announces an expansion in its probe of boeing after the alaska mid-air decompression, and the ceo of alaska promising change. what will it take to ensure aviation safety and restore public confidence? and cancer deaths have been dropping for three decades, but an alarming new study today shows cancer cases are soaring in people under 50. why the shift in the age of cancer patients and what should you do to give yourself the best odds? but first, a devastating day for the golden state warriors grappling with the sudden death of a member of the coaching staff. you're watching getting answers. i'm kristin zehm, thanks for joining us. tonight's warriors game against the utah jazz has been postponed due to a shocking tragedy. deion milojevic was a beloved member of the warriors coaching staff, affectionately called dickey. the team says the 46 year old died hours after suffering a heart attack during a private team dinner in salt lake city. the organization

issued a statement head coach steve kerr saying we are absolutely devastated by deion's sudden passing. this is a shocking and tragic blow for everyone associated with the warriors and an incredibly difficult time for his family, friends and all of us who had the incredible pleasure to work with him. in addition to being a terrific basketball coach, deion was one of the most positive and beautiful human beings i have ever known. someone who brought joy and light to every single day with his passion and energy. abc seven sports director larry beil is here with us now to share more about this hugely impactful tragedy. >> larry, this was so sad and the details of exactly what happened last night in salt lake city are disturbing. just because if you put yourself in the situation, basically, here's what happens when the team goes on the road and they were getting ready for a game tonight against the utah jazz. so typically you have, you know, anywhere from 25, 35, up to 50 staff members that have the

option to get together and, and sit down and have a meal together. it could be in a private restaurant, it could be in a hotel ballroom. whatever the case may be. in this case, it was a restaurant, but it was closed down just for the warriors. and i think there was about 35 people that were there. and unfortunately there was a heart attack. now if this is going to take place, you got to remember there's a training staff that's that's there that travels with the team. i mean, short of being in the cardiac care center of a hospital, you're in pretty good hands right there. yeah, they tried cpr. they did all they could. they got 9-1-1. they got him, you know, to the hospital as quickly as as they could. and he passed away today. they but all of the people that were at that dinner watched this unfold in real time. and, you know, a really rough night for all of them. and then to get the news this morning, the team was assembled. this morning, all the staff members, everybody to get

the news of his passing. and it's just devastation within the organization right now. i mean, the notion that anybody would be prepared to play a game tonight is just completely out of the question. there's nobody emotionally ready to do that at this point. they have a game on friday at home back here. and so that'll give them a few days to just process what happened. but what people witnessed last night is something that they will never forget. right >> it is so traumatizing to lose anyone. and like you said in this case, to witness that happening in front of you. so the cancellation tonight is understandable, but it's very rare, isn't it? >> it is. i mean, you know, occasionally you'll get a weather situation or you'll get some problem with the arena floor. or we saw with covid a few years ago, but, you know, this is extremely atypical. and i think the warriors and the league recognized the unique nature of this situation. and decided that nobody should be playing tonight. yeah. >> so do you know, have you talked to anyone on the team to know what kind of support

services there will be for the players and the coaching staff, since it is so traumatic? >> and i did ask about that and they were in the early stages of trying to figure out a plan whether it would be with with therapists, trying to help people deal with the grief, especially for those who were at the dinner. but, you know, 46 years old and 40, and they had never been any signs that, no, there will be any health issues. >> right. doesn't he work out with as a coach? does he also work out sometimes with, i guess, the big man? is that what his role is? yeah. so coach the big guy. yeah. >> so he is a or was a player development coach and worked specifically with the larger players. the centers and power forwards. he was a great player in europe and then a coach for eight years before steve kerr and the warriors staff decided that they wanted to offer him a job. you know, he's a big guy, he's a big guy. so you know, i, i can't tell you, you know what his physical situation was. but he certainly never looked like anybody that was in any peril. and in fact, you know, we showed

some of the photos of coach dickey. i can't ever remember seeing him without a smile on his face. he was that type of person that just. and steve expressed it in his statement that he just brought joy. he was just a happy guy. yeah. and was really instrumental in helping the young serbian players like nikola jokic, who was arguably the best player in the league, develop and come to the nba. i mean, he was he's so, so wy resd throughout the nba and basketball circles around the world. it's just it's a huge loss for everybody involved. had you ever interviewed him? no, not really. i mean, we would see each other in passing, but you know, part of it was a language barrier because he was learning english. now, you know, and i'm pretty limited in my serbian. so so but but but he, you know, he could he could certainly communicate. and he communicated with players. but you know, you reminded me of one thing. i just saw this just like a few seconds ago. brandon pisemsky, who's a warriors rookie, tweeted this

out. uh, basically a message to coach dickey. you changed my life in such a short time. the most important thing you ever told me was to just smile, which is what you were saying. >> yes, he did all the time, right? the positivity and the energy. >> yeah. your joy and laughs will forever be missed. shine down on us from heaven. rest in peace. i mean. and this is a player brandon pisemsky's only been with the team for a few months to show the impact that coach dickey had on him. right? it's a huge loss for the organization and it's going to take some time for them to recover from this. >> look, the biggest thing right now is the healing. and, you know, the condolences for the family. but when they get to it, they'll probably have to consider how do they fill his shoes? who can step into that? the leadership and you know, they've been having a hard time on the court honestly to lose someone now is even more challenging. >> yeah, i mean, in terms of like who takes over those responsible parties and all that, i think they're a ways away from even contemplating any

of that. as far as how the season goes from here. it's been rough enough as it is. and then to add this on top, you know, we have an hour long post game show tonight after the lakers mavericks game. we're going to go through all these trade possibilities and what they could do and all that. and it all just seems so irrelevant at this point. right >> right. absolutely. but it's just so hard. i mean, to like you said, a difficult season in every way already. and then to process this right. >> it's rough. it's rough. it's going to be hard. it's going to be hard. and you know, he leaves a wife and three kids, one of his sons plays basketball in hawaii. so uh, yeah, just getting the family together and the services. i don't know how all that's going to unfold, but they'll figure that out in the next few days. >> all right. well, larry, thank you for coming on to talk about this and our condolences as an organization to their organization. yeah. all right. i'll see you at four. all right. all right. coming up, the faa is now expanding its probe into boeing's manufacturing practices and production lines in the wake of that mid-air door plug blowing out earlier this month. we'll talk to an expert in aviation safety, safety about

the public's confidence results or just rhetoric. californians deserve a senator who is going to deliver for them every day and not just talk a good game. adam schiff. he held a dangerous president accountable. he also helped lower drug costs, bring good jobs back home, and build affordable housing. now he's running for the senate. our economy, our democracy, our planet. this is why we fight. i'm adam schiff, and i approve this message.

factor that made the part that blew out mid-flight. alaska airlines 1282 lost a plug door, which led to a frightening and potentially deadly depressurization on a flight from portland to ontario on january 5th. now this led to the grounding of all boeing 737 max nine aircraft for inspections, looking for loose bolts and other things. concerns. today, the faa says it's completed inspections to 40 out of 171 planes. also today, the ceo of alaska airlines issued an

apology. video. we welcome the faa's added review and oversight in response to this situation, and the specific steps that boeing announced to strengthen quality controls and assurance in their operations. >> in addition to these steps, alaska airlines will initiate and enhance our own layers of quality control to the production of our airplanes. joining us live now to talk about the state of aviation safety and how to restore passenger confidence. >> sheldon jacobson, professor of computer science and director of the simulation and optimization lab at the university of illinois, urbana champaign. professor jacobson, thank you so much for joining us . >> thank you for having me. it's a pleasure to be with you. >> how badly shaken do you think the flying public is at this point? >> air travel is a partnership and there has to be trust because when you buy an airplane ticket and you buckle in, you are trusting the airline. you're trusting the faa, you're trusting the manufacturer of the airplane to do the right thing. and occasionally, unfortunately.

but the good thing is, it's only occasionally something happens. and alaska airlines, unfortunately for them, happened to be the airline that flew the plane that resulted in this door plug blowing out. so, uh, it is it is so important to realize that with over 80,000 flights every day in the united states and thousands of airplanes, this is a very isolated incident. nonetheless, it should be taken seriously. and the faa is doing the right thing by investigating . boeing doesn't want this to happen. the airlines don't want this to happen. and the travelers don't want it to happen. so i think we're in a situation that good things are going to happen from this. >> can i just ask you, though, who's got the main responsibility in your opinion? i mean, you have the planemaker boeing. it's contractor that made the part in question. the airline that bought and operates the planes and the regulatory agency faa. who is most to blame ? >> everybody's going to point the finger at someone because nobody wants responsibility. but ultimately it is a collective agreement. the boeing

manufacture aired the plane and put in the plug design, and the airlines provide maintenance. now, could they have detected this? very difficult to determine that the faa ultimately is the rule maker. so everybody has a piece of the steak to make sure that things are resolved and they will be resolved. what we forget is how safe air travel has become in the united states. we haven't had major incidences for years. we are the safest mode of transport by far, and in terms of countries where the safest country in the world to fly, this is an isolated incident. we're very fortunate. no, there were no fatalities. there were some injuries, though. let's look at this for what it is, which is basically a learning moment. and the nice thing is it's not going to happen again. >> all right. well, speaking of learning moment right in alaska ceos apology today. he did announce new action. apparently the airline will have its own people now on the boeing production line. do you think that is actually helpful. not just for appearances but a real quality control boost by doing

that, there are so many airlines . >> alaska airline, although it's a significant airline in the pacific northwest, is not a major carrier. you look at united, which has over 800 airplanes, of which around 10% are the are the boeing 737 max nine seconds. you have to look at the gestalt of the picture. ultimately boeing doesn't want this to happen. the faa doesn't want this to happen. and the airlines don't want this to happen. i think it's good pr for the alaska airline ceo to make these statements. it doesn't really make a difference. at the end of the day, safe travel is the standard and we've had that standard for many years. we want to continue it. this is an isolated incident. let it remain that way. yeah. >> i mean i hear you and also i know the statistics, right. that flying is still the safest way to travel. and the reason that it is in the news is because it doesn't happen every day or very often. nonetheless yes, when you talk about, you know, boeing. right. and specifically the max series max line, they since it debuted in 2016, which was not very long ago, they've had the

two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019. after that, boeing changed . an automated flight control system is there something fundamentally amiss with boeing? right now? >> there are design issues that always come into play, especially when you introduce a new airplane as a result of that, boeing is looking very closely. they don't want any bad press associated with their max 737 max series. this is bad press for them. this is bad for everybody. they will get to the root of it and fix it. because if they don't, at the end of the day, shareholders are going to suffer. and that's not what they want. plus the traveling public and the airlines will suffer this is a partnership. and let's not forget that that everybody has a stake in safety. and as a result of that, things will get improved. and better and air travel will be safer because of it. >> normally, you can trust that in a capital istic society or when there's competition that it behooves the company and the

shareholders for them to improve and eliminate problems. in this case, they're really only two companies that construct commercial airplanes, though the american boeing and the french airbus does the lack of competition, you know, relatively speaking, prevents some of that progress that we would normally see when there's an incident? >> once again, there are standards of excellence and the ultimate measure is safety. and we have a tremendous record of safety that has gone on for many, many years. so it's easy to throw everyone under the bus who's involved. but the reality of the situation is that i don't mean the airbus. the reality of the situation is that this is going to get fixed. i'd rather find out about something before before the problem occurs rather than after. in this case, the incident occurred. that's unfortunate and that's tragic. but now we can do something about it. so let's move forward and make it safer for everybody. so that standard is continued to be met before i let you go real quick, 30s do you have any thoughts on some precise actions

, specific things that can be done to meet that standard, to restore that confidence quickly? once again, quality control is so critical. the airlines do the maintenance, but they follow all the methods used and proposed by the airline. quality control at manufacturing is critical, and that's where boeing has a stake. and my guess is quality control is going to get a lot better in the next several months. >> professor sheldon jacobson, thank you so much for coming on the show today. >> thank you. >> after the break, a worrisome new report showing a trend toward younger cancer patients. but there is a silver lining. we'll be joined by the chief scientific officer of the american cancer so

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to become pregnant, or are breastfeeding. for more information about side effects talk to your doctor. thanks, mom. be in your moment. ask your doctor about ibrance. a pfizer product. we're all in 2021. cancer related deaths were down 33% since 1991, joining us live now is doctor william dehart, the

chief scientific officer of the american cancer society. to put all that in context for us, doctor dehart, thank you so much for joining us. >> thanks for having me on tonight. >> so i guess it's good news, bad news. let's start with the good news. overall, cancer deaths have trended down in the last 30 years. that's great. what do we attribute that to? >> well, i think it really is good news. if you think about the magnitude of the number of lives saved, if we looked at what the curve was back in 1991, if had projected out to today, we would have had over 4 million additional people die from from cancer. so that's really a great improvement. and what's it from? well, i think number one, it's from l. you know, lung cancer deaths have fallen significantly because of less tobacco use. the second i think is really earlier detection cancers when they're found smaller and earlier that can be treated better. and finally research has led to better therapies. people are living longer with cancer, even advanced cancer based on targeted therapies and immuno oncology. so i think it's a combination of all three of those. >> that's great. but given that, how come we also have the bad

news that cancer cases are up noticeably amongst those under 50? >> yeah, there's really a change going on. you know, cancer tends to be a disease of the elderly. you know, as cells divide and change over time, you have more mutations and more higher cancer risk. but we're seeing really that you know, a generation of folks who are you know, born probably in the 1960s and later are having an increased cancer risk over time to where we're now seeing, you know, colorectal cancer in particular, the leading cause of cancer death in men under the age of 50 and second, in women. so it's really bypass things such as lung cancer and cervical cancer, depending on things back and forth. so it's really a generational change we're seeing over time. >> by the way, can you give me the precise percentage that the cases have risen by for people under 50? well it's rising about it's rising about, you know, between a half and 1, you know, per year over time. >> so that gives you some perspective. well, overall, when we look sort of at you know, at

colorectal cancer, for example, by itself those cancers are really falling. so um, and it varies a little bit from, from, you know, from breast cancer to colorectal and others, but it's sort of in that range. but over cumulative over time that winds up being, you know, a real numbers. right? >> okay. so give us the top cancers that you're seeing this rise in. and then also offer. what should we do then as a result of that. well i think what we're seeing you know the cancers that are rising in the young colorectal cancer i think sort of jumps to the to the top. >> but we are definitely seeing more in the way of breast cancer and then some of the cancers that, you know, are not necessarily as common, but things such as gastric cancer and pancreatic cancer, we're seeing really rise in almost everybody. so what can be done? well, i think, you know, the cancers that we know that they're screening guidelines, colorectal cancer screening guidelines for the average person starts at age 45. but if you have a family member that with colorectal cancer or you have a genetic predisposition, and that's 30% of the early deaths, you should definitely be screened earlier on same with

breast cancer. we say around 40. start talking about having your mammogram. but again, a family history dense breast or a bracket mutation or something else beyond that screen earlier. so knowing your own cancer risk screen earlier on and then do things like exercise and diet, low alcohol, don't smoke, get your hpv vaccination. these things actually have a real impact on and cancer detection and the kind of cancer you might get right. >> the hpv vaccinations. we've certainly seen concerted efforts to increase them. to what degree has that helped? >> it's had a dramatic impact, you know, over the age of 30, cervical cancer cases are going up and hiv related, um, cancers are the or the oral fairness. and men and women are going up but under the age of 30. so it's a lot of the women and men who received the hpv vaccination cervical cancer rates are fallen by 65. we've wide disparity from state to state. i think california is somewhat in the middle, but d.c. is about 77% have been vaccinated. but in

mississippi, only like 33. so it's really important we get everybody with getting their hpv vaccination. >> uh, you mentioned differences . i want to ask you about disparities. are you seeing them amongst racial groups and how would that be? >> it's still a real problem. uh, the cancer that jumps out the most is endometrial carcinoma, uterine cancer or black women are twice as likely to die from, from from uterine cancer as white women. and that's the one. cancer mortality rates are actually rising over time. but if you look at breast cancer, white women are more likely to present with the disease. but black women are more likely to die from the disease. and if you actually look at prostate cancer, much more likely to die from the disease. so um, there's probably some aspects of cancer biology, but also aspects of really access to equitable care. and we're leading a very large study looking at really cancer outcomes in black women called voices of black women, which will be launching this year. so we really encourage you to go to

our web page, voice stonecatcher.org to learn more about it. do you think it's an issue of not getting the care or the screenings or is it that they get it, but it's missed somehow? >> you know, i'm not. i don't think it's the fault of the patient. >> i think the patients are are trying to do the right thing because screening rates are not actually that different for some of the cancers. but i think oftentimes there are there are biases in the system where folks are offered different treatments, you know, based on what you look like. and oftentimes not offered access to clinical trials or some of the best new treatments are available. so i think it's really access to the equitable care is really driving some of these poorer outcomes amongst different groups. >> we heard about clinical trials for breast cancer vaccine , and that led me to wonder if you think it is possible for science to solve cancer someday. or most types of cancer. >> well, i think, um, you know, first of all, you know, cancer is multiple different diseases. you know, we've made great

progress on some of the cancers. um, other ones, we're not nearly as great. but when you think about something like immunotherapy, like a vaccine, that's definitely going to work much better when you have a much smaller burden of cancer much early on in sort of the cancer journey. and we think about some of the techniques to find cancer very early. maybe it's only circulating cells, you know, at that point, maybe a vaccine could actually prevent that cancer from progressing or even to regress. so finding the cancer earlier could actually be really the place where we could have a treatment such as a vaccine, which is really a living therapy, which really could have something that could have an impact. patients in a really positive way. >> all right. doctor william de hutt from the american cancer society, thank you so much for sharing your expertise with us. >> thanks so much for having me on today. really appreciate it. a reminder you can get our live newscast, breaking news, weather and more with our abc7 bay area streaming tv app. >> it's available on apple tv, google tv, fire tv and roku search for abc7 bay area and download it now.

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the game with larry and the guys and then stay with us for abc seven news at nine. thank you so much for joining us today on getting answers. we'll be here every weekday at three, answering questions with experts from around the bay area. world news tonight with david muir is coming up next. and i'll see you back here after tonight, at least 28 dead now in this brutal winter storm and frigid air. in the northeast, multiple members of the same family killed when they got out of their car. the