nearly 5,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil, close to 2 million gallons of liquid waste removed from the site bound for epa certified owe locations in ohio, one in indiana, as a matter of fact. speaking of the shipping process, the safety of the royal roads, what can you tell us about this process and is this shipping process save, mr. secretary? >> epa sees to making sure that all of this is held to an extremely rigorous standard. those certifications are not something they just give out. and they work with parties that are very experienced in dealing exactly do these types of materials. certainly not something that is taken lightly. i know this is getting direct attention from the highest levels of epa because it is a concern in the community and people have questions about where this material is going, how it's being disposed of. it's being handled by

organizations experienced in dealing with exactly this kind of material. >> the timeline here, the waste removal was paused over the weekend following complaints from texas and michigan officials who said they didn't know the waste would come to their jurisdictions. why didn't they know what was coming their way? >> i don't know all the details of the environmental cleanup process. what i know is that there are ways that are set up for states to communicate with each other about this. and there is often a private sector role as contractors who have that extremely rigorous epa certifica certif certify step up to do that challenging work. this is both in responding to disasters like this and in routine operations. it happens a lot, which is why it is regulated so tightly, so carefully and closely. and epa has taken over the process originally led by norfolk southern to make sure that it's going to be handled well. >> of course, every situation,

politics playing a role in this. some republicans calling for your resignation. mitch mcconnell didn't go that far. listen to this and we will get your response. >> unfortunately this leadership has cut a sharp contract with the biden administration's secretary of transportation. even amidst a catalog of crises on his watch, from this and other recent train derailments to the meltdown in air travel back during the holiday season, secretary buttigieg seems more interested in press coverage for woke initiatives and climate non nonsense then attending to basic elements of his day job. >> what's your response, mr. secretary? >> well, first of all, leader mcconnell was there celebrating the replacement of the brent spents bridge and major infrastructure project that we are funding in his state. i would not call the brent spence bridge a woke initiative.

climate is not nonsense. dealing with climate change is one of the biggest things that people like me and people like him will be remembered for after we're gone. and third, he is the caucus leader in the senate. he could be a partner to us right now in making sure that there are fewer rail disasters in the future. as i mentioned earlier, the rail, the freight rail industry has wielded a lot of power here in washington. i would love to see leader mcconnell join us in stand ng up to them. there are specific things that could be done right now. he is a senate leader. he could work with us to do things like raise the cap on the fines. right now major safety violation that our department discovers, the most we can fine a

multibillion-dollar railroad company is in the six figures. accelerate the sometime line for fortified tank cars. he could work with us right now to give our department a freer hand on things like breaking regulations and regulations on hazardous material transportation. so if he is serious about this, republican or democrat or independent is serious, they can work with us today -- >> have you reached out to them? >> absolutely. we have made it very clear publicly what congress can do. i know there is some talk of legislation coming together. we are activery proposing the things that we think need to happen in addition to the things that we can do the powers we have, like a program for stepped up inspection along some of the routes that are impacted by these kind of materials. and something that i re-upped my call for the railroads to do that they could literally do today, which is to join a close call reporting system that protects whistleblowers that issues that could lead to accidents. right now not one company participates. i gave them to the end. week to snow whether they will accept my call to join this.

>> i want to ask you about -- as with the border, lots of consternation about going there and seeing firsthand. now that you have been to east palestine and you have seen the devastation firsthand, is his decision ultimately, but do you think president biden should visit and speak with families there? >> well, what i know is he has been very concerned throughout this process about what the people of east palestine are going through. i think also a visit at that level can sometimes have a lot of disruptive effects. it would need to be thought of carefully. i am glad i went. michael regan, our epa administrator, has been there twice and is preparing for a third visit. that's the most cabinet on the ground presence for a rail disaster in recent memory with good reason because the people of the community are going through a lot, they need to sew their administration is working for them, as we have been, with personnel from the epa, my department and others on the ground from the first hours of

the situation unfolding. >> more politics to discuss. there is an internal audit of your use of faa jets for official trips following a request for review by senator marco rubio, and private jet travel as transportation secretary. could do you have a response to that? >> yeah. here's how we handle my travel. the vast emergencity i travel on commercial ashls and economy. 10 to 20% when we use our agency's aircraft. this is not chartering a private jet. this is a government aircraft that is assigned to the faa. usually when we use it it's because for me to travel with staff turns out to be cheaper than buying all of those airline tickets. occasionally because of a security or logistical issue. the number one reason we use that agency aircraft, it's less expensive for taxpayers than the

commercial airline tickets. we keep meticulous records. if somebody wants to audit it, it's well documented. i with welcome that independence look. >> no concerns about this. you welcome? >> yeah, it's good for it to get an independent look. i don't say anything about the motivations of the senator. i will just say that we are here with the facts and we'll put forward the math and i think people will see how we make these decisions, why we make these decisions and i think it's a good things for people to understand that. >> secretary pete buttigieg, thank you. >> thank you. this morning court is set to resume in the alex murdaugh double murder trial. prosecutors are expected to call reply witnesses after the defense rested its case on monday. the jury will visit the family hunting property where murdaugh's wife and son were killed and that is rare that the jury is going out of the courtroom. let's talk about this with

dian dianne gallagher. the defense wanted that. the judge granted it. where are we in all of this? >> reporter: yeah, so poppy, look, that was something that the defense requested that the judge allow the jury to do. they are going to take that trip to the murdaugh family property where the murders happened june 7, 2021. that won't happen until after the prosecution finishes its reply which begins in an hour and a half here. this is after the defense spent about a week presenting its case, trying to poke holes and create doubt around what the state says happened the night of the murders, tclosing within, alex murdaugh's younger brother, who talked about basically what happened around the murders and afterwards during interviews with law enforcement he described cleaning up the morning after at the dog kennels making a vow to his nephew he

would find the killers when asked if that happened he said no he believed they were still out there. they presented a pathologist and a crime scene expert on the stand and that crime scene expert went into talking about the weapons that were used, what the lay of the land was like, and how the shooting thad to hae occurred to once again introduce what's known as the defense's two-shooter theory. >> timmy, there is structurally difficult for the same shooter to have two arms and no practical reason for that to happen. add to that what i believe happened to the shooter who fired first with the shotgun and i think it tips in favor of the probability of two shooters. >> reporter: now, we do know the prosecution says they believe they have about four to five witnesses. poppy, they think they can get through them all today. once they do that, the jury will take that trip and we move on to

closing arguments. >> thank you for the reporting. also this morning, the department of energy now believes a lab leak was likely the source of the covid-19 pandemic. that's a low intelligence assessment they are making. we will ask the former covid-19 response coordinator dr. birx what she thinks. that's next. then own it support your immune system with a potent blend of nutrients and emerge your bestst every day with emergen-c hi, i'm lauren, i lost 67 pounds on golo. i gogot picked on as a child. it really got to me, so i tried everything there was. golo and release has definitely shown me that there is hope out there.

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three sources tell cnn that was based in part on information about the research that was being conducted at the wuhan lab which was studying a coronavirus variant around the time of the outbreak. but this only deepens the divide among u.s. intelligence agencies over the virus' origins with the department of energy and the fbi saying that it likely came from a lab while the national intelligence council and four other unidentified agencies did not update their assessment that the virus was the result of a natural exposure, the cia we should note is still undecided. the former director of the cdc dr. bob redfield believes this is the case that it was because of a lab leak nearly two years ago. >> i still think the most likely etiology of this pathogen in wuhan was from a laboratory escaped. >> joining us now is one of his former colleagues the wormer white house coronavirus response coordinator dr. deborah birx the author of the week "silent

invasion." can you give us from your perspective how significant it is that the department of energy has updated this assessment? >> well, i take the d.e.a. -- the doe assessment seriously. why? this group has 17 laboratories. one of their laboratories is really known for having extraordinary molecular virologists who look at viral mutation over time. they were critical in identifying the origin and site of hiv. so they are really evolutionary molecular virologists. we have three years of data that shows how this virus moves and mutates and i think they used that data plus the key evidence about the research to really revise their opinion. >> and so seven though it's a lw confidence assessment you think

it's significant they have gone out of their way to update it? >> i do. the reason it's low confidence is because there is no transparency about what china was actually working on. samples from the laboratory. most importantly, those early human samples. let's be realistic about this. we have learned a lot about this virus. soond we know that in order to have high numbers of hospitalizations, the virus had to be circulating in the community for long periods of time. weeks. and we have seen that over and over again in the united states even that original outbreak and that's because we didn't have tests and we needed to get to the place where we are testing for all respiratory deciseases. third, bob redfield, molecular virologists that work in the lab know if you are working on a coronavirus or towards a vaccine you are growing that virus and tissue culture, cell lines, and

to adapt that virus to those cell lines. so it makes sense that the research was working towards a vaccine against coronavirus. maybe a live attenuated vaccine. it's all about adapting that virus and growing it in cell lines. it's possible these lab accidents do happen. they are unfortunate and that's why all of us who work in the lab are extraordinarily careful. >> i think they happen more commonly than people think. i think this has brought a lot of attention to it. dr. redfield was criticized when he made that comment two years ago, the idea that it could be a lab leak has only gained traction recently. >> yeah, and i think you see that throughout the pandemic, that we have vilified individuals who had real questions about the science and the data. and what makes a good scientist is willing to question their own assumptions, own perceptions as data comes in, and i think once we really understood how this virus circulated and that there

were laboratories working on this very, very similar virus, that a lab accident is very plausible because viruses have to adapt to their host. and we all know that this virus has infected domestic animals and zoo animals. but it doesn't cause outbreaks among those animals because it adapt today humans in a way that this virus really took time to do. and it's very unusual for a virus, as dr. re field said, to come out of the box ready to dramatically infect humans and cause this level of devastation. we are still over 300 americans dying every day but across the world we lost over 7 million americans. and to me what's really important is we went through this afternoon sars and the world health organization developed treaties. we spent hundreds of millions of dollars saying we were ready and

we would prevent the next pandemic and it happened. let's be very clear that what we have done to date has failed. and i worry that we haven't put the new things in place that will keep us and protect us from the next pandemic. >> do you think that it would be helpful if they declassified the new intelligence around this that has caused the doe to change its assessment? >> you know, i think it's important that a group gets together of scientists, particular molecular virologists, and moves past the politics and say what do we really know? what do we know now about this virus, how it mutates, how it spreads through humans, what do we know that china was doing and it makes total sense that china was working on a vaccine and growing these -- growing these viruses in tissue culture. that changes the virus over time. that's what you do in the laboratory. and so it makes sense and i think really getting people to get -- i know we are never going

to get the data from china. china has not been transparent. we saw in that their recent outbreak. they weren't telling how many people were succumbing to covid. that's been going on three years now and we have to be very clear. china they did not learn from sars, they were not transparent with covid-19 in 2019, they are not transparent today in 2023, and we just have to understand that we are not going to change china's behavior and put into place processes and accountability across the globe to ensure other countries are protected. >> given that, dr. birx, if you say we will never get it from china, are we doing enough as a country, is the united states doing enough to prevent this from happening again? >> no. and just like we learned after 9/11, we have to have a coalition of like-minded countries that work together and bring the private sector to the

table because they are the groups that have multinational employees all across the globe and we need a surveillance system that works with the private sector to really under what is happening in countries that are not transparent. >> all right. dr. birx, that's a scary warning that the united states is not doing enough. thank you for joining us this morning. you do believe this is a significant update from the energy department. appreciate your time. >> thank you, kaitlin. >> great to hear from her. a big voice during the height of this pandemic. as you prepare your morning coffee or your tea, there is a new health concern about a very popular zero calorie sweetener. why it could be dangerous. we'll tell you ahead. and some guy named jake tapper is going to sit down with another guy, another comedian, telling the country, you know, why he is telling the country i told you so. i'm talking about bill maher.

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that is a lot of candidates up on that wall for chicago mayor. chicago, as i was taught to say. today's election day. chicago mayoral primary, hot lest tcontested player. lori lightfoot is fighting for sur viechl. she defied expectations fur years ago becoming the first black woman and openly gay person to become chicago mayor. david axlerod, it's where we met, in 2003. >> it is, indeed, yes. hey, guys. >> basically, good morning. what is the weather like there? oh, you are in pennsylvania. >> pennsylvania. but it's nice a chicago. i'm told it's nice in chicago today. good voting weather. i hope everybody takes advantage of it. >> yeah, that's why i'm asking because that means usually better weather means bigger turnout. it looks like it could be a

runoff in april. what do you make of lori lightfoot's chances of being one of the top two contenders and advance, to advance, i should say, to that runoff? >> well, that is the big question of the day, don. seems pretty clear one of her opponents, paul vallas, will finish first in the runoff -- in this primary, and he will move on to the runoff. the big question is, who will join him in that runoff? it's not certain that the incumbent mayor of the city, lori lightfoot, will be one of those two. she is in a very pitched battle with a couple of other candidates. brandon johnson, who is a county commissioner, backed by the local teachers union. and congressman chuy garcia, who ran last time. one of those throw is likely to be in the runoff. it may not be the mayor. we'll have to wait and see. and here is the hitch. we may not know for weeks this

could be very, very close for second place. if it is, they may have to wait for all of the absentee -- all in write-in ballots, i should say, to arrive. there is a march 14th deadline for that if it's posted by election day. so we'll see. there could be a recount for that second spot. so april 4th is the general. half that time may be spent figuring out who the candidates are going to be. >> yeah. there is a real chance of her being shut out. we will see what happens as we track that. david, while we have you here, governor ron desantis's new book comes out something i thought w interesting, he writes, i don't think republican primary voter ares sheep who follow an endorsement from a politician they like without individual

analysis, downplaying a particular endorsement that he got. wha did you make of that? >> well, i think he is rewriting history a little bit. people in florida i think remember how instrumental the trump endorsement was at the time for desantis. trump is not wrong about that. we have seen examples in republican primaries where trump's endorsement has been meaningful. i think desantis, he wants to rewrite his origin story here in florida politics and national politics, but i'll tell you, guys, what is amazing to me is the brazenness with which this guy is running his non-campaign sclsh campaign. he came into chicago, just was in chicago talking to the fraternal order of police there, making a national tour around the issue of pelotonnd the guise

guise of trying to attract police to come to florida. he has a book tour, florida's blueprint for america's revival. this is about as subtle as a screen tore on a submarine. he is not going to announce until june. >> saying he is not running, david? >> yeah, right. what is interesting he is in a position where he is not a candidate. so there are certain legal requirements he doesn't have to abide to. and he is also not as much of a target because he is not an active candidate. yes, he is clearly actively campaignsing and it will be interesting to see how long people take a hands-off posture towards him in this race. >> part of that campaigning i find so non-campaigning campaigning is the culture war element. vis-a-vis disney, it collides with the role of government and what the republican standards for, big government or limited government.

yesterday when he signed the bill that gives control over the land disney is on in florida and names -- he gets in name his own board members now, this is what he said. today the corporate kingdom comes to tan end. there is a new sheriff in end, accountability will be the order of the day. i am so struck by that marked change in philosophy in terms of the role of government and corporations. >> you're so rate. ron desantis when he began in politics and he wrote a book around these principles was a small government libertarian. now he is a kind of right-wing authoritarian in the sense that, you know, if you disagree with him as a corporation he is going to come after you with the power of the state and that is going to create a lot of debate within the republican party, i think. but he is reveling in the culture war elements of this, as you say, he believes that's his ticket to getting some of those trump votes. i always say, you know, the

hope -- the hope of his supporters that he will be kind of transition drug for trump supporters who want to kick the habit of trump, he gives you the culture war high but may not be as dangerous to your political health. but he certainly isn't the libertarian that he purported to be. his book is the courage to be free, but if you're a woman who needs an abortion in florida, if you're, you know, a corporation who expresses itself on a public issue, you know, if you're the parent of, you know, if you are a gay parents in florida, there are a range of people who don't feel as free in florida because of the kind of politics that he is practicing. >> david axlerod, always a pleasure, sir. thank you. >> thank you. >> great to see you guys. all right. ahead, bill maher, a man with a long history of amusing and, you know, sometimes offending, both ends of the political spectrum,

he sat down with jake tapper for their special. it airs tonight 9:00 eastern on cnn. take a look. >> do you think democratic politicians have changed their views or do you think they are afraid of their party's activists the way a lot of republicans are afraid of their party's activists, the maga folks. >> b, they are afraid. >> they are just afraid? >> yes, i think both sides. again there are four tribes in this country. there is old school liberals and old school conservatives, republicans and democrats, the kind of people who used -- i think that's the majority of the country. >> hillary clinton and jeb bush? >> yeah, they didn't agree on a lot but found ways to work together. they didn't hate each other. it wasn't all about making liberal tears and cry and owning and destroying people. it was just, yeah, i don't agree with bob dole but we can work together, we can get a grand bargain, that kind of stuff. and so i think that's the

majority. but then you have trumpers and then you have wokesters. and, you know, those fridges are not doing this country any great favors. >> joining us now is cnn anchor and chief washington correspondent jake tapper. good morning. why did you want to sit down with him? what's the most fascinating takeaway? >> well, you know, i think he's a one of the preeminent political comedians in the country, if not the most, and, obviously, he works for hbo max, our sister channel. it seemed like a great opportunity to sit down, pick his broain about politics, comedy, any number of things he talks about on his show friday nights. it was an interesting wide ranging conversation on a number of topics. >> he is pretty political. he delves into the political issues. made million dollars donationes in the past. you talked to him about that. what is his take on what we're

predicting for 2024? we were talking about disesanti trump, biden, his age. >> those are a lot of topics. we talked about every one of them. i think he thinks inevitably probably going to be biden versus trump although he is not 100% sure of that. he thinks biden can defeat trump. he thinks that the big field of republican candidates taking on trump in the republican primary will likely mean that trump wins the nomination again. he was not particularly concerned about biden's age. thinks he is able to do the job. he had a lot to say about how most cultures honor their elders and seek advice from them and that is the way he sees president biden, although he certainly disagrees with quite a bit that biden has done. >> jake, for those of us who are old enough to remember, i mean, bill maher got canceled, right,

back in the day, politically incorrect. he got condanceled by the right. now he speaks -- >> that's right. >> he speaks about wokism and being canceled by the left. this mole bill maher arc has been fascinating to watch and especially his stances on, you know, who is canceling and who is responsible these days. >> yeah. politically incorrect started in the '90s on comedy central, transferred -- went over to abc. and it was after the gulf war had started, the iraq war started rather, and he made a comment about whether or not people who are suicide bombers or people on planes sending planes into buildings whether that is cowardly as opposed to sending missiles out. and it was -- he was very criticized and the bush whiteouts weighed in. they said people thneed to watc what they say. the disney-owned abc canceled him soon after that.

he would argue he hasn't changed. it's just that the people doing the canceling have changed. and it used to be more people on the right and now it's just as many, if not more, people on the left. >> he famously predicted that trump wouldn't leave the wows. we all saw what played out. did you guys talk about that? >> we did. quite a bit. i am not sure if we have the montage ready of those clips. >> we do. let's play it. >> yeah, let's watch that. >> i don't see him leaving willingly, under any condition, including people knocking on the door with guns. he would be "scarface." i don't think he would even leave if he lost an election in 2020. people sail i am an alarmist and i'm crazy because i say he is not going to leave it he loses. i bet you $1 million right now if you lose the 2020 election i am right and you won't leave. >> i said for a number of years that if trump loses the

election, he is not going to leave. >> i cannot picture that man gracefully conceding and walking away. >> interesting one of those comments was to steve bannon, if you saw there. he was saying that to steve bannon. i said, you know, what made you predict that? he said, have you been watching donald trump? like it was -- he is a guy who doesn't acknowledge ever losing, never concedes defeat, never concedes mistake. it was predictable. >> it's going to be shocking to some people on a different level. i don't know if you remember this, jake. i predicted that, i said donald trump will probably win this -- the election in 2016. look, i lost a lot of liberal friends. got kicked out of parties in brooklyn. >> really? >> oh, my gosh, gentlemen. i said, have you seen the newspaper? the newspapers? he is on every section, on the business section, on the political section, on the real estate section.

he is on the front pages. it was just because he knew how to manipulate and use the media and so it's interesting to, you know, see bill maher say, hey, listen, this guy isn't going to leave the white house. the evidence was there but people kind of ignored what's in front of ntheir faces. do you think i am wrong about that? >> no. you remind me of that great skit on "saturday night live" after trump was elected when dave chappelle and chris rock are at a party watching the election. not surprised at all. >> the two black guys in the room going, why is everybody freaking out? >> jake, thank you. >> this is going to happen. we knew this was going to happen. thanks, guys. >> jake, always a pleasure. >> watch jake with bill maher one-on-one tonight 9:00 p.m. eastern right here on cnn. also, jake at 4:00 p.m. eastern as he hosts the lederhosen with

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all right. everyone. new study finds a zero-calorie sweetener that is commonly used to replace sugar may contribute to stroke and heart attack. joining us cnn medical correspondent elizabeth cohen. good morning to you. the experts who spoke to cnn are feeling very strongly about the findings. was it erythritol? erythritol. what's going on? >> you got that pronunciation right, don. it is so interesting, don. usually when we talk to doctors about studies they are very measured. for this one they actually said they were alarmed. they used that word. some of them even said we think that folks who are at high risk of heart attack or stroke should

actually reconsider using these products. let's take a look at this product because you may be eating it and not even knowing that you are eating it. it's erythritol and it's a carbo hydrate naturally found in fruits and vegetables but artificially manufactured in quantities, in huge quantities. used in stevia, certain keto products, lots of products that people use when they are trying to avoid sugar. let's take a look at what this study found. this was a big study, had a lot of people. what they found when they divided people up into four groups, the highest, the folks with the highest levels of this in their blood versus the lowest. the folks with the highest level had twice the risk of having a heart attack or stroke compared to folks who had blood levels in the bottom 25%. in other words, the folks who ate the most of this had the high -- had a twice higher risk of heart attack or stroke. and the author said they weren't expecting this.

this is just what they found when they took a look. let's read a response from the industry association that makes these sweeteners. they say the results of this study are contrary of decades of scientific studies with zero-calorie sweeteners like erythritol. don, poppy. >> thank you very much. appreciate it. to weather. 50 million of you are under winter weather alerts across the northeast. live images of hartford, connecticut, the snow is coming down. in new york city, where harry is, appropriately, found a snowball? >> i don't know. and a bills hat. we are not getting very much. we will go to harry live in central park with this number. >> looks like a lump of coal. an. they customize your car insurance, so y you only pay for what you need. with the money we sasaved, we thought we'd try electrtric unicycles. whoa!

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today could show new york city the most snow it has seen all season, and it's not very much, even by east coast standards. our senior data reporter harry enten is live in central park. my kids woke up this morning, they sent me a picture of them staring out the window because they hadn't seen snow all season. >> no, no, they hadn't seen snow. i have to tell you as a huge snow fanatic this has been a pathetic winter. that's why this morning's number is 1.8 inches of snow because that is the biggest snowfall by far this season, it makes for a seasonal snowfall total of 2.2 inches, i have never been more excited for 2.2 inches of snow overall at this point given where we were just a few days ago, and indeed if you look at how much snow has fallen so far this season, we still rank in the bottom five for the least amount of snowfall through february, but here is the key, poppy, the key is before this

latest snowfall we had ranked as the least amount of snow through february, so at least we are no longer in the bottom, although we are still in the bottom five for the least amount of snow through this point in february. >> i don't know if i follow that, but where does this rank in terms of, you know, past years in new york city net-net? >> reporter: right. so, you know, before what we were looking at was essentially through february did we have the least amount of snow? but now let's look at through overall. if, in fact, that 1.8 inches continue to hold, what we would see is we would have the least amount of snowfall ever -- ever in central park history. so we need a little bit more snow, but i want to give you an understanding of why such little snow has fallen, and i think the temperatures that we have seen so far in central park gives you an understanding. if we look at all the years that we've had, all of them, what we

see is this ranks as the second warmest winter on record. we get only beaten out by one winter. so essentially what you're seeing is a la neon i can't winter has created very warm weather and then basically we have had a ton of rain but we have not had a lot of snow, but i can say i have never been so happy to see snowfall. you have made my dreams come true reporting live from central park on snow, my 16-year-old self has never been -- would be so excited over this. so i want to thank you for this, guys. >> guys, this is because he went to weather camp. >> yeah. >> which is a thing, weather camp. >> i did go to weather camp. penn state weather camp, i went there when i was 15 years old, the guys would be so jealous of me right now. >> don? >> speechless. >> we love you, harry.

thank you. >> don, don't be so silent. come on. all right. see you later, guys. see you inside the warmth tomorrow. >> thanks, harry. >> oh, boy. okay. so it is a film that is actually raking it in at the box office so we went deep into the news archives to see how the media covered the real life cocaine bear. >> don't eat that. don't eat that. >> let's see what kind of affect that has on him. >> the bear [ bleep ] did cocaine. >> what if we live to 100? i don't want to outlive our money. i could d live to be 100. ♪hit it!♪ ♪it takes two to make a thing go right♪ ♪ ♪it takes two to make it outta sight♪ ♪one, two, get loose no it takes two to make a-♪ stay two nights and get 8,000 bonus points. book now at bestwestern.com [narrator] this is my coffee shop. we just moved into a bigger space, brought on another employee, and ordered new branded gear for the team.

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>> today's morning moment, quite a trip into the news archives to the actual real life story from 1985 that inspired the new box office hit "cocaine bear." it was actually covered by our atlanta affiliate wxia back in 1985. this was the news segment at the time. >> the 200-pound bear fell victim to one of three duffle bags full of cocaine dropped in north georgia and knoxville, tennessee, three months ago when parachutist and drug smul letter andrew thornton plunged to his death. he had 77 pounds of cocaine strapped on him. agents found a second bag a short time later. they ran across the dead bear in fannin county last week while looking for the third bag, what they believe to be the last of the thornton badge. >> they probably got an initial rush and perhaps became disoriented and somewhat

confused because of the sensation. >> the idea that this is actually based on a real life story. >> tell them -- >> the poor bear died, but i'm laughing at the movie. it's funny. >> and the other thing you told me about. >> oh, there's now a meth gator. i think it's by the sharknado people. >> i had no idea. >> what are you going to do? sad the real bear died, but the movie looks like it's fun. wasn't that ray liotta's last movie? >> yeah, he is in it. okay. well, now that you know all of that, you know everything this morning. >> you got the crew laughing, high bar. >> "cnn newsroom" starts right now. >> is it a high bar? >> it's a high bar. >> guys -- >> it's a high bar. ♪ good morning, top of the hour here, i'm erica hill. >> and i'm jim sciutto. next hour the supreme court will hear arguments about president biden's studen