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Trial of Former Uvalde Police Officer; Measles Cases in the U.S.; Vinyl Program Brings Comfort to Ill Patients; Expedition Focuses on Doomsday Glacier. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired January 02, 2026 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[09:30:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Officer Adrian Gonzaels was among the officers who responded to the scene. Texas legislatures have called that law enforcement response an abject failure. Now faces 29 counts of abandoning and endangering a child. That day, 19 children and two teachers were killed. Prosecutors say officers failed to confront the gunman for more than an hour. The defense argues the scene was chaotic and confusing.

With me now CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Joey Jackson.

It's good to see you here, Joey.

Joey, this is such a big case, tied to that Uvalde school massacre. You're seeing the suspect in this facing 29 counts. I do wonder, what does the prosecution have to prove to secure a conviction on those charges in this case? There is a lot of video, there are a lot of reports, a report from Texas legislators. Will all that come in?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Sara, good morning to you.

It's a significant prosecution and prosecutors are really placing this on not an act but an omission, indicating, number one, that you are, as an officer, responsible at that school, responsible for the care, custody and control of those children. Number two, predicated upon your failure to act when you were trained to do so, you place them in immediate harm. Number three, based upon the knowledge that you had at the time with respect to there being an active shooting, your training in terms of active shooting, your knowledge is the general whereabouts of the actual shooter, that because of your negligence, that is your duty to either know where the general location was and -- or should know and not act, and your recklessness in not really confronting the specific shooter and allowing for this 77 minute delay. It led, according to prosecutors, to just such a significant tragedy.

And so, prosecutors are basing their real prosecution upon the fact that there was a duty here that that officer had, that that duty was violated by virtue of not engaging, and that as a result of that lack of engagement, this was the result. And so that's what they're going to have to establish, Sara. And as we know, because this has just torn this community apart, and really the nation focused on this, there's been a change of venue here and defense attorneys are really going with the notion that if there's a change of venue, they have more of an opportunity to at least get their client, as we look at there, a fair shot.

SIDNER: Yes, out of Uvalde to Corpus Christi, where arguably everybody has heard of this case. But as you always say, if they can look at the facts and agree to just look at the facts in the case, then they can put -- be put on that jury. It still may be take a while to get a jury in this case.

I do want to ask you about the defense here. Gonzales has pleaded not guilty. His attorney is arguing he -- look, he's been unfairly singled out when there were dozens upon dozens of officers on the scene. How might that defense work?

JACKSON: So, I think, Sara, that that's more of a legal argument. The defense has indeed filed motions in that regard. They're noting, right, with 400 officers, why me? And the answer that has been given to that is that you, as a school resource officer, had this specific duty to really engage. You, as a police resource officer, being the first on the scene, making an assessment inconsistent with your training, which shows, look, the engagement is prioritized over evacuating or anything else. We do know that the chief as well is facing a prosecution that's been delayed. And so those are more legal arguments.

What the judge has said is that your response as to whether it was objectively reasonable is going to be left to a jury. But I do think, at the end of the day, regardless of the outcome, obviously if he's acquitted there's nothing to see here. If he's convicted, there will continue to be the legal arguments as to whether a peace officer should have immunity, as to whether he should have been selectively prosecuted, et cetera. But prosecutors are saying, look, this is unacceptable, and they're using it not only here, but for the deterrent value moving forward as these shootings unfortunately are occurring across the country.

SIDNER: Yes. No one cares more about this case than all of the families who lost someone that day. And I know that they'll be watching very closely.

Joey Jackson, thank you so much. I do appreciate it. And Happy New Year to you. Glad to see you.

All right, ahead, the United States currently seeing its highest level of measles cases in three decades. The alarming spike threatening to remove the elimination status of the virus. What you need to know.

Plus, can the sweet sound of a vinyl record offer medical benefits? One Texas doctor is determined to find out. You'll meet him, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:39:08]

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: The number of measles infections last year was the highest the United States has seen in decades. And now public health experts fear the continuous outbreak of the cases we saw in 2025 could strip the nation of its long held elimination status.

I want to bring in CNN health reporter Jacqueline Howard, who joins us now.

So, Jacqueline, can you just tell us exactly how long measles cases -- or exactly how many, excuse me, measles cases were reported in the United States in 2025, and how that differs from years past?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Omar, so in 2025 there were at least 2,065 cases of measles. So, we're talking about more than 2,000 cases of measles have been confirmed here in the United States in the year 2025. That's according to the latest CDC data.

The reason why this is so concerning, why this number matters so much.

[09:40:00]

The last time we saw more than 2,000 cases in a year was back in 1992. So, decades ago. And keep in mind, in the year 2000, measles was declared eliminated here in the United States. That means there has been no sustained transmission of the same measles virus strain for at least a year.

So, there are concerns now that we could see that elimination status lost because when we think about the measles outbreaks that happened in 2025, the cases that we've seen, the possibility of those outbreaks being linked, that is what puts our elimination status really at risk here, Omar.

JIMENEZ: And, Jacqueline, what happens if elimination status is lost? What are the stakes here?

So, there is no, like, formal penalty. But according to the World Health Organization, here's what WHO says. Quote, "there are no formal consequences of losing measles elimination status. However, having measles again as an endemic disease will have a profound negative impact on communities, including preventable deaths among some of the most vulnerable populations," end quote.

So, Omar, the real consequence is we could see more people getting sick. Sadly, more people dying from measles. Again, this is an illness that was completely eliminated in the year 2000. And now we're seeing this risk raising its head again. We're kind of moving backwards when it comes to measles here in this country, Omar.

JIMENEZ: Yes. Jacqueline Howard, appreciate the reporting, as always.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, sometimes the smallest thing can bring the biggest comfort. And for some palliative patients at Dell Seton Medical Center in Austin, Texas, that comfort now comes on vinyl.

JIMENEZ: And it sounds so good. Doctors and volunteers roll a turntable, as you are seeing here, literally into the room and let patients choose the songs that remind them of their life beyond the hospital walls. The doctor behind this idea has seen those moments firsthand. Dr. Tyler Jorgensen joins us now.

Doctor, thank you for taking the time. I really appreciate it.

Can you just tell us a little bit about how this idea started and what have you seen the effects to be firsthand?

DR. TYLER JORGENSEN, PALLIATIVE CARE PHYSICIAN, DELL MEDICAL SCHOOL: Absolutely. First of all, thank you so much for having me on. It's so fun to talk about this.

When I was transitioning from practicing emergency medicine to palliative medicine, I was always looking for ways to connect with my patients, to find the human inside. And despite their serious illnesses, find anything I could do to help them feel better. And music just turned out to be a super powerful tool. So, I started, you know, brainstorming ways that we might be able to bring music to the bedside.

I love vinyl records. And I thought, well, how would this go? So, I pitched it to my team, and they loved it. And we've been spinning vinyl for our patients ever since.

SIDNER: So, do the patients choose sort of what they want and have you had any like wild choices that you weren't expecting? Because these patients are, some of them end of life care, some of them are really in advanced stages of a disease.

JORGENSEN: That's exactly right. So, we try to make sure that our library represents all of our patients, represents their different cultural backgrounds, their different life experiences. And so, we interview or we check in with the families and the patients beforehand. You know, what might you like, what might your loved one like, and we'll grab a selection of records from that category of music and then bring it in.

And then what's really nice about this program is, its their show from then on. They get to steer it. So, they flip through our collection of old country albums, our collection of classic rock, and they pick, oh man, mom would really like this, or, man, I think this would really lift her spirits today. And then they pick it. They put it on. They spin it for the patient.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, one of the beautiful things I think about this is, you know, we sort of talked about this, reminding people of their lives outside of these walls. And just, in the work that you do generally, how big of an issue is that for trying to find ways for patients, not only to keep their spirits up, but also to remember some of the great times they have had aside from family members just coming to visit and things like that?

JORGENSEN: You know, I think that's such an important aspect of what we do. I think -- I think all of us in medicine need to remember that the patients we care for are humans first and they have a whole life that brought them to this point. You know, some good, some bad. And we want to connect them to that. The hospital can be a very dehumanizing and sterile environment. And

we want to bring warmth, we want to bring joy, we want to bring memories. And so, the music just transports people. And when the music is played on a record player, it really transports them because it's so nostalgic and just takes people back to the family living room, back to their childhood.

[09:45:07]

And you know what's fun about it too is it's creating a new story. It's creating a new memory and bringing people together over a shared listening experience.

SIDNER: It's pretty incredible. They're using it for -- you're using it for this. They've been using it for Alzheimer's patients as well.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

SIDNER: Music can heal and it's just beautiful to see you doing this in this particular setting where people start saying, oh, well, let's just make them comfortable. This is one way to do that.

JIMENEZ: And for good reason. It looks out of place in a hospital, which sounds intentional because there's a little bit of warmth in what is typically, I think, a very cold environment sometimes in the hospital. And you're making it happen.

Dr. Tyler Jorgensen, appreciate you being here.

All right, still ahead for us --

JORGENSEN: Well, thank you soi much.

JIMENEZ: Of course.

Still ahead, Antarctica's "Doomsday Glacier" showing signs of rapid melting. A group of scientists is now sailing to find out if it can be saved. We're going to talk to one next, live from the Antarctic Ocean about what it means for the fate of the planet. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:50:26]

JIMENEZ: The "Doomsday Glacier." Maybe not the thing you want to hear about to start out the new year, but you need to. It's important. It serves as a vitally important measuring tool on the state of the climate crisis. And the Antarctic glacier is roughly the size of Florida and nearly a mile thick. But because of climate change, warm, underwater currents are melting sheets of ice really at an alarming pace, threatening to raise sea levels by over two feet if it melts completely, which would leave a potentially devastating impact on the planet. And now a group of scientists is starting its year with a two- month journey to the iceberg to better understand just how dire the pace of melting ice is.

SIDNER: So, one of those on this journey is CNN aviation and aerospace analyst Miles O'Brien. He joins us now from the expedition.

This is incredible. I'm so excited for you. I know this is a bucket list for you.

I am curious, oftentimes it's pretty wild trying to get to this area. How close are you? What are you seeing?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION AND AEROSPACE ANALYST: So, right now, Sara and Omar, we are on the 62nd parallel of latitude and we're kind of going almost due east because the swing south is being dictated by what the sea ice looks like.

We're on an icebreaker from the Korea Polar Research Institute. And the captain is very astute at getting through the ice. And he's been looking at the satellite images and we're kind of doing an end around to make our way through the ice.

They tried to get to the Thwaites Glacier four years ago with this vessel and they couldn't make it because the sea ice was too thick. A lot of this has to do with the wind patterns. It kind of packs sea ice in. So, with -- if all goes well, we should be approaching that ice and starting plowing through it to get to Thwaites in about two or three days.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, once you're there, I mean, obviously the journey there is one thing. We're showing some of the images on screen now. I mean, what are you all trying to find, uncover that might help with what we know to be a rapid pace of melting here?

O'BRIEN: Yes, Omar. We -- you know, we know Thwaites is melting much faster than any other glacier in the neighborhood so to speak. And it accounts for about two feet of sea level itself. But behind it is a river of ice that would account for another eight feet. And once Thwaites melts, it's like the cork in a champagne bottle. The rest of that is going to come through. So, it's of great consequence.

But no one has ever gotten a temperature reading right at the key spot where the glacier meets the land, it meets the ocean. And so they're going to drill a hole at that spot, drop down every kind of instrument you could imagine, and then leave behind an instrument that will offer continuous data on temperature so they can finally get an idea of what's happening, how quickly it's being eaten away from below, and then make a forecast as to when it might really collapse. It really is a question of when probably.

SIDNER: And just, you know, from what you have been studying and what you have been witnessing, how difficult is it to get there, a, and, b, what will it mean when you get this data, when you get a real, real timeline of exactly when this glacier will collapse?

O'BRIEN: Well, hopefully the world will listen. And this data is important because up till now scientists have been, you know, giving fairly educated guesses based on satellite information. Getting here is really difficult, Sara.

We're on this icebreaker. It takes ten days from New Zealand just to get to Thwaites. We have to plow through the ice. We have two helicopters on board which will ferry the equipment and the people, set up a camp right on this so-called grounding line and drill that hole. There's no other way to do this. You can't fly there because the ice is too fractured with crevasses. You can't land. You can't drive there. And so, this is really the only way to do it.

So, when they told me, you're going to get a trip to Antarctica finally after all these years and said, but it's two months, I was like, oh, OK, careful what you wish for. But here I am on the boat enjoying every minute.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, you're with a group there of researchers. And, you know, you sort of talked about the difficulty in even getting to Antarctica to begin with. But can you just give us some context for the efforts that have -- that have taken place, not just in the Arctic and Antarctic areas, to try and study some of these places that have previously been deemed unreachable.

[09:55:06]

O'BRIEN: Well, this is why I love this beat so much, Omar, is that, you know, scientists will do anything to get their data, right? And here we are grinding our way through the southern ocean. It's kind of amazingly calm. I don't know if you can see it behind me. It's like a lake, which is not what we expected, by the way.

SIDNER: Yes. It's -- yes.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

O'BRIEN: But these people are so committed to getting this information. And when you think about it, this is a two month all in voyage. And in some cases the science -- the amount of time they have for science is like a day, if that.

SIDNER: Oh, wow.

O'BRIEN: So, it's a tremendous amount of effort to get just a tiny little glimpse as to what's going on beyond what we can see from space.

SIDNER: I don't want to sound like your mother, but what are you eating? Like, what's for dinner?

O'BRIEN: A lot of kimchi. A lot of -- on the Korea vessel we're eating a lot of kimchi. The food is fantastic I will say. I'm going to give them very high marks on TripAdvisor. It's very -- it's excellent. We've done very well.

SIDNER: Kimchi is really good for you. I love that stuff.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

SIDNER: I could eat bowls of it. I love it.

JIMENEZ: Yes, yes, yes, you can't get enough. O'BRIEN: It is. It is. I feel great.

SIDNER: Miles O'Brien --

JIMENEZ: You look good. Stay warm out there. Stay warm. Good luck. We'll check in with you soon.

O'BRIEN: All right. (INAUDIBLE).

JIMENEZ: Miles O'Brian everyone.

O'BRIEN: All right.

SIDNER: That was really cool. I love that.

JIMENEZ: I know. Really awesome.

SIDNER: All right, thank you for joining us. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "SITUATION ROOM," up next.

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