there is a lot of information out there. hamas is a terrorist group oppressing the palestinian people. hamas refused a continued ceasefire, a continued pause in fighting and more aid from israelis in exchange for just freeing more hostages. instead, hamas resumed attacks. not to protect the palestinian people or obtain peace, only to destroy israel. we must stand against hamas and stand with palestinians and israelis for basic human rights.

♪ ♪ ♪ the clock is ticking. a new sense of urgency from merrick garland as he speaks exclusively with cnn. why the attorney general things a speedy trial with donald trump's election subversion case is in your best interest. and it's make-or-break time, with voting in new hampshire's presidential primary now just days away. nikki haley, donald trump, the top two contenders campaigning there today. how a last-minute endorsement could now change this race. >> and a close call that you really have to see to believe. a daycare center evacuated just minutes before this fiery explosion next door. we are going to speak with the d.c. fire chief about the heroic actions from first

responders. we're following these major developing stories in many more all coming in right here to cnn news central. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> i'm brianna keilar alongside or sanchez here in washington, and as we into this final weekend before the new hampshire primary, attorney general merrick garland has weighed in on this defining question of the 2024 election cycle. will donald trump go on trial for federal charges tied to election subversion before votes are cast in the general election? here is what garland told our evan perez in a cnn exclusive. >> one of the trials for the former president donald trump is scheduled for march. some of the pulling recently shows that three quarters of republicans believe that he is being targeted for political reasons. does it concern you that this public perception exists, and

what can you do to try to change that? >> of course that concerns me. a special prosecutor has said from the beginning that he thinks public interest requires a speedy trial, which i agree with. >> you agree with. >> i do. the matter is now in the hands of a trial judge to determine when the trials will take place. >> the department has policies about steering clear of elections. is there a date in your mind where it might be too late to bring these trials to fruition? again, to stay out of the way of the elections as the department policies. >> i will just say what i said, which is that the cases were brought last year. the prosecutor has urged speedy trials, with which i agree, and it is now in the hands of the judicial system. meantime, trump's legal team are sending a warning to the supreme court. they're urging the justice system to reverse the colorado ruling that removed donald

trump from the states primary ballot. in a brief submitted by the former presidents attorneys thursday night, they weren't a high court that those efforts would quote, promised to unleash chaos and bedlam if other state courts and state officials follow colorado's lead and exclude the likely republican presidential nominee from their ballots. cnn senior supreme court analyst joan biskupic joins us now with more insight into this unprecedented case. so don't, lay out the arguments from trump's team. >> short, beyond the rhetoric there were plenty of legal arguments address specifically to this case. you know it section 3 of the 14th amendment says, that anyone who has an officer of the u.s. who had taken an oath to support the constitution and then engage in a insurrection, they can be barred from holding office in the future. trump's lawyers say, number one, he is not an officer. i know that sounds a little counterintuitive. he is president. but under the terms a structure

of the u.s. constitution, they say that officer would not cover president. that provision would cover members of the senate, members of the house, state officials, but not to be president. they also say that under the terms of the constitution, he did not engage in an insurrection. no prosecutor has tried to charge him with insurrection to this point, and so that would not cover him. and another argument among a couple others is that this provision would only cover someone who was about to hold office, not to run for office. and then, in a sense, colorado has put in additional qualification on candidates in that state which they say is unconstitutional. so myriad legal arguments. we can talk about what the justices might go for, what they might not go for. >> yeah, that's right, because this puts them in this tough position really. it is a highly political issue, whatever they end up deciding. how do they consider this?

>> okay, they signed up for this. they agreed to take the case. it is politically fraught, legally fraught on january 5th, but they are getting the best arguments from both sides before them, and what the trump team wants them to do is essentially decide kind of in a firm away once and for all perhaps that the president is not an officer. do not give like a halfway ruling that within cause further litigation down the road, but the buck stops with them on this. they have to decide it. and it will affect obviously not just colorado, but maine, where we see is still in flux, in many other states across the country. whether donald trump, now that leading republican contender, will be on the ballot. >> notably, joan, this comes at a time where the court to scene as highly politicized. i'm wondering how they personally way it decision like this when it comes to the political implications moving forward. >> i think what they have to do is be as transparent as

possible. we will hear our oral arguments on february 8th, we will hear from the nine justices, what they are thinking, and then when they finally rule, they really need to show that this is legally grounded and head off those kind of arguments, boris. now remember, this is not a case -- this issue has never been tested, and so everybody is in unknown waters now, but i think what they've done so far is to inspire some confidence by laying out a briefing schedule, letting the public know how they were going to do it. everyone will be able to listen to the oral arguments on february 8th. they will be livestreamed. and then if justice john roberts and a majority can get their act together to roll in a way that is for one side or another, but with really sound legal reasoning that seems apparent in the public, i think they will be able to meet the test here. >> joan, because so much for that. let's talk now with white-collar defense attorney

caroline police-y. so we just heard joan talking there about why some of the legal terms about trump might appeal to the justices. do you think that these arguments will hold some merit for them? >> yeah, joan did a great job laying out the merits of laying into attacks of the 14th amendment, which we've all heard ad nauseam about this clause, which colorado thanks ours trump from being on the ballot. i have to say though, i don't think any of these nine justices want to touch the question of whether or not trump engaged in insurrection with a ten foot pole. my guess is that they're going to make this decision on procedural grounds that does not even get to the question on the merits, but rather say that it is not up to each individual state to decide how they're going to go about executing the 14th amendment. so the legal issue there is whether or not this clause is self executing or not. they are good arguments on both

sides. however, at its core, i think they will make a pragmatic decision on this one, and the problem with analyzing trump's arguments, he makes so many frivolous arguments that it's hard to tell which ones are actually meritorious, but this argument that it will create bedlam in chaos is a good one, and i do think that the supreme court will be persuaded. if chief justice roberts has his way, he will want a unanimous decision putting forth a really united front on this answer so that the public has real faith in the answer. but i do not see a resolution where and each state gets to decide for its own whether or not trump will be on the ballot. >> certainly. you have -- secretary of state who, by that states law, went through the process of removing trump from the ballot there. now is asking that the main supreme court will weigh in

before the u.s. supreme court decide the colorado case. this comes after a lower state course paused her decision pending the supreme courts view on february 8th. so even some judicial acrimony there on this issue in the state. what would the effect be of this being settled there at the state level before scotus weighs in? >> yeah, it is going to have to be, breonna, similar to the colorado case were in any decision that is arrived at is known as stayed pending supreme court review, meaning that he will be on the ballot. they will wait to hear with both states have said, they would like to hear the supreme court here in on the issue, and obviously this issue is percolating in a number of other states around the country. everybody is waiting for bated breath to hear the supreme court what they have to say this issue because it is so high stakes. they do the right thing in taking this case. i think they may not take the presidential immunity case, but

certainly this is a question that they have no choice but to take. >> when it comes to the federal election subversion case against trump, the attorney general says it is in the public interest for there to be a speedy trial. how significant is it that he weighed in on this? >> well you will notice, brianna, that neither merrick garland nor jack smith could bring themselves to say the eastward, election. they do not want to be seen as politically motivated at all. jack smith asked the supreme court to review the immunity claim, but he could not say why. he just alluded to the sort of vague concepts of it being in the public interest to have a speedy trial. everybody knows that they want to get it in before the election, but that is not a proper reason according to the doj. so they are playing the sort of a delicate dance wherein they are not saying that they want to get it in before the election, but everybody knows that that is really the goal here. >> yeah.

>> we are picking that up. caroline polisi, thank you so much for your insights. the trump insult machine out over drive with the all-important new hampshire primary just four days away, but nikki haley not taking his racist attacks lying down. with the two candidates are saying about each other headed next tuesday's showdown. plus, israel's war cabinet minister calling for new elections, saying that there is no trust and then yahoo's government. details on that development in the new call between prime minister and president biden. later, more than a dozen kids evacuated from the daycare just moments before the building next door explodes. the conversation about what happened when we come back.

the sprinters on because the new hampshire republican

primary is just four days away, and nikki haley is just trying to do something that no gop candidate has ever done before, beat donald trump, forcing his other rivals to drop out, and making it a two-person race between her and the former president of the rest of the primary season, and she's hoping that new hampshire, with this larger share of independents and moderates, will be casting ballots, it's going to set the stage for this. a cnn poll taken before the iowa caucuses found haley is within reach of trump's lead, just seven points behind. >> a. we have sharp interest is an of the former president in recent days, including this morning when she called him out for his false claims the democrats can vote in the new hampshire primary. listen to this. >> there are multiple instances that we need to start asking donald trump the questions and stop taking what he is saying to be golden. the fact that donald trump's lie, it is another reason why he won't debate, me because he knows i will call him out on it. joining us now to discuss, former republican congressman

francis -- and cristian ramos, a former spokesman for the congressional hispanic caucus. congressman, first. you just just into cnn, sources indicating that former republican president candidate tim scott is going to endorse donald trump tonight. does that surprise you? does that change in any way the dynamic of new hampshire? >> well it can't help nikki haley. it surprised me because i was certainly hopeful that ten would endorse governor haley. they have a lot more in common than he does with trump. >> what do you think, congressman, that is going to do going into the primary? is that going to be very bad for her or not so much? >> i don't think it's necessarily critical to her, but it can't help. there will be some votes that are closer to ten scott that are also very conservative that make it peeled off that might have otherwise going to governor haley. this kind of game, you never know until hindsight what helped or hurt you, but that cannot help. hopefully, she is so strong

that she is waiting such a clear and determined campaign, that she is going to win this thing. i think she has a really good chance. >> we are certainly watching this edge that she has sort of put in there. and christiane, at the cnn town hall, haley, she said something that really raised a lot of eyebrows when she said this. she said she only wanted to do better than she did in iowa. she said she really wanted to be strong. now there's managing expectations, as you know, that's a key part of politics, and then there is that. how well does she really need to do you think in new hampshire? >> she's got to win new hampshire outright to keep this thing going. desantis is off the air right now everywhere, and nikki haley has an opportunity to consolidate should she have a strong showing here, but if he doesn't win, this primaries over. and we move on to the general. >> is desantis done? [laughter] >> for all intents and purposes, desantis is done. from what i'm hearing from conservative operatives out there is that right now there's

a competition between nikki haley and ron desantis to see if the trump goes to jail and if one of them becomes the mantle of the gop party in that instance. but yeah, from what i hear in new hampshire, it is going to be a blowout for trump and on to the general. >> and one of haley's biggest donors here, who is the billionaire can langone is putting a lot of new hampshire of course. as well as nikki haley, telling the financial times that he was ready to give haley in nice sum of money but he may wait until after the results are in, saying quote, if she doesn't get traction in new hampshire, you don't throw money down a rat hole. kristian, how do you think hailie's going to do tuesday in new hampshire, and how significant is that when you have a donor saying something like this? >> i don't think i have ever heard that statement before, throwing money down a rat hole, but i think that perfectly

encapsulates what hailie has to do. otherwise everybody storing their money away and then it is donald trump's election. i think at this point, if i was nikki haley on her campaign, i would've gone after donald trump a lot harder than she has been given what is at stake in new hampshire for her. >> we actually have a matchup of haley going after donald trump. we want to play that now for. you >> are right now, do we really want to have to 80-year-olds running for president when we have a country in disarray and the world on fire? then in calling, i know president trump well. that is what he does when he feels threatened. that is what he does when he feels insecure. chaos follows him, and everybody knows that i am right. the reason he is throwing these temperature hindrances because he knows i do have a chance. the reason he's doing this is because he knows he is not able to defend his record. >> that was at cnn's town hall last night with jake tapper in new hampshire. congressman, do you think that her attacks were too delayed,

that she waited too long to go after donald trump this way when she should have been doing this months ago? >> well i was hoping that you take the gloves off with trump, i really do. like those quotes just played, the truth has never been a problem with trump, he just ignore that it goes about his business. and he needs to be held accountable for what he says. and i don't think i've ever seen the candidates get away with saying more ridiculous things than donald trump. >> and i will listen to something that trump also said to get your perspective on this. of course you know that trump has been missing haley birth name. he had another post this morning. but now trump is saying that haley is not competent for the job, that she cannot handle it. this is what he said. >> i'm not making very well. she worked for me for a long time. she would not be able to handle that position, she would not be able to handle the onslaught. with all that being said, within the republican party, i want to bring unity, and within the nation, i want to bring unity. and you know, unity is going to come from success.

>> but congressman, he hired her, and for no small job, right? similar to a lane chow, who we also picked for a key position and later attacked with racial slurs, do these attacks work in your? ben >> i don't think they work, i think they should work because they are vague, unsubstantiated double, and typical allegations by trump that don't have any basis in fact. she has a great record. she's done a lot of great things. she was a fantastic conservative governor in south carolina despite trump's effort to makers on like she wasn't. and you know, another thing hilly said, if i might, which i think was really good is that we have two 80 roads running for president. we're like the soviet politburo. -- bakhmut were 42 in 43, and we have 23 presidents of age less than 54 in the united states. we need some new generations of leaders. >> congressman, i'm wondering, have you had conversations with any of your former colleagues that are still on the hill

about their support for former president trump? have they shared with you in the insights as to why they are continuing to back him? >> well, you know, i have. in fact i have a little bit of -- a that i don't give room to election than i, years and have a lot of people asking me for money as with ken langone and can griffith and things like that. i tell you what, he denied the election, he signed a petition to void the election, i'm not into that stuff. that's not good for our country. the people who are aligning with trump, what what they tell? you owe, he's strong, he was a great president, he kept us out of wars, he straighten out the economy and china. but on the table is that i want easy reelection, and so i'm going to jump in there with trump. >> yeah, we see that a lot. that is the political calculus that is made. i wonder if you think that some of these attacks that trump has been making on nikki haley, whether it is confidence, which there might be some sexism in there, and certainly there is the easing her name as a way to highlight her ethnicity in a

way. we know what he is doing. is it working, do you think? >> in the primary, probably, but as removing into the general election, look, this stuff is toxic. i cannot overstate this. the maga brand of casual racism and sexism does not sit well with the majority of americans, certainly in the republican primary, yes, it is a great -- for donald trump sadly. for the rest of the country, they see the stop and think that this is not for me. this is a president who, again, attacked our capital. he wins primaries, he goes to court, and the last time they went to a fountain built of sexual assault. these guy is toxic, these politics toxic. i wish the republican primary would go on longer. >> just a quick note, he was found liable for sexual assault, not exactly guilty, and he's not gonna face in criminal penalties for that. nevertheless, kristian ramos, former congressman francis rooney, we appreciate your time,

thank you both so much. >> thank you for having. on >> of course. >> still ahead on cnn news central, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu's government is calling for new elections. wait until you hear why. also, scott peterson? that is scott peterson is getting new legal help. he is fighting his conviction for murdering his wife and unborn child. so why did the innocence project now decide to take on his case? we will explain.

we are just learning that president biden spoke with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu today, making this call a day after netanyahu's outright rejection of the two-state solution and the idea of an eventual palestinian state. of course a topical of the biden administration. >> also today, israel's war minister saying that fresh elections are needed because the public no longer trusts netanyahu's leadership. in a top, it formerly prime minister au brock also called for new elections, warning that netanyahu's strategy would lead gaza -- israel into the quote, gaza quagmire. jeremy diamond is joining us live now from tel aviv, and jeremy, you have new reports that various cemeteries have been damaged. tell us about that. >> yeah, that's right boris. listen, last week i was embedded with israeli forces inside of the gaza strip, and as we were on our way out of gaza, what i noticed is that we

drove directly through a cemetery that had been freshly bulldozed. the, road a dirt road, freshly bulldozed right through, it and that led to this investigation we found 16 cemeteries across gaza have been desecrated by the israeli military. i do want to warn our viewers that they may find some of these images disturbing. >> reporter: in gaza, even the dead cannot escape the indignities of war. more than a dozen cemeteries like this one in jabalia desecrated by the israeli military. gravestones destroyed, soil upturned, tread marks leaving little left for the living to honor their dead. this is that same graveyard before the war. one month later, a series of tread marks can be seen on the northwestern edge. it is no exception. a cnn analysis of videos and

satellite imagery found that 16 cemeteries have been damaged or destroyed by the israeli military since it launched its ground offensive. as israeli forces pushed deeper into gaza, they crushed the graves of thousands of palestinians between november and january. jeanette dull, co director of oxford university institute for ethics law and armed conflict, says destroying graveyards violates international law, except under very limited circumstances. >> cemeteries are not -- objectives. they are in fact what international law would consider an object that is normally dedicated to civilian purposes, like places of warship generally. so this is protected from intentional attack. it can only be intentional attack were destroyed if it becomes a military objective. >> reporter: in some cases, like this cemetery in this refugee camp, is really bulldozers turn cemeteries into military outpost, parking

armored vehicles behind freshly raised -- the damage often delivered and progressive. over two weeks in december, the military bulldozed more and more of this cemetery east of khan younis, building defensive fortifications. cnn witnessed firsthand the result of israel's bulldozing of graveyards while embedded with israeli forces last week. the armored personnel carrier cnn was traveling in drove right through this cemetery in an outbreak, freshly bulldozed dirt road. and then there is this. tombs open at a cemetery in khan yunis this week. bodies removed from their graves. in a statement, the israeli military acknowledge exhuming bodies from the cemetery as part of its search for the bodies of israeli hostages. an idf spokesman could not account for the damage to the 16 cemeteries identified by cnn, but so that is some, cases there is no other choice,

providing this photo of what it says is a hamas rocket launcher at a cemetery in the gaza. cnn cannot independently verify where it was taken. the spokesman could not account for the military post over graveyards, but said that we have a serious allegation to the respect of the dead, and there is no policy to create military posts out of graveyards. and at least one case, the israeli military appears to have taken pains to maneuver around a graveyard. the deir al-balah war cemetery which contains the remains of many christian and jewish shoulders from world war i left intact despite devastation all around. at this cemetery, a very different picture. residents say bodies were uprooted by israeli bulldozers. >> translator: we are currently retrieving the corpses of the monitors at present in the cemetery. the occupation forces have run over most of them with their bulldozers, and we've only

identified a small number of courses corpses. as to the rest, their identities remain unknown. >> reporter: south africa cited israel's destruction as of cemeteries as part of this case, arguing that israel is committing genocide in gaza. israel denies the allegation, but experts say cemetery destruction could be evidence of israel's intent. >> the rescue symbolic meaning to the notion that not even the dead are left in peace. it suggests that this respect towards the kind of spiritual life of your enemy, their cultural property, it is evidence of inanimate against your enemy that is unhelpful this context. >> reporter: the israeli military is still desecrating graves in gaza. [speaking in a non-english language] >> reporter: at the khan yunis in a terry where the military dug up bodies this week, the damage is extensive and all too familiar. tombs destroyed, shrouded

bodies sticking out of the soil, the dad roused from their final rest. >> reporter: and the israeli military point to hamas using some of these cemeteries for their military purposes to explain some of the destruction that we documented here, but we're not just talking about targeted attacks on cemeteries. instead, what we have seen here through satellite imagery, there's some of the videos we've collected on the ground is large-scale bulldozing of certain cemeteries. sometimes vehicles just driving right over these graves and taking a little care effectively to preserve the dignity of the dead. this speaks to something far more systematic been with the israeli military acknowledged. >> yeah, hard to see the strategic or tactical value in that. jeremy diamond, thank you so much for that excellent report. a republican-led house panel has asked defense equatorial guinea austin to testify about his recent hospital stay. the white house congress and the public did not find out that he was in the hospital

until several days after he was admitted, and it took even longer for secretary austin to disclose that he was being treated for prostate cancer. the hearing before the armed services committee is now set for february 14th. we have some news just into cnn. president joe biden's fillet short term funding extension. remember that lawmakers race against the clock to pass the bill before part of the government would have shut down at midnight tonight. lawmakers have been confronting not one but two government shutdown deadlines. one today, another on february 2nd. this now, the short term funding extension, sets up to new funding deadlines on march 1st and on march 8th. we should point out the part of the reason lawmakers want to yesterday and said today was that there is a recess next week, and so they wanted to get out of town for that weather that you saw. still ahead, the innocence project has helped free mini wrongly incarcerated inmates, but their newest client is raising eyebrows. ahead, why the group is taking up the case of scott peterson,

a man convicted of killing his wife and unborn child.

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alright now...have a good weekend. (co-worker) but it's wednesday... (co-worker 2) see you monday! (co-worker 3) am i missing something? (hero) it's the weekend baby... see you later. (vo) like getting things two days early? when it comes to payday, you can with wells fargo. (co-worker 4) what are you doing this weekend? there is a new twist in an infamous murder case. the l.a. innocence project say is now over the next got peterson. he was convicted, of course, for killing his wife and unborn son nearly two decades ago. peterson's pregnant son, lacey, eight months pregnant when she disappeared on christmas eve back in 2002. her body and the body of her unborn child were found months later in san francisco bay. >> peterson has maintained his innocence as he serves a life sentence without the possibility of parole. cnn's pikas are as a joining us

now with details on this. the question is, of course, why? what are attorneys of this nonprofit group saying about why they are getting involved? >> first of all, he's indigent. he cannot get funding to go any further. the innocence project will step up, they will pay for everything through department of justice funds. they are saying that they want to see if there is actual innocence here. they want to do a lot of testing that they say was not done back in 2003. the storyline of this is fairly simple. it starts in 2002. actually let's star in november 2002. scott peterson marries lacey, they were about to have their first child. he started dating amber fry. amber fry, according to the trial evidence. she initially asked if he was married. he said, no. my wife is deceased. i'm single. one month later, she disappeared on christmas eve. scott peterson said he last saw

her around 9:30 in the morning, he left. he went out in the boat san francisco bay to go fishing. forensics show he wasn't there for very long. he came back. lacey was gone. he finally reported her missing later that missing me evening. the search begins, they cannot find her. april the next year, a few months later, her remains washed up on shore along with their unborn child. which is legal language from the california courts, connor. they had already named the child. the remains washed up on shore two miles away from where he had gone fishing. much more to this very lengthy trial. this is what now the innocence project wants. they want to do dna testing of items that they believe the prosecution has. those items were never tested. really if you look at the list it is a lot of things that washed up onshore with her remains and content remains washed up onshore. things from duck tape recovered

from her pants. interesting, a 50 inch long tape twine tide in about around the neck of connor peterson. that is curious. she was eight months pregnant when she disappeared. now they say a bow of twine was found around her neck. i talk to people who are intimately involved in this case in the legal area, they know nothing about twine and shape that was around the neck connor. moving on, a target bag from where lacey's remains were found. and we said, duct tape, a black tarp. also, there was a van that was set on fire close to the time and in the vicinity of when lacey went missing. they want to do some dna testing of those areas. it will be very interesting to see if they get this. they may want some renewed testing because sophistication of dna is now,, obviously, not what it was in 2003. this is, to them, important. this is the case that was a death penalty conviction. it was overturned a couple of

years ago based on the process rights. now it is life in prison without any possibility of parole. they want to get this conviction vacated to have a new trial ordered. >> very interesting. jeanne, thank you so much for that. we will continue to pay attention to it. a gas leak gave a daycare, and everyone who was inside of it, just moments to evacuate before an explosion leveled the building next door. ahead we are going to speak to the washington fire chief about what happened, how they narrowly avoided a huge tragedy here. this is cnn news central.

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an incredible untimely skate to tie about now. a gas explosion above a washington d.c. daycare center happening just minutes after 16 small children were rushed out to safety. it was a quick thinking daycare staff and firefighters who managed to get the children, between the ages of two and four, in their coats and out the door. fortunately none of them were hurt. we now see the moment a second cast explosion at the convenience store next door sent debris into the air and firefighters running to put out the flames. >> there were no serious injuries but one person was taken to the hospital after being hit by some debris that had flown because of that explosion. washing in d.c. fire chief john donnelly here with us. chief, if you look closely in this video we can see the

aftermath of the first explosion above the daycare. take us through what happened here and how they got all those kids out so quickly. >> the fire department was dispatched for an outside ghastly. a pretty normal call. for us the units arrived on the scene, they stopped short because you want to drive in front of a gas lake. when they got there they realize that there was a big problem. they called a gas company and they started evacuating the buildings around them. when they got to the daycare, the daycare staff was already putting coat some blankets on the kids. two and a half months to four years old. so they encourage them to hurry up. they got them out of the building. a few minutes later that is when the first explosion happened. >> among the things that went well here, that went right, was the fact that the daycare center and its employees had a plan, right? >> oh, absolutely. emergency planning in school facilities, daycares, libraries, any of these buildings, no matter where you live he should

have a plan to get out. it is one of the things we teach and fire prevention starting in elementary school. >> how did they get word, initially, that there have been a leak? >> they smell the. it was the building next door. they could smell it, it was pretty bad. you could probably hear. there may have been some people the knock on the door even. it is a busy street. i mean, that is a very busy street. >> when it comes to the kids, i wonder how they initially reacted to it. an explosion like that rocks you. even though it is cool to watch the video now, this could've gone a very different direction. a mom and how the case reacted and how they are doing now. >> the kids were over one block away when the explosion happened. they are pretty young. they were with people that i think they are used to taking care of them. the great news is all of them were reunited with their families within an hour, to an hour and a half. i think that is the important part. >> let's take this bigger picture here. i think we can all learn

something from this, right? the importance of calling in a ghastly. taking it seriously. what do we need to keep in mind? >> a couple of things. gas has a distinct odor. it is something they put in, a chemical called merck active, it gives a distinct odor. if you call what you know to be natural gas, or you think you do, you should always call 9-1-1 and notify the gas company. get away from it, as well. that is the most important part. the second important lesson is, have a plan. >> amazing how quickly the gas company calls or comes when you connally. they are very speedy. chief, thank you so. much so glad that this is a good ending to the story. >> so are we. thank you very much. >> of course. >> a cargo plane forced to make an emergency landing in miami after sparks inflame started flying from one of its engines. we have some breaking news into cnn. a small commuter plane landing on a road in virginia. we will have more on this story next hour, after a quick break.

this is cnn breaking news. >> we are following breaking news out of the nation's capital. a small commuter plane which just took off from dulles airport landed on a bridge ia