. >> and i'm john berman. friday, january 18th. and, man, what a moment ma. for years, lance armstrong cheated, lance armstrong lied. but last night in big public fashion he came clean. in a gripping, surreal interview with oprah, he told oprah point blank he doped to win each of his seven consecutive tour de france titles. he systematically died about doping and ruthlessly attacked his accusers. the 90-minute interview began by cutting to the chase. simple yes or no questions. >> let's start with the questions that people around the world have been waiting for you to answer and for now i'd just like a yes or a no. >> okay. >> okay? this whole conversation, we have a lot of time, will be about the details. yes or no? did you ever take banned substances to enhance your cycling performances? >> yes. >> was one of those banned substances epo? >> yes. >> did you ever blood dope or use blood transfusions to enhance your cycling performance? >> yes. >> did you ever use any other banned substances, like testosterone, cortizone, or human growth hormone? >> yes. >> ye

i'm john berman. >> and i'm christine romans. >>> four deaths as parts of the northern u.s. deal with blistering winter cold. people in some areas bracing for the coldest day in two years. bunling up, covering up everything to protect skin from subzero windchills. minnesota, wisconsin, and the great lakes are locked in the deep freeze, which could stick around until the weekend. and we are tracking the bitter chill. i went to college in iowa, these are the kinds of days where you walk across campus and you can't feel anything, even with gloves, mittens, snow pants. it is cold. >> those are the days when are you maybe like i should stay in the house for my own safety. are you right, christine. it is going to be bitterly cold from areas in the upper midwest. we are dealing with windchills minus 25 to minus 35. even in the mid-atlantic and new england. they will be shivering. we have windchill warnings for parts of new england. and we could see them drop down to minus 4 degrees. when we talk about weather like this, it could prove to be deadly. a bit of a warming trend. it's st

happy new year, i'm john berman. soledad o'brien is off today. >> good morning i'm christine romans. >> and i'm ali velshi. it is tuesday, january 1st, a special fiscal cliff edition of "starting point" begins right now. >>> our starting point in the special fiscal cliff edition of "starting point" is breaking news, a fiscal cliff deal struck in the senate overnight. now our paycheck and the u.s. economy are in the hands of the house of representatives. this is the latest, a bill crafted by vice president joe biden and minority leader mitch mcconnell passed 89-6 margin just after 2:00 in the morning. the republican controlled house has agreed to consider it later in the morning but it is anyone's guess how that will go. if the house votes yes the measure would generate about $600 billion in new revenues over the next ten years. that is a big if, if you listen to what republican congressman phil gingrey said this morning. >> reporter: at one point the live and divide another day you have to dig in your heels and say b

. >>> other news, john berman with a look at that. >> thank you so much. i can't get the lance armstrong thing out of my head. >>> big news overseas. the hostage crisis in al jaera, entered its third day, and british, norwegian, japanese, believed to be among those held by militants in algeria. bp confirm some of their employees unaccounted for. british officials said there were a significant number of british victims. david cameron spoke out this morning about the crisis. here are some what he said. >> algerian prime minister later last night told me that the first operation was complete. but this is a large and complex site and they are pursuing terrorists and hor aijss in other areas of site. algerian prime minister told him they are looking at all possible routes to resolve the crisis. >> leon pan 80 said "the united states is working around the clock to ensure the safe return of our citizens." cnn matthew chance joins us live from london. >> david cameron within the past few minutes, british prime minister, coming out, giving the latest update we've h

john berman. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. it's january, 31st. it's 5:00 a.m. in the east. let's get started. the next target is the east coast. the long line of violent and deadly storms moves further east now. tornadoes, strong winds and flooding are all threatening the south. all the way up into new england now. the front has already led to a staggering 400 reports of severe wind, and also 20 tornadoes over two days stretching from texas to pennsylvania. among the hardest-hit spots, georgia, about 60 miles north of atlanta. a news crew for wsb witnessed a dramatic tornado touchdown. >> we could see circulation in the clouds right here. it looks like a tornado right near downtown cartersville at this moment. going towards i-75. again, a tornado. >> some more on what that twister left behind in a moment. so one person died as did a man in tennessee who we now know is 47-year-old vernon hartsell. he was killed when a tree fell on to a shed that he was inside. miguel marquez has more on the devastation

. >> and i'm john berman. a lot going on. >>> police in alabama involved in an all-nightstandoff with a suspected gunned off after he shot a school bus driver and took a child this is happening in midland city. our affiliate wfxa says the bus driver is dead. the suspect described as a man in his late 60s grabbed a 6-year-old boy off the bus and took him to his nearby home. they have been holed up in an underground bunker ever since. a reporter with whdn is live in midland city with the latest. josh what is the latest? >> reporter: i can tell you, as of this hour, the suspect, jimmy lee dikes and his 6-year-old hostage are held on the underground bunker on dikes' property. even though the child is still being held, he is physically okay. one law enforcement official indicated that the little boy has special needs and is perhaps autistic. the fbi is now in charge of the operation, which has been going on for over 12 hours. yesterday, this all started after dikes allegedly boarded a dale county school bus and dem

i'm john berman. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. it is january 8th. we have new details about the immediate aftermath of the aurora theater shooting massacre. a police officer testifying that the alleged shooter seemed very detached from it all. the details are coming out at a preliminary hearing for james holmes. other officers described the chaos and all the confusion at the scene as they tried to help victims. one officer saying he thought holmes, who was wearing a helmet and a gas mask, was a fellow cop. >> more witnesses will take the stand today. this hearing will ultimately determine whether there is probable cause for trial. criminal defense attorney joey jackson joins us to talk about all the latest developments. joey, yesterday's testimony focused on the immediate aftermath of the shooting. we heard from police officers who came upon james holmes first. and this is how they describe him. they called him "very calm and moving with purpose." another officer said, "it was like there weren't normal emotional responses." it seems, like i said, a

i'm john berman. >> good morning, i'm brook baldwin. soledad is off this morning. we want to begin with our starting point, a new beginning for the kids of newtown. sandy hook elementary students heading back to school this morning. a look at what's new and how adults, teachers, parents, helping them cope. >>> meanwhile

. >> i'm john berman. we will start with the flu. it is spreading with a vengeance across the u.s. not only did the flu season get off to a really early start, cases are proving to be more severe than last year. the latest flu advisory says 41 states are dealing with widespread activity, more than 2,200 people are hospitalized. the hardest-hit states, pennsylvania and south carolina. each reporting 22 flu-related deaths. illinois now says they had six deaths. cases in south dakota spiked, almost doubling in the span of a week. it's so ban in boston, they declared a public health emergency. since october there have been 700 confirmed cases in boston, a rate ten times higher than last year. >> we've seen 18 deaths reported to us so far this season. associated with influenza-like illness. predominantly among older individuals. what we are hearing from clinicians all over the state is that strains of flu that people are preventing with is quite severe. we're seeing rates of hospitalization, certainly higher than the last two years. >> the cdc says the flu strain going around is tougher

>> that's worse. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. >> i'm john berman. friday, january 25th. 31 minutes past the hour. down south, bracing for this arctic cold. snow, dangerous ice expected across the southeast. as this weather system moves in. freezing rain forced salt lake city international airport to shut down for a time yesterday. a mess everywhere. jennifer delgado live in nashville, tennessee. where they are getting ready. >> hi, john. hi, sfwlor azoraida. you can see the salt trucks coming through. they have plenty of salt to choose from. we haven't seen any rain or freezing rain the last 30, 45 minutes. roads are wet. motorists going out there this morning, the threat for black ice and, of course, icy roads will be great. we have been seeing rain. if we go to the radar, we're starting to see more developing to the east of nashville and also seeing more starting to the west. this threat will last through about 10:00 a.m. when temperatures will still be below freezing. joining us is beryl tidwell, with the tennessee department of transportation. t

"early start" co-anchor john berman sticks around with us. starting point is nice big showdown. me talking college football. my poor husband is terrified. two of the most celebrated college football programs in the country are on a collision course for the bcs championship. top ranked notre dame, a decided underdog, in spite of being number one, trying to keep its perfect season intact against second ranked alabama. carlos diaz is in miami looking ahead to the clash of these iconic college teams. >> reporter: thanks, soledad. they're talking about this bcs game being one of the most anticipated in decades. alabama going for its second national championship in a row against notre dame. its third title in four years. notre dame rising from the ashes. they haven't been in this position in 24 years. trying to regain the glory of the past. you have mantei te'o, the leader of notre dame, on the defense, loding his grandmother and his girlfriend to cancer and then fighting back to lead the team, to be a heisman trophy runner-up. that's a great story there. on alabama's side, their qb a

john berman with a couple of stories that caught our attention this morning. check out this matchup image of late apple founder steve jobs and actor ashton kutcher. it's kutcher on the left, jobs is on the right. kutcher tweeted out the picture thanking the sundance film festival for premiering "jobs" in which he plays the apple guru. the movie will be in theaters in april. >>> their music was really the soundtrack of the world war ii era. ♪ he's the boogie woogie bugle boy of company b ♪ ♪ they made him play the bugle >> singer patty andrews, the last survivor of the andrews sisters passed away yesterday in california, she was 94 years old. the andrews sisters sold more than 80 million records with hits like this "boogie woogie bugle boy of company b." >> end of an era, thank you. >>> we all need a pep talk, the opening words from a video by kid president, that would be a 9-year-old third grader from tennessee, his name is robby novak and his videos have been seen by more than 5 million people inspiring folks to make the world awesome and to be a party.

welcome to "early start," i'm john berman. >> january 14th. 6:00 a.m. in the east. let's get started here. first up, all but three states in the grip of a flu epidemic. the only states spared widespread flu are california, hawaii, mississippi. in new york getting a flu shot is becoming tougher and tougher. there's been a run on the vaccine many some pharmacies and urgent care centers since governor cuomo declared a public health emergency. senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen joins us now live, and, elizabeth, what exactly do health officials mean when they call this an epidemic? people get confused and scared. >> both of those things happen. let me clarify and calm down at the same time. so what cdc officials do is they look at illnesses and how many people are dying, and when it reaches a certain level, a certain threshold, they declare it an epidemic, and i want to say that typically every year there's an epidemic. sometimes to make it sound like this year is different, typically of year is an epidemic. the words shouldn't make you scared. however, this i

i'm john berman. >> i'm zorai aida sambolin. >>> "starting point" starts with right now. >> you are watching "starting point." breaking news, storms spreading a path of destruction, widespread damage from kentucky to tennessee and tornado warnings are still in effect right now. >>> a child held hostage after a man boards a school bus, shoots the driver, grabs a 6-year-old boy and takes him to an underground bunker he has been building for years. >>> rally on. markets nearing an all-time high. why? can it last? i'll explain. >>> life after politics, or maybe not? with only three days left as secretary of state, hillary clinton talks to cnn about her plans for the future and answers keep changing many. >>> and we'll speak to dan shaughnessy about new allegations of performance enhancing drug abuse in baseball. florida senator bill nelson. the two doctors behind the double arm transplant for a veteran. and the screen writer of "life of pi" will join us. "starting point" begins right now. >>> "stashti i"starting point," violent thunderstorms moving to the east. widespread damage in tennessee. on

john berman, excellent reporting. cnn's coverage of super bowl xlvii what it means only here on cnn. twins. i didn't see them coming. i have obligations. cute obligations, but obligations. i need to rethink the core of my portfolio. what i really need is sleep. introducing the ishares core, building blocks for the heart of your portfolio. find out why 9 out of 10 large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. risk includes possible loss of principal. delicious. but say i press a few out flat... add some beef sloppy joe sauce... and cheese fold it all up and boom! i just made an unbeatable unsloppy joe pillsbury grands biscuits. let the making begin. >>> between 40 and 50 cars and semis piled up on interstate 70 outside indianapolis closing the highways in both directions. at least seven people are injured, some of them seriously. all

i'm zoraida sambolin. >> and i'm john berman. preventing another newtown, another aurora, another tucson. later this morning, survivors of gun violence along with gun safety groups are meeting with vice president joe biden, biden is leading the task force on guns. lonny phillips will be there. in july, his stepdaughter was one of 12 people killed in the mass shooting in aurora, colorado. thank you for being with us this morning. we continue to be sorry for your loss, sir. >> thank you. thank you for having me. >> what do you intend to say to the vice president when you meet with him today? >> you know, i don't have any plan. i would like to at least tell him my story. and put a face on the tragedies and try to let the task force know that we will do everything. i'm working with some other groups. brady campaign to prevent gun violence, illegal mayors, anybody else i can work with to help stem this horrible massacre that is going on in our country. >> the white house is considering a number of steps. let me read you some of the th

john berman has a look at top stories. john. >>> thanks, soledad. president obama turning to white house chief of staff to be the next treasury secretary. the nomination is expected this afternoon. he's had two stints os direct are of management and budgets. >>> in colorado a judge will decide if james holmes goes on trial. holmes is accused of opening fire inside the movie theater in aurora last july killing 12 and wounding dozens. prosecution shown that holmes has taken pictures of the theater prior to the shooting, and portraits he had taken of himself posing with guns. >>> a storm has hit large area of the middle east. that stretches from jordan through lebanon and into turkey. but the worst of the storm is being felt in syria where civil war forced thousands to live in dire conditions in refugee camps and makeshift shelters without heat. a lost suffering for people already suffering. >>> all right. john. thank you. when we come back, a.j. hammer head of "showbiz tonight." we'll have announcement and reaction and insiders and the host himself. s

"early start" co-anchor john berman sticks around with us this morning. let's start with you, john, and then we'll get to other stories. >>> we'll begin with breaking news out of the great britain. a british airways flight from houston headed to heathrow had to make an emergency landing in wales. there was a technical problem. we're still getting details on exactly what went wrong. we'll bring you those as soon as they come into us. >>> we have new information out of egypt as violence rages there. a state run newspaper says a young man has died after getting hit with bird shot near tahrir square, this as egypt's president mohamed morsi declares a limited state of emergency because of the recent violence and suggests more action is possible. he has imposed a 30-day curfew in three cities along the suez canal where protests have broken out since friday. morsi has invited 11 political party members to meet today to talk about problems in egypt, as opposed to expressing anger. you're looking at express anger right now. >>> going to be snowy, icy rain, just pl

. >> john berman. >> spent a year of my life with tiger woods. >> did you really? >> after the scandal, so, yeah. >> should be discussed. >> will be discussed later on. >>> ahead, gone without a trace. a new york mother disappears in turkey. up next, michael grimm joins us with the latest on this family's desperate search. [ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation, so i used my citi thankyou card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? and with all the points i've been earning, i was able to get us a flight to our favorite climbing spot even on a holiday weekend. ♪ things are definitely looking up. [ male announcer ] with no blackout dates, you can use your citi thankyou points to travel whenever you want. visit citi.com/thankyoucards to apply. to travel whenever you want. a hybrid? most are just no fun to drive. now, here's one that will make you feel alive. meet the five-passenger ford c-max hybrid. c-max says ha. c-max says wheeee. which is what you get, don't you see? cause c-max has lots more hor

i'm john berman. >> and i'm brook baldwin. soledad back monday morning. "starting point," getting down to business. the newly sworn-in congress tackles the hurricane sandy aid bill today. will the vote tear republicans apart, again. >>> the december jobs report. just 90 minutes away. how will holiday hiring affect the numbers? what does this mean for the health of our economy? >>> video you have to see. take a look at this. teenagers trapped on the ice. clinging to life on the tree. the rescue you need to stick around to watch. >> among guests this morning. former ohio congressman steve la tourette, newly sworn in congresswoman tulsi gabbard. mike dewine, tim ferriss and steve rinella. i have one word for you. >> squirrel. >> it's true. we have squirrel. friday, january 4th. "starting point" begins right now. >>> our starting point this morning. in just hours, the brand spanking new 113th congress will vote on a nearly $10 billion aid package for superstorm sandy victims. this after the outrage over speaker boehner canceling the initial vote early this we

. >> and i'm john berman. it's 6:00 a.m. in the east. a helicopter hit a crane and crashed into the street near the thames river. it happened during rush hour. emergency personnel on the scene right now. two people have been killed and two more have been taken to area hospitals. joining us is dan rivers, live at the scene of the crash. what is the latest right now? >> reporter: we've got two dead, one critically injured, eight more with minor injuries. helicopter hit a construction crane that was building a skyscraper. in a very busy part of the city. to the south of the thames, near the u.s. embassy, where it's going to be built. there is a main railway line going through there. it's incredible more people weren't killed or injured. right in the middle of the rush hour. the helicopter hit the crane and fell to the ground. witnesses this morning said they heard a huge explosion. amateur footage of lots of debris on fire on the road below. frankly, increasdible this wasn worse. the crane was shrouded in morning mist and fog and that may h

. >> john berman has been following some of the big, bold names. good morning. >> good morning, soledad. a washington's who's who. all of the powerful people. the most powerful, the families, the president family and the biden's. they will sit there. behind the obamas, the presidential guests, which could include cabinet members, close friends, maybe also big donors as well. former presidents jimmy carter, bill clinton, neither of the bushes coming. george h.w. bush still recovering from illness. you can see them setting up. putting name tags on the chairs. so everyone knows where to sit and laying out the official inauguration ceremony program. a lovely, lovely piece of paper right here. we got one ourselves. lays out the ceremonies that will be happening today in about six hours from now. zoraida. >> all right. thank you very much, john. president obama better get all of his partying done tonight. his second term is in full effect already and that means the potential for great achievements, but if history is any indicator, the second term is wher

i'm joined by se he dad o'brien and john berman, working on a weekend. >> it's interesting to see the crowds behind us grow. they're still sparse from what we're expecting tomorrow. the city slowly shutting down. started to block off streets. i think the excitement is growing. >> people from nebraska, from alabama, from massachusetts, from new york, all over the country coming here to washington, d.c., to be part of this right now. the excitement absolutely growing. >> we've been told a lot that this crowd will not be as big as the one we saw 1.8 million, i've seen sometimes as the highest, it does not lack for enthusiasm. i came back on a plane from orlando and it was full of people going, oh, i'm going up for the inauguration. still the level of excitement still way up. >> many people think, of course, tomorrow is the big day but it's today. today is where the -- >> it's done. >> the official things happen and have happened. >> it's the second term. >> already. we're a couple minutes into it already. >> so far so good. >> vice president joe biden, of course, president barack obama w

my friend john berman, take a look at his instagram photo. remember hash tag #cnn. one more, i think you might recognize the hands, look at the hands, mr. magic wall, john king, with his instagram picture. but our challenge, again to you, you're watching history, we want you to share your history with us. and what's really fascinating, 2009, we got all your pictures from around the world from africa beijing, from gaza. four years instagram didn't even exist. so flash forward to now, 40 million photos uploaded each and every day, so wolf, i don't know if you're on instagram, you need to be. i know you're on the twitter. remember, instagram hash tag #cnn and we'll show all your pictures around the world tomorrow. >> we look forward to that, brooke. thanks very much. not all of the inaugural festivities are geared towards gaults. >> no. that's right. there was a special kids inaugural concert last night, part of the first lady's outreach to military families. we were there as well. and very big stars performed. take a look. >> welcome to the kids' inaugural. >> ladies

john berman is here to show us the president's first four years. take a look. >> the president has been in office for 1,461 days. a lot of highs and a lot of lows. in case you missed any of it, we tried to wrap it all up or most of it, at least, in just four minutes. it starts here. january 20th, 2009. screaming crowds, soaring hopes, towering expectations. what could possibly go wrong, exception the inauguration. >> i barack hussein obama -- >> first year, major action. big stimulus, big bailout, big appointment, big smack. now, where were we? >> reporter: to ease racial tension. he doesn't invite the salahi's to state dinner. chicago loses the olympics. the nation loses an icon. the president wins a peace prize. year two, state of the union, big speech, national audience. what could possibly go wrong? congressman joe wilson doesn't like the president's health care pitch. justice samuel alito doesn't like his campaign finance ideas. vice president gets fresh. kagan in, rahm out, banking reform in, don't ask, don't tell out. republicans in, democra

right to john berman for a look at other stories making news this morning. >>> good morning, soledad. the death toll for the tragic nightclub fire in brazil stands at 235 after a 25-year-old man passed away last night. 74 people remain in critical condition. the ban it is believed the band's use of pyro tech knicks to blame. they used a cheap flare that was to be used outside. >>> and violence continue in egypt. the army chief is warning clashes could lead to the total collapse of that very young government. dozens have died in six days of protests, marking two years since the fall of the last government. >>> her last week as secretary of state. but hillary clinton sat down to talk about her tenure. jill, this was a pretty interesting interview. >> interesting on a number of levels. some policy, but also just her personal life, you know, this last week, three days to goi. friday says hello to secretary of state employees. i asked her can you stop? this is what she said. >> i don't know. it's been my whole life. i've had a job ever since i was 13 years old. when i wasn't in school. i w

john berman, here with a preview in for soledad. >> yesterday, sitting right there. we have a big show on "starting point." immigration reform. comprehensive coverage of everything going on today. illinois senator dick durbin. marsha blackburn and bob menendez, all weighing in on major proposals happening right now. >>> plus, is your college education paying off? why you may be overqualified for your job. something no one has ever said to me, actually. >>> one of my favorites, director and screen writer behind "silver linings playbook" will be here. >> have you seen it? >> i haven't. looking forward to it. >> oh, that and "argo," my favorites. >> thank you, john. >>> the threat of powerful thunderstorms maybe tornadoes, jennifer delgado, tracking the extreme weather threat for us. so much to report, give me the lowdown. >> that's right. seeing severe storms popping up through parts of eastern texas and into central and western parts of oklahoma. we have a tornado watch in effect until noon central time. now, we're talking about some of the storms becoming very strong

john berman, ooh! for the first time, "i'm interested." >> we had ben cardin today. >> c cnn newsroom" with carol costello is here right now. >>> gabrielle giffords, the nation marvelled from a gunman's killing spree. today she launches a new fight for stricter gun laws >>> million-dollar mystery an illinois man suddenly dies after winning the lottery but after toxicology tests show he was poisoned there are new questions this morning, who killed farush kan? >>> alabama rolls to its third bcs tight until four years but it was announcing brent mu mussberger's comments making news this morning. ♪ let's dance, put on your red shirt and dance the blue ♪ >> bowie's back and it's his birthday, ziggy stardust celebrated giving his fans a new song from his new album. ♪ let's dance, while color lights up your face ♪ >> good morning to you. thank you so much for joining me, i'm carol costello. we begin with a debate over gun control and new efforts to force stricter laws. former congresswoman gabrielle g

. >> john berman, with a look at what's on "starting point." >> joe biden said really crazy stuff when it happens. a new day with a new congress. first task will be voting on the $9 billion superstorm sandy relief. we'll speak with tulsi gabbard and steve la tourette, been saying a lot of things, not so happy with the old congress. and two hours away with the big december jobs report. where will the unemployment rate land? kristen romans jumping out of her seat. >> five years' pro visions, i can't wait. >> couldn't sleep last night, so excited. >>> they love their meat. we're talking about the guys from the show "meat eaters." the early word is they are bringing squirrel snack for us. >> are you going to have it? >> i will eat anything. >> i'm going to get my camera out. >> thank you. >>> 53 minutes past the hour. heavy snow blanketing west texas. looks so pretty. especially around el paso. conditions got so intense that large portions of interstate 10 between el paso and ft. stockton to the east closed overnight. let's check in with alexandra steele in the weather center in atlanta fo

. >> jen, john berman here. one of the things the president said yesterday and said over the last several weeks he's not willing to negotiate on the debt ceiling. explain what that means. if republicans say we're not going to vote for it unless you give us spending cuts he's going to say sorry, we're going to default? >> there are a couple of opportunities in the next few months and republicans believe they have a couple different bites at the apple. of course there's the debt limit. they've made no secret of the fact they want to use that as a negotiating tool for spending cuts and there's also the funding of the government, there's the two-month extension of the sequester. what the president was saying was i'm not going to play checken with the debt limit. i've learned my lesson in 2011. this impacts businesses, it impacts markets. it impacts the view of the world of the united states' economy and this isn't something we should be fooling with and again he has been very tough in negotiating and making clear to

fisher talked with john berman about tracking this great white and making sure people know what she's up to. >> when a 16-foot mature white shark over 3500 pounds comes close to a populated area, i feel an obligation to call. when you look at her track observe past two weeks from jacksonville beach to where she is now off cape hatteras, she's been exploring the coast, going in and out, near a lot of estuaries and river mouth. she's moved from charleston, to myrtle beach, rounded cape fear, cape lookout, now at cape hatteras. really expecting her to turn back south. it's a little bit too early for a snow shark to be heading north. we'll feel like she'll head south again. no one knows, this is the first time we've been able to do this ever. >> he named her after his mom, too. how adorable is that? thanks for watching, everyone. "newsroom international" starts right now. >>> welcome to "newsroom international." i'm suzanne malveaux. take you around the world in 60 minutes. an important part of the inaugural festivities under way. president obama, vice president biden, families, dignitari

i'm john berman. >> i'm brooke baldwin. thank you for being with us. now to carol costello, "cnn newsroom" begins right now. >> good morning to you both and good morning to all of you. stories we're watching now in the newsroom, defying gravity and flirting with death the thrill-seeking x games turns somber with word one injured athlete has taken a turn for the words. >>> protecting the nfl shield and nfl player, the league and the union near a deal to fund research on concussions and other injuries. >>> president obama on the road and on message for a chief priority of his second term today, he wraps his arms around a new senate plan to reform the nation's immigration system. >>> and it seems logical if you're a safe driver you should pay less for car insurance. too bad that's not the case anymore. the difference in price quotes might shock you. "the newsroom" starts now. good morning, and thank you so much for being with us. i'm carol costello. we begin with the adrenalin-fueled x games, and new questions this morning as the high-flying competition,

john berman has a closer look on who gets to be on the presidential podium. give us the answers, john. >> the joint chief of staff, they just took their seats and were just minutes away from more big names coming in. when they get to their chairs, what they will find, blanket waiting for them and also a name card. name cards here a collection of the biggest names in washington. we took a picture to show you how the whole thing is laid you on. take a look at this. nothing gets you closer than genetics. front and center, family. michelle and daughters. the biden family. other folks in the front row, members of the supreme court. including the president's own nominees. sonia sotomayor. over here the joint congressional committee on inaugural ceremonies. elite group chaired by senator chuck schumer. other choice seats behind the obamas, presidential guests. friends and family, also some big donors and romney emanuel walk in now. one person not going to be here, the designated survivor. this is the member of the cabinet who does not show up just in case the unimag

now a reporter, russell berman, writing for us today, john boehner is done with one-on-one talks with president obama. getting in the room, they've had a strained relationship, they did go golfing a while back. but the fworkses he's trying to set up as differently because clearly he lost the fworkses this time around. host: he's telling his caucus no more one-on-one negotiations. who is going to negotiate then? guest: after he couldn't pass his bill, boehner said, congress must act. you can't just have democrats sign off on it, republicans control the house and there's enough republicans in the senate to filibuster are you going to bring the whole republican caucus in? and a lot of people would like to have the negotiations broadcast on c-span. host: are mcconnel and bide then team now going forward? guest: it changes all the time. at one time we thought we'd have a deal between biden and cantor. then we thought boehner and obama. reid and mcconnel have a good relationship. they've struck deals before. that's the interesting thing about the new congress. we don't know who the main pri