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CNN This Morning
Dollar Stores See Strong Sales As Cash-Stripped Shoppers Cut Cost; CNN Hero Of The Year Creates Computer Labs For Kenyan Students. Top 10 Business Stories Of 2022. Aired 6-7a ET
Aired December 25, 2022 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[06:00:34]
AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Merry Christmas and Happy holidays. Welcome to the special edition of CNN this morning. It is Sunday, December 25. Of course, you know we've all been waiting for this beautiful morning. I'm Amara Walker.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Amara. And Merry Christmas to you as well. Thank you so much for spending part of your holiday morning with us.
Just ahead this hour, fighting racism from a one-horse open sleigh after getting hate mail for putting up a black Santa in his yard. One man fights back by embodying the true spirit of Christmas. His remarkable story still ahead.
WALKER: Plus, soaring inflation has forced all of us to rethink our spending habits. How dollar stores are quickly becoming the go-to destination for shoppers.
SANCHEZ: And we're going to introduce you to this year's CNN hero of the year with a heartwarming moment as she accepted her award.
WALKER: And that is all coming up. But first, let's get you caught up on this morning's news headlines with Whitney Wild.
WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Boris and Amara. And good morning, and Merry Christmas to you. If you're celebrating at home, we begin with this brutal weather storm keeping its grip on most of the country. At least 22 deaths are blamed on the storm and more than a quarter of a million people are without electricity.
The weather is causing travel headaches across the country. More than 3,400 flights were canceled yesterday and another 1,200 have been canceled so far today. New York Governor Kathy Hochul is sending more help -- to help hard-hit Buffalo. Hochul says she will ask the federal government for a declaration of emergency.
CNN's Polo Sandoval has more. POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here in Buffalo, New York, what is widely considered as ground zero of this massive winter storm driving around is not only treacherous, itis still prohibited, especially for nonessential reasons. And this is one of the reasons why. This is a scene that repeats itself. According to officials, not only here in Buffalo, but throughout the region, you have vehicles that have basically been abandoned.
And so what authorities are going to do through the evening and also into Christmas Day, they will continue working around the clock, making sure that anybody that needs rescuing gets the attention they need. The mayor of the city of Buffalo on Saturday afternoon estimating that there could be as many as 200 people still stranded in and around the city.
On Friday night, they rescued roughly 65 individuals. And sadly, on Saturday, the mayor confirming the death of an individual who was found unconscious on a sidewalk here in Buffalo. And he says he shared with CNN what is a grim prediction that when everything is said and done, that that death toll could potentially rise.
And that's what's feeling concerns and a call for people to wake up Christmas morning at home. Sheltering in place, since any potential relief insight may not come for quite some time. Polo Sandoval, CNN, Buffalo, New York.
WILD: Polo, thank you. More migrants arrived last night outside the residence of Vice President Kamala Harris's home in Washington, D.C. Initially, two buses pulled up outside the Naval Observatory, but several more arrived later in the evening. A local group was assisting getting the migrants to shelters.
It's not clear exactly who is responsible for sending the migrants to the Naval Observatory. Earlier this year, CNN reported that Texas Governor Greg Abbott had sent buses of migrants north, including to a location outside Harris's home.
That winter storm is still impacting parts of the country with snow and very cold wind chills. CNN Meteorologist Britley Ritz is tracking that weather from the Weather Center. Good morning to you, Britley, what do you see?
BRITLEY RITZ, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. It is cold, just as you mentioned, but there's some hope. We're trying to warm it up. Many of us getting above the single digits this morning. St. Louis, a whopping 10 degrees. Same for us in Columbus and Lexington. Buffalo, 18 degrees, but it feels like three as the winds hold strong. That's what counts. The windshield, the feels like temperature, if you will.
We have wind gusts in Buffalo of 37 miles per hour. Hence why, we still have wind chill advisories in place all across the Northern Plains, Upper Midwest, back through the Ohio Valley, and wind chill warnings through the Alleghenies and West Virginia. We get south. It's cold here too, that same front rolled through. And we have hard freeze warnings from Houston to Jacksonville, where temperatures are expected to be in the upper 20s. This morning, and here they are, 26 degrees. In Mobile. it feels like 14, 19. In Atlanta, it feels like six.
[06:05:05]
Your Christmas afternoon, expect temperatures in the teens through the Ohio Valleys. And back on down into the south, Houston, Dallas only in the 40s. There is a warm up. We talked about some hope, and it comes into play Wednesday and Thursday across the entire lower 48.
The snow is still falling through Watertown, New York. You see it there occasional whiteout conditions as blizzard warnings are still in effect until later this afternoon. You'll see those heavy bands now rolling just south of Buffalo and north of Erie, where more snow is expected today, Whitney?
WILD: Frigid.
RITZ: Yes.
WILD: Britley, thank you.
Five people are in custody in connection with a deadly shooting at Minnesota's Mall of America. Investigators say they arrested three 17- year-olds and two 218-year-olds who will be charged with second degree murder. They say at least one-person shot and killed a man Friday night inside in Nordstrom after some sort of altercation. Investigators say they don't yet know why the shooting happened.
A fire on board a JetBlue flight forced more than 160 passengers to evacuate shortly after landing at New York's JFK Airport last night. One passenger describes how the captain jumped into action.
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SEAN WEED, PASSENGER: The captain came flying out of the cabin. He grabbed a fire extinguisher and was doing like an O.J. Simpson over the seats and passengers. The guy was amazing and put the fire out.
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WILD: In a statement to CNN, JetBlue said, the flight from Barbados was evacuated due to reports of a customer's malfunctioning electronic device or battery. Fire officials say passengers were evacuated using emergency slides and that five people had minor injuries. The FAA and the NTSB are now investigating this incident.
Meanwhile, in Arizona, a judge has rejected Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake's lawsuit attempting to overturn her election defeat. The judge said there just wasn't clear or convincing evidence of misconduct and affirmed the victory of Democratic Governor elect Katie Hobbs.
Lake lost to Hobbs by about 17,000 votes. The ruling marks a major defeat for Lake, who built her candidacy on her support for former PresidentTrump's, lies about fraud in the 2020 presidential election. And finally, hundreds of surfing Santas hit the waves in Cocoa Beach, Florida, on Saturday. They braved the water despite unseasonably cold temperatures on Christmas Eve. The Santas hold this event to raise money for two charities. They have it every year. One of these charities helps people with transportation costs when they're trying to go to these cancer treatments. And another helps preserve the history of surfing on the East Coast.
Probably not a lot of history of these cold temperatures, though.
I'll see you back here, 25 minutes past the hour. Now I'll send it back to Boris and Amara.
WALKER: Still ahead, an Arkansas man puts a black Santa in his front yard and then begins receiving racist hate mail for it. But he didn't let that dampen his holiday cheer. How he's still spreading the Christmas spirit in his own way.
SANCHEZ: Plus, a buck doesn't go as far as it used to, even at the Dollar Store. But that's not stopping some bargain-hungry shoppers from cashing in. We're going to explain.
WALKER: And from soaring inflation to the crypto collapse, we've got a look at the top 10 business stories of the year.
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SANCHEZ: This next story is just incredible. It really speaks to the power of a father's love and the true spirit of Christmas. Listen to this. Chris Kennedy was sent racist hate mail just for putting up an inflatable black Santa in his front yard. But instead of giving in to the hate, that experience set Chris on a path to becoming a professional Santa for his entire town. He wants others to do the same.
Let's start at the beginning, though. And that letter in Chris's own words.
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CHRIS KENNEDY, FEATURED IN "SANTA CAMP" ON HBO MAX: Please remove your negro Santa Claus yard decoration. You should not try to deceive children into believing that I am a Negro. I am a Caucasian, white man to you and have been for the past 600 years. You're being jealous of my race is no excuse for your dishonesty.
Besides that, you are making yourself a laughing stock of the neighborhood. Maybe you should move to a neighborhood with the rest of your racist kind. Yours truly, Santa Claus.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow.
KENNEDY: And it came with a picture, Santa Claus with the thumbs down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My God.
KENNEDY: I brought this to do this here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: So hard to listen to. That was a clip from the HBO Max Documentary, "Santa Camp" and we are thrilled to welcome Chris Kennedy onto the program with us now. Santa Chris, it's it's so nice to see you on this day. Thanks for joining us.
KENNEDY: Well, ho, ho, ho and Merry Christmas to you guys. Thanks for having me on.
WALKER: Merry Christmas, back at you. I mean, I just -- we're going to start sob, but let's going to have a very happy ending. Tell us more about, you know, what happened after you got that letter. I mean, your -- I love that you kept your dignity and that you stood up against these hateful words.
KENNEDY: Well, after I got that, you know, immediately the -- I initially recorded a Facebook video, it went viral. Then I went to the, you know, in the whole process. I went to the police station, went to the post office to, you know, do all the proper reporting. And then, you know, people were reaching out.
And one of my mentors was like, hey, would you mind taking pictures of Santa with my granddaughter? You know as a -- let's get back at them. And so it just kind of snowballed from there. They took pictures with her, with my daughter and, you know, just different friends and family. And then a few months later, I was reached out to by someone from Santa Camp asking if I would consider coming to learn about being a professional Santa Santa.
SANCHEZ: Santa Chris, I love also hearing that some of your neighbors, after you got that letter, also started putting up black Santas of their own in an active solidarity with you. We're showing clips now from the "Santa Camp" documentary. It follows the New England Santa Society as they tackle a lack of diversity in that industry.
We have another clip for you.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've never had the interaction with the Santa Claus in a classroom that was black before. I'd be glad if you could give me any hints.
[06:15:06]
I don't mean to offend you, Chris. Now that I think about that question. I apologize for that.
I apologize. I really don't need -- mean to ask you that.
KENNEDY: No, that's fine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But interesting that you've been a Santa for a while, that's good.
KENNEDY: Being the only person of color here, it was definitely lonely and awkward, to say the least.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: Santa Chris, it seems like they learned as much from you as you did from them.
KENNEDY: Yes, that's absolutely true. We were able to, you know -- "Santa Camp" is all about learning. I was able to learn different things from them, how to dye my beard and different ways to interact with kids. And they were able to just learn, you know, how much diversity actually does matter, how important it is for little black and brown kids to see themselves reflected in not only regular media, but as characters such as Santa.
WALKER: We've heard, you know, in previous years very controversial statements from, you know, media personalities and the like about, you know, what Santa's skin color should be. But the fact of the matter is, Santa is a fictional character. He is who we want him to be, especially in our hearts, right?
And I know that you've had such incredible action, reactions from the community. I'm curious to know what your daughter feels about you being Santa Chris. And also, I understand that there have been people from -- who've come from hours away just to meet you.
KENNEDY: Yes. So we kind of do this as a family. My daughter is my elf. My wife is Mrs. Claus. So as much as we can, we appear as a family unit because that's what we are.
And yes, I've had -- my first really big event was the Northern Lights festival here in North Little Rock. And we had a woman come from Mississippi. I know that she had her daughter come and pick her up, and they had driven well over 300 miles to come and visit.
WALKER: Wow.
KENNEDY: And, you know, it was -- I'm so glad the camera wasn't on me when she and I were talking because, you know, I teared up because she was telling me, you know, she was 80 years old -- 80 plus, and she had never seen a black Santa. And it was that important to her to come and visit me.
The amount of kids that I've had since becoming Santa that are so happy that Santa looks like them. One of my little kids, he was just like, Santa, you're brown like me, and was rubbing my hand and was just so happy to be there. And it's, you know, it's those things that people don't see, the little moments with kids where they're telling you and giving you different words of affirmation that you don't even know that you need as an adult to know that you're doing something right, that's having an impact on them.
SANCHEZ: That's awesome. Santa Chris, in another "Santa Camp" clip, you talk about a sadness that you feel that there aren't more black Santas out there. But you have to know that there may be people that come across you and what you're trying to accomplish, and it makes them angry for whatever reason. What would be your message to those folks?
KENNEDY: Hey, if you're angry at seeing a black Santa, then you're not for me, but I'm here for everyone else who enjoys the Christmas spirit, enjoys seeing Santa, and wants to see themselves reflected. I hold no ill will towards people who don't like me being Santa. As I said, I'm here for kids and families that want to see representation and who just want to have a good time in Christmas or with Christmas.
There's literally nothing wrong with seeing something, not liking it and moving on. That's what the person that wrote that letter should have done. If they didn't like it, they should have just moved on. And I wouldn't have been on this trajectory more than likely, I would have just stuck to doing this for my family and friends. But there's sadness in the fact that there's not more black Christmas performers, but there's hope because there are becoming more.
I've met a ton of Santa's that are amazing people and have been nothing but helpful. And I think that moving forward, that diversity is going to take hold in the Santa community because, you know, the white Santas don't actually care about more people getting into it. They want more people into it.
[06:20:10]
The more people that are here, the better it is. The more people that are professionally trained, the better that it is for our profession. And I just think that it's great. It does nothing but help families going forward having more diversity.
WALKER: Right. And make Christmas that much more magical for families of all different backgrounds. And, you know, this person that sent you that hateful message, he or she, ironically, just helped increase representation in the Santa world, right?
And before we let you go, I understand that you have your own spin on Santa's ho, ho, ho. Can we hear that before we go?
KENNEDY: Yes, absolutely. Bro ho, ho, Merry Christmas. Thank you all for watching today. But, yes, it's -- I definitely have my own spin and, you know, my Santa Claus that they were upset about. It started out at 6 foot. Now I have a 15 foot one in my front yard, so --
WALKER: Good for you. I love that.
SANCHEZ: That's awesome. I love it. Bro ho, ho, ho to you, Santa Chris. A very merry Christmas. We'll let you get to it. We know it's going to be a busy one. I hope you did get my letter, though. There's a very extensive list --
WALKER: Mine too. Mine too.
SANCHEZ: -- of gift requests. I look forward to opening those. Thanks so much, Santa Chris. WALKER: Thanks, Santa.
KENNEDY: Thank you. Merry Christmas.
WALKER: I want to know what your list is. Off camera?
SANCHEZ: Not for here. Not for here. Yes. How great is that, though? Somebody sends him a nasty note and he doesn't allow it to define him. He sort of takes the reins and defines himself. He becomes Santa. That's awesome.
WALKER: Yes, yes. Like I said, an increased representation. Now he's a professional Santa and really just creating such memorable moments for so many children in his area. All right.
SANCHEZ: Your morning news headlines are coming up after this short break. Stay with CNN This Morning.
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[06:25:20]
SANCHEZ: Welcome back to this special Christmas edition of CNN This Morning. We're so happy that you were sharing your holiday with us.
WALKER: Yes. Thanks so much for waking up with us. Good morning to you, everyone. And Merry Christmas to you, Boris, and to all of you at home. Coming up this half hour, we saw prices rise at the pump, at the grocery store, and in the housing market. How that is forcing shoppers to change their spending habits and why it's led to a boom in business for some stores.
SANCHEZ: And you'll meet this year's CNN hero of the year, Nelly Cheboi. You'll hear how her mother's determination helped lead her to this moment and how she honored her mom when accepting the Hero of the Year award.
WALKER: It is a beautiful moment. But first, let's get you caught upon this morning's headlines with Whitney Wild.
WILD: Good morning, Boris and Amara. Good morning and Merry Christmas to you. If you're celebrating, a dangerous and deadly winter storm is keeping a grip on most of the country. At least 22 deaths are blamed on the storm and more than a quarter of a million people are without electricity.
The weather is causing severe travel headaches all across the country. More than 3,400 flights were canceled yesterday, another 1,200 have been canceled so far today. New York Governor Kathy Hochul is sending more help to hard-hit Buffalo. Hochul says she will ask the federal government for a declaration of emergency.
Migrants along the U.S.-Mexican border are braving these frigid temperatures. Some are sleeping outside in the bitter cold. But the city of El Paso, Texas, and its residents are reaching out to help.
CNN's Camila Bernal has the details.
CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It has been cold, it's been difficult, and it's been dangerous for a lot of these migrants, but they've had a lot of help. A lot of the community here in El Paso coming out wanting to make this discussion for a lot of these migrants.
You see them here lined up. That's because the people of El Paso made rice, beans, chicken, and they're lining up to get that food. So many people who are out here on the street doing everything they can to survive because many of them are sleeping outside on the sidewalk. And now what they're getting is a little bit of hope from the people of El Paso.
We've seen more volunteers, more locals than we've seen throughout the last couple of days, but also a lot of families, a lot of children that are still here and that are spending Christmas Day out on the street. You see the blankets? There are piles and piles of them. There are also piles of donations.
This is things that people from El Paso bring to these migrants so that they can have an easier time as they're sleeping through 20 degrees, 18 degrees. Those are the kinds of temperatures that we've seen over the last couple of nights. A lot of the migrants I've talked to telling me that it's been really difficult.
One of them saying, look, I try not to even think about the fact that it's Christmas because it is so difficult to be away from my family and to be here. But I've seen so much humanity as well. There's children here who are coloring. I saw someone bringing toys for the children, allowing them to pick any toy they wanted. They brought toys for Christmas specifically.
A lot of the locals telling me that they are moved, that they are touched, that they have seen what these migrants are going through and they want to help them. They want to do something so that their life is just a little bit easier on this holiday.
Camila Bernal, CNN, El Paso, Texas.
WILD: Camila, thank you. All around the world, Christmas celebrations are underway.
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WILD: In Bethlehem, midnight mass was held at the Church of the Nativity, which was built in the fourth century. According to the Bible, that West Bank town is the birthplace of Jesus. There were other Christmas Eve celebrations earlier in the day, including parades and drumming.
Let's take you live now to St. Peter's Basilica. This is where Pope Francis just wrapped up the annual Christmas Day blessing. But it was during his Christmas Eve message where the pontiff made a special request during this time of giving. CNN's Dianne Gallagher has more. DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Pope Francis during Christmas Eve mass at the Vatican asked people to do something good this Christmas time. He said God is not impressed with just appearances, but wants concrete action. Don't let the Christmas time pass, the Pope said, without doing something good.
We know Francis is doing something good for the people of Ukraine this Christmas time. He is organizing thermal items of clothing to be delivered there. The Vatican has opened a donations page for anybody who wants to and tribute to that effort. It's at www.eppela, E-P-P-E- L-A com. That's open through January 6 for donations.
[06:30:00]
Francis stayed seated during the mass on Saturday evening. We know he has an ongoing knee problem. One which caused him to cancel a trip to Africa this past summer. That trip is now back on despite the Pope's knee problem. He will be traveling to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan at the end of January. Delia Gallagher, CNN, Rome.
WILD: Delia, thank you. The Taliban is further restricting the rights of women in Afghanistan. The group has informed nongovernmental organizations that female employees are no longer allowed to come to work. Any organization that doesn't comply will lose its license to work in the country. Secretary of State Tony Blinken expressed his concern that the band could disrupt the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid and call the decision "devastating."
Meanwhile, the Taliban used water cannons to break up a group of women protesting the group's decision earlier this week to ban women from attending universities.
Football legend Pele's family is gathered in his Sao Paulo hospital room where he will be spending Christmas. His son arrived at the Albert Einstein Jewish Hospital on Saturday, according to an Instagram post from his sister. He later posted the photo of him holding his father's hand, posted that to his own Instagram account. Pele has been hospitalized since November 29 for respiratory infection, and a reevaluation of his chemotherapy treatment for colon cancer which was identified in September 2021. Wishing the legend best of luck in his recovery.
I'll see you back here at the top of the hour, but for now we'll send it back to Boris and Amara.
WALKER: Soaring inflation has forced all of us to think more about how we spend our money. And that has meant a big boom in business for one group of stores in particular. We're going to explain coming up.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): And 2022 may be remembered for rising costs. For others, it'll also be remembered as the year that crypto tanked. We've got to look at the top 10 business stories of the year. CNN THIS MORNING is back after a short break.
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[06:35:00]
WALKER: U.S. dollar stores are reporting strong sales as cash-strapped shoppers look to cut grocery costs and prioritize food and fuel over non-essential items. CNN Business Reporter Nathaniel Meyersohn joining us now to talk about this.
Nathaniel, good to see you. So, start off by telling us about dollar store profits and what's driving their strong sales.
NATHANIEL MEYERSOHN, CNN Right So America is really a nation of dollar stores. Dollar General Sales last quarter increased 6.8 percent. While Dollar Tree its rival sales were up 6.5 percent. So, really strong numbers last quarter from the dollar stores. And it's a continuation of trends we've seen really over the past decade.
More recently, inflation is driving more shoppers to dollar stores. Wealthier customers are trading down to try to save on groceries and essentials while dollar -- while the dollar stores core lower-income shoppers are relying on them more as well. So, it's really the perfect environment for these stores.
WALKER: But what about these this these discount chains that we're talking about? I mean, they must be affected by inflation as well and the supply chain and transportation costs. No?
MEYERSOHN: They are getting hit by higher labor transportation supply chain costs. Their profits are getting squeezed. And that's actually what drove Dollar Tree one of the largest chains to raise its prices from $1.00 to $1.25 last year. It was trying to offset those higher costs with higher prices.
WALKER: But they're obviously still doing well, right? Dollar general plans to open more than 1000 new stores in 2023 after sales increased 11 percent in the third quarter, and net profit rose eight percent. So, tell us how popular and widespread dollar stores have become here in the U.S.
MEYERSOHN: Right. So, there are more than $35,000 stores in the U.S. which is higher than the number of locations for McDonald's and Starbucks combined. And it's been driven over the past decade since the great recession by income inequality and the shrinking middle class. These stores are also much smaller than a traditional Walmart or a Target, so they can open in areas where those big box stores can't.
Dollar General for example, 75 percent of its stores are in rural towns that really targets the smaller areas where you're just not going to find a grocery store or even a pharmacy nearby.
WALKER: And it's also a great place to just find, you know, little toys for the kids that are cheap and are often broken anyway. So, why pay more when you get them at a dollar store? Look, there's fierce competition in this -- in the discount sector, right? And one chain that is struggling is Family Dollar. So, what's the story there? And how is it trying to win back customers on tight budgets as we're talking about? MEYERSOHN: Yes. So, it's interesting. So, Dollar Tree actually owns Family Dollar. It's hard -- it's hard to keep all three of them -- keep track of them. So, Family Dollars really in cities and more rural areas while Dollar Tree is in more suburban areas. And Family Dollar has really struggled over the past few years. Its stores are really messy. They're often understaffed. Sometimes the conditions are not that well-kept. And also, its prices have gone up over the past few years, so it's closed some stores.
And it has a new strategy to win back shoppers. It's going to start lowering prices about five percent, which is not something that most companies are doing right now. Most are raising prices. They're also adding new merchandise into stores. And they're opening more kind of coolers and freezers in their stores to try to add beverages and products they're going to get shoppers to stores.
WALKER: Yes, and maybe new shoppers. Interesting. Nathaniel Meyersohn, thank you so much for joining us.
SANCHEZ: Soaring inflation, high gas prices, and a wild ride on Wall Street. 2022 was a roller coaster of a year when it came to the economy. CNN Chief Business Correspondent Christine Romans takes a look at the top 10 Business stories of the year.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Crypto crashed and streaming slowed. The recession debate raged. Elon Musk's chaotic Twitter takeover. And the energy market turmoil raised prices at the pump. These are the top business stories of 2022.
[06:40:03]
Number 10, crypto crashed amid the downfall of its biggest exchange. Even flashy Superbowl ads couldn't hold off the chill of a crypto winter as investors ditched risky assets.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Has the Bitcoin bubble finally burst? Part of a crash that has cost investors more than a trillion dollars.
ROMANS: A downturn made worse by the implosion of the world's largest crypto exchange, FTX, over claims IT misused customer money.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The $32 billion company that plunged into bankruptcy basically overnight.
ROMANS: Leaving millions of customers scrambling to recover funds. A class action suit for celebs who endorsed FTX.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm getting into crypto.
ROMANS: And attracting government scrutiny.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: FTX is prompting investigations by federal prosecutors now.
ROMANS: Disgraced FTX founder Samuel bank been freed or SBF saw his multibillion-dollar fortune evaporate.
SAM BANKMAN FRIED, FORMER CEO, FTX: I think it might be $100,000 or something like that.
ROMANS: Before being arrested on fraud and conspiracy charges, SBF legal team says it's considering all options.
Number nine, America faces a housing crisis.
SANCHEZ: Americans are struggling to keep up with rising home prices.
ROMANS: The pandemic altered the housing market, delayed construction, kept supply low, while demand spiked, creating a crisis of affordability.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Housing prices had a record high in April.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Prices are going up.
ROMANS: Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve's inflation fight more than doubled mortgage rates.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mortgage rates now topping seven percent, a 20-year high.
ROMANS: Pricing out many Americans.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: HOW many properties do you think you've explored?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thousands, thousands.
ROMANS: Home sales dropped while rental costs hit record highs.
Number eight, Wall Street's soured on streaming amid a slowdown. 2022 ushered in a new era for streaming services.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Netflix lost 200,000 global subscribers. The last time Netflix lost subscribers was October 2011.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Growing losses at Disney plus.
ROMANS: Streaming stocks tanked as the days of meteoric growth seem to be over. So, Netflix introduced adds, a move it had resisted, and wrote crackdown on password sharing. While Disney saw a leadership shakeup.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Disney has ousted chief executive Bob Chapek after only two years on the job, replaced him with a familiar name, his predecessor Bob Iger.
ROMANS: But all the major players revised plans, cutting costs to create profitable business models instead of relying on subscriber growth.
Number seven, a nationwide rail strike looms and is averted not once, but twice. The first came in September. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some 60,000 engineers are threatened to walk off
the job as soon as Friday.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: It would be the first nationwide rail strike in 30 years.
ROMANS: Nearly one-third of the nation's freight could come to a standstill. Rail workers, working nonstop through the pandemic, demanded better conditions as freight companies raked in record profits. Negotiations dragged on threatening a fragile supply chain. So, the White House stepped in with the labor secretary brokering and 11th-hour deal.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Labor unions and rail lines reaching a tentative last-minute deal. But now this deal does go to the union members,
ROMANS: But rank and file workers wanted paid sick time not included in the agreement.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Workers at the biggest and most powerful rail union have voted down a tentative contract deals.
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: And now you have four rail unions who have voted it down altogether.
ROMANS: This time, Congress stepped in, passing a bill forcing workers to accept the deal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The joint resolution has passed.
ROMANS: And stay on the job.
Number six, Americans return to the skies in record numbers but airlines couldn't handle the influx.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Huge lines are greeting travelers at airports across the United States.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Express a warning it's going to be a summer of travel hell.
ROMANS: Some days saw thousands of flights delayed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: More than 2100 are delayed.
ROMANS: Or canceled especially over holiday weekends.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 45,000 flight cancellations nationwide since the first of June.
ROMANS: One major reason, not enough crew members. Airlines trim staff during the pandemic so any disruption like bad weather sparked chaos.
Number five, a rough year for Wall Street amid a tech wreck. The breathless post-COVID rally ended this year.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The S&P 500 has fallen into what investors call a bear market. This was the worst day for the Dow since June.
ROMANS: Investors reacted to rising prices and the Feds aggressive campaign to fight them, raising the specter of a recession will also hurting high growth stocks like tech.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR: Tech stocks have plunged since the start of this year.
ROMANS: 2022 was an awful year for tech companies after years of unstoppable growth, profits declined, leading to hiring freezes and an alarming number of job cuts laying off thousands of tech workers.
Number four, the recession debate raged amid economic whiplash. COVID broke the economy leading to a recovery full of conflicting signals. GDP shrank.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Alarm bells are ringing for the U.S. economy tonight.
TAPPER: The U.S. economy shrank for the second quarter in a row. That is the common definition of a recession.
[06:45:23]
ROMANS: While big business voice is offered dire warnings.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we're not in a recession right now, we're likely to be in one very soon.
DOUG MCMILLON, PRESIDENT AND CEO, WALMART: Customers who are more budget conscious that have been under inflation pressure now for months.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think policymakers should be prepared for the worst.
ROMANS: But despite the gloom of hot inflation and higher rates, U.S. economy was resilient with the labor market so strong companies were fighting for workers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are 1.9 open jobs for every unemployed person.
ROMANS: And people kept shopping driving growth.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Recession fears don't deter us shoppers in a record-setting Black Friday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: American shoppers shelled out an all-time high, $11.3 billion.
ROMANS: Wrapping up 2022 with the recession questions still unanswered.
Number three, Elon Musk's chaotic Twitter takeover. The billionaire began building his stake in January becoming the largest Twitter shareholder before offering to buy the whole thing.
QUEST: Elon Musk makes up $41 billion hostile bid for Twitter.
ROMANS: Musk wanted to unlock Twitter's potential. Twitter eventually agreed to sell itself before Musk did an about-face in May.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Musk is trying to back out of buying the social media giant, saying Twitter's withholding vital information.
ROMANS: Then came months of legal maneuvering, complicated by revelations from a whistleblower.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The company's cybersecurity failures make it vulnerable to exploitation.
ROMANS: Still, Musk eventually completed the deal instead of heading to trial. He immediately slashed jobs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nearly half of the company's employees now out of a job.
ROMANS: While rolling out other changes, including trying to launch paid verification and reinstating controversial figures including former President Trump.
Number two, energy market turmoil raised prices at the pump. Russia has warned Ukraine threatened oil supply sending global prices soaring.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's a seven-year high. U.S. crude in the meantime, multi-year highs too.
ROMANS: That affected gas prices.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gas prices here in the United States reached record highs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And that's up by a staggering 60 cents in just one week.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Many Americans couldn't afford to fill up the tank, so President Biden released oil from the strategic reserve and blasted U.S. oil companies.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The profits are a windfall of war.
ROMANS: While also asking them to pump more oil. He did the same of Saudi Arabia during a controversial visit in July. But OPEC Plus did the opposite, slashing production in October. An attempt to boost oil prices finally weighed down by concerns over a global slowdown. Gas prices also fell ending the year cheaper than before Russia invaded Ukraine.
Number one, the Feds aggressive fight to tame decades-high inflation. Americans paid high prices again this year. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Inflation in the United States soaring to a new
40-year high. Across the board, you're paying way more for just about everything. So, the central bank jacked up interest rates seven times to help even rolling out bumper three-quarter point hikes four times in a row. And the Fed isn't finished.
JEROME POWELL, CHAIR, FEDERAL RESERVE: We continue to anticipate that ongoing increases will be appropriate.
ROMANS: Some worry the Feds higher rates will spark a recession. They're already shaking markets and raising credit and mortgage payments. But have they lowered consumer prices? There's no clear signal yet. One thing is for sure of the effects we'll continue to work their way through the economy into next year.
SANCHEZ: Coming up, the inspiring story of CNN's Hero of the Year Nelly Cheboi. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:50:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And now, the 2022 CNN Hero of the Year is Nelly Cheboi.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: CNN's Hero of the Year was named this month. Nelly Cheboi's nonprofit TechLit Africa has provided thousands of students across rural Kenya with access to computers.
WALKER: And in a really special moment, she brought her mom up on stage and sang with her. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NELLY CHEBOI, CNN HERO OF THE YEAR 2022: And now, in front of the whole world, I want to sing you this song one more time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: What a special moment there. Our colleagues at CNN THIS MORNING, Don Lemon, Poppy Harlow, Kaitlan Collins, they spoke to Nelly about her win and what it means to her and her family.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Nelly and her mother Join us now. That moment, I'm so glad it was captured. You told us last night what the song meant. Can you tell -- share with our audience why that song is so special to the two of you.
CHEBOI: Because I saw how hard she was working. I really -- I saw -- like, she was working really hard. And so, I cannot do anything. I cannot do anything about it. I was only four, maybe was only five. And so -- but then she'll come home, sometimes even at midnight, like just -- and so, I'll sing the song. And then -- and then she will light up. She will light up. She's exhausted. She's stressed. But she would just light up.
And that moment, I realized that became a tradition. She comes home we go to bed, hungry sometimes, I sing her the song, she lights up. We live for another day.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Can I just ask you? I'm a total mama's boy, so this is for me. And I share everything with my mom. Why are you crying?
CHEBOI: Why am I crying?
LEMON: Did you not see that moment?
CHEBOI: No, I am crying because she did not believe me. I can singing it to her, and she did not believe me. And so -- and to be able to sing to her on such a global stage -- and right now, even here CNN THIS MORNING is -- I told her that I'm going to show the world and she did not believe me. And she did not understand. She didn't understand what was going on at the event. She was just like, this and that, but she didn't understand. So, when I sang to her, she was like, wait, what? Like, she kind of like, it dawned to her. It's like she got to experience the whole moment. And so, yes.
LEMON: She doesn't speak English, right?
CHEBOI: Yes, she speaks Bohemian.
LEMON: Can you just ask her what that moment meant to her?
CHEBOI: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE).
Yes, she says that she just felt so warm. She feels so warm and she believes me now. That when I said like, I was going to show her the world, she believes me now.
[06:55:25]
LEMON: I know.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: For a mother to see their child grow into what you are is beyond any mother's wildest dreams. I hope you know that, right? All we want for our children, I think, is just to be kind and happy. And not only are you those things, you have used your power to change this world.
CHEBOI: And then also, I think, for her to be here with me, to be here with me -- I think, like so many people who have lost their mothers, and when they make it, their parents are not there. So, I feel so lucky that she's here and she's able to share the moment with me.
COLLINS: And we're so glad that you won and you have this $100,000 now to expand your work even further than you already have and the imprint that you've had.
CHEBOI: Oh, yes, thank you so much. That's great.
COLLINS: Oh, Don.
LEMON: Thank you.
COLLINS: Well, your mom --
LEMON: You're amazing. I just -- I just -- I can't, really. That's amazing. Congratulations.
HARLOW: You know amazing mothers, don't you?
LEMON: I do. This is -- and this is for her. You did it for her. And this is her moment as well.
CHEBOI: Yes, yes.
LEMON: Yes.
CHEBOI: Yes, she's my hero.
LEMON: Thank you, Nelly. Thanks, Mom. Christina, thank you so much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALKER: What a beautiful moment.
SANCHEZ: That is so touching. Congratulations again to Nelly and her mom.
WALKER: I can see her beaming with pride. Well, there's much more on CNN THIS MORNING just ahead. We've got your morning headlines coming up after a short break. Stay with us.
[07:00:00]
