a daring evacuation. the u.s. military carries out an operation to pull government personnel out of sudan's capital. but thousands of americans are still trapped in the country as it descends deeper into chaos, and the white house says it's not safe to get them out right now. the gop's fight over abortion erupts over the weekend. political peril for the republican party as the national battle over reproductive rights heats up. and kimberly potter set free after serving only 16 months in pr prison for killing daunte wright. the former police officer spent more than two years behind bars for fatally shooting wright while yelling "taser." critics say the punishment didn't fit the crime. we're following these major developing stories and many more coming in right here to "cnn news central."

scrambling to get out of sudan as foreign powers rush to evacuate the war-torn country. the biden administration says that u.s. special forces have carried out a daring rescue operation, safely getting u.s. embassy staff out of the capital city of khartoum. this here is a photo of secretary of state tony blinken watching this tense operation unfold. as fighting intensifies, the u.s. government is warning an estimated 16,000 americans remaining, many of whom are dual citizens, that a large-scale operation to evacuate those who want to leave won't be happening any time soon. >> we have military forces still prepositioned nearby in the region if they're needed. frankly, the situation is not conducive and not safe to try to conduct some kind of a larger military evacuation of american citizens. the violence is increasing, it is more dangerous today than it was just yesterday or the day

before. >> jim, this was an incredible rescue for those who get out. >> listen, it's not easy. they call it a fast and clean mission, but there was danger here. the u.s. military swooping in to evacuate u.s. government personnel. let's break this down with retired brigadier general mark kinnon. they say it's fast and clean, but this is not an easy operation. they were on the ground for less than an hour. there's a reason for that. there's a reason they sent members of s.e.a.l. team six. what are the dangers in an operation like this? >> first of all, the key issue is you don't know what's going to happen in the air. both parties said they would not give up airspace to allow any kind of operations. so there's that risk. you can get the helicopter shot down. second, you don't know what's going to happen on the ground. even if these are not forces that belong to the rsrsf, you could have knuckleheads out with weapons. you have the logistics challenges of coming a long

distance, getting to the ground and getting people out. >> they were flying from jibuti. one of the heavy lift helicopters under 500 miles. they had to jump, they had to stop in ethiopia to refuel, stop in khartoum, pick folks up, refuel, have your load before you get to safety here. that's not exactly -- it's not easy, one, and there's dangers involved in being in the air. >> sure. this goes back to the whole iran hostage rescue back in 1979. that was knocked out primarily because logistics problems. i would also say, jim, it's likely that between ethiopia, khartoum, and back they probably had to do an in-flight refuel, as well. >> okay. fair enough. so some of this struck me as i was watching this play out over the weekend is informed by events in benghazi a number of years ago. you see now when u.s. diplomats get in danger in war zones, there's not a lot of hemming or

hawing, they move them out. i saw this in ukraine prior to the russian invasion, they got those folks out quickly here. is -- i don't know if the policy has changed, but has the threshold changed for making a decision like this for the u.s. government since benghazi? >> it's not since benghazi, could be since afghanistan. if you look at the problems, the perception problems that happened on the evacuation in afghanistan, you're sending in s.e.a.l.s, you're sending in less than one hour in the ground. you're only bringing out the diplomats. that's a -- there's a lot of sensitivity on the part of the administration that this cannot fail. >> yeah. the s.e.a.l.s -- listen, this is, of course, the team you entrusted with arguably the most difficult special operations mission in decades for the u.s., the killer/capture mission against osama bin laden. you have a host of special teams, units that are trained or capable of this kind of thing. is this one that you call into duty in the most difficult of

circumstances? >> tondon't know because i don' think we really know what the situations was in terms of selection and threats on the ground. but you can never go wrong sending your best troops. >> yeah. understood. and like we said, not the easiest distances involved here. you have long distance -- you have to stop on the way, stop on the way out. all the time you're flying, i imagine you're looking at the safety of those aircraft, as well. >> and the threat. could be a throat the ground. >> general, always good to have you. to the race now for the white house. president biden is expected to make it official tomorrow with a formal announcement that he is running for re-election. biden spent the weekend huddling with advisers at camp david as he finalized his plans, and he selected a manager to lead his 2024 campaign. cnn's phil mattingly is at the white house following the story. what are you learning ahead of the expected announcement? >> reporter: behind the scenes for several months the president's very close-knit group of advisers have been

planning out the structure of a campaign, the expectation that one would have been given the green light. now some of the details of that are starting to come out. julia chavez rodriguez, senior adviser at the white house, is expected to become the campaign manager for the nascent campaign. the other personnel decisions are in the works, as well. it's all driving toward the possibility of the president officially making it official on tuesday morning, via campaign-style video. it will be a pretty low-key, kind of slow-burn start to a campaign that they know will be ramping up significantly over the course of the next 19 months. the usual caveat, as you know quite well, applies here. if the president hasn't officially signed off it doesn't mean officially that it's going to happen. that is certainly where everything has been leading up to this point. and it's a critical moment for this white house, for the president, for his political team. while it has long been a foregone conclusion that the president was going to run for re-election, the realities of this moment, the challenges this president faces, his low approval ratings, the fact he's the oldest president in american

history, the very real challenges that he entered office in his first term to try and calm down, to try and move away from most notably his predecessor and the fact he's still leading the polls for the 2024 republican nomination, are still very palpable, are still very present. and all of those things combined underscore that this is not going to be an easy run for re-election. it's something white house advisers are critically aw it's something driving fundraising plans, messaging, how the president's strategy will play out over the course n. there's also the reality of he's the incumbent president. you mentioned that weekend in camp david, and yes, it was scheduled to be an intensive weekend about the structure of his campaign decision that's still needed to be made. he was also focused on what you were talking about in the lead of the show, sudan and ordering the emergency evacuation of the embassy. those will always be issues the president will be balancing throughout the course of the campaign, whether he launches tomorrow or some other time. white house officials know that. the president is very aware of

that, as well. this will all be part of the drive toward 2024. expect to see message-wise much of what you've seen in these first couple of months in the weeks and months ahead. white house officials acknowledge they know they will have to be full go come the start of next year. they know the campaign will be extremely intense and difficult. >> i like how you put it -- tomorrow is about officially making it official. we'll be watching with you. phil mattingly, thank you. boris? as the 2024 election begins to take shape, candidates are facing increasing questions about where they stand on abortion, including the issue of access to medication abortion. right now a federal appeals court is considering the fate of a widely used abortion pill. it's the most commonly used pill for abortion in the country. it's a decision that sets up the most consequential abortion-related disputes since the supreme court overturned roe versus wade last summer. and republicans are now caught in the middle of a growing party divide. today congresswoman nancy mace warned her republican colleagues they could be headed for more

election losses if they don't find a middle ground on this issue. watch this. >> this is an issue where republicans need to think about whether or not they want to continue losing elections to the left, and some on the far left went abortion up until birth, or if they want to moderate extreme views and say we can be pro-life and pro-woman at the same time and talk about what we're doing to protect women who have been raped, girls who are victims of incest. what we're doing to improve ob-gyn access in rural areas and contra contraception. pea want to see solutions. they don't want to continue to see the far right extreme take over this conversation. >> i want to bring in my colleague, cnn's chief political correspondent and co-anchor of "state of the union" dana bash. you got into this specific issue about where republicans stand on this with south carolina senator lindsey graham. it got a bit contentious. i want to play a clip for our viewers so they can understand what i'm talking about.

>> my question, is it a federal issue or state? >> yeah, it's a human rights ir. does it really matter where you're conceived? at 15 weeks you have a developed heart and lungs. and to dismember a child at 15 weeks is a painful experience, it's barbaric. >> for the record, roe went up to viability. but i just want to button this up. the -- >> no, quit covering for these guys. no, no, no. you're media, you keep covering for these guys. they introduce legislation that allowed abortion on demand with taxpayer funded -- you paying for it, the taxpayer, up to the moment of birth. that was position in washington. that's the law they want to pass. and nobody in your business will talk about it. it's barbaric. >> senator? senator, i'm not covering for anybody. and you know that. when i have democrats on and i've had democrats on, i've asked -- >> report the facts -- >> i have asked many -- all of them about their position on where they believe this issue should be.

my question for you, sir, is -- my question for you, sir, is about president trump, who you've endorsed to be president again. is he right in saying that this issue should be a states' issue? >> quit covering for these guys. i admire you so much. you were more gracious than i would have been. >> i don't believe that, boris. >> you were asking is this a states' rights issue as republicans have laid out historically, or is this a federal issue, and he really didn't answer the question. >> no. he is somebody who has sponsored a national ban. he did that through a proposed legislation right before the midterm elections but in the past said it is a states' issue. i think the broader point here is that is exhibit a of how much of a political problem this is for republicans and how frustrated republicans are about the fact that now that it is very much -- abortion was

something that was talked about certainly in an intense way on the republican side for 50 years, but it was a hypothetical. now it's real, and what it is doing is it is galvanizing the forces who tend to vote democratic, and it is helping them in elections. it certainly helped them in 2022, even in some recent elections that are kind of local like in wisconsin. his frustration was that he doesn't believe that democrats are explaining their position in a fulsome enough way. in some cases, he might be right. in the case of my interviews and i know your interviews and others, when the topic is specifically about abortion and it was in a big, big way leading up to the midterm elections, we do ask those questions. sometimes we don't get answers from democrats, but that is abundantly clear when that happens to the viewer and to the voters. >> you mentioned republicans walking on perilous ground going into elections over this issue specifically because they stake

out a position that broadly is unpopular, but within primaries it's a very different dynamic. how do you think this will work out in a presidential primary versus general election? >> i think the way that we are going to see an answer to that question is with somebody like governor ron desantis. he hasn't declared yet. assuming he does declare that he's going to run, he's going to have to walk that line because what he supports and what he signed into law in florida was a ban on abortions after just six weeks of pregnancy. that is something that plays very well in the republican base. not all of the base. >> right. >> but in the people who he wants to get out and vote if he does, in fact, run for president. it's a very different tactic. it's a very different dynamic, i should say, when you look at the broader electorate. we're going to be able to see that play out -- we would see it play out, i should say, if someone like ron desantis were to run, get the nomination, and be a general election candidate. >> ron desantis who again today,

even as these traveling internationally in tokyo, said i'm not a candidate yet, we'll see if and when. got to leave the conversation there. dana bash, always a pleasure. jim? the former minnesota police officer who killed a man after she mistook her gun for a taser is walking out of prison today. hear what family members of the victim, daunte wright, are saying now. plus, a widow is suing celebrity cruises. she says the cruise line did not appropriately store her husband's body for days after he died on the ship. where she says they kept him. those details coming up. ou want in the clouds of your choice. with flexible multi-cloud services that enable digital innovation and enterprise contrtrol, vmware helps you innovate and grow.

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after he was pulled over for an expired tag and air freshener, as well. this video from 2021 is jarring. >> i'll tase you -- taser, taser, taser. >> to see that again, can't believe it's been two years. potter was convicted of manslaughter in december, 2021. she walked out of the minnesota correctional facility at 4:00 a.m. local time today. cnn has been covering this story. what happens now for potter? is she free and clear in effect? >> reporter: not exactly free and clear, jim. potter will be on supervised release for the remaining third of her sentence which expires in december. and there are some conditions linked to this release. for example, she must refrain from purchasing or possessing a firearm, ammunition, or any sort of dangerous weapon. she has been approved to serve the remaining of her sentence in

wisconsin. and for those of you who may not remember, as jim mentioned, kim potter is the former brooklyn center police officer who thought she was grabbing her taser during a traffic stop but instead she grabbed her gun killing daunte wright. he was initially pulled over for expired registration tags and something that looks like this -- a car freshener. on that day when he got pulled over, he called his mom. and i spoke with his mom over the weekend and really over the past month or so leading up to the release of kimberly potter. she told me her family has been unable to find peace following the trial. she suffered a stroke because of the stress she says, and that stroke left her unable to read, and her vision was blurred. she's still undergoing rehab. here's more of that conversation with her. katie wright says, "some say i

should forgive to be at peace, but how can i? i am so angry. she," referring to kim potter, "is going to be able to watch her kids have kids and be able to touch them. the good," she says, "is that kim potter will never be able to hurt anybody as a police officer again." and jim, there have been some changes in that city. for example, at the police department where potter served, she had 26 years of experience. the department is now led by its first black police chief. jim? >> yeah, remarkable to remember that detail for an air freshener. thank you so much. right now jury selection is under way in the trial of the man accused of going on a deadly rampage at the tree of life synagogue in pittsburgh. 11 people died in the 2018 massacre, and it was the deadliest anti-semitic attack in u.s. history. cnn's danny freeman is live for us in pittsburgh. danny, tell us what's been going on inside the courthouse where you have been for much of the

day. >> reporter: well, so like you said, early this morning jury selection began in this trial of the tree of life synagogue massacre. it's been going on all through the morning. we just broke for recess in the past five minutes or so, and then jury selection will resume again this afternoon. and i just -- it's been a very emotional day already. we saw potential jurors in tears weighing the possibility of having to rule on the death penalty. and of course there are also members -- family members of victims of the synagogue shooting from 4.5 years ago who are in the courtroom today. let's remind viewers what we're talking about. again, 4.5 years ago, october 27th, 2018, where prosecutors say robert bowers arrived at the tree of life sgynagogue armed with multiple guns -- remember, there are members of three jewish congregations at the synagogue at the time. and the criminal complaint says that robert bowers came in, started firing on the outside and firing indiscriminately on the inside.

part of the court documents say that mr. bowers said things like he wants to kill jews while he was going on this shooting rampage. prosecutors found anti-semitic postings on line that habash distributed to mr. bowers, as well. that brings us to today. mr. bowers, of course, is accused of killing 11, injuring many others. he's facing 63 felony counts including 22 potentially death penalty-related counts, and prosecutors in this case are seeking the death penalty. in fact, early today the judge said to some of the potential jurors, you should be prepared to rule on a -- on whether or not to give this man the death penalty if we get to that sentencing process, if he is determined guilty, as well. but i'll say that mr. bowers, his defense attorney, one of his defense attorneys, is a high-profile attorney who has defended other federal death penalty defendants in the past. her name is judy clark. she's defended folks like the unabomber and tsarnaev from the

boston marathon bombings. a guilty plea with life in prison with the death penalty off the table. at this point federal prosecutors are not budging on that death penalty ruling. like i said, jurors have been told they should expect to rule on the death penalty if they continue on with this case. jury selection is expected to pick up the next couple of hours, back when people get back from recess. briana? >> 63 federal charges. danny, thank you for that report. jim? i'll pick it up. ukrainian officials denying reports today that they plan to launch attacks deep inside russia to mark the first anniversary of vladimir putin's invasion. we have details on that ahead. plus, a widow suing a cruise line after she claims that it stored her husband's deceased body in the wrong place for days. wait until -- where she alleges they were keeping him. s. there's the philly, the monster, the boss. if i hadn't seen it in personon, i i wouldn't have believed it.

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the white house says it is not safe enough to conduct an evacuation of all private american citizens from war h-to sudan at this time. on saturday special forces evacuated 100 government personnel and their families after suspending all embassy operations in khartoum. that rescue team spent less than an hour on the ground.

secretary general of the u.n. says he has been in constants touch with the two fighting factions, warns that the violence is continually being ignited, and it could soon engulf the entire region if those battles do not stop. president biden is expected to announce his campaign for re-election as soon as tomorrow. sources say he will make it official via a video. he spent the weekend at camp david meeting with campaign staff. tomorrow marks four years since the president declared himself a candidate for the 2020 election. and former minnesota police officer kim potter was released from prison this morning. potter, you'll remember, was convicted of two counts of manslaughter after she shot and killed 20-year-old daunte wright during a traffic stop. potter yelled "taser," during the arrest, but she instead shot wright with her handgun. she serve good 16 months of her two-year sentence and will remain on supervised release until december. boris? another bombshell report

stemming from those leaked pentagon documents. according to "the washington post," one classified nsa report shows a top ukrainian official instructed troops to prepare for mass strikes inside russia to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the invasion. a later cia documentary went out showing washington had successfully persuaded kyiv to scrap that planned attack. cnn's alex marquardt is here now. an attack like that would have been a serious escalation. ukrainian officials are saying that this is essentially misinformation put out to make them look immature and impulsive. >> reporter: a serious escalation. that's exactly what the u.s. is worried about. provoking vladimir putin in a way that he would react potentially with nuclear weapons. so yes, we have a top ukrainian official dismissing this, saying "the washingto "the washington post" piece was conspiratorially reported. we have a statement from a senior adviser in president

zelenskyy's office saying what task would such a onetime action solve? would it change the course of the war? now some in ukraine would argue that ukraine striking russia in moscow would send a very strong message about their capabilities. so let's break down how this essentially happened. you touched on some of it. but these documents that "the washington post" has obtained, that we have not -- we haven't been able to verify -- says that in february, in the lead up to the anniversary on february 24th, there was a national security agency document that showed -- remember, the nsa, they're in charge of eavesdropping. they were clearly listening in. they're saying that the military intelligence directorate led by this young ukrainian general named budonov, that they were ordered to get ready for mass strikes on february 24th on the anniversary with everything that the agency had. now fast forward just a few days to february 22nd, just two days before this anniversary, and there's a cia assessment that "the washington post" obtained in which it says that this

directorate had agreed at washington's request to postpone strikes on moscow. now this tells me two things. first of all, again, the u.s. has remarkable insight into the highest levels of ukrainian intelligence and politics. but there are still differences, and this is the second thing -- differences between the u.s. and ukraine about what ukraine should be doing in terms of attacking russia. of course, american officials say that everything inside the borders of ukraine is fair game, everything in russian occupied crimea is fair game though americans are a lot more worried about that. when it comes to striking inside russia, particularly striking the russian capital, that is something that is a lot more sensitive. we have seen ukraine striking inside russia multiple times during the course of this war, including multiple attacks on air bases. there's one famous air base that has been hit multiple times. we've seen drone activity near moscow. but striking moscow would take

that to a much higher level. ukrainian officials never confirmed that they're carrying out these strikes inside russia, but they're very coy about it. they say things like, oh, you know, russian officials shouldn't stand too close to ammunition depots with cigarettes lit. this is something that would be much more sensitive, the u.s. worried about ukrainian provocation that's could lead to an escalation by russia. >> yet more fallout from the pentagon leaks. thank you so much. briana? southwest airlines christmas travel meltdown, the justice department joining the investigation into the nightmare. details ahead. celebrity cruises hits with a lawsuit after a passenger's body is stored in a drink cooler. we have a live report coming up. what is this place? the other side of the rest stop. if you're looking for a first mate, i know a guy. me. -is this o oak? you could save a ton with progressive by bundling g your boat or rv with your home and auto. hey, guys! free bags!

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remember that terrible southwest airlines meltdown over the holidays? that was rough. the department of justice hasn't forgotten either, and just in to cnn the doj is now joining the investigation into that travel mess that left so, so many people stranded. cnn is looking into this, and pete, what does it mean that the doj is now involved sneer. >> reporter: this is taking an entirely new turn now. we knew the department of transportation was looking into this when it came to refunds and reimbursements for passengers. 16,700 flights canceled over those last few weeks of december, 2023, but now that the doj is looking into this, that is really interesting because it essentially is a whole new layer of this investigation. the department of transportation is speaking on behalf of the

dong here. it will not say if doj prosecutors are getting involved here. i want to read this statement from the department of transportation in which it says "the investigation is focused on whether southwest engaged in unrealistic flight scheduling which is illegal under federal law, and whether southwest airlines provided timely refunds and reimbursements to affected passengers as required." southwest has already taken a huge reputational hit here. they've lost about $850 million as a result of this. we're talking about millions of passengers, if you consider 16,700 flights, 180 people on each flight, we're talking about three million passengers left in the lurch here. so now that the doj, the department of justice, is looking into this, we'll see if there is any sort of criminal liability that the southwest airlines has here. that would be a huge unprecedented move, something we have never seen in the industry's history. >> i mean, it messed up a lot of

folks' christmases. and quickly, we should point out southwest had some issues last week, as well. >> yeah. there was a brief ground stop imposed by southwest because of these computer issues. unclear if those were related to the computer issues that southwest said it had back during the holiday travel meltdown. the most recent one only resulted in delays. and we can pretty much tell that southwest was trying to go out of its way to try and avoid canceling flights. but we're talking a lot of people inconvenienced again by another southwest issue, just not as big as what we saw over the holidays. >> thank you so much. briana? who doesn't want a four-day roadtrip from texas to d.c. with small children? that was my christmas. to some of the other headlines we are watching -- a disney world employee has just been charged with video voyeurism for recording a video under a woman's skirt without her consent. he told police he took over 500 such videos of women at various disney parks over a six-year period. vega says he is still employed

at the "star wars" retail star at disney's hollywood studios but disney says he is no longer with the company. wild video from draper city, utah, that shows houses just sliding entirely off of a cliff. local officials say with snow pack melting and the ground shifting, some homes' foundations had become unstable. luckily no one was injured in the landslide. and engineers are evaluating remaining structures. and "dancing with the stars" head judge len goodman died of bone cancer. he was 78. goodman began his dancing career when he was just 19 and taught at studios he owned before getting into television. jim? all right. really disturbing story now. a widow and her family are suing celebrity cruises claiming the cruise line improperly stored her husband's body in the ship's drink cooler instead of the morgue. this after he died on board just last year. cnn's nick valencia joins us with details. nick, i feel for the family.

i'm trying to imagine the circumstances where this would be necessary. do we know how this happened and what exactly the lawsuit alleges? >> reporter: yeah, this is one of those hard to believe stories, jim, but apparently robert jones died of a cardiac arrest somewhere mid cruise on the celebrity equinox. and his wife was given the option of whether or not she wanted to remove his body when they stopped in puerto rico or have his body stored, she believed, in the morgue, a working morgue on the ship. she elected to do the latter. when the cruise ended, an employee with funeral services came to retrieve that body, but what they found, according to this lawsuit, was jones' body on a bag on the floor on a palette inside of a drinks cooler. here's what the lawsuit went on to say here and allege. "the cooler in which mr. jones' body was found by the funeral employee had drinks placed outside the cooler and was not at a temperature which was sufficient nor proper for storing a dead bid to prevent decomp decomposition." the lawsuit alleges that the body was in advanced stages of decomposition.

of course, it should have not been held in the cooler. it should have been held in that working morgue. we did reach out to the celebrity cruises which runs the celebrity equinox where this happened in august of 2022. they have not yet responded to cnn. meanwhile, that lawsuit, jim, they're seeking $1 million in damages. jim? >> lord, i mean, for the family i can only imagine -- does celebrity cruise vs. a response to all this? >> reporter: yeah, as i mentioned, we did reach out to this cruise ship. it's been several days, we've still not gotten a response just yet, jim. >> nick valencvalencia, our tho go to the family. briana, over to you. one in three american children are reading below their grade level, and now some schools say the problem is so dire that they are changing the way they introduce reading to young kids. what parents need to know ahead. so i choose neuriva plus. unlike some others, neuriva plus is a multitasker supporting 6 key indicatators of brain health. to help keep me sharp. neuriva: think bigigger. you founded your kayak company because you love the ocean-

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and now, going to talk about things like back to the basics like phonics, and athena, what is behind the drops here? >> well, it is stunning, brianna, and some of it has to do with the pandemic learning

laws, and think of how difficult it is to teach the 5, 67-year-olds learning to read, so some of it is attributed to the pandemic, but i have been looking into this for the last week or so, and i have been surprised what i am learning that many of the schools across the country and by no means all of them, but many of them have been adopting over the last two decades the approach to reading that is unproved and relies on the flawed theory that is just not working. >> my name is judy b. jones. >> reporter: before this year, she was struggling to read. >> now she is reading everything. >> i just like b. and that is all. >> and before it is i can't do it, i can't spell, and i can't read, and now i can sound it out and i know how the read this. >> reporter: the third grader at panther valley elementary at

rural pennsylvania had the hard time of learning the basics. her new school had introduced a new curricula based on the balanced literacy theory, an approach used in some schools for two decades and rather than sounding out groups, teachers were using queuing to yuse othe context. >> and then we noticed as we were deeper into the construction, things were missing. >> reporter: so how did it work? >> as they are reading, look at the picture. do you know a word part? what could that word be, and what word would make sense there? so they were not actually reading the letters, and they were not reading the words, and they were guessing.

>> reporter: that did not work. >> we realized quickly that the students were not acquiring the skills to sound out the words or decode words or learning to read. >> reporter: by year end, a quarter of the panther valley readers could only read first grade level. so they were reaching a crisis, and in fact, only one quarter were at a reading level with 1 in 10 reading to grade level. >> it is a social issue and equity level. >> reporter: but a shift is under way, because education week says that 29 states and the district of columbia have begun to require an evidence-based theory. >> mississippi when they started to enact teacher prep programs to base the training on the science of reading from 2013 past forward to 2020, they have

10 points gained. >> reporter: and back to the elementary school, the principal changed the course and replaced balanced literacy after trying it a year and a half. >> good job. cold. >> and we have seen the students in third grades decoding skills and meaning sounding out words increase from 20% at grade level in the beginning to year to approximately 60% currently. >> reporter: and dream began reading at first grade level and now closer to middle or second grade level and she and her mother could not be more proud. >> now, this is what she wants and what she likes. she loves to read. she is eager to learn. i can't wait to start fourth grade and i can't wait to do all of this, because she is not low self-esteem no more. >> reporter: and that is really so important, because the kids who are struggling with treadin

are struggling with self-and you have to struggle with the other work that you have to do over the course of your career, and a lot of the states, more than half are requiring that the teachers be trained a on the students be taught with more of a focus on this proven method of what they are calling the science of reading which is sounding out the words and letters and letter combinations and that is the way that for decades research has shown works and that is what we are seeing. >> great to see dream get back on track and hopefully other kids will as well. athena, thank you for the report. horace? >> on the ground for less than an hour, and special forces are pulling off a bold evacuation in sudan, and thousands are trapped in the war torn country, and their lives are in jeopardy as they are waiting for rescue. what the white house is saying when we come back. this is cnn news central. , you had to give your right arm to find great talent. but with upwork, there's highlyly skilled talent from all over the globe.

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