online terroristic threats, a growing number of threats against the nypd. >> it's a great loss. >> these are heroes and it hurts. the terrorists appointed governor of mosul was killed in an air strike. at the same time isis has a valuable bargaining chip. >> the u.s. would support any effort to recover the pilot. "the interview" has finally made its debut. >> i think i got what i paid for. >> if it wasn't for theaters like this and for people like you guys this literally would not be happening right now. good morning, everyone welcome to news room it is

friday december 26th 6:00 in the east i'm christine romans along with poppy harlow and pamela brown. we're so glad you're with us this morning. seven people hauled off in happened cuffs for allegedly making threats against new york city police officers in the days following the execution-style murders of two officers. >> a public wake for one of the officers rafael ramos taking place today ahead of his funeral, which is tomorrow. people across this nation are coming to pay respects to both of the slain officers from the nypd. as a memorial to the pair grows in brooklyn. let's get to miguel marquez, live at the church in officer ramos ramos' home borough of queens. >> this kicks off at a wrenching time for nypd and the city. the wake from 2-9 p.m. it will be a tough wake for these folks, they have to get through two funerals. all of this as the nypd remains

on alert against other attacks. nypd in mourning and on heightened alert. >> any statement suggesting violence toward police need to be reported to the police so we can stop future tragedies. >> seven people arrested in connection with making threats against nypd. three arrested for posting threats on social media. two for making false 911 calls. two others arrested one for making threats against 104th precinct in queens. the other against the 84th precinct in brooklyn where the two assassinated officers worked. officer rafael ramos' family came to the 84th precinct wednesday, his eldest son justin calling his father a hero. said i'm going to miss his loving presence and i can't begin to fathom what life is going to be like without him. the memorial to the two officers growing in proportion to the sorrow felt. citywide. police have come sometimes

alone, others in groups. all with a show of respect, their grief unmistakeableunmistakable. >> it's sad it's hurting me. even though i'm not a police officer, but it just it really got to me. to watch this on tv with my family. >> like nypd funerals before an enormous display of respect and grief will blanket the glendale section of queens as officers from across the country remember one of their own. >> now bow our heads in memory of officer ramos and officer liu. >> wenjian liu's funeral is still being planned as the city and country grieve. jetblue airlines is working to fly family members from china and has offered to fly two officers from any law enforcement agency along its route to the funerals. >> jetblue says it will fly some 600 people from different departments from around the country here. thousands of dollars has been raced for both families even

the new york mets has invited the ramos family to a spring training camp. none of it compares to what's going to happen in queens tomorrow for this funeral. this area of queens will be transformed for the funeral for officer ramos and later for officer liu. christine in. >> miguel lovely gestures but nothing brings those two police officers back and their families have a very big hole to grapple with i want to dig deeper on the threats against police with tom fuentes, cnn's law enforcement analyst and former fbi assistant director and vincent hill a former police officer and private investigator. nice to see both of you. two more people have been charged with threatening new york police department officers including one who called in the very same precinct where the two officers were killed. how is law enforcement dealing with these threats? there's going to be a lot of boastful bad behavior and then there are real threats against police officers. >> good morning christine. well the problem is how do they distinguish. when they get word from either a

citizen who is reading postings or another measure, you know they have to follow up. they have to look at it. because you can't take it as idle. the instagram that was put out by brinsley the other day last week turns out to be true. he shoots and kills two police officers. so they have to treat anything like it's another person intending to kill police officers. >> tom, nypd says there have been 40 threats to that precinct since the two officers were killed. they deemed about half of them not to be credible. they're investigating the other half. 40 actual threats, half of them under investigation -- do you recall a time when the anti-police sentiment was so high? >> no i know back in the '70s when i was on the street you know it was a time of extreme disrespect and hatred almost for police officers. and the military at the height of the vietnam protests. but i don't recall it being so targeted and so pointed as now,

addressing threats against nypd officers. you know police officers face these threats every day of the week and in fact a couple of days after ramos and liu were killed we have an officer in tarpon springs, florida, shot and killed in the line of duty who ironically had been a new york city police officer for more than five years. so these shootings and killings of police go on. the shootings and killings of people who assault the police or point guns at the police, that's going to go on. and i think it's going to be a difficult time to turn this around. >> so vincent, let's talk about how you turn it around. you're going to see 25,000 people at the funeral today. you're going to see joe biden, jetblue, making the gesture to support police in getting police here. how do you take this moment and change the conversation from anti-police to healing between police and the communities? >> well i think one thing we have to do is we have to remember what caused these deaths. i mean if you look at the

shooting in berkeley missouri you look at michael brown, you look at eric garner they were doing something that caused the police to be there. and the more we ignore that the longer this problem will go on. >> you say protesters are ignoring that. they're ignoring everything that led up to a moment when the gun was discharged. you pulled your weapon before. >> correct. >> the moment that you pulled your weapon out, are you thinking about potential proportionality of your response? what are you thinking about? >> i don't see color i don't see size i don't see anything. if there's a threat my job is to take care of the threat. >> when you look at the berkeley missouri shooting two miles from ferguson one thing that's so different about that case is you have a police officer responding a police officer coming to a place where a gun they say was drawn on the officer. but then the response of the crowd, throwing fireworks into the crowd, into the gas station -- there is something different among these protesters and people in these communities.

>> well again, it goes back to what i said. we can't ignore what happened. he pulled a gun on an officer. so we can say it's racial all we want. but at the end of the day he did something that caused that officer to use deadly force. >> tom, i want to ask you something about the difference in that berkeley missouri case. police very quickly released surveillance video from three different sources, three different angles a great deal of transparency, within hours of the police-involved shooting. should that serve as a model as we go forward here. if there can be more information right away? could that be an important way to change how we respond to these things? >> well you would think it would have been important enough to not have the protests and not have what happened after that shooting. you have what appears to be a completely justified shooting. you have the mayor of the city who is black, come out on the scene, and then quickly announce to the public his belief and his findings that the officer was

justified in using the force he used. and in spite of all that, and it's against an individual who is not a kid with a toy or something, he was with a loaded nine-millimeter pistol. and at the ripe old age of 18 had already previous arrests for armed robbery, weapons charges, other thefts so you're talking about a situation, there will never be a time i don't care if one million people protest, there will never be a time hopefully in this country, that someone can point a gun at a police officer and expect a different outcome. >> do you expect that there will be a chilling effect in how police respond to crime in their communities? could it be that they are going to be less likely to go to some neighborhoods or rest likely to try to do their job? >> you look at nypd these are officers that ran into the world trade center. but now you have a situation where those that are appointed to protect us are afraid for their safety then what?

then you have mass chaos on the street because they're not going to go into these calls. they're not going to go and risk their life. >> do you think, tom, chilling effect in how police officers do their job? are they going to be in the moment of trying to decide pulling their weapon are they going to be thinking about what it's going to look like in the papers? >> i don't think so. they may say that and voice that concern. but i have a feeling that you know doing the right thing and their sense of duty will kick in the training the discipline the years of being a good law enforcement officer will kick in for good law enforcement officers and they'll do what they're going to do. >> i think you're going to see a lot of new kinds of training. i think you're going to see a lot of new kinds of training at police academies across the country. because this is part of the company and part of the relationship between law enforcement and the communities no question. tom fuentes, thank you, vincent hill thank you for coming in. poppy? >> an important conversation. let's turn to the fight against isis in iraq. a christmas-day coalition air

strike killed the isis-appointed governor of mosul. he had actually only been in office there for 25 days. he took office after his predecessor was killed by a coalition air strike. this as the family of a jordanian pilot taken captive by isis when his plane goes down, pleads for his safe return. the u.s. disputes claims by isis that it shot that plane down. barbara starr from the pentagon joins us with the latest. >> the jordanian parliament warning of grave consequences if this pilot is not returned. if his safety is not insured by isis. jordan the u.s. and the coalition all on the same page on this. they want isis to insure the safety of this young jordanian pilot. what brought him down oversyria, though remains the big question. the coalition very adamantly saying he was not shot down by an isis heat-seeking missile. isis contends they shot the plane down. the coalition not saying what

brought the plane down. and that's becoming a bit of a mystery now. what brought this plane down? was it mechanical trouble? was there some other issue? the pilot ejected very quickly. there were airborne rescue forces in the region. they saw him go down. but they couldn't get to him in time. because isis picked him up so quickly. once he ejected and landed on the ground. we have two serious issues here. the safety of the pilot. getting him back to jordan. how is that going to happen? no one really has a public solution if you will yet. no word on whether there's going to be a rescue mission that would be highly classified of course. and what brought the plane down? is there a mechanical problem? is there some problem with the f-16? that is a workhorse for a number of air forces around the world. a lot of people want to know what brought that plane down. >> it's interesting barbara, because we heard jordan come out this morning and say yes, this was not shot down by isis and we had the u.s. yesterday saying

our intelligence tells us this was definitely not shot down. do we have any indication of why they are so sure? >> well you know, no is the answer but there's a couple of reasonable things we can look at. did the pilot perhaps, we don't know make a mayday call back to the command center? did he say, i'm, i'm having engine trouble? i'm having mechanical trouble? do they have some word from the pilot before he went down? they track all of these aircraft in command centers, did they see some technical problem it? was there a wing man flying nearby? another aircraft close enough nearby to perhaps see something? all of these are the questions to which right now we have no answers. >> and we will likely hopefully get more answers in the coming days and hopefully see the pilot released safely. barbara starr at the pentagon live thank you very much. let's get to pamela brown for other top stories. >> happy holidays 0 to you guys. >> this is like the perfect group of people i want to be sitting with on the day after

christmas. >> on a friday morning. >> let's take a look at your headlines on this friday. president obama spending christmas night paying tribute to the u.s. military. he visited a marine corps base in hawaii to mark the end of the war in afghanistan and thank the soldiers for their sacrifices. the vast majority of u.s. troops will be out of afghanistan by the end of the week. 13 years and $1 trillion after the conflict began. and online gaming networks playstation and xbox live are still offline this morning. the networks were targeted in the hack attack on christmas, a group called the lizard squad took credit for the takedown. both playstation and xbox are run by companies with the hand in streaming the comedy flick, "the interview." get this two people who grabbed cash off the street in hong kong after it fell out of a security van are facing charges this morning. look at this video right here. as you see, it's a frenzied scene on christmas eve, a money transport spilled $2 million

worth of bank notes onto the street. people scrambling to pick up the cash. police had warned that anyone who followed that rule finder's keepers rule could face charges if they didn't return the money. 29 people who voluntarily returned cash will likely not face charges. all right. here's a question -- how many of you plan to watch what you eat this holiday season? well as it turns out, not tomorrow of you. this is according to a new cnn/orc poll. when asked about your approach to food this time of year 62% of you said you planned to indulge and eat whatever you want. that's a big 15-point jump from eight years ago when 47% ago chose the eat until you drop approach. and nearly 6 in 10 of you say you have no plans to go on a diet after the holidays. >> they're all liars. >> they say what they're going to do and you do it, anyway. i watch what i eat very carefully as i eat it. i watch what i eat, i eat whatever i want. it's the holidays don't worry about it.

that's what it's for. >> not to say you're going to go on a diet. i feel like when you say it around the holidays it never happens. >> i think your birthday for pnl finance and weight loss your birthday is the time, start fresh. >> it's too late for this year too much pressure. >> now to meteorologist jennifer gray keeping track of the latest forecast for us good morning. >> we are watching our next storm system brew in the west. in fact dumping quite a bit of snow in the rockies. it was a fantastic day in the east yesterday. that drier air is pushing offshore. we are going to see moisture return just in time for the weekend. so a lot of snow in the rockies, like we mentioned, we have the winter weather advisories winter storm warnings in effect and this is your snowfall totals through saturday could see an additional two to four inches right around north platte, des moines sioux falls, minneapolis could pick up an additional three to five inches and then that is going to be pushing to the east.

so as it does so we'll pick up a lot of moisture from the gulf of mexico bring in some rain for the weekend, for the south. that will push into the northeast. and then another round by the end of the weekend. so a couple of waves of rain for the south and the east as we go through the next few days. one to three inches of rain from south louisiana through portions of alabama. it doesn't look like we're going to see quite as much rain in the northeast, could pick up about an inch in some areas less than that. if you are planning to hit the malls, maybe do some returns, redeem those gift cards, we are going to see a nice forecast for today and tomorrow in new york city. the clouds and rain do return on sunday high temperatures around 51. in chicago, temperatures will be dropping 33 degrees by sunday. so get out today or tomorrow. ladies? >> i'm just excited there's snow in minnesota. my niece and nephew are flying there this morning and i promised them snow. >> so aunt poppy's christmas gift just came true thanks to mother nature thanks jennifer.

you know we've all been talking about this. and pretty much only this for a number of days. did you see it? sold-out crowds went to watch "the interview" in select theaters across the country. others watched it online. did people like it? here's a big question -- has sony stumbled into a new era when it comes to releasing these films? plus the top ten political stories of 2014. republicans seizing control of the senate. hillary clinton's potential presidential run. are we still saying "potential"? what do you think topped the list? we'll have a rundown. ♪ ♪ ♪ wellllll... ♪ ♪ earlyfit ♪ ♪ latefit ♪ ♪ risefit ♪ ♪ fallfit ♪ ♪ ballfit ♪ ♪ wallfit ♪ ♪ pingfit ♪ ♪ pongfit ♪ ♪ pingfit ♪ ♪ pongfit ♪ ♪ rowfit ♪ ♪ throwfit ♪ ♪ slowfit ♪ ♪ olliefit ♪ ♪ oopsfit ♪ ♪ otisfit ♪ ♪ thiswayfit ♪ ♪ thatwayfit ♪ ♪ daddyfit ♪ ♪ pappyfit ♪ ♪ datefit ♪ ♪ weightfit ♪ ♪ goalfit ♪ ♪ gooooooalfit ♪ ♪ stepfit ♪ ♪ stairfit ♪

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. it might not be an oscar contender, but "the interview" is all the buzz for the coming holiday weekend. it debuted at over 300 theaters across the country. wm saying they're happy to support the film as part of their quote patriotic duty after the massive sony hack. just as the film hit theaters,

another issue for two companies streaming it online. sony's playstation and microsoft's xbox live both apparently targeted by another hacker group last night. what do we make of it? let's bring in cnn media correspondent brian stelter and contributor editor to atlantic media thank you for being here. brian has been nonstop on this story. it's a huge story. let's talk first, you've seen "the interview." a, what do you think? and b, how is it being received? >> i thought it was good for what it was, a raunchy comedy perfect for family viewing, as long as kids are above a certain

the russian foreign ministry. this coming from the foreign ministry spokesman, he said the concept of the movie is so aggressive and scandalous, that the reaction of the north korean side and not just it is quite understandable. what's your reaction? and do you think also the u.s. is going to have to explain their reasoning, show concrete evidence that north korea is behind the hack? because because. >> russia is saying where's the evidence? >> russia han trying to position itself as the leader of an anti-american access. its been wooing china in that regards. we have these very heavy sanctions on russia now that are hurting the economy a lot. i don't think that domestically the administration is under very much pressure to provide more evidence. i do suspect that the next time next time this kind of thing comes along. that the administration will be more proactive about suggesting to film makers that maybe they not make another movie that shows the assassination of a

sitting head of state. i don't imagine that's going to happen any time soon. but i think on the other hand i think we've shown that we as a culture still have a very very strong instinctive tendency to believe that whatever the artistic merit of a movie, that it shouldn't be able to be shut down because of foreign pressure. >> you bring up an important point i want to you weigh in brian. when the story broke, i asked you, is this censorship. is this going to mean that will dictate what we produce in this country. do you think on some level it is? >> i think there are still legitimate worries about that. the head of one of the biggest media companies in the country other than sony said i understand the movie, i get it i get the plot. why not just call it a fictional dictator. now that the movie is out, people can see it it's more comfortable to say that and bring it up not naming it for an actual living human being. that's not necessarily self-censorship, it might just be common sense to avoid this mess including potentially hundreds of millions of dollars from the actual cyberattack.

>> hackers are promising a christmas day surprise. >> nothing, nothing. but i don't think sony is out of the woods yet and the ceo has acknowledged as much. there will be more trouble down the road. maybe it involves more leaks maybe not. >> i'm going to watch "the interview" this weekend. >> have a glass of wine or something, the perfect kind of movie. >> when the kids are asleep. >> thank you, guys appreciate it. a turbulent year on capitol hill the senate changing hands, the president side-stepping congress on immigration reform and cuba which political story finished number one on our top ten list? jake tapper breaking it down. and how many zoo keepers does it take to get an adorable baby panda bear out of a tree? this is not a joke. how this panda predicament at the national zoo ended. that's ahead.

welcome back to news room let's get to pamela brown for some of the day's top stories. >> happy friday to you guys. it's seven people have been arrested accused of making threats against the nypd. two of the suspects are accused of making threats to the precinct where the two officers killed last week were stationed. and the wake for officer rafael ramos public wake will be held today. he'll be laid to rest tomorrow. meantime the city's mayor is asking people to be on heightened alert to stop future cop killings. and the united states and jordan say the evidence is clear that isis did not shoot down the coalition plane in northern syria. the pilot from jordan has been taken hostage by the extremists. the jordanian government insists he crashed. meanwhile, in iraq the ice

ice-appointed governor of mosul has been killed by a u.s.-led air strike. since august the u.s. has conducted more than 1300 airstrikes in iraq and syria, with the cost now topping $1 billion. george h.w. bush remains hospitalized this morning. the former president was taken to houston methodist hospital tuesday, suffering shortness of breath. a spokesperson said thursday the 90-year-old had another terrific day and is in great spirits. earlier statements have said the elder bush's prognosis is very positive. and that doctors are keeping him hospitalized only as a precaution. reunited and it feels so good. this video has to make you smile. if it doesn't, i don't know something's wrong with you. the national zoo's panda cup right here is back with her mom. after spending more than 24 hours in a tree as we see, little one climbed up there after she panicked when she hit a hot wire in her yard. designed to show animals their

boundaries the panda bear who just turned one in august is said to be perfectly fine. >> like all small children when testing her boundaries, she freaked out and didn't do what anybody thought she would. lebron james took his talents back to south beach for his first visit since leaving the heat. brian mcfayden has more. >> after winning two titles in four years, lebron james was greeted with cheers and standing ovation by the miami crowd. after lebron said he had buffering in his return and he got to reunite with his good friend dwyane wade. lebron scored 30 points dished out eight assists, it wouldn't be enough on this very emotional night, heat win 101-91. john wall and quincy acy won't be exchanging christmas cards any time soon.

they exchanged pushes on the knicks game at christmas. walt took exception to a hard foul that pushed him to the ground. cooler heads prevailed by acy was ejected from the game. the wizards won 102-91. if you ever wondered who would win between a christmas tree and shaquille o'neal? that wait is over. during halftime of the warriors/trippers game. kenny smith and shaq raced from the deck and kenny gave shaq a little nudge and the shaq went right into the tree. that's got to hurt, poor tree. >> those reflexes he wouldn't get very far on the basketball court with those sort of reflexes. >> i just keep thinking about the person who spent hours and hours making that tree and so beautiful all to see it laid out. >> shaking their head for sure. thank you, brian. well over the last 12 months we've witnessed a political

upset for the ages -- a series of secret service screw-ups, a congress that can't get much of anything done. we're counting down the top ten political stories of 2014. what a year it has been. >> now that the holiday shopping season is winding down. time to start counting up the receipts. making some returns. how did retailers do and how strong is the american economy? we're going to have a look. yeah, i'm married. does it matter? you'd do that for me? really? yeah, i'd like that. who are you talking to? uh, it's jake from state farm. sounds like a really good deal. jake from state farm at three in the morning. who is this? it's jake from state farm. what are you wearing jake from state farm? [ jake ] uh... khakis. she sounds hideous. well she's a guy, so... [ male announcer ] another reason more people stay with state farm. get to a better state. ♪ ♪

the holiday season is here, which means it's time for the volkswagen sign-then-drive event. for practically just your signature, you could drive home for the holidays in a german-engineered volkswagen. like the sporty, advanced new jetta... and the 2015 motor trend car of the year all-new golf. if you're wishing for a new volkswagen this season... just about all you need is a finely tuned... pen. hurry in to the sign then drive event and get a five-hundred dollar new year's bonus on select new volkswagen models. offer ends january 2nd.

well from isis to the republican wave in the mid terms to the battle over police violence it has been an intense and very busy year in politics here's a look back at the biggest political stories of 2014 with the host of cnn's "the lead" jake tapper. >> politics grabbed big headlines in 2014. with criticism and praise for the president's foreign policy. some stunning congressional dysfunction and a crushing defeat for democrats in the mid-term elections.

here are our top ten political stories. number ten, 2014 offered a preview of what the 2016 presidential campaign might look and sound like as hillary clinton hit the road to promote her latest book. the media blitz and bok tour looked a lot like a presidential candidate gearing you. number nine republican incumbents kept feeling the heat from the tea party which showed it isn't going anywhere. >> the conservative resurgence for this country starts here in mississippi. >> a tea party campaign by chris mcdaniel nearly cost a long-time senator from mississippi his seat. primary runoff created one of the strangest political coalitions of the year. republican cochran courting black democrats in the magnolia state to bail him out in the runoff. cochran survived but others weren't so lucky. the number two republican in the house did not even make it to election day, house majority leader eric cantor lost his

primary to this guy -- economics professor david brat in what may be the political upset of the decade. >> obviously we came up short. number eight, the u.s. does not negotiate with terrorists but we will do a prisoner swap. sergeant bo bergdahl the only u.s. priver of war in afghanistan or iraq was brought home after the u.s. traded five taliban fighters from guantanamo bay for his release. the celebration had one huge footnote not everyone was thrilled with the exchange rate. >> for the the president to decide that these five hardest of the hard-core, in return for sergeant bergdahl i think was wrong. >> the administration broke the law by not giving congress 30 days' notice. number seven, a fence jumper who sprinted across the white house lawn and let himself into the front door exposed major security breaches with the secret service. >> don't let somebody get close to the president. don't let somebody get close to his family. >> i take full responsibility.

>> the security gaps led julia pearson, the first me mail director of the secret service, appointed after a prostitution scandal, to step down. number six, accusations that u.s. veterans died while waiting for treatment at veterans administration hospitals was a national embarrassment. a months-long cnn investigation showed altered death certificates and secret waiting lists. >> i want to know the full scope of this problem. >> secretary of veterans affairs shinseki was sacked. and the system repairs still seem to be a long way off. number five president obama's foreign policy under attack. an off-the-cuff phrase uttered by the president -- don't do stupid stuff was criticized by none other than former secretary of state hillary clinton. as inadequate defining principle. the israel/gaza war, the civil war in syria the russian invasion of ukraine, the prisoner swal for alan gross in

cuba the president's foreign policy was criticized by even many democrats as feckless. number four 2014 marked another year of congressional gridlock on immigration reform. there was no greater example of the broken system than the thousands of unaccompanied children from central america flooding across the texas border. president obama opted after the mid-terms to go it alone. using executive action in an attempt to reform the system. critics call his actions unconstitutional. number three, any notion of america's first black president ushering in a post-racial era of healing -- got squashed. after white police officers in missouri and new york killed unarmed black men, protesters around the country took to the streets. following the grand jury's decision not to indict officer darren wilson for killing michael brown in ferguson president obama delivered a speech urging calm. >> so we need to accept that this decision was the grand jury's to make.

>> and the split-screen on your television showed the depth of the disconnect. a city burned and the president's pleas going up in smoke. number two, the u.s. went back into iraq. this time to fight isis. just a few months after president obama dismissed the terrorist group as a jv squad, isis took huge swaths of land along the lawless iraq/syria border. the president finally changed his tune and ordered targeted attacks in iraq and syria against the terrorist group. and the number one top political story of the year -- on election night, it was a red wave as republicans won control of the u.s. house and the senate. >> we crossed the finish line. we took the hill. >> the politics of 2015 might just look a lot like a giant stack of promises made in the race for the white house. in 2016. we'll have to wait and see if a lame duck president can work it out. with a deadlocked congress. i'm jake tapper.

it will start to get interesting. >> it's been interesting,get even more interesting. how is your economic health now that the holiday shopping season is winding down? did you stay on budget? how did the retailers fare? did they convince you to -- part ways with your money? a closer look ahead. in my world, wall isn't a street... return on investment isn't the only return i'm looking forward to. for some every dollar is earned with sweat, sacrifice, courage. which is why usaa is honored to help our members with everything from investing for retirement to saving for college. our commitment to current and former military members and their families is without equal. start investing with as little as fifty dollars.

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numbers out this week show the u.s. economy growing at the fastest pace since 2003. this interesting new cnn/orc poll shows a majority of americans think the economy is in good shape. a majority for the first time in seven years, a big improvement since october, when only 38% of americans felt like the economy was in good shape. did this optimistic outlook inspire americans to go out and go shopping this holiday season? joining us is personal finance officer and columnist, terry savage and executive vice president of shopper track bill martin. americans say they feel it. the economy is back americans feel it i'm a little cynical. i think it's gas prices. they feel lower gas prices so they're feeling better about things am i right?

>> i think that's absolutely the first part of it and a stream of other news that's very good about the economy, about jobs. 2014 i think we'll look back and say that was the year of the markets, the records in the stock market low interest rates. think as we look ahead to 2015 we'll say this is the year of the consumer. because the lower energy prices not only gasoline prices but home heating bills, especially compared to last year's devastating winter will be lower. we'll see it in costs for everything from food energy is a big component. it will give consumer reason to be optimistic for the first time in a long time. >> i think time heals all wounds as the old terrible cliche when you're talking about the consumer they remember what happened in the economy like it was yesterday. especially if their wages aren't growing. bill, let me ask you, we saw black friday sales down a little bit disappointing. are people feeling the better economy? did they go out and shop and spend money? or are they still being frugal

at the mall? >> well i think they did go out and spend their money. we saw some pretty strong sales in november. even despite black friday being a little bit soft. november showed a 5.4% lift. which was pretty good rolling into december. now that the holidays are over. there's still a couple of pretty important days left today being one of them the sixth largest sales day of the year. we expect them to come out and look for bargains do their returns and try to redeem some of the gift cards they may have received during the holidays. >> the returns and the gift cards, there's still a frenzy of the last-minute behavior. terry, you know and i say it too, you shouldn't buy something you can't pay off in the next round of the credit card bill. how how much are people digging in? are they being smart? >> i think consumers are being smarter now. first of all, the lenders, the merchants are being smarter. you remember a couple of years ago, you walk into a store and say, take out a store credit card and we'll give you a discount. there's a lot of concern about

credit card security so there wasn't so much credit pushed on consumers. i think consumers are being smarter, looking for lower-rate cards, recognizing that the bills will come due in january and that's a lesson learned. we don't want the economy to grind to a halt. but it's not every individual's job to go into debt to support the economy. i think we're at the sweet spot now where consumers recognize the dangers of debt. but they also have a lot of pent-up demand for the few years of not shopping so much. we're at a nice sweet spot coasting into the new year that's the optimistic view-point. >> we saw car sales in november were just fantastic. i know we've got big sales coming up on big-ticket items like tvs and furniture as they roll over into the next who hadal year for furniture. do you think you're going to see consumers out there, 2015 is there their year the way 2014 was for stock market investors. >> the think it is the one area

of the economy that's been lagging, but slow is new home sales and sales even of existing homes. more people choosing to rent. many people not having the credit reports that will justify getting a mortgage. but now you see they're loosening up on mortgages on procedures and down payments and even if interest rates do go up just a bit. which the fed will do i think it will spur people into saying if we're going to buy we better buy now. the good momentum from car sales and shopping and optimism continues, think you'll see it in the housing market. it leads to other good things in the economy. that's my hope and i think my estimation for what will happen in the new year. >> i agree with you on the housing front. think younger people are going to be getting in the game. rents are going to be rising if you can get the lending standards loosened a little bit. it's young people young genex and also the millennials. >> it sounds like consumers are

getting some confidence. just for this weekend, this week what is your advice for people going out and returning or trying to get something really cheap? >> we think doing your research is important. we have seen the consumer has really changed the way they shop. now they do a lot of research online. if fact they do more research than they actually do buying online. with 90% of the commerce still taking place in the brick-and-mortar stores. so it's our advice that you take a look online try to figure out what you want and where you can get it. this is what the consumer is doing without our help at all. what we see is them showing up at stores with cash in their pockets, you know cash that comes from reduced gas prices. and they're ready to make a purchase. we advise retailers, once the consumer walks in there, it's important to deliver a good experience in order to convert that to a sale. >> do you agree with terry, that 2015 is going to be the year for the consumer? >> it will be but -- >> i think it's going to be -- >> bill would you, do you agree with her? >> yes. >> i do. i think it's i think it will be

a time when they've, finally gotten to the point where they're comfortable they're going to continue with their employment. we're seeing low energy costs, i don't think that landed in the holiday season. but i think it will carry through into the first quarter. and what retailers are really interested in is a sustained growth and we see a 3.8% lift this holiday season. but they would like to see that carry into the first quarter and i think the consumer is ready to do that. >> bill martin terry savage. my christmas/new year/holiday wish is that wages will go up in 2015. i would like to see everybody's wages go up. to keep the economic recovery really firing. thanks, guys nice to see you, happy holidays. we're following a lot of news this morning, we want to get right to it. >> any statement suggesting violence towards police need to be reported. >> a growing number of threats against the nypd. >> it's a great loss. these are heroes. and it hurts. the terrorists appointed governor of mosul was killed in

an airstrike. at the same time isis has a valuable bargaining chip. >> the u.s. would support any effort to recover the pilot. "the interview" has finally made its debut. >> it wasn't for theaters like this and for people lying you guys -- >> i think i got what i paid for. >> this literally would not be happening right now. good morning to you, welcome to "news room" i'm christine romans along with poppy harlow and pamela brown. the new york city police department on heightened alert following the arrest of seven people accused of making threats towards the nypd. two suspects even targeting the very precincts that was home to two officers who were shot dead in their patrol car last weekend. >> a public wake will be held this afternoon for one of the victims, officer rafael ramos. people paying their respects at a growing memorial for the slain officers in brooklyn.

let me get straight to miguel marquez, he's at the church where the wake is being held. an outpouring miguel. >> enormous outporing, we're only beginning to see the start of it. from 2-9:00 p.m. the wake will be for the funeral for officer ramos will be -- nypd is expecting up to 25,000 police officers alone, to blanket this area. another several thousand friends, families there may be as many as 30,000 people here. all of this as nypd is on alert against other threats. >> nypd in mourning and on heightened alert. >> any statements suggesting violence towards the police need to be reported to the police so we can stop future tragedies. >> seven people arrested in connection with making threats against nypd. three arrested for posting threats on social media. two for making false 911 calls. two others arrested one for

making threats against 104th precinct in queens. the other against the 84th precinct in brooklyn. where the two assassinated officers worked. officer rafael ramos' family came to the 84th precinct wednesday. his eldest son justin calling his father a hero said i'm going to miss his loving presence and i can't begin to fathom what life is going to be like without him. >> the memorial to the two officers growing in proportion to the sorrow felt city wide. >> police have come, sometimes alone, others in groups. all in a show of respect, their grief unmistakeableunmistakable. >> this is sad, it's really hurting me. even though i'm not a police officer, but it just -- it really got to me. to watch this on tv with my family. >> like nypd funerals before an enormous display of respect and grief will blanket the glendale section of queens as officers from across the country remember one of their own.

>> now bow our heads in memory of officer ramos and officer liu. >> wenjian liu's funeral is still being planned as the city and country grieve. jetblue airlines is working to fly family members from china and has offered to fly two officers from any law enforcement agency along its route to the funerals. >> jetblue says that they have now some 600 individuals that they'll bring from different departments around the country here to new york, that will add to the number that nypd is preparing for here. organizations across the city have raised thousands of dollars for each of the families. the new york mets even extending an invitation for the ramos family to come to a spring training camp. all of this as we wait for this neighborhood in queens to be transformed into a wall an absolute ocean of blue. poppy? >> remembering them and thanking them for their extraordinary service to the city.

let's talk more about the shooting deaths of those two new york city police officers followed by months of protests. against police over what deem as harsh tactics. too harsh tactics being deployed in black and minority communities. the national debate has connected different cases, different shooting deaths across the country. in milwaukee, the decision not to indict a police officer for the shooting death of a mentally ill black man back in april has sparked anger and pro thefts week. let's talk about that and more. joining me to discuss this is milwaukee county sheriff david clark. thank you for being with me and thank you for your three decades of service, we appreciate it. >> it's my pleasure, it's been a pleasure to serve. >> let me ask you this seven people in new york city right here arrested in connection with 40 different threats, online against new york city police officers. this following the assassination of those two officers. last week. have you seen any similar threats in your community?

>> well police officers on a daily basis live in a state of hypervigilance. about their exterior surroundings. but what's going on in new york right now, and many other cities across america, here in milwaukee as well is this unjustified, if you will hatred toward the police. and that pathway was created recently by some very powerful people in the united states who have made some very inflammatory comments about our american police officers, that being mayor de blasio that being president obama and that being eric holder. so i'm not going to engage in hyperbole and say they caused what's going on. but like i said they created that pathway for purely political purposes and i think that's what the shame is here. >> let me ask you this. i watched live on cnn as the news unfolded over the weekend about the two officers being killed i watched mayor de blasio speak at the press conference and i've seen him in the days after going to the memorial site et cetera and my

question to you is see i've also watched the video of the police officers, some turning their back on the mayor, believing that he has no the been supportive of them. what would you like to see happen? what would you like to see from mayor de blasio from the president, from attorney general eric holder? >> well both of these individuals have had several chances to come out of the gate and say something responsibly and say something to calm things down. what i'd like to hear from mayor de blasio right now. think there's a way forward for him. the first thing he's going to have to do is disavideo any further association with race hustler al sharpton. al sharpton is a vulgar human being, he's divisive and he spews hate. i think that would be a huge first step and it would be a good-faith gesture toward the new york police department where the mayor could exemplify that he's going to change his tune he's going to start supporting that police department. and if it weren't for the nypd

officers that city would collapse into utter chaos. politics trumped reasonableness from the mayor and now the chickens are coming home to roost. >> the case in milwaukee and the protest of the shooting of dontre hamilton back in april. the d.a. just decided not to press any charges here. this was a mentally ill man, that is officer says grabbed the officer's baton struck him with it and the officer shot and killed the man. you call these protesters anarchists groups exploiting tragic situations to create chaos. are you saying there's no merit in these protests? none whatsoever. unequivocally, none whatsoever. let me give you a brief statistic in milwaukee, wisconsin in 2012-2013, 80% of the murder victims in our city are black. 75% of the suspects in those

murders are black. it's the black-on-black homicide we ought to be outraged about and we ought to be protesting instead of the -- wait a minute wait a minute. the things that happen with law enforcement officers tragic. no doubt about that. but they are a sliver of what's going on in america's ghettos today and it's the black-on-black crime if we want to have the discussion. let's have an objective one. >> but can't we have both of these discussions side by side? looking at this data from a brand new cnn/orc poll it showed that 42% of the nonwhite community believe that most or some police officers are prejudiced against blacks. given what the numbers bear out, do you not think that there is a basis to have a conversation about this alongside of a conversation about black-on-black crime? why can't we have them both? why are they not both important? >> i'm not saying we can't have both. but many of the individuals who are in this thing for nefarious purposes they don't want to

have the other one that i'm talking about. so the 42% i'd say show me the data that supports your position. and let's have objective reasonable conversation, strip away the emotion. strip away the distortions, strip away the lies and the myths about america police officers and we can have that discussion. but until somebody shows me i'll give you another piece of data here. since 1999 police deadly use of deadly force against black males is down 75%. in 2011 2012 386 people were killed by white police officers 140 black people were killed in that same time period. let's put the data out there. let's have an objective discussion minus the emotion and the rhetoric. >> sheriff, let me ask you about this. on december 23rd, mitch smith a reporter for the new york times tweeted he followed you and within hours you blocked him and sent him this message. i'm going to read the tweet he

says was a direct message from you to him. quote if only these faux protesters were asked by media about all the black-on-black killing or black babies aborted in the u.s. every year. a, is his reporting correct? did you send him that message? and b if so, what did you mean by it? >> yes i did. when i hear the things that black lives matter. the only people that really believe that statement are american police officer who is go into american ghettos every day to keep people from killing each other. yes, i did send that and i meant it. the abortion, black lives, if they really mattered that's where the outrage would be that's what we would see protests about. when you see the black-on-black homicide that happens on a very frequent basis, we don't see protests we don't see marches, we don't see demands for change. so this has been a one-way conversation that i'm just trying to present a counternarrative to balance this thing. and so that we can have that discussion. but what i'm sensing from the media, i mean when you started out this thing, you talk about a

mentally disturbed man in milwaukee, wisconsin. yes, he's mentally disturbed. the fact is he was attacking a police officer with a nightstick made out of hickly that's designed the police officer's nightstick that's designed to break bones and if used in the wrong area like a head and we train our officers don't use this thing toward the head because you could kill somebody or cause great bodily harm. so this individual took that nightstick and was wielding it in an offensive manner against a police officer and we want to brush that aside and talk about the fact that he was died and 14 shots were fired. that stuff's all true. but that officer was under attack and he responded appropriately. under the rule of law. >> and what i said at the outset was that he struck the officer with the baton. let me ask you this because we're going to have the memorial today for officer ramos. and then a funeral tomorrow in new york city. the vice president, joe biden will be attending the funeral. you've accused the white house as were you telling me earlier, fanning the flames of political discourse. are you encouraged to see that

the vice president is going to go to this funeral? are you encouraged at what you're seeing in reaction from the white house to these two slain officers? >> not at all. i think they're offering up the jv team as the president phrased it. he's used recently at some world events i would like to see the president of the united states show up at this funeral. >> come back from hawaii for this? >> that would be a -- >> yes, i do. >> continue what you were saying. >> that would be a good-faith step and -- >> that would be a good-faith step toward calming the waters if you will here. sending a surrogate, i don't know i got a little respect for joe biden. joe biden has been a supporter of law enforcement for many decades. think leadership is needed from the top and the top would be the president of the united states that would be powerful if he showed up at the funerals today or this weekend, i should say. >> sheriff clark thank you for your service and your time this morning. we appreciate it.

my pleasure, happy new year. >> great conversation. sony pictures controversial comedy "the interview" enters its second day in theaters after sony pulled the satire over the huge cyberattack and threats of real-world violence against anyone going to the theaters to see it. so far "the interview" selling out in many of the 300-plus independent movie houses that have decided to run it. online, it's the number one seller on google play and youtube. sony's playstation and microsoft's xbox gaming networks experiencing widespread problems no evidence that the hack is related to "the interview." rosa flores is here with what people are saying about the movie. good morning, rosa. >> good morning, christine. a lot of people i talked to said this was probably the best thing that happened to "the interview." why? because of basic economics. low supply high demand, lots of people flocking to these

independent theaters to watch the movie. so what about the controversy versus the comedy? i talked to a lot of folks yesterday. here in manhattan and they said all they wanted was a good laugh. take a listen. >> >> anyone who should take this thing as being anything more than satire. >> it was very cartoony. funny humor. >> what about the box office numbers? these are industry estimates, reported by variety today. one million dollars for the interview. which is huge for a movie that released in 331 theaters around the country. some theaters only had one showing. so that is absolutely huge. so what about the rentals? that's the other big question. that's up to the company to release and right now we don't know if the numbers will be released. if the numbers are good the company is going do want to release those numbers, so they can brag about it.

>> they would really like it to be in 3,000 screens, not just 300. the best thing that could have happened is it recouped more of the $44 million investment in the film. what about the apparent hack on sony's playstation and microsoft's xbox live. do we know if it's related? some of my family sat down made the decision to watch "the interview" and couldn't do it. >> let's start with this -- what a mess for parents who had cranky teenagers on christmas. who were stuck without gaming. this is one of the biggest gaming days of the year. here's what we know. the hacking group lizard squad took responsibility for this. they said that they overwhelmed servers. of course users went to twitter. they were angry, pissed off that they couldn't use their gaming machines. here's what we do know. woo do know it has nothing to do with "the interview." it was not related. so there you have it. it's kind of an inconvenience on christmas day, especially for

parents who wanted to just keep their kids busy and they couldn't do it with gaming. >> darn they had to watch tv on christmas day. >> thank you so much rosa. let's get to pamela brown for the day's other top stories. let's take a look at some of the headlines on this friday morning. president obama marking the end of the war in afghanistan by spending christmas night with the troops at a marine corps base in hawaii. he thanked the soldiers for their sacrifices in the months and years after 9/11. going so far as to declare afghanistan will never be the source of another terror attack. most of the remaining u.s. combat troops will be out of afghanistan by the end of the week. the costs of the conflict by the way just over $1 trillion. russian president vladimir putin is playing scrooge this year. canceling the holiday vacations for government ministers. most russians can still take new

year's holidays off from the 1st to the 12th but putin dropped a humbug on the kremlin saying the government cannot afford such expensive holidays. russia's economy has been battered by falling oil prices and the plunging ruble. police in hong kong say they arrested 37 pro democracy protesters overnight for disorderly conduct. and criminal damage. that's on top of the dozen arrested the previous night in the central commercial district. and the first demonstrations since a huge protest camp was torn down earlier this month. and talk about a special christmas delivery -- two pennsylvania transit workers jumped into action when a woman went into labor on a subway train. with their adrenaline pumping you can only imagine they helped deliver the infant right there on board. on board the train. the mom and baby were taken to a philadelphia hospital they're said to be in good condition. and doing just fine this morning. >> and video of all of that.

>> video of all of that. >> i know right? >> the officer look sod happy carrying the little baby around. >> having a baby. >> it seems like, wow. thanks for that pamela. jordanian pilot part of the u.s.-led coalition against isis is being held hostage this morning by isis militants, his family pleading for his freedom. what's being done and what should be done. and we dig deep near the latest ebola scare in the united states. a cdc workers exposed to the disease without knowing it. how did a mistake like this happen at the cdc? that's next. ♪ (holiday music is playing) hey! i guess we're going to need a new santa

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a coalition airstrike has killed a government-appointed governor of icesis in iraq. it comes as isis holds a jordanian pilot who is plane came down in syria this week. the u.s. and jordan reject isis claims that the u.s. shot down the plane. the family of the pilot is left pleading for his freedom and the jordanian parliament is threatening grave consequences should he be harmed. we're joined by retired general james spider marks, so nice to see you this morning, happy holidays sir. >> hi christine, happy holidays. let's talk about this shoot-down nonshoot-down. a plane working with the coalition, hammering on the isis positions, for whatever reason the jordanian pilot is in the hands of isis that's got to be terrifying for the jordanian military and all the allies trying to root out isis.

what do you make of the claim that they somehow shot this thing down? the government saying it's not possible. >> well christine, i think the real point is the one that you made which is we are where we are now. whether he was shot down or not. i think is important in terms of our ability to continue to assess isis in their capabilities and oh boy the way, isis has a surface-to-air capability. which means they can probably go after targets like this. >> you think they could take down a plane? they have the ability to take one down. just maybe not in this case? >> they do yeah they do. >> i think what's important is what happens at this point going forward. clearly what we realize is any operation like this is not without its risks. we have a view of what we've been doing in this ungoverned space of iraq and syria for the past many months as being somewhat abt septic. we can go after these targets and isis is going to try 0 disperse and we're going to go after them as best we can.

clearly there's risk regardless of the type of operations we take on. >> clearly military planners must have sat down at some point and said the number of strikes that we're going to undertake, the yurmnumber of planes in the air, if there's an accident that happens or this is how we should respond. how should we respond? >> there are plans in place, there are tactics, techniques and procedures there are capabilities that the coalition has, there's a capeability called d.a.r.t. downed akt restircraft rescue team. if there's a downed aircraft and there's a possibility of recoverying the members of that aircraft the coalition will go after and execute that mission. obviously it has toeb done in a safe way, there has to be a risk mitigation, there are factors to go through but the capability exists to return the members back to the brothers and sisters

in the units. >> if you're holding the jordanian pilot you're sleeping with both eyes open not question there will be an attempt to get him back. >> what about a blow to the coalition forces? is it a blow to the coalition forces? or does it show that the coalition has been successful in these air strikes, they've been bombarding these positions. it is certainly a blow to the coalition. these are the types of calculations that go into the execution, the decision to execute these missions and the execution, is certainly challenges happen things go bad. this pilot? bad guys' hands, everything will be done to try to get him back. i'm not sure what that will be other than what we discussed. clearly there are risks associated with this. the key thing is how long will the coalition be able to sustain this type of new activity it has. christine, it's not unlike a new form of containment. it's geographically bound this

ungovernored space, within it do we let this barbarity occur? or do we continue to go after targets one by one. if i was the next guy up. and mosul appointed by isis talking about sleeping with both eyes open. >> or maybe passing on that assignment. kurdish and iraqi forces gearing up for another offensive to take mosul. what are we doing there, it's been taken by isis since june. >> you've got another mayor of that area taken down. is that a sign that we're making progress, that perhaps mosul could go back into the hands that the coalition wants do see? >> absolutely. if the iraqi forces didn't want to reclaim this major city in the north. wouldn't be taking this mission on. it wouldn't be in iraq back in iraq providing the assistance necessary in order to get this job done. clearly progress something made as has been assessed. it's probably years before the isf, the iraqi security forces

are in a position to do something against threats like isis. and isis is going to morph. if we were to eliminate isis tomorrow it would morph into something else radical islam, this form of terrorism has an endurance that's going to baffle all of us this is a new type of an engagement that we're part of. >> specifically let's talk about mosul. if you're talking about the iraqis being able to retake mosul. what should the u.s. do to help that process? >> what the u.s. should do and what the u.s. can do at this point are essentially two separate things. u.s. certainly could lend much more of a military hand to the iraqi security forces. that has not been the position moving forward. i don't think the iraqi security forces are in a position to absorb that type of help right now. what's taking place is air strikes, lots of great intelligence there's some additional command and control type capabilities.

>> the united states and coalition partners have an immense amount of resources that can be used in order to effectively help the iraqi and kurdish forces as they go after mosul. there's a lot of outside as well as inside type of support that can be used. >> and still as you talk about the mutating cancer that is the radical islam, the terrorism, you worry about the lone wolf attacks in the united states even as you try to contain what's happening in the borders, we'll talk about that next time. spider marks, nice to see you, thank you. >> we hope though the pilot gets released. coming up a cdc worker being monitored after, he is posed to ebola, having no idea that it happened. how does something like this happen? especially at the cdc? what needs to change to present it from happening again? we're going to speak live to a former cdc disease detective. and what's the latest innovation in science that will leave an indelible mark on all of us?

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let's get to pamela brown for some of the day's top stories. >> happy holidays good morning to everyone at home. the new york city police department on heightened alert following the arrests of seven people. they're accused of making threats toward the nypd. two of the suspects allegedly targeted the home precinct the very home precinct of two officers shot dead. a public wake will be held today for one of the victims, officer rafael ramos, who will

be laid to rest tomorrow. the online sony playstation network is still struggling to get back online this morning. after apparently being the target of a hack attack. xbox live was also knocked offline, but appears to have recovered this morning. a group called the lizard squad took credit for the hack. both playstation and xbox are run by companies with a hand in streaming the comedy flick "the interview." so far, there's no evidence tying the hack with that. meantime former president george h.w. bush waking up once again this morning in a texas hospital. he's been there since tuesday night, when he complained of shortness of breath. aides are saying the 90-year-old is in great spirits and doctoring are keeping him hospitalized only as a quote precaution. a navy ship featured in some major movies including "top gun" is set to be scrapped for a single penny. officials were hoping the "uss ranger" would be transformed into a museum but without takers

it will be sent to texas to be dismantled. it was commissioned in 1957 and earned battle stars during the vietnam war and operation desert storm. it's been out of use since 1993. back to you, poppy. let's talk about this remarkable thing that just happened at the cdc. a worker there will be monitored now for three weeks, 21 days after handling live ebola. without even knowing it. the cdc says the virus samples were improperly sent to the wrong lab. then the technician was exposed, they have no symptoms at this point. but the cdc says they're going to monitor and there's no chance of public exposure. the thing is this is not the first time that something like this has happened. so how does it happen? why does it happen? how could it be prevented? especially with the risk of ebola re-entering the united states being very real? let's talk to dr. simi yasmine, a staff writer at the "dallas morning news" and a former cdc

detective. you have a unique perspective. you were with the cdc, a disease detective there. here's what they're saying seema. they're saying that the samples were switcheded a sample of live ebola virus was sent to the low-risk lab, instead of a dead virus sample. how significant is this? >> it's huge mistake, poppy and it's one that we can't afford right now. because cdc is one of the agencies leading the fight against the ebola epidemic in west africa. this lab where the mistake occurred has processed hundreds of samples from west africa already this year and in fact the experiments they've been working on before they had to shut down were looking at that strain of ebola that's spreading like wildlife right now, trying to learn more about it to answer some questions about it like how to fight it better. because of the mistake, the lab has been decontaminated twice and it's been closed down unacceptable that it's not doing the work we need it to do. >> it's not only putting a lab

technician at risk it's hindering progress in terms of fighting the disease abroad? >> absolutely. the cdc is doing such good work overseas and protecting us here by doing that work. and this detracts again from the good work that they're doing and the protection they're offering us and as you mentioned, the third mistake this year. we learned from the bird flu mistake earlier this year. that mistake probably happened because of an overworked lab worker and having worked there. i know the cdc has a strong culture of service and commitment and working really hard. that's why you can't have safety hinge on one person, there have to be protocols in place. >> the first example earlier this year the cdc accidentally sent live anthrax to labs unequipped to handle it. 62 people were monitored, none infected and the bird flu regular sample was extently contaminated with a h5n1 a

deadly strain. what needs to change? >> we need to have better protocols in place. we need to make sure that staff are trained in how to adhere to these protocols. in this instance with the ebola mistake, recently. the lab worker should have realized that the color coding was wrong. that he the should not have been seeing a test tube of that color in the lab. if people are make those mistakes there needs to be more training. we were assured by dr. friedan, there would be a point person at cdc who was held accountable for all safety so really this shouldn't be happening. >> is there yet? do you know seema, is there yet? >> we haven't heard much about what happened in the wake of those earlier mistakes and there were two similar mistakes in 2006. another mistake in 2009. all involving deadly bacteria. so something needs to change. and it needs to happen immediately. >> the cdc is saying with the live ebola debacle, in terms of the sample being sent to the wrong lap, they say look this

shouldn't have happened but the public is not at risk. do you agree that the public is not at risk? i know they're monitoring the lab technician it's unclear if there's a quarantine. >> that's probably correct because of the way the sample was sealed and also we think it was just the one person that had contact. but again, that's good that the public isn't at risk and it's good that there aren't more people having ton mored for 21 days, but it's not the first mistake and we need it to be the last mistake. >> one thing that i think that we don't talk about enough -- is the fact that this epidemic is still raging in west africa. many medical experts have said there's no way to get out of the woods globally maybe there's no case here in the united states right now. so the media headlines aren't all about this. but how critical is it to keep the focus, the pressure, the funding on on curbing this epidemic in west africa right now? >> if we don't stop the outbreak at its source in west africa we're likely to see more

imported cases, poppy. and it's disturbing nearly 20,000 people have been infected with ebola. more than 7,500 have died. since we're talking about the cdc. it seems that every year they're fighting more epidemics, epidemics keep getting bigger. yet their funding hasn't gone up to reflect the battles they're fighting for us. if we're hearing that more lab workers are tired, stressed, making these mistakes the agency needs more resources to fight the public health battles. >> obviously things need to get better safetiwise et cetera, this shouldn't have happened. but this is an agency that does incredibly good work to help all of us. you're saying they need more funding, they need more help? >> not just them, the nih as well has suffered funding cuts, we're behind with an ebola vaccine possibly because the nih had funding cuts. >> thank you so much for joining us. how close are we to the next big scientific innovation like a 3-d-printed heart?

we may be closer than you think. fareed zakaria will tell us coming up. plus spent too much cash on holiday gifts this year? we're here to help. we've got tips on how to get out of holiday debt. after the break. so i can reach ally bank 24/7, but there are no branches? 24/7 it's just i'm a little reluctant to try new things. what's wrong with trying new things? feel that in your muscles? yeah... i do... try a new way to bank, where no branches equals great rates. the holiday season is here, which means it's time for the volkswagen sign-then-drive event. for practically just your signature, you could drive home for the holidays in a german-engineered volkswagen. like the sporty, advanced new jetta... and the 2015 motor trend car of the year all-new golf. if you're wishing for a new volkswagen this season... just about all you need is a finely tuned... pen. hurry in to the sign then drive event and get a five-hundred dollar new year's bonus on select new volkswagen models. offer ends january 2nd.

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don't listen to the naysayer. take the comcast business speed test. get faster speeds or more savings, or we'll give you $150. comcast business. built for business. welcome back everyone there was a time not long ago when american ingenuity reached for the stars and landed on the moon. but it's been four decades since the original moon shot the apollo program ended. and the shuttle program is now on the shelf as well. what could be the next big innovation to have all of us marveling with our families and friends? fareed zakaria talked to cnn's alisyn camerota about his year-end special, "moon shots" for the 21st century. highlighting the next frontiers in science and innovation.

>> great to see you. >> have you been able to identify some equivalent ground-breaking experiences today? >> it is amazing how many things are going on. and we had an incredible list to choose from. but we picked five that really are game-changers in just the way that the original apollo moon shot was. >> let's look at your list. number one, putting human beings on mars. how close are we to that? >> we're closer than you might think. it's obviously a huge challenge. it would take the trip is three years. and one of the things that nasa is trying to figure out is how to make sure that people don't go crazy on the trip. one of the things they do is they put five people in a volcano for four months in kind of an extreme stress condition. and just see how they would interact. and they're learning a lot. >> we have a clip of that very thing, let's take a look. >> this is the main living space right here.

>> there was a 020-minute communication delay with the outside world. similar to what mars astronauts would face. >> this is the only window that we have in the habitat. >> the only time they were allowed to leave the habitat was in space suits. >> okay. we're in motion. >> that's incredible. >> but by the mid 2030s, nasa believes there will be men on mars. >> okay next 3-d printing of a human heart. how does this work? >> well this is incredibly important. because one of the easiest ways to solve a number of really difficult medical conditions would be organ replacement. but organ replacement is very hard. because you know you try to get somebody else's kidneys, liver or heart, it wouldn't match. imagine being able to make a kidney out of your own dna. so you're never going to have a problem of finding it. there's never going to be a problem of organ rejection. well turns out just the same

process of 3-d printing that takes place now a days with gadgets or little machine parts, can be applied to human organs. and a leading scientist and medical researcher says we're probably just ten years away from being able to print a human heart. >> here's something that would change the face of travel. hypersonic flight. what is that? >> if you think about it this is the one area where there has been very little innovation. the amount of time it takes you or me to go from new york to london or paris, is about the same as it took 40 years ago, 50 years ago. here we have an attempt to try to drastically short than time. the idea would be that you would be able to get from any point in the world to any other point. in four hours. >> any point in the world? >> now it would be about 18 hours, it would, it would be a third, it would be a third the

time. and it's in order to do it you almost have to try to make the planes into rockets. >> the next is another medical breakthrough mapping the human brain. what does that mean? >> this is the most mind-bending of all of them. you've got the only analogies i can give you are movies. think "total recall" with arnold arnold schwarzenegger think "the matrix" think "the avatar." if you wanted to go to paris and didn't have the money. imagine if you could go to your local clinic and they could implant the memory of a lovely parisienne vacation that you've had. in other words if you can get to the point where you can really understand what part of the brain has memory what part of the brain has emotional sensation, and target specific things into it,. >> are you blowing my mind fareed that's some crazy stuff. last creating a star right

here on earth to power the electrical grid? >> to power everything. if you think about it the we are a solar-powered planet. we get all our energy basically from the sun the plants animals, we everything takes sunlight and uses that energy. so the idea is if that's the ultimate source of energy why not try to create a star on earth. the process that you use is essentially nuclear fusion. but the question is can you make it work can you sustain the action? nuclear fusion is a very tough reaction to sustain. can you guard it, because the heat that it produces is incredible. the one point i want to make about all of these projects which is very interesting, which is true of the original moon shot even if they don't work you get huge benefits in science and technology. you don't know what they're going to be. the apollo space mission, it turns out the single most valuable thing that came out of

it was that they needed to have very small computers. and so they they created a market for the microchip. which created the market for essentially the whole world of personal computers that we have today. if not for nasa it's not clear that that would have happened or certainly happened decades later. >> fareed thanks so much for sharing this with us. you can watch the end-of-the-year special "moon shots for the 21st century" on december 28th. we'll tune in. we're talking about holiday shopping of course the day after christmas. all your holiday shopping it adds up. wait until you get your credit card bill. if you are in over your head with holiday debt we've got you covered. tips on how to get out of the red, next.

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welcome back. millions of you are headed out the door this morning to return gifts that didn't meet your high expectations this year. retailers largely met their expectations. sales up 16% over the last year good news for creditors and pad news for your wallet. here to help us with ways to get out of that holiday debt george goodman from moneyanswers.com and great book "master your debt." we are kindred spirits here. we both think you shouldn't spend money you don't have and if you do you have to be smart about getting out of it. this is a tempting day, leftovers in the refrigerator. my blackberry my phone is full of offers. right now, get here 50% off.

>> yes. you don't have to pay 25%, 30% on credit cards. there are better credit cards to be had. >> make sure you're using the right credit cards. >> free website to find the best deals, creditcardperks.com. frequent flyer mileage, you got to get them not wait for what shows up in the mail. >> what i tell people is if you can't pay it off in 30 or 06 days you really need to think about whether you need it. >> correct. >> the whole industry is geared toward making you spend money you don't have. >> you're un-american, christine. >> how do you say -- i'm not here to tell you have to hold the american economy. take care of yourself. >> get under control and non-profit credit counsels, say you have 17% and 25% credit

cards, credit card companies are not going to help you. they have deals with the creditors you can't get on your own, 6% 7% much lower rates. you got to close the accounts and get this under control and pay the debt off, instead of just getting more debt. >> if you're in distress but an awful lot of debt they could end up not getting paid. >> they'd rather get something better than nothing. cambridgecredit.org have helped many people for a long time. they're not giving you a new credit card, you make one payment to cambridge, they pay the credit cards. >> credit card surfing, might seem safer to transfer your balance to a lower extra rate. if you have a habit of zeroing out the balance and get in trouble, you shouldn't do that. >> zee percent for six months or

1.9%, this is called surfing but realize they're charging you a fee, typically 3% to 4% of the amount you're doing. you may get a low interest rate but the fee is higher. >> no someone doing anything to you out of the goodness of your heart. >> also if you pay late you still got to pay, then the rate shoots up. >> don't sign up for 10% store discount credit cards. >> all the retailers if you go in, sign up for this card you get 10% off and if you don't have the money to pay when it comes in and paying 18% you're going to pay more than in the first place and hurting your credit report. >> somebody who works at one of the credit rating agencies told me that's a sign of financial weakness to have a bunch of store cards. >> you're in the mall and sign up for macy's blooming dales and nordstroms your credit number will drop points. >> we're sorry to be the

buzzkill as you get ready to have a nice breakfast on your way out the door to go shopping. be careful. you have the rest of the year to worry about. poppy? coming up the nypd on high alert following the arrest of seven people in new york city accused of threatening police officers athis as the department prepares to lay one of their own slain members to rest. we've got the latest on that also the rising tension between communities and police what can heal the rift? we're talking with the mayor of berkeley missouri where a teen with a gun was shot dead by a police officer. why do i cook? because i make the best chicken noodle soup. because i make the best chicken noodle soup. because i make the best chicken noodle soup. for every way you make chicken noodle

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hey what are you doing? i was thinking about taking this speed test from comcast business. oh yeah? if they can't give us faster internet or save us money, they'll give us 150 bucks. sounds like a win win. guys! faster internet? i have never been on the internet and i am doing pretty well. does he even work here? don't listen to the naysayer. take the comcast business speed test. get faster speeds or more savings, or we'll give you $150. comcast business. built for business.

online terrorististic threats a growing number of threats against the nypd. >> it's a great loss. these are heroes and it hurts. >> the terrorists appointed governor mosul was killed in an air strike and isis has a valuable bargaining chip. >> the u.s. would support any effort to recover the pilot. >> "the interview" has finally made its debut. >> i got what i paid for. if it wasn't for theaters like this and people like you guys this literally would not be happening right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >> good morning to you. welcome to newsroom this morning, friday december 26th, 8:00 in the east. get up! i'm christine romans along with poppy harlow. >> we've been up for a while. >> a lot of work to do a lot of big stories we're following today, the new york city police department ramping up patrols after seven people were arrested

accused of threatening cops after the execution style murder of two officers while they were sitting in their patrol car. >> now the officers and officers from around the world are arriving in new york and the department gets ready to bury one of their own, that funeral will be held tomorrow also a growing memorial for the slain officers in brooklyn and complete outpouring and miguel marquez has been corg this. i know as the morning proceeded more people have come. this is going on for days and gets bigger and bigger by the day. >> reporter: this funeral is going to be enormous. this area of queens will be turned into literally an ocean of blue,

the reasons in new york will get better notwithstanding the eric garner controversy.

and the new hires to the new york city police department

yor de blasio. >> he has blood on his hands. >> that's so unhelpful and wrong. none of this is going to change overnight. but you know, what people see in the streets is the most important thing. and new yorkers see a more diverse and inclusive police force and that's what's going to matter more than anything that a politician says. >> mayor, go ahead. >> and if i may add to that, we have a tendency to very quickly lay the blame. we look at each individual statement. we come to the conclusion that they're not supportive of the police department. i can assure you that is not the

case in the city of berkeley. we are very objective. however, the protesters that initially came to the site they're not objective. they have come to the conclusion that any time an incident occurs the police are at fault and i'm not supportive of that position. my position is you review each individual separate and be objective. that's why we have an independent investigation of this incident. >> we have to go but very quickly, since we had the sheriff from milwaukee say on the program he doesn't think the attorney general or the president have been supportive of police officers do you believe that the attorney general and the president have been supportive of police officers? >> i totally disagree with that. i think the attorney general and the president has been totally supportive. you know, we are a country of laws and each individual incident is different. and the president or the attorney general are not going around saying police officers are always wrong.

they're looking at the incidents so i disagree with the chief of milwaukee that the president's not supportive of police officers. >> mayor, thank you very much for your time this morning. merry christmas, thank you for coming on the program. jeff toobin, thanks. well for the second time in less than a month, coalition forces have killed the isis appointed governor. this as the u.s. rejects claims by isis that it shot down a coalition plane over syria and jordan and they plead for the safe return of the pilot. let's bring in barbara starr with the very latest. they don't think this plane was shot down, but that jordanian pilot is in the hands of isis. >> the parliament is warning of grave consequences if the pilot's safety is not ensured. his family pleading for his return and now today the queen

of jordan is putting up a message on her personal social media account calling for unity, essentially saying we are all moaz, the name of the pilot. the jordanians are concerned about getting him back. you see that from his social media account. here's where we stand. the u.s. and jordanians in agreement that the plane was not shot down but not saying what did bring it down. we're not sure if the u.s. or the coalition know what brought it down. was it mechanical trouble, did the pilot run into a problem? what we know is -- when he ejected from the f-16 it all really happened so quickly that the isis fighters on the ground, the ones you see in the photos grabbing him they were on him so quick that rescue forces on stand by in the air and they always have them up here. when there are combat missions.

those rescue forces couldn't get to him in time. now the question is how to get him back and what's the issue. what brought down this airplane? christine? >> thank you, barbara starr. let's get to the other top stories. >> good morning to you. with the official end of the war in afghanistan just days away, president obama decided to spend christmas night paying tribute to the u.s. military. he visited a marine corps base in hawaii as we see in the video to thank the soldiers for their sacrifices saying that afghanistan will never be the source of another terror attack. the vast majority of u.s. troops will be out of afghanistan by the end of the week. meantime a very special christmas gift for an american tourist. she has been free from jail after spending four months detained in east timor. she said she was detained in a misunderstanding because she shared a taxi with someone carrying a methamphetamine. i'm glad she's coming home.

and it wasn't exactly a homecoming fit for a king. >> number 23, lebron james. lebron james did get a warm welcome from heat fans and scored 30 points during his first visit back to miami on christmas day, but his former teammates played the part of grinch to perfection. miami's dwyane wade scoring 31 points leading the heat to the 101-91 victory. >> nothing like a little basketball on christmas day. >> i was surprised. i know they have football on thanksgiving but basketball on christmas day? >> where's john berman when you need him? >> i know. exactly. it got more free publicity, but did people fill up the seats to see "the interview"?

also a big lump of coal from the kremlin. why vladimir putin has cancelled holiday vacations for government workers. is he trying to steal christmas or save his country? i guess we're going to need a new santa ♪(the music builds to a climax.) more people are coming to audi than ever before. see why now is the best time. audi will cover your first month's payment on select models at the season of audi sales event. visit audioffers.com today.

the controversial comedy "the interview" making a big splash on christmas day. it remered in only 331 theaters across the country, not the 3,000 hoped for after sony pulled the film after the cyber attack and threats of violence against audiences. online it's the number one seller on google play and youtube. playstation and xbox gaming networks recovering from widespread problems christmas day, slowing people's efforts to watch that film online. rosa flores is here with what

people are saying about "the interview." good morning. >> some people calling it the best christmas gift that sony could have ever received on christmas, why? because so many people flocked to these independent theaters to see this movie. some of the people i talked to said they didn't want to watch the movie, they felt it was their patriotic duty to go and watch this film. so what did people say and think about it? take a listen. >> it was hilarious, pretty much what i expected it to be given it's a seth rogen movie. the gore wasn't too much not as much as i thought it would be, it was pretty funny and well executed. >> what about box office numbers? variety reporting industry estimates a whopping $1 million, huge for a movie that released in 331 independent theaters across the country. now, christine about rentals we don't know if we'll receive the numbers but if they're good the company might want to release

them just to brag a little bit. >> we published the story on cnn money about how it was a big hit among pirates, some 750,000 people downloaded it for free. what about the apparent hack on sony's playstation and microsoft's xbox live. plenty of people went to watch it and couldn't. who was behind it? >> for parents this was like getting coal on christmas, they were stuck with a lot of cranky kids. the hacking group lizard squad taking responsibility for this for overwhelming servers. we don't know that it is related to the release of this movie. we don't know it's related at all but of course we'll see later, christine, what's revealed. >> thanks rosa. pamela? >> thanks so much christine. co-directors seth rogen and evan goldberg making a surprise appearance at the midnight screening of "the interview" on christmas day thanking moviegoers. >> if it wasn't for people like this and people like you guys

this literally would not be [ muted ] happening right now. >> there you go after all the controversy, how was the movie and should we be wary of troubles for sony and microsoft as the movie was being streamed christmas day? we bring in senior media correspondent and host of "reliable sources" brian stiller it and don, from recode a tech news website. brian, we've been covering this for so long and now the movie finally out. i know you watched it. what were your thoughts after covering it so much? >> it was good enough it was what i expected. i think kim jong-un might have enjoyed it parts of it are really funny but i can see why it might be upsetting to some in north korea. the pirated version will be available. >> the stoner head if you will. >> totally. >> don, i'm curious, this is a

seth rogen comedy, didn't do so great among critics, it's safe to say that. do you think in a way all of this controversy surrounding, dawn helped it and even though it wasn't released into 3,000 movie theaters all of the publicity driving people to watch it? >> i think certainly you're right, people wouldn't normally go to the theaters to watch a seth rogen film audiences have a clear expectation what they're going to get and this film delivers on the expectations. i think brian artfully captured that. this what is it north korea thought was so dangerous or perhaps they want to support free expression and watch the movie which is what i did. >> the possibly it makes more money online than theaters is interesting. $1 million is strong considering it was only in theaters the idea it could make more millions

on youtube and xbox could be a landmark moment. >> i don't think a lot of people realize you could rent movies on youtube and this is really impressive that the movie was released online before it was released in theaters. could this be sort of the wave of the future here prybrian? >> partly a desperation move. sony would rather have the movie in 3,000 theaters it would have made a lot more money, but the idea is there is this alternative, other way to release a movie was a harbinger for the future. we'll see it more in the future if people choose and argue that's the way they want it. if people keep going to see the big movies the theater also do fine. if people want them at home movie studios like sony have to go in that direction >> and some of the movies are perhaps better on the big screen. >> two different experiences. >> what are your thoughts? >> brian makes a great point. the industry has been wrestling with this issue.

winstream has a practice of windowing, a clear strategy of releasing in the theaters, then to dvd and on demand and i think that modern audiences have grown accustomed to watching video delivered via the internet. eventually we're going to get to a place where movies are released simultaneously maybe not in this moment. brian, you're completely right, this is a desperation move by sony. it'd rather have 3,000 theaters showing the film than a few of us streaming it on our computers, the playstation network not an option yesterday. it is perhaps in the future brian, we'll also see companies like netflix continue to push this forward so there will be time ul tapious releases of films in the home and in theaters and audiences get to choose. >> it was interesting the ceo of sony pictures in his message to the staff on wednesday said they're still trying to find more platforms for the movie. maybe it will come on netflix weeks and days to come. >> it will be interesting to see

how much they end up making when this is all said and done $44 million to make the movie and even though it isn't showing in 3,000 theaters as of now that could change. quickly i want to go to north korea's response to all of this. dawn i'm going to go to you for this. the u.s. blamed north korea for an attack. the hackers threatened a surprise and physical attack if the movie was released. we heard from north korea yesterday who condemned the movie in an interview with the ap basically saying there would be no physical response though and the statement stopped at that. so i'm curious, do you think they sort of left the door open to the fact that we could see more potential hacking attacks? >> well certainly the north koreans have been doing a bit of threatening using the internet to deliver threats and it had these hollow, what turned out to be hollow threats of violence on

christmas day so perhaps we're hearing a bit more saber rattling and perhaps it will be more cyber attacks, but it's hard to know at this moment. >> unpredictable. no christmas day surprise, right, broi anian? >> no, the network problems yesterday were unrelated, foreshadowed weeks ahead of time by a different hacker group. the servers are getting online. sony has to contend with future leaks of more data and even what's out there has been devastating to the company. >> interesting how the conversation changed from the leaked e-mails to all about the movie being released so whether that was intentional or not the conversation has changed. >> sony had 30 bad days in a row since the hacking november 24th and christmas day was the first good day they had, the movie was out and they were no longer so much on the defensive, they were finally on the offensive. it was a show of defiance answer that was valuable for them in terms of publicity around what the company has gone through.

>> absolutely. i have a feeling this sony saga is not quite over with yet. >> what a wake-up call this has been to major media companies. >> a wake-up call is absolutely right. dawn and brian, thank you very much for coming on to talk about this. >> thank you. >> christine, back to you. >> thanks, guys. i'm sure they like the response but i'm sure they'd rather have not had this. >> they want it to end. christmas doesn't come for two more weeks in russia but nobody is taking time off. president vladimir putin canceled holiday vacations for government employees. the amazing story of how one woman made it to america, a talented woman if i say so myself and the gifts she gave her family that's been passed on for generations. she gave it to us. christine romans, this is an amazing story, her roots coming up.

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and welcome back to newsroom. time for the five things to know for your new day on this friday. number one, the nypd is on tight heightened alert after seven people were arrested for making

threats against officers allegedly. public wake is being held for officer raphael ramos who was murdered last weekend. in iraq an air strike killed the governor of mosul. he lasted for three weeks in that position. his predecessor was also killed by a u.s. air strike. online gaming networks playstation and xbox live starting to come back online after being the target of a hack attack on christmas. the networks are run by companies in hand with streaming the comedy "the interview." former president george h.w. bush spent the third night in the hospital. tuesday he complained of shortness of breath. aides say doctors are keeping him only as a precaution. and 'tis the season for returning. many of you are probably racing to the malls today to return and exchange some of the holiday gifts. retailers saw about a 4% jump in holiday sales compared to last year. we're always updating the five things to know go to

newdaycnn.com for the latest. government employees in russia might say president vladimir putin is the man who stole christmas. he's canceled holiday vacation for the kremlin because of sorry state of russia's economy. rare point of humility from putin. good morning. >> good morning, christine. that's right, there's this joke making the rounds here in moscow that the ruble, the currency here is so low that these government ministers couldn't afford to party anyway but jokes aside, russian president vladimir putin's latest announcement really does highlight the critical state of the russian economy. now traditionally, russians celebrate the holiday season between january 1st and january 12th. the celebrations really kicking off with the new year but yesterday in a televised speech president putin announced he's canceling holiday leave for members of his government so

that they could keep working on the economic situation which, by all accounts is pretty dire. in mid-december the ruble reached a record low in part due to western sanctions and in part due to fall oil prices. it's managed to rebound somewhat since then but inflation here in russia persists, and ordinary russians tell me they're struggling to make ends meet. they tell me they want their government to focus on solutions. president putin's announcement seeming to play well in moscow. >> that is something people feel no question although vladimir putin's approval rate something still high. >> all right, coming up, my part of the show how did one woman's brave journey across the ocean help bring christine romans to us what she found looking into her past that brought her to tears. that story next.

all right, welcome back to "newsroom." this year some of cnn's anchors were given an opportunity to zof our roots. i went an emotional journey to trace my history back to denmark. i uncovered the story of my great, great grandmother. she left everything behind. she was 20 years old. she left everything behind to start her life over in america.

this is iowa. this is where i'm from cornfields family and every few years we all get together. all the grandkids and great grandkids and my grandma. this is the picture you gave me. and what i love -- >> that's a lot of years ago. >> how old do you think you were? >> probably 17. >> my grandmother's name is shirley jean peterson and she remembers her grandma, anna jacob peterson very very well she calls her the danish word for grandmother. i know how much you loved your grandma and i loved my grand ma. so tell me your best moment to you? >> she was a second mother she

was a great grandma. i just loved her dearly. >> we've grown up with a lot of stories about anna jacobina peterson ordinary woman, simple means, took a chance and basically built my family. i would have nothing, i wouldn't be here if it weren't for a chance for a poor girl in denmark 150 years ago. we followed in the footsteps of your grandmother and i wanted to show you the book we made. it's here in iowa with my grandmother, where i reveal what i learned about her, something i could only find out by going back to her homeland. good-bye new york. we're going to bestemores town. denmark denmark, here we come. this is in copenhagen. i couldn't visit anna's country

without any younger sister, april. a place central to our family history. delicious. >> i liked that one. >> our people were sustained by this. >> i liked that one. >> but it's here inside the danish national archives where i learned the most. this is the former royal hall of curiosities in the danish archives and they were all of the information and this woman walked us through. charlotte jensen works in archival development. >> the archives can help you find a past that didn't existed. let's tang a look at this. >> let's take a look. >> this is actually her baptism in the parish. >> anna spelled a-n-e in danish was baptized in 1866. in a beautiful church about an hour outside copenhagen. denmark's rich countryside where

she would spend the first 20 years of her life. >> building 1100s, the earliest part of it. that's where she was baptized. this is from 1650. >> 1650. >> yes. >> when the baptism is finished then i say the prayer. >> tell me about how, when you would pray together when you would sleep with her and pray together? >> oh we'd get on our knees by the bed and both say our prayers, and bestemore said one night, i was about 10 at this time she said "lord, i'm ready to come home call me any time." i am sitting beside her with my

hands folded and i'm saying "not tonight, not tonight." >> she was ready to go to the lord and you were not ready to have her die in your bed. this is the kind of house she would have lived in. >> yes. >> they would have rented a little room there. this is a laborer's home. >> a laborer, yes. >> all right let a's go inside. so this would be typical, this would be the kitchen over here and everyone would eat and sleep and dress all in one room. >> yes. something like a table, an oven a bed, a cupboard, stuff like that very basic things, they didn't have much. >> she would have had a bible and a candlestick probably for sure. it's like going back in time. >> if you went through time travel and go back to the 1800s, i think we need some accessories. >> let a's do it.

>> put that on first. we don't want you to get old out. now you are ready to go back to 1880. and then we have a wonderful dish of cold porridge. here you go. and you might have had a little milk if you had milk. >> there's not any variety. i could use help here. >> honestly. >> they had fresh vegetables in the summer but didn't have much you know they didn't. >> i love this story. it's a great one and it is not over. more of christine's family journey after a quick break. and the precisely engineered passat tdi.

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welcome pack to newsroom. we're looking at my roots and how my great, great grandmother's generosity and risk got my family to where we are today. this was her school. this was her teacher. this is where anna would have gone to school. >> it is almost like it was at that time.

>> sometimes they would work half a day and come home to take care of the geese. >> when she was 5 she lived with the neighbor people and take care of the geese to keep the geese out of the garden. can you imagine that? she'd cry for her mother. it was a tough life. >> we learned a lot from anna's brothers and sisters. from 18 0 to 1890 she had ten brothers and sisters. three died when they were very young. >> they died from the croup. >> from the croup, oh they both got sick and both babies died. >> both died. >> anna would have been 10 years old.

this is more about anna's father. by the time anna was 12 her father made a living by breaking stone. >> breaking stone is not making a career. >> hard labor. not very well paid and not very well looked upon which is the kind of job that you would get if you couldn't get anything else. we can also see that got an extra ten so he actually got welfare. this explains why in 1886 she left the country. she had to make a living for herself. here is her immigration paper. anna arrived at the port of new york on october 14th, 1886 when

she was just 20 years old, two weeks before the dedication of the statue of liberty. she was a single female one bag with her. >> can you imagine come with one bag to a new world? i can't. >> my great, great grandmother eventually settled in western iowa and married hans olsen, this guy with the handlebar mustache. >> hi it's so nice to meet you. i'm christine. back in new york michelle urkinbrach found for me the most moving document of all. >> there's still today after all these years this identity of her buying tickets. >> they called is bestemore's traveling ticket.

>> but they had to wait at council bluffs and stay at her house and learn english and learn a trade, and then they returned the money for the ticket and another ticket went to denmark. >> it asks who paid your passage. >> reporter: she recovered a 1930 passenger list for anna's nephew, carl pepesen's ticket to america paid for in full by his aunt, anna, proof of her generosity for years to come. wow, that's so -- i always heard about the ticket for all those years but then to see it. do you think bestemor, do you think anna would be proud of the family that has grown up behind her? >> she would be very proud. i often wish she could see my kids. >> reporter: anna lived to be 92 years old.

as a reporter, as a journalist, i interview, write about newsmakers all the time but in my family the real newsmaker is just an ordinary girl who had the courage to leave everything she knew and start all over again in america. >> amazing story. >> the history books are full of poor young people who are risk takers and built this country and built their family behind them and i'm proud to be part of that. >> nice to learn so much of you. >> merry christmas grandma. >> merry christmas, everyone. "newsroom" begins after a quick break with randi kaye in for carol costello. have a great weekend.

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-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good morning everyone. i'm randi kaye in for carol costello. thanks so much for joining me this morning. we begin at a place that you are likely headed today, the mall that is. today is a critical day for retailers across america as businesses slash prices and millions of us head back out looking for some deals. this is the second busiest shopping day of the year after retailers did not see the blockbuster sales in the buildup to christmas. but when you head to the stores today, are you more likely to spend or return those gifts that were maybe just wrong? after christmas exchanges and returns are a $65 billion

tradition according to the national retail federation. cnn business correspondent alison kosik joining me to talk more about this. good morning to you. >> good morning to you, randi. this is an epic exchange day, you can exchange return and regift those gifts that you got that you don't want but this is still the