sinkhole, said to measure 40 feet wide and 20 feet deep. apparently a cave sits underneath that museum, anderson. >> what a spot. incredible. randi, thank you very much. that does it for us. appreciate you watching. erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. senator rand paul sues the paula deen planning a major comeback. is america ready to forgive her? let's go "outfront." good evening, everyone. i'm erin burnett. we' bib can breaking news at this hour. it is 11:00 p.m. a massive storm right now wreaking havoc as it barrels up the coast. more than 100 million americans

are affected by the storm tonight. it's being called a catastrophic event by the national weather service. it has crush the southeast today. tennessee, georgia, the carolinas brought to a stand still after snow and ice forced states to shut down. at least ten deaths are being blamed on the storm. 500,000 homes without power, 4,000 flights canceled for thursday. we want to show you the conditions in raleigh, north carolina today. hundreds of cars were stranded and skidding off the road, as you can see. the whole problem here, it's not just the snow, which is so unusual in the south, but this time of the year to have this big of a storm, it is the ice. this is the size and the breadth and the speed with which snow is falling that makes it so.

officials are telling residets to stay home. hundreds of national guard troops have been mobilized to deal with the storm. we cover this as it moves into the northeast with our reporters up and down the east coast. we begin with david mattingly in charlotte, north carolina. david, just -- those parking lot interstates that we've seen have come from where you are. >> reporter: well, we have seen a lot of snow falling, but for the last few hours it's been sleet and some rain. we have seen 12 hours of almost non-stop precipitation here. and this storm is not done yet. throughout the day entire cities slowed to a crawl. the national guard responding from alabama to the carolinas providing aid and shelter. in charlotte, snow fell so fast streets were covered in minutes, not hours. the city expecting as much as 10 inches of snow, and bracing for the ice that's predicted

overnight. >> do the common sense things. we know it's coming. take the precautions right now. do not wait. if you wait, that means you're going to take action which puts our emergency operations people lives at risk. >> reporter: in spite of days of warning, too many motorists waited too late to travel, some wiping out, others stuck in long lines. >> we're not kidding. we're not just crying wolf. it is serious business. >> reporter: conditions in atlanta look much different than two weeks ago when just two inches of snow brought the city to a standstill. highways that looked like parking lots then were now empty. at the world's busiest airport, planes were busy waiting, and more than 3,000 flights were canceled nationwide. as the storm moves up the east coast, the biggest concern becomes power outages. across the southeast, over 450,000 are without power. thousands in georgia and there are no promises of a quick fix.

>> we're looking at possibility of hundreds of thousands of outages so this could be a long duration. >> reporter: all it takes is a quarter of an inch of ice to bring down power lines and atlanta may see three times that much by tomorrow morning. >> there's no way you can deal with ice. i don't care what yankees say, you can't drive in ice. >> reporter: the word for tomorrow is to stay off the roads and stay at home if you possibly can. schools are closed. a lot of other things are closed here, as well. everyone hoping that the city has a chance to get their plows out to be aggressive and try to clean up some of this monumental mess. >> david mattingly, thank you. a quarter of an inch is enough to bring down power lines, shows you just how precarious the situation is. thanks to david. the snow is, as we said, the whole point is how the storm is moving so rapidly. the line of delineation is i-95,

the biggest interstate on the northern-southern corridor of the united states. and washington right in the center of it. snow has just started but it's happening so quickly where it usually takes hours for snow to fall, but happening so much faster than that. the federal government is closed tomorrow. tom forman is south of d.c. in alexandria, virginia. tom, what are you seeing? >> reporter: erin, for the longest time out here, nothing was happening. but it's now really stepped up and so has this. dozens and dozens of trucks here from the virginia department of transportation being loaded up with salt there to take out on the roads. they'll have about 4,000 on the roads in this immediate area in northern virginia. more than 12,000 throughout the state. they'll be spreading more than 65,000 up ttons of salt on the s to try to keep them passable. it's a huge job here. virtually every school, many businesses are closing down.

the roads right now, as you can see from the beltway out here, are still quite passable. but they're getting worse by the minute and they know tomorrow it could be much, much worse, erin. so big, big job by the virginia department of transportation here. same thing happening on the maryland side in washington, d.c., because they have seen what atlanta has been through. >> tom, i grew up on the eastern shore there and i remember when there was a forecast of snow, school would get closed. with washington, you said 65,000 tons of salt? are they prepared? >> reporter: yeah, i think they're as prepared as they can be. partially what's made this area more prepared is what we saw in atlanta recently but what they experienced here a few years ago with snowmageddon. they're hoping this isn't quite

that bad. >> thank you very much to tom. tom mentioned atlanta, which really -- i don't know if this is the right way to express it, but the mess in atlanta, the horrible pictures of people spending the night on an interstate because they weren't ready would have saved a lot of people have a horrible night in the country tonight because everyone said that's not going to happen to us. it was only two weeks ago and that was only 2 1/2 inches of snow. these are the people who were stuck overnight in their cars. people had to spend the night in stores. people were trapped on the highways. kids had to spend the night in schools. so very different story today because of those pictures. warnings, closings and preparations all came before people were out today across the southeast. particularly in atlanta. ed, now it's like the opposite, right? it's sort of a frightening ghost town.

>> reporter: it is. it's like the lyrics to a sad country song. a lot of lonely, lonely streets as we take you into downtown atlanta. you look out on the streets. they're still very slushy. we're seeing some traffic where some road work has been done throughout the day and that sort of thing. for the most part, there is that layer of ice and slush still all over the streets. the temperatures are not above freezing quite yet. but close. this is something that the city is going to have to contend with tomorrow. that's why you've seen government offices and you've seen schools throughout the region already canceled for tomorrow. so as you mentioned, erin, they're not taking any chances. hard to imagine two weeks ago that you saw these roads and so many people on these roads, these roadways were parking lots and people trying to figure out how they were going to get back to their cars. it's incredibly lonely out here

on the roadways. >> in the movie that i can envision, there's just this one car as you zoom in to ed lavendara cruising the streets of atlanta. >> reporter: hopefully it's a short movie. >> thank you very much to ed. a little bit of humor on this. for a lot of people out in the middle of this, it's not going to be a pleasant thing at all. we're tracking the storm with chad myers. chad, if you're home, then it can be a good thing. but for a lot of people, this becomes a nightmare. >> or you're stuck in an airport for days and days trying to get a plane that didn't fly to atlanta. it's going to snow up and down the east coast and change over to rain in many cities. here almost to new york city we have the snow. snowing in philadelphia, in d.c. and richmond. and back down where some of our other reporters are in the

carolinas, sleet is coming in. we have a low pressure that's out to the west, running up the east coast like that. as it does that, it's going to put down enough precipitation for everybody to get 15 inches. but that won't happen. that won't happen because if you're close to the shore, you're going to get a rain-snow mix. you're going to get sleet to mix in. let's use i-95 for a demarcation line. along i-95, that's where you'll probably see 8 inches of snow, plus or minus a couple because i-95 isn't a straight road. that's where we could see 14 inches but we won't. we'll see rain and sleet on top of it, pack it down and make it look like eight. if you're east of there, lit look like two or three because you get a lot more sleet. if you're west of there, you don't get the sleet, you get all snow. that's why the snow here, this brighter band, is all to the west of i-95. because you don't get that sleet

turnover. if you take all the snow, all across this area and you put it in a cup and melt it, everybody is going to get an inch and a half of water. if it's all snow, you get 15 inches, if it's a mix, it's going to be somewhere in between. >> that means bad snowman. >> and they last a long time because they rephrafreeze. >> thank you very much. still to come, more of our breaking news coverage of the storm, which for so many is catastrophic as they're trying to prepare. and breaking business news this hour on a deal that could change your cable bill. rand paul says he's suing the president for you. is this a stunt or the real deal? paul is outfront to answer the tough questions.

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we're following two breaking news stories tonight. we'll have more on the massive

winter storm in a moment. but first, breaking business news at this hour. the two biggest cable companies in america merging. comcast is buying time warner cable, which is not controlled by time warner, which is the parent of this company. it's a $45.2 billion deal and our correspondent joins me on the phone. brian, you see a headline like this and you go, if this deal is approved, this is going to be a big cable company, 35 million subscribers. the worry is the deal is going to mean prices go up, services go down. are people right to have that fear when they hear this headline? >> reporter: this is an audacious deal. but the cable providers, like comcast, say they need to get bigger and consolidate because they need more muscle in their negotiations with channel owners. channel owners want to get paid more but not all cable companies are created equal.

time warner cable, which has about 12 million, has a bad reputation. comcast has a little better reputation and comcast wants to bring better technology to these time warner cable homes. >> so in terms of the pricing, i would imagine that's something the government would be involved with, they would have to be comfortable with pricing not going up too much, is that fair to say? >> reporter: there will be a lot of scrutiny of this deal. we've seen one group come out in opposition. they said this deal would be a disaster for consumers. but groups like that opposed comcast's merger of nbc universal three years ago, yet the government allowed that deal to go forward. so far there have not been a lot of adverse impacts from that. but no doubt, this will get a lot of scrutiny and this will be debated for many months to come. >> it's not going to be something that closes quickly but something that will have a lot of people watching.

i want to get back to the other breaking news story. a crippling winter storm in the northeast. it's now in the northeast. it started in the southeast, but it's coming to where i'm sitting tonight in new york. we've seen pictures from raleigh, north carolina. hundreds of cars at a standstill. these are the images you saw tonight. the north carolina governor is joining me now on the phone. we're looking at these images of the interstate. we looked at these in atlanta a couple of weeks ago and people were stranded, the situation was horrific. what is the situation right now in north carolina, do you still have people stranded or confident everybody is home? >> well, thank you very much first of all. i'm proud of our team and so far the picture that is on your screen our highways no longer look like that. it's been a very tough day in five different metropolitan areas across the state, from the mountains to the piedmont to the coast, charlotte, greensboro, down to wilmington, even

nagshead was hit with a terrible ice and snowstorm. but the raleigh-durham area got hit real hard in the afternoon, and we had some four-to-five-hour backups. we're double-checking any abandoned cars to make sure people aren't still left out on the highways and we just want to make sure there's no further loss of life. we've lost two people across the state in the past 24 hours in accidents and right now the concern is the safety because of potential more outages of power. >> i want to ask you about the power outages. the statistic we shared earlier is it only takes a quarter inch of ice to bring down power lines. you have parts of your state that are significantly worse than that. i don't know the exact numbers. i know it's well over 100,000 people could be without power in this kind of weather. are you worried, are you

confident you can get power back to these people? what about these people who don't have power at home? >> we have several hundred thousand people without power. the main challenge for us, very similar to the roads, it's over such a large area of our state, from the mountains all the way to the coast, which by car is about ten hours driving. so our utilities are stretched thin, as is our d.o.t. this is the second storm in two weeks that's covered our entire state, which is very rare. usually these storms cover the piedmont in the west or the east. it's a huge storm, and we're making sure that everyone takes care of their neighbors and we'll hopefully get the power restored as quick as possible. the major concern is more power outages during the next 10 to 15 hours, as even more snow and isles is going to be coming over the night and into the day tomorrow. >> governor, thank you very

much. those images of seeing the snow on the fallen trees brings it home to people. thanks again. >> thank you. here in new york, this snow is expected to start falling any moment. we've still got some snow left from a couple days ago, but the real question is how much will fall in the northeast. this is a live picture right now, right outside our studios here in new york. the number could be up to 10 inches. but 16 in surrounding areas. maria, it seems like there's been an unusual amount of snow this year is. that just the feeling or is that reality? >> reporter: i think that's just the feeling. this winter has yet to compare to some of the snowiest winters we have had in history here in new york city. but i can tell you, erin, this is definitely beginning to test the very little patience that new yorkers have left.

we have been talking to people throughout the day, and like so many across the country, they are done, completely fed up with this winter. meanwhile, the city says it's ready to hand this will new round of storms and the mayor announced he's boosted the city's snow removal budget by $35 million. this is why. let's take a look. it started with a whils per of snowflakes in december, and then it was ready, set, snow. snowed that week and the week after that. five inches on december 15th. a white christmas, and a wintery new year. an army of plows cleared the way, but snow from parts out west stopped all the planes. it snoed every other day in the beginning of january. that is when the historic polar vortex dragged temperatures down 50 degrees in a single day. 13 inches of snow on january 7.

11 more on the 21st. >> i'm so ready for spring to come and summer and everything else. >> reporter: down south, the snow was traumatizing, paraly paralyzi paralyzing, dangerous and dramatic. so as another storm plowed north, officials prepared for the worst. >> be smart. realize these are dangerous conditions, and realize that as you put yourself in jeopardy, you're putting other people in jeopardy also. >> reporter: in new york, the mayor threw some money and salt at the problem. >> we looked carefully at the cost so far. what we thought would be needed for the rest of the winter and came one that $35 million number. >> reporter: ready, set, snow, here we go again. >> i've got to tell you it's been very, very cold and one of the worst winters i've seen in a long time. not to mention we're getting snow tomorrow. i used to have soft hands. they're not soft anymore. >> reporter: and we may want to forget that this winter ever

existed, but nonetheless, people here are preparing for the storm. on a personal note, it's been very difficult. a lot of places are running out of salt. i live in northern new jersey and just driving around, trying to find a place to buy bags of salt for my house and could not find any. i had to order it from amazon and have it delivering. erin? >> there you go, an endorsement for amazon. thank you very much, maria. still to come, rand paul suing president obama on your behalf he says. he's outfront tonight to explain why. paula deen is planning a comeback and someone is giving her $75 million. sit enough? eight corvettes swallowed by a sinkhole. the entire thing caught on camera. all that ahead. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] she won't remember this,

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welcome back to the second half of "outfront." a tennessee town terrified to check the mail after a retired lawyer opened a package and it exploded, killing him. those who knew the 74-year-old and his wife, who was seriously injured in the blast, say they have no idea why the couple would have been targeted. he specialized in bankruptcy and

living trust. a freak of nature. a 40-foot sinkhole opened up in kentucky today and this one was caught on camera. look at this. this is in the middle of the national corvette museum. all of a sudden the floor opens up. eight corvettes were damaged after falling into the sink hole, 30 feet deep. officials are still trying to figure out how much damage was caused. one of the cars was a 1992 model, the 1 millionth corvette made. rand paul versus barack obama. not a political race, but the name of a lawsuit filed against the president of the united states and other national security officials. senator paul, in a lawsuit, says

he's trying to stop the national security agency's gathering of telephone data. he's not the first to file suit against a sitting president. and not the first to sue over this surveillance program. but he is the most recognizable to do so. and in a moment we'll talk directly to the senator about his suit. but first, dana bash has more on the senator himself. >> reporter: rand paul likes to describe attending an early tea party meeting and deciding to run for senate. i got started running as part of the tea party movement in 2010 because i was unhappy with republicans. >> reporter: the ophthalmologist was an outsider, exactly what the times required when paul rode the tea party wave into the senate in 2010. >> we've come to take our government back. >> reporter: but he was no stranger to politics. >> please welcome my father, ron paul. >> reporter: the son of an original outsider, ron paul, who shook things up on the presidential campaign trail. in many ways, rand paul is the

ideological heir apparent to the anti-interventional libertarian movement his father spent decades building. he was in the senate just a few months when he sought us out to rail against his own party leaders for not allowing changes he wanted to the patriot act. >> as you know, this is unusual around here for a republican freshman senator to come on and really lash out at his own leadership. why are you doing that? >> i'm disappointed. i'm disappointed they don't want to allow debate. >> reporter: last year he waged a senate filibuster against the use of drones. >> i will speak until i can no longer speak. >> reporter: he went 13 hours surprising leaders in both parties. >> did they know you were going to do this? >> no. in fact, we didn't know we were going to do it that day. >> reporter: a precursor over his lawsuit against president obama over nsa spying. paul doesn't try to hide his presidential ambition. this is classic. >> i've been president at the time and i found that you did

not read the cables from benghazi, you did not read the cables from professor stevens, i would have relieved you from your post. >> reporter: but he's also gotten into trouble that can haunt him. plajizing more than once. >> i never intentionally presented anyone's ideas as my own or tried to pass off anything. >> reporter: still, he has the attention of conservative activists. >> he's establishing a persona that we haven't seen very much in the republican party stand up to the obama administration and actually prevail. >> dana bash, cnn, washington. the republican senator rand paul of kentucky joins me now. senator, the obama administration responded to your lawsuit today. they said they are confident the program is legal and there are 15 previous judges found it to be legal. why is your lawsuit going to be different? >> the interesting thing is the 15 judges found it in secret to be legal with only the government's argument being presented. many people who follow jurisprudence and legal history

will tell you that the truth is achieved by having a lawyer on both sides in an open court so we are going to try to have a decision whether the fourth amendment applies to our phone records in an open court, the supreme court. i'll have the former attorney general of virginia defending me. in most of the decisions, there was no defense and there was no attorney. >> obviously you're talking about ken cuccinelli of virginia. let me ask you this, senator. i'm looking at the lawsuit now. i was hesitant to bring this up. but i feel like i have to. the district of columbia is misspelled. there is no flrvegs there. it's a spelling typo but, still, it is right at the top. i read it further and this caught my attention when you're talking about you're standing personally to bring this case. it says defendants have without legitimate basis collective, stored, retained, periodically searched telephone meta data he

made or received since may 2006 and the defendants continue to do so. so let me ask you about that. this is crucial. you have to prove that to bring this case. the nsa collects 20% of the american phone calls. do you have the proof that all of your calls, 100% of yours, are in that piece of the pie? >> the question of standing is a complicated legal question. the attorneys will have to sort that out. there have been a report in the "wall street journal" saying that all of verizon's calls were collected, all of at&t's calls were collected. the actual decision on legal standing, i'm just not someone who will be able to make that determination. there are been several cases that have gotten into the court and received for standing. our lawyers don't believe that standing will be a difficult argument. >> so let me ask you this, the cnn senior legal analysis jeffrey toobin talked about that

issue and the issue of the class itself that you're claiming. here's how he phrased it. senator paul does not have a legal standing which the courts require and no court will accept a class action with millions of plaintiffs. i know you dispute the issue on standing. what about the issue of class? i'm just looking out, there i did some quick work out there. walmart, the biggest employee discrimination case in america with 1. 5 million plaintiffs. but you're looking at, according to this page 8, 300 million people. >> see, here's the whole point and what we're trying to bring to the american people is that this warrant, a single warrant is being applied to everybody who has a cell phone and really everybody that has a land line too. everybody has a phone connection, they're saying a single warrant can apply to everyone. that sounds like a general warrant. the fourth amendment says that the warrant should be specific to the individual.

but you're telling me a single warrant can apply to everybody with at&t. i think we will be heard, and we have a very strong argument. things are complicated with regard to how big a class is. but we didn't define the class. this is defined by the arrogance of government that has decided that the fourth amendment really allows a warrant to be written for everybody's phone records. it shows the enormity and the egregiousness of the government's instrugs. >> 2016, the democratic front runner is hillary clinton. you've talked about that affair with monica lewinsky, calling bill clinton a sexual predator. yesterday, karl rove said, frankly rand paul spending a lot of time talking about the mistakes of bill clinton doesn't look like a big agenda for the

future of the country. i'm not certain beating up on bill clinton and monica lewinsky is a particularly good thing to strengthen your skills. what do you say to karl rove? >> what's interesting about this is people have -- some people say what a great strategy, he deserves it. other people say why are you beating this dead horse that's 20 years old? nobody realizes the situation of this. people keep asking me this question, so i keep answering the question. i think the hypocrisy should be pointed out and when people claim to say they're for women's rights and yet they seem to be a purveyor of some sort of trogladite message to women, it should be pointed out. but y'all keep asking me questions. when you quit asking me questions, i'll quit bringing

the clintons up. >> when that came up with c-span, you brought it up. i was looking on the tape, because we had a conversation, the context of the whole war on women. it turned out it was off camera, but you brought this up to me a few months ago. this is something you've been thig about, right? let's just be honest. >> purely and simply, when david gregory asked me that question on the sunday morning program, i had no idea what he was going to ask me. he knew what he was going to ask me, but it wasn't like we got together and said let's go after the hypocrisy of bill clinton. but he is a politician, a big fund raiser of the democrats. he's in my state this week raising money for the democrats. so if you're going to take his money, you ought to explain whether you agree with his treatment of women in the workplace. there were many feminists that think he got a walk on something

like safety of women in the workplace. if you will want to talk about it, i've got time and i'll talk about it. >> our thanks to rand paul. outfront next, paula deen raises tens of millions of dollars in comeback money. so is america ready for her return? a westminister winner has been crowned. cute or? i don't know. we're going to show you dog best in show. that's coming up.

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every night we take a look outside the day's top stories. tonight, hot girls in ba bikin bikinis. this year, "sports illustrated" celebrated their 50 anniversary and 2014's model is drop dead

gorgeous. by that we mean she doesn't have a pulse. barbie is on the cover. a first for this wisconsin girl. the cover line, the doll that started it all. as you can imagine, there's outrage. one mommy blogged this headline, the issue will feature barbie. so your daughter can feel bad, too. sure, she has long weighs and weighs 7 1/4 ounces. hey, blogger, if barbie makes your daughter feel bad, how about these covergirls? with any imperfections cured with air brush. they have her sideways because she would look curveless straight on. and gosh, she probably has a roll so couldn't wear a one-piece. she may have started it all, but

is barbie more real than real-life modern models. paula deen is ready to get back in the kitchen. the celebrity chef is teaming up with a private investor to grow her business. a reported $17 million one that took a major hit last year after she admitted to using the "n" word. mike paul, a reputation management consultant and mel robbins, a talk show host. everybody loves a comeback story in the united states, and this is somebody that was beloved. but she used the "n" word. people were angry about it. can she come back? >> she can come back and she's going to have some loyal customers who will stick with her through thick and thin. but, and a big but, when you use the "n" word, you're going to be thrown into a racial controversy that is not going to go away that quickly. people will be utilizng that not from a competitive

advantage, it's going to be those who have an ax to grind on the issue and using her to utilize the "n" word as a civil rights issue, for discrimination. there are civil rights groups that might jump in, and all of those who have never liked her will use that as an excuse to pound her. >> her comeback, and somebody is putting $75 million behind this. she was dropped by qvc among others. this was a serious, serious running for the hills. so if this is going to work, companies like that have to come back and endorse her and given what he just said, is there any way that's going to happen? >> absolutely. i think it's already happening. you've got to understand that even in the wake of the controversy, erin, her book sales soared. she's had standing ovations

everywhere she goes. she sold out two cruises and has 1.2 million loyal twitter problems. if she gets back to cooking, she'll be just fine. i think everybody needs to remember that she was taken to task for something she staid two decades ago. if you turn on the radio today and listen to holy grail, you'll hear jay zee say the same word nine times. >> jay zee happens to be black. >> the genesis of this happens -- >> really? it's not just from issues that were two decades ago. if you look through the entire case, and yes, it got thrown out -- >> mike, the discrimination claims were dismissed. >> i'm talking about the court of public opinion now. we're talking and branding and reputation, and one of the biggest things that was said in that case is there were employees that were there

working for paula deen who had to tolerate the jokes and the nonsense around the "n" word in a culture that was uncomfortable. that is still something that could be going on today. and that's something that is a fair question to be asked of her today, as well. >> mel, it's interesting -- >> and it might just be, you're right, mike. but when you take the example of somebody like michael vick, don imus, tiger woods, we can go on and on and on of people that have royally screwed up and america and sponsors have come back to the table. >> the bottom line is, they didn't say the "n" word. yes, you can talk about michael vick and tiger woods -- >> don imus, racial issue. don imus, racial issue. >> yes, don imus isn't paula deen and we'll see how he handles it. she is still running for the hills. >> what is your analysis --

>> i don't think she's running for the hills at all. >> don imus said the words nappy headed hoes, she used the "n" word. are those equal things? >> it's not a matter of whether they're equal things, it's a matter of how you deal with it. when someone's main message afterwards is, i is who i is, don imus didn't do that. when he's asked about it, he continues to apologize. paula deen is not coming to new york to promote this. she's not on your show talking about this. i think there are big issues because she's not comfortable in the issue. >> mel, maybe the thing is, she doesn't need those people. she's comfortable with the base that she has, and that base doesn't care about this. >> i think mike's analysis is exactly right in terms of the

apology. the first one was terrible, the second was not that great, the third one was way better and she seemed very sincere and very sorry. i think you're right, she has a very strong customer base and fan base. that's why somebody is putting $75 million in to her. >> when you have a situation like this, the rule is, you don't just give an apology once, you have to be comfortable to deal with it daily that's the issue. >> you have to eat humble pie day in and day out. thanks to both of you. we want you feedback on this. $75 million, is that a smart bet? up next, the westminster dog show. there's the winner, and we have more. work. and his new boss told him two things -- cook what you love, and save your money. joe doesn't know it yet, but he'll work his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and game from the great northwest. he'll start investing early, he'll find some good people to help guide him, and he'll set money aside from his first day of work

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the westminster dog show came to an end last night and the best in show was crowned. here's the entire two-day competition in case you missed it. >> the annual event's long history dates back to the late 1800s. with each passing year, its legacy grows. growing each more venerable, esteemed, admired, loved. tonight, for the 138th time, a champion will be named best in show. and there you see before you the long-time announcer here at

westminster, who introduced close to 100 dogs. >> wirehaired pointer, irish setter. black cocker spaniel. party color cocker spaniel. masstiff. introducing the seven group winners competing for best in show. >> such a beautiful, outstanding lineup. >> wire fox terrier. [ applause ] >> he's so ugly he's cute. sky is going on a media blitz, making an appearance at the empire state building. she's going to be one spoiled pooch, which brings us to

tonight's number, $55.5 billion. according to the american pets product association, that's how much americans spent on their pets last year, in one year. yeah, that number is mostly about dogs. and it includes everything from all those -- what is that? see, that is abuse. clothing, yes, even beer. you can go to a dog barkery -- i mean bakery. how much money is that in last year americans spent only $10 billion on movies. they spent five times more on their pets. wow. thanks for joining us. piers morgan is next.

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this is "piers morgan live." welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. it isn't often that a star steps down at the very top of his game, whether broadcasting, sports or politics. tonight i'll talk to a man who did just that. arsenio hall. now he's back. i'll get his take on jay leno, jimmy fallon and the late night wars. also michael sam revealing that he is gay and a top nfl prospect and surrounding comments on race from a supreme court justice. steve mcqueen and the it girl of this oscar season. >> a star is born. i mean, forgive me. >> i'm sure you don't mind being called a star, do you? >> no. a star is born.