the avalanche of all the new cases this week is pushing the number of kids being hospitalized to new records, all this as schools across the country get ready to welcome them back from the holidays. we'll be joined by education secretary miguel cardona and erik adams, who will oversee the nation's biggest school system. >> reporter: with the pandemic clocking unprecedented numbers of infections, the fda is expected to okay booster shots of the pfizer vaccine soon for 12 to 15 year olds. the cdc has intensified its warning against cruise ship travel amid dozens of outbreaks. and health officials are advising caution on shore too. >> i would not eat in a restaurant now without a mask. i would absolutely not go into a bar. if you go into a bar now, you are very likely to get covid whether you're vaccinated or not. if you're unvaccinated and you go into a bar, you will come out of it infected. >> reporter: as predicted the surge is not hitting everyone equally. >> if you are unvaccinated, you are ten times more likely to be a case and 20 times more likely to be a fatality. >> we're still getting the data, but what we're hearing from hospitals really across the nation -- and this is very consistent -- is that the vast majority of children who are being admitted are unvaccinated. >> reporter: so many people are being infected many states are reporting near record highs. maryland hospital officials are calling for a limited emergency declaration. in new york city, the fire department has so many out sick, they are reminding people to call 911 only in true emergencies. and everywhere the drum beat for more testing is growing louder, espe especially with schools reopening next week. >> testing, testing, testing all the time. so, this is what i think we have to do. you're seeing this in new york. you're seeing this in d.c. you're seeing this in as many places as we can. >> reporter: in the meantime two new reports indicate a booster shot of the johnson & johnson vaccine significantly lowers the risk of severe illness from the omicron variant. and health officials are pleading no matter which vaccine you choose, make sure you follow through with all the recommended doses and then get a booster too. >> that's where so many of us are ecoing, go ahead and make sure you get vaccinated and get your booster dose. that's what's going to protect you right now. >> reporter: many health experts say the majority of american who is have received their vaccinations are the very reason that the ratio of hospitalizations has remained relatively low compared to this massive surge of the virus itself. but that said, there's still plenty of people showing up in hospitals where the staffs are already very tired and wrung out after fighting this pandemic for a long time. jim? >> a very long time. tom foreman, thanks very much. more now on the dilemma facing schools and parents in the coming days, namely how to avoid the drawbacks a return of in-person learning. here to talk about it is the secretary of education, secretary cardona, thank you for being with us. there are a lot of concerned families out there. you say parents and teachers have to make sure to get students into classes safely and stay stay in the classroom. given what we currently know about the omicron variant and its high transmissibility rate, specifically how can parents and teachest best do that right now? >> thank you, jim, for having me, first of all. and yes, we recognize the numbers are climbing across the country. we also know that we have tools now that we didn't have before. we know what works to keep our schools safely reopened. and we're -- we have more resources aimed at keeping our schools open than ever before. so, it's critical that we do what we can to make sure that our schools stay open full time five days a week. i recognize there are going to be some bumps along the way. but the goal for us -- i know educators across the country know -- we don't want to go back to the way it was, fully remote. we don't want to go back to hybrid. our students learn best and our students thrive when they learn in person. >> dr. peter hotez says schools in areas with a, quote, screaming level of transmission like new york city and washington, d.c. right now should push back, the return to in-person learning. so, after this holiday break or after this holiday break resumes. and in fact, new jersey -- jersey city public schools announced they will be virtual next week and return to in-person learning on january 10th. what do you think? should more districts be considering these kinds of temporary measures, not going full-blown virtual and so on but maybe pushing things back a little bit? >> you know, often times those decisions are made when there's a concern about staffing shortages. again, the goal is to make sure our students are safe and our staff are safe. but i believe with surveillance testing, with mitigation strategies, we should -- our default should be to have our students come back in. we recognize that, as i said earlier, there are going to be challenges with that in some places. a short-term closure may be necessary in order to safely return students back and have adequate staffing. but we really need to learn how to thrive during this pandemic. we opened schools when delta was rampant. we have the tools. we have the resources. states and districts have access to resources. and i know they're working hard. i know they're doing everything they can. i know staffing shortages are an issue. we recently sent a letter to states reminding them that the american rescue plan funds could be used to address some of the staffing shortages. so, we're working with them. we recognize this is a challenge. i think everybody across the country want to see our children in schools full time. and i think that's our goal. we're going to continue to support our states to get that done. >> and dr. anthony fauci said today that he thinks the omicron surge could peak by the end of january. what do you think? should schools that are able to offer a hybrid model until this surge is over, should they think about that? what do you think? >> you know, as an educator and as a father, i can tell you that the hybrid model is probably the most disruptive. and we don't know that we're keeping our children any safer when they're not in our schools. we know schools provide structure. masks are required. students get meals. they have ex cans with peers and with their teachers. so, in my opinion, our default model should be full time, five days a week in person, recognizing that there may be times due to increase in cases, in spread, and inadequate staffing that short-term closures might be needed. but our mentality should be that our students suffer enough. we have the tools. we have the resources. they should be in the classroom. >> when it comes to testing, in washington, d.c., public schools are providing at-home tests and requiring a negative test result before next wednesday. what about the following days and the weeks to come? is testing going to become sort of a permanent feature in our schools in terms of keeping students safe, do you think? and should schools be preparing for that, to not just have tests available when kids are coming back to the classroom but maybe on a weekly basis, maybe on a regular basis? >> i'm glad you brought that up, jim. in march of this year in the american rescue plan, there was $10 billion allocated for surveillance testing in schools. and we've seen districts across the country set up really robust systems of surveillance testing to make sure we keep covid out of our schools. and those districts that have those systems are employing those systems now. we recently sent information to states about the rockefeller foundation and what they're doing to set up contracts to assist districts in setting up surveillance systems. so, again, we believe surveillance -- good surveillance testing system, vaccination efforts, and mitigation strategies are critical to successfully keeping our schools open. >> and you were just saying a memo ago that schools are requiring masks across the country. that's just not the case though. there are a lot of cases where they're not really requiring that sort of thing. >> unfortunately we have seen where districts are not requiring that cases go up. we're seeing hospitalizations go up in those places. so, i think with this increase in omicron and higher cases, i hope those district really take a look at their policies. i think parents have had enough of school closures due to poor policies. so, let's protect our students. let's protect our staff. let's keep our communities thriving. it's unfortunate the numbers are going up, but we know how to continue during the pandemic. we shouldn't have shutdowns. we shouldn't have schools closed for a long period of time. if we know it work, we shall employee it. we have the resources there, and we should come together for our students. >> just to press you on that very quickly. so, you're saying under no circumstances will the administration advise shutting down schools no matter how bad it gets? >> you know, we're monitoring the omicron. very pleased with cdc's recent guidance that shortens the length of quarantine. that's going to help keep our schools open and have our staff in the classrooms. at this point i don't believe that we should be thinking about closing schools long term. things can change, but at this point we have the tools. we have the resources, jim. and we have to have the will to make sure we do everything in our power to keep our children in the classroom learning with their peers, with their teachers. let's not forget the emotional impact last year had on our students, on our educators, and on our families, our parents. we can do better. we have the resources. we have the viens. we need to do everything in our power to keep the classrooms open for students, where they learn best, where they get support from teachers after experiencing the trauma of the pandemic. >> secretary cardona, thanks very much for your time. i want to drill down more with this with someone who was on the forefront of research into covid and schools. distinguished professor of pediatrics at duke university, dr. benjamin thanks for your time. what do you make of what the secretary of education was just telling us a few moments ago? do you think the federal government should be doing more? and are they perhaps relying on too much of an optimist ic scenario where they can keep classes open across the country without any kind of hybrid learning? >> so, jim, thank you. i think the secretary was spot on in his emphasis on keeping schools open. and, jim, this is an important concept that i'd just like to extend, perhaps, on the secretary's comments. paradoxically, kids are safer in school, even if the only outcome you are looking at is covid. now, this is in the masked environment at school. so, let me explain that to you, jim. first of all, that's based on data that we and others have published published, where the chance of infection is only 1% or 2% if i'm exposing you. that data has been replicated across the country. that's a much lower transmission than in restaurants or other places that children hang out if they're not in school. the second important thing is families that want to protect children can protect them unilaterally by vaccinating them. but, jim, this part is very important. when children are not in school, they're not in a magic bubble. they are doing all sorts of things in the community and engaging in the community in all sorts of ways, as evidenced by the widespread transmission that's going on right now when schools are closed right now. and so when we come up to january 3rd, those five days of monday through friday, schools will have a choice. do we want, for the 80 waking hours of monday through friday to be 40 hours, where children are in a very regulated environment with universal masking, where we have shown compliance leads 90% if people adhere to that? or do they spend 80 hours a week in an unregulated environment, an unmonitored environment, where there's not as much masking and widespread transmission. if the only outcome is covid, they're safer in school. >> i hear what you're saying. but should school districts perhaps consider delaying that return to in-person learning next week, especially the areas where you have high transmission, washington, d.c., new york city, for example. >> if they delay opening, the best data that we have is that that will contribute, jim, to sp spread. >> because they're not at school, they're at home, is what you're saying? >> often times when children are not in school, they don't just stay in their household 16 or 24 hours a day. they do other things outside of home. and when they do that, they're often times less masked when they are in schools that have a mask policy. so, paradoxically, their risk out of school, even if covid is the only outcome, is likely to be higher if they're out of school. exposure in a restaurant or in a movie theater or in a walmart or in a grocery store. that's going to be higher typically on average for schools if their district -- for children, if their school districts are masking. >> so, it sounds like you're saying testing is going to be critical in all this. but we don't have the testing infrastructure in place at this point. >> testing as far as screening testing is concerned can be a little bit difficult to manage. test to stay, jim, however, can be a very effective way to manage the pandemic and schools. and the cdc and we and others have shown that in recent research. >> all right. dr. danny benjamin, we know your research has been critical in all this. thanks very much for your time. we appreciate it. coming up next, new york's mayor elect on the celebration that's still going to happen and what it will take to keep the city running in the face of this latest covid surge. also tonight hundreds -- 100-mile-an-hour winds and wildfires in colorado, what the combination is doing right now to that state as tens of thousands of people there get the word to get out now. we will have a live report on that next. full prescription-strength? 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(gasps) ♪ did it work? only pay for what you need ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ spider-man no way home in theaters december 17th as we look at live pictures of new york's time square courtesy, the governor's office reported more than 70,000 new cases of covid state-wide. densely populated new york city and long island are far outpacing more rural areas in new cases. and tomorrow night in times square, a scaled back 15,000 gathering is being scheduled for the ball drop, plus one, of course, new york's incoming mayor is that plus one. he's decided to take the oath of office tomorrow night shortly after the clock strikes 12:00. mr. mayor-elect, i guess we can call you mayor-elect for one more night. thanks so much for join k us. we appreciate it. >> thank you very much. >> let's get right to it. the new year's eve celebration is still going forward, even as other cities across the world are cancelling their festivities. last week when mayor de blasio announced plans, you praised that situation. you said, he's made the right move to take precautionary measures. do you still feel confident this is a good idea given everything that's happened right now. >> yes, yes, i do. and i want to commend the mayor. and when you speak with the business leaders in this city, particularly in the central business district, tourism, what happens on the broadway, it's a major economic driver. and he's being responsible by stating everyone there must be vaccinated and they must wear a mask. he cut down the crowd and ensured that we could do it in a safe way because we're sending a signal across the entire globe that new york will be safe. we will be responsible, but we will continue to open in a safe way. we have to do that to ensure our financial ecosystem continues to thrive. >> new york city had to shut down an entire subway line because of short staffing due to the covid surge. the nypd has 21% of their staff out sick. the fire department of new york says 30% of emergency medical services are out because of covid and everything that's going along with it. you know, can you really pull this off safely with that kind -- >> yes. >> -- of a staffing crunch? >> yes, i believe we can. this is an amazing city with professionals. remember i was one of those police officers, and i know during the times of crises and tragedies, we respond. remember what happened when our central trade collapsed, when our two world trade center buildings collapsed. 9/11. we got up on 9/12, and we responded because this city is made up of profesh msionals and we're going to send the right signal to this entire country. we're going to get through covid. let's be clear. we spent $11 trillion on covid. we can't continue to think that we could spend trillions of dollars. we must learn to live with covid, adjust, and pivot at the right times. and we're doing that in new york. and i'm extremely optimistic on how the city is going to respond. >> what about the schools, mr. mayor-elect? i think it's fair to say every parent would like their child to be in a classroom. but given these cases that are just skyrocketing in your city right now and how contagious this variant is, do you think it's maybe a good idea to delay some of this until you get a handle on it? >> well, think about this for a moment. i think your two other guests really touched on this, educational professionals that understand the imperativeness of having our children in the classroom. we lost almost two years of education. each variant, do we decide to delay again and have our children out? we're deal being a crisis not only of what happened in reading and writing but even math, which is a real indicator of the success of a child. my schools are going to be open. my children are going to be inside their schools. they're going to wear their masks. we're going to take precautions. we're going to extend and have additional testing that's going to take place. the safest place for our children is inside the school building, and it's going to take a lot for me to close my schools. we must deal with covid in real time, and we have to educate our children and also protect them. you heard. it was clear. having our children not in the school is not the protection they need. it's the safe place for them. >> but mayor, you know, as you were just talking about at the beginning of this segment, this is on you after midnight tomorrow night. you're the mayor. and if we see cases explode after times square festivities, after the opening of schools, when you had the chance to be more cautious about it, are you willing to take that responsibility? are you going to say, that's on me as the new mayor of this city? >> i want it to be on me. i say this over and over again. winners want the ball when the game is on the line. the game is on the line for our city. and i want the ball in my hand, just as i had the ball in the mid '80s when crime was high and i put on that uniform. i wanted to serve my city, and i want to serve and protect my city. i'm the leader of the city starting january 1st, and i'm going to lead the city in the right direction. and i know the resiliency of new yorkers. americans are going to show the globe how we respond to crisis. and it's going to be difficult. it's going to be hard. but it has been hard before, and we have always stood up to the occasion. so, yes, i'm responsible for what happens to the people of this city as the mayor of the city of new york, and i'm going to lead us in the right direction. >> all right, mr. mayor-elect, almost-mayor of new york city, eric adams, thanks so much for your time. we appreciate it. and congratulations on taking office here in about what, 16 hours from now. thanks for your time. >> thank you. have a happy and safe new year. >> i should say more than 24 hours from now. i have my mouth off. for the receiving end of policy change, we're joined by dr. greg spencer, director of global health t at columbia medical center. you're in the emergency room. what do you make of the decisions that new york city officials are making right now with regards to a times square, with regard to opening up the classrooms? you're going to have a lot of people, you know, coming into contact with one another with this very highly transmissible variant that is just showing no signs of letting up at the moment. >> that's a good question. i first want to start by thanking the incoming mayor for laying out today the policy he's going to pursue, the six points, including keeping the vaccines for private businesses, increasing mask distribution and laying out next steps for how they're going to respond over the next few months. i look forward to working with him. i will say that, you know, we are in triage mode. as an emergency medicine doctor, i look at everything as an emergency. and right now it's not about flattening the curve. we have a hospital system where health care workers are getting sick, testing positive themselves. we have as you pointed out, nypd, fdny, with record number of people calling out sick. i think we need to double down on essential activities and services, which is making sure people are safe and keeping people and kids in school. that is why i think that having a party tomorrow night in times square, although we all want it and all need tez probably not the best thing right now. it is not essential. millions of people watch this around the world. having 15,000 people together unfortunately means that some will be sick, some will sicken others, and every infection -- every infection averted at this point is perhaps another essential worker that's allowed to stay on the job. >> do you think city officials are being irresponsible? >> no, look. at this point it's two years in. there are a lot of people that are tired and want to have fun. last year we promised them if you get vaccinated and you wear a mask and you're outdoors, you can do all those things. omicron has thrown all of us for a loop. this has been a big surprise. we saw 44,000 cases in new york city today. this is incredible and a record setting amount. we know the majority of us thankfully are going to not end up in the hospital or not going to end up dying from this. we've learned a lot from treatments, how we are going to manage this disease. what we're going to focus on right now is keeping the things open that matter, making sure that my 3-year-old can go to school on monday, where i intend on sending her because i think it's a safe space for her. it's an important space for her. i'm working five shifts in the emergency room next week, and i can't do that if she's not in school during that time. it's critical to keep people out of the emergency room and cope our kids in classrooms. and i want to make sure we make the right decisions right now to do that. >> you heard what mayor-elect adams said about his plan for schools. and i know you think we should be doing everything to keep kids in schools you were just saying a few minutes ago. do you think the plan in new york is enough? for example in washington they're requiring students to have negative tests before they show up for school next week. >> i think a negative test is fine. you know, if someone tests two days beforehand with an antigen test and it's negative and they get exposed the next day, i'm not sure that it does that much to keep covid out of the classroom by itself. i would like to see more tests to stay. so, for kids who may have been exposed, having them test, and if they test negative allowing them to stay in the classroom. we've seen that works. the cdc and other schools have proven that works. we need to do everything we can to focus on the most vulnerable in our communities, those older, those needing booster shots, those who have a higher likelihood of getting sick and dying from this disease. so, get vaccinated. it protects you, the older people, the younger people. get your kids vaccinated. we still have a huge proportion of the 5 to 11 and older age group that hasn't yet been vaccinated. that is the safest way we keep them out of the hospital and them in the classroom. >> dr. craig spencer, thank you very much for your time. we appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. up next, the details for what that call this afternoon between president biden and russia's vladimir putin and what this means for the military building along the border in ukraine. plus it's a terrifying scene in colorado where wildfires -- here's video that has just come in from bolder county, colorado. these wildfires have forced a whole town to evacuate. stunning images we need to show you and disturbing details of what's happening out there. we'll have the details next. um, she's eating the rocket. ♪ lunchables! built to be eaten. this is a gamechanger, who dares to be fearless even when her bladder leaks. our softest, smoothest fabric keeping her comfortable, protected, and undeniably sleek. depend. the only thing stronger than us, is you. print! come on! 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it sounds like president biden put putin on notice here. >> it was a standoff. and the perceptions on both sides are a bit different. now, it does look like biden stood his ground. putin apparently really did hit hard and repeatedly about, you know, how he'd huff and puff and blow the house down if we imposed more sanctions on him. of course the sanctions would be in response to russian attack. what was interesting to me was that the russian media is now reporting that the -- one of putin's press spokespersons has said that and stressed that, well, putin got biden to agree not to put strike weapons to ukraine or weapons used for an attack. we had no intention of putting attack weapons in ukraine. the few weapons we've given them were purely defensive. it sounds as though putin was trying to take home an imaginary deliverable for his own people. and he seemed -- just based upon reading the russian press and what they're leaking out, he seemed very, very frustrated, and that's not necessarily good. >> right. and as we mentioned putin told biden today that any new sanctions against russia would be a, quote, colossal mistake. how much weight does a statement like that from putin carry. if he invades ukraine, of course we're going to respond with sanctions. he must know that. >> well, yes, he does. and he's really at a loss for how he could respond effectively to really massive sanctions that took russia out of the dollar trading system, et cetera. and yet that may well not be enough to deter him because we refuse to understand much about putin. we're real snobs when it comes to putin. and putin -- one of the first things we've got to understand is he doesn't care about russians. he cares about russia. we may mock him, but putin believes that he is a man of destiny in a long line of russian heroes from ivan the terrible to peter the great and, yes, stalin, men who have protected and restored russia's greatness. and putin sees his mission on this earth as restoring russia's greatness and some of its territory at least. and we make light of that at our peril because it does not matter, jim, what we believe. what matters is what putin believes. and for him, ukraine, that's the die line. he has -- again, i'll use a word we don't usually use in connection with putin. putin has a mystical or near-mystical attachment to ukraine. in his view, ukraine and russia are truly -- they're twins. they're truly inseparable. the roots of russian culture are in ukraine. and putin wants belarus because that's important. but belarus is a goody prize. putin wants ukraine. he doesn't know how to get it. he probably has not made up his mind about whether or not to invade. you'll wait and see how the january 10th talks go. but my message to american decision makers, do not -- just because putin didn't go to the right schools, just because he doesn't have great table manners, don't take him lightly. here's a man who's punked three u.s. presidents in a row, working on a fourth. he was dealt a pair of eights. we have a royal flush, and we fold it again and again. putin is an extremely talented, a brilliant man, sometimes a crude man. but it never underestimates the genius of the outsiders. it's the outsiders that change the world. >> he was a new establishment for russia. thank you so much for your time. >> happy new year. >> happy new year to you. and a member of the january 6th committee will join us next to discuss taking the fight for the white house records from the trump administration to the supreme court and about this very busy year ahead for the committee. that's next. [upbeat acoustic music throughout] earn about, the more questions we have. the biggest question now, what's next? what will covid bring in six months, a year? if you're feeling anxious about the future, you're not alone. calhope offers free covid-19 emotional support. call 833-317-4673, or live chat at calhope.org today. january 6th committee began its existence six months ago today and will begin the new year much as it's ending this one. today the house and the biden administration presented its arguments for why it's needs more than 700 pages of the former president's records. many members have a full year ahead with plans for an interim report in the summer and a final report before next year's midterms, plus the possibility of more public testimony. the one public hearing they held this year was chilling. you might remember it, a clip of that. now we will warn you in the testimony you hear one officer mentioning a racial epithet that was heard on that day. >> i was grabbed, beaten, tased, all while be called a traitor to my country, as i heard chants of, kill him with his own gun. >> that prompted a torrent of racial epithets. one woman in a pink maga shirt yelled, you hear that, guys, this -- voted for joe biden. no one had ever, ever called me a -- while wearing the uniform of a capitol police officer. >> it's important we never forget what happened that day. joining us now, a member of the sixth committee, a california, pete aguilar. congressman, thanks for joining us. i want to start with the news i mentioned earlier of the case that may be in front of the supreme court soon. the house has been arguing that the january 6th investigation outweighs the former president's request for confidentiality and execive privilege and so on. what can you tell us about where that stands, and what's the argument your team is making? >> well, the main argument that we're making is the argument that was successful in the appellate court. we've asked for an expedited hearing before the supreme court. we have submitted our briefs. and those briefs are very clear. what we want are documents that are related to our investigation, documents related to the former president's activities leading up to january 5th and january 6th rallies. we want to know the facts and circumstances to make sure that this violent attack on democracy never happens again. that's our legislative intent and our focus. we've asked for a series of documents from the national archives that will help shed light on those details. they have submitted those. and the current president holds the privilege and has said that they have compelling need of these documents outweighs anything else. so, they have agreed to give them over to us. but obviously the former president has challenged those. so, we will argue that now, and the briefs have been submitted and are lengthy. and we look forward to an expedited hearing. >> yeah. and we just heard some of the testimony in the only public hearing you had. in the new year you plan to have more public hearings. can you explain what was behind that decision? what can the public expect to see in these public hearings? >> well, i think you're going to see us lay out the case. so, we're still in the investigative phase right now. we will continue, and we will notice those public hearings. but i think what you'll continue to hear are themes about how we protect democracy, how fragile our democracy is, and the steps along the way that led up to january 5th and january 6th. the rallies, but also the pressure campaign that the former president put on through his own department of justice to other states during the counting process and how those states' efforts held up. so, i think that's one of the themes that you'll continue to hear is just how fragile our democracy is, how close we came, and to, again, make sure this never happens again. but we want to report the facts and circumstances. this is a non-partisan investigation, and we're going to carry it forward in that manner. >> in an interview wednesday, the chairman of the house select committee said an invitation is on the table. bennie thompson said an invitation is on the table for the house republican leader, kevin mccarthy. do you know if he's been formally asked? and what do you expect? >> i'm not going to get into the individuals that we have had interviews with or have asked to come before us. but what i can tell you is anyone, especially a lawmaker who has taken an oath, like i have, to protect and defend our constitution and our democracy, should come forward with any facts or any conversations that could be helpful to aid in our investigation. >> but kevin mccarthy has not -- he's not cooperated with the investigation, has he? he hasn't spoken with your committee, has he? >> he has not. and what i'm saying is it's going to be important for anyone with details of the facts and circumstances of january 5th and january 6th to share them with the committee. people, especially lawmakers, should be willing to do this voluntarily. but as we have seen in -- >> do you think it would behoove kevin mccarthy to -- i don't mean to cut you off. i'm very short on time. do you think it would behoove hum to do it voluntarily? >> i think anyone with information should share those details voluntarily, yes. >> congressman aguilar, we appreciate your time. >> have a good new year. >> you as well. we want to turn now to the wild fires outside of denver that have destroyed hundreds of homes and forced thousands to evacuate. the details of what's been called a life threatening situation. you're looking at pictures coming in from boulder, colorado. we're going to have much more on this dangerous, fast-moving situation in just a few moments. that's next. ♪ lunchables! built to be eaten. this is elodia. she's a recording artist. 1 of 10 million people that comcast has connected to affordable internet in the last 10 years. and this is emmanuel, a future recording artist, and one of the millions of students we're connecting throughout the next 10. through projectup, comcast is committing $1 billion so millions more students, past... and present, can continue to get the tools they need to build a future of unlimited possibilities. . we've been talking about this throughout the evening, this terrifying scene that is unfolding outside denver, colorado. take a look at what's happening in fueled by high winds. the fires have forced thousands of evacuations. the national weather service calls these fires life-threatening. no lives reported lost as of yet. but colorado's governor has declared a state of emergency for boulder county and i'm joined now by our meteorologist karac karen mcbegin mismcginnis. this is really scary what's happening in colorado right now. what's the latest from this region and how weird is it to see something like this this time of year? >> jim, it's been a tragedy. in a week that has already been tragic across colorado, with the mass shooting. what we're looking at here is not really a radar. there's no rain there. it's all downsloping winds and they're gusting at times to 100 miles an hour. and there you can see some of the images now. hundreds of homes destroyed. entire subdivisions wiped out. two cities, the city of superior and the city of louisville were told to evacuate. this was about eight hours ago. we saw the winds kick up rather fiercely. to the equivalent of hurricane-force winds and above. category 3. here's some of the wind gusts that we've seen. 1 115-mile-an-hour winds. and the sheriff of boulder county said, you can't fight these fires. they started out at grass fires and then they swept across the region. you cannot send firefighters or fi firefighting measures out to get this under control, because it is moving so rapidly. now, there's one hotel in the superior, colorado, area, that's about 20, 25 miles to the northwest of denver, it has been leveled to the ground. and we're not finished yet. there is going to be a swift turnaround as far as the weather is concerned. i will mention, we don't have any reports of fatalities yet, but they are anticipating that. we had six injuries reported earlier in the day. there are reports that there were some fire or burns. that is the -- the ridiculous part of this story is, there's a winter storm that is brewing across this region. now, the winds are going to back off. they'll remain breezy, but now, this fire has taken on a life of its own. so, now, even with the breezy conditions this is going to continue to fuel the flames across this region. we'll see the winds start to die down and then for denver, in particular, those temperatures are going to drop to single digits. wind chill factor and it looks like in the next 24 to 48 hours, we could see between four, eight, possibly ten or 12 inches of snowfall. >> wow. all right, thank you very much, karen. hope the folks there stay safe. appreciate that information. just ahead, the director and producer of a new cnn film about carole king and james taylor talks about the reunion concert and friendship between these two icons that he captured ten years ago. and that is airing this sunday night. i was unable to eat. it was very hard. kimberly came to clearchoice with a bunch of missing teeth, struggling with pain, with dental disease. clearchoice dental implants solved her dental issues. [ kimberly ] i feel so much better. i feel energized to go outside and play with my daughter. i can ate anything. like, i don't have to worry. clearchoice changed my life. i just wish more people knew how easy it was to get health coverage. i'm only paying $52 a month for there are quality plans for even less. my job doesn't offer health insurance, but with the new law, i found an affordable plan and only pay $47 a month. actually, a friend of mine recommended healthcare.gov and now we're paying less than $60 a month for coverage. i was skeptical at first, but it is real. i'm covered with no monthly payment. new law. lower prices. more people qualify. at healthcare.gov ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ experience the power of sanctuary at the lincoln wish list event. you could spend half an hour preparing for the half hour status meeting. orrr... you could cancel the meeting and share updates in slack instead. it's where your whole team is in one place so everyone can stay up to date. slack. where the future works. this sunday, cnn is airing a new film on the creative partnership and fray of iconic singer/songwriters james taylor and carole king. the new film shows us what happens when these two musical giants join forces. the director and producer of the film, frank marshall, sat down with anderson to discuss the inspiration behind the project. >> frank, thank you so much for joining us. carole king, james taylor, they're friends, they've been writing and performing music together for half a century. what was it about this project that really attracted you? >> well, for me, it was kind of a dream come true, because i was a amateur folk singer back in the '60s and, of course, all the songs that i did were james and carole's songs, and i think lucky for the world, i ended up behind the camera rather than a microphone. and -- >> i won't ask you to sing a few bars. >> yeah, please don't. >> but what about their relationship that -- did you find that was sort of the focus? >> well, i think what was really interesting is, they are genuine fr friends. and they -- they never toured before 2010, which is when the troubadour leereunion tour happened. and they were great music collaborators. and i think james says in the piece, they kind of had the same dna. and i think you see that when they're playing together. they just weave in and out. they know what each other is thinking. and for me, trying to explore how that comes about was fascinating. >> what -- capturing this -- capturing chemistry, capturing that kind of relationship is a difficult thing, i would think, in a film. >> yes, and this is really more of a concert film, anderson. they shot 28 of their 50 shows, and so, we have all this footage. and so, it's put together in a way that you see the full songs. it's a concert film with a little bit of documentary in between, every once in awhile, so, you sort of get the setup of how they met and when they first played together, which was at the troubadour in 1970. then there was this reunion concert in 2007 and they had so much fun at that, with the same band from 1970, that they said, hey, let's go on the road. and do a tour. which they did in 2010. >> what do you think their biggest impact has been? i mean, they've influenced so many different artists over the years. >> no, i think it's -- it's their songwriting. it's the stories they tell. they tell stories in their songs. and i think people connect to that, their feelings -- it's a really soulful kind of writing and then the performance becomes kind of the soundtrack of everybody's lives, so --what ag parents are playing it in the car on the way to school, but also there's those of us who have lived with them for all 50 years. >> yeah. well, the new film is "carole king and james taylor: just call out my name." frank, thank you for talking to us. >> my pleasure, anderson. thanks for having me. >> and again, cnn will premiere the film sunday at 9:00 p.m. and thank you for joining us. the news continues right here on cnn. ♪ coming up on "cnn newsroom," the world prepares to ring in the new year, much like it did the last, with sky-high covid infections. celebrations scaled back 0 or canceled and health officials urging a quiet night at home. with omicron sending children to hospital in record numbers, u.s. regulators look set to authorize a vaccine booster shot for 12 to 15-year-olds. also this hour, that phone call. vladimir putin and joe biden hold serious and substantive talks over ukraine.

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