was talking? >> well, no, she knew we were there. she was trying. just had a laceration on her head that is all we really saw at that time and she was in quite a bit of pain because every time the ambulance would bounce, she cried out in pain. but when we weren't bouncing, she was okay. i mean, i just didn't realize she was that bad. >> when you got to the hospital, of course, the hospital itself had been damaged by the tornado. >> yes, it had. there were personnel everywhere. >> was it chaotic? >> not really. there was an order to it. they all knew what they were doing and just took us right through. and they had doctors coming in that work out of the offices here and they were there and some of the girls i work with from primary were there helping and it was real organized. >> dina, how long before you
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were able to get to your mom and get to the hospital? >> i live in indiana and i live about four hours away. i didn't get here until, i don't know, around noon yesterday. and i still haven't seen my mother, actually. she had already been taken to wherever she's at. she'd already been taken there, but i haven't seen her since i've been here yet. >> when you look at the scope of this damage. her home has literally been wiped off its foundation. >> there really aren't any words to describe. when i drove through town and i saw this yesterday, i just thought to myself, how terrifying. you know, i knew by that time that there were more people than just my mom that had perished. so, i wasn't just heart broken for my mom, you know, i was praying for everyone that had lost a loved one. i mean, this is just, you don't
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imagine something like this happening and hitting so close to your family. i mean, you see it on the news. you don't, you don't ever think it's going to happen to you. you really don't. >> did you get to the hospital in time to see your mom? >> oh, yes. of course, my wife being a nurse she got to actually ride in the ambulance with her and i followed the ambulance in my personal vehicle and we got there and they took her right on into the trauma area and a little bit later my wife came out and said that the doctor told her that she might not live and, of course, that's when i called my sister and told her to get home. >> were you able to talk to your mom? >> not after she got into the hospital. i spoke to her, excuse me, i spoke to her a little bit while she was still in the ambulance before we left this site. but after she got to the hospital, no, i was not able to talk to her more after that. i know in my heart she was there. i know that.
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and i got to say this, i have to say this, the only thing that's getting me through this is knowing that she's in heaven with god and jesus christ has given me the strength to do all of this. >> i can't imagine. so sad to see. >> forgive me. >> i'm sorry. we appreciate you talking to us this morning. the house, there's nothing there. what will you do today? i don't even think there's things to gather. >> yesterday we came out here during the day hours and we were able to find some pictures, some of her children, some of my children. some actually of each of us, believe it or not. of all things, i found my birth certificate that she had. i found her marriage license. >> so important things. >> yeah. >> memories. >> we were able to find her checkbook. we have not found her purse with her credit cards and things yet. we're going to spend today hopefully they'll let us in here and maybe not because of all the news crews and things, but
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hopefully let us in here so we can search through the rubble some more and try to find some more things. >> our condolences to your entire family. we appreciate you talking to us this morning. you look around and think, how terrifying, how terrifying and for everybody that is here, i appreciate your time this morning. thank you. so, this really is the center of where most of the lives were lost in harrisburg. as you can see, devastating for the families. it's been 24 hours since the tornado road through here and still very difficult. there were other places where the tornado hit with vengeance, as well. powerful wind began on tuesday, a deadly path that went from kansas to kentucky. these are pictures from branson, missouri. no deaths reported in branson, but three overall in the state of missouri and the twister was reported 400 yards wide and in branson some major damage to historic theaters and according to the national weather service,
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the tornado was on the ground for 20 miles. if you go to kansas, 1 120-mile-per-hour winds there hit a hotel and most of the damage unharveyville. half of that town has been damaged or destroyed. a man said that he literally caught his grandson as he was being sucked through a window and he was able to save him. that storm eventually move under to kentucky. that's one about 125 miles per hour. wind flattening homes there and the national guard was mobilized to help out. you're looking at pictures from elizabethtown in kentucky. you will see roofs ripped right off. one home completely torn from the ground and those pictures you're looking at from newberur indiana. pictures from cumberland. you can see huge hail in addition to all the other damage from the wind was doing a lot of damage. high winds did damage to homes, of course. three people were killed in tennessee and the storms then
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continued east and rob marciano has an update for us on exactly what happened when those storms moved east. hey, rob, good morning. >> good morning, soledad. those storms weakened thankfully the same cell hit harrisburg moved down the ohio river and an ef-1 tornado. significantly weaker, but it was a long-lived cell and one of many that rolled across the area. where are those storms now? we're looking at a weakening system, thankfully, but the atmosphere itself is going to recharge as we go through time. today the threat is going to be from st. louis down through memphis. we don't expect a whole lot of tornadoes from this graphic or the storms to develop later on today, but damaging winds, certainly large hail possible. what will really recharge the atmosphere as this storm exits, the next storm that is coming in. energy driving out of the rocky mountains and also a dynamic storm and maybe more powerful than the one we had yesterday. a slightly different set up and track a little bit further to
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the east and slightly different people will be affected, but a wide swath of potentially destructive weather exists from indianapolis back through st. louis. the storm's prediction center a moderate risk of seeing severe weather. for them to do that two days out is a big, big deal. notice through parts of southern illinois, you're under the gun for a slight risk. what did we have yesterday? a slight risk of seeing severe weather when those storms rolled through. t ingredients are there to see tornadoes. we don't typically get these ingredients this far north. high time is april, may and june. so, yes, soledad, this is extremely rare for this time of year. more importantly, rare to be this far north from where you are in southern illinois. soledad? >> rob, thank you for that update. other stories, of course, making news today and christine romans has a look at those for
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us. good morning. >> good morning. breaking news from afghanistan where two more american soldiers have been killed and a third american has been wounded. a gunman in afghan national army uniform and another man opening fire at a nato base in southern kandahar. those shootings the latest in a series of attacks against americans and other members of the nato alliance following the burning of korans at a u.s. military base. thousands of syrian troops stepping up their attacks on rebel strongholds in holmes. a senior government official is vowing to "cleanse" the district of all opposition fighters. rebel forces report communications have been cut off in some areas of the city. getting support here in the u.s. because patriots who want to end the regime are planning a large demonstration in charlotte, north carolina, home to one of the largest syrian communities in the u.s. egypt is lifting a travel ban on seven americans facing
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trial in that country. the seven include u.s. transportation secretary ray lahood's son, sam lahood. they're accused of stirring up unrest while working for nongovernmental organizations. in all, 16 americans are charged and the others had already left the country. teachers, parents and students will be allowed to return to chardon high school outside cleveland this morning. grief counselors will be on hand. of course, classes officially resume tomorrow. on monday, police say 17-year-old t.j. lane opened fire on students in the cafeteria killing three of them. a three-day nightmare at sea is over for more than 1,000 passengers on the ship the "costa allegra." a fire knocked out power to this cruise ship and a french fishing boat towed it to seychelles. passengers spent three days
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without lights, water in pirate infested waters. the final totals from the wyoming caucuses are now in with romney defeating rick santorum by seven points. the former massachusetts governor trying to build on his momentum by attacking santorum's qualifications to be president. >> rick santorum is a nice guy, but an economic lightweight. doesn't understand what it takes to make an economy work on a personal basis. >> 11 states are up for grabs in the next five days. here's how the delegate count stands so far. romney has 181 delegates. santorum has 61 and newt gingrich with 39 and ron paul with 33. minding your business this morning. u.s. stock futures pointing to a higher open right now. dow futures up about 30 points. waiting on two economic reports that come out in the next hour. weakless jobless claims and a report on personal income and spending. remembering davy jones.
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the monkees lead singer died yesterday after suffering an apparent heart attack near his home in florida. tmz obtained a 911 call in which a woman appears to be getting jones to the hospital. listen. >> 911, what is your emergency? >> ambulance, please, hurry. i'm getting him in the truck and start driving. >> meantime, this is video of jones final television appearance last year. he was 66. soledad in harrisburg, illinois, soledad? >> all right, thanks, christine. appreciate that. that's a sad story to hear of davy jones' death. we're back here in harrisburg and moved in a little
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bit as the sun comes up. easier to see some of the damage. in just a little bit we'll talk to the sheriff of saline county and he's going to talk about some of the rescue attempts that happened here and some of the folks who had to move themselves out of these collapsed buildings to get to safety. we'll chat with him right after this short break. stay with us. you're watching "starting point." we're back in just a moment. >> i'm praying. i mean, i'm really hoping and praying to god that everything will be cool. but i was really thinking for a second that we were going to die. i mean, i was scared. i really thought my dad and i were going to die and get thrown from our trailer and die. it was scary. at your skin looksr even after you take it off. neutrogena® healthy skin liquid makeup. 98% saw improved skin. does your makeup do that? neutrogena® cosmetics. [ male announcer ] we didn't have to make safety features like active head restraints, brake assist, and an enhanced accident-response system
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at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side. welcome back to "starting point." even though he won three states in a row, mitt romney can't be feeling much of a winner this morning. after romney's michigan win on tuesday and an even split with romney and santorum each getting 15 delegates. santorum is calling it a tie. wyoming's caucuses have taken place throughout february and the final results are in with romney defeating santorum 39% to
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32% and a look at the delegates. ten for romney and nine for santorum. here's the updated delegate's scoreboard. romney with 181 and santorum 61 and gingrich 39 and paul 33. 1,144 delegates are needed to clinch the nomination. mark preston joining us live from washington this morning. three straight wins, mark, for romney, but is it feeling pretty hollow for the team or at least romney supporters? >> well, you know, what we saw on tuesday night where he won the popular vote statewide in michigan was actually a big victory, christine, for mitt romney because had he lost the state where he grew up in and the state where his father was governor, a devastating week for mitt romney. rick santorum is correct because it is really all in the math. at least when we're talking about it here in the media and at least what the romney campaign is going to push forward, a win is a win is a
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win. of course, we saw that last night, as well, with the wyoming results where basically those delegates were split apart. christine, it really comes down to super tuesday where there's going to be lots of delegates on the line. >> five days to go. what does it all mean? a lot could happen in five days in politics. >> a lot could happen in five days in politics. if we look at the polling right now, you would think it's not necessarily a good day for romney. but as things have changed so quickly here in this race, we should point out, 1,144 delegates are needed to win the republican nomination. on tuesday night, about 40% of those delegates are going to be awarded. the problem, most are proportional which means someone is going to win some in one state and the republican race for the nomination is going to go on. i do have to say this, christine. i don't think i'm overstating it. i think the near future of the republican party will be determined on tuesday night because we'll get a clear
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picture of who is going to be the strongest person to win the nomination. >> if you're rick santorum and you've been riding this surge and you want to take a tie, same number of delegates in michigan and really carry through that momentum, what do you do? he's got less money, less money than mitt romney. mitt romney is feeling a win is a win is a win. what does the santorum team have to do here to come out on top? >> he has to recalibrate his campaign a little bit. this is a republican primary and your voters will tend to be social conservatives and that's where rick santorum really does very well. the question really, a victory for rick santorum is really a defeat for mitt romney and we have to see what happens to newt gingrich. let's look at the south, georgia, tennessee, oklahoma, those are three states that are critically important to what happens on tuesday night. and then for rick santorum, he does very well in ohio, which a lot of people are looking at because that really is the bellwether state, the state that really plays an important roll
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in the general election. if he's able to do well there, that's going to give him momentum and talking point going forward against mitt romney. of course, we don't know what's going to happen on tuesday night. rick santorum what he lacks in money, he really has in grassroots support and that's something we're not seeing from mitt romney. >> if you're team romney, you don't want to make any mistakes in the next five days and show that you are the, you want the conservatives to be comfortable with you and show that you're the electable candidate. >> correct, absolutely. >> all right, mark preston, thanks so much, mark. ahead on "starting point" the scene of the devastating midwest tornado. soledad talking to the mayor of harrisburg who is promising we will rebuild. also speak to the owner of the apartment complex where six people died in harrisburg, illinois. you're watching "starting point" don't go away. >> i started feeling the trailer shaking and that's all i can remember. the next thing i knew he was
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welcome back, everybody. you're looking inside a destroyed home. one of the homes hit incredibly hard, obviously, by the tornado that hit harrisburg, illinois. just look at the damage and look the home was shifted off its foundation. i want to introduce everybody to saline county. thank you for talking with us, we appreciate it. i know you have been in law enforcement for decades. what do you think? >> i start would the state police and i have been all over
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illinois in different disasters, but this one is at home. it makes a whole lot of difference. it's pretty difficult to see your neighbors and your friends. i spoke with the osmonds early this morning in regards to their mother who passed right here in this area, so, it's, it's exceptionally difficult to see our community damaged in this way. but we're pretty tough. we'll be back, but it's a rebuilding time and it's a time for us to get all of our items in line so that people can be made whole, again, and try to move forward. >> the osmonds were telling us by the time they got here and they don't live very far away, they were able to run into deputies and law enforcement personnel who sort of helped them get to their mom. what was the status? how quickly could you get your men and women here to help out?
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>> we were here within just a few minutes of the incident. but it took, by the time we could make a longer term response, it took quite a while because of the number of trees down. but we did have officers in here fairly quickly. in fact, one of the officers from the harrisburg police department just lives up the hill and he was down here almost immediately giving us information as far as what was going on and we had injuries here. so, we started sending ambulances to this area. >> let's walk down this way because you mention the trees and i think this is, this is behind the housing complex. in fact, if you just drive down the street, it's very easy to miss. and then you see the scope of the damage. it's incredible. you see how wide this tornado really was. >> just across the street here, the property is just barely damaged. >> almost not touched. >> some windows out. and on this side, we have just the pieces and parts of just a
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number of different apartments. i believe there were six apartments here that were destroyed. in fact, a gentleman i went to high school with was injured and we moved him from here and got him in the ambulance out there. so, we were able to get in here. but it took, it took quite a while and that's just part of these types of disasters because when trees are down, it takes a while to get everything through and find the path. >> what happens next? obviously, cleanup phase and the sun has just come up in the last 20 minutes or so. i expect folks would come through and pick through and salvage from at least the homes that are still kind of standing. >> everything was coordoned off with law enforcement and we'll let residents back in and probably work with insurance companies and different groups that are the representatives of the people that have been injured or damaged here.
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and what we'll do is have these folks in and try to start the process for them, as far as getting them back to hope. there will be a number of government people. the national weather service will be here this morning. we've been talking with a number of the federal folks representative, senator durbin's office have all called. i'm not sure who all is going to show up this morning, but the representative's office said they would be here this morning. we just got a number of folks who will come in and hopefully they have monies and they have some governmental assistance for the community to get it back on its feet and moving forward. i would say 15% to 20% of the community has been very impacted by this. >> i was going to ask you what the estimate was? >> 15% to 20%. we're working on that to get an accurate number. but those will come in the next
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few days. >> just under 20%, 1,500 to 2,000 people maybe. we appreciate your time, we know you're really busy, especially this morning. >> we'll head back and forth to the command center and see what we can do with our folks. >> sheriff brown joining us this morning. we'll take a short break. when we come back, we'll talk to the man who just built these homes. these homes are new. what you see here was just built in november. people have just moved in in november and, of course, four months later, you know, tragedy strikes. we'll talk with him right on the other side of the break. stay with us. in america, we believe in a future that is better than today. since 1894, ameriprise financial has been working hard for their clients' futures. never taking a bailout. helping generations achieve dreams. buy homes.
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at aarp.org/jointoday. your doctor will say get smart about your weight. i tried weight loss plans... but their shakes aren't always made for people with diabetes. that's why there's new glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. and they have 6 grams of sugars. with 15 grams of protein to help manage hunger... look who's getting smart about her weight. [ male announcer ] new glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes. good morning, welcome back, everybody. we're coming to you live this morning from harrisburg, illinois. as you can see, it's all devastation and destruction around me. this was literally the ground zero for where the tornado touched down and killed five people in this housing complex
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alone. a sixth person died not far from where we are. the heart of the devastation was right here. john, will show you how the homes were literally wiped right off of their foundations. in this area here was really took the brunt hit of the 1 170-mile-per-hour winds. homes knocked off their foundations and most of the people who died was in this little area right here. tremendous tragedy to talk about this morning. 9,000 people in this city and, of course, today is going to be focused on cleanup. as you just heard from the sheriff, also figuring out what kind of financial assistance, et cetera, they can get. i want to introduce you to the mayor. eric rank is the mayor. nice to have you, sir, thank you for being with us. we appreciate your time. danny morris is the gentleman who owns this apartment complex. we appreciate you letting us be here. thank you very much. i'll start with you, mr. morris. you were telling me last night that this was brand-new. >> these four right here very new.
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>> so, the people who moved in and who literally lost their lives had only been in a couple of months. >> right. about october. some started in june and then october. >> when you view the scope of the damage and we were talking last night, we couldn't even see how bad it is in there. today it's very clearly horrific. >> yes. >> what do you think? this was your property. >> the property -- that's the main concern right now. just kind of like a family. >> a tight knit group. you knew everybody personally? >> yep. >> i'm sorry. mr. mayor, mr. morris' story and i'm sure his loss, too, for his friends and people he knew it really resona resonating throug
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your community. what do you do and tell people today? >> we have to be strong and be vigilant and as heartbreaking as this is for all of us, our hearts are heartbreaken in this community because we're a very close knit community and we care about each other. that's our culture here. we work with each other and help each other and that's what we do. so, this is just, hits us right in the heart and, i tell you, we will, we will come back and we will, we will do what we have to do and we are very resiliezisil community and an area. i certainly sympathize and agree with mr. morris that the loss of life is just devastating to all of us. we're going to do everything we can to take care of those who have been displaced and we will help mr. morris any way we can. we will take care of our community. we'll take care of each other. >> mr. morris, can you tell me a little bit about the people who lived here last night. tell me about some of the lives that were lost. there was a couple that lived
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there. >> yes, a couple that lived there and then next to them a young lady. and then -- >> they all died in this tornado. >> the mother lived there. >> right here. we talked to them earlier. >> and these people, they came out okay. they have some injuries, but they're okay. the lady right here behind us, she passed away and next to them, his wife was just has some injuries and he's still in the hospital. >> have you been able to connect family members? have you seen them as they come out? >> yes. >> well, we appreciate you talking to us. i know it's a terrible time and we appreciate you letting us shoot some pictures to show the nation what's happening in the world, as well. we appreciate it. both of you, thank you very much. >> thank you. rob marciano has been covering the storm path from when it started on tuesday. rob, you have an update for me on what's happening with the storm. >> weakening, thankfully.
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here's a look at the storm itself as it rolled through right around this time yesterday morning about an hour prior to this. and not only did it roll through harrisburg, but it rolled down the ohio river just south of evansville, where it was an ef-1 tornado with winds of 90 miles per hour. that is a drastic difference and weakening of that storm but took some time to do that and a tale of two different stories and that's not the only one. as you know, multiple tornadoes touched down across multiple states and an incredible outbreak for february. the southern side where we had storms yesterday, that had weakened thankfully. we'll recharge the atmosphere today and more so tomorrow. damaging wind from st. louis to memphis later on this afternoon and not a huge threat for tornadoes with this round, but a tremendous amount of energy coming out of the rocky mountains. if anything, this has more dynamics to it and a slightly different path. so, slightly different people will be afebted but a large
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chunk of real estate tomorrow will be engulfed in a serious threat for severe weather. the lighter yellow and orange here, a slight risk, which, by the way, the same amount of risk we had yesterday and the orange here and the national color across the midsouth here, this is a moderate risk as issued by the storm prediction center. when they do that two days in advance, that's some serious business. we're worried about tomorrow, certainly, and the folks in southern illinois and points west who were affected by tornadoes yesterday, you're in that slight risk area and obviously points to the east and moderate risk, that's more serious business. we'll continue to update you on that as time develops. but unusual event for the month of february and we're kicking march off in the same fashion. soledad? >> oh, terrible, terrible fashion, really. rob, thank you very much. other stories making headlines today and christine romans is back in new york and she has a look at those. good morning, christine. >> another black eye for the cruise ship business this morning. the fbi is investigating the
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disappearance of a female passenger from a "celebration" cruiseliner. she vanished somewhere between the bahamas and florida coast. more violent fallout from the koran burning in afghanistan. nato says two of its soldiers, both americans, were killed today in southern afghanistan. a third american was wounded. officials believe one of those attacker was an afghan soldier and the other a civilian. both were killed by coalition forces. the unrest triggered by the koran burning has left 39 people dead now, including six american soldiers. relations between the u.s. and north korea appear to be thawing. north korea agreeing to suspend all nuclear testing and the iranian enrichment in exchange for food. the north koreans will get 240,000 metric tons of nutritional assistance from the u.s. this deal includes provisions for inspections from the international atomic agency.
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we're expecting a decision some time today from mississippi supreme court on the validity of dozens of pardons haley barbour gave to convicted killers and other prisoners during his final days in office. five trustees who worked at the governor's mansion had been released by the time mississippi attorney general saw to block those pardons. bank of america is considering new fees. considering tacking on up to $25 more in monthly fees. the bank telling cnn this morning they have pilot programs in georgia, arizona and massachusetts. mostly with new customers, but with some existing customers could be affected, as well. these fees aren't going anywhere, folks. the big banks need to make money. revenue has been declining and some ways you can avoid these fees, though. include keeping a minimum balance, opening a credit card and taking on a morgtgage loan with the banks and you can avoid those fees by doing more business with them. soledad? >> all right, christine, thank
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you. still ahead this morning, going to talk to the governor of kansas, sam brownback. as you recall in kansas, a small town called harveyville was knocked out by this tornado, the path of tornadoes, the estimated 50% of the town damaged or destroyed. we'll talk to him about that this morning. that's straight ahead as "starting point" continues. we're back after this break. stay with us.
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you know him for his music but now starting to learn more what he cares about and what he spends his time working on. u2's guitarist, the edge giving kids a break. specifically the 1.5 million youth in america who are homeless. executive producer of a new documentary called "the break" which airs tomorrow march 2nd on mtv. the documentary follows three young people as they take steps to rebuild their lives. >> for the past five years, i have been leading an organization to help the homeless and six months ago i
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accepted a challenge to try and help three young people who are alone in the world find a place to fit in. >> the edge also wrote an or original song for the documentary and joins me live now from dublin, ireland. along with the homeless advocate who provided the support. really nice to see both of you this morning. i know that the documentary is tomorrow on mtv so you want to get the word out. edge, let me ask you first. so many things you can put your name and your reputation and your support behind. and i know you've done work with getting musical instruments back to new orleans. new orleans is a passion for you. this is a new kind of project for you. what about this project attracted you? >> it was something i have been thinking about for years and really wasn't sure if it would ever come to anything, but it was one of those ideas that just wouldn't go away and, you know,
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it just, just kept tapping me on the shoulder and i was told my friend that mtv bill flanagan a few years ago now and i told him what i was thinking about and he said, you know, why don't you talk to our people and maybe we can do this thing together. >> what is it about this project that drove you? tell us about it, in your own words, what is so important about this. getting young people an identity and a focus through running? >> well, really, it started as i realized that i, myself, was falling into the trap of thinking about the homeless and in terms of the cliches and i realized that i had to think a bit more about this, you know, that the caricature of homeless people that they're all alcoholics and they're all drug addicts and that they're lazy or whatever, these stereotops are really not accurate and it was a
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particular incident, i remember being in a cab in new york city and just out of the corner of my eye just saw this gentleman lying on the sidewalk and my first reaction was to jump out of the cab and sort of find out what had happened and i realize, oh, it's a homeless guy and, suddenly, my attitude changed. and i later i was thinking, why did i suddenly see this person in a different category because they were homeless. and it started a cascade of questions that i ask myself and then i started to rethink about the fact that the homeless are the ultimate disenfranchised, marginalized people. they don't really have a voice. so many people in a lucky situation, such as myself, know nothing about the struggles that they face. really, the idea of the show was to try to answer those questions and give a voice to homeless people, particularly homeless youth and hopefully in the process that the rest of us would learn about the struggles
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that they face, some of the reasons why they reasons why they become homeless and that there is a pathway out of it. >> let me ask you, you took this challenge to help these three people. >> uh-huh. >> what did you learn? >> i learned a lot. i learned these three kids are really brave and really courageous for putting their lives on camera and the same view as edge has. these individuals, it's not their choice to be homeless. they don't want to be homeless. they don't know how not to be homeless. giving them an opportunity to be successful and a break that they can have that chance to have a better life, it was really amazing to watch them take advantage of that. >> the running is such an interesting angle. if you watch it you'll see why running for you was so important. edge, thanks so much. are we going to have new music from you this year? please tell me soon. >> we're working on a lot of new music and it's going great, but we're giving ourselves the luxury of a bit of time to consider what we put out next. no plans as yet.
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>> all right. thanks so much. i have to add -- you have to ask edge when's the 13th album coming out. so nice to see you guys. thank you so much. we'll be right back. soledad will have a lot more from the midwest where those monster tornadoes have literally ripped up the towns. she's in harrisburg, illinois. she'll be back. man: so we went to fidelity. we talked about where we were and what we could do. we changed our plan and did something about our economy. now we know where to go for help if things change again. call or come in today to take control of your personal economy. get free one-on-one help from america's retirement leader. [ female announcer ] weak, damaged hair needs new aveeno nourish+ strengthen. active naturals wheat formulas restore strength for up to 90% less breakage in three washes. for strong, healthy hair with life, new aveeno nourish+ strengthen.
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those are folks in kansas, although those were the same words people here in harrisburg, illinois, was doing. they didn't know what was happening. devastation roared through in the form of a tornado that hit this housing complex and a lot of other places as well. we'll walk you through a little bit of the damage. as you can see what happens here, kevin, maybe you can walk down this way with me, folks now that the sun has come up are beginning to clean up and try to grab anything they can. what's ominous about this, you might miss it if i don't point out the detail, there's nothing here, just the foundations. these are the homes that suffered the most damage, where people were killed because the homes were literally blown off of their foundations. all that's left is a by the of debris and rubble. the woman who lived in had house, she died. she ended up having what seemed to be a gash on her forehead. she ended up perfect riching from that. the house here and next door. we can show the extent of the
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storm literally blew from behind me all the way up here. that rubble got tangled in some more of the houses. i'll walk in very carefully because there are lots of nails obviously. this is always the case when you have the debris left over from a tornado. this literally goes back a couple hundred yards and then the thing that's always so eerie about a tornado, some of them are spared. here some have just a little bit of damage, a little bit of siding. so today people are here. they're coming by, stunned by what they see now that the sun is up. also, you know, coming with trucks so that they can pick their belongings out of the rubble, grab their couches or whatever they can manage to get out. as you heard from the gentleman who owned this complex and also some of the family members of those who lost their lives, it's a moment to not even think about the property but to think about the five people who died right here and then, of course, another individual's body was found not very far from here,
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kind of across that field. once again, be in awe of the power that 170 mile an hour winds can pack when they hit right on into a housing complex. we'll continue to update you on what is happening here today in harrisburg where the focus is on grieving and cleanup. we'll talk to a couple who survived. they managed to crawl their way out of the debris. we'll talk to them. we'll speak to the governor of illinois about what the road is ahead in terms of financial help and in terms of what other help that they need from people across the nation. that's all ahead as "starting point" continues. we're back in a moment. stay with us. [ tom ] we invented the turbine business right here in schenectady.
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harrisburg, illinois. the damage is behind me. this is ground zero, the heart of where the largest number of people died in harrisburg. here people are grieving for those they lost. people are injured and recovering today in hospital. people are also cleaning up trying to grab whatever they can because obviously the devastation is immense here. we're going to tell you the stories of the victims, the survivors, and what they do next as "starting point" gets underway. underway. we start right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com wellcomeback, everybody. so, as i mentioned, cleanup is really the focus. this is jeff street. we're pretty much on your property. >> yes. >> point out for me where your house is. >> it was right there. >> this right here? >> yeah. >> so this is pretty much the driveway up to your house? >> yeah. that used to be a garage right there. that used to be the house. the closet there was the front bedroom. there's a bathroom that's in between that. and then there's a back bedroom
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on the other side of that. i was in that bathroom right there when it hit. >> when it hit you were in the bathroom. >> yes. >> so you heard the warnings? >> my wife got up and said there was warnings and then she come back in there again and said the sirens went off. i was preparing to go to work. and i told her, i said, get my daughter and my two grandsons in the utility room in the center part of the house where there's no windows. she did. i said, i'll be there in just a minute, and before i could ever get out of the bathroom it had hit. everything collapsed and had me for 10 or 15 minutes pinned in the bathroom and they were pinned in the utility room. >> how did you get out? >> kicked and kicked until i got the door open and then i crawled out and crawled -- i was barefooted. had a pair of shorts on. no shirt. i just crawled out over the stuff. made it out to some concrete and was looking toward the utility room hollering, help, hollering for my wife, hollering for my
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daughter, trying to get anybody to answer. >> how is everybody in your family. >> they're fine. >> thank god. >> your grandsons i understand were a little bit injured? >> yes. the 3-year-old was fine. little shaken up. 5-year-old has a concussion and some head trauma and they took him to deacon necessary and kept him overnight for observation. >> today i saw you discovered that there's a bucket of belongings. >> these are some of my grandchildren, he's three years old now. that was one of them that was involved in it. that's my three daughters and these are some of my other grandchildren, thank god, that was not involved in it. >> so today you're just going to clean up. >> today i'm trying to find anything to hold on to. >> mr. street, i appreciate you talking to us. i know you're busy. you have a lot on your plate today. thank you. >> thank you. >> his story of course is typical. as the sun has come up we've begun to notice more and more people to come out. the curfew was at 6:00 in the
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morning. it was quite dark. only part of the street was lit. it hasn't been until really right around 7:00 in the morning east coast time, so, what's that, 6:00 here, that actually people were able to come and start really having an opportunity to gather their things. i want to introduce you to allison this morning. you do not live here. you're freezing. we'll do this fast so you can warm up. it is chilly today. when you think about people like yourselves who had to get out of your homes pretty much in your pajamas when the tornado hit, it must have been absolutely terrifying. can you tell me what happened? >> my daughter tracked the storm actually from missouri following the little red boxes on radar. >> oh, my gosh. >> she said, it's heading for us. >> she called you. >> no, she lives with us. she came in and woke us up sefrlt times during the night. she said, it's a bad one. there's a possibility it could be headed for us but we're not certain. she woke us up, it must have
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been 4:30, something like that. >> where did you go? >> we have a basement and we went in our basement and huddled together with our dogs and the sirens went off. and we heard just the -- the wind was just immense. the sound and then the next siren went off and there was just this incredible pressure that we all had on us. >> all our ears popped like coming down in an airplane. >> so you could feel the pressure shifting so you knew you were in the middle of the heart of the storm at that point. >> it's on top of us. >> what was the damage to your home? i know you live sort of on the other side. this is the path of the storm for people who don't realize, it really came kind of a couple hundred yards wide literally this direction. >> we fared a little better than these people. >> our damage was minimal. we had a tree come through our
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front window which i think helped because it kind of decompressed the house. that's when our ears all popped, it went silent. >> our next door neighbor's house is pretty much gone. >> it's amazing to see how the homes almost seem to explode from the pressure. >> yeah. just 20 yards, our neighbor, they were fleeing from their house and running, it was dark. we could smell gas because we have the service caddy corner from us that has propane. >> do you have enough help? have your needs been met? >> it has been wonderful. the people have been coming through our street and handing out gloves and asking if they could help pick up debris. if there was anything salvageable. >> picking up sticks just to help. >> anything salvageable, they're bringing in boxes. >> that's great news. that's great news. i appreciate you talking to us this morning. i know on a day like today you need to get back to your home and start doing some of that repair work so we appreciate it
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greatly. >> thank you. >> we want to talk to governor patrick quinn. he's joining us by phone. he is the governor of illinois. governor quinn, thank you for your time. we've been talking to a lot of people today, some of those who lost loved ones, others who were able to crawl out or kick out. others are looking at damage and saying, thank god it was only a tree through my house. how are you feeling about, first of all, the response and what lies ahead in terms of funding, etc.? >> well, it's inspiring. i was in harrisburg yesterday afternoon and evening and to see all the volunteers coming from everywhere to help their neighbor was really inspiring. the sound of chain saws was everywhere. people were cutting down trees and clearing off debris. there were volunteer carpenters already on the roofs of homes repairing roofs. it was really something. the people of harrisburg when they got the warning at 27
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minutes to 5:00 a.m., there are folks who ran out of their house to neighbors' homes and knocked on doors. an 80-year-old woman who was helping alert the neighborhood to the proximate danger and it's our job now as a state and a community to recover. what we have to do is use our transportation people, state police, emergency management folks to help harrisburg get back on its feet. we've declared it a state disaster area. now we have to calculate all the damage and that's part of what we have to do to get federal disaster relief. >> how long before you can get the figures and costs to rebuild, etc.? >> takes a few weeks. we had a terrible flood in southern illinois last year. the mississippi river, ohio river, it took us several weeks to calculate the extent of the damage to the penny wherever we can and we have great
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cooperation from our local emergency responders, the mayors and everybody who are involved in this. our state has got an excellent emergency management team. we've been through other disasters and we have to apply those lessons to help the folks of southern illinois and especially harrisburg get everything they're eligible for under the federal law. i did receive a phone call yesterday from the white house. they're very, very interested in making sure that we have everything that we are eligible for. >> governor quinn, thank you for talking with us. that's governor of illinois joining us by phone this morning. thank you, sir. there were, of course, other places where the tornadoes hit with a vengeance as well. the powerful winds really began on tuesday and carved this deadly path that went from kansas into kentucky. take a look at these pictures from branson, missouri. there were no deaths reported in branson, but three in the state.
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twister said to be about 400 yards wide caused major damage to some historic theaters in branson, and according to the national weather service the tornado was on the ground for 20 miles. kansas, 120 mile an hour winds hit a hotel. some of the worst damage was in a place called harveyville where they are reporting 40 and 60% of the entire town is damaged or destroyed. a man said that he actually caught his grandson as he was basically being sucked out of a window as the tornado hit. the storm eventually moved into kentucky where it was going about 125 mile an hour winds. they were flattening homes. the national guard was mobilized trying to help out. these are pictures in kentucky of elizabeth town where damage looks very similar to the damage in other areas. turning to the state of indiana, similar damage again. roofs ripped off. at least one home was completely unmoored from its foundation.
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these pictures come from newburg, indiana. tennessee, cumberland county, where the hail there was huge. high winds, obviously lots of damage to homes. a total of three people were killed in the state of tennessee. storms continued east but rob marciano was reporting for us that they less sened in their fierceness and that, of course, really ended up accounting for the fewer deaths to report thankfully today. there are other stories making news this morning as well and christine romans is back in new york. she has a look at those stories. hey, christine. >> soledad, those pictures, they really almost understate the scope of the damage around you, don't they? tornado is a rare story where the pictures don't even tell the whole story, right? >> that's true. that's really true. you're absolutely right. >> all right. we'll switch now quickly to afghanistan, soledad. some breaking news. two more american soldiers have been killed and a third mrn has been wounded this morning.
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gunman opening fire in a naval base in canada hare. the shootings are the latest in a series of attacks following the burning of korans at a u.s. military base. egypt is lifting a travel ban on seven americans who are facing trial there. the seven include u.s. transportation secretary ray lahood's son, sam lahood. these americans are accused of stirring up unrest while working for a foreign funded non-governmental institutions there. in all, 16 americans were charged. the others had already left the country. mitt romney is on a role but he doesn't have so much to show for it. with 11 states up for grabs in the next five days, the former massachusetts governor just picked up his third win this week. totals from the wyoming caucuses are in with romney defeating rick santorum by seven points. he only gets ten delegates, santorum picks up nine. look at the delegate split from michigan, despite winning, romney gets 15 delegates, the
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same as santorum. listen to how santorum spins it. >> this is a huge win for us. let's play it the way it is. don't give romney all the spin. we went into his backyard. he spent a fortune, money he had no intention of spending, and we came out of there with the same number of delegates he does. >> next up, caucuses in washington state on saturday before voters head to the polls in ten states on super tuesday. classes at chardon high school outside cleveland, they're scheduled to resume officially tomorrow, but teachers, parents, and students will be allowed to return to the school this morning. grief counselors will be on hand. on monday police say 17-year-old t.j. lane opened fire on students in the cafeteria killing three of them. a three-day ordeal at sea is over for more than 1,000 passengers on the costa allegra cruise ship. a french fishing boat towed the allegra to the port in the che
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chels. they spent three days in pirate infested waters. a federal judge is siding with the tobacco industry. he banned these labeling rules. they amounted to a violation of free speech. soledad, back to you in harrisburg, illinois. >> christine, thank you very much. appreciate that. ahead this morning we're going to talk to the famed and enentrepreneur pid "new york times" reporter anthony shadiz's widow. he died when he was reporting from syria. he has a new book out and today we'll talk to his wid doe about the stories he tells in that book. we'll continue to update you from our live position in harrisburg, illinois, where it is a focus of cleanup and grieving for the six people who lost their lives. those stories and much more as "starting point" continues right after this break.
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>> it's not torn, it's only dirty and wet. firemen or someone found it several hundred feet that way. we tonight know where the flag pole is, but at least we have the flag so i'm grateful for that. with our smartphone app. you name it, we're here, anytime, anywhere, any way you want it. that's the way i need it. any way you want it. [ man ] all night? all night. every night? any way you want it. that's the way i need it. we just had ourselves a little journey moment there. yep. [ man ] saw 'em in '83 in fresno. place was crawling with chicks. i got to go. ♪ any way you want it ♪ that's the way you need it ♪ any way you want it ♪
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. welcome back to "starting point," everybody. two time pulitzer prize winning foreign correspondent anthony shadid spent 15 years covering the middle east. he was dedicated and intrepid in reporting from the most dangerous spots in the world really. it was not without cost, of course. he was shot in the shoulder back in 2002. he was kidnapped and beaten while covering the arab spring in libya last year. and then while he was covering the conflict in syria he died of an acute asthma attack. it was as his third book, "house of stone, a memoir of home, family, and a lost middle east" is being released. his widow joins us to discuss his book and his life and thank you for joining us. i'm sorry i can't be with you in person. the book is a beautiful book. it's about a renovation, a renovation literally of a home
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in lebanon, but also in a way a renovation of a life and a soul. anthony went into that renovation very troubled. it was a tough, tough time in his life. can you tell me about that? >> first, thank you for having me. i think for as long as he remembered, anthony always wanted to become a journalist and to cover the middle east. he spent 15 years of his life covering t. it's a region full of conflicts, wars, bloodshed. that took a certain toll on him. and then i think at some point he felt like he needed to find peace somewhere or find home. and in 2006 he finally made the trip to his ancestor's village in southern lebanon which is called najayun. he looked for the house that his great-grandfather had built and where his grandmother was born
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and lived until she left to the united states. when he saw that house he just fell in love with it and decided that he was going to rebuild it and save it from the state it was in. it helped him find himself. it helped him find peace. it helped him find happiness. it was the place that he wanted to be in more than anywhere else in the world. it was his home. i don't think he was happier anywhere else than when he was in majayun. you know, it helped -- >> parts of the book are so -- i'm -- forgive me. i'm sorry to interrupt you. i was going to say parts of the book are so sad. i mean, sad. other parts are -- you laugh out loud. he's skrieblging a renovation of a home which is always chaotic. the characters that he's talking about that he has to deal with in the renovation are
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interesting and colorful. but he was trying to recover from all of those years of war reporting. you're a reporter as well. did you sit down and discuss the dangers as a couple? you have a small child and he had an older child. did you ever say, you know, should we be doing this? isn't this too dangerous? >> you know, of course it came up a lot in the years that we were together but, again, you know, anthony does not remember a time in his life where he didn't want to be a journalist and a journalist covering the middle east. it's a region full of conflicts, wars, bloodshed. it wasn't -- you know, it wasn't like he chose to be a war reporter or he wanted to be in a dangerous place all the time, it was just the region that he was in. that's why i think it was so important to him to go to
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majayun after being in a dangerous place after covering wars, after seeing deaths and violence and bloodshed because it was there where he could kind of recover from what he saw. and nothing mattered to him more than telling stories that otherwise would not be told. you know, even if it meant at a personal risk. >> there is a videotape that was posted to youtube. i know you've had a chance to look at t. it's said to be pictures of anthony maybe taken a couple hours before he died of this accuse asthma attack. in it he talks sort of about his hope. he's speaking in arabic, but he was talking hopefully about what the future for syria can be. often i think people do think of war correspondents as tough, but i want to play a little bit of what he says in this clip and i'll ask you a question on the other side.
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described by his colleagues. >> it's true. i don't think anthony was interested in covering wars, the war itself and the fighting and the warfare as much as he was interested in covering the stories of people whose lives are affected by these wars and, you know, the loss that they're suffering from and the pain and how their lives are changing under these wars and conflicts and violence. that's what made him who he was. these stories meant everything to him, telling these stories. >> nada we have to take a short break for a commercial l a. i'm going ask you to stick around if you don't mind. i'd like to ask you some more questions about the book, "house of stone." we'll do that on the other side. "starting point" will be back in a moment.
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welcome back to "starting point," everybody. we're back talking to nada. she is the widow of anthony shadid. he died of an acute asthma attack in syria. he wrote a book, it's called "house of stone, a memoir of home, family, and a lost middle east." it's just been released. anthony talked about speaking arabic, which he did fluently, but with an oklahoma accent and sort of how he always was interested in sort of digging into and understanding his roots. why was that so important to him? >> i'm sorry, can you repeat that? i'm having trouble hearing. >> i'm sorry. forgive me. i'm going to try again. i was asking a lot of the book is about rediscovering roots. i was curious to know as anthony
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joked in the book how he spoke arabic fluently with an oklahoma accent which is hard to imagine. why was rediscovering roots such an important theme for him in his own life? >> you know, it's an interesting question. i wish anthony was here to answer you, but i'm going to try my best. i think being the son of immigrants who found themselves in oklahoma city, a place that in the beginning they didn't relate to very much, and then over the years they became just natives to the city, but there was always a part of them that longed to mayayun, that longed to the house that their great-grandfather had built for them and left there for them just waiting for them to go back to it or visit it whenever they
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wanted. and then anthony spent 15 years of his life covering people who lost loved ones, who lost houses, whose life work changed by violent circumstances or other events and, you know, i think all these things, being a son of immigrants, covering conflicts for so many years just made him feel like he needed to find his woots and roots and he place he could call home, a place where he can find peace with himself and just majayun was that for him. he would often tell me when you're there, especially sitting in the garden, that he just -- how happy he was being where he was. and there was no place in this whole entire world where he would want to be more than that. even after he dies he wants his
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ashes to be spread in that garden because he found home and he never wants to leave there. >> before i let you go i want to ask you about your children, you have a 2-year-old son and he had an older child from a previous marriage. what's the legacy that you want them to know about their father? >> you know, anthony was a great journalist and a great author, but for me and for our children, i want them to know what a great father he was and just a great, humble, modest human being. i think that's-for them, that's the most important thing, how much he loved them. >> most important legacy for sure. nada, thank you for talking with us this morning. we appreciate it. talking about her husband's book, "house of stone" about his ancestral home in lebanon. we appreciate it.
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much more to tell you about from here where i am in harrisburg, illinois. we'll talk about other places across the country that were damaged by tornadoes. we'll talk to the governor of kansas and branson, missouri's mayor as well. "starting point" continues after the break. look, every day we're using more and more energy.
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welcome back to starting point. we're coming to you live from harrisburg, illinois. this is the ground zero of where the tornado caused the most devastating damage, not only to property which you can see, but five people died in this housing complex. i want to show you a little bit of what you can see. this is all that's left of one of the homes here. the tornado came from this direction and it was reported to be several hundred feet wide. you can see if we go, the entire thing has been literally ripped right off of its foundation. one person died in the home that's adjacent here. in fact, the number of deaths really are along this string of homes. nothing here. they literally have been wiped away. and much of the damage, in fact, kevin, if we walk over here, much of the damage has all been piled up when the storm kind of ran into other homes. let me show you this. this is the thing that is always so incredibly challenging i think about tornadoes. this is a home that has almost
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no damage. it lost a little bit of siding, obviously a couple of things fell down. beyond that, many of the homes here on this side of the street literally have virtually no damage and contrast that to what we can see over here, which is a house that's practically collapsed. you can see today people have come in and they're literally picking through the rubble trying to figure out what they're able to salvage now that the sun has come up and they've opened up the streets again and they can come and grab some of their belongings. let's get a little closer here, kevin. be careful of the nails obviously. you can see this house, it almost likes like it sort of imploded. the car is there. people were inside this house and the whole thing just came down around them. as you go further back you can just see the devastation. just this really goes on for hundreds and hundreds of yards. so today we're seeing cleanup. a lot of grieving as the people who lost their loved ones here
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are trying to make some sense of a storm that seemed to just randomly role through and pick victims. we're seeing leadership as they try to assess the damage in monetary terms so they can figure out what kind of eligibility they will have from the federal government. a couple of other storms to tell you about. we told you about the damage in branson, missouri. we've got the mayor of branson, ray ann presley joining us by phone. mayor presley, i appreciate your time this morning. i know that the good news in branson was that you had no deaths to report, but you had some damage. can you update me on how it was there. >> yes. good morning. we were fortunate. while we did have some injuries, none of them very severe. we did not have any deaths. we're very grateful for that. i'm out and around this morning. i'm already seeing the power is coming back on. we're getting that fixed for folks. people are cleaning up and picking up. it's obvious to me that in short order we'll be back in business.
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>> that's some good news. i know that there was some pretty serious damage to those theaters that are historic, obviously, in branson. what's the status of that? i heard that many, many dozens were damaged. >> well, no, not quite that many. we're fortunate. we have about 15 venues that have live entertainment and we have five or six that sustained some level of damage. none of them were completely destroyed. so many are open. in fact, we had shows last night. so a lot were not damaged. we encourage people to come back and get ready for a great season in branson. >> good. that's good news. i'm glad to have some good news to report from you. i appreciate your time this morning. that's the mayor of branson missouri. appreciate your time, ma'am. let's turn to what's happening in kansas. governor sam brownback is in kansas this morning. appreciate your time. can we talk about haleyville for
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a minute? that's a town that was reported to have very severe damage. can you update me -- hare adviceville. >> significant damage through much of the community. we had an ef-2 tornado that went through there. it went through without some warning. there was a tornado watch. sirens didn't go off. and it sustained substantial damage. we had a couple people injured as well. people starting to pick things back up. power is starting to come back on and people going to start putting their lives back together. but the town itself was significantly damaged. >> the reports i heard said somewhere between 40 and 60% of the town is either damaged or destroyed. does that seem accurate to you? >> it does. that's about accurate. it's a town of about 250 people.
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i'm headed there today. we've declared an emergency. i've declared an emergency for the community. the community is rebuilding. it's got agreements with other counties in the area, the state to help in the kpleenup and rebuilding, but about half the town was significantly damaged and a number of the homes in that portion that were hit were wiped out altogether. >> there was a report that i heard of a man who said he was able to save his grandson when he grabbed him as he was sort of being sucked out of the window. i'm sure those are the kinds of stories you hear today and as you go through hare adviceville. i appreciate your time. that's the governor of the state of kansas joining us. governor sam brownback. we've got more weather to check in on of course. rob marciano has an update for us on that. rob, that story that i heard about the kid literally being sucked out of the window, it sounds so crazy and improbable,
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but of course tornadoes sort of define a crazy weather phenomenon. >> absolutely. when you're talking about an ef-4, even an ef-2 in that case, you have a serious decrease in pressure. more importantly, you have serious winds happening outside of the home. usually it's the flying debris that will hurt you the most. that's why we tell people to get inside, cover up, the most interior room of your home, preferably a basement. will you need to do that today? i don't think so. the threat from st. louis to memphis will be on the docket. winds aren't set up for tornadoes. there may be enough instability to create some storms with damaging winds and large hale. the next storm barrelling through the northern rockies, this has dynamic energy. it will tap some moisture from the gulf of mexico. tomorrow looks to be a pretty bad threat. maybe even more widespread than yesterday. not saying that we'll have a widespread outbreak like yesterday, but the ingredients
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are there frbls nach lis, louisville, southern illinois. so folks in your area, soledad, are going to have to be on guard through tomorrow night. >> that's terrible. that is just terrible news for people here. the last thing they need to hear because many people, rob, you are coming in to try to clean up and city set their lives right again. rob marciano. i thank you. we'll take a short break. when we come back we'll talk to some of the families affected by the storms. today, of course, the focus is on cleanup and grieving for families who lost loved ones. we'll be back after the short break. >> i'm praying. i'm really hoping an praying to god that everything will be cool. i was really thinking for a second that we were going to die. i was scared. i really thought that my dad and i were going to die or get thrown from our trailer and die. it was scary. look at all this stuff for coffee.
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this just in. 351,000 unemployment claims were filed for the first time last week. it's another week below the key 400,000 level. when you look at economic data this is a sign that the labor market is heading in the right direction. next week we're going to get the big jobs report for february. that will give us a bigger picture about jobs in this country and where the national jobless rate stands. meantime, a big shakeup at news corp. james murdoch is going to step down as head of news corp's uk subsidiary news international. he'll remain as the coo of news corp. that makes him the third highest ranking executive behind his father and chase carry. the past year has been filled with scandals for several of the company's top publications. there are investigations into phone hacking and bribes to police. it has been a scandal filled year for a very high profile family who's made a lot of moechb covering scandals.
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brian stalter is joining me. james murdoch, many people saw him as the parent. he's stepping down from the british newspaper division. is this punishment for the scandals or is this a promotion? >> this is felt to be a long-time coming because james murdoch has been the most closely tied to the phone hacking scandal in britain. this is a scandal that is slow motion in a way. a lot of investigations going on in britain about it. hasn't come across to affect the u.s. james murdoch has been brought up. what he knew and when he knew t. by moving him away from oversight of these papers it seems like his father, rupert murdock, is trying to move him away from that tarnished british newspaper area. that said, a lot of analysts look at this and say this is a new set of makeup. this isn't a face transplant for the company. that's what they say it means. >> this isn't the heads rolling. there have been people who have lost their jobs in this investigation but nobody super high up at the company?
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>> right. there seems to be signals from rupert murdock and his family that he is confident that this company can go forward no matter what, no matter what's revealed in this investigation. by the way, that's probably true in the broader sense. this company, news corporation, is doing very well. television stations and networks are going gangbusters, but that newspaper unit is tarnished. it continues. every day there's new revelations about how much hacking and how much money was paid to police officers to get information. >> this is a family business. the business has taken a hit because of the scandal. no question. yesterday the stock was up on a down day because in part people were wondering if the eldest son, maybe he could come back and become the era parent. >> this is the great drama that envelopes the newspaper, which is the favorite child. two weeks ago when rupert murdock came to london to open a
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new paper, his son lockland came with him, not james. there's some activist investors and activists who said this family shouldn't be rung the company on its own. this is one of the biggest media conditions in the world and it needs more transparent leadership and a more active board of directors. so far, with yesterday's move with james murdoch still being in charge, still being deputy coo, it seems rupert murdock is resisting those calls. >> that's the family drama behind the succession. >> it might be a promotion. he'll be running some of the most valuable parts of the company, the international tv business. he will be in some ways removed from the british newspaper unit although let's be clear about this. every day we see new details about what's going on there. every day there's new testimony in this slow motion scandal. >> brian, "new york times", thank so much. soledad? christine, thank you. before we go to commercial break i want to show folks as they start to pick up their
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belongings, this structure, that's a closet. people have been coming in and removing cloetsthes, etc. everything else around it has been absolutely shredded by the power of the storm. as you pointed out, christine, a little bit earlier, it's very hard to give a sense of how bad it really is. sometimes i think the pictures don't actually do justice to the damage that's taken place on this little street. we're going to take a short break. we come back on the other side. we'll talk to some family members whose mother was killed in the tornado when her home collapsed around her. we'll talk to them about how they're grieving and what they plan to do today. that's all ahead. we're back in just a moment. it's absolutely been a horrific day here in harrisburg, illinois. we've lost six live we're very tight knit community. people care about each other and to lose six lives and have many, many hurt and of course millions
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of dollars in devastation is just heart breaking for a community. it's heart breaking. we've seen this in jop lan, missouri, last year. many of our people went to joplin to help out. my daughter was one of them. today we're faced with this in our community and area. it's been a very tough day for us. our hearts are broken, in fact, for those that lost their lives and families and those that are injured. back then, he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement planning for our military, veterans and their families. now more than ever, it's important to get financial advice from people who share your military values. call now for our free guide and tips on planning for your retirement this tax season. or creates another laptop bag or hires another employee, it's not just good for business, it's good for the entire community.
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the question is where did the debris go. kevin, show them this shot. right over here is where the debris ended up. that's another home that has pinned itself against another home that is right behind it. you can see the power ripping a home off its foundation. it slams into another home. many of the people on this side here were injured and actually had to climb their way out of their homes or be rescued. for people on this side the story was much more devastating. a number of deaths that occurred in these homes here. i want to introduce you to darryl osmon and his sister dena. i appreciate you guys talking to me earlier in the morning when it was still dark out. you were hoping to be able to gather up some things. did you find anything? >> actually, we have. >> we have found a few items. >> what did you find? >> this is a picture. i was a sophomore in high school when this was taken. this was my junior prom in 1984. >> i'll hold it so these guys can see that. so what was it like to recover that from your mom's house?
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>> you know, it's one of those -- i actually don't have this picture. so this is something i will keep. >> it's something your mother obviously treasured. >> yes. >> we should tell people -- what's this. >> we found this one. >> that is my aunt. >> this is my aunt who told me last night on the phone who is old enough for medicare. that gives you an idea how old it is. >> that's a great picture. your mom was inside her home when it sort of sounds like it collapsed around her. >> i don't know if it collapsed around her. >> or if it was picked up. >> and got carried off with her in it. you see behind us here, that's what's left of her home, right there. >> you can see parts of the home, a home, i don't know whose home, kind of pinned up against another home over there. >> yeah. yeah. it's -- we have found stuff out of her kitchen in a general area over there. >> across the street? >> across the street. stuff out of her living room in
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a general area over there. >> oh, my goodness. >> and we've also found -- these are slides, which are what was when we were little. >> that was digital 40 years ago. >> i found some of these all the way up by the main road. >> oh, wow. that's a solid 100 yard. >> it's at least 100 yards, yeah. >> so your mother, was she rescued? obviously there was no building here. did they find her in the rubble here? >> i'm not really sure. the officer that i saw yesterday morning that told me she was in the ambulance, at that point in time i was so relieved that she had been found so quickly that i didn't even ask. so i don't know if she was like laying in the street or dug out of the rubble. i honestly don't know. >> they were able to put her in an ambulance and your wife who's a nurse was able to go along on that ambulance ride. >> that's correct. >> she had a gash on her forehead but did you think she
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was sort of okay? >> at that point we had no clue that her injuries were life threatening. we felt at that point that she was going to be okay. >> when did you realize that she was not going to be okay. >> approximately an hour later when my wife came out of the hospital from the emergency room and said the doctors told us that it doesn't look good. that was a pretty severe blow. >> you live in another state. >> i live four hours away. >> and started driving basically. >> yes. they called from my knees's phone, his daughter's phone, it was my sister-in-law on the phone. she said, dena, you need to get here now. so i just threw clothes in a suitcase, whatever i could grab. jumped in the truck probably within five or ten minutes of that phone call. got 15 minutes away from my home and i had actually called them back because i wanted them to check the weather because i wanted to see where the storm actually was so i didn't have to drive through it.
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within 15 minutes they said, you don't have to hurry. >> your mother had died. >> yeah. >> did she know in her last moments, because it sounds like she was pulled out conscious and talking, did she know you were all worried about her and caring for her? >> yeah. i believe she did. before i actually got out of the ambulance and then of course my wife carried on with her in the ambulance to the hospital, when we would talk to her she would try to respond. her words were mumbled. you couldn't really understand what she was saying, but she was squeezing our hands. she knew we were there. she knew we were there. >> i was told this was a new housing complex. all these homes actually were brand new. >> yes. >> did she just move in in november. >> she just moved in in november of last year, yes. >> she couldn't move in until it was done. it wasn't done when she had signed the lease. >> yeah. >> so it was brand new. >> yeah. she was the first tenant. like my sister said, she signed the lease before it was ready to move into. >> what do you do now?
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>> pick up the pieces. pick up the pieces. you know, as tragic as this is for those of us that have lost our mothers and brothers and sisters and others, as you know, there's a total of five gone just from these units right here. all the dead in the complex were right here in these units, and as tragic as it is, fwheed to be thankful it wasn't worse. when you look behind you up the hill up through there behind you at all the homes that are damaged and destroyed and think about how many people lived in all those homes, it certainly could have been far, far worse. >> the number of dead could have been in the hundreds. >> could have easily been in the hundreds. >> i appreciate you talking to us this morning. i know you're here to clean under and do some work so i'll let you go. thank for sharing your story with us. >> thank you. >> so as we close out "starting point" for the morning, we'll end as we began which is a look at the neighborhood. center, ground zero, all new
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homes hit here. that's where five of the six people who died in harrisburg lost their lives, right here. community that's close knit. they're really relying on that today because they have to kind of lean on their neighbors for support in such a terrible, terrible time. as the sun comes up, as the day moves on, we see more people climbing up this little mountain of rubble trying to get out whatever they can. you can see more trucks as well because people have driven trucks in to grab their things and drive it out. that's it for "starting point" this morning here in harrisburg, illinois. we'll hand it over to kyra phillips. phillips. >> thanks so much. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com the spinoff of the storm, outbreak of tornadoes. this morning the numbers are telling the story. at least a dozen people have been killed and nearly 200 more are injured from kansas to kentucky. thousands of people are picking up the pieces and grateful to be alive.
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