stephanie elam has been traveling much of the day for us to get to lovelock, nevada. stephanie you are there inside the hospital for us tonight. let's just begin there. how is everyone doing tonight condition-wise? >> reporter: brooke, it is amazing to find out that this family is doing well. they're saying everybody is stable and that they're resting here at the hospital. and just to keep in mind, we're in a very remote part of nevada. so this town is remote. but where they were was about 20 miles outside of here, a very wide expansion of area where they were found. the smart thing that they did, brooke, they stayed with their car. that helped keep them alive and helped them be found. >> how did they stay warm? how did they survive these two days? >> reporter: what is key here it sounds like the adults here didn't panic. what they did is they took rocks. they started a fire near the car. then they took those heated up rocks and put them in the car to help keep them warm. part of what they also did in staying there, the dad had a candy bar in his pocket apparently. th

before we do that, let's get the latest from stephanie elam in nevada. stephanie, we know the family was rescued earlr today. what's their condition right now? >> reporter: what we are hearing is that the family is resting comfortably. there was no frost bite issues. apparently the adults here did a good job of keeping these childrenarm. we hear they started a fire outside the car and warming rocks and bringing them into the car. all of them resting well right now here in this hospital in pershing county. >> this was a huge rescue effort with several hundred volunteers involved, not to mention pple in the air as well. how exactly in the end were they found? >> reporter: it's pretty amazing how they were canvassing looking for this car. what at the end helped them out is the fact they were able to look at cell phone forensics, some specialists in this area were able to ping where they st got a signal from their phones and were able to then change their search from air and from land about the same time. they said they were able to spot the car and able to r

stephanie elam reports. >> reporter: no doubt, bertha is a behemoth.ed as the largest tunnelling machine in the world and put to work grinding a tunnel under seattle for a planned highway. but bertha was only a tenth of the way on her nearly two-mile journey when she suddenly encounters something large enough and strong enough to stop her in her tracks. >> being really cautious, making sure we don't damage this $80 million machine. >> reporter: but what is it? the mystery is fueling lots of speculation. geologists point to how seattle's watery edges were filled in with just about anything by the city's pioneers. >> old shoes, newspapers. there's a boat buried in downtown seattle. so, you name it. it could be down there. >> reporter: another theory is it's a massive boulder left during the ice age. residents have their own guesses. >> some kind of burial ground. >> merry christmas, big bertha. >> reporter: if that's the case, her christmas break started two weeks ago. since then, the $3 billion tunnel project has been on hold, as workers drill wells to

stephanie elam is live in lovelock, nevada this morning. press conference, laying out how they're doing. what are we learning this morning? >> reporter: i have to tell you, they are calling this a christmas miracle, that this family was found a everyone survived. coming in here today, it's about 8 degrees but that's warm

stephanie elam, cnn, los angeles. >>> you are in the cnn news room.one police officer to death and badly wounded another. the officers were shot in mississippi when they faced off with the

stephanie elam happy christmas to you. nothing has changed. okay. well, thanks.r shopping it's time to think it road to go see family for christmas. what's the weather going to be like for today and tomorrow. jennifer grey live with forecast. who will be happy and who not so much. >> most people will be happy. we have a little bit of snow foirkd but a white christmas is a good thing. it won't slow many folks down. we have snow in places like upstate new york and rolling through pittsburgh. new york city could see a couple of flurries. we also have a couple of snow showers in the northern plains and this could actually be anywhere from two to four inches of snow in places like fargo, minneapolis, even towards green bay, milwaukee and on the outside of detroit. detroit could see a couple of flurries there's as well. the big engineer story is the temperature. current wind chill, cedar rapids, 19 degrees below zero is what it feels like. kansas city feels like five degrees below zero. along the east coast the big story the past couple of days has been the warm weathe

stephanie elam has the story. >> reporter: no doubt, bertha is a beheem.machine in the world and she was put to work tunnelling in seattle for a planned highway, but bertha was oonl tenth of the way along her journey when she suddenly encountered something large enough and strong enough to stop her in her tracks. >> we're being really cautious. want to make sure we don't damage this $80 million machine. >> reporter: but what is it? g geologists point to how it was filled in by engineers. >> you find shoes, newspapers, there's a boat buried in downtown seattle. so, you name it. it could be down there. >> reporter: another theory, it's a massive boulder left during the ice age. >> some kind of burial ground? >> merry christmas, big bertha. >> reporter: if that's the case, bertha's christmas break started two weeks ago. since then, the project has been on hold as workers drill holes. >> you can't back the machine up. you've got the segment of lining behind you, so all you can really do is proceed forward. >> reporter: but the transportation department says be

that's why we sent stephanie elam to a best buy in burbank, california. , you weren't quite done with your shopping. maybe you could do a little work, get some shopping done. you seeing other folks there doing the mad dash in the last few hours? >> this is the time, brianna. it's beginning to look a lot like christmas. a little bit of a line but they are moving them out here at this best buy. they've been pushing them through. 10:00ing is when they normally opened. today they opened at 7:00 a.m. there were people standing outside. candace and elizabeth, come over here, ladies. this is candace and her mom elizabeth. what are you looking for? >> headphones. >> who are they for? >> myself. >> explain how this, would. is this your normal christmas routine? >> it was a spur of the moment sort of thing. and i just -- i'm picky with stuff. i don't know what brand i want. i'm just looking, pricing them. >> you're pricing them or going to get them? >> pricing right now and then i'm going to see what i want to do. we'll go from there. >> elizabeth you're here with y

stephanie elam, thank you. >>> coming up, 19 hours and no exits that don't involve parachutes. president obama, former president bush together on a marathon flight to south africa aboard air force one. what could the hang time mean for their personal relationship? >>> plus, anderson cooper caught up with u2 front man bono as he arrives in south africa to say good-bye to his friend nelson mandela. stay with us. my customers can shop around-- see who does good work and compare costs. it doesn't usually work that way with health care. but with unitedhealthcare, i get information on quality rated doctors, treatment options and estimates for how much i'll pay. that helps me, and my guys, make better decisions. i don't like guesses with my business, and definitely not with our health. innovations that work for you. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. just by talking to a helmet. it grabbed the patient's record before we even picked him up. it found out the doctor we needed was at st. anne's. wiggle your toes. [ driver ] and it got his okay on treatment from miles away. it eve

stephanie elam has more. >> reporter: clever. very, very clever.ver going to forget the hot rock tip. they are calling it a christmas miracle here in this rural part of nevada as the family is here in this hospital where we are getting a good night's sleep and warming up before they are likely to head home today. an incredible finale to a dramatic story of survival. a family of six including four young children were found alive and in fairly good condition tuesday after being stranded in the rugged winter rain of nevada's seven troughs mountain range 10 miles northeast reno. family, friends and search teams said this rescue is truly a miracle. >> it was a huge relief. i was expecting the worst. >> it was the work of a lot of people in the community. >> reporter: for two days search teams and more than 200 volunteers covered 6,000 square miles. by air and land. off roading through the snow and mud in search of james glanton, his girlfriend christina mcintee and the children ages 3 to 10. the family set out to play in the snow on sunday when their je

stephanie elam for us. stephanie, thank you.t. >>> coming up, we're also following this. astronauts are plaining emergency space walks to fix the international space station, but it's what happened during the last space walk that has a number of people concerned. >>> plus, as we get word, president obama is sending a delegation of gay athletes to the olympics in russia. i will be talking to former olympic skater ryan o'mara, about whether he thinks this is a slap in the face to russia. >> and as i mentioned, any moment now, lottery officials in georgia will be holding this news conference announcing that yes, indeed, a winner has come forward. we'll take it live. stay with me here on cnn. [ male announcer ] this is george. the day building a play set begins with a surprise twinge of back pain... and a choice. take up to 4 advil in a day or 2 aleve for all day relief. [ male announcer ] that's handy. ♪ to help secure retirements and protect financial futures. to help communities recover and rebuild. for companies going from garag

before we do that, let's get the latest from stephanie elam in nevada. ephanie, we know the family was rescued earlr today. what's their condition right now? >> reporter: what we are hearing is that the family is resting comfortably. there was no frost bite issues. apparently the adults here did a good job of keeping these childrenarm. we hear they started a fire

stephanie elam is following the story for us. what's the latest?> it's the kind of story that hurts you in your chest when you hear what's going on. a family is fighting for the chance there could possibly be some chance that their daughter will come back and show signs of life, while meanwhile, the hospital says what's done is done. [ chanting ] >> reporter: the family continue toss pray for a miracle. >> i'm still nervous about it, but it still gives me another day to spend with her. >> reporter: on december 9th the 13-year-old had surgery to have some sinus tissue removed at children's hospital and research center in oakland, california. soon after surgery, the family said her condition quickly deteriorated and she went into cardiac arrest. after several tests, the hospital declared her brain dead. >> it's a result of her very complex surgery. it was a tonsillectomy. >> it was much more complicated. >> reporter: according to court documents, the hospital said it had, quote. no duty to continue intervention, but the family went to court to preven

stephanie elam is in nevada this morning.evable story, stephanie. >> reporter: it is, john. it's unbelievable that not only just o of them but all six of them made it out safely. we're here in pershing general hospital where the family is hopefully sleeping, getting good rest right now. hopefully they'll be going home later today off two days in some really frigid temperatures. >> reporter: an incredible finale to a dramatic story of survival. a lovelock, nevada family of six, including four young children were found alive and in fairly good condition tuesday after being stranded in the rugged terrain of seven troughs mountain range, about 120 miles northeast of reno. family, friends and search teams says this rescue is truly a miracle. >> it was a huge relief. i was expecting the worst. >> it was the work of a lot of people in the community. >> that way? >> yes. >> reporter: for two days, search teams and more than 200 volunteers covered 6,000 square miles. by air and land, off-roading through the snow and mud in search of j

stephanie elam, cnn, los angeles. >>> you are in the cnn news room. the fbi is on the hunt for a man they say shot one police officer to death and badly wounded another. the officers were shot in mississippi when they faced off with the man reportedly trying to rob a bank. on the phone with me now from an fbi command post, agent mcmullen. tell us about your suspect. what led him there and where do you think he might be right now? >> caller: well, we believe the person responsible for the bank robbery and the murder of the police officer and critical wounding of another is the same person responsible for the bank of america robbery in atlanta on the morning of december 23rd. we have a number of similarities with regard to the entire method of operation with the bank robbery and also the automobile that the robber has utilized. we are looking at this as a nationwide manhunt. multistate attempt to identify and locate this individual. >> do you have a description? i'm thinking what can the public do to help? >> caller: we have provided wanted posters. we

stephanie elam is in nevada where the hospital is being treated. what are their conditions?? >> reporter: it is an amazing story when you hear it, they were all found in good condition. they're in he getting treatment but there are no frostbite issues, we're being told. apparentlily the parents did their best to keep the kids warm by warming rocks, starting a fire outside thear, warming the rocks and putting them in the car. we're hearing the dad here also had a candy bar in his pocket sole they divvied that up and that's what they were eating and living off of the last couple days. >> thank god they'rekay. do we know what happened? how did they end up strand in the mountains? >> reporter: where we are, it is pretty rural where we are and they were west of here heading ba toward reno. it was a very wide wilderness filled place. and they were off road a little bit. what seem to have happened is that they went into a soft area and the car tipped over. so they were in this soft snow. couldn't get out. basically huddling together over this time. they said they could hear, we're

cnn's stephanie elam takes a look into the mystery. >> reporter: no doubt bertha is a behemoth.tories tall she's billed as the largest dine tame tunnelling machine in the world. bertha was only a tenth of the way on her nearly two-mile journey when she suddenly encountered something large enough and strong enough to stop her in her tracks. >> we're being really cautious. want to make sure that we don't damage this $80 million machine. >> reporter: what is it? the mystery is fueling lots of speculation. geologists point to how seattle's watery edges were filled in with just about anything by the city's pioneers. >> you find old shoes, newspapers. there's a boat buried in downtown seattle. so you name it. it could be down there. >> reporter: another theory is it's a massive boulder left during the ice age. residents have their own guesses. >> some kind of bur yell ground maybe? >> taking a christmas break saying, merry christmas, big bertha. >> reporter: if that's the case, bertha's christmas break started two weeks ago. since then, the $3 billion tunnel project has been on hold a

stephanie elam, cnn, los angeles. >> i want to bring in cnn legal analyst and defense attorney dannyher hansen. let me start with you, heather. i thought this was a slam dunk. why did they make this overture? >> ashleigh, i have no idea. when you look at that and they took away the obstruction of justice charge. it's clear she obstructed justice, she lied about the e-mails, made up the e-mails and stopped the police from being able to find the body. i think it's absolutely shocking that the prosecution made this deal. >> help us understand the business of plea bargaining. i guess we have o.j. and nothing tells us in this life that things are slam dunk. is that what this is about? >> every plea bargain -- yeah, every plea bargain, every settlement is about risk management. each side has something to lose. in any trial, you get to the verdict and everyone rolls the dice and it comes down to how much risk can you handle? and for a lot of defendants, the idea of facing a lot of time can be overwhelming so they may approach. now, the prosecution -- >> no. no. i get it on her part. i can't

before we do that, let's get the latest from stephanie elam in nevada. stephanie, we know the family was rescued earlier today. what's their condition right now? >> reporter: what we are hearing is that the family is resting comfortably. there was no frost bite issues. apparently the adults here did a good job of keeping these children warm. we hear they started a fire outside the car and warming rocks and bringing them into the car. all of them resting well right now here in this hospital in pershing county. >> this was a huge rescue effort with several hundred volunteers involved, not to mention people in the air as well. how exactly in the end were they found? >> reporter: it's pretty amazing how they were canvassing looking for this car. what at the end helped them out is the fact they were able to look at cell phone forensics, some specialists in this area were able to ping where they last got a signal from their phones and were able to then change their search from air and from land about the same time. they said they were able to spot the car and a

let's check this with i know's stephanie elam. she's a business expert. also a great shopper. she's at best buy in burbank, california. still some traffic, right, steph? >> reporter: oh, yes, miss kyra. plenty of traffic out here. people are coming in here shopping. the store opened at 7:00 a.m. the other thing that people are doing because, you know, the brick and mortar stores, their sales are definitely down over this holiday period. what some people have been doing is buying online and some people are buying online but then coming to pick it up in the store because they are so late. so we've seen a steady stream of people coming in here to do some of that online shopping, picking up. it's kind of a combo. i want to introduce you to gussy. what are you doing in here today? >> i literally just got out of the dentist's share. i'm trying to catch up on my christmas shopping. >> reporter: how many gifts do you have to get? >> technically three. >> reporter: so have you gotten any gifts? >> yes, i have. i have the children's gifts. i have to get that gift for the special someone

stephanie elam, amazing. thank you so much. >>> also happening in washington, this investigative hearing on the crash of asiana airlines plane in san francisco. the details coming out of this hearing are stunning and we'll get to them in a moment. first, let me remind you what happened. this was back this summer, july 6th. this is new video in to cnn. watch this with me. you see this init shows the moments when this flight 214 hit the sea wall near the runway at san francisco international airport. that crash killed two chinese teenagers and injured 181 other passengers. a third teen was killed by a truck, this foam truck, that had responded to the scene, and now as the national transportation safety board is investigating what caused this crash, we have learned some disturbing new details from the first officer who was sittin in that cockpit behind those pilots. so cnn's rene marsh has been working that for us today. what specifically, rene, have been learned from the first officer? >> well, brooke, the firs

stephanie elam is in nevada where the hospital is being treated. what are their conditions?ey found? >> reporter: it is an amazing story when you hear it, they were all found in good condition. they're in here getting treatment but there are no frostbite issues, we're being told. apparentlily the parents did their best to keep the kids warm by warming rocks, starting a fire outside the car, warming the rocks and putting them in the car. we're hearing the dad here also had a candy bar in his pocket sole they divvied that up and that's what they were eating and living off of the last couple days. >> thank god they're okay. do we know what happened? how did they end up strand in the mountains? >> reporter: where we are, it is pretty rural where we are and they were west of here heading back toward reno. it was a very wide wilderness filled place. and they were off road a little bit. what seem to have happened is that they went into a soft area and the car tipped over. so they were in this soft snow. couldn't get out. basically huddling together over this time. they said they co

stephanie elam has the story. >> reporter: it was a simple operation that was supposed to improve herlity of life. instead, jahi mcmath lay brain dead hours after surgery. >> i don't have any more tears. >> reporter: the 13-year-old was admitted to the children's hospital december 9th for a tonsillectomy which doctors prescribed to correct her sleep an 93. a she was alert after the surgery but then went into cardiac arrest after being moved to the intensive care unit. the medical team work to revive her. blood had filled her lungs and stomach. >> nobody called the doctor until it was too late. that's the problem. my daughter drowned in her own blood. >> reporter: the next day a ct scan showed that two-thirds of her brain was swollen. by friday further testing showed she was medically death. her death was record to the oakland coroner's office which was scheduled to take her body today. but the family who wants to keep her on life support handed the hospital a cease and desist order. jahi's mother wants more time for her child to show signs of brain activity. >> i went in there and cri

stephanie elam, cnn, los angeles. >> thank you, stephanie, for that. >>> coming up next on "new day"mission before 19 arizona firefighters were killed, combating one of the deadliest wildfires in u.s. history. what the recording reveals about the hot shots' final moments. >>> are you ready? this is spinal tap, princess bride, "stand by me," all thanks to thetallettes of rob reiner and here now being directed by martin scorcese in "the wolf of wall street." he'll join to us tell us about that, what it's like to be in front of the camera and many other things, look at him, speechless with delight. ♪ [ female announcer ] just about anywhere you use sugar, you can use splenda® no calorie sweetener. splenda® lets you experience the joy of sugar without all the calories. think sugar, say splenda™ w(voseeker of the sublime.ro. you can separate runway ridiculousness... from fashion that flies off the shelves. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. (natalie) o

stephanie elam, cnn, los angeles. >> how did that conversation go?igned a five-story tall, completely dominant digging machine but it doesn't go in reverse. >> i'm sorry. it isn't funny. it's going to be expensive to figure it out but it is funny. >> they just assume wherever they pointed this thing, it would always go. >> when it's that big. >> i was trying to think of something creative. it can't just be a big rock. that has to be the very basic nature of what big bertha could do is break down rock. >> what do you think it is? >> no know. you guess. >> i have nothing. if i knew i wouldn't be asking you two. >> no kidding. >>> what's our must see moment? >> you'll want to see this. it's all about getting what you want for christmas. chris cuomo, still waiting for my present. 11-year-old r.j. meyer lives near montgomery, alabama. he's a big fan of auburn football to say the least. he asked santa for a new pair of nike shoes and xbox games. but what he really wanted is tickets to the bcs championship. >> oh, my god! yeah! >> what is it? >> tickets! >>

ste stephanie elam is out in the madness. >> reporter: the sun just came up.ful of people outside of the store. the store just opened up here at the best buy. as you can see there's plenty of workers around. they are all throughout the store ready for all the last minute people coming in. i want to take you down to meet one man who came in here. he was actually standing outside waiting to come in. this right here, this man right here, this is nick. nick, we won't talk about your gift. we're not going to talk to whom the gift is for because said person is watching. tell me, do you consider yourself an early bird or p procrastina procrastinator. >> procrastinator. >> did you know what you were going to get? >> no. >> your spending more money than if you had planned? >> absolutely. >> do you think said loved one will be happy with this? >> yes. that's the overall goal. let's hope so. >> do you have any more gifts to get after you leave here? >> yeah. a whole bunch. >> you're not done. you're going to be in with the crowds? >> i'm hoping i can get up at 7:00 in th

stephanie elam, cnn, los angeles. >> what a case that is. >>> ahead, two teens charged in connectionith a drunk driving death of one of their friends, but they were not behind the wheel. why police chose to file charges, that's coming up right after the break. [ male announcer ] if you can clear a crowd but not your nasal congestion, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec-d®. powerful relief of nasal congestion and other allergy symptoms -- all in one pill. zyrtec-d®. at the pharmacy counter. yep. got all the cozies. [ grandma ] with new fedex one rate, i could fill a box and ship it for one flat rate. so i knit until it was full. you'd be crazy not to. is that nana? [ male announcer ] fedex one rate. simple, flat rate shipping with the reliability of fedex. see who does good work and compare costs. it doesn't usually work that way with health care. but with unitedhealthcare, i get information on quality rated doctors, treatment options and estimates for how much i'll pay. that helps me, and my guys, make better decisions. i don't like guesses with my business, and definit

stephanie elam is covering this one for us today. and she joins me now. tephanie, i mean, as far as the timeline goes, if this doctor confirms that jahi is brain dead, which two other doctors have already done, when will the hospital ultimately make this decision and remove her from the ventilator? >> yeah, brooke, this decision really at this point, rests with this judge that did grant this family the court order to have this independent review. we now know it will be this pediatric neurologist from stanford university. once the review comes in from the doctor, the judge will decide. the two other doctors that reviewed jahi previously, those were both doctors from the children's hospital. the family wanted this independent review, but they have indicated if this does not go the way they would like, they will look to try to find another place to keep jahi on the ventilator someplace else. do we know what going to happen there? no, we don't. right now, we're still hearing the ending of the hearing wrapping up today about the doctor being appointed. that is

it is still as my friend stephanie elam would say, awesome sauce.orris could pull this off. >> i don't like chuck norris and awesome sauce. >> thumbs up. >> you know how you know it's fake? the split is too even. >> that's awesome and our gift for the holidays. >> he says so much by not saying a damn word. he's amazing. >> learn something from that. >> starting with small women with blonde hair. >> or large men that have the last name cuomo. >> continue. >> okay. >>> coming up next on "new day," could the hit show "duck dynasty" be over? the show's stores are threatening to walk over the suspension of robertson, the pay tree ak of t -- patriarch of the family. >>> and then a live report, rodman news. at farmers, we make you smarter about insurance. because what you don't know, can hurt you. what if you didn't know that posting your travel plans online may attract burglars? [woman] off to hawaii! what if you didn't know that as the price of gold rises, so should the coverage on your jewelry? [prospector] ahh! what if you didn't know that kitty litter

stephanie elam is following developments from los angeles. >> reporter: good morning, chris, kate andnts nightmare that your child goes into the hospital but doesn't come back out. the family is hoping against hope for a miracle. it was a simple operation that was so improve her quality of life, instead, jahi lay brain dead after surgery. >> i'm all cried out, i'm angry. >> reporter: the 13-year-old was admitted for a tonsillectomy which doctors prescribed to correct her sleep apnea. jahi was alert after the surgery but then went into cardiac arrest. the medical team worked to revive her. blood filled her lungs and stomach. >> nobody called the doctor until it was too late. my daughter drown on her own blood. >> reporter: the next day, a ct scan showed that two-thirds of jahi's brain was swollen. by friday, further testing confirmed that jahi was medically dead. her death was reported to the oakland coroner's office. but the family handed the hospital a cease and assist order. >> don't pull the plug. >> reporter: jahi's mother wants more time for her child to show signs of brain activ