>> now there is the data. just because i used to, i used to do hepatitis b, as i said, i know the data is there. >> well then i will be the first person if you show me data, i will be the first person to assure the american people to take that. they need to take those vaccines. >> now, what concerns me is that you've cast doubt on some of these vaccines recently. i mean, like last few years, but the data and i could quote some of it, um, the data has been there for a long time. >> and this is notable because, you know, there are so many different topics that they covered in these hearings. vaccines, abortion, his knowledge of medicare and medicaid, which a lot of senators found wanting. but the issue is going in saying he doesn't have any preconceived notions. well, you should have some preconceived notions about established science. and bill cassidy, as our colleague lauren fox pointed out, is a key vote on the senate finance committee, which will decide whether this gets even out of committee at all. so everybody is going to be

watching. senator cassidy. >> also kind of fascinating and slightly troubling was there was a debate about, even amongst senators about the hepatitis b vaccine. >> yeah. and senator cassidy, who used to treat liver patients really sort of put rand paul in some ways in his place by saying this is established science, that providing this to mothers, to newborns can prevent transmission from their mothers at birth. and that's hugely important. >> absolutely. meg, thank you for your continued focus on this. sarah. >> all right. a new hour of cnn news central starts right. >> now. >> this morning we are tracking several new developments in that deadly mid-air collision that took 67 lives. now, just moments ago, a ground stop watch was issued at reagan national airport was finally lifted. the faa says it was in place for a very short time as the airport faced a higher volume of flights, which has been a concern. also, just moments ago,

a brand new post from president trump. the president saying, and i'm quoting here, the blackhawk helicopter was flying too high by a lot. it was far above the 200 foot limit. that's not really too complicated to understand, is it? cnn has two exclusive new videos for you as well of that disaster. this morning they are difficult to watch. in both videos, you can see the helicopter appearing on a steady flight path before the collision. it doesn't look like there's any veering off by, for example, from the helicopter. both aircrafts you see plunging there into the water in just seconds this morning, the altitude the helicopter was flying and the interaction with air traffic control closely examined by the ntsb, as well as the black boxes that have now been retrieved from the plane. let's get straight to cnn's rene marsh. rene, first of all, what more can you tell us about

this ground stop that was put in place and has just now been lifted? >> yes, sarah. good morning. and this is all due to the mid-air collision that we saw happen on wednesday night. and the issue is that the airport, which is a busy one, has a lot of volume, but it is down one of its runways again due to that mid-air collision that occurred. but as you mentioned, that has been lifted at this hour. but in the meantime, the ntsb investigation has really ramped up. now that they have those black boxes from the commercial passenger plane, they have opened them. they begin the begun the process of reading the data on them. and we are told that they feel confident that they will be able to get data off of those black boxes. we do expect a preliminary report from the ntsb within the next 30 days. again, those black boxes are now in their possession and

in their labs. they're also waiting on a crane to arrive at this crash site. the crane will help them to remove the debris from both aircraft. the debris is also going to be a critical piece of evidence to give them clues and information on the two aircraft post collision. so we're waiting for that to happen. and that probably could be another day or so before that crane crane arrives. and i know that the ntsb, they're tapping into expertise among their team members throughout the country. i was told that they've flown in. ntsb team member from alaska simply because he is a former black hawk helicopter pilot. so tapping into his expertise. and we're also learning more about that. air traffic controllers who were on duty and in charge of navigating the aircraft in the airspace on that night, we are told that one air traffic

controller was in charge of two positions navigating planes, local traffic, as well as helicopter traffic. however, the source who tells us that says that that is not unusual. but these are all data points that will be important to investigators to piece together this full picture of exactly what went wrong. and that is, at the core, why did this pilot, who was in the cockpit, in the cockpit of this helicopter, who, who who spoke to air traffic controllers and told them that he had sight line of sight on this aircraft. why did this collision happen just 13 seconds later, after he communicated that sarah. >> renee and we should mention, you know, kate just spoke with one of the board members of the ntsb who said this could be many different things. although we are now hearing from the president and we have heard from experts, and he seems to be parroting the experts on aviation that the helicopter was

in the wrong position, that it was much higher than it should have been. we will see some of these details coming out over time, because the black boxes have also been retrieved, but a lot to unwrap here. rene marsh, thank you so much for your reporting there from reagan national for us this morning. kate or john? >> yeah. know what you're talking about there. right there. sarah, is the new york times is reporting that the helicopter may have been flying at a higher altitude than it should have been. that is what president trump wrote just a short time ago on social media as well. let's get to cnn's natasha bertrand at the pentagon for the very latest on what we know for sure. natasha. >> well, john, the short answer is that the army is waiting for the investigation to play out. however, secretary of defense pete hegseth he did go on fox a short time ago and acknowledged that one of the aspects of this that they are investigating, of course, is the elevation, is the altitude of that black hawk and whether it was flying too high and whether it was on the correct path. here's a little bit of what he said earlier. >> we're looking. >> at altitude. >> and the.

>> president was clear about that. >> someone was at the wrong altitude. >> the investigation will help. >> us understand that. >> was the black hawk too high? >> was it on course? >> right now, we don't. >> quite know. >> so we know at this point that this black hawk was on a pretty routine training mission, that two of the pilots, both pilots on board, they had over 1500 hours of flight time between them. so they were not inexperienced. there were no junior pilots on board, for example, and they would have flown this path multiple times. but the question now is whether or not they ever deviated from the established routes. they were apparently taking route one, which is an established helicopter route down the potomac, and then they shifted to route four. was there any kind of odd, any anything odd about the way that they shifted towards that route? that is unclear at that point. at this point, also, their elevation at the time of the collision, right at the moment that they collided with that passenger plane, that helicopter was at 200ft, which

is the maximum altitude that these helicopters are supposed to be flying on these routes. but the question is, was it ever higher than that beforehand, and if so, why? now the black hawk is equipped with a recording device. according to the ntsb. unclear at this point whether that has actually been retrieved. and so they're waiting at this moment really for for to get that information and figure out what exactly happened here. meanwhile, we are learning more about the identities of two of the crew members who were on board that black hawk. one of them is andrew eaves. he was a chief warrant officer two and he was the instructor pilot with over 1000 flight hours. and the other member that we know of at this point was ryan o'hara, and he was the crew chief who would have been sitting further back in the helicopter. at this point, we don't know the identity of that other pilot. however, we are expecting to get a little bit more information, hopefully from the army later today. >> all right. natasha bertrand at the pentagon, notable that the secretary of defense is out

there saying unclear what altitude the helicopter was at. at the very same time, president trump is posting on social media, he thinks it's clear the helicopter was too high. we will see how that gets worked out. thank you for your reporting on this, kate. >> and joining me right now is captain c.b. sully sullenberger, a man we know has many titles. as we've talked over the years, captain served as a u.s. ambassador to the international civil aviation organization and bestselling author and the pilot of the miracle on the hudson. ambassador, it is good to see you again. what goes through your mind? someone with the most unique experience. when you see the videos of the american eagle flight on that final approach and that horrific mid-air collision? >> i think horrific is exactly the. >> word that i. >> was would use. >> learning of this. horrific collision and. >> the loss. >> of life. >> i was. >> devastated and my my thoughts

go out to the families. you know, i've. >> been. >> an accident investigator. >> myself in the air force and. >> at. >> the airline. i have. >> talked to. >> family members who had lost loved ones. um, our our. >> thoughts have to be with. >> them. >> and we have. >> to. >> be patient. >> you know, in. >> this age, everyone wants to know. everything immediately. >> and that's not. >> how these investigations should go. we should avoid speculation because the initial suppositions turn out sometimes to be wrong. the ntsb is the gold standard of investigations of accidents around the globe. they will follow their processes. they will follow the data and the evidence, and we ultimately will know what we need to know. right now, we just don't, uh, what we need to do is support the families. um, recover those lost in the river and and facilitate the ntsb

doing their jobs. >> and, ambassador, i had the one of the board members of the ntsb on and he said people can be assured of their independence of their investigation as they have as they have maintained over the course of years that they've been in existence. do. does it concern you? does does it bother you when while that is happening, elected officials of every level from local on as we know up to the white house, are getting out in front with speculation. do you think that threatens an investigation at all or threatens. i don't know public confidence in how this all will play out. >> the investigators. >> are going to do their jobs regardless of what people say or don't say. but what's been said has not been helpful to

after almost immediately after this happened, i've heard people raise concerns again because it's not new concerns. >> it's existing concerns. and raising them again about the congested airspace around washington and d.c. and dca that it is too congested. i kept hearing from some dangerously congested. do you think that might be one of the lessons, potentially, that needs to be learned from this? >> well, the investigators will do a lot of investigating and consider every possible scenario and every factor that may or may not have been a factor in this crash. we absolutely should be reviewing airspace, not just here, but in other places where there's a complex mix of traffic, where there is not a lot of wiggle room between one

area where somebody might fly at a certain altitude, and another area that's very close nearby. we need to be building a lot more safety into our our systems so that there are multiple layers of safety and a single mistake, a single error, a single exceedance should not cause a fatal crash. we need to have more levels of safety built into every part of our system, including the airspace design to to build in some safety levels that that can keep these things from happening because of a single mistake. >> when it comes to the the wild card factor of water and landing near water. i mean, obviously, when miracle on the hudson happened, it was morning when you were forced to to do the pull off that ditching on on the hudson. how complicated. how much of an additional challenge factor does it add in that like that that approach on right

above the water as you're heading into dca. what does how does water factor into this? >> well, i think more important than that is the fact that it was night and only illuminated obstacles are illuminated. vehicles can be seen at night. um, if it's over water and there's no ground lights, um, it it makes everything harder. it's harder to see other aircraft. all you can see is the lights on them. and so we have in most of our aircraft devices that can detect the presence and the direction and distance of other aircraft based upon their air transport. air traffic control transponders, transmissions. and we need to be using every bit of of of visibility we can either visually or electronically, to make sure that we know what other aircraft are nearby and can safely avoid them. it's i

think, the the example i would use is if you're driving a car, even if, even if you have the right of way, you have an obligation to avoid a collision. and the same, of course, is true what happened or why this collision occurred? exactly. all the factors involved. but you can be sure that the ntsb will ultimately find the solution and and make it public. >> absolutely. captain. ambassador, it's good to see you again. thank you so much for coming in. sarah. >> all right. we are learning new information this morning about the victims of that midair crash, including the pilot of the american airlines flight who was engaged to be married this fall, and a promising young civil rights attorney, as well. >> and i had just. >> seen her about a month ago. >> and she had some good news for me that she was going to be a law professor at howard university this fall. >> president trump says he plans to visit with some of the

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were his friends. a former colleague says epstein was just great at his job. >> ian was. >> just a ball of. >> vibrant. like colorful energy, just. >> someone i've never encountered before. like this, this, this human being. this man just held together the greatest satisfaction for flying. he'll be sorely missed. i miss him. >> all right. cnn's eva mckend is in washington. and, eva, you're getting new information about some of the victims. >> john samuel lilley. he was going to get married this year. he was piloting that american airlines flight. his dad was really proud of him when he became a pilot. he was the first officer on that flight. and then you have these young lawyers, sarah lee best and elizabeth ann keyes. they were associates of the same firm and are being remembered as cherished members of their community. keyes was 33 years old, a cincinnati native, and went on to graduate from

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>> it may have. >> i don't know. incompetence might have played a role. well, we'll let you know that. >> that was president trump continuing with his speculation without any findings from the initial investigation into what caused wednesday's plane crash. the ntsb was on with us today saying they have no findings whatsoever. so far. 67 people were killed in this tragedy. cnn's alayna treene is at the white house. she's got more on this side of it. on what is speculation, elena. and the president is now on social media speaking about this more today. what is he saying? >> that's right. we have heard now from the president directly for the first time today. he posted on his truth social website, suggesting that perhaps the blackhawk helicopter was flying too high before that mid-air collision. i'm going to read to you exactly what he wrote. he said, quote, the blackhawk helicopter was flying too high by a lot. it was far above the 200 foot limit.

that's not really too complicated to understand, is it? now, kate? it's unclear whether the president's post here followed or was about from an official briefing on this or not. but i will say it does come after we know that the new york times had posted that the helicopter in went or reported, i should say, that the helicopter in wednesday's collision may have been flying outside of the normal altitude, higher than it was supposed to be, and at least half a mile off of the approved route. we also heard from donald trump's newly confirmed defense secretary, pete hegseth. this morning. he was on fox news, also saying that it seems like there was some sort of altitude issue here, but they still don't really know. he said someone was at the wrong altitude again. right now we don't quite know. now, just to be clear and also to get to some of that sound you played of the president from yesterday. there are so many unanswered questions right now, kate, about what exactly led to

that crash on wednesday. we know that local and federal officials are still investigating this very thoroughly, but we also heard the president yesterday, as you alluded to, claim without evidence that the obama and biden administration's policies, as well as the idea that hiring practices specifically related to diversity, equity and inclusion, hiring at the faa and within the military could have played a role. we know that the president also signed a memorandum yesterday, essentially, um, opening an investigation into the biden administration, what the white house referred to as the damage done to aviation safety under the biden administration and specifically looking at dahiyeh practices. now, one other thing i just want to quickly point out is it is unclear right now whether or not donald trump has spoken with the families of some of these victims. we heard him yesterday say that he plans to meet with them. i've asked the white house whether or not that would include some sort of visit to wichita. of course, the

community that has been devastated by this. it was where the flight had taken off from. still waiting to hear more on that. >> kate alayna treene at the white house for us. thank you. elena. sara. >> all right. before donald trump made his statements, aviation experts were raising new concerns about the black hawk helicopter that crashed into the passenger jet, killing all 67 people between the two. experts say the helicopter pilot may have misjudged the position of the american airlines flight, mistaking a brighter moving light in the sky as the aircraft of the pilot had been instructed to track. instead of the landing. american airlines flight. new video now into cnn. it is a disturbing view. it shows the helicopter was approaching the passenger flight on a steady flight track before the collision. doesn't seem to veer off, and then you see the collision not appearing to take any evasive maneuvers beforehand. joining me now is former black hawk pilot brad bowman. thank you for getting up early. i know you've been up late talking about this, but

making some really interesting points. i first want to get to this defense secretary pete hegseth said a, quote, mistake was made during the blackhawks routine training. he said there was, quote, an elevation issue. so he too leaning into this idea that the elevation was off, that the the blackhawk was flying far higher than it was supposed to be. how would something like this happen? i mean, aren't there instruments, a line of sight that that would warn the pilot about where they are? >> thank you sir. you know, i served in that unit as an active duty army officer and pilot and pilot and command for about two years. i commanded charlie company there and flew that route more times than i can count. and, you know, this is part of a low level helicopter route throughout the washington, dc area above the freeways and over the potomac. and in each place you're supposed to be at a particular route and a particular altitude. and the lowest place on that entire system is right there at reagan.

so you can deconflict the helicopters from the aircraft landing and taking off at reagan. and you're supposed to unless it's changed in recent years, you're supposed to be at 200ft. and if i was flying with someone and they got ten, 20ft higher than that, i would have said something. i'd say get down to 200ft. so let's let the investigation run its course. let's not speculate. but if they are 100 or even 150 200ft high, that could have been a decisive reason for this, this tragedy that we witnessed. so that's one of the key things i'm looking at. i'm also examining the the communication between the the helicopter crew and the tower. and it's very possible that they were talking about two different commercial regional jets. and that might also be an explanation as well. >> yeah. i mean, you can see on, on some of these videos that there are two jets where your eye goes to the one that's closer, that is brighter. and so there are questions about whether that happened. i do want to ask you about a technological thing here. the soldiers in the blackhawk helicopter were wearing night vision goggles. we understand what what kind of limitations might that cause? >> yeah. so, you know, i've

flown with nvgs. i've flown without in my years flying through those routes. we didn't use nvgs. and frankly, if i had them, i wouldn't have used them because they reduce your field of view and your peripheral vision. and when you're in a city with lots of lights, i mean, at the time, they have better ones. now the brightness can be a problem. so you don't need nvgs there. they apparently had them on the aircraft, whether they were flipped down or in use at that moment remains to be seen. but either way, nvgs or no. if they were at the proper route and the proper altitude, i think this is something that could probably have been avoided. i'm not suggesting they weren't. let's let the investigation run its course. but those are key things i'm looking at. >> and you make the point, you know, not wanting to speculate, looking at what are the possibilities and the ntsb doing just that and telling our kate bolduan, one of the board members, that there are a myriad of things that generally happen that end up causing something like this. and so we will have to wait and see what they get. for example, from the black boxes, we understand both black boxes that were on the the flight, the american airlines flight have been recovered, but we heard just a few moments ago

from the defense secretary that the black box on the helicopter has not yet been recovered. so all of that will be really important for the ntsb to go through. i do want to ask you about the fact that there have been at least three close calls involving passenger planes and helicopters near reagan national airport in the past three years. in two of them, passenger planes have had to take evasive maneuvers to avoid colliding with the helicopter. so it begs the question, why are these training exercises being done in an area that every pilot that we have talked to says is extremely challenging to navigate? >> this is one of the busiest aviation locations in the country, and it's a small space, and it requires everyone to follow instructions. precisely. that is true. what's also true is that this low level helicopter system has been in place for decades and has been safe and has facilitated deconfliction. it wasn't a few nights ago. we have to understand why. why are they

there? they're there because they're flying our nation's leadership around. basically everyone below the president, members of congress, pentagon leaders, military officers, they have to get quickly from point a to point b to have meetings and briefings and secure our country. and so this is you can't have the first time you're carrying the army chief of staff when you're flying through those routes. so you have to go and practice it. and as you say, you, you, you train like you're going to fight if you're overseas or you train like you're going to operate. so you have to operate in those spaces, because that's going to be where you're going to be expected to perform your duty. and the pentagon is just a short distance away, and that's where you're picking up a lot of these individuals. so they have to train there. but before you put them in that location, you also have to make sure their proficiency is there. and they were doing a check ride. and the purpose of a check ride is to ensure proficiency. so there's a lot of variables here. we really got to be patient, as sony said, and let the investigation run its course. >> yeah, all of those details very important to investigators as they look through a myriad of different things to try to

figure out exactly how this happened and stop it from happening again. brad bowman, really appreciate your expertise on this. thank you so much, john. >> all right. inside the tight knit figure skating community that just suffered so much loss. >> erin burnett out front tonight at seven on cnn. >> if you. >> or a loved one have had a shoulder, hip, knee or ankle joint. >> replacement. >> the bankruptcy. >> of exactech. >> a medical. >> device manufacturer, could affect. >> your rights. >> exactech distributes shoulder, hip, knee. >> and ankle implants, including optitrack, optitrack logic. >> truliant vantage connection. >> gcl, and equinox. if you've had one of these products implanted. >> your rights may be. >> impacted by the bankruptcy and you must file a claim by february 7th, 2025. you may file the claim on behalf of yourself or a deceased or disabled relative.

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were promising young figure skaters. their mother, donna, was very active in the girls lives, and the father, peter livingston, played hockey. and that's according to loved ones such a tight knit community. so much loss. there all around the world of figure skating. with us now, melissa gregory and denis petukhov. they lost several friends this week, including former russian world figure skating champions zhenya shishkova and vadim naumov. melissa and denis. first of all, it's nice to see you again. i so wish it were not under these circumstances. melissa. you first. just just tell us about your two friends here, your fellow coaches, zhenya and vadim. >> um. >> they were just. >> truly remarkable. >> individuals, is what i. can say. >> they were. >> wonderful people. they were beautiful skaters themselves. >> world champions. >> excellent coaches. >> great friends and amazing parents to their son, maksim. we

have known them for quite a few years now. we participated in many events competitions, shows, spent holidays together. um, when we competed ourselves and then later after we retired and became coaches ourselves. we were living in when they were living in connecticut. we shared the ice and they were part of our daily lives. and, you know, it's until they moved to boston and it's just a huge loss for the entire figure skating community. >> you know, dennis coaches, figure skating coaches especially. they give so much not just to their own families, but to the entire community and everyone they coach. talk to us about vadim. and you know, what they did with the probably generations now of skaters that they worked with. >> yes. uh. >> we we know almost. >> all of their. skaters that they taught. they taught. many different levels of skaters.

they were the kind of people that they would give their time to. everyone that would ask for help in skating. some techniques. and, uh, we know that they raised, uh, champions in the united states and, uh, other international skaters. they have been traveling to, uh, world championships and nationals for many, many years. and uh, recently we saw them in wichita just a few days ago. and is, uh, it was an again, back to normal conversations, very friendly. we gave them a hug and asked them how they're doing, and, uh, we're hoping that the competition goes well. uh, wish best of luck to maksim, their son. we know their son. we worked on the ice with their son and helped him grow, uh, over the years. uh, in just receiving this news in the morning was, uh, completely devastating to

us. and as the time going on now, it's not getting easier. seeing pictures everywhere. and it's just a constant reminder of the tragic event that took place yesterday. >> it's got to be devastating. and you were with them just just days ago in kansas, melissa. and these aren't the only people you have so many more friends in the community that were lost as well. tell us about some of them. >> yeah, we had four people that we personally knew that was on the flight. um, in addition to vadim and zhenya, we also knew sasha kirsanov. we competed against him and with him for many years. and after both of us retired from competitive skating, we remained friends and we always had, uh, we're happy to see each other at competitions and talk to each other. and lastly was ina valencia was a friend of

dennis's. he knew her from russia. but beyond the four that we knew, there was, i want to say that there was 67 people that perished on that flight, and all of them have friends and family members and people that loved them. and our hearts go out to everyone, because i think that these these lives are going to be deeply, uh, we're all going to be deeply saddened for a long time. >> and, dennis, i met you guys before the 2006 olympics a long time ago. and one of the things that struck me was what a tight knit community it was and is. what's it going to be like for the both of you, you know, to get back on the ice? >> i think it was difficult, but i think it's also one of the coping mechanisms that the skaters have. and through any difficulties over times, people do come out on the ice. uh, and start building, getting, just

basically getting back up and building themselves back to their routines, to their lives. uh, i think it's going to take us a long time to heal. uh, after this event. uh, but i think the skating community is small, tight, and everyone will support each other through this. and we hope for for better. >> all right. dennis, melissa, thank you both so much for being with us. we are so sorry for your loss. wishing you the best going forward. kate. >> coming up for us, dozens of the biggest names in music coming together to raise money for the victims of the devastating southern california wildfires. a show of love and a show of force just ahead of the music world's biggest night. an inside look at the grammys plant. >> kobe. the making of a legend. tomorrow at nine on cnn.

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but now virtually. >> on rafael romo. >> at the georgia state capitol in atlanta. >> this is cnn. >> i am not. >> okay. >> i'm hanging on. >> the rails. so if i. say i'm fine, just know that i learned to hide it. well. >> jelly roll can make any of us cry. the stars shine on the golden state. all gathering to help victims of the california wildfires that have devastated altadena, pacific palisades, parts of pasadena and malibu. last night's fire aid concert in inglewood raised millions of dollars. we'll see many of those stars this sunday at the grammys. cnn's elizabeth wagmeister got an interview with

the show's executive producer, and i will turn back here to the camera where she is, and the ceo of the recording academy amid a. >> backdrop of tragedy, the nation's deadliest air. >> disaster since. >> 2001 and the most destructive wildfires. >> in southern california history. grammys. and this platform is cool. but it's not the most important thing in the world. recording academy ceo harvey mason jr. and grammys. >> executive producer. >> ben winston. are tasked with putting on a show that some thought should be called off. >> there have been some people who. say award season. >> should. >> be canceled. >> this is not what we need right now. >> if you could actually take the grammys where we know we've got an audience who are going to watch it, we know we've got the biggest stars in the whole world that are sitting there, and we bring real awareness to what's happened. we do some really serious fundraising for the causes that need it so much. right now, we pay tribute to our first responders. we showcase

l.a. businesses. surely that is worth doing rather than not doing. >> winston and mason jr. sat down with. cnn during a break. >> in. >> construction of. >> the grammys set. >> for them. >> this show feels personal. >> i know one guy that lost his entire studio, burned all his collections, all his instruments, and this is how they make a living. so if we were to postpone the show, we wouldn't be able to raise the money that we need to to support those people. >> before this happened. >> i probably knew the name of four of my neighbors. i reckon i now know about like 23 of them. like, there is a sense of community right now in los angeles that i personally haven't seen before, where people are helping each other. and i think we can reflect that on the show. >> they point out the. majority of working musicians in l.a. aren't wealthy superstars. >> plus, the. grammys telecast. >> brings income to. 6500 workers. >> who depend on award season paychecks. >> the drivers, the florists, the builders, the pr people, some of whom have lost their homes.

>> that said, the. >> grammys will. >> still be. >> the. >> grammys. with performances. from pop stars. >> like chapel. >> roan. charli xcx. >> and sabrina carpenter. country star brad paisley and legends like stevie wonder. >> it will be incredible performances, but there's. >> also going to be a. >> layer of of emotion and heart and storytelling about the heroes. >> and if you're in it for. >> well. >> the awards, there's that too. the beyonce question you brought up the race for best album. yeah. is this the year for beyonce? >> i'm going to give you a hot take. i feel like she's got a 1 in 8 chance of winning that thing. i'm serious. >> statistically, that is absolutely accurate. factual. no fact checking maiden. >> that's all you're going to. >> get out of us. >> so you see there, we ended on a light note. because how could we not talk. >> about beyonce. >> when we are talking about this year's grammys? now, beyonce has yet to win album of the year, and her fans have not

been happy about that. but she comes in this year with the most nominations. she has 11. she's already the most nominated grammy artist in grammy history, so she's doing okay, but also just announced yesterday. taylor swift will be in the house. she is going to be presenting, and she is also among one of the most nominated artists this year. >> we were just talking about all the things that have happened with some of these bands and raising money for people, band aid, live aid, farm aid. i know that the victims of these fires really do need help, so that is a really important point to be made. elizabeth wagmeister, thank you so much for your reporting. appreciate you. >> thank you, thank you, thank you, and thank you for joining us this week. this is cnn news central. cnn newsroom is up next. >> we will. >> and doug. >> you'll be back. >> emus can't. >> help people customize and save hundreds on car insurance with liberty mutual. you're just.

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