needing a medical check. >> what our spotters and our neurodoctors are looking for is any blow that transmits force to the head or neck area followed by that injury behavior. there are many blows to the head that occur during the game. we're always looking for the blow plus the injury behavior. if we see any injury behavior, if anyone else sees it, they can initiate the protocol. there were no visible signs present even though there was a blow to the head and the player did not report any symptoms. >> tua was diagnosed with a concussion three months ago after his head slammed off the on a backboard and stretcher. we'll keep our eyes on it, whitny. >> absolutely.

wishing him the best. thank you for watching. "cnn this morning" starts right now. ♪ i want everyone who is dealing with the problems we have been facing, whether you haven't been able to get to where you need to go or you're one of our heroic employees caught up in a massive effort to stabilize the airline we're doing everything we can to return to a normal operation. and please also hear that i'm truly sorry. >> good morning, everyone. it is wednesday, december the 28th and that was an apology from the ceo of southwest airlines after the chaos that continues for the airline and so many passengers. it is little solace for thousands of stranded passengers across the country and thousands more who are about to find out their flight today has been

canceled. also, title 42 still being enforced at the southern border after a new supreme court decision we got overnight. it has left thousands of migrants and advocates in a state of flux and confusion. we are getting a new batch of january 6th committee transcripts this morning. one of the key witnesses, cassidy hutchinson telling about discussions of qanon taken seriously in the white house and burning of documents. we start with the full-scale meltdown under way at southwest airlines. the company is now confirming that more than 60% of today's flights are already canceled and the chaos is likely to continue into 2023. thousands upon thousands of passengers left stranded and struggling to figure out how they are going to get where they're going. the chief executive of the company is apologizing as federal scrutiny is growing.

the commerce committee said they were going to investigate this. and pete buttigieg is vowing to hold southwest accountable. >> i understand you just spoke directly to the ceo of southwest airlines. did you get any explanation at all for this meltdown of epic proportions. >> melt down is the right word. you look at the number of passengers stranded and how hard it is to get somebody on the phone to address it. from what i can tell, southwest is unable to locate where their own crews are, let alone passengers, let alone baggage. >> nick valencia is live in atlanta. hearing there are more cancellations is not what passengers hoping to fly out of their airport and others were hoping to hear. >> reporter: good morning, the cascade of flight cancellations continues for at least one more

day with more bad news for southwest airlines. as you mentioned, more than 60% of its flights on wednesday have been canceled and those looking to rebook have no options in the immediate future. if there is one bright spot in atl atlanta, it's the line is shorter than it was yesterday. those we spoke to said their flight is on schedule to take off. i spoke earlier to a family, they said they're on time to take off for austin, texas later today but won't be breathing that sigh of relief until it takes off. >> when we were coming here, they said a lot of flights, they had to change the plane to down size, not sure what for. but they said about 30 people wouldn't make the flight. >> how were you so lucky to get in on the flight. >> we checked in early. they said people who checked in early will get on the plane. >> i was checking the news, my

app, please be on time. one thing that's concerning is the gate keeps changing. i don't want to be look at my app and the gate is on the other side. >> reporter: it would appear at least so far this morning those who have had their flights canceled are staying away for the most part from the airport but it is expected to be another busy day at the airports with another long day for those flying southwest. >> i imagine a lot of prayers happening at that airport. nick valencia, thank you for that report. rahel solomon joining us now. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> southwest, the stock not reacting well to this? >> absolutely not reacting well. a few ways to think about the financial impact of this ordeal, mess, meltdown. you can see the immediate impact to the stock. you can see how shares closed yesterday, about 6%. significant. closing at 34 bucks a share.

that's the more immediate impact, right. just to put this all in persp persp perspective, the last time we heard from southwest, the company reported $277 million in profits on $6.2 billion revenue. you can see how this compares to 2021 and 2019. the industry as a whole, also sitting on some healthy profits. this is the 24 u.s. passenger airlines $2.4 billion for third quarter 2022, about the same in the second quarter. if you're wondering what happened here -- >> covid. >> yes. covid, omicron. but the last six months they've been doing well. i want to get quickly to a quote from scott keyes from scott's cheap flights. i think there's going to be a financial cost to the airline for this meltdown. you have to think about the compensation almost certainly going to be paying to travelers

but also the crew, the overtime. so this is going to be an expensive costly issue. >> the question here, and why the stock is down pretty significantly is because this isn't an overnight fix. >> it's not. >> this is a year plus to fix. >> yeah. and it's going to be costly investments. it's the money that the airline has to give back to passengers. this is their super bowl. the holiday period, this is when they make so much money. it's the money they have to give back, to pay to all the people working the phones and around the clock and by the way, there's a chance potentially of a fine. >> right. that pete buttigieg was talking about. you have great advice for passengers stuck right now, maybe you're watching us at the airport we hope you're not stuck. what else can they do? >> i asked around and there are a few things if you are still at an airport and we are thinking about you, a few things to think about, kathleen banks of flight aware, rebook but get creative.

pull out a map, ask the person on the phone, at the counter can you get me closish. for my friends who watched home alone over the holiday weekend -- >> it's my son's favorite movie. >> me too. that's what we're talking about. >> trying to get to new york, go to philly. >> or go to d.c. and maybe take an amtrak. this is why you want to save your r your receipts. you may be able to get rei reimbursed for the expenses. insist on a cash refund. >> none of those vouchers. >> not here. also this morning the supreme court said that pandemic era border restriction known as title 42 is going to stay in place for now. it's a decision that delays the potential for a huge increase in unlawful crossings that officials have been bracing for. the justices of the supreme court halted a trial judge's

ruling that would have lifted the measure and in effect granted a gop request to prevent the winding down of title 42. thousands of migrants who are waiting at the border are now facing months of more uncertainty. they were hoping for the chance to enter the united states legally. priscilla alvarez is in washington. i want to start with you. we got this 5-4 decision from the supreme court. it was very brief. basically it means this is going to stay in place until they hear the decision in the coming months, in 2023. >> reporter: that's right. they're saying these restrictions are going to remain in effect while legal challenges play out. a process that takes months. this is an order that is ultimately a victory for republican-led states who had intervened in the case and tried to block the termination of this authority. some justices said they would deny the application, including

conservative justice, knneil gorsuch who said, the current crisis is not a covid crisis and courts should not be in the business of perpetuating edicts designed for one emergency only because elected officials failed another emergency. so this order will keep title 42 in place for months to come. >> we were so struck by your reporting on the ground, rosa, seeing all the migrants bundled up in 36 degree weather. the real impact is what this means for them. what does this court doing this mean for them? >> reporter: because there's various groups of may granteds here, migrants who turned themselves into authority and have a packet of documentation

that allows them to travel in the united states. and then there's the group of migrants who got desperate because title 42 hasn't been lifted yet and they entered the country illegally. the reason why the impact is different, the individuals who have the documents can travel out of these border areas for the other individuals there are checkpoints before you leave the border areas where immigration officials ask everybody, including myself whenever i drive through that area, you have to declare your citizenship. so at that point in time, title 42 could be imposed on those migrants who enter the country illegally or they could also be processed under title 8, which means they could be not only expelled but deported from the country. it depends. the migrants i'm talking to they're confused because they don't understand the process in the united states. they're trying to figure out how it impacts them. and at this point they don't

know. >> understandably confused. this has been a battle playing out. what's the sense of when we could see the final decision on title 42? because i know the white house, obviously, despite this reprieve, it's just temporary. so they have to still be preparing for this. >> the court said they would hear arguments in this case in their section session, which starts in february. so that means we could get a decision on this sometime early to mid next year. but we heard from president biden last night and he said he thought this was over due and all the same the white house will comply with the order but during this time they're pointing the finger at congress saying that republicans and democrats should pass comprehensive immigration reform. you and i know this is an issue that has vexed congress for years, grown more politically contentious, so that's going to be a challenge. in the interim the administration said they would continue their preparations. >> we ask a lot of lawmakers,

yet i asked one of the key officials in el paso, do you want the president to come to the border? do you think additional attention on that would be helpful? i wonder what they want. what the migrants that you've spoken to want in terms of focus from the federal government, if they talk about that? if that would be beneficial to them, are they focused on the immediate need of shelter, food, warmth? >> reporter: there's a mixture because i think some of them are aware of the politics. they're aware of title 42. some of them are not aware of title 42 and really their focus is getting food for their children, is getting shelter for their children and getting out of this border area so they can work in the united states. and, poppy, i got to say, there is a lot of confusion about some of the basic processes. some of the individuals coming

from central and south america, the laws are different. in some countries you can enter the country and begin working. when they realize that here in the united states you need documentation, it surprises them. and especially because there's so much misinformation in some of these countries and this back and forth with title 42 is really only giving fodder for human smugglers. i can't tell you how many migrants i talked to who say they truly believe, in their heart of hearts, the u.s. border is open because that's what they learn in their communities, read on facebook, that is what their understanding is. so imagine their surprise when they sell everything they own, trek their kids through a dangerous jungle. a lot of them told me, they smell death in the jungle between central and south america, those are the conditions that are trekking their children because they strongly believe these human smugglers, this is their chance

to enter the united states, their chance at the american dream. that's why they risk everything, only to find out it's all a lie. they might be expelled, deported, expelled into a dangerous cartel ridden northern mexico city where they could be kidnapped. the human rights watch is keeping records of how many migrants have been kidnapped, extorted, attacked violently since the biden administration took office. their records show more than 13,000 instances and i'm sure they aren't the only ones. i've interviewed women on the mexican side of the power, said they've been kidnapped, raped, expelled under title 42. part of the problem is the mixed messaging on the united states, democrats and republicans keep fighting and not deciding and congress doesn't pass immigration reform, it's fodder for human smugglers and the

people caught in the middle are the migrants you see behind me sleeping on the street in el paso, texas, thinking this is their shot at the american dream. >> thank you, we appreciate your reporting and dedication to this, both of you, thank you. also in this morning on the global front. we're learning the united states is considering a new covid measure to people traveling to the united states from china. this is a development that comes after yesterday we reported that beijing is easing their covid protocols. arl arlette saenz is live in st. croix crrcroix. what are you learning? >> reporter: the u.s. is considering imposing new measures on individuals traveling from china and they say this is due to the rise in cases that have been seen since the elimination of the zero covid policy but also concerns of what they say is a lack of transparent data coming from

china. these considerations are being made in consultation with u.s. health officials. one official told me the decision about adding a possible testing requirement for those travelers could be made soon. i want to read you a statement from u.s. officials, quote, there are mounting concerns in the international community on the ongoing covid-19 surges in china and the lack of transparent data including sequence data reported from the prc. without this data it's increasingly difficult for public health officials to ensure they will be able to identify any potential new variants and take prompt measures to reduce the spread. these considerations are coming as other countries like japan and india, imposed new steps for travelers coming from china. in both countries travelers will be required to show a negative test upon arrival. the u.s. is looking at those measures, talking to partners around the world and public health officials.

and u.s. officials say they are considering what options they might be able to take here in the u.s. but the end of the zero covid policy and the rise in cases is something the white house is watching closely and today the u.s. is making it clear they have the concerns about the transparency of the data provided and that could prompt additional measures to be added for travelers coming from china to the united states. >> just speaks to the major level of distrust between the united states and china. thank you for that reporting this morning. document burning, talks of qanon, all happening inside the white house in the final days of the trump administration. what we are learning from just released transcripts in the january 6th committee. the death toll in western new york is rising. crews working around the clock trying to clear all of the snow and searching for those who are still unaccounted for. a must in your medicine cabinet!

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inside his office in that final month. she told the january 6th panel in newly released transcripts, quote, so throughout the day he would put more logs on the fireplace to keep it burning throughout the day. and i recall roughly a dozen times where he would throw a few more pieces of paper in it when he put more logs on the fireplace. kristen holmes joins us now to talk about this. what i thought was key in this was when, after meetings with people like rep scott perry that he was throwing away -- not throwing away, burning these documents. >> reporter: that's right, poppy. the thing to point out too is that this cassidy hutchinson testimony just continues to stun as we see the release of the transcripts and before we talk about the burning of the documents, it's fascinating to see the breakdown happening between her and her trump-backed lawyer in these transcripts that were just released. you can see them going back and forth bickering at points he stops her. it shows why it was she felt she

needed to get a new attorney. when it comes to the burning, as you mentioned, obviously this is not the way to get rid of these kind of government documents she notes this happened roughly a dozen times, two instances at least were after meadows met with republican pennsylvania congressman scott perry who was linked to trying to use the justice department to overturn the 2020 election. so that's pretty fascinating. the other thing that stood out to me was something that meadows told several white house aides which is they should keep some of the meetings happening in the oval office on a, quote, close hold. meaning potentially these didn't get onto the oval office diaries. let's keep the meetings close hold, we'll talk about what that means but for now keep things real tight and private so things don't start to leak out. as we know, there's a reason that the oval office has a diary, it's to keep a presidential record. keeping things off of it is highly suspect. >> can i say when it comes to

the documents, cassidy hutchinson said she didn't know if they were originals, copies, there is a presidential records act that anything the president touches has to be preserved to be recorded. but also around the west wing, there are brown bags by the people's desks. you can't just throw a document in the trash at the white house. you can't throw away your notes. you have to keep them -- >> in those brown bags? >> yes in a certain way. there's a severe process for this inside the white house, that's why this is more -- >> not burning. >> suspect -- >> right. >> reporter: it doesn't involve throwing it into your fireplace when no one is around. there's another testimony i read last night, johnny mcatee, ran the presidential personnel office which we heard from multiple aides, he witnessed former president trump tearing up documents after he was finished meeting with him.

we heard it before, but it was stunning to see this is how they dealt with the documents that as kaitlan said, have a strict way of processing. they go to the archives, talking about the president of the united states here. >> and the chief of staff. thank you for summing up what came out of those transcripts. i want to bring in senior law enforcement analyst and former deputy director of the fbi, andrew mccabe. we know how trump treated documents, the white house viewed, you know, what typically is a careful process when it comes to documents. i wonder what you make of being able to read the transcripts of cassidy hutchinson saying she regularly watched in a sensitive period, the chief of staff burning documents regularly in his office. >> it's amazing, kaitlan. the whole transcripts is riveting to read. specifically because of the picture it paints of what you've

described. a white house that on multiple levels is actively and intentionally avoiding things like the presidential records act, avoiding allowing meetings with the president, meetings around the oval office to make it to the official record of who's coming and going and what sort of business is being done. it creates an image of a white house actively trying to fly under the radar, not to leave any traces of what they're doing, in meetings they're having with certain individuals. and layer on top of that, the burning of documents after meetings with people like representative scott perry, who was later asking for potentially a pardon. the whole thing is a suspicious picture. >> i thought your takeaway from reading the transcripts is important because you called it, quote, the single greatest case of group dereliction of duty that you have ever seen. >> it's extraordinary, poppy.

there is so much focus going on in the white house, on january 6th, across the staff, right. from the lowlyiest staffers up to the president himself constantly talking about things like tweet, what should the president tweet? the vision of three different types of tweets they talk about putting out and talking about massaging the message and how should the president talk to people. nowhere, not one place is anyone having a conversation about what should we do to stop this attack? every one of those people swore an oath to protect and defend the constitution from the transcripts of cassidy hutchinson's testimony, there's no indication that anyone took any steps to pick up the phone and call the fbi, the military, call the police, call the mayor of washington d.c. or the head of the capitol police to try to figure out how they could help stop the attack on the capitol. it did not happen.

it's striking and it's just confounding. >> a legal perspective, what did you make of cassidy hutchinson's transcripts where there were parts of the transcripts, her testimony, where she had the trump-backed attorney stefan passantino and then she had jody hunt who said she wanted to clarify her testimony from earlier because earlier the attorney representing her was cutting her off, saying i don't want to shape your testimony but he was jumping in those moments when she was being asked and answering questions from the committee. >> really interesting. it's helpful to read this transcripts after we read the previous one that was released in which she talked to the committee about her struggles with attorney stefans sts passa. so it's fascinating. i should say some of those

interjections by mr. passantino are the sorts of things you would expect to see from an attorney protecting their client, making sure their client doesn't step beyond the authority they have, makes it clear they're guessing about something or providing an opinion rather than a statement of fact, so some of that you should expect to see but it's seeing it, understanding the emotional kind of hand wringing that she was going through at the time, her concerns about how mr. passantino might be communicating what she's telling him and what he's saying back to people as she says in trump world. it's an example of an attorney and client whose interests are splitting and dividing going in different directions. and she solves that problem by hiring jody hunt. >> thank you so much. just stunning what we saw. thank you for helping us understand it. >> thanks. next, the aftermath of this

brutal deadly storm. authorities in buffalo, new york, expecting to find sadly more bodies days after this blizzard. >> this is something notable. it's been very quiet when it comes to house republicans on george santos, the congressman elect from new york who is admitting he lied about major aspects of his resume as he was running for congress. and he'll be seated next week. back when i had a working circulatory system, you had to give your right arm to find great talent. but with upwork, thers highly skilled talent from all over the globe ght at your fingertips. it's where businesse meet great remote talent and mote talent meets great opportunity. ♪

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♪ this is ridiculous, you know, i feel like yeah, holiday travel gets hectic, but cancelling flights for four days for everybody, that's super -- i don't know, it's really unfortunate. >> unfortunate is an understatement welcome back to "cnn this morning" this morning. glad you're with us. coming up, full fledge meltdown, that's how one high ranking executive is describing southwest's mass cancellations. what he thinks need to be done. what to expect as another

person involved in the plot to kidnap michigan governor gretchen whitmer prepares to be sentenced. and how luka doncic made history in a dominating win last night. the challenges are far from over for the people who live in buffalo new york as officials continue to check on homes and cars. at least 31 people have died in new york's erie county as buffalo itself is digging out of the nearly 52 inches of snow they saw and still learning the true extent of the loss and damage. athena jones is live in buffalo this morning. what are you seeing on the ground? we see the snow behind you but what are authorities saying as they're trying to get out of that snow still? >> reporter: good morning, kaitlan. a lot of work is ahead of this city to dig out from this storm and that work is continuing already early this morning we've seen three or four trucks roll

by, one coming behind us, part of the piles of snow you see behind us but they did one pass, it's going to take several more passes talking about more than four feet of snow piled up throughout the city. on the way in one of the most remarkable and frightening things we saw on the way in was some of these vehicles buried under several feet of snow. we know some of those 31 deaths were in vehicles. people trapped in car, that's the big concern going forward as the city continues to dig out. i can tell you that officials are focused yes, on finding those people and other life sa saving and life protecting measures. so the focus is to make sure one lane of every street in the city of buffalo is cleared. that will allow emergency operations to continue in a normal and full way. also to allow supplies, you know, for grocery stores and drugstores and that sort of thing to be able to make it through the city.

one concern is how warm it's going to get over the next few days. right now above 32, that's above freezing. the forecast shows it's going to remain above freezing for the coming days that should help with the cleanup but there is concern with huge amounts of snow piled up in some areas it could block drainage, so that's another one of the concerns. but things look like they're going to begin to get back to normal here. we saw a tweet from buffalo's mayor saying several bus lines in the city are going to be restored this morning and a few hours so will the rail lines so they'll be beginning to come and dig out but we don't know what's going to happen with the death toll and the people buried under the mountains of snow. >> it's not an easy recovery process. thank you for being there. this storm may be over but you just heard athena's reporting because the question is what is the death toll finally going to be and also the snow is going to melt as it gets

warmer and that could cause flooding in western new york. chad myers is with us. you're from buffalo so you understand this better than anyone. you have 50 plus inches there. when it melts, what's the flooding risk? >> because the drains are clogged with the snow, all the water ends up in the street. we see the freeze, thaw, freeze thaw, where streets turn into a hockey rink we won't get below 32 at night so the freeze part is out of the question. but all the snow from ontario back to watertown will all try to melt at the same time. one more factor, the showers that you see here, friday, saturday, and again on tuesday, there will be more rain on top of that snow trying to even wash it away rather quickly. and that's going to begin to raise the rivers and the creeks and the streams and obviously the streets as well. rain in the west as well. we need it here. don't get me wrong, this is significant snow for the rockies

and sierra. one of the computer models i looked at yesterday had over 300 inches of snow possible around the highest elevations of oyosemite yosemite. i don't think we'll get 300. will anybody see it, no, these are in the highest elevations. but lake mead, all those reservoirs will all take this runoff melt later in the spring. >> they need it for sure. chad, thank you very much for the jupdate. >> you're welcome. pretty much, not to the, but pretty much silence from house republicans. certainly silence from house republicans leadership over the lies told by george santos. kari lake has been ordered by a judge to pay tens of thousands of dollars to the candidate who defeated her. we'll tell you why. i love what downy does for my sheets and towels. but did you know downy provides 7 benefits for your clothes, like making ththem softer and fresher.

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♪ the barnes firm, injury attorneys ♪ call one eight hundred,est resul eight million ♪ it's been incredibly quiet when it comes to house republicans after republican congre congress-elect george santos admitted to a laundry list of falsehoods on his resume. at least two are speaking out. eva mckend has been covering the story. he's likely not going to face any backlash from the leaders of

his party over the litany of lies? >> reporter: there's certainly no indications that is going to happen at this point. two incoming long island house republicans have condemned the congressman-elect with one calling for a house ethics investigation and a law enforcement probe potentially too. these lawmakers on long island speaking out because they'll represent districts in neighboring communities. one actually in a neighboring district that includes west bury. where i had the opportunity to travel to not long ago. i get the sense they're speaking out because they're hearing from their constituents. one said neighbors across long island are deeply hurt and rightfully offended, neither are calling him for him to step down. this scandal entering the send week and the leader, kevin mccarthy, nothing to say.

we also aren't hearing from other top house republicans like steve scalise or lee stephanic who endorsed santos. he was asked about his alleged jewish heritage during a contentious fox interview last night. >> my heritage is jewish, identified as jewish, raised a practicing catholic. i think i've gone through this. not being raised a practicing jew, i joked with friends and circles even in the campaign i'd say i'm jew-ish. i was raised catholic. >> reporter: a jewish coalition said they were deceived and he won't be welcomed at any future events. >> part of the reason we haven't heard from kevin mccarthy is because he said he would vote for kevin mccarthy and kevin

mccarthy needs every vote he can get when it comes to the speakership position. the final man convicted in the plot to kidnap gretchen whitmer will be sentenced. a federal sentence sensed the architect of the plot to 16 years in prison. this man is barry kroft, i wonder what prosecutors are recommending? >> reporter: we will see because they are very different and distinct but adam fox was yesterday. this is who the government had said was the leader, because he recruited, he sought out the vacation home of the governor, gretchen whitmer. he actually took measurements and raised the money, and he just furthered the whole plan and he was convicted with conspiracy to kidnap the governor of michigan. it was term of years or life

imprisonment. one thing that helped in theory was the leadership role because it allowed for more years. the fact she was an official victim, the governor of michigan, that helped them. and also the fact they were endorsing terrorism gave them more yearstohow others convicted in this. some are on the state level so you can't compare. but because of the leadership, one of the elements in criminal law and the federal level is you have to have at least five followers. these were all designated as followers yesterday in that courtroom to make adam fox the leader but they said there were 13 followers in all. the judge spoke about why he made the decision he did. he didn't want the term of years too extreme. he wanted it necessary. one thing he said, let's look at this, he said, quote, there is need for public understanding at the cost of this kind of wrong doing.

certainly for specific deterrents as well. and there is impact on our overall governmental system not just the threat our sitting governor. it's the emotional baggage that now our governor will have to carry. the defense was saying the childhood, the way he was raised, no love, the mental issues, substance abuse issues all led to this. and there were mitigating factors that led to the sentencing. >> thank you. we'll see what happens with the final sentencing this morning. ahead, why a major leading wall street bank said it's more likely we'll avoid a recession in the united states next year. >> news a lot of people want to hear. >> also sitting down with parents who lost their children to fentanyl. they're turning their pain into action. >> what goes through your mind before you step out on the stage? >> i hope we reach them. i see their faces. i scan the room and they're listening and absorbing it.

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♪ recession or not? that is the question. that's my shakespeare twist. >> worst game ever. >> after nearly a year of conflicting headlines about the economy, the question of whether the u.s. will enter a recession

remains top of mind. we've heard warnings from experts and business leaders saying the worst is yet to come but a major wall street bank is now seeing things a little bit better. in a report this week goldman sachs writes our most out of consensus forecast for 2023 is our call that the u.s. will avoid a recession and continue towards a soft landing. i guarantee you this is welcome news to the administration. our cnn business reporter joins us now. i remember sitting down with david solomon, the ceo of goldman sachs who was bearish. but now they see something better? >> it is so nice to be here with positive news for a change after a pretty crazy year. here we have the most powerful bank on wall street, goldman sachs. their economics department coming out and taking a stand against this gloom and doom we've been hearing. we know the economy has a problem, high inflation, it's

like a disease. and we've had the federal reserve come in and they've been treating this disease with really heavy-duty medicine, interest rate hikes and i think the concern all year has been that they're going to overmedicate the patient. pump it with so much medicine it's going to collapse the economy into recession. but goldman sachs is saying not so fast. they think the medicine is working, inflation has come down and they think consumers are going to keep spending and the economy is going to avoid a recession. there are real positives. inflation is cooling off, still high but cooling off. gas prices are at 16-month lows. gdp is positive. and unemployment is really low. for you kaitlan i looked up the unemployment rate in alabama, nationally it's 3.7%, which is low. alabama 2.7%. down from almost 14% in 2020. and poppy, in minnesota where you're from. >> thanks for not leaving me out. >> i would never.

2.3% unemployment, tied for the second lowest in the country. so these are strong numbers. >> when i was home for christmas, i heard family and friend complaining about the price of eggs and how expensive things still are. what are the other things that goldman is looking at predicting this? is it supply chain recovery? inflation they think is going to ease up more? what does that look like? >> they think the fed's interest rate hikes are cooling inflation and they talk about the supply chain improvements. they think the wages are going to do better than people thought. paychecks are starting to keep up with inflation. which is a big, important shift. and so, in the future they think that people are going to actually continue to spend. we saw holiday shopping numbers out, showing that people are continuing to shop. you don't want to ever bet against the american consumers. i do think that, you know, people need to be careful. you don't want to necessarily buy into all of the doom and gloom, but also you got to be

careful. this is probably not the best time to splurge on like a big purchase on appliance or car out of your budget prepo. it's never a good time to only make a minimum payment on your credit card, this is the worst time. rates have never been higher. but i think there are real reasons for optimism. >> i love this. can you come back daily with good news? >> i would love to. >> that's what the audience is saying, too. >> it's great. this will be welcome news to powell and the administration. i think maybe it will mean companies layoff less than they had been preparing for in 2023. >> right. when i talk to white house officials they are preaching cautious optimism. they don't think there's gang busters growth but a real shot at a soft landing where recession doesn't happen and inflation does really come down. >> thank you, matt. >> thank you. hopefully they hit that soft landing. preparations under way for new year's eve.

you see many crystals there being installed on the times square new year's eve ball. anderson and andy are back for another celebration, join them starting 8:00 p.m. eastern saturday night. don will join as well live from new orleans. ahead, our coverage of southwest airlines melt down continues. how cancellations are looking this morning, officials plan to hold the airline accountable. the ergo smart base from tempur-pedic responds to snoring - automatically. so no hiding under your pillow. or opting for the couch. your best sleep. all night. every night. experience the mattress ranked #1 in customer satisfaction byby j.d. power, four years i in a row. ♪ ♪ a bunch of dead guys made up work, way back when. ♪ ♪ it's our turn now we'll make it up again. ♪ ♪ we'll build freelance teams with more agility. ♪ ♪ the old way of working is deader than me.♪

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do doncic. we're very happy about this. >> it's a great morning, great to see both of you. l luka doncic is the gift that keeps on giving. he reported a 60 point, 20 rebound, 10 assist stat line in the game. the all-star crushing the knicks' hopes and dreams, the mavs down 9 with 33 seconds to go, but doncic carries the team like santa with a bag of toys. he intentionally misses the free throw, gets the put back himself. no team had come back trailing by 9 with 35 or fewer to go. in over time, he pours in 7 to bring him to 60 on the night. after dallas' win, luka wanted to pour a cold one. >> i'm tired as hell. >> you can rest