eve are stuck and frustrated. the omicron surge forcing the cancellation of more than 2,000 flights globally, including hundreds here in the united states. we start this hour with cnn's brian todd. he's live at reagan national airport just outside of washington, d.c., as airlines deal with a rash of covid related sickouts. >> reporter: in terminal after terminal, a glance up at these boards brought frustration and anxiety for air travelers. >> we were really concerned when i saw on the news they canceled 100 flights. oh, my god, we won't be able to get home. >> reporter: airlines around the world canceling thousands of flights christmas eve, including several hundred in the united states. >> make sure your cell phone is charged so that you're getting airline alerts in case anything changes. i recommend you bring snacks in case lines are long and you're getting hungry. >> reporter: united and delta apologized to passengers. both carriers saying their cancellations were at least partly due to the omicron variant grounding flight crews.

>> they didn't expect this variant to come around. so they have a lot more people than normal calling out sick who are testing positive and then who have to stay in isolation for ten days. >> reporter: airline workers who have been vaccinated and have breakthrough covid infections now have to quarantine for ten days from the onset of symptoms following cdc guidelines. the airline industry has asked the cdc to cut that time in half. while some medical experts think that's a good idea, others say it's dangerous. >> i understand where it's coming from given the pressures on the industry but i don't think it's the right move. the surge of cases is already bad enough. we don't need to make it worse by lowering that isolation protocol number. >> reporter: even with the omicron surge there's a huge spike in airline travel. >> i'm going to california. i'm nervous. i don't know if it's the best decision to make but i haven't seen my family in two years. >> reporter: the latest covid surge could not come at a worse

time for the airline industry. >> it's a bad look and i think it's going to be hard to convince customers on the fence anyway that, yeah, you can come back to the sky and not worry about it. >> reporter: in the meantime, aviation analyst david slotnick has good advice for passengers. constantly check your reservations. be almost obsessive about it. get as much early notice of a cancellation as you can so you can act on it very quickly. >> good advice. brian todd reporting live from dca, thank you. u.s. health officials are scrambling to respond to the omicron variant's fast-moving spread across the country. the cdc notably issuing new guidelines for how long infected health care workers should stay isolated at home. cnn's senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen joins us now. elizabeth, what more are you learning about these new cdc isolation guidelines for health care workers and why they don't apply them to the entire

population. >> boris, it's interesting because these new guidelines, they shorten the isolation period for health care workers who have tested positive for covid but really the cdc is leaving this in the hands of individual hospitals. they can shorten this isolation time even more or even get rid of it altogether. let's take a look at what the cdc put out. they say that if you -- if a health care worker is asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic and getting better they can go back to work after seven days as long as they have a negative test. but if a hospital decides they need to go into a contingency plan that gets shortened further. and if the hospital says, look, we're in crisis. we have too many people out. too many patients, we're in crisis, they're allowed or the guidelines are for them to have no restrictions. now president biden said today that there's no plans to change these rules for other workers. delta airlines asked for the change, for example, for airline employees but president biden said, no, we're not doing that.

but i think it's important to remember these are guidelines. and they play out differently in different industries, but the cdc does not set law. these are all guidelines. so it will be interesting to see what kind of choices different industries decide to make. will they abide by cdc guidelines or will they perhaps do something different. >> and you have new reporting about a new drug that could prevent covid-19, but there's a ca catch. >> there is a catch. there's not nearly enough of it. i think sometimes we forget that there are 7 million immune compromised americans and many of them, they got vaccinated. they got one shot, two shots, three shots, some of them four shots and then they tested their antibodies and found they didn't have any. they had no antibodies or very, very low levels. i've spoken to my team and i spoke to dozens of these people. i want to introduce you to a few.

diane from florida and she has cancer. she also has rheumatoid arthritis. she had no detectable antibodies after she shots. same for diane ellis, a kid me transplant patient. a cancer patient in hawaii and candy johnson, same situation, a transplant patient in virginia. and they are all wondering, wow, what do we do? we didn't get a response from the vaccine. the good news, there's a drug which got authorization from the fda earlier this month. the bad news is, only 700,000 doses have been contracted for. so 7 million immune compromised people in this country. 700,000 doses have been contracted for. that's 10%. and that's really going to be a problem as people try to get this drug. it's already causing problem. one major hospital system in massachusetts tells me we're only getting enough in our first shipment for 1% of our patients who need it. boris? >> that is unsettling to hear.

hopefully that changes soon. elizabeth cohen, thanks. let's discuss with an expert. cnn medical analyst, dr. leana wen, the author of "lifelines." dr. wen, merry christmas eve. grateful you could share part of it with us. the u.s. government didn't purchase enough of this covid-19 prevention drug for the 7 million americans eligible to take it. would you say that was a mistake by the biden administration? >> boris, hindsight is always 2020. in retrospect, the biden administration should have purchased more but they had to make a bet and say, is this going to pan out and i'm really happy that it looks like this particular treatment works. just to emphasize what this is, this is an antibody infusion. so people who are immunocompromised their bodies are not able to mount a substantial response to the vaccine which is the reason they

may need infusions of this antibody. this lasts up to six months so it really is very important to get this to those who really need it. and i hope that's something the administration works on ramping up in the months to come p. it's important to put things into perspective and remember up until two years ago this virus didn't exist so responding to it in any meaningful way takes time. i want to turn to the new cdc guidance that shortens the isolation requirement for health care workers who tested positive for covid. do you consider it the right move at this stage in the pandemic? >> absolutely. for two reasons. one is that we're facing a potential collapse of our health care system if too many health care workers end up not being able to be there because they're out on isolation. and so we need this. this is a necessity in order to keep our critical infrastructure going. but the other reason is there is emerging science. there's research coming out that you don't need the full ten days. in fact, i'm a proponent of the

test to return protocol. now that we have rapid tests, why not test individuals and if they end up testing negative, then they can go back to work. i don't think this is something that should only apply to health care worgers. we're seeing now that new york state is saying all workers in critical infrastructure. they don't need to isolate for the full ten days. but i also think that there are many people, everyday citizens, who would really benefit from this and actually there are many people right now who are not getting a test because they don't want to be stuck somewhere if they're traveling. they'd rather not find out if that sniffle is covid. so right now we're disincentivizing testing because of this long isolation period. >> do you think the white house and cdc should push to shorten isolation guidelines for everyone? >> yes, i do. i believe that the test to return is a way forward. so to shorten the isolation period in general but also to specifically say you can -- if you have a negative antigen

test, a rapid test that you're able to end your isolation period. that would also make it a lot fairer because i've also heard from nurses and some other health care workers who are saying, why does this only apply to us. we have to go to work when we're infected and still not feeling great but this doesn't apply to anyone else. >> dr. wen, there was this statement made by the nfl's chief medical officer that confounded me. he told the nfl network that data collected by the league shows that covid-19 is not spreading from asymptomatic players. does that make sense to you? >> i mean, i would love to see the data because they contradict the other data that are out there. prior to omicron, more than 50% of the spread was by asymptomatic individuals. and with omicron, that's so much more infectious, one would think that even more so that even before somebody ends up necessarily showing symptoms that they may be infectious. so we really need to get more

information about this. and i think the nfl in the meantime need go back to their former protocol of regularly testing asymptomatic, vaccinated individuals because we really don't want to get it wrong. and then end up again disincentivizing testing. just because you don't test doesn't mean the infection isn't there. the infection is there. you just don't know about it. >> are you concerned that policies based on that kind of thinking could put people at risk? >> yes. and this is the reason why we do need clear and more urgent guidance from the cdc about this. i think right now what's happening is so many businesses, including the nfl, aren't being affected. people are just out for a really long period of time and, therefore, not even getting tested. so if we're able to shorten that isolation period, even if we end up missing some people who may still be infectious if we're able to test a lot more individuals and actually get them to comply with the guidelines, that could save a lot of lives. >> dr. leana wen, always

appreciate your insight. merry christmas to you and your family. thanks for joining us. >> merry christmas to you, too, boris. coming up -- some of the most startling images yet of the january 6th insurrection. stand by for just released video showing rioters battling and beating police in a tunnel for hours. ♪ just shine your light for everyone to see ♪ ♪ and if you try a little kindness ♪

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there is new violent evidence of what happened on january 6th. the justice department releasing new video of the capitol insurrection showing rioters brandishing weapons and viciously beating police officers during the three-hour assault that day. cnn justice correspondent jessica schneider has more on the video and the new trump ally who is cooperate with the committee. >> reporter: a three-hour video released by the justice department after cnn and other outlets sued for access shows one of the most violent and prolonged battles between capitol police and the pro-trump mob. the video taken from a capitol security camera on the lower west terrace does not have sound but it shows how dozens of rioters moved in on capitol police spraying the cops who stood guard with pepper spray, pointing strobing flashlights at

them, striking them with batons and flag poles. more than an hour in when police push back, you can see a helmet knocked off of one officer's head. the video release comes as the house committee investigating january 6th prepares to ramp up its probe in the new year. chairman bennie thompson tells "the washington post" he's focusing on then-president trump's actions zeroing in on this video he released 187 minutes after the riot began. >> you have to go home now. >> thompson telling the post, it appears he tried to do a taping several times but wouldn't say the right thing. thompson now saying trump's delayed response could be a factor in deciding whether to make a criminal referral, possibly for obstructing the electoral college proceedings and that other trump officials could also face referrals for pressuring local and state election officials to overturn the results. >> the men and women of the new york city police department. >> reporter: commissioner and ally bernie kerik is saying any cooperation he provides to the committee must be made public. kerik now says he'll post

subpoena documents online and that he wants to testify at a public hearing. kerik worked alongside trump's former attorney rudy giuliani after the election to discredit the results. and attended a meeting at the willard hotel with other trump allies january 5th to discuss how to keep trump in office. meanwhile, committee member pete aguilar says they hope the supreme court acts fast to rule on releasing documents from trump's white house. >> so the courts have already ruled in our favor. our anticipation is the supreme court will uphold that ruling in an expedited manner. >> reporter: now word on how quickly the supreme court will decide. jessica schneider, cnn, washington. >> so let's get more on all of this with two former federal prosecutors. cnn's senior legal analyst elie honig. and we're also joined by cnn legal analyst jennifer rogers. grateful to have you both with us. thanks for joining us.

elie, how important is this lengthy new video as investigators are trying piece together exactly what happened on january 6th? >> boris, i really hope that we all don't get numb to all of this because we've seen so much video coming out over -- in particular, the last six months and it's important to remember, we are coming up on the one-year anniversary of january 6th and already there's such a virulent strain of denialism and revisionism, people saying it wasn't violent. you know, what's the big deal essentially. every one of these pieces of footage should remind us how serious this was. just how dangerous this was. this wasn't a quick one-off squirmish. this video shows this was a prolonged battle in our capitol. we need to keep all of this. these are facts. this is truth. it's so important. >> no question. jennifer, as we're watching this clip, what stands out to you about this new video evidence? >> well, it's interesting because, of course, we knew there was violence. some of that we could see, not

just in the tunnels but outside of the capitol. but what strikes me is the obvious planning. you don't have those strobe lights and the bear spray and other things they were using, the tactical gear unless it was well planned. so i know that's a lot of what the select committee is focused on. who was planning, who was involved, who knew they were bringing that sort of equipment with them? and i think they'll dig into that aspect which this video shows clearly. >> you don't bring bear spray to a peaceful demonstration. elie, let's talk about former new york city police commissioner bernard kerik. he's planning to publicly release some documents requested by the house select committee. is the committee really going to allow him to dictate the terms of his cooperation? >> oh, i doubt it, boris. i'd not call this cooperation at all for exactly the reason you say. this is not how it works. the witness doesn't get to say, well, i'm going to give you what i feel is appropriate and i'm going to hold back the rest of it. it will give the one-sided version of the story.

bernie kerik has no executive privilege claim. he's never worked for the executive branch at all. he has about the same argument as steve bannon which is none. steve bannon has now been -- he's in the process of being prosecuted for contempt of congress. another thing to keep in mind about bernie kerik and steve bannon, both of these guys have previously been charged with other federal crimes and then both pardoned by trump. so they are both obviously loyal to him. i expect bernie kerik to end up down the same road at steve bannon. >> and notably, jennifer, both steve bannon and rudy giuliani and bernard kerik worked to try to find evidence of voter fraud on behalf of the former president. ultimately what impact could keriko potential impact have on somebody like giuliani or bannon? >> it's interesting because apparently what they really want to talk to him about is his involvement in the election fraud nonsense but also this

meeting at the willard hotel right on the eve of january 6th. so, you know, if he turns over enough information and is willing to talk about that and that will, of course, put pressure on all of the other participants in this conspiracy, including this meeting at the willard when they were talking about how to put pressure on mike pence to overturn the election. so these are building blocks. each person if you can get enough information from them it helps in getting information from other people, too. that's certainly one of the reasons they want to speak to kerik. >> do you think there's any chance the january 6th select committee could pursue a referral for trump? >> they are signaling that's a possibility. it's important to understand what a criminal referral is and is not. it is not anything that is technically legally binding on the justice department. or anyone else. it's simply a request to prosecutors saying, hey, we think we found evidence of a crime or potentially we'd like you to take a look at it.

but it does change the political atmosphere, the political calculus. look, we get referrals as prosecutors all day every day. jennifer knows this. getting one from the u.s. congress is a big deal. >> we have to leave the conversation there. elie honig and jennifer rogers, if you're celebrating, merry christmas. if not, enjoy some eggnog perhaps. still ahead, a 14-year-old girl wound up dead, shot in a department store dressing room by police firing at a suspected attacker. we're going to break down what happened with a law enforcement expert when we get back from a quick break. stay with us. works on that too, and lasts 12 hours. 12 hours?! who studies that long? mucinex dm relieves wet and dry coughs.

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the police chief in los angeles is apologizing for the fatal shooting of a 14-year-old girl at a department store calling her death devastating and tragic. it happened while officers were firing at a suspected attacker. a single bullet wound up striking the innocent teenager in a dressing room where she was with her mom. cnn's security correspondent josh campbell has more from los angeles. >> reporter: this burlington coat factory store in north hollywood, california, now a crime scene after the tragic killing of a 14-year-old girl thursday. police say they received multiple calls of a possible active shooter around 12:00 p.m. >> a number of those individuals indicated they were sheltering in place and taking cover.

>> reporter: at least one responding officer opened fire on the suspect near the 14-year-old's dressing room. >> the suspect was struck and passed from the gunfire. >> reporter: police believe a stray round from an officer's gun pierced through the wall. >> we found a hole in the wall. we went behind it. it turned out to be the dressing room. we were able to locate a 14-year-old female who was found deceased. >> reporter: no firearms were found at the scene. the suspect, police say, was swinging a bike chain and assaulted another young woman in the store. >> the suspect assaulted a female. that female was transported to the hospital. >> reporter: the lapd chief said video of the incident will be released to the public monday adding it will include the 911 calls, radio transmissions, body-worn video and any cctv and other evidence gathered at this preliminary stage. their investigation comes amid reports of upticks in violence across the country. with at least ten major cities breaking homicide records this

year. >> it happened in one of the corridors near the ann taylor store just adjacent to the nordstrom store. >> reporter: another shopping center near chicago, armed police were on scene thursday after four people were shot and sent to the hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries. >> the two suspects involved in the shooting were known to each other and shot at each other. and the other victims were injured by ricochet gunfire. >> reporter: those trying to protect and serve in these conditions have been victims as well. 39-year-old baltimore police officer keona holley, a mother of four, was taken off life support and died thursday after authorities believe she was randomly ambushed in her patrol car. >> reporter: boris, no one is immune to acts of violence. a member of congress, for example, this week was carjacked by a suspect holding a gun to her chest. she thankfully did not have any physical injuries. one common theme we've seen in so many of these recent cases is an apparent random targeting of victims. it's why it's so important for all of us to remain alert while

we're out and about. authorities don't want people living in fear, but a good rule of thumb is to maintain at least a basic level of situational awareness as we go about our business this holiday season. >> it doesn't hurt to be vigilant. stay with us. i want to bring in cnn law enforcement analyst anthony barksdale. chief, from this shooting in hollywood to the killing of daunte wright in minnesota, it seems there have been a number of officer-involved shootings described as deadly mistakes. i'm wondering if you're investigating this incident to figure out if this was an issue of improper training or misconduct. where do you start? >> i am looking at both incidents. i am looking at the training. we're seeing officers in the split second decision make fatal mistakes. make bad calls on when to discharge their weapons. so this is, you know, something

that we really need to slow down and figure out what's going on with officer training. this is unacceptable. >> it sound like you're calling for changes to be made to the way that officers are trained across the board. >> yes, we're seeing from daunte wright, you have an officer that doesn't know her gun from a taser? and now in this hollywood incident with this 14-year-old shot inside of a store, you have to think about your backdrop when you pull that trigger. you need to know where that bull set going. when you squeeze the trigger, you're accountable. you're not only shooting at the suspect but you have to think who or what is behind that suspect. this is training. the officers constantly, they are the ones the public is going to see and blame but i look higher. i look at the supervision. i look at their training. i look at management because

this has to be dealt with across the board. >> josh, you were alluding to other incidents of violence and cities across the u.s. actually set records for homicides this year. we have a look at a map showing some of the places where we've seen spikes in killings. what are you hearing from law enforcement as to what is leading to these increases? >> well, one thing we hear, a common theme is crime is complex. it's hard to draw a line through some different incidents but experts say there are some factors that are the leading cause. they include the prevalence of guns on american streets. we've seen a number of gun sales spike over the last year during this pandemic. so more guns out on the street. also issues of people being released from prison which some criminologists say is to blame here as well. a lot of the jails were not emptied but a lot of the nonviolent offenders during the pandemic were allowed out. we've seen some repeat violence

there. it's very complex. this is something that's obviously gotten the attention of the white house as well. we are seeing in a number of cities across the country those who were calling for policing reform and the so-called defunding of the police now reversing themselves in a lot of cities to include here in california, the city of oakland and san francisco. here in los angeles as well as these officials try to get a grasp and ahead of some of these waves we've seen to try and protect the public. one thing that makes this so tragic is that as much as the cops go out there and there are heroic cops every day trying to protect the public you still see these incidents where even police officers themselves make mistakes, sometimes criminal as we saw in the case of daunte wright. it's a complex thing but it's obviously something that the nation needs to get a grasp on in order to help all of us who are going about our business. it's the randomness, boris, is what is so troubling here. a 14-year-old girl, for example, in l.a., trying on a dress in a dressing room. she now will not, obviously, be

here for the holiday season. >> our heart goes out to her family. yeah. not much more you can say but offer condolences there. chief, given the complexities that josh just outlined, what can local law enforcement do to address some of these trends? >> boris, we've got to get back to what worked. we have to get officers back to being proactive, back to being supported. we need the politicians, the public, the prosecutors and the police to get back on the same page and say, look, we need the police, but you have to get it right. we can't afford these deadly mistakes to innocent citizens. you have to be held accountable for the job and we'll support you. but you are accountable. we also have to start looking at what really can be done as fast as possible. let's look at what happened in new york years ago when they introduced under bratton and

deputy maple, they introduced comstat to new york. accurate intelligence, clearly disseminated to all, rapid deployment. effective tactics, relentless follow-up and assessment. it can be done. it's the mindset. zee to get back to a mindset that we are losing too many people to violent criminals and get engaged and push and let's move forward. >> an important voice in the conversation. atnthony barksdale, josh campbell, thanks. a blunt warning from the american president to russia against invading ukraine. could eastern europe be on the precipice of war? stay with us.

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washington and moscow both say the ball is in the other's court when it comes to deterring a russian invasion of ukraine. russian president vladimir putin is continuing to amass forces near ukraine's border, despite a direct warning by president biden earlier to de-escalate. pentagon correspondent barbara starr joins us now live. obviously the pentagon closely monitoring this situation. what do we know about what the united states is prepared to do if russia invades? >> the biden administration has been sort of, if you will, messaging moscow, don't do it. they want to focus on diplomacy and trying to pressure moscow to

pull back those troops. if putin was to cross the border, and there's no sign yet by the way, that he immediately plans to do that. all the indications are is the u.s. along with the nato allies and european allies would go for what they referred to as crippling sanctions. but there's been sanctions on russia for years and none of that seems to have deterred putin, so would that really work? no indication the u.s. military has any interest in getting into some hot combat situation with the russians. i don't think anybody believes that's what we are looking at, at this point. they really want to pressure putin to pull back those forces. putin, for his part, is continuing to say the u.s., nato, the west is too close to his border. he wants them to guarantee ukraine would never become part of nato and there wouldn't be a nato nation on his border. boris? >> yeah, the big question about the economic sanctions and how effective they would be is how

far european allies to the united states would be willing to go, specifically germany which has very close ties with energy to russia. so ukraine has been pushing for the united states to further assist with defense equipment, things like surface to air missiles. what's your sense of how far the u.s. is willing to go in that regard to assist ukraine militarily? >> it's really an explicit calculation. how much do you give them in the way of weapons to defend themselves and still try to claim it's not escalatory on the part of the u.s. there's been a u.s. team in ukraine to look at their air defense and see what would be needed to defend against potentially russian bombers, russian missiles, that sort of thing. no word yet on their findings. no word yet on a next phase of any kind of u.s. defensive arms package for the ukraine. boris? >> barbara starr spending christmas eve at the pentagon, as she often does.

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so that's why it's important to make a plan with your parents. here are a few tips to stay safe. know how to get in touch with your family. write down phone numbers for your parents, siblings and neighbors. pick a place to meet your family if you are not together and can't go home. remind your parents to pack an emergency supply kit. making a plan might feel like homework, but it will help you and your family stay safe during an emergency.

the largest and most powerful space telescope ever built is scheduled to launch tomorrow. scientists are hoping the james webb telescope names after a former nasa chief will unlock the mysteries the universe first revealed by the aging hubble space telescope. let's get more with space and defense correspondent kristen fisher. so this telescope costs $10 billion. took almost 15 years to build and some are describing it as a time machine of sorts. help us understand why. >> so this is an infrared telescope. it's really designed to see all the way back to the very beginning of the universe. and so it's designed to try to see that very first light that ever came out of the cosmos. and it's also developed to

hopefully some day perhaps answer that question we've been trying to get answered for so, so long which is, are we alone in the universe. but so many of the scientists that have worked on the webb space telescope tell me the thing they believe that will be the greatest accomplishment is to answer some of the questions that have not even been asked yet. that we don't even know to ask. and so just imagine, some of these scientists and engineers, they have been working on this telescope for more than 20 years and how it all comes down to tomorrow morning, 7:20 in the morning, eastern time on christmas morning. that is when this telescope is going to lift off in an arian 5 rocket from french guyana. but that's only the beginning of the telescope's journey. from there it has to travel about six months and it's going to unfold like an origami in space. there are still a lot of places where something could go wrong.

hopefully it all goes right. >> a lot of work. we're watching the animation of the origami unfolding. it's going to be a delicate process. at what point do you think we'll start seeing the images and data sent back from this telescope? >> it's going to take about six months because it's going about a million miles away from earth. and because it's so far, it's going to be 100 times more powerful than the hubble space telescope but also means that if something goes wrong, astronauts are not going to be able to fly out and fix it like they did for the hubble space telescope. so really is a very nerve-racking day tomorrow but for the next six months or so until we get those first images back. >> fingers crossed for six months is a long time. i wouldn't want that kind of arthritis. kristin fisher, thanks for the time and merry christmas. >> merry christmas. so the new telescope won't be up in time to see santa claus tonight but the north american

aerospace defense command, norad, has been tracking him on christmas eve for years. tonight we're joined by major general michelle rose, the director of logistics and engineers for norad. general, thanks for sharing part of your christmas eve with us. merry christmas. we have been following along as santa has been can you give us an update on where he's been spotted and where he's headed next? >> yes, thanks. currently, he just left morocco and he's heading towards spain. he is in europe right now. heading towards the united states here soon. >> potentially enjoying food as he stops along spain. how hard is it for you to track santa? he's making a lot of stops tonight. >> he does make a lot of stops. in fact, he's so far as delivered almost four billion gifts to kids all over the

world. we have a series of radars up in canada and alaska. we track him on satellite. that's what you see when you go to noradsanta.org. we have a lot of jet aircraft that will escort him especially in bad weather. we have those three ways to track santa. it's been pretty easy to last 66 years to track him. >> it's an impressive work you do. i see santa with a mask along with other folks flying. we know he's fully vaccinated and got his booster. how important is it for saint nick to mask up and goes inside folks home? >> oh, yes. of course, santa will take every

precaution possible out there. he does wear mask in the homes. when he's talking to the reindeer, when he's ocup in the sleigh he doesn't wear mask. they need to hear him. he's taking all the precautions last christmas and this christmas. s >> you track everything that flies in and around the united states. i'm wondering if this is a new mission for you. >> it's gnaw tradition for my family. we answer a lot of phone calls. about 20,000 last year. hoping it will go up this year since we have more volunteers. both military, civilian and local community here in colorado. it's definitely a new tradition for us. >> santa, we should note heading towards tunisia. what does the rest of the night look like for santa? any indications the reindeer might have trouble navigating

the sleigh? >> not tonight. he'll be in the area in the united states very soon. we'll just say we don't know exactly where he's going. we don't have an itinerary. we know it based on historical data. he usually arrives in our local communities between 9:00 and midnight. make sure the kids are in bed and ready for him to come. >> i'll be up awaiting for anything other than another lump of coal. thank you for time. merry christmas. appreciate you. >> merry christmas. thank you. still more news ahead. don't go anywhere. [bikes passing] [fire truck siren] [first responder] onstar, we see them. [onstar advisor] okay. mother and child in vehicle. mother is unable to exit the vehicle. injuries are unknown. [first responder] thank you, onstar. [driver] my son, is he okay? [first responder] your son's fine. [driver] thank you. there was something in the road... [first responder] it's okay. you're safe now.

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they open up about their decades long friendship and professional partnership in a new cnn film. this is film, king recalls how taylor played a instrumental role in her launching her singing career. >> i was your side man. that's all i ever wanted to be. you said to me, i want you to go on stage tonight and sing your song. what, what? i can't do it. no, you're going to do it. don't worry. you gave me the lovely introduction and it might have been, i could be wrong. i might have been queens college, which i went to. >> i seem to remember it was. >> yeah. you said, okay, everybody i'm going to turn the stage over to carole king. you all know her as a

songwriter. he listed the whole thing. what he did is he made me because he knew the songs. i started singing. it's hard to -- i'm like, ♪ when this whole world starts ♪ i'm terrified. i start feeling the love. by the time i got to ♪ on the road ♪ ♪ let me tell you ♪ you made me do that. i will always be grateful for you love, support and shovering the kid out the nest. i watched you on stage. you were yourself. however you were, you were authentically you and you loved being up there and your level of consciousness varied but you were always present for that. i watched you be yourself. like, oh, that's what you do.

thank you. >> the cnn film "just call out my name" airs sunday january 2nd at 9:00 p.m. not this sunday but the next one. thank you for joining us tonight. hope you have a merry christmas. our coverage continues now with a cnn special report. the following is a cnn special report. >> one plant. more than 400 compounds which we know can treat dozens of different ailments but one in particular may surprise you. >> hello. autism. it affects millions of children. they can be non-verbal, delayed and sometimes even violent. injuring others and