♪ developing overnight -- two large pieces of debris and an oil split. what this tells us about how airasia 8501 crashed.

plus the challenges that crew, facing today as they search for more. then, a blanket of snow, thunderstorms, ice. more than 20 states waking up to a fierce winter blast. yes, it is bad. but it's going to get a lot worse. plus, the flu, officially reaching epidemic levels. at least 15 children killed by this virus. thousands of people are sick. we're going to tell you what we know. one minute past the hour on this saturday morning. we're so glad for your company. i'm christi paul. >> i'm victor blackwell. good to be with you at the top of the hour here. well, we've got a lot of major new developments this had morning in the search for victims and wreckage of airasia 8501. >> recovery teams we know located two big pieces of metal debris. what we know about this the aluminum objects were found in the depth of the java sea.

about 90 feet. >> two pieces here.larger object is about 30 feet by 15 feet. the smaller object is about 24 feet by just over a foot and a half. >> waves are reaching 13 feet high, though. so they're really keeping the search teams from recovering those pieces right now. but dozens of diver, ready to go as soon as that weather calms down. >> again, 30 bodies have been recovered so far. six of them have now been identified. and so far, the rough waters has kept divers from finding any more bodies today. >> the "u.s.s. ft. worth" now in that search area. it has side sonar equipment that could be used in the recovery efforts as well. so we're going to talk about the search with cnn's andrew stevens. he's live from sewurabaya this morning. >> andrew, what can you tell us about the two objects found in

the java sea, these two large pieces. >> reporter: certainly a significant find, victor. easily the biggest found so far in the search. it really is a case of two steps forward and one step back. these were found just before midnight on friday. but saturday's search, they couldn't get any closer just because the weather was so bad. as you say, big waves in the area. driving rain and winds which making it obviously very difficult for helicopter crews to get out there to take divers out to the ships. leaving if they could. they got the roc on the vessel which they could not deploy either just because the weather is too bad. but certainly, these two pieces of debris could provide a major clue as to where the main debris field is. the working assumption is still very much the plane went down, the fuselage, mainly intact. which is where the searchers

think most of the bodies are still located. trapped within that fuselage. they need to properly identify exactly what parts of the plane if indeed they are from the plane but all indications suggest they are from the plane. they will find out exactly what they are. so they can trace back perhaps from there to work out the actual location of the main debris field. as you say, there's a lot of sophisticated equipment onsite. it's been hampered, as you would expect by the weather. "the ft. worth" does have significant sonar which can match the seabed and give people an idea of what's exactly down there. at this stage, very frustrating, almost 12 hours along, still no further in discovering what these pieces of debris are as well. also an oil slick, as you know, nobody's recovered because of the weather conditions. as far as the families go, the agony, the waiting continues. >> no doubt. i wanted to ask you, quickly,

too, andrew, about this. before in "the wall street journal," that this flight wasn't even permitted to take that route on that very day. what do you know about that? >> yeah, that's right. airasia indonesian, that is the subsidiary of that plane was not authorized to fly that plane between surabaya and singapore. it is approved but only four days a wakeek. the ministry said it's going to investigate the airport authority itself to find out why that plane could take off without approval. and it's also investigating the department of transportation. that the director general's department within that. so it's a wide-ranging investigation. what we've heard from airasia indonesia so far, christi, is they say they're going to help with the investigation and not

get any comments until they get the results back. what's happened, airasia has now been suspended on that singapore/surabaya flight. but certainly, it seems this plane did take off without the requisite approval. i've spoken to analysts who say this could have both legal and insurance implications why this plane was traveling when it officially wasn't allowed to. that would have wide-ranging ramifications on insurance and legal conditions. but we don't know exactly what they are at the moment. but certainly, it's a major revelation there. >> well, i have to wonder what families are thinking about that. you've been speaking to some of them, what are they telling you, andrew? >> reporter: yeah, it's just desperate. it's anguish piled on sadness piled on unimaginable pain. i'd like to bring in sini goodwin. thank you for joining us.

your brother, david, his wife and two young children were on that flight. i just want to stop and ask you do you hold out any hope at all? >> yeah, for sure. i still hope. there's nothing to do here, only hope. and pray. >> reporter: you come down here every day and just wait? >> yes, yes. i do come here and wait. nothing else. >> reporter: and what are they telling you every day? are you getting the information you need? >> not really. we're hoping they have update every day, three times they promise us, but 9:00, 1:00 and 5:00, maybe 7:00. but here, there's nothing else. >> reporter: you don't -- do you think they just don't know the information? >> maybe yes and maybe no.

i think -- i talked to mr. hernando -- >> reporter: he's the lead search in surabaya. >> yeah, he's the lead search. and everything.there's no update he already told me that he cannot be here because he has to be in surabaya. he has the office there, i know, he cannot be at this office. he cannot expect nothing happen there. it has to be ready there. and the other also said to us that the person cannot be here. but i'm still here. >> reporter: yeah, the families are sill here. tell me about your brother david and his family. you were very close, the entire family. you have children, your children play with his children? >> yeah, yeah. every friday, we go together.

we go together, mom, the whole family, actually. me, i have two brothers and one sister. so before me, he's the biggest one, i'm second and have sister and a little brother. all of us go together, gather together every friday and sometimes on saturday also. because on saturday, my children run with them. >> reporter: you're very close? >> yeah. >> reporter: how is your family coping? how are you coping? >> i try to be strong. i try to be strong. and still believe he'll come back. i don't know why. from the beginning, from the first time, i believed. i don't know.

maybe you can call me crazy, i feel in my heart in this life somewhere. but my mom's i know my mom's not that strong. my dad trying to become so strong. he cannot cry from the first time until maybe four days, four days. but we accept the worst part. we know the worst part we know already. >> reporter: you just want to see him come home. you want to see if he survived -- >> yeah. >> reporter: you want to say good-bye. >> no, no -- until we see the body, we're still praying. >> reporter: thank you. >> you're welcome. >> reporter: from all of us here at cnn, our very deepest sympathy. >> thank you. >> reporter: so it gives you an idea, christi, family members here still holding on to that hope. still holding on to a belief, a faith, perhaps that maybe a

miracle will happen here. maybe someone will be spared this horrible tragedy. >> it's understandable, until you have some tangible evidence, you've going to hold on to everything you've got. i think everybody can relate to that thank you so much, andrew stevens. great information this morning. we appreciate it. so coming up, why the search for this black box is so imperative. i mean, how can it solve the mystery about the airasia crash? >> plus, there are so many theories about how the plane may have crashed. some say it dropped like a rock. others say it landed on the water. we're going to break down the mysteries and find if there's one that we found so far, that the searchers found it points to. and then imagine this, a small plane crashes and kills everyone on board except one little girl who walked away from the wreck and found help. it's a story you'll have to

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a couple of developments overnight in the areas of flight

8501. as we now know there are two big pieces of metal that have been found overnight, believed to be part of this plane. and also some questions about whether that flight should have even been in the air that day. i want to bring in a couple of folks who can talk to us about this. jeffrey thomas is in australia. he's an airline manager at airline ratings.com. also tom few wept tease in washington. thank you, gentlemen, for being with us. tom, i want to get to you first. in terms of the two medal debris that have been found. the larger, 15 by 23 feet. the smaller 21 feet by 1 1/2 feet. what did you think when you heard about this discovery? >> well, what i thought, christi, you know, maybe it's part of the fuselage or wing. it's a bigger piece than most pieces. we know that airbus, aircraft, have a honeycomb design that makes many of their parts more

buoyant. and able to float in the ocean. i just thought it was a bigger piece. maybe one more piece leading to the main fusal latch. the main wreckage. >> okay, jeffrey, i want to ask you about this new information and this article in "the wall street journal," that this flight was not even permitted to be in the air. on the day that it crashed. what do we know about that? what do you take from that? >> well, it's a rather interesting revelation. because the bookings for this flight were made months and months and months ago. so i'm not too sure whether we're taking about a mine technicality. i know that the flight time changed slightly, but not enough to take it from one day to the next. look, i really do think it's a minor technicality. because as i said, the bookings

that we got, and looking at the manifest, a lot of these bookings were made in may 2014. so eight or nine months before the actual flight took place. so i do think it's a technicality. although it will become a rather interesting technicality, possibly from an insurance point of view. >> all right. i want to ask you about that, tom. about the same thing. in terms of what we're learning about this, that this flight just should not have been in the air. but the route obviously now is suspended. but when you think about if this flight wasn't permitted to be there, the failure on many levels. i mean, people got on the plane. they got through security. and as geoffrey was saying, it was open to book. how does that happen? >> well, i think the only issue i can see with this is whether or not it wasn't supposed to be in the air on sundays. because there were other airl e

airlines that flew sundays and didn't fly the other four days that this was authorized to fly. if that was the case, maybe there were more airlines in the air than supposed to be, than normally licensed to be. you might have a question of why that affected why air traffic control said they weren't allowed to climb and made the request to increase their altitude. but other than the cloudy skies possibly being an issue, i think i agree with geoffrey, that it's probably a technicality that may affect the insurance liability. that it may affect that they didn't pay enough fees to indonesia or the government itself. it may be a financial issue rather than flight safety issue. >> geoffrey, i want to ask you about the weather conditions there. we know they're horrific. 30-mile-per-hour winds. 13-foot waves. how do you think this is going to affect the time line of

trying to get some answers for these families? >> well, look, it's certainly going to delay things. i believe the weather is supposed to improve tomorrow and sunday. i think that's going to be a good window of opportunity to speed things up. you know, as we found with air france 447, in the mid-atlantic in 2009, we had the debris trial -- we found the debris trial within a couple of days. and bodies. but it then took them two years to locate the airplane. so, this is not something that's going to happen overnight. it is a very, very complicated process. and made far more difficult by the weather conditions. and the fact that we found a couple of pieces that we believe are from this aircraft, and don't forget, we've already had several false alarms about pieces being from this airplane and they were not, we have to

treat this with a great deal of caution. but we also have to understand is this going to take some time. >> tom fuentes, geofftry thomas we appreciate your time. president obama pushes forward in pressing north korea in the wake of that cyberattack on sony. in the form of sanctions, new sanctions. we'll tell you who was targeted. you pay for you data every month. so why does your carrier take back what you don't use? it's your data. now at t-mobile, all your unused data rolls forward to the next month. and we'll even get you started with 10gb of free 4g lte data.

. coming up on 23 after the hour, a lot going on this morning. here's your "morning read." first up, president obama is turning up the heat on north korea. he signed an executive order slamming the country with a new set of economic sanctions in response to its alleged role in hacking sony over the movie "the interview." the president wrote, the order is not targeted at the people of north korea, but, rather, is aimed at the government of north korea and its activities that threaten united states and others. actress donna douglas has died at the age of 81. if you don't know the name, you certainly know the character because she was best known, probably, for her role as ellie mae clampitt. yeah now, you remember. the daughter on the "beverly

hillbillies." her family reports she was suffering from pan crkrecree pae yaddic cancer. and iphone with quay phone 6, 19% of the phones advertised. the plaintiffs say it's deceptive and misleading to the average consumer. good news, football fans. the nfl playoffs. the first of two wildcard games. the arizona cardinals against the carolina panthers. that's at 4:35 eastern. if you love a great rivalry, there isn't one greater than my baltimore ravens visiting pittsburgh to battle it out with the steelers. >> i'd rather have the browns and pittsburgh steelers. >> with the terrible, terrible, filthy, dirty, terrible towel.

>> we share a hate, apparently, for the pittsburgh steelers. hey, winter storms, check out the snow falling this is lubbock, texas this morning. >> it's beautiful. >> it's pretty watching it on television. as long as we're not looking at it through a wind shield you're good. as much as a half foot can accumulate in western texas. the lone star state is not alone. karen maginnis is in the cnn weather center with the latest headlines. this is going to be pretty bad. >> this is very powerful. and it affects a broad swath of the united states. if you haven't felt the winter weather yet, just wait. it's on its way. rightology the gulf coast, across the midwest, temperatures in the teens, the 20s, and the 30s. but the windchill factor makes it feel well below zeer rro, mi

27 in minot, minnesota. temperatures in the teens and single digits. for western sections and the panhandle of texas, winter weather advisories we've seen sleek and very dangerous conditions in some parts of texas. you head along the northeast, the i-95 corridor, winter weather watches out. it's going to be blustery and cold. rainfall along the gulf coast could see strong thunderstorms this afternoon. if this is reminiscent of what we saw a week and a half ago, you're right. warm moist air coming up from the south. and flooding already a problem from dallas to little rock. >> yeah. it's been raining nonstop here in atlanta. karen, thank you so much. >> it turns out getting cancer all comes down to luck. bad luck, obviously. this is at least one study. we'll explain what they discovered. also, you know the feelings

about how airasia 8501 crashed. some say it stalled. some say it landed on the water before sinking. we know you have have questions. go to the #8501qs. use it and we'll do all that we can.

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christi paul with us now. let's talk about the five things to watch for your "new day." coming up at the bottom of the hour. >> yeah, all the talk of the search teams turning up more debris of airasia 8501 overnight. they found two large pieces of debris in the java sea. also an oil slick was spotted yesterday. 30 bodies have been recovereded, six have been identified. >> number two, maybe you're feeling it, but the flu is epidemic. at least 15 children have died from flu. 24 states are reporting high flu activity. and one chicago area school, the district there, about 600 students and teachers in that district have fallen ill. the cdc reports about half of all strains tested this year were not included in this year's flu vaccine. the flu season typically peaks in february and march.

so case numbers are expected to rise. we're going to talk more about this in the hour. >> number three, senate democratic leader harry reid is in the hospital after breaking several ribs and bones in his face. he was apparently using exercise equipment when he fell. that's according to his office. reid who was an amateur lightweight boxer in college is expected to make a full recovery. he tweet, quote, thanks to everyone for the well wishes. i'm ready to get back to work. >> a johns hopkins research study claims it finds that most results of people's cancer is bad luck. most come from random gene mutations and the others come from environmental factors such as smoking and excessive sun exposure. but the researchers' vital take-away.

listen to this. a 7-year-old girl is the sole survivor of a plane crash. he was able to walk. walk to a house near the crash site. and that resident called 911. the twin-engine aircraft went down last night after the pilot reported engine problems. the faa and the ntsb are expected to arrive. those who died include a 9-year-old girl. her parents and a 14-year-old cousin. we'll have more on that later in the hour. the latest for the search for victims and wreckage and the cause of airasia 8501. teams equipped with a remote operated vehicle are battling high waves, strong currents as well. as they try to get images of the two pieces of metal debris that have just been found in the java sea. we're also learning that airasia did not have permission to fly from surabaya to singapore on

sunday. they said the flights were only permissible on mondays, tuesdays, thursdays and saturdays. that's the route the doomed flight took here when it went down on sunday. the airline says it will cooperate with the probe by indonesian authorities. joining me on the phone. former pilot alastair rosenschein. alastair, first, let's talk about these two pieces of debris. is there anything that can be gleaned about this as to the size of this as it relates to narrowing this search? >> well, the first thing that one can glean from it, any large parts of the aircraft that are detached from the rest of the aircraft, indicate the high impact -- well, contact with the sea. so that would indicate the aircraft was descending at a high rate. or that if it was an attempt at control of the aircraft, it was an unsuccessful one.

and in trying to do a ditching at night in those conditions is near impossible. it's very difficult to judge your height. but i suspect that the aircraft was out of control at this point as it impacted with very high energy. >> and we're expecting some photographs of these two pieces later today. of course, we'll bring those to you as soon as you get them. you say it's likely that the aircraft was out of control. there is one theory that the emergency transmitter did not go off. because of the water. you remember the miracle on the hudson, it's called sully style. what do you think about that? is there a possibility that this plane could have landed on the water? >> well, not really, given the fact what would the intention have been to ditch an aircraft in the water there? it could only have been in both

engines had flamed out due to heavy water passing through. when i say, heavy weight of water, a large amendment of water can in fact cause the engines to flame out. at which case, the crew would be left with a glider. but i suspect that the aircraft was out of control at moment of impact. >> let's talk about another theory. this theory that the plane may have stalled because of lack of speed or flying at too sharp an angel. this is an experienced captain. a well-maintained aircraft. and this is the workhorse, this airbus. is it likely that this captain would have anticipated these challenges if indeed he was trying to climb to this other altitude. it seems to defy credulity that a pilot would have made such a dangerous maneuver?

>> no, let me explain. all pilots know that it's going to be a very rough ride that you go near a thunderstorm. if you go through one, you're going to get a tremendously rough ride. and it's really going to challenge your ability, because the aircraft can become uncontrollable. by that i mean, put your inputs in to the flying controls, but the aircraft does not respond in the normal way because the force is external to the aircraft are too great. it's not in substantial air anymore. now, it's entirely possible that the aircraft can be forced into an unusual and in fact an irrecoverable attitude. the pilot is unable to recover from it, no matter how good his training and his ability. and i understand the captain of this aircraft was an air force pilot. so he would have been used to flying aircraft at unusual altitudes. upside down loops. you name it. air force pilots do that. so this aircraft was by all means being controlled by a man

of huge ability. >> yeah. things that have been said about him he was reliable and certainly had 20,000-plus flying hours. hopefully, we learn more about the possible reasons for this crash, the two huge pieces that have been discovered there. in the java sea. alastair rosenschein, a former pilot, helping to understand the details of the search. thank you so much, alastair. >> thank you so much. >> on top of this, we've been talking about the weather. the 13-foot waves. the monsoon conditions just complicating this search so badly. coming up, we'll talk more about how that sais affecting all of this. also, we're going to hear from a diver who really gives us a good sense of what it's like to search these murky waters. 92

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19 minutes till the top of the hour now. the search for the wreckage of airasia 8501 is being hampered by, as we know, bad weather. and this morning, a helicopter

looking for the plane had to turn back. >> meanwhile, there's a team of russian divers with specialized search equipment that is there now along with the "u.s.s. ft. worth" that has sonar capabilities there. cnn's alina has the recovery. >> reporter: it may be going on 11,000 miles here in south florida, but we spoke to one commercial diver who said he knows exactly what that process is like. the number of crews around the world helping to search for airasia 8501 kopcontinues to gr. and if anyone knows the job ahead for the dozens of divers involved is this man. >> it's a very somber situation. >> reporter: the 51-year-old has helped after recent catastrophes

including the japan tsunami. parts of the plane have been recovered. but waves as high as 13 feet have hampered search efforts. >> one thing you don't want to do is add more tragedy to tragedy. you don't want loss of life. you want to take your time and wait for conditions. >> reporter: the plane is believed to be on the bottom of the sea in water that is on average 130 feet deep. at that depth, he says divers will need to use special gear. >> a dry seal is totally sealed. and the boots have a zipper in it and sealed and closed at the neck. that way, no water gets in there. the another thing is a helmet. this is super light. 37 pounds. >> reporter: divers will be hooked up to instruments. >> the instrument right here is telling us what the depth the

divers are at. this is the pressure going through them. the main air, stand by air. emergency air, diver one, diver two, diver three which is your safety diver. >> reporter: he says the divers will probably be underwater for up to 80 minutes at a time. and then you get in a pressure university. >> this will have things to get in. it's going to be dark inside. a lot of things for divers to get snagged on. >> reporter: then there's the emotional component, right, you know there's going to be bodies down there? >> there's nothing worse than bumping into a bloated dead body in the water. >> reporter: he's sill haunted by the victims he's recovered, especially children. an emotion that divers will have to come to terms with. >> the way you get past it, you say i'm helping the family. >> reporter: he tells us it could take weeks maybe months

for divers to finish the job in the java sea. >> alina machado, thank you. karen maginnis is in the weather center with the latest on the conditions. rough in the water. rough in the air, too. and the greatest success is the large vessels that can take it the conditions. >> yeah. and the reason they have seen that are two factors. we've got failure shallow water around 100 feet deep. it's like splashing in a bathtub. it's very easy to move around. the wind has been fairly brisk there as well. we 25-mile-an-hour winds. yesterday, when we were looking at our computer models, it looked as if it was going to be a fine window. we have vessels on top of the water, also in the sky. more favor only conditions. now, it still looks good, but probably not as calm or quiet as we were anticipating. we've got this area, it looks like sunday. we'll expect improving weather

conditions. the winds will quiet down and so will the rain. back to you guys. well, a hero's funeral is about grieving not airing grievances. that's a message from commissioner bill bratton as officers prepare to say good-bye to one of their own. up next, will bratton's words ease escalating tensions or just ignite anger? : these are tennis shoes skater kid: whoa narrator: that got torture tested by teenagers and cried out for help. from the surprised designers. who came to the rescue with a brilliant fix male designer: i love it narrator: which created thousands of new customers for the tennis shoes that got torture tested by teenagers. the internet of everything is changing manufacturing. is your network ready?

hundreds of police officers will say good-bye to one of their own. a private wake for wenjian liu, one of the two police officers ambushed and then gunned down two weeks ago on the street it's of new york will take place in brooklyn. his partner, raphael ramos was laid to rest last weekend. it was that when some police officers turned their backs on mayor bill de blasio. now, yesterday, police commissioner bill bratton issued this internal memo to the force, asking officers to show respect at liu's funeral. here's a bit. i understand that emotions are high. i issue no mandates and i make no threats of discipline but i remind you when you don university of this department you are bound by the tradition,

honor, and decency that go with it. let's talk about this more with law enforcement analyst tom fuentes. also a former police officer. there were those who were struck by that turning of the back to the mayor while speaking at the memorial service. what's your reaction to the commissioner's statement? >> i don't know if it's going to have an effect or not. i think some lives will still turn their back. it will depend exactly how the setup is for this funeral compared to the setup last week for officer ramos' funeral. so i don't know they'll have the number of officers and what position they'll be in, compared to the cameras and all that. that's a good question. i'm not sure the police officer or the police department themselves know how many will turn their back. >> this is not the first time that nypd officers turned their back on the mayor. they did it on when he visited these officers on date they were

killed. do you think it's appropriate to do this during the funeral, during the memorial service for the fallen officer? >> well, in my personal opinion, no. but i think the grievances run deep within the department concerning the mayor. i think a lot has gone on in new york city over the last couple of months to cause that, to affect that. but i personally don't agree with it. but i think they're definitely making their point. >> so the mayor -- not the mayor, but the commissioner said he had is not issuing any threats of discipline. do you think there should be some discipline? >> no, victor, i think that will only make it worse. at this point, make the request, hopefully the respect will be shown. i think threatening discipline or actually carrying out discipline probably is going to make the whole situation a lot worse. >> let me read another portion of this memo.

bratton says for the last seven days the cities and the country's consciousness of that funeral has focused on an act of disrespect shown by a portion of those tens of thousands of officers. it was not all the officers and there was not disrespect directed at detective ramos but all officers were painted by and it stole the valor, honor and attention that it rightfully belonged to the memory of detective raphael ramos' life and sacrifice. that was not the intent, i know. but it was the result. do you think that really was the result. that that's all that people remember? >> no i don't think that's the only result. i think that people were awed by the thousands of officers. the long motorcade of motorcycles. and officers at attention. and just the whole ceremony. the whole activity of the funeral. i think is what will have the lingering memory, more so than a few officers turning their back. >> and i wonder if issuing such

a strongly worded memo really jeopardizes bratton's solidarity with the ranks. what do you think? >> well, i think it's pretty clear that the commissioner has to back up the mayor and he's he has pretty much taken the mayor's side on what's been said in the last couple of months. i don't know if that changes it or just shows that's what he believes. if you want to make a protest against the mayor, there's other ways to do it. don't do it at these solemn funeral. >> do you think the mayor bill de blasio has made any progress at healing this rift with the rank and file of the department? >> it doesn't appear he has. we don't know what goes on behind the scenes. what kind of discussions he's having especially with union leaders in new york. whether he's making any progress towards that, i don't know. it doesn't seem so. we don't know for sure. >> we'll see what action he's

officers will take if they will turn their backs on the mayor. >> now, the wake for detective wenjian liu is from 1:00 p.m. to k9 p.m. >> if your child is showing any flu symptoms please be on alert. ordinary symptoms are turning deadly. we're talking in a matter of hours for some children. how is this happening? plus, we're going to hear from one woman whose family was on the airasia flight that crash. wait till you hear what she says about holding out hope. you are so outta here! aah! [ female announcer ] the complete balanced nutrition of great-tasting ensure. 24 vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and 9 grams of protein. [ bottle ] ensure®. nutrition in charge™.

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oh, people, i hope you're feeling okay this morning because the flu season is here with a vengeance this year. >> it's rough. >> i mean, it is moving fast. the centers for disease control has already declared this year's flu season an epidemic. >> yeah. >> of flu activities elevated across the nation. a high level in 22 states as you see on the map.

>> if you haven't gotten a flu shot you may want to reconsider. strains are spreading fast. in some cases it's spreading to children in a matter of hours. cnn's george howell has more. >> reporter: one of the most recent flu-related deaths is a 3-year-old girl in iowa. her parents say she went with perfect health with no pre-existing conditions to becoming severely hydrated and in pain. then rushed to a hospital in des moines, where she later died just a few days after showing the initial signs of the flu. another tragic case in minnesota. 7-year-old ruby hanson died christmas eve. her mother believed she might have survived had she not had had a preexisting medical condition. >> the flu would not did her in had she had not had -- she had a seizure, yes. the seizure was caused by the flu. >> reporter: these latest deaths now part of grim statistics released by the centers for

disease control showing the flu has reached an epidemic level in the united states. one of the strains making people sick this season has mutated, causing this year's vaccination to be less than optimal for protection. >> the most common virus we're seeing causing disease is this h3n2 virus. when we've seen h3n2, it's widespread. >> reporter: it's being felt widespread. reaching peak levels. >> i was on a ship the other day, i saw about 35 patients. i saw ten positive flu. there were a couple i didn't even swab. i just treated them because it's so prevalent. so we're definitely seeing a lot. >> reporter: the cdc is set to release its latest figures on how widespread the flu bug has become this coming monday. in the meantime, officials still

recommend getting a flu shot, even though it may not completely prevent against it, it may lessen the severity if you get sick. george howell, cnn, chicago. >> george, thank you so much. and by the way, i know that you're sitting there thinking, wait a minute, how do i know if my kid just has the flu and it's okay. and if i need to get them to the doctor. because we're talking about in a matter of hours. >> yeah. >> we're talking about that with a doctor in the next hour. how you can protect yourself, what we need to do. do stay close to that. >> we've got a lot more coming up for you. we're just getting started. the next hour of "new day" starts right now. new overnight, two large pieces of debris and an onil slick.

and new questions raised. and weather say mess. we've got heavy snowfall. thunderstorms. ice as well. more than 20 states are waking up to a fierce winter blast. it bad now, but it is only going to get worse. and we need to reiterate this, the flu officially reaching epidemic levels. at least 15 kids killed by the virus. thousands of people i know are sick. we're going to talk more about it and give you the information you need to know. and despite all of that, we wish you a good morning. >> yes. a great start to the day. >> we hope that you are feeling well today. so glad you're with us. i'm christi paul. >> i'm victor blackwell. just after 6:00 on the east coast. we're starting this hour with the startling information coming out in the search for airasia flight 8501 and all the souls who perished on board. >> indonesia's transport

ministry said airasia flight 8501 never requested permission to fly from surabaya to singapore. that is the route that the plane took when it went down in the java sea went down with 162 people aboard. >> now we're hearing they found two big metal pieces in the java sea. there was an oil slick that was spotted first. >> rough conditions is keeping divers from retrieving more victims today. 30 have been recovered so far. six have been identified. we want to bring with cnn's andrew stevens in surabaya, indonesia. of the andrew, what you can tell us about the two new objects found in the java sea? >> reporter: well, christi, they're easily the biggest piece of debris so far picked up in the search for 8501. one was roughly 30 feet by 15 or 16 feet.

a rectangular shape. and the other one was about 20 feet long. about two feet or so wide. now, we don't know exactly what they are. they were picked up on metal detection devices but there have been no eyes on them. the reason for that, as you said, the weather down there remains very, very tough indeed. we're talk about four-meter high waves. some pilots reporting five-meter high waves. strong waves and driving rain. the divers can't even get the remotely operated vehicle into the water to confirm what is down there. what those pieces of debris are. the hope is, they're going to provide a clue as to where the main part of the wreckage of 8501 is actually located. we still don't know. all we know, a few days ago, indonesia air force has shut down. this is the key because they think the fuselage, the cabin is mainly intact when it sank. if that's the case.

the black boxes will be there. the voice, the data recorders. also, there will be expected many, many bodies still trapped within cabin. so that is the grim assessment. and that's a working assumption of the investigators. as i said, terrible conditions on the site, even though it's the most sophisticated vessels and assets out there. it's actually getting in to see eyes on what is actually down there. it's so frustrating. >> i'm sure. i want to ask you, though, about these new questions this morning as to why flight 8501 was flying the route specifically on a sunday. because as we understand it, according to "the wall street journal," that were not permitted to do so, to fly this route on this sunday. what do you know about the investigation? >> well, the ministry of transportation in indonesia has clearly said they weren't allowed to fly on sunday. it was clear that airasia did have an license to fly between

surabaya and singapore but that license was only four days a week, monday, tuesday, thursday, saturday. not sunday. so they were not flying. the route to singapore was operated outside the permitted license. this is a violation against the agreement in the route provided. as a result of this violation, they have suspended the indonesians have suspended airasia flying that route surabaya to singapore route. they have announced the investigation. it's going to be to a subsidiary owned by the airasia group. they're going to be looking at surabaya airport. the operators there. how could this plane be allowed to fly if they didn't have the

right permits. they're going to be looking inside the office of the director of transportation. inside the ministry itself, to find out what they knew and why this plane was allowed to fly. only thing we've heard from airasia indonesia before, they're quoting the boss by the name of sunu, it's common to have one name. he has said that airasia will be fully complying with the investigation. and won't say anything until the investigation is complete. certainly, a damning piece of information coming out to determine why this plane was flying when it shouldn't have been. expected legal implications and insurance, as well. i'm no legal expert, but these are questions no doubt to be raised. >> no doubt about it. andrew stevens, we appreciate it, thank you. we've got a lot to talk about. we've got this investigation, these two pieces found.

of course, the weather. some waves are 13 feet high. monsoon indications. we've got with us now meteorologist karen maginnis, captain and cnn aviation analyst les event. and chip mccoy. karen, i want to start with you, i want you to set the stage for us, and give us an idea of the weather that the search crews are dealing with and when things may clear up. >> from the very beginning, we know this is monsoon season across this part of the world. they're in the intertropic convergence zone. you get these huge squalls of rain. as we look over the next 24 to 48 hours we see a little window. it's a glimmer of hope for people searching for this missing plane.

there are bits and pieces here and there. but the surface of the water has been very rough. between 13 and 18-foot wave heights. also, the winds have been gusting up to around 15, 25 miles per hour. now, it looks like it's going to be a little improved. it may be a narrow window, but at least the wind seems to be dying down. once you see some of this yellow disappear. that lets us know that the winds are going to be a little calmer. 10 to 15 miles per hour. that will be good news. this happens on sunday. it looks like that wet weather, victor and christi, for the most part could see, not completely rain-free. but we're looking at an improved weather situation for sunday. maybe a little going into monday. >> all right, karen. we'll continue to watch the weather. i want to go to chip and talk about conditions here. because initially, right after this search, there was some relief that the search efforts would be in shallower waters.

nothing like we watched with mh-370. the shallow waters appear to have its own challenges. three weeks of battery life left on this black box. with these conditions, do you imagine that it will be a race against the clock, or do you think it won't take that long? >> well, the issue is, they need to be prepared to put their equipment in the water, whether the wlerteather allows them to. so they just have to stay on station and just be patient to take whatever the weather allows when the waves die down. then they have to be able to get in the water. hopefully, they're going about this systematically with the sonar, trying to locate where the debris. they'll recover the victims and the flight recorders. >> les, let's talk about the two pieces that were discovered. one is 30 feet by 15 feet. the other one, just smaller than that. when you heard about those two

pieces and the oil slick that was discovered just above them, was there anything that was brought in mind to you immediately, what can we learn from that? >> well, you know, it's hard to say, victor, at this point in time, what those pieces are, they could be pieces of the wing. but i'd be more inclined to say fees of the fuselage, if there was an oil slick indeed near it, that could be portions of the engine intact and leaked a little bit. it may not be oil it could be hydraulic fluid in the fuselage. everything that's found helps forensically with the piece of the puzzle to find out why this airport ended up where it did. >> les, this development overnight. the investigation into why airasia indonesia was flying on a sunday. is this a small technicality has some have characterized it?

or do you think it speaks to a larger issue? >> you know, this is peripheral to the accident investigation. is it a contributing cause? i don't know. the bottom line, this aircraft was flying in those conditions. air traffic control dealt eye were the aircraft appropriately, at least as far as i know. the bottom line, it is what it is. this airplane flew. whether or not it flew on a permit doesn't change the situation. >> chip, we know that there will likely be divers standing by when the waters allow for them to get in and search for parts of the plane and the victims and the black box. what conditions are required? do you need completely flat calm waters. or can the divers have a bit of a challenge? nothing like we're seeing now, but some movement? >> no, that can tolerate some. it depends on the height of the waves and the length of the waves, if you will, how steep

they are. the most important thing is, if they are going to be diving that they know exactly where they're diving. in other words, they have to have a really good map of the records in the water before they start jumping in the water, if you will. once they start ghogt water, they need to be diving off flat forms that are fixed. not just floating around the ocean. but with several anchors out to make sure they maintain their position with respect to the debris on the bottom. >> hopefully, that comes soon. as soon as those conditions permit they can get in and search. chip mccord and les abend, thank you both. we'll have more throughout the morning. so the u.s. is slamming north korea with sanctions over the sony hack case. plus, a little girl miraculously survives a plane crash in kentucky. the only survivor.

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visit tripadvisor paris. tripadvisor not only has millions of real traveler's reviews and opinions, but checks hundreds of websites, so people can get the best hotel prices. to plan, compare & book the perfect trip. visit tripadvisor.com today. quarter after the hour now. president obama is turning up the heat on north korea. he signed an executive order slamming the country with a new set of economic sanctions.

that's in response to its alleged role in hacking sony over the movie "the interview" that satire about north korea's leader. the president wrote, the order is not targeted at the people of north korea but rather is aimed at the government of north korea and its activities that threaten the united states and others. cnn's will ripley is with us live. thanks for being with us, who do the sanctions target specifically? >> three different government entities and ten individuals associated with those entities. you're looking at north korea's social organization, their primary and resource entities. you have publicly named ten individuals, some of of whom are working out of north korea, operating under the radar. many of them under the arms export business. which is where they make their money, africa, iran, russia and syria. by names these people and the

entities they're tied to, you could really have a pretty serious impact on the dprk which is what the administration is hoping for here. >> so the obama administration said there will likely be a response to the element of north korea that the american public would not know about, some covert operation. is there an indication that the u.s. was involved in bringing down north korea's internet connectivity recently? >> it's resting that you mentioned that. the sanctions were their first phase, the first step they will take against north korea, which implies that the u.s. is denying any involve innocent on that cyberattack. keep in mind, north korea unlike most of the world is really not that connected via the internet or other agencies which is why sanctions don't have that much of an effect. and a cyberattack would have

little effect because so long is actually connected to the internet. >> any indication how north korea will react to these sanctions? >> we're still waiting for an official response, christi, from the north korean government. i reached out just within the last few hours to my song in pyongyang. i also monitored state media. so far, they're keeping quiet with it. there will likely be fiery rhetoric accusing the united states of unfairly blaming north korea for something they have repeatedly denied. there is skepticism from private cyberintelligence experts who say that they're not convinced the u.s. government was behind this. but the u.s. government does believe that north korea did launch this cyberattack. and they have announced sanctions against this subject. let's to your "morning

read." >> according to a 911 report, the police chief said he accidentally shot his wife while sleeping with a gun in the bed. william mccone's wife is in the hospital. he's not been charged but on administrative leave. eye aman accused of u.s. authoritieses by being an al qaeda operative has died. abu hamas libby has died. he's accused of being involved in the 1998 bombings of the u.s. embassies in kenya and tanzania. had his family said he suffered some health problems. in weather, winter storms may delay dangerous travel plans this weekend. snow falling in lubbock, texas this morning. that's what you're looking at here. as much as a half foot can accumulate in parts of the western texas. the lone star state is not alone. 24 states facing winter weather warnings and advisories today.

karen maginnis is in the cnn weather center with the latest headlines. hawaii had a blizzard warning? >> they did. who knew, up around 11,000 feet. but take a look at what's happening in our forecast. 9 a the arctic air is moving towards the south. minus 3 degrees. dangerous driving conditions from interstate 40 to amarillo. with an ice mix very dangerous. kansas city could see an icy mix for most of the morning. if you're traveling through detroit, chicago, pittsburgh, you're looking at an icy mixture. very strong gusty winds. from pittsburgh to all of pennsylvania, they're looking at numerous car accidents. and the gulf coast, rainfall

heavy. the windchill factor in some cases makes it feel well below zero. but we'll keep you updated as we plunge into arctic air. >> karen maginnis, thank you so much. >> consider this story. a deadly plane crash kills four in kentucky. but a 7-year-old girl survives. we'll have details of her amazing story. narrator: this is the storm sea captain: there's a storm comin narrator: that whipped through the turbine which poured... surplus energy into the plant which generously lowered its price and tipped off the house which used all that energy to stay warm through the storm. chipmunk: there's a bad storm comin! narrator: the internet of everything is changing how energy works. is your network ready?" dave, i'm sorry to interrupt... i gotta take a sick day tomorrow.

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the biggest thing that this girl survived. a nonlife-threatening injury. she got up and started to walk. >> some people would call this a miracle clearly. the small twin-engine plane took off on its way to new york. at some point, the pilot reported engine trouble. the 7-year-old walked three quarters of a mile through rugged terrain. larry wilkins was at home. his dogs had barked at the door. he was on his way to the computer to check facebook. when he goes to the door and he

opens it. and he says this is who was behind it. >> i went to the door. there was a little girl, about 7 years old. crying, not bad, her lips were quivering pretty good. she was pretty bloody. she had a bloody nose. and her arms and legs were scratched up real bad. and she told me that her mom and dad was dead. >> incredible. four people died in that plane crash. a 7-year-old girl luckily made it out alive. he said when she showed up at the door, guys. she was barefoot, had one sock on. dressed for florida weather. he's surprised she made it through that terrain. i asked him are you surprised it's a very rural house. he was home, had the light on, and she probably saw the porch light on from the woods. he was more surprised that he didn't hear the crash itself.

it took investigators about two hours to locate the wreckage. that's what surprised him the most. he said if it wasn't for dogs barking. >> a sense of direction to go in direction of homes. all of these things come together. no wonder people are calling this a miracle. >> he said it was difficult for him to make out what she was saying. she was in shock. when the emts showed up. she wanted them to go with her to the hospital. because she's not a family member, he couldn't go with her to the hospital. we do understand she may have an older sister. >> okay. >> we're not identifying her. her name out there. her family name is out there. this man is calling her the bravest little girl he's ever met. >> just the wherewithal, you just lose mom, you just lose dad. your older sister as well. april cousin. who knows how long she was in

that plane. >> right, right. >> all the way to the house. it's just remarkable. >> thank you. appreciate it. ahead, the grim task of identifying the victims of flight 8501 and how more time under water as these crews continue to search. how that time under water could make the task more difficult. so how's your credit? a loan? i know i have an 810 fico score, thanks to the tools and help on experian.com. and your big idea is hot dogs shaped like hamburgers? nope. hamburgers shaped like hot dogs. that's not really in our wheelhouse... you don't put it in a wheelhouse. you put it in your mouth. get your credit swagger on. become a member of experian credit tracker and find out your fico score powered by experian. fico scores are used in 90% of credit decisions. [ male announcer ] diagnosed with cancer, he didn't just vow to beat it. i vowed to eradicate it from the earth. so he founded huntsman cancer institute.

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all right. grab your coffee, we're ready to wake you up here at the bottom of the hour. 30 minutes past the hour here. i'm christi paul. >> i'm victor blackwell. new this morning, eye indonesia's government wants to why airasia flight 8501 was flying on sunday date it crashed into the java sea with 162 people on board. indonesia's transportation agency said it did not have authority to fly on sundays. it is launching an investigation. >> despite terrible weather conditions, searchers have spotted two large pieces of metal debris on asset floor,

they're believed to be from the plane. but waves reaching 18 feet in some cases have been preventing divers from their grim job of retrieving more bodies. >> and hope, that's what so many of these families of flight 8501 are clinging to right now. they're waiting to hear anything about the people that they love who were on that flight. now, as this search drags on, each day, as you can imagine, it feels like an eternity. we've got mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters who are lost at sea. so far, 30 victims have been recovered. 132 are still missing. we want to bring in cnn's paula hancocks who is live at a hospital in coastal indonesia. that's where a lot of the victims are being brought. paula, good morning to you. what are you learning this morning? >> reporter: well, good morning. as you say there have been 30 bodies retrieved so far. but none of those bodies were

retreevd todar retrieved today. an entire day where they were unable to find victims. the main reason, the weather. these waves are not easy to work with. you've got dozens of divers sitting on ships at the crash scene. waiting. waiting and hoping for a break in the weather. it's really frustrating for the operation. the interesting thing, they did find two large metal objects. they were going to send a remote control vehicle down below to find out what it is. it's not clear that they can do that because of the choppy sea. we understand with the search and res sue agency, we will find out and want to know what happened to their loved ones and why. >> 30 bodies have been recovered. only six have been identified. i know it's grim but i'm trying to be as sensitive as possible, but with the nature of their

deaths, are they finding it difficult to positively identify the remains? >> reporter: well, certainly, it's just the worst of occasions, really. and the conditions, the fact that these bodies are in salt water. and have been for some days. and day seven. so obviously, that is go together affect the bodies quite dramatically. the dbi, the bodies in charge of that, i asked him how do you do it? >> at first that body is identified using our member, using fingerprint. and then other methods use dental or dna and some other things. >> reporter: of course, there is a time limit as well on these operations. bodies may be floating at the moment but the fear is those that are loose and floating in

the sea may sink to the bottom of the sea. >> thank you, paula. it's a gruesome reality. but as we just discussed, the remains of the passenger and crew, they may also hold clues as to what happened on 8501. joining me now for more, lawrence kobilinsky, a scientist in the criminal justice in new york. and we have an air safety expert and flight investigator. first to you, lawrence, we all know this is a delicate topic. so taking into consideration the sensitivity of the day part. we're in mourning now. what could the conditions of these bodies tell us about what happened, lawrence? >> well, i think one of the things, besides identifying each of the 162 people on board has to do with determining cause of

death. and i think we need to know if these individuals were alive when that plane entered the water. in other words, people could have experienced such a tremendous impact upon hitting the water that that would have killed them. and i think the issue for a pathologist is whether or not the seawater has entered not only the lungs, but also the stomach and intestines, et cetera. so the issue as to whether, you know, how the plane was flying, the elevation, the speed and the impact zone, you know, the impact angle. those are things that we won't know until we get the black boxes. but the bodies were tell us a story. and, of course, you can eliminate the possibility of fire or explosion.

really, we don't know if the plane hit the water in one piece. and then broke up upon impact. or it broke up upon hitting the bottom of the sea. so there's a lot of questions still. >> let me get into the black box you just brought up for a moment and go to sean. sean, more than three weeks left on the battery there on that pinger on the black box. with the divers not being able to go in. aircraft being called back and the sloshing there of the shallow water, do you think it's going to be a race against the clock? it's come down to the last couple of days or hours. >> you know, i actually don't think it's going to. and there's a couple reasons why. one is, we do still have lots of time. the only reason we're holding is because of the extreme weather conditions. give it a few days for that to clear out. that's going to facilitate that search effort. but there's another important piece of this, this is different

than mh-370. i think we're going to be able to find a debris in a certain reasonable period of time. once they find that, even if it takes several weeks even if the pingers have expired, once they find that wreckage debris field, they're still going to be able to find the boxes. i still think they're going to be able to find the boxes within this week. >> shawn, is it typical to find several different victims, several bodies and then go for a stretch and you find none, like we're seeing during the search today? >> yeah, actually it is. the reason being, because of the currents and of course, the water is extremely rough due to the water that the bodies do in fact start to scatter, unfortunately. but that doesn't mean -- you know, we still haven't found the primary debris field yet. and where that debris field is, taking into account, the weather and drift conditions, i'm

willing to bet they're probably going to find more. in other words, a more concentrated core of victims. i'm still hopeful they're going to find some more. but he's exactly right. that we only have probably several more days before we start seeing some of those victims that are floating before they start descending through the water unfortunately. very uncomfortable topic. unfortunately, that's the reality of what we're looking at at the moment. >> lawrence, indonesian officials tell cnn, and i want to read it, let's put it up on the screen for folks. according to local wisdom and culture not all families accept autopsies. so for the sake of the investigation, we agree and it is accepted by interpol to perform autopsies on the pilot, co-pilot and ravnddomly selected passengers. how would that impact what happened here? is random selection going to leader investigators to a clear conclusion of what happened here? >> i think really to do this the

right way, each and every individual requires an autopsy. there may be some critical finding in a particular individual that will shed light on what happened here. you know, there are a number of possible scenarios where a piece of information found on one body could make the difference in determining what happened. it does turn out that under water decomposition is slowed down as compared to in the air. on the other hand, the water is relatively warm, so we are fighting time here. and the sooner the bodies come up, the easier it will be to identify them. but, really, autopsies need to be done on all of these individuals. i don't think there will be any difficulty really in identifying each and every one of them. but, i think that, you know, legally, i would think that

autopsies would be required despite cultural concerns. >> all right. >> victor if i can join in a second, yeah, it's important to understand why it's important to have an autopsy of the crew members. something we really haven't talked about yet. very briefly, the reason why that is so important is, one we need to determine the time of death to those individuals. if something happened prior, if they were incapacitated prior to impact. but also who was flying the airplane. we can tell from a forensic standpoint who had hands on controls, what they were touching, what they were doing. it's very helpful to have that forensic profile. >> and of course, we're hearing so many great things about this pilot and young co-pilot. but you also have to get back the toxicology reports to eliminate all of those possibilities as well. shawn and lawrence, thank you both. >> pleasure. >> thanks. we have to talk about the flu activity this year, because it is already hitting peak

levels across the nation. and it is so dangerous. 15 kids have died already. we're talking to a doctor so it doesn't happen more.

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43 minutes past the hour. so glad to have you with us. flu activity. it is unusually high for almost half the nation. look at this, the cdc reporting high outbreaks in 22 states as well as port reebuerto rico. flu activity spreading fast. a 3-year-old of iowa, one of 15 children who died as a result of this year's flu outbreak. she died less than 72 hours after she began showing flu symptoms. the cdc already calling this year's outbreak an epidemic. very early into the flu season. strains are spreading so quickly, doctors say they're actually overwhelmed. >> flu cases we've been seeing with children are record breaking this year. unprecedented numbers. really high in the first three weeks of december. almost one an hour. >> so let's bring in dr. william

schaffner, he's an infectious disease doctor. why is this flu outbreak so fast? >> it's a viral outbreak, christi, caused by the strain h3n2. and really, the dominant strain is different than the vaccine. so the vaccine only provided partial protection. it's kind of a double whammy. >> they say the vaccines didn't cover more than half of the strains tested. at this point, do you suggest that people should go get vaccinated? >> well, i think they should. and the reason is, that the vaccine protects against several strains. and there's more than one strain of flu out there, even though the dominant strain say little bit off. the others are right on target. and those others are active

often as the flu season progresses. >> this is what i think is really frightening. there was a boy in tennessee, a 6-year-old, who went to the hospital. he had gone to the doctor. he was sick. he went to the hospital because he seemed to get sicker. he died in the waiting room waiting to be seen by somebody of the flu. as a parent, how do we know that our child is in a severe enough state that they need to be treated immediately? >> well, christi, look at difficulty breathing. are their lips blue. have they suddenly taken a turn for the worse. all of those things should make you seek medical care just as quickly as possible. call your health care provider even if your child is moderately ill. your provider might provide an antiviral medication that would shorten the duration of the flu and make complications less apt to happen. >> the flu say virus, yes?

so it can't be treated really, the symptoms, yes? >> actually, the flu is indeed a virus. but we have antiviral drugs that work against the virus. so particularly for people who have underlying illnesses, asthma, heart disease, diabetes, if you're old or if you have young children, very young children. those are the ones who are most likely to get the complications. pregnant women also. those people if you get sick, we have flu out there. call your health care provider. you may get an antiviral that will reduce the severity of the illness. >> well, this is something interesting as well that i don't think i've read about before, specifically in tennessee, doctors are asking patients to stay home rather than coming in their offices. and they're conducting appointments over the phone to prevent the outbreak. is that normal? is that a normal factor? >> actually, it's happening all

over the country. call in, when you have flu in the community you're liking to have influenza. the doctor can make a good assessment over the phone. you don't have to go out and then spread the infection to others, particularly in a doctor's office. then the doctor can call in a prescription. your family member can get it and you can start treatment promptly. >> but again, the difficulty in breathing is the first time that a child or somebody who might have the flu is in a real dangerous state? >> absolutely. and look at that child, if you think that child is really sick, call. >> dr. shaffner, we appreciate you being here. thank you. >> thank you, stay healthy. >> you too. victor. if you think that clean living can stave off most kinds of cancer, you probably should reconsider that at least if you find the studying of the johns hopkins medical study that finds roughly two-thirds of cancer in

adults can be attributed to random gene mutation. that's just bad luck. some say it's strongly tied to the behaviors, like smoking and sun exposure. and we're following the big global story, a lab technician in the centers for disease control still being monitored for the symptoms of the deadly ebola virus. you know how many people have been killed by ebola. that number nearing 8,000 in the three west african nations that are dealing with this. now, this worker may have been exposed during a lab mix-up there at the facility. monitoring will continue through mid-january. again, those three west african nations nearly 8,000 deaths, liberia, sierra leone and guinea. the world health organization said that more than 20,000 cases have been reported in those three countries. christi? and new this morning, new questions coming up about

whether that airasia flight should have even been in the air last sunday before the crash. we have more plane coverage coming up. stay with us.

..

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and one of these new ones is about 60 feet long we're told. it's impressive they can find them when you talk about the strong winds and 18-foot waves that are challenging searchers as they comb the java sea especially at a time -- i find this on twitter and facebook people asking how can you, since we can track almost anything through gps not be able to find a high tech plane, that they can vanish? >> but there soon may be a solution to this. here is alison kosik. >> reporter: right now when an airplane disappears the story of what went wrong vanishes with the black box. what if we had those answers all along. >> we would know where the aircraft has gone, where it is, and we would have information on what happened in the meantime. >> reporter: a canadian company makes live streaming data recorders that send information in real time. it's part of a satellite-based

system that monitors a plane's exact location, engine conditions, and more. >> system transmits say every 5 to 10 minutes. >> if something goes wrong like the plane doofr deviating from its route it little stream second by second data. >> that's not only life saving but adds security for our country. >> there are several mechanisms that transmit a plane's data, unlike those systems the technology behind right? more extensive sharing a tremendous amount of nchx, so much critics say it might be difficult to monitor if widely adopted. flights technology is only fitted to a few hundred plane, it can be installed for about $100,000. normal data transmission costs between a few dollars to $15 per flight hour and goes up for continuous streaming in a rare emergency, a cost carriers might not be willing to pay. >> they are cost sensitive and

they simply will not add additional safety measures unless mandated by the federal government. >> with more questions about another missing commercial jet, the high tech black box may get a second look. >> the technology exists. it's in service. it's economical. the question is how to get more widespread use of it. >> thank you. so we have 13-foot waves, these monsoon-like conditions causing problems for the search teams in the java sea. it did not stop them as we are just now learning to find four new large pieces of debris today. are they getting closer to the core site here? we're going to continue to look at that. new developments today in the tamir rice case in cleveland, 14-year-old boy shot to death by a police officer. we'll let you know the developments.

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here's some of the top stories making news.

john hinckley will not face new charges in the death of former president ronald reagan's press secretary. james brady's death last summer was ruled a homicide three decades after he was shot. hinckley faced charges related to brady's shooting during his trial but found not guilty by reason of insanity. >> officials in cleveland turned over investigation into the death of 12-year-old tamir rice to the local county sheriff's department. rice was killed by a cleveland police officer. the mayor says the case is being transferred to assure transparency and accountability. >> donna douglas has died at the age of 81. she was probably best known for her role as elly may clampet. she died at her home in louisiana surrounded by friends and family. >> stay there, we've got a busy morning for you. lots to talk about.

>> the next hour of your "new day" starts now. new questions being raised as to whether airasia even had permission to fly its route the day of the crash one week ago today. and breaking news this hour, four large pieces of debris found overnight, what this reveals about how flight 8501 crashed. >> also, heavy snowfall, ice, more than 20 states waking up to a winter blast. what does this mean for all of the people headed home to start a new week at work in the new year? >> good luck with it. also, police commissioner william bratton issues an internal memo to new york's finest, asking them to show respect tomorrow at the funeral of fallen officer wenjin liu. >> so grateful to have your company with us. it's 8:00 on a saturday morning, i hope you're getting r and r.

last weekend you can of the new year but back to work. >> it all starts fresh on monday. >> i'm christi paul. >> i'm victor blackwell. we're starting with the breaking news this hour indonesian search teams have found four large objects believed to be from airasia flight 8501. >> apparently they were found in the priority search area in the java sea where the plane went down last sunday with 162 people on board. officials say the largest piece measures 59 feet long. >> we're hearing this as indonesia's transport ministry says the airline did not have permission to fly from the city of surabaya six days ago, the route the doomed plane took. indonesia is launching an investigation. >> we're following the latest on airasia flight 8501. we start with andrew stevens who is in surabaya. andrew, good to see you. what can you tell us about these four new objects that we're

learning were found in the java sea? >> that's right. two more have been added to the list. both sizable pieces of debris. we don't exactly know what they are. and the investigators are going to continue to search and see whether they can track back where they found that debris back to the main crash site if you will. they don't know where that is at the moment but these are all very, very important clues, bigger pieces, they won't have traveled so far as the smaller bits being picked up. we know as you say that they are sizable pieces up to 59 feet long. big rectangular objects. at this stage there are vessels on the site, the weather has been very bad today, so that really has hampered eyes on, getting people in the water, getting remotely operated vehicles in the water. dr drones if you will, to see what those objects are. we don't know because conditions

were too bad to get underwater at all. it's all slowly coming together at this stage. more and more bits of debris are being found. no more new bodies have been found. again, that was conditions. we're told that the rest of the searchers could expect a break tomorrow from the bad weather so that could be crucial in getting to these seabed bits of debris and identifying exactly what they are and tracing back to the main crash from there. >> something that may be perplexing is this report in "the wall street journal" that asserts this flight wasn't even permitted to be in the air last sunday when it was flying. what have you learned about that? >> well, the indonesian transport ministry has come out and said quite clearly that air asia indonesia was not licensed to fly between surabaya and singapore on sunday, on the day

that flight went missing. they are licensed to fly four days a week but sunday is not one of them. this is actually what the indonesian transport ministry said. the flight of indonesia air asia route surabaya singapore was operated outside the permitted license, this is a violation against the agreement of the route provider. they have launched an investigation, they are looking at the operations of airasia indonesia, also looking at why this plane was allowed to fly if it wasn't permitted to fly. what was going on at surabaya to allow to the fly and looking at the director general of transports own department to find out, again, why this plane could fly if it didn't have the correct paperwork. the ramifications of this are still unclear, christi, but if you look at it and the people i've been speaking to, it does carry a certain legal implications but also insurance implications, would this plane have been insured if it wasn't

supposed to be flying. these are the questions that are going to have to be answered. the families of the victims will want to know exactly the case here. air asia itself has said we're aware of these investigations, we are going to assist where we can and we are not going to talk about it until there is a conclusion of those investigations. >> all right. andrew stevens, we appreciate it so much. andrew has a unique perspective in talking with some of the victims' families. here's what one woman told him a little bit ago. >> i try to be strong. one, my family. i try to be strong. and i still believe he'll come back. i don't know why. from the beginning, from the first time, i believe he's safe. i don't know. still alive. maybe you can call me crazy but i feel in my heart that he's alive somewhere. i don't know.

>> so you can understand, i think anybody can understand until you find something substantial as she said, until you let me see the body i'm not going to give up hope. so, this of course with search teams who are battling waves, we're learning this morning reaching 18 feet, strong winds, as they search for more debris from airasia flight 8501. joining us now is cnn safetiable lips and former safety inspector in new york the author of "why planes crash" we also have cnn aviation analyst, and karen maginnis with more on the weather. four pieces now we understand found. one of them 60 feet long almost. in the java sea. do you believe that they are getting closer to the core area where the main part of the

wreckage most likely may be sitting? >> well, it certainly is an indicator as to where the main wreckage would be, this is not, to me, what the main wreckage is. these are pieces that may have come off of the aircraft prior to hitting the water or after the water. it's just too early to tell what this means exactly. >> mary, the flight boxes have not been discovered and we understand that the condition there is make this obviously very difficult. do you think that there will be enough time considering the weather there, the volatility of this very shallow water? >> well, i do because we still have about three weeks to go on the battery life and sometimes the batteries can last longer than the projected 30 days, and of course sometimes they become detached or damaged in the crash sequence. but in many crashes it's been situation where it's been divers that have found them. they put eyes on them or gone through the wreckage and found them that way. certainly at this point there is

no reason to think that they won't be able to find them. and as soon as the weather permits they can get those pinger locators working again as well. i think they will. >> do you find there is greater relevancy of this new investigation into airasia indonesia or is this a peripheral element as crews continue to search for the victims and the wreckage? >> no, i think this is probably the tip of the iceberg of what we're going to find. our federal aviation administration actually grades foreign countries on their compliance with aviation safety regulations and many times the faa has found indonesia fails, they were given unacceptable ratings. the significance will be two-fold, but many, first of all was this flight crowding a crowd air corridor. were the licensing requirement to keep the air traffic from swamping the air traffic controllers in the air corridor,

and two, if they were flying without permission what other rules have they overlooked. so i think this is just starting to -- there will be many more violations and problems uncovered but this is a big issue as to why they were there and did they contribute to the problem by swamping air traffic control. >> and david, we know from reports there were other planes in the area at the time. i imagine there are certain challenges that are presented when you have obviously this difficult storm, but so many planes in a tight compacted area. >> yeah. the problem here was that they requested to go to a different altitude but weren't given that authority because of the fact there were other aircraft in that area, as mary said this may have contributed to why the aircraft wasn't able to react and ended up in a situation that they weren't prepared to handle. >> do the regulating bodies consider the number of planes that typically go in and out of an airport when they issue a license to fly on a certain day?

is that the primary consideration? is that possibly why airasia indonesia was not licensed to fly on a sunday? >> yes, as a matter of fact they did have authority to fly this route until just recently, last month. at that point they were supposed to restrict that flight through march. this indicates a couple things, at a lot of levels. the airline itself didn't return the route which is their responsibility to do that. the other thing is that the overseeing authority allowed them to continue to fly even though they hadn't which indicates there is a lack of oversight as to over the airline which they do have a history of, iko has done several attempts to work with indonesia to change the way they do their oversight systems. this is a developing problem with indonesia and they have been working on trying to change that. it's slow in coming and iko is aware and they have been investigating that. >> developing challenge as this

market for air travel in this part of the world continues to develop. thank you so much. >> thank you. i want to bring karen maginnis in. part of the hurdle has been the weather. what does it look like there today? >> you know, at the time of the crash we were looking at that typical monsoon rain. the heavy downpours, the thunderstorm tops around 50 to 53,000 feet. now that this search area has narrowed near where it was last reported, we have seen just days after day after day of vessels both on the water as well as into the air, we have looked at such poor weather conditions. saturday, this saturday has been dreadful across the region. you heard about the wave heights there. between 13 and about 18 feet. but now our computer models are suggesting there's going to be a break. is this going to give the searchers time enough to do

everything they need to do? probably not. but this is the best that we can have or to hope for for this region. this is kind of a wind graft. they have been brisk. 25-mile-an-hour winds. you get low visibility, you get sloshing waves, you get high wave heights, you get the cloud cover for the pilots that are in the area. both for aircraft as well as for the helicopters. but now we startto see blue u. see that yellow disappear that's where stronger winds have been located. but as we go into sunday and for monday afternoon, it looks like christi and victor, lighter winds, improved visibility. not clear but a whole lot better. >> karen, thank you so much. another developing story this weekend, the u.s. sanctioning north korea for its alleged role in the sony hack case. we'll have details on what these new sanctions include. >> and oh, you have got to hear this story a. twin engine plane crash killed four people.

but a 7-year-old on that flight, the sole survivor, wait until you hear how they found out about this plane. >> it's an amazing story. of course for more information about who was lost on airasia flight 8501 go to cnn.com/impact. you find ways you can help these grieving families in this tragedy.

president obama signed an executive order slamming north korea with a new set of economic sanctionsch it's in response to its alleged role in hacking sony over the movie "the interview" that satire about north korea's leader. >> jim acosta has details for us. good morning, jim. >> reporter: taking care of a serious piece of business at the end of his vacation in hawaii president obama is turning up the heat on north korea, in response to the cyber attack on sony, the obama administration maintains north korea was behind that attack, officials say the sanctions announced are just the beginning. >> happy new year.

>> translator: sanctions ordered by president obama are dubbed by the white house as broad and powerful and only the initial u.s. response to north korea's alleged cyber attack on sony pictures. senior administration officials say they are aimed at any and all officials of the north korean government, its political hierarchy and the heart of cyber operations and the money that finances it. specifically blocked from dealings with u.s. financial firms trgb, north korea's int intelligen intelligence, it's arms dealer and a chief defense research and development firm. in a letter to john boehner the president said his executive order adds to sanctions already in place and is not targeted at the people of north korea but is aimed at the government of north korea and its activities that threat at any united states and others. the president vowed to hold pyongyang responsible before leaving for his annual vacation in hawaii. >> they caused a lot of damage and we will respond.

we will respond proportionally and we'll respond in a place and time and manner that we choose. >> reporter: in an interview mr. obama called north korea's action a cyber vandalism the u.s. will deal with for years to come. >> we're going to be in an environment in this new world where so much is digitalized that both state and non-state actors are going to have the capacity to disrupt our lives in all sorts of ways. we have to do a much better job of guarding against that, we have to treat it like we would treat the incidents of crime in our countries. >> reporter: the white house appeared to suggest that the u.s. was not behind that vast internet outage in north korea in the days after the president's comments. josh earnest said in a statement the sanctions are the first aspect of our response. a senior administration official went further saying the u.s. is not ruling out the possibility that north korea may have done it to themselves.

just how much these sanctions will pinch north korea is isolated economy sun clear. officials say the u.s. is not certain whether the 10 people targeted in the sanctions even have assets in the u.s., but the white house making it very clear they are just getting warmed up. >> jim, thank you so much. 19 minutes after the hour. we've got a lot to tell you this morning. here is your morning read. >> according to a 911 tape a police chief says he accidentally shot his wife while he was sleeping with a gun in the bed. william mccollum's wife is in critical condition. he has not been charged with a crime but is on administrative leave while the shooting is investigated. >> a plane went down in kentucky killing four people. but a 7-year-old girl on that flight survived and then walked to a nearby home to get help. our nick valencia spoke with the

71-year-old man who lives at the home. you're going to listen to his emotional description what if this girl looked like, what she was saying when she showed up. but we do know that officials have found her injuries are non-life threatening. we'll have more on that. >> and two apple customers are suing for more than $5 million claiming false advertising over iphone's storage space. apple's new software takes up three kig a bites. that's 19% of the phone's 16 kigs of space. >> checking sports the nfl playoffs kick off today. the first of two wild card games, the arizona cardinals and the panthers face off at 4:35 eastern, then the baltimore ravens visit pittsburgh. to battle their rivals the steelers. tonight at 8:15. >> the steelers.

we know who victor is rooting for. >> the baltimore ravens. >> in weather, winter storms may delay or change your travel plans this weekend. we want you to be safe. look at the snow falling. this is in lubbock, texas earlier. it's pretty. as much as a half foot could accumulate in parts of western texas which could get dicey. the lone star state's not alone. 24 states facing winter weather warnings and advisories today. there is your map. do stay safe wherever you are. >> police commissioner bill bratton is sending a stern message to his force. in a new memo to the nypd bratton called for respect as law enforcement officials get ready to say good-bye to one of their own. up next, will his words ease escalating tensions or will they ignite more anger?

hero's funeral is about grieving, not airing grievances. that's the message to the nypd from police commissioner bill bratton as officers prepare to say good-bye to wenjin liu. he's one of the two officers ambushed and gunned down in the streets of new york. his partner raphael ramos' funeral was last week and it was during that service some police officers turned their backs on mayor bill de blasio as he spoke. that was a silent symbol offrus.

let's bring in sarah in new york. i wonder if we can expect the same turn-out as we saw last week, because tens of thousands of officers, not only from new york but across the country came. can we expect to see the same thing? >> we do expect the same thing and the services for officer wenjin liu begin today with a wake at 1:00 in brooklyn. now, that is actually closed to the public but later this afternoon at 4:00 in chinatown there will be a more public vigil where members of the community can come and pay their respects to the officer. tomorrow is the funeral and tomorrow like you said we do expect similar turnout to what happened last weekend with officer ramos' funeral. thousands of police officers from across the country would show up to pay their respects, jetblue has confirmed that they are flying in more than 1100 officers from different jurisdictions across the country to attend. we also expect the fbi director

to be there, the police commissioner, william bratton, and new york's mayor bill de blasio. that's significant like you mentioned because of the ongoing tensions between de blasio and the nypd, those started -- escalated i should say, actually, after de blasio's comments about the decision not to indict an nypd officer involved in the choke hold death of eric garner earlier this year. last week as you mentioned, at raphael ramos' funeral many nypd turned their backs on mayor bill de blasio and there were pictures that were taken of that event. those were powerful, they circulated through the media. because of that, because the storyline became much about what happened about them turning their backs on the mayor of new york city, the police commissioner william bratton has issued a memo asking the officers not do that again tomorrow. as you mentioned, he said a hero's funeral is about

grieving, it's not about grievance, he said this isn't a mandate that he won't be disciplining anyone over this but said this. i want to read you a little bit from his memo. he said it was not all of the officers and it was not desire respect directed at detective ramos but all officers were painted by it. and it stole the vamer, honor and attention that belonged to the memory of detective ramos' life and sacrifice. that was not the intent i know, but it was the result. victor. >> we'll see if those officers grant that request of the commissioner. we'll continue to watch the grieving of not just the city but the country as the second of these two officers is laid to rest. thank you, sara. >> some breaking news this morning, four large pieces of debris have now been spotted. are they from air asia 8501? are they getting closer to the core site there? and also, new questions about

whether that plane should have even been in the sky last sunday. we're examining all of it. you . (vo) theraflu starts to get to work in your body in just 5 minutes. (vo) theraflu breaks you free from your worst cold and flu symptoms. (vo) theraflu. serious power.

breaking news this morning, searchers may be zeroing in now on the location of airasia flight 8501. >> teams have found four large objects believed to be from the plane. they are all in the priority

search area in the java sea where the aircraft went down sunday with 162 on board. this is zoomed in area. you see here the view. you can see just how close these areas are together. officials say the largest piece measures 59 feet long. >> this, of course, as indonesia's transport ministry says the airline did not have permission to fly from the city of surabaya to singapore six days ago. that's trout doomed plane took when it disappeared. indonesia is launching an investigation. >> air asia's ceo tweeted this on the search efforts. many messages of strength for my staff all over asia. makes me sure we will come back stronger but first and only priority is families. >> let's talk about some of these latest developments with cnn's paula handcox where a lot of the victims are being taken.

paula, you've been following this all week. i'd imagine that the discovery of more debris could spark a myriad of responses from the people who are there waiting for news of their loved ones. what is the response when they hear about these pieces of the plane that are being discovered? >> reporter: well certainly the hope is that they are narrowing in on where the bulk of the plane is if there is an intact bulk, obviously officials are concerned that there may be a number of passengers and crew that may still be within that fuselage if it is still intact. so the hope is that these large objects and they are pretty large, are going to be a significant find. but of course the problem is because of the weather today they haven't been able to get photographic evidence, haven't been able to send divers down. the waves today have been up to about 18 feet in some places.

there are dozens of divers sitting on deck not able to get in the water because it's simply too dangerous. there is some good news, that tomorrow will be better. so sunday we could see waves of just up to about 7 feet. still quite high and choppy but nothing like we have been seeing. we went up in a helicopter earlier with the police, they were combing along the coastline on the west coast of borneo to see if any of these bodies and debris have been washed up as many officials believe they may be in the coming days. but after a half hour we had to abort because the weather was too bad. it is severely hampering this search operation. >> paula, we know that a few of the 30 bodies that have been recovered have been identified. and we understand that many angles of this story are difficult to discuss, but how difficult is the process of positively identifying these remains? >> reporter: well, these bodies

are in salt water at the moment so obviously the decomposition rate is high, it's less than ideal for those trying to identify the bodies. they say they would like the bodies to be retrieved as soon as possible, not just for identification of course but also to give some kind of closure to those distraught families waiting for their loved ones. i spoke to the director of the dvi, the group involved and i asked him how do you do it? >> the first identify dead body was identified using fingerprint, and there after we have to find another method, let's say using dental gram or dental records. dna. >> reporter: there is a window that the search and rescue teams are working with here because of

course those bodies that are not within the fuselage, that are loose and floating in the water, that may be floating at this point within several days may sink to the bottom and that makes it far more difficult to be able to find them and retrieve them. >> paula hancocks, thank you so much. >> a little girl the soul survivor of a plane crash walked nearly a mile to some random home to get help. you're going to hear from the man who opened his door and found that little girl. plus, you know within hours ordinary flu symptoms can turn deadly for young children. 15 kids have died already this year. what we need to know next. ring ring! progresso! i can't believe i'm eating bacon and rich creamy cheese before my sister's wedding well it's only 100 calories, so you'll be ready for that dress uh-huh... you don't love the dress? i love my sister...

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ensure, take life in. 38 minutes past the hour. a twin engine plane crashed last night in kentucky, killed four people. this is what is so remarkable a. 7-year-old girl survived. >> let's bring in nick valencia. it's amazing that this girl just had the wear with all to get off this plane with her family there

dead, and walk in the right direction to get to someone. >> mom, dad, sister, cousin all dead. four died. twin engine plane. these are the type used for business trip, personal trips, on the way from florida to illinois where this family was from. when the pilot, we believe it was the father that was flying this plane, he makes a distress call to the air traffic controllers and about 6:00 p.m. that plane loses contact. larry wilkins lives in western rural kentucky where the plane went down. 71, at his home. he tells us what he was doing when he heard a knock at his door. >> i just got through watching the evening news and the local evening news and walked in to get on the computer on facebook and whatever and see what was going on and before i got to sit down that's when the dog started hollering and barking. and opened the door and there

she was. if you could see the terrain, you would realize how incredible it was. bare footed. and 7 years old. that's the incredible part that she was just -- amazing to me. >> amazing. he said he had a porch light on at his house, not many homes in this rural area, a very wooded area. he could only assume that's how this 7-year-old girl got to his home. he says he is thankful she did. he wishes he could have done more. he cleaned her up. police showed up. emt showed up. remarkable story that she was able to survive. >> so do we know who she is with and where she is now? >> we don't know her whereabouts. she was taken to the hospital with non life-threatening injuries. but just the conditions she had to go through to get there, this area apparently had a bad ice storm, lots of downed trees, very cold. this girl was wearing shorts.

one sock on. dressed for florida. not to mention that, her family had just died. so like you were saying, to have that where with all. >> the moment that strikes me but when she asks this elderly man will you go with me to the hospital. and he has to say no because he's not a relative. >> he said that sort of -- that's what got him is he see this is little girl in shock, they are having trouble making sense what if she is saying, she just had been through a plane crash. she asks him can you come to the hospital. he wants to get in touch with her. >> i absolutely hope that happens. more connection between those two. thank you. >> so flu season is here and this disease, this virus, is moving fast. the centers for disease control has already declared this year's flu season an epidemic. flu activity is elevated across the country and at a high level in 22 states. >> so, if the you haven't gotten

a flu shot, this is why you might want to reconsider. strains are spreading fast and in some cases they are deadly for young children. we're talking about in a matter of hours. cnn's george howell has more. >> one of the most recent flu-related deaths is a 3-year-old girl from iowa. her parents say she went from perfect health with no pre-existing conditions to becoming severely dehydrated and in pain. then rushed to a hospital in des moines where she later died, just a few days after showing the initial signs of the flu. another tragic case in minnesota. 7-year-old ruby died christmas eve, her mother believes she might have survived had she not had a pre-existing medical condition. >> the flu would have not did her in had she not had gervais syndrome. there is no way. she had a seizure, yes. the seizure was caused by the flu. >> these latest deaths now part

of grim statistics released by the centers for disease control and prevention showing the flu has reached epidemic level in the united states, one of the strains making people sick this season has mutated, causing this year's vaccination to be less than optimal for protection. >> the most common virus we're seeing causing disease is this h-3n-2. when we've seen it in previous seasons we've seen relatively severe seasons. so it's possible we could have a severe season again this year. >> it's being felt widespread and at least 36 states with current influenza levels approaching peak levels we saw two years ago. doctors are seeing more patients. >> i was on a shift the other day, i saw about 35 patients. i saw 10 positive flu swabs. and there was a couple i didn't even swab. i just treated them. it's so prevalent. we're seeing a lot. >> the cdc is set to release latest figures on how widespread

flu bug has become this coming monday. in the meantime, officials still recommend getting a flu shot, even though it may not completely prevent against it, it may lessen the severity if you get sick. >> so january 15th is a little more than a week away. that is the day that according to those close to hillary clinton, that we will know whether she's running for president. coming up next, why the timing could be critical and what it could mean for other possible contenders.

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january 15th, that is the day according to those close to hillary clinton we will know whether she's running for president. the form are secretary of state has long indicate shed will make the big decision before mid january. this timing could be critical here. clinton has dominated the democrats' 2016 conversation so far. the bench some say pretty thin so if she doesn't say no in a few week she may put her party in a tough spot. i want to bring in our strategist liz chatterdon and republican lisa booth. thank you for being with us. we appreciate it. >> thanks for having us. >> liz, what do you think she's going to do? >> i don't think she's going to announce on january 15. i don't. i don't have inside information. i think it's going to be a

little early. the moment she announces she becomes the target for every republican running and i think at this point there are close to 20 republicans running. last thing hillary wants to do is become the target of all of those republicans. what we want is the republicans to target each other. i don't see her making an announcement until april, maybe even may. she has nothing to gain by early announcement. the party may want her to get in so that everyone else can say okay, never mind, hillary's running and they can go their way. but i don't see hillary getting in prior to april. >> she said, liz said 20 people or so on the republican ticket in terms hoof is going to be on the ticket we should say. so lisa, we've heard a lot about jeb bush recently, that he is exploring the run, resigned from all of his corporate nonprofit boards. what do you think? >> christi, you are right to point those out. those are strong indications that he is going to run. for republicans there's

positives and negatives with jeb bush. the positives are the fact that he has a strong economic record as governor and if you look at his second race for governor he did exceptionally well with hispanics, i think 60% of the hispanic vote. 14% with african-americans and tied with women. those are keys that republicans need to do better with. the concerns are i think for a lot of conservatives are immigration and education. i think it's his ability to explain those issues to primary voters in early states that could make or break his candidacy but for republicans as you pointed out we have a lot of people that are interested in running so it's not a foregone conclusion. we have a deep bench of governors like chris christie and scott walker and mark rubio and rand paul. >> as a recent poll showed that matchup between clinton and bush again, which a lot of people are thinking again, really? would put clinton ahead.

but that he was the strongest of the candidates, potential candidates out there so far. liz, do the democrats want bush? >> at this point we're not so much worried about who the republican nominee is going to be. i will say that it's been 22 years since or i guess 23 years since 1992 since the last bush/clinton match-up. this wouldn't be a different bush and different clinton. i don't think as americans we're interested in looking backwards. i think we're interested in looking forward. i would be stunned if jeb bush is the eventual you'll nominee with the big field getting ready to run. he's come out early, there is a lot of reason for him to come out early, try to soak up a lot of the early money. absolutely gain the middle ground, take a lot of wind out of mark rubio's sail, chris christie's sails. it's almost the opposite of hillary coming out early. i don't think we're going to see

bush/clinton. >> if we don't want to look back some would argue clinton is looking back as well, is it not? >> even -- >> there are more people to run for the white house than two families. >> i appreciate that. however, hillary clinton will be the first female president of the united states. that is looking forward. that is progress. that is breaking all kinds of glass ceilings. one more white guy, hillary clinton would be moving forward. >> i appreciate the historical connotation but that's not a reason to elect someone. look at someone's record. the problem with hillary clinton, she has problems with the base, we've seen group likes democracy for america, actively campaigning for elizabeth warren because they are dissatisfied with hillary clinton. she owns president obama's failed record which was rejected in both the 2010 and 2014 midterm elections. hillary care paved the way for obamacare which has been

incredibly unpopular. the majority of americans rejected it since day one. she's also directly responsible as former secretary of state for president obama's failed foreign policy record like the russia reset. so look, democrats have a lot of problems with her hands on hillary clinton. she is no bill clinton. she does not have the likability fact they're bill clinton has. >> liz, you have the last moment. >> i couldn't disagree more with about everything that came out of her mouth. himry clinton is actually going to be a terrific candidate and a terrific first female president of the united states. and whether or not she is responsible for things that have happened in the past, she was one of the most popular secretaries of state in the history of this country, beloved around the world. she is going to be a heck of a candidate. i don't see any of the republican field being able to come close to hillary clinton. not one. >> all right. lisa booth and liz, we appreciate your thoughts so much. >> thank you. ahead on "smerconish" at the top of the hour, another big

story in the political world that has a lot of people talking, and provocative interview with former klansman and republican politician david duke on that topic. he says he's rubbed elbows with politicians on both sides of the aisle and he will name name any are hypocritical over revelations that house republican whip steve scalise spoke to duke supporters in tw 0 2012. >> you shed week if he's crucified, your word choice, then you're going to name names. what are we talking about? >> i would name names of any democrat, i know some democrats and republicans in the house of representatives, who tried in fact, urged me to support them, in fact i did. >> you're saying there are members of congress today who have relationships with you -- >> have had. >> they choose to keep those private. >> and that's fine. and i respect somebody's privacy. >> you'll call them out. >> i would call them out if they hypocritical.

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woman: do you think he's on his way? man: he doesn't even know that we're here. is he ok? please tell me he's ok. laura... ok, try to call him again. there's no signal. try! nothing's working. well, just try. everything's down. this is so bad. i miss him. he's out there by himself. narrator: make sure you know where to find your family in an emergency. start your plan at ready.gov. are you seeing something like this this morning? are your friends in lubbock, texas, that's what they see. as much as a half foot could accumulate.

>> and the lone star state is not, well, alone. 24 states facing winter weather warnings and advisories. >> karen maginnis with the latest. all righty, karen. what's it looking like? >> okay. how does this sound to you. snow, ice, wind, flooding, arctic air, let's see what have i left out. i think that covers it. >> that would be enough. >> it's almost too much. >> and this is all in the eastern half of the united states. kind of a complex weather scenario developing here as a clipper system moves down across the northern tier. that plunges the temperatures down. what we saw about a week and a half ago with the tornados that struck portions of louisiana and into mississippi and they were deadly. look at the arctic plunge that we're expecting as we go into wednesday. minus 3 the expected high

temperature in chicago. you go from temperatures single digits to teens, to below zero. then you head to st. louis and only about 12 degrees coming up on wednesday. for atlanta we've enjoyed fairly mild weather, but temperatures around that freezing mark by thursday. warm, moist air ahead of this weather system and we watch this area of low pressure trekking from the four corners all the way into the lower mississippi river valley, and then head to the northeast. that with the clipper system and we've got the makings for ice. they are singing kansas city, st. louis, parts of west virginia, around pittsburgh, ice is making it very difficult so if you are trying to travel home after the long holiday break, it is going to be treacherous and bone chilling cold. thunderstorms expected along the gulf coast. >> all righty. thank you for the heads up. >> other stories making news, coming up at the top of the hour, john hinckley will not face new charges in the death of

former president ronald reagan's press secretary james brady's death last summer was ruled a homicide. three decades after he was shot when hinckley tried to assassinate president reagan. hinckley faced charged during his 1982 trial but he was found not guilty by reason of insanity. >> officials in cleveland have turned over the investigation of shooting of tamir rice to the local county sheriff's department. rice was shot and killed by a cleveland police officer back in november. the mayor says the case is being transferred to insure transparency and accountability. >> senate democratic leader harry reid is home from the hospital after breaking several ribs and bones in his face. the nevada democrat was using a piece of exercise equipment when he fell according to his office. he is 75 years old. he was an amateur lightweight boxer in college. >> who knew. >> he is expected to make a full recovery. good news there. we'll see you back here at 10:00

eastern in the cnn newsroom. >> that's right. "smerconish" starts for you right now. stay close. i'm michael smerconish. it's a new year and we've got lots to talk b. we're going to drill down on some of the stories of the week. a burning question on capitol hill. did a powerful republican house leader talk to what many call a hate group? i'll ask the group's founder david duke, the former klan wizard is here. cold war in gotham. cops turn their backs on new york city's mayor. are they turning their backs on enforcing the law? what we still don't know about 9/11, the missing 28 pages from a congressional report on that infamous day and why they are locked away in the basement of the u.s. capitol. former senator bob graham is here to weigh in. and serial, the popular podcast abt