unemployment and opioid addiction are high. >> first they give me vicodin and then moved to it percocet and moved to it oxycontin. the next thing you know, i was a drug addict. >> reporter: terry grooms has been clean for over six years, but he says his life is better now under the trump administration. >> before trump, i'm not ashamed to admit it, i had to get food stamps. after i got a job. >> reporter: do you credit the president for the fact that you were able to find work? >> he kind of motivated me. >> yep, yep, yep. >> reporter: so we've left west union, and we've been on the road for a while now, and it's just been all country roads. now we're heading to a more populated area in the suburbs of dayton. the suburb we've chosen is called centerville, which is fitting, because the county is politically in the center. in 2008 and 2012, it leaned ever so slightly left for obama, but in 2016, president trump won

by.7%. and at the famous restaurant, boy was it split down the middle. >> say trump. >> dear lord. >> reporter: so i imagine you're a trump supporter? >> i am. >> reporter: and you're recruiting? >> that would be a hard recruit. >> she is always recruiting. >> reporter: small business owner debbie miller credits president trump for a strong economy. >> you've got to admit the jobs have come back. >> reporter: but her niece, samantha danes, who also voted for president trump, no longer thinks he is fit for the presidency. >> it doesn't each matter about the economy. i feel like he is going put news a world ward. >> no, that's the opposite. >> reporter: hi there, gentlemen. how you? >> good. how are you? >> reporter: at the bar, entrepreneur dave paproki agrees the economy shouldn't be the only metric of success. he is still undecided. >> there are still other issues that need to be solved. and the important thing is that we have someone reaching across the aisle and thinking about how are we actually going get there. >> reporter: from centerville, we head up to columbus. folks in this county have voted

for the democratic presidential nominee since 1996. so we've just arrived in columbus, the state's capital and most populous city. it's actually considered america's testy because companies choose columbus to try out their products because of the city's demographic makeup. we catch the happy hour crowd at bakersfield short north. hi, guys. medic isaiah taylor says he hasn't felt the strong economy personally. >> bills getting higher. taxes get raised a little bit more, and that's more money out of my pocket. >> reporter: renee holten, who is still paying off her bachelor and masters degrees still wants a candidate with a plan to tackle debt. >> i make my payments be, the interest rates are so high on it. >> reporter: these coworkers were talking health care bills before we even approached. >> i know we both had different things that we went through last year, and out of pocket it was like $3,000 to $4,000.

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diarrh? pepto diarrhea to the rescue. it's 3x concentrated liquid formula coats and kills bacteria to relieve diarrhea. the leading competitor only treats symptoms it does nothing to kill the bacteria. treat diarrhea at its source with pepto diarrhea. if you have ever eaten in a school cafeteria, you might think that a lot of the food

served to kids would never be sold anywhere else. school food it's called. well, there is a team of she was out to change all that nancy giles got a taste. >> reporter: it's lunchtime at winthrop elementary in new london, connecticut, and these kids are hungry. they can eat pasta or tuna, or something a little more exotic. >> have you ever had the hummus that we serve? >> reporter: the man behind the hummus, a nutritious middle eastern dip is 34-year-old dan giusti. he is the tall one. he founded and runs brigade, a company that is revolutionizing cafeteria cuisine. >> there is a problem with school food in general because this idea that the kids don't deserve high quality, which obviously they do. if anybody, they're a captive audience, and they're our kids. if anybody deserves the best food we can give them, it's them. because they have no choice. >> reporter: no more processed food or mystery meat for these kids. brigade hires trained chefs to

make high quality school lunches from scratch. how dan giusti ended up in this cafeteria is quite a story. >> the fact that i was the head chef of naoma has opened up a lot of doors. >> reporter: dan guisti's last job was at what many consider is the best restaurant in the world, momo in copenhagen. talk to me about fine dining and nomo. it's a small restaurant, 45 seats? what was it like as an average? >> two people you're paying $4500. >> reporter: after working there for two years, guisti wanted to do something bigger. >> i knew i wanted to feed more people. that was the big thing. i wanted to make food with real purpose that really contributed to something. >> reporter: so in 2015, he announced he was leaving noma to fix america's school lunches, stunning the school world. >> you're the head chef of nomo.

>> yeah. >> why would you ever leave that? >> yes. >> reporter: foodies may have been flummoxed, but giusti had found his calling. >> it's called school food. >> a lot of food served in a school would never be served anywhere else. and that's the unfortunate fact. >> reporter: new london now benefits from a technique he picked up at nomo, the power of the personal touch. >> if you don't like it, then you just know you don't like it. but if you like it, now you have something new to eat for your whole life. >> reporter: so it's brigade policy that their chefs talk to the students about the food. >> if food comes to you and you don't really have a face to put to it, it's just food. when there is okay, chef west made this. you like that person, therefore the food has more meaning to it. >> sometimes i want to go up for seconds. >> reporter: do they allow seconds? >> no. >> reporter: do you like the food here? >> i love it!

>> reporter: but kids can be picky eaters, and they don't always love it. it's a whole different thing cooking for kids. >> no, no, it is. one time we had this butternut squash soup and had coconut milk and ginger. it was delicious. it was really tasty. i remember i went to this kid, he was eating it and he spits it out. >> oh, man. >> reporter: lucky for new london, manuel rivera isn't picky, but he is choosy. >> if we can't eat it we shouldn't serve it to our kids. >> reporter: rivera was the school superintendent who hired dan giusti in 2016 to cook for new london's 3500 school kids. some kids thought he was wasting tax dollars. >> we had one comment, i think it was boy, the next thing you no rivera will be getting limousines for the students. >> reporter: compared to what you were spending. >> i will tell you the cost is zero to new london public school taxpayers. >> almost sold out. it's $5 a meal. >> reporter: thanks to fundraising efforts like

brigade's popular weekly community dinner and generous rpanvat, been hit.e sll't but costs and what the federal school lunch program will reimburse new london is an issue. it's around $3.50 a meal, which doesn't sound so bad, but -- >> that's actually for maintenance. that's for paying people to make the food. so when it's all said and done, you have about $1.25 for food. making food, a meal that kids really want to eat for $1.25 is super challenging. >> these are literally some of the best chefs in the country. >> reporter: last spring, dan invited a dozen star chefs up to new london to compete in a fundraiser. >> this is maelyn. those familiar with the show "top chefs" she won it. >> and see what they could make for a buck and a quarter. they came from l.a., san francisco, chicago, new york city, and washington, d.c.

jeremiah langhorne. so how much does a meal cost at your restaurant? >> it depends on what you get, but easily. >> reporter: well, jeremy my yarks do you have anything at your restaurant that is $1.25? >> no of. >> reporter: knowing that the winning meals could end up on the brigade menu, the chefs didn't let their budget limit their imagination. they whipped up chicken tacos, foodamaki rolls, tofu lasagna, monte cristo sandwiches. then the chefs delivered the food. >> it's been seasoned with herb, lemon juice. >> all right. >> enjoy, guys. >> reporter: a panel of new london students. >> i think this one would win for me. >> reporter: and out-of-town adults were the judges. >> a good taco. >> reporter: yes, i was a judge too and had to eat a little. all right. a lot of everything. and pick a winner. >> you're just going to have to give me one. you got to do it.

>> reporter: that winner was ghetto gastro of the bronx. >> ghetto gastro. >> reporter: with a caribbean fish sandwich. hardly what you would expect kids to eat willingly. >> fish is one of those things it's kind of hard to approach to children, you know what i mean? just the smell. but i think we wanted to take a challenge and show them that this could be a really delicious. >> reporter: and their secret ingredient? the power of the personal touch. >> not to say that the other chefs aren't charismatic, but they put extra effort. >> reporter: they sure did. >> and they told me. they're smart. we're going sell this to the kids. you knew who to talk to. >> reporter: and now dan giusti and brigade are expanding to the largest school district in the stors gh new york city's. scol in the bronx. once more, dan guisti is thinking big.nor. but the goal is to get everywhere. to me, my dream is in ten years that things are just different.

that it's -- it is normal to do what we do. >> this is good.

we end this half hour with a heartwarming story of a young boy and his undying love for unwanted pets. here is steve hartman. >> reporter: 8-year-old robbie gay loves an underdog. >> hey! >> bring him to the flagler county humane society as we did and ask him to find a favorite. >> can i get in here? >> reporter: he will seek out the oldest, mangiest, least adoptable mutt of the lot. >> there is something about old dogs i just like. >> reporter: do you see yourself in these dogs? >> yes, sir. >> he knows what it feels like not to ber. he is the most hopeful, optimistic and genuinely caring kid who has absolutely no reason to be that way. >> reporter: robbie's adoptive mom maria says before he entered

the foster system, robbie was a holy terror, so badly abused he was twice hospitalized with brain injuries. then two years ago, maria and her husband charles adopted him. >> it was just a good day. >> reporter: what did that day mean to you? >> everything. >> reporter: he has come a long way, except in this one respect. maria says he could not cry. despite the horrors of his past, or maybe because of this, the kid was a stone. until earlier this month. one of robbie's old dog, buffy, had to be put down. he wanted to hold her until the very end and insisted his mom take pictures of the process. perhaps because he knew what was about to happen. after robbie finally let go, he told his mom, "i know how it feels not to be loved or cared for, and i don't want any animal of mine to feel that way." nor does he want any foster kid

to feel that way. >> because people don't want older people and older dogs. they only want babies and puppies. >> he is so aware that it have for him, and in these older dogs, robbie's found a place to practice compassion. >> reporter: some day robbie wants to adopt older foster children himself. >> go up and knock on the door. >> reporter: but until then, to show his commitment and do what he can, he has vowed to adopt as many old dogs as his parents will allow. >> reporter: today it's a lame snaggle toothed shih tzu named molly. molly's owner had to go into assisted living, but now molly has a new home, thanks to the sweet little boy who sees his reflection in the eyes of the suffering. steve hartman, "on the road" near palm coast, florida. >> just beautiful. and that's the "overnight news" for this thursday.

from the cbs broadcast center in new york city, i'm nikki battiste it's thursday, february 27th, 2020. this is the cbs morning news. coronavirus mystery. california reports the first u.s. case where the infection resulted from unknown origins. how the u.s. is responding to the outbreak and what you can do to protect yourself. a gunman kills five of his co-workers and then himself at a brewery in wisconsin. what we're learning about the shooter this morning. a new twist in the college admissions scandal. lawyers for lori laughlin and her husband now claim new evidence exonerates them.