♪ >> announcer: this is the "cbs overnight news." >> now we've got a lot more to tell you about this morning, including a new warning about contaminated lettuce. this time it's in those premade bagged salads, and you want to listen up here, because the cdc says it's found dangerous e. coli bacteria in fresh express sunflower crisp chopped salad kits. at least three eight people in three states have become ill. it's not clear if it's linked to a more widespread break from contaminated romaine. both were traced to salinas, california known as the salad bowl of the world.

jonathan vigliotti is there. >> reporter: romaine lettuce from salinas, california is once again being investigated as a possible source of an e. coli growth break. eight people have fallen ill, one of them suffering kidney failure. the centers for disease control and prevention is still investigating what exactly in fresh express sunflower crisp chopped salad kits is the source of the e. coli, but it does contain romaine lettuce, which was contaminated with e. coli in a large outbreak earlier this year caused by a different strain. health policy expert says contaminated water containing animal feces often carries the bacteria. >> lettuce is probably more vulnerable to contamination in part because it kind of has a lot of nooks and crannies. >> as an industry, we know we have to do more. >> reporter: christopher velez is president of a trade group representing romaine growers and shippers in salinas. he agrees with the cdc to avoid the fresh express product and clean areas where it was stored. >> as a consumer, somebody who eats lettuce from this region,

how concerned are you when you hear not just one, but now a second e. coli outbreak? >> i think for us, we have to look very critically at the advisory and what we know. we'd advise anybody in the public to follow that. communities across the south are grappling over what to do with their statues of confederate heroes. in richmond, virginia, the capital of the confederacy is no different. it has a whole row of confederate monuments. but now a new statue with a very different message has been installed just a few blocks away. anthony mason spoke with the artist. >> reporter: the war heros of the confederacy line richmond's monument avenue. generals robert e. lee, stonewall jackson, and jeb stuart. >> there is a type of ceremony that surrounds the valorization of these guys. >> reporter: a few years ago california-born kahinda wiley came face-to-face with them for the first time. what did you see? >> i saw a spectacle that felt

dreadful. i mean, it almost felt like it was designed to be menacing. to be in a black body walking through the streets of richmond and to see something that signifies the enslavement of your people, that's a little bit more heavy-duty. >> reporter: the 42-year-old artist decided to answer with a monument of his own. on tuesday, wiley's 27-foot-high bronze sculpture of a young black man on horseback was unveiled at virginia's museum of fine arts. the new statue was celebrated by virginia's governor ralph northam, who was mired in a black face scandal earlier this year. >> today we say welcome to a progressive and inclusive virginia. >> reporter: and by rich month's mayor, levar stony, who wanted the confederate statues removed. >> i don't believe they should

be on grand boulevards like monument avenue. i think they should be found in museums and cemeteries and battlefields. >> reporter: thousands came out for the unveiling, many standing in front of the neighboring headquarters of the united daughters of the confederacy. wiley, who's best known for his portrait of president obama for the national portrait gallery. this is your sister? >> it is in fact my sister, yeah. >> reporter: made his name with epic paintings of ordinary people. you've put her in a suit of armor. >> that's right. this is part of a body of work that's about skin. armor is sort of a strange stand-in for race there in as well. this skin that is at once so important but a burden. >> reporter: he has also used the horse in his earlier work. what drew you to that imagery? >> my work is all about power. it's about the negotiation of power, the depiction of it, those who have it, those who don't. >> reporter: rumors of war, as

his new sculpture is called, made its debut this fall in new york's times square. >> i wanted it to be at center of ooh global conversation. and when you think about america in lights, it's times square. it's where the world comes to see america. who is this man? well, he is anyone and no one. i think it meant a lot to me to be able to say that in the 21st century, we as a society can say yes to a monument to a young black man in a hoodie. >> reporter: then last week it was disassembled and loaded on the flatbeds for the trip to richmond. to take its permanent place near the confederate monuments. >> the answer to negative speech is more speech. it's positive speech. it makes sense to have something exist on a monumental level, because this is a monumental conversation that this country needs to she wanted to move someplace warm. but he wanted snow for the holidays. so we built a snow globe.

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but today it is functionally extinct. >> every year it produces bushels of nutritious chestnuts, supported wildlife like we've never seen since, and it also sustained the people. >> reporter: a blight, an aptly named type of fungus was brought to this country through trade at the turn of the 20th century and designated four billion trees in just five decades. those that remain in the wild cannot reproduce on their own. rex mann is a retired forest ranger who began volunteering with the american chestnut foundation over 20 years ago in hopes of giving the american chestnut tree a fighting chance. now for what researchers say is the first time in american history, a functionally extinct tree species could be restored. what is the research that you are doing now? >> we as a science team are trying to develop an american

chestnut tree that has enough blight tolerance that it can survive in the forest. >> reporter: researchers at the american chestnut foundation are breeding the american chestnut with the chinese chestnut, which is resistant to the blight. >> sometimes they don't work. >> reporter: after the trees are bred, their buries, which house the nuts are harvested. >> but in there is a pollinated bu burr. >> yep, yep. >> reporter: inside each one of these burrs are two or three chestnuts. they will be planted, and this is just one step in a long complicated process that they hope will eventually lead to a blight-resistant american chestnut tree. but before they are planted and bred again, the burrs must be sorted. then the viable nuts will be planted and injected with the blight to see which ones survive. the young trees that do well will be bred again. tell me why it is so important

to save the american chestnut tree. >> well, it was a way of life in the appalachians and the eastern u.s. forests. >> reporter: the mighty american chestnut also bears rot resistant timber, which provided homes and industry to the nation's heartland, and with it hope for those who had little. >> those people were poor. in the fall of the year, they would gather chestnuts by the sacksful, carry them down to the country store and swap them for shoes for the kids. and there were train loads of chestnuts going to all the major cities and people bought them and roasted them on the street. >> reporter: now chestnuts roasting on open fires across america are of the larger less sweet european and asian varieties. >> we want a tree that is competitive in the forest, grows tall and replaces the american chestnut in that great form and timber quality. >> reporter: if researchers can

rescue the tree, the american chestnut could serve both as a model for protecting other vulnerable plant species from insects and disease and as a weapon against climate change, capturing more carbon from the air thanks to its larger size. >> we're blazing a trail for how people who care about this can restore the other trees we're losing. i think that's really the big story. >> reporter: chip reid, meadowview, virginia. overseas they have come up with a unique way to recycle plastic, turn it into roads. roxana saberi reports from lockerbie, scotland. >> so this look likes regular asphalt, but it's not. >> sounds like regular asphalt. >> feels like. >> but it's not. it's made of recycled plastic. >> reporter: that's right. the driveway at christopher boyle's 17th century english estate is paved with 21st century plastic trash. >> it has all the ecological, environmental benefits, but to

the ordinary punter, you don't see any difference at all. >> reporter: the difference is that it used the equivalent of 750,000 plastic bags and bottles ground up, along with other hard to recycle plastic. this is our chee-tos bags, our bottles. >> bottles, bottle tops, you name it. >> reporter: the plastic flakes are mixed at this plant in scotland with what toby mccartney calls a secret ingredient. >> bag it up, and off it goes to the asphalt manufacturers. >> reporter: that blend replaces some of the black oil-based bitumin that keeps regular roads together. >> for every ton of bitumin we replace, we save a ton of carbon emissions. so for the environment, it's the way forward. >> reporter: mccartney says it's the best way to tackle the world's plastic waste, 90% of which ends up as litter and landfill. now his country mcgrever is paving plastic roads across the world, from highways in england

to this street in san diego where the firm is also opening a new factory. so is this a long-term solution to the world's plastic problem? >> i believe so. it's the stuff that nobody else can use. it's destined for landfill or incineration. we can take all of that plastic and recycle it in our roads. >> reporter: environmentalists like libby peek are cautiously optimistic. >> they're potentially lower carbon than conventional roads. that's very positive. what we don't know yet is how much microplastics these roads might shed. >> there are no microplastics present in any of the roads that go down. >> reporter: but shouldn't people just stop using plastic? >> i don't know if that's ever really going to happen. >> reporter: mccartney says for now, plastic pavement can curb the world's plastic epidemic, a sentiment shared by boyle who says since he laid down his plastic driveway three years ago, it's held up fine. why you think more people haven't paved their roads with plastic yet?

>> i'm not sure very many people know about the technology at all. >> reporter: you think they sh ld? >> defin

for years now we've been following the story of a secret santa who brings christmas cheer to people he doesn't even know. well, steve hartman found him again this holiday season on the road. >> good morning, how are you doing? >> reporter: to many passengers, this was like boarding a bus. >> today i'm working for secret santa. >> reporter: too crazy town. >> he says secret santa. what? this is a dream or something. >> reporter: but this was no dream. >> it's real. >> reporter: these were real g e >> merry christmas. >> reporter: secret santa is an anonymous wealthy businessman who every year travels the country giving out $100, $200, sometimes $300. >> no! >> yeah! >> reporter: to random stranger. >> it's impossible. it's impossible. >> it is possible. it's true. >> reporter: he usually finds

his targets in thrift stores. >> thank you so much. >> reporter: but this year -- >> i'm secret santa. >> reporter: secret santa recruited some elves from the milwaukee county transit system to do at least some of his giving. >> we're here because of you. >> reporter: he chose the milwaukee drivers because they're always doing kind deeds. whether it's stopping the bus to fetch a pair of lost children's shoes, helping a turtle cross the street, or rescues a child out wandering alone, there is a real culture of kindness here, which secret santa says makes them perfect accomplices. >> we're going to be on the biggest sleigh we've ever had, and the magic is going to be like gold dust flying across the city. >> i'm working for secret santa, and you are the luckiest people in the world. >> reporter: for the rest of the day -- >> this is for you. >> are you serious? >> reporter: five different drivers gave out thousands of dollars worth of $100. >> thank you, thank you! >> reporter: no doubt the money was appreciated. but as always, this was about so much more than money.

a benjamin can't buy this much euphoria. no, what overwhelmed most people was the unconditial kindness. >> happy holidays. >> reporter: and for the drivers who rarely get hugs, it affected them almost as much as the passengers. >> it was a great experience. it's going to stick with me the rest of my life. >> yes. >> it was awesome to be part of something so big. >> if you ever feel down, if you ever feel a little depressed and you want the solve your problem, go out and do something kind for somebody because when you do that, you're uplifting yourself. >> give me a hug. >> reporter: next stop, best holiday ever. steve hartman, on the road in milwaukee. >> have one of them bus drivers drop that secret santa off here. he can stop by any time. that is the "overnight news" for this thursday. be sure to check back later for morning news and of course "cbs this morning" from the cbs broadcast center in new york city, i'm errol barnett.

it's thursday, december 12th, 2019. this is the "cbs morning news." late night impeachment debate. members of the house judiciary committee make their case ahead of a key vote later today. >> they dislike us so much they're willing to weaponize the government. >> if we do not respond to president trump's abuses of power, the abuses will continue. surveillance video shows the moment two shooters jumped out of a van in jersey city and opened fire on a kosher market. was it a targeted hate crime? and active volcano threat. as the death toll rises, rescue crews are still searching for at least eight missing people on a least eight missing people on a new zealand island.