and i believe he put the faith of conley on his frustration.o he had a rage and an anger against conley but no such an attitude towards kennedy at all. >> how did you do this research 50 years later? >> i published a biography of john connally in 1989. in fact, i was on booktv back there in 1989 on that, but this was a 680 page biography and the dallas assassination sided with the conley and center some ago lost in all of those pages about the whole life. and so i very much wanted to be part of the conversation of the 50th anniversary commemoration, and that's why i went back to this material and dug deeper into the motive of oswald. and now i think i've made a compelling case that oswald was going after connally and not after kennedy. >> james reston, jr. is the author of "the accidental victim: jfk, lee harvey oswald, and the real target in dallas." >> and it's a rare constant in american political life. but if you look at congress in 1901, less than 2% of members came from working-class background. got into politics and that eventually wound

so that's what i do. >> but conley is known here for more than makeup. >> they call me cornbread here because my husband was eating cornbread when i shot him and nobody wants to come and eat cornbread with me. >> conley is serving a life sentence for murdering her husband. >> we had been together for 20 years. when we got together, he was 42. i was 18. and it was real good in the beginning. things were good. >> conley claims her drug use played a role in the murder. >> we had a gun in the house and this gun's been standing here for years, you know, right beside the bed. i've never picked it up. but this gun just keeps falling over and it just keeps like grabbing my attention. he asked for some cornbread. and i said, "okay, just a minute." i'm really not thinking. i'm just like a robot. i go get his cornbread. i bring it to him. he's sitting in his recliner. he's watching tv. i just went up behind him and i shot him. i just aimed and shot. i really feel bad for what i did. i really do. i have no tears, but i -- you know, it really hurts me. it hurts me because of the people that i hurt

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. >> reporter: for nancy conley-cumming, a single mother of three, the first round of bad news came last year when she lost herb job. >> i didn't think for a minute i would be sitting here today, a year later, no job. job. >> i didn't think for a minute i would be sitting here today, a year later, no job. >> reporter: the scottish-born american citizen received her second round of bad news this month when she learned her unemployment insurance was exhausted. now she's trying to sell her car to save her house. >> i want to have another job so that i can go back to work and have medical benefits and not have to worry about what i'm going to do next month for my mortgage payment. >> reporter: more than 4 million americans have been out of work six months or longer. tomorrow, 1.3 million of them will lose their long-term unemployment benefits, including 215,000 in california, 125,000 in new york, and 90,000 in new jersey, 1% of that state's population. some in congress want to renew the program but critics say they must find a way to pay for it, arguing long-term benefits can hurt job seeker

margaret conley, thank so much.le excited shoppers are hitting shoppers, enraged customers are lashing out at u.p.s. many gift greeters are treating the shipping firm like the grinch who stole christmas going online to talk about an epic fail. u.p.s. couldn't get all of the packages delivered. don't blame the drivers though. one driver told "usa today" he delivered 505 packages on monday alone. he said, this has been the worst christmas ever. some people are pointing fingers at customers. trade tricks tweeted, people should shop and ship earlier. don't say #upsfail for poor planning. there are 364 days in a year so take responsibility for your ni us. >> so >> so many enraged. thousands of you are still looking out your front windows waiting for your u.p.s. driver to bring the christmas gifts that didn't make it under the christmas stree. >> u.p.s. and fed ex apologizing and the two companies are saying, it's not all their fault. >> reporter: u.p.s. trucks are back out in full force this morning trying to deliver pac

marg raret conley, thanks so mu.ry christmas. >>> a huge gift today from santa for parts of the country recently slammed with treacherous storms. the weather is super quiet across the nation on this christmas day. but there is a bit of snow as cold temperatures kind of hang around. cnn meteorologist jennifer gray with us now. we want snow on christmas. it's okay. >> yeah, a lot of people want a white christmas. about 40% of the country is covered with snow on christmas day. we did have a lot of ice in northern areas during the weekend and that has left a lot of power outages for christmas day for a lot of folks in the north. what we've been dealing with are several of these clipper systems that have moved across the north. it's caused a little bit of snow. we're going to see more snow fall in the next 48 hours. a lot of this lake-effect snow and this is going to pull into upstate new york and even as far into the northeast as maine. you can see the snow out there. we'll see an additional 1 to 2 inches of snow in plac

margaret conley, cnn. new york. >> thank you very much.h conrad barrett's attorney. the charge is a hate crime. part of the defense is bipolar disorder i asked him if he thought that disorder could cause racism? >> not at all. what i'm saying is that one must take a look at the mindset of people that do bizarre, sometimes brutal actions and if in fact a person has been diagnosed before as having a bipolar disorder, not on his medication at the time this occurred, that this could have a factor on his mindset at the time this happened. i'm not using it as an excuse. it is a fact. and every psychiatrist will tell you that the middle component is very important in making a determination of what actually occurred here. this is not figuratively a black and white issue. >> but your client was a functioning member of society. had the wherewithal to plan this, to pick out a victim, an elderly man who could not defend himself. and then now since he has been caught doing it, it appears to most people that using bipolar disorder as a defense is an exc

. >> reporter: terry conley wasn't scrambling, but recent temperatures and blue skies had people putting off the inevitable. >> even me, tonight, i'll be rushing home and covering everything and putting my succulants under the canopy. >> reporter: if you don't have time to protect your p

purchased hircine and a blanket and cult not sure if he gave away all if it was taken away patrick conley leaders should not county leaders should not allow transients to live in such frigid conditions. >> pam: the permanent fix that makes the new span of the bay bridge safe in an earthquake. is not finished yet. >> pam: you may remember, broken bolts almost derailed the grand opening of the new span over the labor day weekend crews are working right now. to make the final repairs and complete the 6-point-5 billion dollar project. in a story you will only see on kron 4 news our justine waldman takes us under the bay bridge tonight. to see how work is coming along. >> reporter:drivers headed across the new span of the bay bridge can't tell a major construction project is happening below. to check on the repair to the broken bolts kron 4 took a boat ride to underneath the western deck. the bolts snapped under stress and made the span seismically unsafe. then it is up 120 feet. >> reporter:here we can see the solution this steel saddle. it will secure new span and make it safe in an earthqua

. >> willa may conley. who's willa may conley? >> we had greeters at the front door.entered the service they would take your name, supposedly for the mailing list. but lo and behold, the staff workers would take that same card -- >> did you once lose a loved one, i think the name is james? >> yes, that's my brother. >> they would go by people's houses, sometimes look in trash cans, sometimes knock on the doors if they weren't there, sometimes they'd break a window and go in. >> he was 14 years of age and someone -- he was reading something and someone asked him what he had. >> so when that person came back to church, if they decided, they would use that person as one of his healing services. >> he didn't want to give it. >> yeah, he did. >> that -- that -- that person shot him to death. >> yes, he did! yes he did! >> i do not know you. you've told me or no one else the things i've mentioned. >> no, you sure haven't. >> basically, that was part of the setup to get people into the mode that he had some kind of extra special gift that no one else had. >> i didn't know th

margaret conley is following the story. a lot of unhappy customers today. tell us, what exactly happened here? >> pam, there may be some ious under the christmas tree. u.p.s. is backlogged means some won't be delivered in time. the company issued this tame -- u.p.s. is experiencing heavy holiday volume and making every effort to get them to the destination, however the volume of air packages in our system exceeded the network, so some shipments were delayed. cnn spoke with a u.p.s. spokeswoman. she apologized, said some of the factors were between thanksgiving and christmas, that period was shorter this year. she also said the trend of consumer shopping online more contributed to this. u.p.s. did consider doing deliveries today, but ultimately decided to not ask their drivers to come in to work. all of this has had an impact on companies as well. amazon alerting customers to what they say is a failure of u.p.s. transportation network. they are offering to refund some shipping charges and give out gift cards. urchlts so people across the country must be disa

let's check in with cnn's margaret conley. she's live in times square. the entertainment doesn't begin for hours. how much of a crowd is there already? >> reporter: martin, there's a crowd already gathered here at 47th and broadway. there's a lot of energy despite how freezing cold it is. there are people from all over the world that are here today. there is daniel. daniel is here from mexico. daniel, why are you here today? you said you wanted to be here as part of your bucket list. >> yeah, this is definitely one of the things i wanted to do during my lifetime. i'm so excited to be here with everyone. with my family, with relatives all over the world. it's nice to be here. >> reporter: what time did you get here? >> basically around noon. we have been here for a couple hours. >> reporter: how are you doing with the cold? how hot is it in mexico? >> normally it would be 70 degrees. but yeah, we're staying tight together here with the crowd to be warm together. >> reporter: and you have your parents here. you also have your sister. karen karen, is it wor

. >> desperate for any job, conley-cummings spent two hours last week at a grocery store. >> to see a manager to say, hey, i'm looking for work. i'm willing to work. can you help me? >> she is still waiting for someone to answer yes. >> with the end of these long-term benefits, many exists say the unemployment rate could actually drop but not for reasons considered desire. that's because some people will stop looking for work and therefore won't be counted in the unemployment rate. others might take lower paying jobs. alex? >> it is a very tough thing to hear those stories. joy fryer, thank you for bringing it to us. >>> and power problems. an ark lick blast is on the way. nearly 4,500 people are still without electricity in maine. in michigan, 29,000 are still in the dark. that's where we find kevin tibbles. good morning. >> it's been a week of shivering for many as work crews go around the clock trying to turn the lights back on. but some are beginning to lose patience. the sun barely shows itself. but crews are already in the sky. >> how come you're still smile something. >> just h

. >> reporter: in her mother's home, teresa conley's reaction is far from the one she knew a year ago. she spends days caring for her elderly mother who suffered several strokes, sending resumes on line and wondering how to pay her next bill. >> i love my mom very much, and a lot of times i can't give her what i don't have. >> reporter: it's a far cry from the 11 years she spent in manhattan working as an executive assistant earning the wage that gave her the financial freedom to help her father. when she was laid off last year, she got unemployment benefits. she's been living on $328 a week, dipping into her 401(k) to make ends meet. >> with my two children, my grown adults, a lot of times they, you know, won't say, well, mom, here's something. me being a parent, you take care of your kids, but then at the same time sometimes your kids have to take of their parents. >> reporter: the stress, she says, has taken a physical toll. >> causes weight gain, weight loss. things can go up and down. >> reporter: while the overall unemployment rate has dropped to 7%, the number of long-term unem

. >> let's bring in john conley.t to ask you, what did ted cruz lie about on the senate floor? >> john connelly thought he was on right track in life. the son of a new jersey auto mechanic, first in his family to go to college when he enrolled in rutgers in 2009. but he still doesn't know what he'll do when he graduates at the end of the semester. quote, i kind of did everything i was, quote, unquote, supposed to be doing, he says. the cost of a lost generation. >> kind of bizarre that he's blaming a law that was passed in 2010 on trends that go back, you know, well past 2007. only a little over half of people my age, people 25 and under, are actually employed full time. and of those people, we have seen our wages decrease. we're facing stalled careers. and at the same time, straddling huge debt loads. houses we can't afford. >> is how did it make you feel when you found out the senator from texas who i understand you have never met and never had a conversation with, is that correct? >> absolutely. >> and how does it

betty conley, serving life for murdering her husband, made that clear.urned her bunk into a salon, of sorts. >> i love makeup. i've been into makeup since i was a little bitty girl. and i'm like dolly. the redder the better. the more the merrier. >> at the limon correctional facility in colorado, we met inmates who have had more permanent transformations. aaron cooper, serving 10 years for assault and escape, didn't stretch his ear lobes until he got to prison. >> did it about four years ago when i was in ad seg. no reason, really. i just like the way it looked. it started with the tooth of a comb and started wrapping saran wrap about it and got it fatter and fatter. this was bigger than i wanted to go, but these were the only things that were round enough that when the officers could take them, i could put more back in, just little plastic bottle caps. >> tell me what the legality is here. >> there wasn't when i first started, but it goes under the tattooing writeup. but i don't ever wear them out of the cell block. it doesn't create any problems with t

margaret conley, cnn, new york. >>> and the attorney for the knockout suspect spoke to our don lemonght. don asked him how his client's actions are a result of bipolar disorder. >> your client was a functioning member of society. had the wherewithal to plan this, to pick out a victim, an elderly man who could not defend himself. and then now, since he has been caught doing it, it appears to most people that using bipolar diz order as a defense is an excuse for racist behavior. >> well, i think the bipolar disorder is a mitigation, if you will, and can be viewed as such. i don't think that there's an insanity defense in the works in this particular case. and certainly the federal definition of insanity precludes using that particular type of defense in this case. >> seems like he planned this out, every single detail. he could have kwan and stolen a car, he could have gone and shoplifted. he could have gone and done a number of things, but he planned this out in a manner that used race as the focus. and you don't see that as a federal hate crime? >> well, what happens is that, first o

. >> reporter: terry conley wasn't scrambling, but recent temperatures and blue skies had people putting off the inevitable. >> even me, tonight, i'll be rushing home and covering everything and putting my succulants under the canopy. >> reporter: if you don't have time to protect your plants before the frost, you have a chance to save them if you hose the frost off early in the morning before it burns the plants. >> get the ice off your plants as quickly as possible if you didn't get a chance to go out and cover them. it's not the best method, but it's a backup plan. >> reporter: while the cold weather has gardeners scrambling, it also put people in the holiday spirit. >> business -- >> reporter: now, i also talked with the owner of the arden lane nursery in livermore. she says she fights the frost with a little holiday cheer. she throws on old-fashioned c-77 lights on to her favorite plants because that raises the temperatures a few degrees to save them from the frost. by the way, we called the local hardware store to know whether or not you should be worried about your pipes. you don'

i think we'll see this discussion sort of go beyond the main players and have folks like jerry conleyn virginia who represents government workers who's saying he's not going to support it. but people like him will have to see something in return if they're starting to get down to it and there's a vote here, a vote there. you know, a lot of these trade-offs will become part of this. >> well, there's a very specific argument we've been hearing from democrats to convince republicans about extending unemployment benefits because there's an immediate economic impact. when people get the money, they spend the money. and the white house says without the extension we could lose 240,000 jobs. but ron, at what point, and this is the republicans' question, do you start to pull back because the extension of unemployment benefits was never supposed to go on forever, it was supposed to be short-term. >> yeah, and so was the recession. and so was durable unemployment. that was all supposed to be taken care of in the past but it's not. there's people out there hurting. so if congress goes on vacation

is recovering, it's going to take a long time for the victim to recovery emotionally. >> margaret conleypeople who just can't get work. jobless benefits are being cut. those suffering the most are being hit the hardest. >>> plus, a sonic boom and a streak of light over iowa. what was this massive fireball? we've got an answer. ♪ as you shoot across the sky you're a fire work ♪ side-by-side, so you get the same coverage, often for less. that's one smart board -- what else does it do, reverse gravity? [ laughs ] split atoms? [ flo chuckles ] [ whirring ] hey, how's that atom-splitting thing going? oh! a smarter way to shop around -- now that's progressive. call or click today. >>> mortgage rates are on the rise. here's how they ended the week. take a look. >>> bottom of the hour now. welcome back, everyone. i'm deborah feyerick. >> i'm victor blackwell. pleasure to have you with us. five things you need to know for your "new day." first, four americans held by the libyan government were released overnight. the four military personnel were attached to a security detail with the u.s. embassy

and we have cnn's margaret conley who is back with us. it looks pretty crowded already.t kind of police presence are you already seeing on the ground there? >> reporter: there is a lot of security here. rehearsal as you can hear behind me has started. there's a lot of nypd here, a lot of officers in other uniforms and also plain clothes officers in the crowd. also before people even got here, a lot of things were cleared out. the newspaper stands were taken out, the trash bins were taken out and the street vendors were cleared. that is an explosive detection dog. and they have been all over the area. so very, very tight security. >> a guest there who is going to be part of the ball drop celebration. tell us who that is. >> reporter: if people are trying to blend in, head down, they better get here right now. the crowds are, it's extremely packed. the subway lines have been blocked. some of the streets have been closed. you have to check and see what is open before you head down here. also there are going to be no big packages allowed in times square. the police are makin

if he had left to his drethers he would have picked john conley but he could not have been confirmed. negotiate could ronald reagan or richard nixon. and democrats on the hill, the speaker and majority leader told the white house if you want someone who can be confirmed easily pick jerry ford. and that's what the president did. >> their time as vice presidential couple was very short. december of 1973 until that day in august 1974 when president nixon resigned and they moved to the white house. much of that time, the country was consumed with the unfolding water gate scandal so the fords didn't do much. >> he hit the road. he got out of town. >> what did she do? >> she was back at the house? >> she was back at the house but she had for the first time now, she relsed for the first time in her life she had to be on time. that was a life long issue. she was not the most punks you'll of people. there are those who think it was a passive aggressive. it was one of the few things in their marriage she could control. but in any event all that changed once she became the vice president's wife.

. >> michael conley shows us how one city changed his life and became the star of his new tv crime dramahare the love event. by the end of this year, the total donated by subaru could reach 35 million dollars. you get a great deal on a new subaru. we'll donate 250 dollars to a choice of charities that benefit your community. it feels good to be a helping hand. ♪ >>> michael connelley's newest novel in "the lincoln lawyer" series is now on sale. hollywood has snapped up the movie rights and another character going in front of the cameras right now. bill whitaker shows you the cutting edge way the fans will see the tv show. >> rolling. >> reporter: the streets of los angeles. >> here we go action. >> reporter: more than a bit player in the books of michael connelley. >> and action -- >> reporter: -- are now getting a lead role in the show. >> there is a character in the case. this one thing, harry bosch l.a. >> reporter: the new drama bosch folk cuffs on homicide detective harry bosch. >> that ain't green screen. that's real downtown. and you can't fake that. >> reporter: actor titus welli

so in the state of texas -- john conley and the others in texas said, you have to bring mrs. kennedy. she is so popular and you will have much bigger crowds. >> i have to say that john kennedy was much more wealthy than she. so why would the public not react to his help? >> he felt as may political leaders that come from affluent backgrounds, -- in 1957 she bought him a jaguar as a birthday gift. he had this returned -- but he felt she was not someone who had a lot of political experience, and in 1960 -- this might be a difficult -- >> she felt she was a drag on him in the early days. >> she said, i am sorry i'm such a drag for you. but this did not stop this -- this did not last long. >> i want to talk about the imagery of camelot. >> jackie kennedy asked teddy white, who was a family friend, to come up and interview her, with the idea of what she wanted to say would get into life magazine. she said, late at night, before jack and i were in the white house, wheeze to play the record of camelot. and needless to say, the editors and life thought, this would be the big thing --

. >> margaret conley following this for us out of new york. did the mayor-elect say why they did this and why now? >> kyra, new york's first daughter to be chose christmas eve to release a very personal message. the 19-year-old talks openly and honestly about the clinical depression she says she faced growing up in new york and before how it made it easier for her the more she drank and did drugs. >> i think it's just important for people to realize anybody who's watching this that if you're suffering and if you're depressed or dealing with mental illness and you think that it might have something to do with your drug abuse or drinking or if you're just suffering from both of those at the same time and you think that they're completely unrelated to one another that getting sober is always a positive thing. >> now, she goes on to say it's not easy to get sober. she had the help of her therapist and an out-patient treatment center here in the city. she says getting sober was the hardest thing she's ever done. >> sure. you're talking 19 years old

cnn's margaret conley joining me.exactly is barrett accused of doing to his victim, exactly. >> kyra, knocking him out cold. there's a hearing happening right now in houston, texas. 27-year-old conrad barrett has been charged with a knockout hate crime, assaulting a 79-year-old man. this is a federal charge. and the first federal charge we have seen for these knockout assaults. i have spoken to attorneys on both sides, the attorney for barrett and the victim's attorney. he said he's going to argue this is not a federal case. he said it's unconstitutional for it to be federal and it should go to the state. he's also going to say his client has been diagnosed as bipolar and he was off his meds the day the assault happened on november 24th. he says his client is extremely depressed right now. that's the defense. the victim's attorney and the victim does not want to be identified, the victim's attorney says the victim's recovering, but he's having trouble communicating. o'neill williams told me the victim, who was also a

we go to jerry conley of virginia. >> thank you, mr. chairman. welcome, mr. secretary. mr. secretary, when is the last time we had a negotiated agreement of any kind with iran? >> i think 10 years ago there was some restraint on some level of their program. >> kind of an infrequent phenomenon. >> that was the first time -- well, we haven't really talked to them face-to-face in 35, 40 years, whatever it is, since 1979. >> some of the critics of this agreement, interim agreement, frame it as -- >> let me reframe that. there have been a couple of meetings where people have talked but no agreement. >> some of the critics would have one believe that an alternative to what you and your team working with our allies have hammered out here really could be improved upon and made into a conference. why hasn't interim conference building agreement when really the only agreement that counts is the complete dismantlement of existing stockpiles processing facilities and the like. that's come from some friends or so-called friends, who have criticized the interim agreement. i wonder if you

we go to jerry conley of virginia. >> thank you, mr. chairman. welcome, mr. secretary. mr. secretary, when is the last time we had a negotiated agreement of any kind with iran? >> i think 10 years ago there was some restraint on some level of their program. >> kind of an infrequent phenomenon. >> that was the first time -- well, we haven't really talked to them face-to-face in 35, 40 years, whatever it is, since 1979. >> some of the critics of this agreement, interim agreement, frame it as -- >> let me reframe that. there have been a couple of meetings where people have talked but no agreement. >> some of the critics would have one believe that an alternative to what you and your team working with our allies have hammered out here really could be improved upon and made into a conference. why hasn't interim conference building agreement when really the only agreement that counts is the complete dismantlement of existing stockpiles processing facilities and the like. that's come from some friends or so-called friends, who have criticized the interim agreement. i wonder if you

margaret conley joins us with more. >> it's a horse buggy battle.ing to central park to see the horses or go for a ride one last time as mayor elect bill de blasio says it's over. horse drawn carriage rides, an iconic way for so many visitors to take in central park. soon they may be a thing of the past. tomorrow he takes over for michael bloomberg. >> we are going to get rid of the carriages, period. it's over. >> reporter: they've been celebrated on film here in "barefoot in the park." >> we just got married! >> reporter: and on tv, including "sex and the city." >> i wasn't going to question any of it, not even how he found a horse-drawn sleigh in the middle of manhattan. >> that's part of new york city! >> it's one of the things you need to do. >> don't get rid of the horses. or we won't come back. >> how many horses have to die? >> reporter: an man rights groups have long been calling a ban on the rides. they argue the animals are forced to live in conditions that are inhumane. >> the horses are not kept in a good condition. >> reporter: mayor e

if we penalize the parents -- i was on tony conley's radio show in lansing, the fox affiliate.u take their driver's license and make sure if they know if they don't listen to their parents you take their license. >> thank you. sparking quite the debate. thanks a the lot. still ahead, a fox news alert. the nationwide flu outbreak has death toll rises again. many americans about to toast to a brand new year, but will you be doing it with your underaged kids? and some places, it will be legal to do so. is that a good idea? ♪ ho ho ho [ female announcer ] at 100 calories, not all food choices add up. some are giant. some not so giant. when managing your weight, bigger is always better. ♪ ho ho ho ♪ green giant ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] everyone deserves the gift of all day pain relief. this season, discover aleve. all day pain relief with just two pills. [ male announc ] your eyes. even at a distance of 10 mis... the length 146 football fields... they can see the light of a single candle. your eyes are amazing. look after them with centrum silver. multivitamins with lutein and vitamin