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 it is sad that these shelves

have been empty for more than six weeks. >> reporter: as for this family -- >> it's frustrating and it's scary. first we couldn't feed our children because of the infant formula shortage and now we're facing another challenge with being able to take basic care of them. >> reporter: athena jones, cnn, new york. hello. i'm kristen fisher. welcome to "cnn newsroom." this massive winter storm system is barrelling towards the east coast this hour, and this arctic chill is straining the power grids, closing airports from coast to coast, and causing deadly road conditions on one of the busiest travel days of the year. look at this video that we just got in from hamburg, new york. snowing and flooding on the coast at the same time. deep floodwaters across new england are a huge concern heading into the weekend as temperatures continue to drop, and nearby buffalo, officials have closed the airport and

canceled all flights. you can see why. over 70 million americans are experiencing below freezing temperatures, and that includes the entire state of texas, and even if you are not freezing, it's bad news if you are waiting on any last-minute christmas gifts to arrive. amazon, the u.s. post office, the u.p.s., fedex, all warning that the storm has hit major shipping hubs nationwide, and deliveries will be delayed. so we have cnn's polo sandoval. last time i saw you, you were walking out of the blizzard. we could barely even see you. this time, you're still standing right in the thick of it. how has it been over the last hours since we spoke? >> reporter: you know, kristen, i'm glad you showed our viewers that triple threat that folks here have been facing. you have the flooding, you have the wind, you have the flash freezing. that is why this is an extraordinary storm that's hitting buffalo. it snows in buffalo, right?

that's hardly news, but a storm of this level, many locals have told me it makes sense that it would be once in a generation, right? now in terms of what we're seeing on the ground here, you can see dollars or you cannot see really much because of the white yachthe whiteout conditions, and it makes sense that the airport is closed and we've seen people largely staying at home. occasionally a passerby. very few vehicles. the last car i saw drive by was about an hour ago. that ecertainly is good to know. we have heard from the erie county executive saying they're getting reports of people not listening to the driving ban. people have had to rescue stranded drivers because it is in some cases to see beyond the hood of your car. that's why it's important to simply stay home. power outages, however, that is certainly going to be a big issue for many residents around

here. they've received many reports of power outages with category 1 level hurricane winds. that comes with the possibility of power lines and power outages. even at the warming centers here in buffalo, they have had to relocate some of the residents to another facility because they experienced a power outage. so nobody is being spared the fury of this wicked winter storm, and it is going to be far from over too, kristen as we go into tonight, possibly into tomorrow. kathy hochul saying people should resist the urge to head out and try to meet with family this christmas in or around the buffalo area. >> for folks that were wishing for a white kras christmas up t they sure got it. thank you so much. the south is also getting hit so hard by these bone-chilling temperatures. you have power grids in places like memphis under strain. derek van dam is live in atlanta. derek, what are you seeing and feeling? >> reporter: well, if this summarizes it for you, i think this does a great job.

this was a wet towel about an hour ago, now completely frozen solid. it gives you an indication of how rapidly the temperatures dropped here in atlanta. you get to my graphics and you'll be able to see what i'm talking about. it dropped 35 degrees in just a matter of eight hours. just incredible drop, and, you know, cities across the eastern half of the u.s. all experienced a similar temperature drop as well. it's just a short period of time so it created that flash freeze on the roadways so, if there was any kind of precipitation on the ground, it froze, and it is icy out there. now this is important because the seven-day temperature trend for atlanta shows temperatures below freezing for the next 48 hours. so people who are not used to this type of weather in the deep south, well, they're going to have some problems with burst pipes. potentially the power outages, not being able to heat your home or your family right now. from coast to coast, we're talking about over a million customers without power, and that number continues to grow. look at memphis there. 12 degrees right now. their mayor actually asking for

people to conserve energy because of the strain on the electrical system thanks to this arctic blast that has come through. so really just incredible to feel these temperatures. it dropped very quickly here in atlanta. >> derek van dam live in atlanta for us. so now let's g o to memphis. with me on the phone, the president of memphis light, gas, and water. you just heard derek say it's about 12 degrees there. the mayor asking everybody to conserve energy, but did you anticipate the possibility of having to implement these rolling blackouts that we saw across memphis earlier today? >> good afternoon, kristen, and no, we did not. this is an unusual phenomenon across the tennessee valley. what happened this morning was that the tva lost the substantial generation capacity largely due to the cold weather, and for about two hours, we were on a curtailment with very

little notice. that is an unusual circumstance for us, that we have never had to implement. we were only under that notice for about two hours. the power has since been restored. the issue here is once you turn power off, sometimes it's difficult to get it to come back on. we're thankful that just under 5% of our 441,000 customers were affected and weave're trying tot their power on as quickly as we can. >> what did customers experience during the blackouts? how long was the power out for, and are you worried that you are going to have to resume them? >> sure. because of the winds and the storm and the cold weather, we already had about 16,000 customers who were experiencing storm-related outages. >> mm-hmm. >> we added on top of that about another 20,000 to shed 25% of our total load. the plan that we have here in memphis is to do 30-minute blocks. so we select certain circuits that will add up to that 5% of the load. we'll turn it off for 30 minutes

and then deenergize a new one, and reenergize the old one. no one will be without power for more than 30 minutes. we are standing by just in the event we have to black out again. >> so they're not in place now, these rolling plblackouts. you hope they won't be in place again, but they could be down the road. thank you so much. >> thank you so much. >> yep. so let's go chicago now where cnn's omar jimenez is at o'hare international airport. we have been talking about power outages, but for holiday travels, major flight cancellations. what's the status where you are? >> reporter: yeah, look. the flight cancellations have been coming in throughout, i mean, really by the hour. the number just seems to keep going up. chicago, one of the world's busiest. i want to show you where we are right now. this is a line for people to either get their luggage or figure out what's going on with their luggage. people who in some cases had

their flights canceled and are now trying to figure out where their bags actually are. now one of those people is bella here who i met a few minneutes ago. lay it out for me. what were you doing, and what are you doing now? >> my boyfriend and i were trying to head to cincinnati to spend christmas with his family and our flight is at 2:40, and right around 2:00, we got a notification saying that the flight was canceled. we rushed down here to grab our luggage and we were told by customer service it will take up to six hours to receive our luggage that we checked and unfortunately we did have to check luggage because we have presents and clothes and we're staying for a long time, and we're trying to figure out how to get all those valuable things in a timely manner. >> and when is the earliest you were able to rebook? i'm assuming you're rebooking quickly. >> christmas day. >> wow. bella, good luck to you. it's a similar story, but all of this is happening. just days before christmas, people are trying to get to warmer places, or trying to get

to family. >> omar, thank you so much. she brought up a great point. in addition to being delayed, you have to deal with the thoughts of your bags being lost, and all those christmas gifts that might be in them. i hope she gets them in time. omar, thank you. >> thanks, guys. joining me now, brad brown, the acting fire chief and emergency manager in grand rapids, michigan. brad, you've got a blizzard warning in effect until 7:00 p.m. your time on saturday. what's your biggest concern right now? what are you the most worried about? >> the icy roads were posing quite a few issues for us. luckily most of our citizens are staying home. we put out a lot of communications. if you don't have to be out, don't be on the roads, and the police, fire, ems are able to get around right now. that coupled with alternative heating sources. unfortunately we did have a structure fire last night caused by alternative heating sources, and we're working very hard to get people into shelters and off the streets. >> we have been spending a lot

of time talking about what we saw in memphis. they were having to deal with those rolling blackouts due to too much strain on the electrical grids. how is michigan doing with power out anages right now? >> southwest michigan is doing really good. grand rapids has had few, and they have been estored quickly. other parts of the state are seeing much more widespread outages. our winds are topping out at about 45 miles an hour here in grand rapids, and our grids can sustain, that but others are getting 70 miles per hour, and they're seeing much more widespread outoutages. >> you look at these images and when was the last time you saw a storm this bad, and are you putting those -- those lessons from previous bad storms into practice? >> absolutely. so we're no stranger to snow here in southwest michigan. grand rapids averages about 65 to 70 inches of snow a year. snow is nothing new for us.

the last time we had a blizzard warning was 2011, and most of the senior executives not only at fire, but the city were dher during that polar vortex. the last three or four days we have been doing multiple planning sessions getting ready for it and frankly this is it another workday for us. we're not seeing anything we can't handle or anything out of the ordinary. >> that's what we like to hear. i'm sure that's what people in your area like to hear. brad brown, thank you. so after nearly 18 months of investigations and stunning witness testimony, the january 6th committee releasing its final report on the insurrection, and they make a damning case that the attack on the capitol can be blamed on former president donald trump. we're going to be breaking down their top findings and recommendations next. this... is the p planning effect. thisis is how it feels to knw you have a wealth plan that covers everything that's impmportant to you. this is whatat it's like to he a dedicated fidelity advisor looking at your full financial picture.

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you saw it right here on cnn. the house last hour passing the $1.7 trillion spending bill one day after the senate approved it. the vote, 225-201. nine republicans joining all by two democrats in favor. it goes to president biden's desk for signing and not a moment too soon. government funding was set to expire at midnight. the measure includes billions for domestic and military spending, and an overhaul of the electoral count act to make it harder to overturn a certified presidential election. the first legislative response to the capitol attack. the january 6th committee investigating the insurrection is out with its long-awaited final report, and it places the blame for the attack on the capitol squarely on the former president saying this, in part, and i quote, the central cause

of january 6th was one man, former president donald trump, who many others followed. none of the events of january 6th would have happened without him. the committee recommends he never be allowed to hold office again, and cnn's jessica schneider joins me now. the report makes it clear that none of the events of january 6th would have ever happened without the former president. >> reporter: that's right, kristen, and the committee really laid it all out in very lengthy detail, 845 pages. they published these eight chapters where they expanded on what we saw over the summer at the public hearings, and they did detail how they say that trump singularly laid the groundwork for that breach of the capitol on january 6th. the committee though also made nearly a dozen of recommendations and the big one was they recommend barring trump from ever holding office again. they pointed out the 14th amendment of the constitution, section 3 states that anyone who

is engaged in an insurrection can be disqualified from holding office, and they say this should be enforced when it comes to trump. of course, earlier this week, the committee also officially made criminal referrals against trump to the doj on four criminal charges. of course, doj does not have to take that. that is just a recommendation, and the committee is also urging congress to overhaul the electoral count act to make clear that vice presidents do not have the power to overturn elections, of course, as trump wanted mike pence to. the house and senate have already made steps passing legislation in that direction. so kristen, a lot to unwind here. a lot to go through, but those big recommendations from the committee of course, at the same time, the criminal investigation both at the state level and from the special counsel on the federal level still ongoing and potentially could ramp up in the coming months ahead. >> yeah, jessica. a lot to go through in those

800-plus pages and something else that really jumps out is one detail that trump actually laughed at sidney powell's election fraud claims. something that, you know, that's very different from what he was saying publicly. tell us about that. >> reporter: yes. so sidney powell, she was an election attorney pushing these fraud claims in court. she even did that press conference with rudy giuliani, pointing out these baseless machines that the dominion machines had been tampered with, and when he heard this, according to hope hicks, he was on the phone and muted the phone and laughed at powell telling the others in the room, this does sound crazy, doesn't it? so the president might have been laughing in private, but you know, kristen, he never publicly disavowed her claims, and the former president responding to this entire report on his social media page today. he continues to call the committee and their findings a witch hunt, and kristen, of course, to this day still insists falsely that there was election fraud. d

kristen? >> jessica schneider, thank you so much. with me now, we've got alice stewart and bakari sellers. a republican strategist and democratic state representative in south carolina. alice, i'll start with you. what do you make of the committee's recommendation that trump never be allowed to hold office again? it cites that part of the constitution that bars those who have engaged in an insurrection from holding office. so what do you make of it? >> well, kristen, it's really hard toing look at all of the images we've seen from january 6th and hear all the testimony we've heard in these hearings and reading this entire report, and it's difficult to come to any other conclusion that someone that made these actions and spurred on his supporters to do this insurrection at the capitol is uniquely unqualified to run for president ever again, and you hit on a very important point in terms of all of this time, the former president has acknowledged and said there was widespread voter fraud, but he

told his attorney, john eastman, that he knew there was not widespread voter fraud, yet he continued to pursue claim after claim. he continued to try and challenge the certification of the election, and he spurred his supporters to storm the capitol, and what we're seeing here more and more, his base still stands by him, but there are more and more rational republicans who are understanding that it's time to turn the page from donald trump. he was wrong about election fraud. he was wrong about storming the capitol, and he is certainly moving forward for 2024. >> on the january 6th committee making it very clear how they feel about it in that report. bakari, newly appointed special counsel jack smith is overseeing the probe, and looking into trump's classified documents. when you look at those 800-plus pages, in a way, is this a roadmap for him?

>> it is a roadmap, but i think you highlighted the other case in particular, his handling of classified documents which i think is an easier case to prosecute. regardless, this is not a prosecutor you want who is looking and checking out all the skeletons you have in your closet because he is a very seasoned, skilled prosecutor. this is a roadmap. this is a great deal of testimony. there's a lot of obstruction of justice, a lot of lying and perjury that you see the report detail. you see it laid out for an insurrection. the individuals who wrote this report or authored this report, shut out to the clerks and the staffers who put this together. they did the work, and a prosecutor will utilize this, however, the case of mishandling classified documents is probably closer to a slam-dunk than that of leading an insurrection. >> alice, just so many damning parts to this report for the former president. the committee found that he did

not contact a single top national security official during the riot. not one. they say that he knew the fraud allegations were false but amplified them anyway. when you look at this entire report, all 800-plus pages, do you think that any of it, any of what's in here is going to be enough to have any sort of influence or sway on his -- on those die hard supporters of his? >> his die hard supporters, absolutely will not waver based on anything we've seen or heard or has been referred to the doj, and this is certainly concerning in the court of law, but in the court of public opinion with his base, they see this as a witch hunt. they see this as democrats going out to destroy donald trump, and they are not standing by any of these recommendations, and they're going to continue to stand with him, but we're seeing more and more of the rational, common sense republicans that are saying, this is a bridge too far, and now there are options, and now they actually have

permission to turn elsewhere, and turn the page away from donald trump and his election-denying conspiracy theorist activities and look for someone else because his activities of denying the election results have cost us election after election, and republicans are ready to look elsewhere. >> so alice, you don't think that this is going to make much of a difference with his die hard support eerssupporters, bu what about in the grand scheme of history? this has been compared to the 9/11 commission report. how do you think that history is going to view and look upon this report despite how partisan the process was according to some? >> that's a tough question to answer. the reason being is because i think history is still writing its book on donald trump. you have me, a democrat from south carolina who would argue he is probably one of the three

or worst presidents in the history of the united states of america. that is probably what many people would say who are partisans like myself. however, the reason i say that you have to hold off, it really waits until this primary cycle. if there are 10, 12 individuals who run for president of the united states under the banner of the republican party, donald trump has a great opportunity to win that nomination again, and then as much as we sit here and say that it's time to turn the page, we've seen what republicans do when they know the truth about donald trump. they show up and vote for him anyway. this book is still being written on donald trump, but this report is a damning chapter to say the least. >> yeah, and this report coming just in time for theholidays. we'll see what happens. alice stewart, bakari sellers, happy holidays and thanks for coming on. life-threatening cold temperatures sweeping the country. next, how to keep yourself safe and healthy. but first, holiday sounds

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as this monster storm moves across the country, blizzard and icy conditions are leading to widespread accidents, rose closures, and travel bans. emergency services are currently responding to crashes along the ohio turnpike near sandusky, involving multiple, heavily damaged semi trucks and other vehicles, and take a look at the icy conditions that motorists in memphis, tennessee are having to deal with today. the roads just turned into sheets of ice, and the road situation is so bad that memphis police are not responding to car accidents due to the dangerous weather. so ike diaz is the spokesperson for aaa. you're predicting about 100 million people will drive more than 50 miles from home for the h hol holidays. many of them will be driving in weather conditions she they sho

not be driving in. how worried are you this will get worse than it already is? >> very worried because aaa tells you to stay off the roads if there's going to be bad weather. with this 200 million people projection of this holiday season, we're seeing crashes and we expect to see more. aaa is ready to help with roadside technicians and provider, but the reality is if law enforcement is having a hard time getting to people, so are we. so we're encouraging people to stay off the roads completely. if you are in an area where the weather is not spupposed to be that bad, still prepare for winter storm conditions anyway. we saw this last winter. we had that i-95 mess where people were stuck in their cars for literally hours, in some cases, 24 hours. have an emergency kit win your vehicle with water, extra food, and keep you comfortable if you do get stuck. >> i almost forgot about that. that was absolute gridlock in d.c. about a year ago. so important to have that, like, emergency bag packed in the back

of your car which i do not have, but will at some point. but, you know, because this storm is so bad, and it's the holidays, you know, there's a good chance now that tow truck drivers like you were saying, police, rescue crews, that they just won't be able to get to the cars. we're seeing in memphis that police saying they simply get to accidents that are happening because of the icy conditions. so what advice do you have? what do motorists need to know if they are in an accident and need help, but perhaps these emergency vehicles can't get to them? >> well, and that's part of the emergency kit too is make sure you have your cell phone charger in the vehicle so that you have your phone fully charged in case you do have to call for help, in case you do have to call aaa. we also suggest having an ice scraper in your vehicle and reflectors in case you have to wait for a long time. aaa is projecting 900,000 roadside emergency calls for the

holiday season, and that kicks off today and goes until monday, january 2nd. that's not even considering the extra calls we're going to get because of this winter weather. the best advice though, is just to avoid it altogether. it's not what you want to hear. this is terrible timing for holiday travelers, but the reality is this is a very dangerous storm, and this is not just a little bit of snow, white christmas. this is something serious. >> yeah. the timing could not be worse for folks trying to get home and spend the holidays with their families. thank you so much. so this storm is bringing life-threatening cold to pretty much the entire country. those most at risk are of course, you know, the elderly, very young children. cnn's senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen joins me now with more on how you can make sure that you and your loved ones stay safe and stay warm. elizabeth, what are some health concerns that we should be watching out for in these extremely cold conditions? >> kristen, there are so many things that we need to watch out for. let's start with the most

vulnerable. as you mentioned, the elderly and infants, they are the most vulnerable to cold. they just don't regulate their body temperatures the way that other folks do. also, cold puts a stress on the heart. that's been studied extensively, and so folks with heart disease, they should really beware and be careful. also, cold can aggravate asthma and other lung issues. even if your asthma is under control, be aware of the cold that could make it worse. have your medications at the ready. here are some tips for dealing with the cold and staying healthy. dress infants warmly, more warmly than you would dress yourself. check in on the elderly if you know an elderly couple. make sure they have heat. check in on them. make sure they're doing okay. also, avoid alcohol and caffeine. i know it sort of makes sense, you know, you're cold. have some hot wine for the holiday. have a lot of coffee. that can be problematic. caffeine and alcohol do not help your body deal with the cold. in fact, they hurt. bring other kinds of warm

liquids. kristen? >> that's advice that i'm sure a lot of people celebrating the holidays don't want to hear, but it's the right advice. there's also this recent study that helps explain why the cold weather gives us colds. i mean, we've always kind of assumed that that happens, but help us understand the why here and what this study says. >> right. it's just intuitive, but researchers at harvard did something really interesting, kristen. they looked at the cells that line people's noses at different temperatures. those cells in your nose. they're the first line of defense when germs start to attack. they have very specific roles to play, and they found they don't work great in the cold. their effectiveness really wanes once the temperature goes down. so if you find you're getting a cold in the cold, you're not crazy. there really is some science behind it. >> good to know. elizabeth cohen, thank you. elon musk claiming that the twitter files revealed the government told him to suppress

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this week, elon musk and reporters that he chose dropped an eighth installment of what they called the twitter files. musk and conservative critics claim these documents in the twitter files show that the government ordered twitter to suppress a "new york post" story about hunter biden's laptop in the weeks leading up to the 2020 election, but fbi agents and tech executives say, that's not true. cnn's evan perez joins us now to break down what we're learning. evan, first of all, just tell me a bit more on what these twitter files show.

>> reporter: well, kristen, the files really portray a lot of angst behind the scenes at twitter as they were trying to decide what to do about the story, which they thought seemed like disinformation, russian disinformation of the kind that we had seen back in 2016 when the russians did interfere in the u.s. election, and so what we don't see in the twitter files and from our interviews with people who are working at twitter at the time, and people on the other side at the fbi, is any evidence that the fbi directly told twitter to suppress this story. what the allegation that is emerging though from elon musk and others is that it was the atmosphere that the fbi had created that prompted twitter to overreact, and everyone now acknowledges that they should not have suppressed this story, but, you know, one of the journalists who elon musk has entrusted with some of this information, he tweeted that there has been no evidence that

i've seen of any government involvement in the laptop story, and we also have a statement from the fbi which says that a lot of these files are showing its interactions with the type that it does with a lot of companies, including twitter, and they say it is unfortunate that conspiracy theorists and others are feeding the american public misinformation. >> so evan, some critics are really honing in on james baker. he's a former fbi official who later became deputy general counsel. what was his role in all of this? >> reporter: well, according to the files we've seen so far, he's one of the people pushing to suppress this story, or cautioning that this might have been a disinformation effort, and mhis role at the fbi is drawing a lot of criticism especially from republicans who want him to come and testify. they want testimony also from some former intelligence officials. you remember, kristen, that there were officials who signed a letter who said that the

laptop story in the "new york post" forwere the hallmarks of disinformation from the federal government. we know that was not true, but that was the backdrop of what republicans say definitely bears more investigation. kristen? >> yeah, and so evan, walk us through some of these allegations that are being made now by the reporters that as we have been saying, elon musk chose to share these documents with. >> reporter: right. so there's a couple of key ones that we've -- that have made the rounds and that have gotten a lot of currency. one of them is, you know, the day before the "new york post" article comes out, there is a set of documents that are sent by an fbi agent, ten documents that are sent to a top twitter official. these ten documents are sent over. you'll see a tweet from one of the reporters talking about these documents, and it says essentially, you know, received,

right? we went to the fbi and the fbi has a team these documents and they came away with these ten documents and they said eight of them had to do with disinformation that was being used by a foreign government operation essentially and they were flagging this to twitter. nothing to do with hunter biden's laptop. two of them had to do with an investigation related to potential voter suppression. again, nothing to do with the hunter biden laptop according to the fbi. the second piece of -- the second allegation has to do with payments that apparently twitter received from the fbi. $3.4 million. that is being sort of painted as some kind of effort to pay off the -- twitter for suppressing conservatives. we talked to the fbi. they say that, you know, this is routine. companies under federal law, under u.s. law are allowed to get reimbursed for the costs

that they incur for having to do things that the justice department and the fbi are asking them to do. for instance, respond to subpoenas, produce documents, produce all kinds of information that is part of court orders that they're required to do. so under federal law, every company that gets these types of subpoenas, including phone companies are allowed to recoup some of that cost, and that's what that payment is about, kristen. >> interesting. evan perez, thank you for breaking down this very complicated story for us. appreciate it. well, nothing says christmas more than the magic of santa, right? and up next, we're going to introduce you to the santas who are bringing a little bit of diversity to this holiday season. st a car. (vo) through the share the love event, subaru retailers have supported over seventeen hundred hometown c charities. (phil) have i i witnessed and seen the impact of what we do? you bet i have. (kathryn) we have worked with so many amazing causes and made a difference.

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as families across the country get in line to snap a picture with santa, many children are meeting a santa who looks more like them. it's all thanks to a growing demand for diverse santas and ryan young went out to meet some of them. >> what did you want santa to bring you? >> i want santa to bring me a monster sttruck. >> tell him just a couple things. >> i will tell him a lot. >> reporter: santa, one of the most joyful and instantly recognizable characters across the world. at malls across the country some kids have noticed a different diverse santas popping up. >> it's a black santa. >> children ask me, how can you be a santa of this color and then be a santa of another color

somewhere else and i always tell them, santa travels all over the world so santa relates to all communities and cultures. >> this santa looks different than a lot of santas across the country. >> it's important for us to see ones like us. it's important for her to get those pictures. >> diverse santas and everything, mexican santa, any santa you want to make you feel good about christmas. >> does that matter do you think? >> sometimes for the kids to see someone that looks like them they're supposed to be getting presents from. >> reporter: one of the nation's largest santa hiring services tells us the demand to hire diverse santas is on the rise across the country. >> the demand has gone through the roof. we can't keep up. we're able to let santa look and sound like the children that he's speaking to. >> representation means so much to a lot of people. >> had you ever, when you were a kid, met a santa like yourself? >> it -- it wasn't a good

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is next on cnn. temperatures are below freezing for more than half in the united states and more than a million currently do not have power. "the lead" starts right now. historic and sadly deadly winter storm