CBS Evening News open - 2004-12-23

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] From all of us at News Channel 5, happy

[0:03] holidays.

[0:07] Tonight, going nowhere fast. Heavy snow,

[0:10] icy cold, and howling winds mean many

[0:13] travelers may be home for Christmas only

[0:15] in their dreams. An inside job. The

[0:18] suicide bomber in the deadly attack on a

[0:21] US military base in Iraq may have worn

[0:24] an Iraqi army uniform. Happy holidays,

[0:27] season's greetings. But whatever

[0:29] happened to Merry Christmas, the push to

[0:32] revive religious tradition and muscle

[0:35] car with a message. How a hero's death

[0:38] and a young boy's promise inspired a

[0:40] project of hope and horsepower.

[0:51] This is the CBS Evening News with Dan

[0:54] Rather.

[0:55] >> And good evening. Dan is off tonight.

[0:57] I'm John Roberts. A huge winter storm is

[0:59] piling up record snow and a heap of

[1:02] trouble for holiday travelers hoping to

[1:04] be home for Christmas. The South and

[1:06] Midwest are taking a heavy hit today.

[1:08] Midwest travelers were stranded in

[1:10] blizzard conditions with doubledigit

[1:12] snow and singledigit temperatures. And

[1:15] in parts of the South, freezing rain

[1:16] left highways glazed with ice. Countless

[1:19] thousands of people are without power

[1:21] tonight. The storm's track from Wyoming

[1:23] to Ohio and from the Texas panhandle on

[1:25] up to the Great Lakes left a big trail

[1:28] of misery and it's far from over.

[1:30] Cynthia Bowers begins our coverage.

[1:34] >> This is a record these folks want no

[1:37] part of. A winter's worth of snow in a

[1:39] single day. Stranding people and

[1:42] Christmas packages across wide parts of

[1:44] Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.

[1:47] >> Just snow's just too deep. Can't do it.

[1:49] So, we're just spend the night here. 31

[1:51] in fell south of Indianapolis with snow

[1:53] drifts of up to 6 feet. Interstate 64

[1:57] eastbound was closed for 30 miles from

[1:59] Evansville to the Illinois state line,

[2:02] making it a day this newly wet will

[2:04] never forget.

[2:05] >> And we were going to try to shoot

[2:06] straight through to enjoy as much of

[2:08] Florida as we could. And now we're in

[2:10] Indiana in a snowstorm. Here we are.

[2:12] This is our honeymoon. It wasn't just

[2:14] heavy snow, but a dangerous wintry

[2:16] recipe that shut Cincinnati down and

[2:18] knocked out power to roughly 300,000

[2:21] Ohio homes.

[2:22] >> Miserable doesn't even explain it. Look

[2:25] at this mound of snow. And it's not just

[2:27] snow. Inside, we have a couple inches of

[2:29] sleet. Essentially, a layered cake. Does

[2:31] that does not taste very good.

[2:33] >> By comparison, a couple of inches may

[2:35] not seem like much, but tell that to

[2:37] Longhorns in Amarillo or motorists in

[2:40] Memphis. All the conditions were in

[2:42] place for a major snowstorm and there

[2:44] was a lot of cold air available for the

[2:46] storm and a lot of moisture overran the

[2:48] cold air.

[2:49] >> It made for a tough commute no matter

[2:51] what your ride and left plenty of folks

[2:53] willing to share their woe uh make that

[2:56] white Christmas.

[2:57] >> If you want to come here and enjoy our

[2:59] snow, come on over.

[3:00] >> Or come to Chicago where it was a

[3:03] windchill hovering around -10 that

[3:06] turned the famous mile from magnificent

[3:08] to miserable. Oh, it's pass cold. It's

[3:11] frigid,

[3:13] freezing.

[3:14] >> It's the kind of cold that rattled bones

[3:16] and made working outside dangerous.

[3:18] Unless that is you were warmed by an

[3:20] acetylene blowtorrch and prospects of

[3:23] the upcoming holiday weekend.

[3:25] >> Don't care. I'm done after today until

[3:28] Monday.

[3:29] >> Thankfully, the snow part of this system

[3:31] has cleared on out, but the arctic cold

[3:33] was left behind. In fact, forecast call

[3:36] for it to be even colder, if you can

[3:38] believe it, tomorrow. than it was today.

[3:40] And all that bitter cold is headed to

[3:42] the northeast. So, bundle up and brace

[3:45] yourselves. John

[3:46] >> Cynthia Bowers in a frigid Chicago for

[3:48] us live tonight. Cynthia, thanks.

[3:50] Getting warm is one thing. Getting to

[3:52] where you're going is quite another. Jim

[3:54] Axarrod reports tonight. What happened

[3:56] when dreaming of a white Christmas came

[3:58] up against reality on the runways.

[4:01] >> Over the river, through the snow, 14

[4:03] hours in an airport, and maybe, just

[4:05] maybe, they'll see grandmother by

[4:07] Christmas. You can expect some delays,

[4:09] you know, but not a day, not overnight.

[4:13] Not I didn't expect that at all.

[4:15] >> On the day before, the day before, it's

[4:17] not pretty in many airports around the

[4:19] country. Be prepared to to sit and