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Omicron Variant Of Coronavirus Rapidly Spreading Across U.S.; New York To Shorten Quarantine Time From 10 Days To Five Days For Those In Critical Workforce; Flights Canceled During Holidays Due To Staffing Shortages At Airports; Threats To American Democracy By State Laws Restricting Voting Rights And Access To Abortion Examined; Los Angeles Police Will Release Body Camera Video In Death Of 14-Year-Old Girl By Police Shooting; Major Media Stories Of 2021 Reviewed. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired December 25, 2021 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[14:00:17]

AMARA WALKER, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Amara Walker in Atlanta.

We begin with another Christmas centered around COVID, as the Omicron variant rapidly spreads around the world. The U.S. is now averaging more than 182,000 new cases a day. That is a 48 percent jump from just last week. Deaths, although rising, are still far from where they were at the peak of the pandemic. And right now, there are more than 69,000 people currently hospitalized with COVID, still about half the record high from January.

All of this causing major travel disruptions this holiday weekend. Several major U.S. airlines have canceled more than 1,000 flights over staffing issues. So if you're planning a last-minute trip home, you're going to want to check your flight status, if you can get one.

And amid all of this, don't forget what health experts have been saying for months -- vaccines and boosters are keeping people from getting severely sick. And right now, they are our only way out of this.

Let's begin now with CNN's Alison Kosik, who is in New York. Alison, surging cases causing disruptions around the country.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, but I think the biggest hurdle for so many people on this Christmas has really been that struggle to just get tested for COVID-19. So the race has really been on for millions of Americans to get a test before traveling or joining family gatherings.

Here in New York, we certainly saw long lines over the past week, people waiting in the cold. Also Raleigh, North Carolina, lines were a mile long. Look at these pictures. This was Christmas Eve, with some people waiting up to two hours in traffic just to get to the testing site. In Oahu, Hawaii, at one testing site the line actually wrapped around several blocks, with some waiting two-and-a-half to get that test.

COVID-19 also causing disruptions to sports and vacations. The NHL, the National Hockey League, announcing that its regular season schedule won't resume until Tuesday. Previously the league planned to resume games on Monday following a pause in play. On board a Carnival cruise ship, several people tested positive. The ship was denied entry to two ports but was able to dock at a port in the Dominican Republic. The ship had departed Miami on December 18th. It is expected to return tomorrow.

Royal Caribbean facing a similar situation. It's Odyssey of the Seas had 55 people test positive for COVID, a mix of crew and passengers. In a statement from Royal Caribbean International telling CNN that 95 percent of people on board the ship were fully vaccinated when it left for Fort Lauderdale last week.

All of this happening as we see a spike in the number of cases here in New York state. Just yesterday there were 44,000 new cases. That's a jump of 14 percent, breaking the previous day's record of 38,000 cases. We are seeing hospitalizations in New York rising, but it's at a lower rate. Data showing that hospitalizations rose 4.6 percent from Thursday to Friday.

Amid all of this, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announcing that New York will shorten the quarantine time from 10 days to five days for those in the critical workforce. This includes nurses, police officers, grocery store clerks, bartenders, and cooks.

This move means that after you have a positive test here in New York, if you're fully vaccinated and you're in the critical workforce, you can go back to work five days after that positive COVID result if you are asymptomatic and you wear a mask. Amara, the governor had argued that the 10-day rule caused unnecessary staff shortages in frontline jobs. Amara?

WALKER: Yes, so that move makes sense also in the medical world. Thank you so much for that, Alison Kosik.

Joining me now is Dr. Rob Davidson. He is an emergency room doctor in west Michigan. Doctor, merry Christmas to you. Thank you so much for joining us this afternoon.

First off, I know a lot of families are gathered, friends are gathered, maybe some of them watching the news. But while people are enjoying the holiday, there are people who are also hospitalized. Can you tell us what you're seeing in your hospital?

DR. ROB DAVIDSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, COMMITTEE TO PROTECT HEALTH CARE: Yes, we're still deeply mired in the Delta surge. Thank you for the merry Christmas. Same to you.

We have been at this more about six or seven weeks now with Delta as the dominant variant in our hospitals across west Michigan, and our case numbers coming into the E.R. and our test positive rates are all trending downward. We're still over 15, somewhere around 20 percent of those test positive rates, which is still extremely high. But we were around 30 percent just a few weeks ago.

[14:05:05]

But the problem is people with COVID-19, particularly 85 percent of our inpatients are unvaccinated, 95 to 98 percent of the ICU patients are unvaccinated. Those folks stay in the hospital a very long time, even if they eventually survive. We're talking four, five, six weeks. And so our hospital crunch is still there.

We haven't seen the really high numbers of Omicron cases like they've seen in bigger cities on the coast. I'm sure that's coming in the next several weeks or so. Hopefully the data so far suggesting it's a milder disease will hold true. But I'm in a county with only a 45 percent vaccination rate, so we just don't know for those unvaccinated people what this is going to be, and it could be another bad one.

WALKER: And I'm sorry for what you're seeing and what you're going through. I'm sure you're feeling overworked, as well as your colleagues. I understand your daughter, Doctor, who is vaccinated and boosted, she just tested positive for COVID. What kind of symptoms is she experiencing? And how is she doing? Do you think that this would not be the situation if she were not vaccinated?

DAVIDSON: Well, she's young, young and healthy. So the vast likelihood is she would be doing OK. But she's doing great, actually. Symptoms are gone. Just sitting and waiting for a couple negative tests to come out of isolation, or for the full 10-day period out of isolation sometime middle of next week.

She is a college student in New York, and she is being told by contact tracers at her university that they believe more people have COVID that are students there than don't have COVID. So it just kind of blew up. Mostly vaccinated, but, again, the vast majority are going to do just fine.

They're not going to end up in the hospital, they're not going to overwhelm the system, and that is the beauty of being vaccinated and being boosted. It keeps you out of my emergency department, keeps you from leaving your family, and it allows the entire system to work like it should.

WALKER: And for the skeptics who are saying, look, this disease seems to just produce mild symptoms, so why should I worry about getting vaccinated? Isn't it partially, too, preventing more variants like these from popping up?

DAVIDSON: Absolutely. Globally that is certainly true, and even in this country, like the county that I work in with over 50 percent who are unvaccinated, these variants pop up, and when this virus is spread around between multiple people.

But really in the end, we don't want people dying, we don't want people in the hospital for four or five weeks, ending up on disability, ending up in rehabilitation hospitals, learning how to walk, learning how to eat, learning how to breathe again. That is the reality of COVID for unvaccinated people. And we still don't know about Omicron for the unvaccinated. In South

Africa the data looks good, but it's a much younger population. In the U.K. it looks good, but it's a more highly vaccinated population. And in pockets of the U.S., this could be very similar to previous waves. We just have to wait and find out.

In the next wave, we don't know. There will be more variants. We don't know if a more virulent comes along after Omicron and does the same thing Delta did to the unvaccinated people. I think it's a crazy notion to think you're just going to either avoid getting it or you might be the lucky one to roll the dice and not end up extremely sick.

WALKER: It looks like we're going to have to learn to live with COVID and different variants of it.

I had the same experience as you yesterday, or I should say my husband did, driving around, going to different pharmacies to find COVID-19 rapid tests. It's not that easy, and when you do find it, it's not exactly cheap. Let's listen, first of all, to what President Biden said about testing in an interview with ABC News this week.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The pharmacy, we hear this over and over again, empty shelves, no test kits. Is that a failure?

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, I don't think it's a failure. I think it's -- you could argue that we should have known a year ago, six months ago, two months ago, a month ago. I've ordered half a billion of the pills, 500 million pills -- excuse me, 500 million test kits that are going to be available to be sent to every home in America if anybody wants them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Doctor, don't you think that we should have had those 500 million test kits, I don't know, a month ago?

DAVIDSON: Sure, I think that this administration has been very forthright in saying, listen, we want to have done better and we will do better. I still think from my standpoint in the emergency department and working some shifts in the ICU, it's about vaccination, vaccination, vaccination.

We could have all the tests in the world, and the people I take care of, I'm being told by staff in our small town, they'll see people in the E.R. one day getting a positive test, and the next day they'll see them at a grocery or a big box store walking around without a mask on, walking around.

[14:10:00]

So for the folks who just don't think this is a big deal, you could have all the tests in the world and it's just going to help the situation we're dealing with, full hospitals and healthcare folks who are just sort of at the brink. WALKER: So I want to get your opinion on this, and I think I've been

asking a lot of health experts and officials regarding the definition of being fully vaccinated. Dr. Fauci has made the rounds and has said several times that, look, it's just semantics, right, especially when it comes to OSHA and mandating it when it comes to specific jobs. I spoke with one physician last week who said maybe it was semantics for Delta, but now we're dealing with Omicron. I don't think it's really semantics now.

OK, let's say it is about semantics. Then why not just call this a three-dose -- a three series vaccine rather than adding a booster to it? Because it almost sounds like a booster would just be optional. Do you think that fully vaccinated needs to be a three-series vaccine?

DAVIDSON: Absolutely, and I think we can call it an undetermined series of vaccine. We don't know yet how many. Polio is four, it used to be five. Rabies was five, now it's four. We don't know what COVID will be. In large part it depends on how many people get their primary series and the third shot, because the more people who don't do that, the more this thing is going to spread around getting more variants, and it's going to be in the population potentially infecting people who have gotten their second shot or third shot or perhaps fourth, or who knows what shot.

Flu is an annual shot. The one you had last year doesn't help you this year. And so we just have to be ready to not really worry about semantics, just worry about the reality on the ground. And for us in this Delta surge, I have not seen a single person with a third dose who has ended up being hospitalized, not a single one.

I have seen some people who had their first two shots in January, February, and then I see them in November, December, and they end up being sick enough to get hospitalized, not critically ill, but sick enough to be hospitalized. But with that third dose, I haven't seen a single one, and our hospital has seen extremely few.

WALKER: That's the headline, you have not seen one patient hospitalized who had a booster. Very good to hear. Dr. Rob Davidson, thank you so much for joining us on this Christmas day. All the best to you.

DAVIDSON: Thanks, Amara. Thank you.

WALKER: So if you are planning on flying home tomorrow, you may want to grab your phone and check the status of your flight real quick, because airlines are having to cancel thousands of flights as we speak. We're going to have a live report next. You're live in the CNN Newsroom.

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[14:15:23]

WALKER: So if you are planning to fly this weekend, be sure to check with your airline before you head out. According to the tracking website FlightAware, more than 1,000 flights have already been canceled for today and tomorrow, and a lot of the blame, of course, falls on Omicron. This extremely contagious variant is now grounding flight crews.

CNN's Nadia Romero has the latest from Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, one of the airports most impacted by these cancellations. Nadia, what are you seeing?

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Amara, you said it right. You have to check with your airline before you get to the airport. And we've talked to a lot of people who said they were glued to their phones, they weren't able to sleep overnight, making sure that they didn't get an alert from their airline that their flight had been canceled.

So now it's starting to definitely pick up here at the airport, cancellations this morning. It was very few people that we saw coming and going because of all those cancellations. Omicron, of course, is the big culprit. Also, the weather has been blamed for some of the cancellations that we saw during the beginning of this week.

And we also learned from TSA that there are more people who went through TSA screening on Christmas Eve than last year, than 2020. Of course, that was before the vaccine came out and people felt more comfortable about traveling. But we haven't reached pre-pandemic levels this Christmas holiday yet compared to 2019, which is a big difference from what we saw during Thanksgiving.

It was packed at this airport. It was loud, it was busy, people were coming in and out. A crazy time it was. We had reached those pre- pandemic levels, breaking record levels of travelers around Thanksgiving. Definitely not seeing that now, and we can attribute that to Omicron and all of those cancellations.

But we did speak with some people who were coming and going, who were excited to get on their flight, but also taking some safety precautions as well. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAWN LEESE, TRAVELING FOR CHRISTMAS: We came this summer. We didn't come last Christmas because COVID was bad. So with the variant, once everyone got vaccinated, we thought if we took the proper precautions, and we knew that our airline does a good job with their precautions. So we're just trusting in the best for that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMERO: And that has been a common theme of people that we've spoken with who are traveling, were very proud to tell me that they've been vaccinated, even boosted. There was one little girl we interviewed, she had reindeer, like a headband on, and she told me that her vaccination for COVID didn't hurt as bad as getting her flu shot.

She was very proud of herself for being fully vaccinated. And so that's what we're hearing from people. They've gotten their shots, they're wearing their masks, but they want to see their families. So they're going to do what it takes to go out there and do it. Amara?

WALKER: That is so nice to hear. I bet you that little girl is going to be the one who is the most compliant with her mask on that flight.

Quick question before you go, look, I'm sure there are people who are stranded at the airport now, right, as a result of these flights being canceled. Have you heard from any of those passengers?

ROMERO: Yes, most of those passengers, because we're in Atlanta, are going to be victims of layovers, right. So maybe they were able to get on the first leg of their flight, and then they were stuck here in Atlanta. We did reach out to some airlines, and they're sticking to their company line and basically saying you need to check with us before you come to the airport.

They're offering no change fees. They're offering you help to get another flight. But if you're stuck, you're stuck. And there's no worse time to be stuck in an airport, sleeping on one of those hard benches, than on Christmas Day. Amara?

WALKER: Nobody wants to be stranded anywhere, especially in an airport on Christmas Day. Nadia Romero, thank you so much. Good to see you, and merry Christmas.

OK, so let's say you're one of those stranded travelers, unfortunately. Brian Kelly, also known as The Points Guy, joining me now with some tips, very important tips, to help you navigate this travel dilemma caused by all of these flight cancellations. Brian, merry Christmas. What is the first thing you should do if you find out your flight is canceled?

BRIAN KELLY, FOUNDER, THEPOINTSGUY.COM: The first thing you should do is go online and see what other flights the airline has. I know when you're at the airport people like to talk to a person, but the longer you wait in line, those last remaining seats will be snapped up by the people in front of you. So go online immediately.

And if there's no other flights to your destination on the airline you're flying, check other airlines. Flights might be expensive, but if it really matters that you get home to see family, you might just want to book on another airline, because you are owed a full refund, not a voucher, if the airline cancels your flight. So you'll get that money eventually.

[14:20:00]

WALKER: OK, so then should you take that option of a full refund, or is it better for them to have them rebook for you?

KELLY: If they rebook for you, they're not going to charge you anything extra, whereas, if you buy a ticket on another airline, you're going to have to shell out the cash. So depending on your cash situation, I also highly recommend use frequent flyer miles. One of the silver linings of the pandemic has been that airlines will now let you cancel your frequent flier mile ticket up to departure with no charge. So if you really need to get somewhere, you can always have a backup

reservation booked on another airline as a backup that departs later than the flight that you're leaving on. So if your flight is canceled, you can take that later flight. But if your flight goes out on time, you simply call, cancel, and get all of your miles and taxes back.

WALKER: That's a smart idea. I never thought of that. So book with your points, and then also on another airline just to be sure. Although I'm sure a lot of people don't have much mileage, right, because we were in a pandemic year last year.

But how long does it take, though, Brian, to get a refund for a canceled flight? Will I see it pretty quickly back into my bank account?

KELLY: No, unfortunately not. Some airlines are better than others, but it may take a billing cycle to get back, which is why so many people are at the mercy of the airline to rebook them. But if you have the extra cash, you will eventually get that money back.

But here's one other tip. Use a credit card that gives trip cancellation or delay insurance. A lot of travel credit cards will offer that, because if you're stuck on in Atlanta on Christmas Day, the airline is not going to put you up in a hotel. They legally don't have to. You can always ask nicely, maybe they'll have discounts. But it's on you. And if you've got a family, those extra fees, the Ubers can really add up. So use a credit card that will cover all of those expenses, and there are a lot of them out there.

WALKER: It gets complicated, though, right, because a lot of people take connecting flights. So if one flight is canceled, then you've got -- there's a whole slew of problems because you also have hotels or car rentals that are also linked to your reservation. So how do you lose money and your hair -- how do you avoid that under these circumstances?

KELLY: I highly recommend if you are stranded call the car rental, call your hotel that you're going to. They do have a lot of compassion, especially around the holidays. Even though they're not technically have to refund you if your flight is canceled, a lot of them will. So be proactive, see if you can get refunds or change your reservation. But once again, try to use a credit card that will protect you, because there are cards that will cover all the other costs beyond just the flight.

WALKER: Is there any way to get ahead of the situation? Because you know that this situation, I don't know that it's going to get any better, right, with Omicron spreading so fastly, and, of course, this variant is so contagious it's grounding a lot of flight crews. Any other advice you can offer up to us?

KELLY: No, I'd just say lead with a good attitude. This is going to happen. Even before Omicron we've seen meltdowns from American Airlines and Spirit. Now it seems to be Delta and United that are heavily impacted. This is the state of travel today. Certainly, Omicron makes it much worse. And until the CDC decides to, like they recently did for hospital

workers, cut down the quarantine period for those vaccinated to five days, if we've got a 10-day for anyone exposed with Omicron, which is so many people, we're going to continue to see these staff shortages. The airlines simply can't just hire tons of new trained employees to fill the gap.

WALKER: And if you have the option of driving to your destination, which I do next week, which is from Atlanta, Georgia, to Florida, I think we'll do that nine-hour drive with two little children. I just don't want to have to deal with cancellations and then having to change all your plans again. So I'm so glad we spoke with you, Brian Kelly. Thank you.

KELLY: Merry Christmas.

WALKER: Merry Christmas.

Coming up, a 14-year-old girl shot and killed after an officer opened fire inside a store. What police are saying next.

You're live at the CNN Newsroom.

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[14:27:28]

WALKER: Joe Biden ran for the White House on his ability to unite the country, but now nearly one year into his presidency, the polarization that came to define the Trump era hasn't gone away, to say the least. If anything, the red state/blue state divide is becoming more cemented due to Republicans at the state and local levels chipping away at federal rights with restrictive laws on abortion, voting, LGBTQ issues, and even on who counts the votes.

CNN's senior political analyst and senior editor for "The Atlantic," Ron Brownstein, calls this the great divergence. He is joining us now. Ron, your piece is frightening, but it's also sobering. And look, it's very much our reality, right?

You write this, quote, "The result through the 2020s could be a dramatic erosion of common national rights and a widening gulf of great divergence between the liberties of Americans in blue states and those in red states. Ron, talk us through this warning, starting with what we saw from the 1960s regarding laws having to do with segregation, abortion, and same-sex marriage. Where do you believe we're headed now?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Right, first of all, merry Christmas to you and everyone watching. The basic trajectory, with some reversals, but the basic trajectory of national policies since the 1960s, both from Congress and the Supreme Court, has been to expand the roster of rights that are available to Americans nationwide in every state.

We saw that impulse in the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act of the 1960s, Title Nine outlawing sex discrimination in higher education in the 709s, in the big Supreme Court decisions ensuring one man, one vote, one person, one vote in every state, banning -- stopping state bans on interracial marriage or on contraception, and of course, Roe, which legalized abortion in every state, as well as into this century with the Supreme Court decision nationalizing the right to gay marriage.

And what we are seeing, I think, very clearly in the last few years but certainly accelerating this year is an axis of red states, Republican officials in red states supported by Republican appointed federal judges up to the six on the Supreme Court are now beginning to move in the opposite direction. We see the very real possibility that the nationwide right to abortion will be rescinded by the Supreme Court, in which case roughly half the states are poised to immediately ban or severely restrict a boring.

[14:30:06]

And we see the same kind of movement on First Amendment rights, on how people can talk about race in classrooms, the most explicit restrictions on teachings probably since the evolution, the Scopes trial of the 1920s, and of course on voting as well.

So it is a big reversal, and there is the potential for an enormous divergence in the coming years if Democrats can't use the one lever they have to try to resist this, which is that their unified control of government gives them the ability to set nationwide standards on all of the questions we're talking about.

WALKER: I do want to expand on that, but first, what about that counterargument, look, what we're seeing is states' rights, this is what federalism is supposed to look like?

BROWNSTEIN: Look, this has been a tension throughout American history. The question is, what are the minimum rights that all Americans are guaranteed? We heard states' rights in the 1850s on slavery, and that's what led to the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments, in particular the 14th Amendment guaranteeing equal protection under the law in every state. We heard states' rights from Plessy versus Ferguson in 1896 until the filibuster on the Civil Rights Act in 1964. Obviously, you hear it on Roe again.

The question is, what is the floor of nationwide rights that should be available to all Americans no matter what state they live in? That floor, by and large, had been strengthened, has been getting stronger since the 1960s. As I say in the story, now you are seeing in these red states with the support of conservative, Republican appointed federal judges and justices, becoming more aggressive about ripping up those floorboards.

Should the right to vote be available equally in every state? Should the right to abortion be available in every state? Should transgender kids have the same rights in every state? That is the issue that I think we're going to be grappling with more and more in the coming years, because absent federal action, this divergence is going to widen. WALKER: Yes, absolutely. You talked about the only way to resist these

efforts against these civil rights is to have a unified control of the White House and of Congress, and of course that is not what we're seeing at all, right, especially when it comes to voting rights and abortions.

All these bills are stalled in the Senate, although these bills have passed in the House, as you mentioned in your article. You also say in that article, quote, "That stalemate is rising anxiety among Democrats who fear that the party is sleepwalking through an escalating emergency." Well, then, how do you wake them up?

BROWNSTEIN: Look, it isn't the broad party. I think most of the Democratic Party recognizes the magnitude of what's happening and the divergence that we are seeing and how this is really only the front end of what we may see in the coming years.

The issue are a handful of Senate Democrats who will not change the filibuster, right. As you know, the Supreme Court signaled, at least five of the Republican-appointed justices signaled they may overturn roe. The House passed legislation codifying Roe, creating the right to abortion nationwide. The Senate could do that, but it can't do that because of the filibuster.

Even more, I think, ominously perhaps is what's happening on voting, where there is legislation that passed the House and legislation that all 50 Democratic senators have endorsed that would reverse many of the restrictions on voting and many of the most dangerous partisan controls that are being created to influence the counting of the voting. But again, that is being blocked by the filibuster.

What's happening in LGBTQ rights in many of these states. The House has passed legislation that would override that, the Senate being blocked by a filibuster.

The magnitude of the choice in the next 12 months can't be overstated. Republicans need five seats to win the House. There are only four midterm elections, Amara, since the Civil War where the party out of the White House hasn't won at least five seats. So the odds are pretty high that Democrats will not have unified control of government after November.

This is their window if they are going to push back against this divergence. And if they let this window close, judging by the actions of the Supreme Court, there is not going to be a lot to stop red state governments from rolling back some of the rights that Americans have thought to be guaranteed and nationwide guaranteed since the 60s and 70s.

WALKER: That's frightening. And, yes, this is a window that is narrowing quickly, just 12 months, which will be critical and consequential for the Democrats and our civil rights.

Appreciate you joining us, Ron Brownstein. Merry Christmas to you as well. Thank you.

BROWNSTEIN: Merry Christmas. Thank you.

WALKER: Coming up, a shark attack on Christmas Eve kills a California surfer. That is next. You're live in the CNN Newsroom.

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[14:37:54]

WALKER: This is just a terrible story in California. An apparent shark attack claimed the life of a surfer yesterday on Christmas Eve. It happened at Morro Bay in San Luis Obispo County. A fellow surfer found a body floating in the water Friday morning. First responders pronounced the male victim dead at the scene.

The San Luis Obispo County coroner's office has identified the victim and is working to identify next of kin before releasing his name. Although beaches in the Morro Bay and State Parks area remain open, authorities have ordered people to stay out of the water for the next 24 hours. And investigators are working to determine exactly what happened.

The LAPD says they will release body cam footage by Monday after they believe a 14-year-old girl was fatally shot by an officer's stray bullet this week. Police responding to a report of a man assaulting another woman inside a North Hollywood store opened fire, killing the teenager and the suspect. LAPD's police chief promising there will be a thorough investigation. CNN's Lucy Kafanov has more on this tragic story. Lucy, what can you tell us?

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, tragic and devastating is how the LAPD police chief described this officer-involved shooting that led to the death of this 14-year-old girl. Officers say they were responding to multiple calls of a possible active shooter at this North Hollywood Burlington store on Thursday around noon. When they arrived, they found the suspect, who was, they say, assaulting another woman.

She was transported to the hospital with her injuries. They confronted the suspect, opening fire. The suspect was killed, but a subsequent search of the premises led to a gruesome discovery. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASSISTANT CHIEF DOMINIC CHOI, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT: A subsequent search of the upper floor, we found a hole in the wall. And behind the drywall, solid wall that you can't see behind, we went behind it. It turned out to be the dressing room up there. And what we did is we were able to locate a 14-year-old female who was found deceased in that dressing room.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:40:13]

KAFANOV: Now, we know that teenager, the 14-year-old girl, was shopping with her mother. "The Los Angeles Times" reports that she was reportedly shopping for her quinceanera dress. The violence just two days before Christmas, sparking questions about why a weapon was fired at this store.

The suspect was not found to have any weapons on him, and authorities said that the preliminary assessment determined that the bullet did, indeed, the stray bullet came from the officer's gun. We also know the state attorney general has opened an investigation. The LAPD police chief, meanwhile, promising full transparency. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF MICHAEL MOORE, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT: We're doing everything we can to gather as much, to be as transparent as possible. But in the midst of all that, we also recognize there's nothing that can be done for this poor family, except for us to express my sorrow, my apologies this tragic outcome occurred.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAFANOV: Now, LAPD policy is to release all body cam footage within 45 days of a shooting, but in this case the police chief promising to release these materials by Monday. Amara?

WALKER: Gosh, I don't even know what to say. Just so heartbreaking, those details. Lucy Kafanov, appreciate you. Thank you.

And we'll be right back.

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WALKER: Millions of Americans are under winter weather alerts this Christmas day. CNN meteorologist Tyler Mauldin has more now on what to expect for the rest of the holiday weekend.

[14:45:04]

TYLER MAULDIN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We've got a clash of two air masses today across the U.S. Though it is Christmas Day, it's feeling more like may in the southern tier of the United States. From the southern plains to the mid-Atlantic, records are in jeopardy today all the way through midweek next week.

Temperatures this time of year in the south should be in the mid-50s. Today, though, we're topping out in the 70s and 80s, so it does not feel like Christmas. The heat is going to linger around on into next week. It will cool off a little bit, but still 20 degrees or so above the average.

Cooler air can be found up here across the northern states. Now, up here in New England and the northeast, this is where we could see some snowfall pile up. And not only are we looking at snowfall, but we're looking at ice potentially today as well. So play it safe if you're hitting the roadways and you're driving today. You could encounter some slick spots.

It's because of this one weather system pushing over which will give way to that wintry mix today. Then on its heels is another system which will be moving into the northern plains and the Great Lakes as we get into tomorrow. That too is going to bring some snowfall, and that snowfall will be confined to the northern plains, specifically North Dakota and going on into Minnesota. This is where we could see almost a foot of snowfall. Elsewhere, lighter amounts.

But then we're looking at feet of snow across the central and northern Rockies, as well as the cascades, and then we're looking at multiple feet of snow in the Sierra Nevada. This is where we could see up to six feet of snow, some isolated areas up to 10. That is insane, but it's also much needed more that snowpack.

We're also looking at a little bit of rainfall, too. That's much needed as well. We have a terrible drought ongoing out here, so we'll take any precipitation that we can get.

Roughly 30 million people are under winter weather alerts across the entire country because of all these systems moving over, and once each system pushes by, we're going to see another one replace it. So we are locked in this pattern for not only this holiday weekend, but going into next week as well.

WALKER: Thank you so much, Tyler. Like the jacket.

There's been no shortage of major media moments this year. Here's CNN's chief media correspondent, Brian Stelter.

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BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: 2021, the year the media and the world tried to get back to normal. The pandemic is now a subject of scripted dramas and movies, helping us process it. But it's not over yet, and some things have changed forever.

So here are our top 10 media stories of the year.

Number 10, de-platforming Donald Trump. Twitter permanently banning the president just days after the Capitol insurrection, while Facebook gave him a time-out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our breaking news this hour, Facebook says former president Donald Trump will not be allowed back on its platforms until at least January 7th, 2023.

STELTER: While Trump cries censorship, social media CEOs are just trying to figure out where to draw the line.

Number nine, TV news turnover. Chris Cuomo out at CNN after text messages showed how he helped his governor brother fight sexual harassment allegations. Now both Cuomos are out of jobs. Soon, the 9:00 p.m. time slot at MSNBC is in for a change, too, with Rachel Maddow renewing her contract, but expanding into documentaries and preparing to leave her daily hour. MSNBC also needs to replace Brian Williams, who signed off in December with a warning.

BRIAN WILLIAMS, JOURNALIST: For the first time in my 62 years, my biggest worry is for my country.

STELTER: And over at FOX, a different departure, Lou Dobbs ousted without an explanation, but it happened 24 hours after he was named in a defamation lawsuit. At the end of the year, Chris Wallace announced he was leaving FOX on his own terms. He's joining CNN in its forthcoming streaming service.

Number eight, Oprah's bombshell interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The revelations shook the royal family, with the Duchess of Sussex citing the family's, quote, concerns about baby Archie's skin color. She said she felt so alone she contemplated suicide.

MEGHAN MARKLE, DUCHESS OF SUSSEX: I just didn't want to be alive anymore.

STELTER: Fallout from the interview rippled across the media, and when a co-anchor called out Piers Morgan rants, he stormed off the set of his British morning show.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You continue to trash her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, I'm done with this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sorry. Sorry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, no, no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See you later.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm being --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sorry, can't do this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is absolutely diabolical behavior.

STELTER: He then left the network.

As for Harry and Meghan, they are now making podcasts and TV shows, which leads me to number seven, the streaming wars. Hollywood giants are trying to get even bigger, investing more and more in streaming series to keep you subscribed.

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Streaming is the focus of AT&T's deal to spin off Warner Media, including CNN, and combine it with Discovery. If OK-ed by regulators, the new standalone company will take shape in mid-2022, going head to head with Netflix and Disney.

In 2021, shows like "Squid Game" and "Ted Lasso" won attention and awards, and studios they kept experimenting by putting movies like "Black Widow" both on streaming and in theaters at the same time. When Disney did that, Scarlett Johansson shocked Hollywood by suing for breach of contract, showing that the rules are being rewritten every day.

Number six, daring reporting from Afghanistan. As the Taliban encroached on Kabul and the U.S. withdraw turned chaotic, reporters became the eyes and ears of the world.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They're just told me to stand to the side because I'm a woman.

STELTER: CNN's Clarissa Ward documented the Taliban's takeover despite all the uncertainty and earned praise from fellow journalists. Behind the scenes, Ward and hundreds of others worked to evacuate endangered reporters, assistants, drivers, and other Afghans who worked with western media. The local reporters who remain there face a hostile climate.

Which brings me to number five, the continuing crackdown on global press freedom. In Hong Kong, police raided a pro-democracy in June, arresting top editors. A month before that, this incident shocked the world. A dissident Belarusian journalist arrested after his commercial flight was forced down in essentially a state sponsored hijacking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have we seen anything like this before?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No is the short answer.

STELTER: Countries around the world are rolling back the rights of reporters in sometimes brazen ways. The Committee to Protect Journalists said a record high number of reporters are behind bars now, with China being the worst jailer.

Number four, the woke wars. It's an awakening over racial and social injustice to some, but an overreaction to others. Is it cancel culture or consequence culture? And whatever it's called, has it gone too far? These debates raged across media all year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It will eventually get to straight white men are not allowed to talk.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is called a purge. It's a mentality that belongs in Stalin's Russia.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Canceling Dr. Seuss isn't stupid. It's intentional.

STELTER: Of course, Dr. Seuss wasn't canceled. His legacy company simply decided to stop publishing a few titles that had racist imagery.

But free speech issues are real, and alternatives are emerging for people who want to bypass traditional book publishers, newspapers, and other gatekeepers. Writers are flocking to Substack and launching newsletters, a new model that brings fresh debates over free speech.

Number three, January 6th denialism. The big lie about Trump winning the election led to the big deny -- desperate attempts to erase the violent reality of the riot. TUCKER CARLSON, HOST, TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT: You see people walking

around and taking pictures. They don't look like terrorists. They look like tourists.

STELTER: That's FOX's highest rated star trying to rewrite history. While commentators stoke conspiracy theories, rightwing media barely covers the real news about the insurrection's aftermath or the new efforts to subvert democracy at the state level. What we are losing in America is a sense of shared reality. But the big lie may cost its crusaders.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Breaking just a short time ago, FOX facing a $1.6 billion lawsuit, accused of spreading election lies.

STELTER: And that was just the beginning. Two voting tech companies have filed multiple defamation suits against FOX News and other networks. And a series of blockbuster books continue to reveal what really happened during Trump's final days in the White House.

Number two, the Facebook reckoning. A whistleblower was heard around the world, first through the Facebook files, a series of "Wall Street Journal" stories based on leaks from inside Facebook. Then the source, Frances Haugen stepped forward.

FRANCES HAUGEN, FORMER FACEBOOK PROJECT MANAGER: I believe Facebook's products harm children, stoke division, and weaken our democracy. The company's leadership knows how to make Facebook an Instagram safer but won't make the necessary changes because they have put their astronomical profits before people.

STELTER: Haugen alleged that the company's own research showed its platforms can be toxic for children and society writ large. But the company failed to take action. CEO Mark Zuckerberg pushed back, saying many of the claims didn't make sense. But Haugen gave new momentum to government's that want to rein in social media.

Anti-social media was a through line for the entire year, bringing us to the number one media story of 2021 -- the vaccine disinformation divide. Reliable info about COVID-19 vaccines helped people get vaxxed and protected. But anti-vax lies and distortions went viral, from Facebook to FOX, in ways that worsened the pandemic's terrible toll. The rightwing media machine took conspiracy theories from the fringes and moved them to the mainstream.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Radical leftwing fanatics who are bent on forcing each and every American to get themselves injected with an experimental, unproven drug.

STELTER: FOX News demonized Dr. Anthony Fauci.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is what people say to me, that he doesn't represent science to them. He represents Josef Mengele.

STELTER: And the anti-science rhetoric cost lives. Several rightwing radio hosts who resisted vaccines died of COVID. T.V. stars who claimed to respect their audience actually put them at risk.

Big tech platforms said that they tried to clean up the garbage, but the vaccine divide is a sad reflection of a choose your own news culture. It's incumbent on everyone to choose carefully.

Brian Stelter, CNN, New York.

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