director is now saying after so much criticism after recommending you should isolate for five days instead of ten. overseas tonight, the president of kazakhstan now delivering shoot-to-kill orders with anti-government protesters, and what the u.s. is now saying tonight. and this evening here, we celebrate the trailblazing actor and civil rights activist sidney poitier. the first black monoto win a best actor. that moment with denzel washington, the moment with oprah winfrey. and in his own words, what his mother always told him. good evening. and it's great to have you with us as we near the end of another week together, and we begin with that powerful moment in court today -- the judge in the ahmaud arbery case. today he sentenced the three men in the killing of arbery in brunswick, georgia. all three facing life in prison, but the judge had to decide whether any of them deserved a chance at parole decades from now. the judge carefully choosing his words, sharing his thoughts. reminding ahmaud arbery ran from the truck for five minutes. the judge telling court he'd stop talking himself for a minute. there was silence. he then said that was a fraction of the time arbery was chased. travis mcmichael who fired the shot that killed arbery, his father, and their neighbor william roddie bryan. the neighbor who was with them who shot theth video was the only one who the judge said showed any concern in the moments the it have deadly shooting. he was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole after 30 years. the court hearing from arbery's family, his sister, father, and mother, who showed the men showed no leniency when they murdered her son, so they do not deserve leniency either. steve osunsami leading us off tonight from georgia. >> reporter: inside this south georgia courtroom, the families watching from their seats were praying as the judge began to read. >> as to travis mcmichael. mr. mcmichael, the court sentences you as follows. count one, malice murder, life without the possibility of parole. >> reporter: state law required the judge to hand the three men who murdered ahmaud arbery life sentences, and the only mercy he could show was to allow them to be eligible for parole after 30 years. but for travis mcmichael, who fired the fatal shot and his father gregory, a former police officer, the judge refused parole. they will die in prison. >> they chose to target my son because they didn't want him in their community. they chose to treat him differently than other people who frequently visited their community. >> in a powerful moment, judge timothy walmsley sat in silence for one of the five minutes that ahmaud arbery ran for his life. and he said that this piece of video helped make up his mind, seeing the son and his father turn their backs on the young black man who was dying in the street. >> his death should force us to consider expanding our definition of what a neighbor may be and how we treat them. i believe that assuming the worst in others, we show our worst character. >> reporter: because he cooperated with investigators, the judge decided that 52-year-old william roddie bryan will be eligible for parole after serving 30 years. he recorded the video of the killing. >> mr. bryan isn't the one who brought a gun. he was unarmed. >> reporter: outside the courthouse, friends and family of the victim let out cheers. arbery's mother, who tearfully spoke in court, called today a victory for justice. >> i sat in that courtroom for five weeks straight, but i knew that we would come out with a victory. >> yes. >> i never doubted it. >> and steve, we know these three convicted killers also still face federal charges on civil rights violations. but that moment in the courtroom today when the judge described ahmaud arbery being chased for five minutes. the judge had the entire courtroom sitting in silence for that full minute, and his point was made with that silence. >> reporter: it was. it was a powerful way of putting you in the victim's shoes. and a reminder he's being chased by men in trucks as he ran. and the judge pointed out much of the reason why he was being chased had to do with assumptions based on color. that federal civil rights trial against these same three men begins exactly a month from tonight. david? >> steve osunsami leading us off tonight from georgia. steve, thank you. we turn next here this friday night to the deadly storm slamming into the east. several inchs of snow and treacherous driving in some places. tonight, the brutal cold and threat of black ice in the coming hours. crews in new jersey racing to clear the roads before the commute. inm massachusetts a truck going off the road. blizzard conditions in new england, this is up the coast of maine. here's abc's stephanie ramos tonight. >> reporter: tonight, temperatures plunging after the first major snowstorm of the season strikes to northeast. outside boston, an mbta bus spinning out on the mass pike, blocking traffic for a time. in southeastern massachusetts, this pickup truck going off the road. tragically, the driver did not survive. >> reporter: the new york city area saw snowfall rates of two inches an hour. crews racing to clear nearly a foot of snow in connecticut. >> a lot of folks trying to get to work. we're trying to keep things moving. >> reporter: in new haven, sanitation workers filling in for plow drivers because of covid staffing issues. more than 2,600 flights canceled nationwide, largely due to we thinker and covid related issues. the storm also bringing record-breaking snow to parts of the south on thursday. nashville getting their biggest snowfall in nearly six years. and multiple pileups on kentucky roads. david, bitter cold wind is bringing in arctic air. temperatures are expected to plummet below freezing overnight. drivers will need to be on alert for black ice tonight. david? >> in many cases the temperatures already here. let's get to rob marciano with what's behind all this. hey, rob. >> reporter: hi, david. it's pretty, but the cold air is no joke coming in behind the thing. the center of the storm is over nova scotia. it's bottoming out, intensifying. whipping winds through boston and maine. boston, nearly a foot of snow today. could see that east of cleveland, buffalo. tomorrow morning it's going to feel like single distincts. boston, rochester, detroit, st. louis, feel like below freezing parts of the deep south. next storm shutting down roads with flooding and we turn now to the pandemic. the cdc is concerned with the number of children being hospitalized across the u.s. the numbers spiking and what some authorities are saying to parents who have not vaccinated children 5 and older who are eligible. tonight what the cdc director is now say after so much criticism after recommending that you should isolate for five days instead of ten. here's our chief national correspondent matt gutman tonight. >> reporter: tonight, the cdc is reporting that children under 5 who are too young to get the vaccine are being hospitalized at double the rate than a month ago. in new york, hospital admissions for that age group rising eight fold in the last month. and many of the children in the hospital are also older, eligible for the vaccine, but still have yet to get the shot. >> those children who are hospitalized do not have to be scared, frightened, lying in a hospital bed. they do not have to be there. thousands of children have been vaccinated safely. >> reporter: in massachusetts, 15-year-old kurt ryan passing away tuesday of covid complications after getting sick on christmas. >> he just got progressively worse. like, actually, it wasn't progressive. it was quick. >> reporter: his family did not want to talk about kurt's vaccination status. >> every chance you get, tell the people around you you love them. >> yep and and how much they mean to you, because you never know when's the last time you'll be able to say it. >> reporter: across the country, thousands of schools postponing in-person class or going remote. today in los angeles, parents like irene telling us trying to get testing for their kids is like a part-time job. >> there's nothing available until like two weeks from now. she needs to start school on tuesday. this comes as covid cases break daily pandemic records, and now a more worrisome sign - hospitalizations nearing an all time high. schools in oregon to new hampshire are calling for help from the national guard. >> we have to wake up, america. all work we're doing here, the vast majority is preventable. >> reporter: this icu patient who is unvaccinated said he could have died if it wasn't for the medical team at dartmouth hitchcock. >> i will do anything i can to be to voice of people that don't understand you've got to get vaccinated. >> reporter: today, the cdc director defending those controversial guidelines shortening the isolation from five days without recommending a test. that after the american medical association called them confusing and accused the cdc of risking further spread of the virus. >> i have deep respect for the ama, but i will also say we've heard a lot of support for ongoing guidance from public health partners, other clinical and laboratory partner as well. >> reporter: later, the cdc director acknowledging the confusion, but reiterating that in a pandemic, the situation is constantly evolving. >> this is hard and i'm committed to continue to improve as we learn more about science and continue to communicate that with all of you. >> reporter: david, there's been another concerning study from the cd. data from the first year of the pandemic showing that children diagnosed with covid were then two and a half times more likely to receive a diagnosis of diabetes in the months after infection. scientists are not sure why that is. david? >> yeah, we'll follow that potential link in the months to come, matt. thank you. overseas to a dramatic escalation in the unrest in kazakhstan. the president there giving shoot-to-kill orders to anti-government reprotesters without warning. here's ian pannell tonight. >> reporter: tonight, the orde from kazakhstan's president to shoot protesters without warning. anti-government protests sparked by high gas prices are now focused on political change. today, more russian troops arriving. a few thousand believed to be mobilized after a plea from the beleaguered president. the authoritarian regime using live fire, as have some protesters. at least 25 demonstrators and 18 security personnel killed. although the real number is likely higher. protesters setting the mayor's office ablaze. the presidential office also attacked. with vehicles burned, windows shatters. the scale of the damage speak to the per osty of the clashes and so many who have lived under dictatorship for decades. >> tonight, secretary blinken warning the cad act stan government about asking for russian help? >> reporter: yeah, that's right. perhaps positioning himself ahead of talks with russia and ukraine next week, secretary blinken saying to kazakhstan, if you're asking the kremlin for help, asking the russians into your house is hard, but getting them to leave is even harder. >> ian pannell, thank you. back here at home, we celebrate the trailblazing actor, sidney poitier. the tributes pouring in tonight from all over the world. that moment you might remember with president obama and tonight here, in his own words. that his mother always told him. ♪ amen ♪ ♪ amen ♪ >> the gifted hollywood actor, the civil rights trailblazer. >> why, you black -- >> go ahead and say it. >> his roles did not ignore the times. >> i drive a man around in his limousine and say, yes, sir, and no, sir, and shall i take the drive sir? that ain't no kind of a job. >> he was born in miami and raised in the bahamas. he'd move to harlem as a teenager and work as a dishwasher, trying out for roles, remembering being turned away by a director. >> i did decide then at that moment on that street that i'm going to be an actor just to show him that he was wrong. >> reporter: he learned a place in a theater acting school after volunteering to work as a janitor without pay, and later from new york to hollywood. in 1950 at the age of 22, playing a doctor in the ground breaking film on racism, "no way out." >> there is a possibility i killed him, isn't there? >> don't be a feel. >> that i was careless in a spinal tab. >> his role of quiet dignity and determination, which is how he conducted himself in life. >> i became involved in civil rights out of a necessity to survive, and i think my interest started many years ago, never as intensely, however, as it exists today. >> reporter: in 1965, he played handyman homer smith in lillys of the field. >> get yourself another boy. >> the winner is sidney poitier. >> reporter: that role earning him the academy award, becoming the first black actor to win in a leading role. >> it is a long journey to this moment. >> reporter: by 1967, he had become one of hollywood's top leading men. >> what do they call your man? >> they call me mr. tibs. >> reporter: "in the heat of the night". >> there was a time when i could have had you shot. >> reporter: that same year -- >> mom. this is john. >> i'm so pleased to meet you. >> reporter: in "guess who's coming to dinner", part of an interracial couple pushing through boundaries. >> well, we have this problem -- i fell in love with your daughter. >> the conversation with his father. >> i'm your son. i love you. i always have and i always will. but you think of yourself as a colored man. i think of myself as a man. >> reporter: in 2002, awarded an honorary oscar for his life's work. he thanked those in hollywood who took a chance on him and who believe in the a changing america. >> those filmmakers persevered, speaking through their art to the best in us and i benefitted from their effort. the industry benefitted from their effort. america benefitted from their effort. [ applause ] >> reporter: it was that same night halle berry, the first black lead actress to win an oscar. denzel would lead, too. >> chasing sidney, they finally give it to me. they give it to him the same night. i'll always be chasing you sidney. i'll always be following in your footst footsteps. there's nothing i would rather do, sir. >> reporter: in 2009, poirier receiving the presidential medal of freedom, the nation's highest honor from president barack obama. and the moment the two men who both made history appeared to acknowledge it. tonight, tributes from around the world. oprah winfrey saying for me, the greatest of the great trees has fallen, sidney poirier my honor to have loved him as a friend, machine to have, confida confidant, wisdom teacher. celebrate a man who broke barriers with a quiet steady way, the simple lesson from his mother -- >> always say thank you and please. everywhere i went, it was remarkable how many times thank you and please opened doors. for me. >> reporter: simple, powerful advice. and later here, sidney poirier and what he told our robin roberts. what he said we owe to ourselves before we go. his powerful words coming up later. next here tonight, the heartbreaking news, the high school hockey player diagnose after a collision on the ice. he looks more like dad every time i see him. -dad is old. -right. so, your message said you wanted to talk about insurance? i said, "i want you to talk about insurance." well, most people know that bundling home and auto -saves you money. -keep saying your words. but did you know that new customers who bundle and save with progressive can save an average of $800? shh. sleeping baby. i love you, too. ready to shine from the inside out? try nature's bounty hair, skin and nails gummies. the number one brand to support beautiful hair, glowing skin, and healthy nails. try jelly bean vitamins with two times the biotin. 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ask your health care provider today about once-weekly ozempic®. ♪ oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! ♪ you may pay as little as $25 for a 3-month prescription. finally tonight, sidney poirier and what he told our robin roberts about questions to ask before leaving. >> we have to look back across those years and ask ourselves, how much did i try to improve not just myself, but the environment? somehow the universe is not designed for us to be here in perpetuity. but before we go, and when we go, we owe it to ourselves but particularly to the past. we owe it to ourselves to go at a level where we are not so bad at all, that we are pretty okay. >> pretty okay. that's fitting. because your last words in the book, if you don't mind, are very similar to what you were just saying. >> hope is the eternal tool in the survival kit for mankind. we open for a little luck. we hope for a better tomorrow. we hope to somehow get out of this world alive. and if we can't and don't, then it is enough to rejoice in our short time here and to remember how much we loved the view. >> his modest elegant >> holding a better bay area, moving forward and finding solutions. this is abc 7 news. >> the new normal. dan: president biden pushes back against efforts to normalize covid-19. anchor 2: bay area teachers teas back on what they say are dangerous conditions as omicron continues to surge. dan: thank you for watching. you are watching abc 7 news at 4:00. anchor 2: california reported more than 103,000 new cases within the last day and the seven-day test positivity rate is at 21.7 percent. a new record. dan: also in the east, more patients admitted to hospitals. 1500 of those are in the icu. anchor 2: take a look at this long line of people in santa rosa. abc ■7 was at the community center where people were waiting over two hours today in the rain to get a covid test. man has skyrocketed and the command -- and the company doing the testing says they are struggling to get the supplies. sonoma county says cases have tripled. dan: in oakland, a car caravan in support of teachers. teachers are demanding more safety protocols at schools amid the omicron variant surge. our senior education reporter is in the newsroom. oakland unified has already met some of those demands. reporter: that is right. late last night, the bargaining team agreed to extend the covid leave so teachers would not have to use up their sick days. and the kn94 masks have been ordered for students but still