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More Than 100 Million Americans Under Wind Chill Alerts; New York Police: Stay Off Roads In Areas With Blizzard Conditions; Jan. 6 Committee Recommends Trump Should Be Barred From Office; Jan. 6 Committee Releases Final Report After 18-Month Probe; Crematoriums In China Overwhelmed As COVID Cases Rise; Important Inflation Index Shows Price Increases Are Slowing; Russian Shelling Kills Seven People In Kherson City, Injures 58; Many Ukrainians Celebrating Christmas As Refugees This Year. Aired 12-1p ET
Aired December 24, 2022 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:00:48]
SARA SIDNER, CNN HOST: It is noon Eastern, 9:00 Pacific. I'm Sara Sidner, in for the fabulous, Fredricka Whitfield, who we hope is sipping on eggnog right now.
Thank you so much for joining me this Christmas Eve. We begin this hour with some bad news, because there is a dangerous winter storm and it is blanketing the United States.
At least 15 people have been killed due to the icy weather across multiple states. You're looking at a crash there.
New York State Police are warning people to stay off the roads. Amid whiteout conditions. They say search and rescue. Obviously hard to move about is moving extra slow due to the blizzard.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul, says first responders may not be able to reach you if you need help.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. KATHY HOCHUL (D-NY): It is absolutely dangerous for anyone to be out on the roads and that includes our emergency vehicles. So, our national guard our first responders, our ambulances, our fire trucks are all getting stuck in the snow as well.
In fact, almost every fire truck in the city of Buffalo is stranded. It is stuck in snow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: Right now, more than 100 million people are under wind chill alerts. The arctic blast extending from Montana, all the way down to, yes, Florida.
We're tracking the latest conditions across the country. CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar joins us in just a bit. But first, let's go to our Polo Sandoval, who is still stuck in Buffalo, New York.
Out, braving, the temperatures out there it is extremely dangerous. Can you just give us an idea of what it feels like out there? Because I know your face has to be frozen.
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Yes, the South Texas faces not used to this, Sara. You know, is a picture just a 1,000s of needles just pricking you in the face.
That's because those winds, they are still just pounding the region now. It is -- they're not as strong as yesterday when a wind measurement -- a wind gusts of 79 miles an hour was recorded by the National Weather Service, surpassing the historic blizzard of 1977. So this is clearly an extraordinary snow, wind, and storm event even for Buffalo.
So, that gives you kind of a sense of what we're feeling here with a subzero wind chill that I've been feel --my colleagues and I have been feeling every hour when we step out, when we're hunkering down to give you an idea of the conditions that authorities want people to avoid.
You see snow ploughs and public works officials just like what you're able to see here. They're finally able to get back out, they had to be pulled back overnight because there was zero visibility.
And believe it or not, this is a considerable improvement compared to what we saw overnight. So, this is now allowing crews to basically carve a path on some of the streets and highways, to allow emergency vehicles to maneuver throughout the city of Buffalo.
Because you just told our viewers, Sara about something really important, and that's emergency equipment, fire trucks, ambulance, police vehicles as well.
Many of those about two thirds have been stuck in the snow. So, they're working to basically get them back into service. And that is why we heard from Erie County officials today, saying that emergency services in places like Buffalo, they cannot be guaranteed if somebody has a medical emergency.
So, that's why officials are recommending that folks in and around Buffalo, stay at home on this Christmas Eve, potentially to tomorrow if they're safe.
If they're not, they do have phone numbers and services available to them and they'll get to folks as soon as possible. And finally, they are bringing in the National Guard according to New York Governor Kathy Hochul, to assist those patients for their dialysis, for their chemo treatments.
They're bringing in Humvees to be able to get them to their appointments today or tomorrow. Back to you, Sara.
SIDNER: Polo, thank you so much for doing this for us. As well as Tom and Nicole who I know are out there with you, trying to make this -- get this on television for us. Get back inside as soon as you can. SANDOVAL: (INAUDIBLE)
SIDNER: At least two people -- you're welcome. At least two people were killed in Erie County after emergency vehicles were unable to reach people in their homes during medical emergency. Something we just talked about with Polo and we just heard from the governor.
Joining us now is Mark Poloncarz. Mark, welcome to the program. I appreciate you coming in and speaking to us. I've seen you speaking earlier. You've been sending messages to people since the storm started.
[12:05:04]
Can you tell us what the situation for emergency services are right now?
MARK POLONCARZ, EXECUTIVE, ERIE COUNTY, NEW YORK: Thank you, Sara, for having me. It is exactly, as Polo just announced. It's better than it was yesterday, but it's still horrible.
It is, unfortunately, whiteout conditions still existing through much of northern Erie County and now into Niagara County, where Niagara Falls, New York is.
The temperatures are very, very bitter cold. I think that the air temperatures only about seven degrees, the wind chills up approximately minus 20, and the problem is still white outs.
Because of the strong winds, they're not 70-mile an hour gusts, but they're 50 mile an hour gusts, we're still seeing whiteout conditions, including in areas that are not receiving snow.
You can have a blizzard in the areas where it's not technically falling snow, because it's blowing the snow that's already on the ground.
We're in the town of Chico Wago (PH), which is just outside of the City of Buffalo line at our emergency operations center for the county.
And I just look out the window, it is whiteout conditions, even though it's not supposedly snowing here, because it's blowing all the snow that fell in the last 24 hours.
So, it's still very dire. It's a little better than it was yesterday. And last night, we are able to get a department of public works trucks on the roads. Emergency responders are getting out there.
But first off, they're actually digging out the vehicles that unfortunately got stuck yesterday for emergency responders.
And they're also responding to the people who've been stuck in vehicles for hours now. It's still a very dire situation.
SIDNER: And so, it sounds like you're saying there are still people trapped in their vehicles. Do you have any idea of the number of folks that are trapped?
POLONCARZ: Well, it's probably somewhere in the vicinity of a couple of 100 now.
SIDNER: But how?
POLONCARZ: Based on the numbers that we have seen, that's down dramatically from 500 or more, in the overnight hours, they have been able to get individuals out into warming centers.
One of the problems we're actually dealing with right now are people are trying to drive into these areas for no reason other than they're trying to make a delivery or see a family member.
There's a driving ban that's going on for the whole county, and there's a reason why, it's because conditions are still so dire, that you could easily get stuck.
And then you're taking resources off the road. There is really needed. So, it's bad. But it is at least better than it was yesterday. The problem is we're expecting these winds to continue throughout the entire day as well as the snow. And blizzard warning, according to the National Weather Service is still in effect until 7:00 a.m. tomorrow.
And then, we have about 30,000 of our residents that are without power. So, this is a very dire situation.
SIDNER: I mean, we're looking at some of the pictures from Buffalo. And it's insanity. I mean, it looks like something out of, you know, out of a movie at the end of times.
I do want to ask you about the fire trucks. I think, the governor mentioned that some of the fire trucks in Buffalo had been stranded and you just talked about people just deciding to brave the roads because they want to do their regular sort of holiday thing and that now you've banned people from taking to the streets.
Are those trucks -- a fire truck still stranded?
POLONCARZ: We are in the process of assisting the city of Buffalo with removal. We've hired some of the largest records we can get in the area.
We go in there and pull out fire trucks. It's not just fire trucks, its police cruisers, its ambulances. We -- the easiest way we could get around are actually on snowmobiles.
And the snowmobiles, we're having trouble getting around just because they had of the trucks and tractor trailers and other vehicles that are stuck on the road. So, it is not a good situation, and there's no reason for people to be driving in this area.
The only people who should be out or emergency response personnel, and even then, it's tough for them to get around.
SIDNER: I mean, this is really a disaster that's happening and we're watching it happen in real time. How long do you think it's going to take to dig out from this storm? To recover from this storm?
POLONCARZ: It is very difficult to say, Sara. We're used to snow here.
SIDNER: Right.
POLONCARZ: I mean, we just had in about four weeks ago, about seven feet of snow in Orchard Park in West Seneca areas that were hit a little bit by the storm today. But this storm is so much worse, because of the whiteouts.
I think it's going to be a little easier than it was in the past because the way the wind is blowing the snow, there are parts of pavement where there is no snow on the pavement, and then you'll come up and find a six or seven-foot drift in the pavement.
So, I think it's going to be a little easier once the winds die down. But it's still, it's going to take a few more days to clean this up, and more importantly, we're spending this time trying to get to people who still may be stuck in their vehicles or in life threatening situations and homes without heat.
Well, that's our priority right now.
SIDNER: Yes, I think you said it well. It is a life-threatening situation if someone is stuck in a vehicle and they no longer have enough gas to warm the car, they probably don't have a lot of stuff in there. You're always telling people make sure you have blankets and things in the car just in case you break down.
But you have made this emergency declaration, telling people do not drive, there is a ban on driving at this point in time because it's too dangerous.
Mark Poloncarz, I really appreciate you coming and speaking to us. I knew you're busy at this hour.
[12:10:06]
POLONCARZ: Thank you for your support and we really appreciate everyone and hope they have very merry Christmas.
SIDNER: Merry Christmas to you as well.
Many travelers are having a hard time getting home for the holidays. Several airports across the country have had to shut down runways because it's just too icy out there. That stranded thousands of passengers.
In places like Atlanta, delays and cancellations are causing major terminal backups. So far, today, more than 2,000 flights have been canceled around the United States. That's on top of nearly 6,000 canceled on Friday.
Let's head over to meteorologist Allison Chinchar, who is live in the CNN Weather Center for us. Allison, are these temperatures ever going to come down in the next couple of days? ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST (on camera): Yes, I do have some good news for you. We are starting to see some of the temperatures begin to rebound and more of them will follow suit in the coming days.
But yes, as for today, still dealing with those frigid temperatures and even the lake effect snow. The hope is as we go through the next 24 to 48 hours, a lot of that will begin to wind down.
Here is a look at where we're seeing the snow showers now. Right now across portions of Michigan, areas of northeast Ohio, also into upstate New York.
This is a live look at Watertown, New York. We've seen the ploughs coming through here, off and on. There is one right there.
They are trying to keep up with the snow. The thing is, it's falling at time so heavily, it makes it very hard. They'll clear a spot, then, it feels right back up again.
And that's going to be the case as much of this lake effect, snow is expected to continue through the day today. Then, you have this other little fast moving system that's going to slide through areas of the northern plains and into the Mississippi Valley region as we go into Christmas Day.
So, yes, not that there isn't enough snow on the ground. But some additional snow just in time for a white Christmas is expected as we go through the day on Sunday.
In total, through Monday, most of these areas likely picking up two to six inches of additional snow. The exception to that will be across areas of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.
Because of that lake effect, we are picking up an additional one to two feet is not out of the question. But temperatures are improving.
Denver, Dallas, and New Orleans finally getting those temperatures back up above freezing. The rest of the country will see that, Sara, by next week.
Allison, thank you so much.
SIDNER: Allison, thank you so much. And thank you so much for wearing that shirt. I got to get one of those. That is fantastic. Very festive.
All right. Frightening moments for shoppers after a gunman opened fire at the Mall of America last night.
Video posted to social media shows the moment that gunshots went off in the background. Let's listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So bad that you find the person that you want.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: That is just terrifying and too many Americans have experienced this. A 19-year-old was killed in that shooting.
A bystander was also grazed by a bullet but is expected to be OK. Authorities say the shooting happened after a group of guys, about five to nine of them got into some sort of fight inside a Nordstrom store.
The Mall of America is the largest shopping center in the United States with more than 500 stores and dozens of attractions.
It is a place that families go. I'm glad to hear that most people are all right. But that family of the 19-year-old is having to deal with that this Christmas.
Still ahead, the bitter cold across the country is making a hard situation worse for migrants in limbo at the U.S.-Mexican border.
We're live in El Paso where many migrants are spending this Christmas on the streets.
Plus, we dig into the final report from the January 6 committee. What it reveals about the lengths Donald Trump and his allies went to, as they tried to overturn the 2020 election.
And on this Christmas Eve, something very merry. We're tracking Santa Claus with the help of NORAD as he rushes to deliver gifts around the world. Right now. He is heading to -- I can't tell from the map.
Oh, he's heading over Pakistan and India. I lived in India once. I hope everyone there is having a wonderful holiday. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:16:58]
SIDNER (on camera): The House January 6 committee has now released its final report on the riot at the U.S. Capitol. And places the blame for the insurrection squarely on Donald Trump. The panel's 845-page document comes after nearly 18 months of interviews and investigative work, as the committee probed efforts by the former president to overturn the 2020 election.
CNN reporter Marshall Cohen is joining us now. Thank you so much for being here, Marshall.
MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER (on camera): Hey, Sara.
SIDNER: Look, the report is massive. The committee released a nearly 50 additional transcripts last night. The latest batch contained interviews with key witnesses, some of whom we saw some of whom we didn't, including Trump White House insiders and lawyers who worked for the Trump campaign.
What did they have to say?
COHEN: Yes. You know, another 50 -- nearly 50 transcripts came out last night, including some heavy hitters, some real insiders. Folks like Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter. Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel. Kayleigh McEnaney, the press secretary, and Bill Barr, the attorney general.
We read through these transcripts late last night. One of the most interesting things to come out of it was actually, a revelation that when Bill Barr went public in December 2020, refuting Trump's voter fraud claims that the Trump White House actually sprang into action and drafted a press release that they never put out.
But the press release would have basically attacked Barr and said, "Anybody that thinks there wasn't massive fraud in 2020, should be fired." Whoa.
They didn't put that out, but the committee obtained it from the National Archives. And also, Sara, we learned from these transcripts, that the committee did get text messages from Ivanka Trump.
Not clear that there was anything too helpful in there. But she did produce some of her personal texts for the committee.
SIDNER: There is a lot of new detail in this report, and it is long.
I tried to go through some of it, but it is -- it's like a Tolstoy novel in its length. We have heard a lot about the panel's findings. But what about some of the recommendations for going forward? Are their proposals, for example, going to get traction in Congress or potentially with the DOJ?
COHEN: You know, Sara, beyond all the findings, looking backwards, you're right, the recommendations are so critical, trying to look ahead and prevent another disaster like this from ever happening again.
Top of their list from the committee recommendations, they think that Congress should prohibit Trump from ever holding office again. There is a provision in the Constitution that would allow them to do it. That seems like a really uphill climb.
They also sent those criminal referrals to the Justice Department, the committee expressing its view that Trump violated several federal statutes.
But that will be up to DOJ. One thing that they could get done is an overhaul of the Electoral Count Act.
[12:20:00]
That was passed by Congress this week. President Biden is going to sign it. That would make it a lot harder to challenge the electoral count, next time, it's -- when it's time to do that, again in 2025.
SIDNER: You know, Marshall, you and I both have heard this. So, the committee's job really was to give us an overarching, and as well as a very detailed picture of exactly how this happened, and exactly what happened.
And now, we have this 845 report that will be a part of history, in this case.
You know, there were a lot of little nuggets in there, including some lesser known folks and people who were involved. What can you tell us about that?
COHEN: Yes, beyond the A-listers, Sara, they talk to 1000 people -- 1000 people.
We went through this, we found some really interesting stuff. There was -- the story of an RNC staffer who was fired after he basically refused to write fundraising pitches that contain false claims about fraud.
There were lower level Trump campaign staffers down in Georgia that were able to connect him directly to the fake electors plot that Congress is now trying to make harder to pull off with that Electoral Count Act reform.
And there also was a colonel from the National Guard by the name of Craig Hunter that a lot of people described as an unsung hero, because he devised a plan to quickly get troops to the Capitol. Unfortunately, the bureaucracy of the day slowed down that plan.
But, you know, really, it wasn't just the A-listers, so many people were involved in this massive moment. The story is told in this report, and it will be preserved for history. Sara.
SIDNER: I mean, the head of the National Guard, as you mentioned, in D.C., was willing to risk his job to get troops there.
Those are those are some details that we, you know, we hadn't heard during the -- during the committee's time doing their public hearings.
COHEN: Yes.
SIDNER: Marshall Cohen, there is so much to unpack here. I'm sure we'll be back and there's plenty of it written on cnn.com about the details of this report. I thank you for your reporting.
COHEN: Thanks, Sara. Happy holidays. Merry Christmas.
SIDNER: Happy holidays to you.
Still ahead, CNN is near the border in El Paso, Texas, where many migrants are waking up on this Christmas outside in the freezing cold.
You're seeing the pictures there of what it was like overnight. Why this is happening and what the city plans to do with what is a crisis?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:25:45]
SIDNER: The surge of people at the U.S. Mexico border has gone from bad to worse as the unusually frigid temperatures hit both sides of the border.
Many of the migrants have little more than the clothes on their backs. And for border towns like El Paso, their resources are simply overwhelmed.
CNNs Camila Bernal is live for us from El Paso. Camila, we've been talking throughout the hours. Hasn't gotten, for example, any warmer out there? I'm seeing it's about 30 degrees outside. How are people faring?
CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the sun definitely helps a little bit. But what's hard about the hours during the day is that you start seeing a lot more families. You start seeing a lot more children who don't necessarily want to be here, but have no choice, right?
They try to make the best out of it. The families try to make the best out of it. But you see those moms who are desperate for their kids to be safe, to be in this country.
And then you also see all of the blankets and everything they had to go through during the night. This is just how they stack it up during the day, because this is the shelter. The shelter has capacity for about 130 people. And they're trying to squeeze in about 200 a night.
It's really difficult because they just don't have any more space. And a lot of these migrants, they don't have the proper documentation to go into the city shelter, the convention center.
They are only allowing people who have immigration papers. And because a lot of these people don't have them, they can't use those city resources. So, they have to use a nonprofit like this one, and they just don't have room. So, that's why you're seeing people sleeping outside.
During the day, though, you see all of the families here. I talked to a lot of them who've told me look, we're spending Christmas here, but maybe we rather not think about spending Christmas here because it is so difficult to be away from your friends and away from your family.
The church is having a Christmas Eve mass. So, some of them will be going there tonight. But again, they want to stay in this country.
They're trying to figure out what to do next. Sara?
SIDNER: Yes, there is a lot of arguing over immigration policy in the political realm. You're seeing the human toll that it has taken on so many people.
I noticed a lot of kids behind you. Is there something special being done for the children. I know that, that -- the charity that where you are now does a lot of work, to try to make sure that people at least survive this.
BERNAL: Yes. So, the charity, the church, they are prioritizing the children in terms of sleeping inside at night. But you're also seeing a lot of locals who are coming and bringing those kids toys, backpacks, clothes, everybody really trying to make them feel at home, trying to make them feel a little bit safer, a little bit better after everything they've gone through.
These are piles of clothes that people actually bring here. And so, the migrants go through it, see what fits them and then take whatever they feel they need.
So, you're seeing a lot of help from the community and a lot of love from the people of El Paso, who feel like they can do something nice on Christmas Eve. Sara.
SIDNER: I know El Paso is really having a hard time trying to keep up with the demand there. And they are begging the federal government for more funds.
We'll see what happens in the future for now. Thank you so much, Camila Bernal. We appreciate you.
BERNAL: Thank you.
SIDNER: Leaks notes from Chinese health officials suggest, the country is suffering the world's largest COVID outbreak to date.
According to Bloomberg and the Financial Times, health officials discuss the crisis at an internal meeting and they estimated almost 250 million people may have caught COVID in the first 20 days of December.
That's far greater than the 62,000 cases officially reported.
There is also growing evidence that the country has vastly undercounted the number of people who have died. CNN Selina Wang reports.
SELINA WANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): As crematoriums in China fill up, the country shifts the way it counts COVID deaths. Its method of counting deaths goes against the World Health Organization's guidelines, and experts say it will severely undercounted the COVID death toll.
By China's count. Less than 10 people have died of COVID this month. It is a shockingly low number, especially considering how fast COVID is spreading in China and the relatively low vaccination rate of the elderly.
[12:30:02]
But what we've witnessed on the ground in China at crematoriums and hospitals, it points to a very different situation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) WANG (voice-over): The burning can't go fast enough.
(on-camera): The smoke behind me, it's been billowing constantly from all the bodies that are burning and these crates over here, they're all full of yellow body bags.
(voice-over): Workers later opened those metal containers here at a major Beijing crematorium, revealing rows of body bags as they load more coffins in the freezing cold temperatures. Crematoriums and major cities are swamped as COVID sweeps through the country. But China has only reported a small handful of COVID deaths since reopening late last month.
(on-camera): I spoke to a man earlier who said that his close friend passed away from a fever. Normally, the hospital would hold the body, but the hospital told him that there were too many dead bodies. He said he's been waiting here for hours, and he still has no idea if his friend's body can even get cremated today.
There is a long line of cars that snakes around this whole area waiting to get into that cremation area. And in the parking lot right now and it's completely full of cars, I'm speaking here because there are many, many security guards patrolling this entire area.
(voice-over): Grieving family members clutch photos of the deceased. Some tell us off camera they know that their loved ones died from COVID and have waited for more than a day for cremation. Busy shops nearby sell funerary items with paper money, clothes, houses, and animals used in burial traditions strewn on the side of the road. A woman who sells flowers says she's running out of stock. A man selling urns says business has jumped.
Even the convenience store and the crematorium grounds is getting busier. Normally, you aren't so busy, right? I ask. The man nods and tells me that normally there's nobody here. And it's not just in Beijing. Social media video shows crowded crematoriums and funeral homes around the country.
At this funeral home in Jinan, the man is saying it's going insane. Here it is packed with cars. Vans carrying bodies stretch all the way into the distance in front of this crematorium in Sjazuang (ph).
(on-camera): This is a COVID designated hospital in Beijing. There's been a steady stream of elderly patients in wheelchairs being led into this hospital. I spoke to a man who's been waiting outside for his elderly family member who he said is very sick with a high fever from COVID. But he said this hospital it's running out of bed space.
(voice-over): I asked the worker outside of this hospital. "Did a lot of people die here?" "Yes, every day," he responds. I asked, "Is it all because of COVID?" "Yes, people with underlying conditions," he says.
China is now going through the painful reopening. The rest of the world has already gone through. But it's not sharing the same data. The government now says it's narrowing the definition of COVID-19 deaths only to patients who died of respiratory failure directly caused by the virus.
People we spoke to at the crematoriums may have said their loved ones died of COVID. But their deaths and so many others won't be counted in the official tally.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WANG: One of the people I spoke to at the crematorium told me that the hospital where his friend passed away was too full to keep the body because so many people had died there. He told me his friend's body was left on the hospital floor.
The vaccination rate in China is still lagging for people over 60 and only around 42 percent of those, over 80 have received a booster shot. And experts say that getting that third dose is necessary to get enough protection since China is using less effective vaccines compared to mRNA ones used overseas.
Hospitals, they are overwhelmed. Fever and cold medicine is running out. Health experts say China has not adequately prepared for this reopening despite having years to do so while it was enforcing zero- COVID.
Selina Wang, CNN, Beijing.
SIDNER: A true tragedy happening to the Chinese people once again. Right now, a live look at some last-minute shopping underway at Stew Leonard's in Connecticut. Wow.
If you're -- there's no room in there. If you're taking a look at your Christmas dinner shopping list and checking it twice, you've likely noticed just how expensive everything is still, even with inflation numbers coming down. But could prices finally be starting to drop? We'll have that report up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:37:46]
SIDNER: America got a little good financial news this week. Inflation continued to cool off in November. The PCE index, which is closely watched by the Federal Reserve was up 5.5 percent for the year in November. That's better than the 6.1 percent that it was in October. And anyone who has been shopping though for their holiday dinner knows that food prices, they're still up, way up, in some cases.
Turkey, up 18 percent. Flour and butter are both going to cost you more. And a dozen eggs are going to cost you a whopping 50 percent more than they did for the holidays last year.
Let's talk to someone who knows all about the rising prices and the problem, Stew Leonard Jr. Thank you so much for being here. You're the CEO --
STEW LEONARD JR., CEO, STEW LEONARD'S GROCERY STORES: Hi.
SIDNER: -- of Stu Leonard's Grocery Stores.
LEONARD: Hi, Sara, how are you?
SIDNER: I just moved to New York a few months ago. And I've just been informed that if I do not go to your store that I don't know -- I don't know what I'm doing in this town. So I need to -- I will show up to check it out.
LEONARD: You got it. I'll show you around. You come over. I'll show you around.
SIDNER: I will definitely come over. OK, first of all, how was the weather getting to work today?
LEONARD: Well, you know, what, looked, it was cold. You know, I mean, it's very cold up around the New York areas, you know. But, you know what, if the roads were not slippery, they weren't icy, like they had forecasts. And so, we found shopping patterns. We're almost normal this year versus --
SIDNER: Yes.
LEONARD: -- normally what we expected. You know today, is a busy day. Yesterday is the busiest day of the year, was the busiest day of the year for the holidays. So, we saw people bobbing and weaving and adjusting because of the rain and the high winds that we had that time. But, overall, it's one of the best holidays we've ever had at Stew Leonard.
SIDNER: Wow. I mean that's saying something. We do see that your store is hopping. Lots of folks there. Are you hearing from customers --
LEONARD: Yes.
SIDNER: -- about the prices? Are people complaining to you about how high things are?
LEONARD: You know, not as much as you thought. I think people are conditioned right now because they've heard so much about food prices. Sara, you mentioned the eggs, you know, that's really just has to do right now with that influenza flu among the chickens.
SIDNER: Right.
[12:40:09]
LEONARD: And the government has been great, but they've taken drastic steps to really curtail that. But you're seeing the high egg prices because of supply and demand right there. I mean, things like king crab legs are rough, and they've shut down a lot of production in the Bering Sea.
Our beef prices are pretty much the same. Our filet mignon the same price as it was last year 1,199 a pound. So customers are buying right now and you don't hear a lot about price today.
SIDNER: Wow. I mean, you're talking fancy folks' food. You're talking filet mignon. You have king crab legs there?
LEONARD: Yes, I don't even want to tell you what they cost a pound.
SIDNER: OK, come on, come on, tell us.
LEONARD: But people are buying them and it -- they're like $50, $60 a pound, you know, and it's been -- for the colossal one.
SIDNER: Wow.
LEONARD: But, you know, people are buying it. Well get ready for New York, get ready for down in Manhattan if you're going to be there or even if you go to the Hamptons, because that's like for a quarter pound.
But you know what? I would say overall, there's -- you know, those are I just mentioned, the filet mignon is really the center of the plate item that most people get along with the rib roast right now. Those are two biggest items.
And, you know, one of the things we sell 40 percent of our filet and rib roast in December for the whole year. So --
SIDNER: Wow.
LEONARD: -- it's a big item that most families want to get together. And we've really seen this year, the happiest customer we've seen in the last three years. You know, they've been coming in gloomy with -- yes.
SIDNER: I was going to ask you, you know --
LEONARD: Go ahead.
SIDNER: -- is there anything in your store that you think is a bargain still these days?
LEONARD: Well, right now chicken breasts are at a great price. We're down $1 pound on those. Ground beef is the same price as it always was. You know, and you can -- and plus supermarkets and food stores, even Stew Leonard, we have things on sale every week.
And if somebody is really looking at savings, you can do it by shopping the specials. There's a lot of app deals (ph) that stores have included food, and you can find great deals out there right now. You just have to look up for them. And the most important thing is don't taste the samples when you walk through a store, OK?
SIDNER: OK, I'm going to do tell you right now, Stew --
LEONARD: When we --
SIDNER: -- I'm not listening to you on that one. I'm tasting the samples. We want the samples.
LEONARD: Well, you know what, I've been doing -- unfortunately, I've been doing that all week now at the store but sales for us as a retailer will double when you let people taste an item. So, we like to have a lot of demos going on at the store, but it does make you put one extra thing in your shopping cart usually, one extra item.
SIDNER: Stew Leonard Jr., I mean, you're telling secrets now, that's going to hurt your profit. So I will -- I hope you don't get in trouble for this. But you're the boss, so whatever.
LEONARD: You know the -- you know what, the thing, Sara, is for all of us in retail now is you got to sell really good quality, you know. And our sales are a result of what we're making fresh every day. Like our baker said, he hasn't sold a cold snowball roll yet because they're basically coming out of the oven and right into our customers --
SIDNER: Wow.
LEONARD: -- shopping cart. So, you know, the real key to this business, there's a lot of little tricks. People say, put the milk in the back of the supermarket and all that stuff.
SIDNER: Stew, speaking of milk, look behind you. Look to your left. Do you see them?
LEONARD: What do we got?
SIDNER: There was a cow in your store. I don't know what the heck that one.
LEONARD: Yes, come on over. We have -- hey, The New York Times called us at Disney Land and dairy stores. We have these animated characters walking around, OK? Entertaining the kids. We have animation shows. We want to make retail fun.
Hey, Sara, I got to show you around when you come to the store, OK?
SIDNER: Listen, I'm going to get over there for one of those snowball. What's it -- that you just said. That sounds amazing. And for the king crab legs.
LEONARD: Snowball rolls. Yes.
SIDNER: Snowball rolls. I'll be over there to say hi to your cow.
LEONARD: OK.
SIDNER: Stew Leonard, Jr., you are a riot. Thank you so much. And we will be right back.
LEONARD: Hey, happy holidays, everybody.
SIDNER: Happy holidays.
LEONARD: Thank you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:48:01]
SIDNER: At least seven people are dead and 58 others have been injured after Russian forces shelled the southern city of Kherson. According to Ukraine military officials, several people were on the street in the city center at the time of the shelling. The Ukrainian President Zelenskyy condemned the shelling calling it an act of terror. Ukraine's deputy head of the presidential office says officials are investigating the shelling as a terrorist act and that whoever ordered the attack will be brought to justice.
Millions of Ukrainian refugees are about to celebrate their first Christmas since the Russian invasion. The U.N. has counted about 7.8 million of them across Europe. Many fearing for their loved ones near the front lines. But as CNN's Lynda Kinkade reports, people in their host countries are doing their best to make the season a little brighter for them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the Berezhko family from Kyiv, this Christmas is about getting together with the Polish family that took them in soon after Russia invaded Ukraine.
SERHIY BEREZHKO, UKRAINIAN REFUGEE IN WARSAW (through translation): We arrived here with just a couple of bags and with the things we had on ourselves. We left all necessary things in Ukraine. And all that we have now is thanks to the polls.
KINKADE (voice-over): More than 1.5 million Ukrainian refugees have registered for temporary protection in Poland. Many with help from strangers.
MAREK MIODUSZEWSKI, HOSTED BEREZHKO FAMILY (through translation): It was the natural impulse to help. It was in the first days of the war. We met on a freezing night outside my house. I invited this family to my house and I hugged them to my heart.
KINKADE (voice-over): Traditionally, Ukrainian Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on January 7, but today, many celebrate on December 25 and Ukraine has made it a public holiday as part of a larger break with Russian traditions.
People all over eastern and central Europe are helping refugees enjoy new traditions. These Prague residents organized a party for refugee children.
[12:50:04]
HANA HILLEROVA-HARPER, CAROLING ORGANIZER IN PRAGUE: We felt like these kids, there's 130 children living here and they're spending their Christmas, not at home but at a strange dormitory. So we're just trying to make it a little bit better for them.
KINKADE (voice-over): In this Bucharest shelter, Ukrainian refugee children decorate trees with ornaments while families wait in line for packages. Many refugees is saving money for their relatives back in Ukraine. Like this family now living in Prague.
VASIL KHYMYSHYNETS, UKRAINIAN REFUGEE IN PRAGUE (through translation): As refugees, we didn't have many possibilities. We had to think if we could afford to buy a Christmas tree or not. That's why we decided to just use some branches for the decoration so that it looks good and makes the children happy.
KINKADE (voice-over): A few simple decorations that carry a lot of meaning.
Lynda Kinkade, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIDNER: Not a good idea. How sweet.
Still ahead, Los Angeles is mourning the death of a celebrity mountain lion and the silencing of its infamous Twitter account. Now. the author behind P-22's post like, "I have literally been telling you all for 10 years that I will eat you and your pets and suddenly you're mad about it," joins us next to share why the mountain lion has left such an impact in the West.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dionne Warwick, one of the great female singers of all time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dionne was the first African American woman to win a Grammy in the pop category.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The music I was singing, there's nothing like anything that any of them were singing.
DIONNE WARWICK, AMERICAN SINGER: The legacy of my family, music. Pure and simple music.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Dionne Warwick: Don't Make Me Over" premieres New Year's Day at 9:00 on CNN.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:55:22]
SIDNER: This just in to CNN. You all going to be mad in Tennessee. The Titans home game against the Houston Texans has been delayed an hour due to extreme weather and power outages in the area, according to the National Football League. It does not come as a big surprise. That, by the way is Memphis, Tennessee, where you see all the ice on the roads there.
This morning, Nashville's Mayor John Cooper called on the Titans to postpone their 1:00 p.m. game in solidarity with our neighbors as he put it amid ongoing rolling blackouts by the Tennessee Valley Authority. The NFL says they are exploring every possibility to minimize non-essential power around the stadium.
Now to a story that is near and dear to mine and my executive producer's hearts, a Los Angeles man has revealed he's behind the Twitter account for P-22. Now who is P-22? That's the name of this beloved Griffith Park big cat that researchers tracked for more than 10 years in the heart of Los Angeles.
Last month, they noticed changes in the mountain lion's behavior. When they examined him, they found he had multiple medical issues and had also been hit by a car and he had to be euthanized.
Now, lawyer and LA Taxi Commissioner Eric Spiegelman says he ran the Twitter account. He has been revealed for the mountain lion. He joins me now live from Los Angeles. I thought it was a mountain lion tweeting all that stuff.
ERIC SPIEGELMAN, LAWYER BEHIND P-22 TWITTER ACCOUNT: Did you really?
SIDNER: No.
SPIEGELMAN: Well, he could have been, he could have been. Very (INAUDIBLE) cat.
SIDNER: I mean, P-22 has been pretty smart. How are you sort of memorializing P-22's passing?
SPIEGELMAN: Well, personally, I actually -- I just went on a hike the other day to a spot that he was photographed in a number of years ago, a place where -- you could stand and say P-22 was here. And it was actually -- it was quite nice. That's how I'm doing it. I think a few people have done hikes.
I saw some graffiti on Franklin Avenue that said RIP P-22. So everyone is sort of observing this in their own way. And I thought I would contribute by sharing what P-22 meant to me personally. And that's what I -- that's why I wrote that piece (INAUDIBLE).
SIDNER: I am curious. I mean, P-22 was really beloved, even though people were, you know, rightly so a bit afraid of P-22 or complained about their animals being potentially attacked. But tell us what made you create the Twitter account?
SPIEGELMAN: Well, what originally made me create it was, you know, 10 years ago, it was fairly common for people to start these parody Twitter accounts for popular animals. I mean, there were a few in New York City --
SIDNER: Yes.
SPIEGELMAN: -- there was one based on a cobra that escaped from the Bronx Zoo. And I thought Los Angeles should have one. So I made, kind of as a joke, I made a Twitter account for P-22 and I started cracking jokes. But then over time, it became something a little bit different. It became kind of a study in what it was that I was responding to, and this cat being in my literal backyard. And, well, as well as paying attention to what was resonating with friends of mine, and why everybody loved him.
SIDNER: You clearly thought of him. That is a beautiful picture from the National Park Service. But the photographer that's really credited with making this cat truly famous in LA is Steve Winter. He took one of the most iconic photos of the cat with the Hollywood sign and he described recently how that all came to be. It was a second pass at it.
But it's -- it is a gorgeous picture. You clearly spent a lot of time creating the voice for this mountain line on Twitter and he was often pretty sarcastic or snarky. Do you have a favorite one that you enjoyed that you wrote?
SPIEGELMAN: I -- this sounds so dark. I enjoy all the one where he jokes about eating Angelenos. I don't know why I found that so delightful. Yes, I mean, this is it -- for longtime Los Angeles I think was the only major city in the United States where you might get eaten by a wild animal and there was something kind of special about that.
I don't know, it just the wilderness was at our doorstep. It was reminder of, you know, we were part of nature. Fortunately, he never attacked a person. I think he might have gotten into a scuffle with the owner of a chihuahua recently. But I don't -- I found the whole situation just very delightful.
SIDNER: Yes, those were delightfully funny and also terribly dark. Your wife called the tweets and I'm quoting her here, charmingly threatening, which I think is the --
SPIEGELMAN: Yes.
SIDNER: -- perfect description. Let's take a look at one.
