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hello, welcome to "cnn newsroom." we begin with this monster winter storm. its core is hovering over the great lakes, and its trailing arctic air is causing power outages and dangerous travel conditions two days before christmas. life-threatening windchills have permeated all the way to the gulf coast, over 70 million americans are experiencing below freezing temperatures, that includes the entire state of texas. this video's from kentucky where the governor has just confirmed three people have died as a result of this storm. and this from our affiliate whbq in memphis, tennessee, their high today, 16 degrees. it's usually around 52 this time of year. the city's enforcing rolling blackouts to reduce the strain on their power fwrid. and damaging winds -- grid. and damaging winds have knocked out power to a million customers

nationwide. and look at this -- the storm system causing heavy flooding in parts of new england. just a harrowing sight for a region expected to hit freezing temperatures later tonight. and the faa is having to issue ground stops at airports that were previously untouched by the forecast. we're going to have much more on that in a in a moment. first we're going to go straight to chicago now where cnn has more from o'hare international airport. there's widespread flight cancelations everywhere, but what's the status? how bad is it at o'hare? >> reporter: yeah, at o'hare, look, this is one of the busiest, so obviously with a system like this it really came over the midwest and plains. this is a place that's going to be affected heavily. so we talked about the total numbers across the country. you've got more than 4,000 cancelations, over 4,500 delays. if you just look at the board up here at o'hare, you can see that it lines up largely with what

they are seeing, more than 420 cancelations at this point. and that their average delay and arrival time is around 35 minutes which, of course, when you think about delays and arrival times, you think about how connections could get disrupted. then of course that could lead to cancelations. we were just talking to a couple a few minutes ago who they had planned to do a big family trip all the way to new zealand. but of course they had to get from texas up here to chicago. that chicago leg was delayed, they got here, that flight was canceled. they're being re-routed through l.a. trying to continue on. there's a line downstairs of people who checked their luggage in to go for a flight, sat here for hours, and now are try to figure out where their luggage is. that's what people are dealing with days ahead of the christmas holiday and, of course, the holiday stretch all the way to new year's. people are trying to get to warmer places because we are well into the negatives outside -- i am inside where i

don't need a jacket. well into the negatives outside. people trying to get to warmer places, but more importantly trying to be with family in this important stretch of the year. >> yeah, holiday travel always such a mess, omar. the storm making it so much worse for so many americans. thank you so much. glad you get to stay inside. we're going to go outside now to cnn's paolo sandoval live in buffalo, new york. i mean, wow. whiteout conditions where you are. what's it like? >> reporter: kristin, our viewers can google image buffalo and winter and they'll probably find this image. this is exactly what's happening right now for so many residents. i'm about 40 yards away from the camera, and i walked over here to show you, demonstrate what the biggest concern is for authorities right now which is low visibility for those who decide to try to brave the streets in and around the city of buffalo. i'm going to slowly walk toward our colleague behind the camera

here. as we are in a relatively safe place to show you this, since there is little to no traffic. for hours -- i've counted perhaps three vehicles that have passed by here. it's certainly telling that people are heeding the warnings from erie county officials with a driving ban that's in place here. basically recommending that only essential traffic due to emergencies be happening right now. i have to tell you, i've covered hurricanes, covered tropical storms, covered winter storms. it seems that these two are intersecting here today in buffalo. these are conditions that are going to continue into tonight and potentially into tomorrow. we have that lake-effect snow. look, there is not a massive snowmaker, believe it or not. it's the winds that are whipping around, all -- the snow that has fallen and adding to that, that flash freezing that we will continue to see throughout the night as temperatures continue to plummet, kristin. back to you. >> paolo, that was incredible. i was not expecting that at all. i did not know that you were going to be in the shot. i couldn't see you at all, and

you just came walking out of that blizzard. it really does show you how low the visibility conditions are where you are. are you seeing anybody out on the roads right now? or are you the only one? >> reporter: no, i'm the only one. that's the only reason we felt safe and confident enough to walk down the street because if a car were to come up, it would be difficult to see it or for them to see us. we're keeping a close eye on both streets here. i have to tell you, we have seen, like i said, perhaps three vehicles in the last hour or so. we've seen some local officials obviously on patrol. aside from, it seems that people are certainly getting the message to stay home. it's not just for the next few hours but potentially into tomorrow. real quick, power outages is a big issue right now here in erie county, new york. in fact, two warming centers that were set up by authorities even lost power because of these high winds and with it the risk of downed power lines. they are in the process of relocating folks who are warming up in those warming centers to

other locations. but aside from that, county operations here, they're basically frozen, no pun intended, until the conditions can get better and until utility crews is get back out there. they've recorded wind gusts of close to 80 miles per hour in buffalo earlier today. certainly you're not going to get crews in those conditions. they want to wait for things to calm down which may not happen until tomorrow evening, night, maybe on sunday, on christmas morning. >> i'd say i wish you could get to one of those warming centers, but i know it's not going to happen. stay warm if it's possible -- >> reporter: i'm warm under here. >> good. thank you so much. with me now, toledo, ohio, mayor wade kapsakovich, ohio is facing flash freezing conditions with sub-zero windchills. we saw what it's like where paolo is, what's it like right now in toledo? >> reporter: actually what paolo is going through in buffalo is if nothing else an interesting lesson in science and geography.

buffalo and toledo are both on the exact same great lake. buffalo is on the far eastern tip of lake erie, we're on the far western tip. unfortunately for the folks in buffalo, that means they get the lake-effect snow, and we don't as much. we get snow, but not nearly -- since we're on the west side of the lake, it's not nearly as bad. so snow, we feel like we've caught a little break here. we probably have only had an inch or two of snow. now, we are dealing with 60 mile-per-hour winds, temperatures that have dropped dramatically. this time yesterday it was 45 degrees here in toledo. right now it's 4 below zero with windchills. it's as low as 30 below zero in some places. and so we're dealing with our share of issues, as well. but nothing like the folks in buffalo who have to deal with that lake-effect snow. >> that's good for folks in toledo. we saw that in buffalo where paolo was there's nobody on the

streets. you cannot drive in those conditions. but what about where you are? people obviously want to travel to see their families for christmas. are the roads safe? is it safe to do that? >> we have in toledo three different levels of snow emergency, one, two, and three. three is the highest level, that is when folks are not allowed on the roads, only emergency personnel. right now we're at a level two which -- that's a level where we encourage people not to get out on the roads. we know there's only two days of christmas shopping left, but we really think it would be better for everyone if they were to stay in. it's not at that level three yet, but we could be moving that direction. you know, we have reports of -- we have about 20 different active cases of power outages, most of them have been

addressed. those that haven't will be addressed by 3:30 or so. fortunately they're only affecting hundreds of people in toledo, not thousands. but the issues with cold temperatures are real. we have 30 different warming centers just in toledo where people can get a warm meal, get out of the elements, especially the unhoused population. and our police are only responding to emergency situations now. we want them to be able to focus on making sure that downed branches and limbs are cleared away and that the logistics of getting through a storm like this are attended to. so it appears that the counties just to the east of us were hit a little worse. some of counties like ottawa and hancock and other counties just to the east of toledo are in a level-three emergency which is absolutely no -- no one on the road except for emergency

vehicles. the turnpike, the ohio turnpike which actually cuts through the northern part of ohio including toledo, it is restricting the travel of some kinds of vehicles. so it's real. it's real here. but we believe that just to the east is a little worse than we are, though no one enjoys 30 degrees below zero and 60 mile-per-hour winds which is what we're facing throughout. >> sure. mayor, i know you've got a lot to get to. thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us and walk us through what you're seeing in your city. thank you so much. >> all right. thank you. so cnn meteorologist derek van dam is live in atlanta. the south also getting pummelled by these temperatures. power grids in places like memphis are under tremendous strain. i have to say, it looks a lot nicer where you are than where paolo was, but i know it's cold. >> well, yeah. you can see how my breath freezes on the way out. but paolo's live shot was

absolutely incredible. completely different story for us in the southeast. of course we've got the arctic air, but it's -- the sun is out. but the sunshine is completely deceiving. we're monitoring the temperature here as a good weatherman should do. it's 20 degrees here in atlanta. give you an idea how cold it is, we brought out a wet towel a couple of hours ago, and it's frozen solid. if that gives an indication of how cold it is out here, any water that was on the ground, that flash flood freeze that occurred here, 35-degree temperature drop in eight hours in atlanta. that froze that water on the roadways, and i saw that myself driving into the cnn center today. in terms of memphis, the mayor just a couple of hours ago, you know, talking about how the city and the county, shelby county was going to have mandatory rolling blackouts because of the strain on the grid thanks to this arctic outbreak. of course, that's been paused. they are asking people to conserve energy. temperatures in memphis now ten degrees, but you factor in the wind, it's negative nine.

here in atlanta, this temperature drop was dramatic. and for people who aren't prepared for that, we're talking about frozen pipes and the potential to lose power, of course, not being able to heat your homes, as well. so 35-degree temperature drop in eight hours is quite impressive. and kristin, that cold front is moving through new york, could bring the first flakes of the season to the big apple in the next hour or so. >> fantastic. 35-degree drop in just eight hours. that's wild. thank you so much. all right. we've got some breaking news now. the house has just passed the $1.7 trillion spending package to avoid a government shutdown. it will now head to president biden's desk for his signature, and we've got cnn chief congressional correspondent manu raju joining me now. so manu, walk us through what just happened. what's the breakdown on this vote? >> reporter: yeah, marking an end to a very busy 117th congress. the house just gave final passage to a government funding bill to fund the government for

an entire year. $1.7 trillion. a bill that is almost three months late, past the initial deadline. a bill that encompasses more than 4,000 pages was unveiled a couple of days ago, now is on its way to president biden's desk in the aftermath of this vote. it was a bipartisan vote, although not many republicans voted for it. the final breakdown, 225 voted in the affirmative, 201 no votes. one member voting present. now there were nine republicans who voted for it, there were a mix of members who are retiring, some who lost their primaries, some who are members of the house appropriations committee voted for this package. there was one democrat who voted against it. that was alexandria ocasio-cortez of new york. one democrat of michigan voted present. it still was enough to get this bill over the finish line. now republicans in the house and the senate were badly divided over this proposal. republicans are still in the minority here in the house for another couple of weeks. january 3rd they take power. the majority -- the minority leader of the house, kevin

mccarthy, urged congress to wait, urged senate republicans to wait, to punts this issue into the new congress when they would have the four shape this legislation going forward. republicans in the senate disagreed. mitch mcconnell, the senate republican leader, believed it was better to cut a deal now. others concerned if they waited until next year the narrow house majority would have a difficult time passing this bill and could lead to a government shutdown. you saw a serious division within the ranks. interesting that nine republicans in the house voted for it. that is half the amount of republicans who voted for it in the senate. 18 republicans in the senate voted for it yesterday even though there are 50 republican senators and more than 200 house republicans. nevertheless, enough bipartisan support on both sides to get this bill done and this legislative session and now onto joe biden's desk. >> getting it done just in time for christmas. manu raju, thank you. so the final report from the january 6th committee lays the blame for the capitol attack firmly on former president

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trump should never be allowed to hold office again. the panel of seven democrats and two republicans has released its final report on the january 6th capitol attack and how trump and his allies sought to overturn his 2020 election loss to joe biden. the 845-page report follows a year and a half-long investigation, more than 1,000 interviews, multiple hearings. cnn's paula reed has been following it from the very beginning and joins me now. paula, this report, it places the blame for the insurrection squarely on donald trump. it says none of the events of january 6th would have happened without him. was there any ambiguity in those findings? >> reporter: absolutely no ambiguity, kristin. what's interesting about this report is it takes a few steps back. it doesn't just focus on the vols january 6th. i mean, their evidence that they lay out in support of this bold conclusion begins before the election even happens. they argue that these false claims of victory, that this was

all premeditated, that the former president was being encouraged to say this he won even if he didn't. another really interesting finding is after the election this report gets into a lot of detail about the efforts to pressure state officials. in fact, this investigation uncovered that the former president and his associates engaged in more than 200 attempts to pressure state officials. they also allege that trump spearheaded this effort, especially to pressure officials in states that had gop-led legislatures including michigan, pennsylvania, georgia, and arizona. now it moves on it just talk about how these false election claims really spurred many of the president's supporters to the capitol on january 6th with violence that unfolded. it was interesting to read about what witnesses, people who were inside the white house that day, kristin, what they told investigators about their observations of the former president as he watched this unfold on tv. many of them expressed disgust

that he not only was not calling for help for those in the capitol but using time and energy to tweet against the former vice president. the recommendations here by the committee including that trump should never hold office again, and they also want to see reforms to the electoral counting process which is something that looks like up on capitol hill it might happen. >> you said 2 un00 attempts to pressure -- 200 attempts to pressure state officials. what does the report say about how the election and state officials were targeted? >> reporter: as we reported, we know there was that -- for example, that january 2nd call between the former president and the secretary of state of georgia where trump rattled off a litany of false election claims and was pressuring the secretary to find him just enough votes to help him win the state. now we know, of course, a call like that, that's under investigation by a special grand jury in georgia. that's why things like this are so significant because it's not just something that's included in the report, but this is a specific aspect of this alleged scheme that could have criminal

consequences. it's also a reminder that this wasn't just confined to what happened on capitol hill on january 6th, this was something that allegedly took place over months and spanned out across the entire country. >> paula reid, thank you for walking us through all of those 800-plus pages. we appreciate it. thank you so much. so a state of emergency has been declared for new york as the state gets battered by these high winds, snow, even flooding. we'll have a live update on the conditions there. and the winter storm not just impacting travel, it's now impacting last-minute holiday and gift deliveries. details ahead. 's one that'll really take you back. it's customized home insurance from liberty mutual!!! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. . liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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this massive winter storm sweeping across the country has pushed temperatures in many states below zero. milwaukee, wisconsin, is one of those cities dealing with this sub-zero weather, strong windchills, and a snow emergency. we have more from our affiliate wisn in milwaukee, bring us up to speed. what are the conditions like where you are? >> reporter: well, we are in the heart of milwaukee's historic third word. it is absolutely frigid outside, negative two degrees. now the good news is we did not get as much snow as anticipated, but the bad news is the cold and the wind are the serious problems. now i want you to look over my shoulder here. this is the milwaukee river. you can see that part of it is frozen and covered in snow. but not all of it is frozen. there's some steam rolling off the river right now.

that is because the water temperature is actually warmer than how cold it is outside. now by the time this is all said and done, we're going to have 86 hours straight with windchill below zero. the cold and wind, a brutally dangerous combination. we've been driving around trying to find people, people that are working, those first responders, and everyone's got on multiple layers like i do because this cold weather is just so dangerous. now we've had a lot of airport cancelations, as well. we've been at milwaukee's airport for the past two days. 20 cancelations alone today. some people stranded at the airport for days. and unfortunately, we are not finished yet. christmas morning, it could be negative 22. it's going to be cold this weekend. so we are still under that winter storm watch now. we are kind of waiting for things to get better. the good news, we did not get as much snow as anticipated. it's the cold and wind -- it feels like a slap in the face, it's just so bitterly cold right

now. >> and that's crazy. you're right that you point out you can literally see steam coming off the river. that's just -- shows you how cold the air temperature is. thank you so much. so new york governor kathy hochul has declared a state of emergency as this massive storm begins to move across the state. blizzard and windchill warnings are in effect throughout new york as are coastal flood warnings. and the temperature is just now starting to plunge in the central part of the state. syracuse bracing for snow today and windchills to drop to 25 below on saturday. cory dunham is the chief operating officer for the city of syracuse. cory, wow, there's a lot to be concerned about. what's your biggest concern for the syracuse area? >> i mean, i think right now our main concern is whether or not we're going to be able to get ahead of this flash freeze that's happening. you know, right now this morning it was 41 degrees, you know, pretty balmy at least for syracuse in december.

and now we're down to 21, but it feels more like six, it's just getting those plows out to get salt down on those roads to make sure we can get ahead of these icy conditions. >> yeah. they're coming in quick. so new york state is banning nonessential driving on some major interstates. how much is syracuse impacted by those road closures? >> i mean, you know, a lot of it is in the throughways and highways that surround syracuse. so there's not too much in terms of local traffic that we're concerned about. and you know, three to five inches for syracuse is nothing. that's a walk in the park. but with the wind blowing and, again, icy conditions, it just makes driving anywhere pretty treacherous. >> three to five inches, a walk in the parkment i know my family in texas would not agree with that. so what about power outages? >> nothing -- >> you are well prepared in skies for these types of storms -- syracuse for these types of storms. do you have more plans to open more warming centers if it gets really bad? >> yeah.

we've been in close contact with emergency management to make sure that city residents have what they need in case of emergency. we've been in touch with our local utility provider, national grid. we've got our forestry crew ready to go in case we have any trees and downed power lines. so you know, we're ready. we're not expecting the huge snow amounts that we usually get, but we'll be ready. >> any final advice to the people in your area? i mean, they're definitely better prepared than most americans for storms like this. you seem like you're very prepared but not too rattled by it. i mean, this is a bad one, and it's hitting right before christmas. any advice to the people who live where you are? >> yeah. i mean, i think we've been pushing for the last few days for people to take their time with where they're going and to drive carefully, drive safely, and make sure that if you need to travel, you know, it's because you need to and you're not making any unnecessary trips. we're used to large accumulations of snow, but ice is not something we generally

deal with entirely on its own. but again, our plows are out there, they're salting the roads, we're ready. >> that's nice to hear. happy holidays, corey, and thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us. >> thank you. right now the entire state of texas is seeing temperatures below freezing. texas, of course, not used to being as well prepared to storms like this as places like syracuse, and that includes the southern border where thousands of migrants are outside in the cold hoping to request asylum. a federal court was set to lift title 42 on wednesday which would have allowed more migrants to cross. now the trump-era migration policy, it remains in legal limbo. cnn's ed lavandera is live in el paso, texas. so ed, first of all, what's the weather like, and how are the people behind you handling these cold conditions? >> reporter: well, it's been an extremely dangerous situation here in el paso.

late last night there were emergency teams from the city of el paso driving around this area. this is just outside the sacred heart church shelter in downtown el paso. they normally can fit 130 people inside this shelter. last night they upped that to 200 because the temperatures got down to 19, 20 degrees. absolutely excruciatingly painful. one person we talked to a while ago said -- who slept out here last night -- said it felt like they were a passenger on the "titanic" it was so cold. and the concern is is that that will continue to happen here. and the other dynamic that has changed here is that many of the migrants you see here do not have the immigration -- proper immigration paperwork because of the holdup with title 42, many of these people have crossed repeatedly and been expelled. and they have gotten to the point now where they no longer trust the process, they don't want to continue going through all of that. so quite frankly, they have decided to enter illegally into the u.s.

and that complicates matters because there are some shelters that can only take people who have the proper paperwork because of federal and state law. so that really changes the dynamic out here. but city officials were so concerned about what was happening last night, they were going around essentially pleading with people to go inside some of the shelter space that had been opened up at churches miles away from this downtown area. there is such a concern among these migrants that they would be turned over to border authorities, they didn't want to go. they said they would much rather endure the painful cold than the prospect -- or the possibility of being expelled from the u.s. kristin? >> choosing the cold over possibly being expelled from the u.s. hopefully they get some answers from the supreme court soon on title 42. ed lavandera, thank you so much. so fresh indicators show that inflation is headed in the right direction, and now the white house officials are projecting confidence about the economy's ability to bounce back next year. what this means for your wallet is next.

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new economic data out today shows that a key measure of inflation continued to cool in november. the white house says it's cautiously optimistic about what that might mean for 2023. cnn has more now, vanessa, this inflation measurement is said to be the fed's favorite. what exactly did it show? >> reporter: yeah, this is the personal consumption expenditure price index, also known as pce. it showed that inflation cooled in november, about 5.5% year over year. that is a significant drop from where it was in october when it was 6.1%. and that is the lowest annual

increase since october, 2021, when we started seeing really high inflation, then month over month you see there .1%, that's great compared to what it was in october when it was .8%. and the federal reserve likes to see these numbers. this is the last big economic inflation report that they are getting before 2023, and it's a good indication of where they need to go next year. of course, 5.5% still a bit high. they want to see that number at 2%. but this is also encouraging for the white house who is saying that they are cautiously optimistic, they like to see these cooler inflation reports. we've seen a couple over the last month. they're also seeing a strong labor market, they're seeing low unemployment, and they're seeing consumer sentiment rise. for them they're feeling pretty good about 2023. the only thing they're keeping an eye on is what is happening with the war in ukraine.

that does impact u.s. food and energy prices. it's uncertain what's going to happen in the next year or so there. they're keeping an eye on that, but so far cautiously o optimistic. >> that's good news. on the flip side, there's a lot of last-minute gifts that may not make it for christmas because of this massive winter storm we've been covering. what are companies like fedex and u.p.s. saying about our packages and all these last-minute gifts? >> reporter: yeah, they are feeling the impacts of this storm just like americans across the country. if you procrastinated and ordered your christmas gifts last minute and you're expecting them to arrive today or tomorrow, they will likely be delayed. the u.s. postal service saying that they've had to close 89 locations mainly in south dakota, north dakota, nebraska, minnesota, and iowa, and then you have fedex saying that they've had major impacts at their hubs in memphis and

indianapolis, amazon having to close some locations presumably in the midwest. and what these shippers are asking us to do, you to do, is to be patient because they are truly trying to get everyone their christmas gifts on time. but they are fighting against mother nature, and of course their biggest concern is keeping their employees safe. so a little patience will go a long way. gifts maybe not in time for christmas, but what's another day or two? >> that's what you get for last-minute shopping, right? i'm guilty. you know it's always a possibility this time of year. thank you. so a local sports reporter fills in for his station's weather coverage, and he is not happy about it. now his candid thoughts have gone viral. >> reporter: the good news is that i can still feel my face right now. the bad news is i kind of wish i couldn't. can i go back to my regular job?

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hours earlier than he would normally wake up, go stand out in the wind and the snow and the cold, and tell other people not to do the same. i didn't even realize that there was a 3:30 also in the morning until today. can i go back to my regular job? i'm pretty sure, ryan, that you guys added an extra hour to the show just because somebody likes torturing me. >> that clip of cnn affiliate kwwl reporter mark woodley is going viral, and mark is with us now for my favorite segment of the day. mark, i spent almost a decade in local news doing exactly what you were just forced to do, and i can't tell you how many times i wanted to say what you did, but didn't have the guts to. so i have to know, were you planning to say this ahead of time, or did it all just come out live? >> i think that's just a bit of who i am. you know, on air, i love to give

my coworkers grief. i think the fact that i didn't find out until the day before that i was working the morning show -- i knew i was going to do weather on thursday, but a guy called in the afternoon and i found out it was the morning show and i normally do the 10:00 show, get off work about 11:00 and go to bed. i didn't work on bwednesday, bu i didn't have that time to adjust my sleep schedule. i don't think i fell asleep until about 11:00 and i was running on about three hours of sleep at that time, and some things maybe i wouldn't have said if i had slept for eight hours, but, you know, it is what it is. we cover these things every single year. it's all the same, and i think sometimes viewers might tune it out, and i thought maybe if i bring attitude to it, people might pay attention. it's a serious storm. i took it very seriously. you're seeing 90 seconds out of 15 to 20 minutes over my time. the rest was serious, making sure people, you know, know that they need to do to be safe, but it's just kind of who i am, and

thankfully bosses are at least right now, they're on board with it. >> yeah. i mean, you had fun with it. you've gone viral. you now have tons of fans. i have to know how did your managers and field directors feel about it? did you get in trouble? >> you know, i had some concerns about that because like i said, the actual segments, they didn't come off like that, but when you splice it all together, you know, it's like a movie trailer for a bad comedy film. all the funny parts are in the trailer. the funny parts were the stuff that you didn't see. nobody thought about it when we were done with the morning show, and then i cut that stuff up together and i wasn't planning on putting it on twitter. it was my sister-in-law who said, you've got to tweet this. i just put it on facebook for my friends and family to kind of laugh at. i put it on twitter, thinking, 20, 30 people are going to see this, and the managers aren't going to care because it's not going to go anywhere, and within hours i'm getting these text messages, like, dude, you're

going viral. judd apatow retweeted you. david cross -- david cross is one of my favorites. it was insane. rich eisen and at this point, 90% of me is kind of giddy about it. the other 10% is, like, am i going to get in trouble for this? because sort of in my own way, i call out the station. for me, it was in good fun. was there some truth to it? oh, absolutely. i think every reporter who has done this has wanted to say that, and i was tired enough to let it come out. >> i'm one of them. any chance you'll switch from sports to weather? >> there have been so many comments like he's going to be the new weather guy. blizzard coverage from now on. that is my absolute nightmare. i mean, you know, we're a bit shorthanded like every newsroom in the country, and that's why i was in the situation in the first place. my gm came out and shot some of those later live shots on that morning show, but -- so i'm a team player. if i'm asked, sure, i'll do it,

but that would be my absolute nightmare. so i hope to god they do not ask me to ever do that again. >> well, mark woodley, a sports reporter who is not going to turn into a weather reporter no matter -- or a meteorologist no matter how much anyone of us would like it. you're now a personal legend and hero to myself, but to probably all the local news reporters current and former all across the country for saying what we've all thought so many times. thanks so much, and can i just say i wish you had been outside for this. you. look way too comfortable in there. >> i feel way too comfortable. actually, i feel really good right now. i don't think -- it's actually -- i believe worse today than it was yesterday out there. the wind is so bad. so no. no. but thank you so much for having me on and happy holiholidays. >> all right. happy holidays to you too. so meanwhile, the nation is facing a shortage of children's pain medication.

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a shortage of several high-profile prescription drugs has some patients searching pharmacies and rationing pills. in fact, some parents are having to hunt for over the counter pain medications for their sick kids. cnn's athena jones has more. >> it's pretty brutal for all of us. >> reporter: these 18-month-old twins are teething, a painful process. >> we had an incident where one of them didn't eat for three

days because he had so much teething pain. >> reporter: lately the brooklyn mother has struggled to find medicines to treat her boys, walt and henry who generally fall ill at the same time. >> every drugstore within walking distance the totally bare. my husband had to drive all the way across brooklyn. >> reporter: as communities everywhere battle respiratory illnesses like the flu, rsv, and covid, which can be particularly dangerous for young children, there's a short fall across the country of prescription and over the counter medicines for children. the result? empty shelves, and limits on the amount of medicine you can buy at cvs, walgreens, and rite aid, leaving parents and pharmacists frustrated and concerned. from reno, nevada -- >> they get bad fevers, our kids. i was pretty scared. nowhere over here, they didn't have anything in stock, so i had to drive 30 minutes to carson to find some. >> reporter: to los angeles -- >> really, really hard to order tylenol, generic brand, ibe

fro ibuprofen, cough syrup, especially for kids. >> reporter: and tamiflu is out of stock. >> there's not a date to my wholesaler which is in north carolina, and they're telling me they can't get it from the manufacturer. >> reporter: and in manhattan -- >> this is absolutely extraordinary. >> reporter: even alternatives to liquid medicines like chewables and suppositories are unavailable. >> it really is a huge problem in our community, and across the country. >> reporter: sales of children's medications to treat pain and fever are up 65% from this time last year. according to the consumer health care products association, and manufacturers don't have a time line for when supply may catch up with demand. this pharmacist is trying to make the best of a bad situation. >> so our shelves where we would normally stock tylenol, motrin, advil, are completely empty. so i just substituted what is supposed to be there with toys to give it a little scenery, but