don't take if allergic to nurtec odt. allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. it's time we all shine. talk to a healthcare provider about nurtec odt from pfizer. - [reporter] an unprecedented look inside the fight against fentanyl. - [officer] two kilos of pure fentanyl powder. that's enough to kill the entire population of the city of fort worth. - [reporter] ride along with a specialized police unit as they strive for change dedicated to loosening the drug's deadly grip on their city. - temperatures today were spot-on perfect. - [reporter] he perfected forecasts for more than 30 years, but is now navigating the devastating effects of a disease taking over his brain. - i've spent some of my time wishing that my voice wasn't gone.

- [reporter] we'll explore the highs and lows of a beloved tv personality's journey- (john cheering) and the enduring support of fans and family. plus, the power of prose. - history sounds like you. the beautiful, black, brilliant you. - [reporter] watch as children carry on the art of persuasive speech and breathe life into history. around the country and in your community, cbs news puts the stories that matter "in focus." - hello everyone and welcome, i'm maurice dubois. over the next half hour, we will travel across the country to uncover stories that have a major impact on our lives, and we'll talk with the storytellers who've dedicated their work to elevating issues and finding solutions. we begin in pittsburgh, where on-air personality, john burnett, spent 36 years at station kdka. he did the weather and co-hosted shows like "evening magazine" and "pittsburgh today live."

he was known for his adventurous and spontaneous spirit and was willing to try anything, like repelling down a high rise, driving a jeep over boulders, or racing his co-host on big wheels. john retired five years ago when he was 65, and since then, he's been facing some serious health challenges. his neurologist says he has suspected cte, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a progressive brain disease caused by repetitive blows to the head. it is suspected, because the only way to definitively diagnose it is with an autopsy of the brain. you see, before john was on tv, he was on another sort of stage, the football field. john's former co-host, kristine sorensen, spoke to john and his family to help everyone better understand cte and help people who may face it. (doorbell ringing) - sorry, we don't want any. (kristine laughing) - he's crazy, as always. aww, how are you? i missed you.

john burnett and i are more than former colleagues and co-hosts, we're true friends. do you like to come out here a lot? - i do, yes. - aw. (laughs) as we've gotten together since he retired, i've seen his short-term memory worsen, as well as his walk and his voice. - well, i've spent some of my time wishing that my voice wasn't gone. it's just, this is the best i can do. this is a good day. my wife, debbie's here. deb, what is wrong with me? what's wrong with my throat? - [kristine] john asks his wife of 48 years, debbie, to help him remember a lot of things, and through it all, he understands what's happening. - [john] oh, she's my brains. somebody would have to be. - [kristine] john's short-term memory has been declining for 10 years, but other symptoms have gotten worse in the last two, including shuffling and reduced facial expression. debbie doesn't leave him alone at all since he had a choking incident and is now on a soft food diet, he's not allowed to drive.

he's even had to be hospitalized a couple times recently. - well, there definitely have been challenges. you know, it's not at all what you think of retirement being. - [kristine] but john's daughter, samantha, and son, eric, are quick to focus on the positive, how their dad still loves time with family and playing with his five grandkids, ages 1 to 13. - he's still there, he's still having conversations with him, he's still running around and picking him up and having, you know, special, sweet moments with him. and so that in itself is a blessing. - in his heart and his core, he's still dad, like, he's still, you know, he loves his family, he loves people, he loves the outdoors, and none of that has changed. - [john] i've still got my kids and grandkids to chase around the house. i'm never gonna give that up, even if i'm crawling on my hands and knees. life wouldn't be life without them. - so after years of tests and doctor's appointments, upmc cognitive neurologist, dr. joseph malone,

ruled out all other possible causes and diagnosed john with suspected cte. what did you think when the doctor told you you have suspected cte, which comes from head injuries? - at first, i was kinda proud, 'cause it meant that i had been doing my job, head first, chin up, face mask here right into his head or his stomach or whatever, whoever i was tackling or blocking. i was doing an number on most of them. but ultimately i paid the price with the concussions that i had over the years, several of them. - [kristine] john played tackle football in knoxville, tennessee starting at the age of 10. - [john] see, i played both ways in high school. i was a fullback and a defensive end. - he was eventually recruited to play defensive end at the university of tennessee. i love this one, the pose.

(both laughing) you got it! (laughs) - [announcer] so the ball defense was put to the test early. - [kristine] during his years on the field, john suffered two major concussions where he was knocked out cold, one during practice at the gator bowl where he was hit so hard it split his helmet. he estimates he's used his head to hit another player 30 to 40 times a game, adding up to hundreds of hits over a decade, one of the primary reasons dr. malone suspects cte. - the main risk factor is something, what we call repetitive head injuries, or rhi. and this reflects multiple bumps to the head, essentially. - i think we knew this in the back of our mind. he's always said, "this is because of all the hits i took." - [kristine] like many kids, football was john's passion from a young age. - i quickly discovered that i liked contact, which of course is why my head's so screwed up today.

would i do it all over again? absolutely. would i try to protect my head a little bit more? i'd try, but i don't know if it would help or not. - [kristine] there's no way to tell exactly what head injuries caused john's suspected cte, one more reason researchers are trying to study people who played all kinds of contact sports. doctors still don't know why some people with head injuries get cte and others don't, how to completely prevent it while still playing contact sports, or how to treat it. john and his family wanna share his story to help others and to prevent more people from developing it, including by making sports safer. - and even though a lot of what we are discussing can be looked at as negative and sad, i think that, again, what we're doing right now, what you're doing, dad, right now, is totally john burnett. you know, just like looking at the positive in every situation and thinking about the good that you can do for others.

- i'll never forget, i watched as these guys grew up into the beautiful adults that you see here. i'm talking about my daughter samantha and my son eric, and my wife debbie is my rock. (gentle music) - [kristine] it's an emotional journey for everyone who loves john, but there's hope that this star of the football field and television will also shine a light on the potential dangers of repeated head injuries and help everyone better understand their impact. - wow, and joining me now is kristine sorensen from cbs news pittsburgh. kristine, what a loving, caring story. this story first aired a couple months ago there in pittsburgh. how's john doing? let's start with that, how's he doing now? - well, i mean, unfortunately, cte does not have a cure as do many neurological diseases.

so he's, you know, managing the symptoms, but his spirit is so positive and he just has such a great outlook and is loving every day that he has here. - you know, at the same time, there's been this incredible outpouring from the community. talk to me about the way it's made a difference and resonated with people in pittsburgh. - well, we have gotten hundreds of emails that we've shared with john, he's gotten hundreds of cards. people who may have been on "pittsburgh today live" or "evening magazine" decades ago have come to visit with him and spend time with him. and i just know he feels that support from this entire community in pittsburgh where so many people loved watching him and felt like they knew him, even though they didn't really know him in person, they knew him from his time on tv. - a great way to connect with him once again, no doubt. how did the idea to report on john come up in the first place? and take me through what it was like to report on a colleague and dear friend under such circumstances. - well, i mean, it's been tough for me emotionally as a friend to watch him gradually experience

more and more of these health challenges with his memory and the physical things. so as i saw it worsening, as a journalist and a storyteller, i thought, "what can i do to help?" and i knew that i had shared a family health challenge with our community here and felt all of that support, and i knew that if he did, he would feel the same thing. and so when i asked him and his family if they wanted to share their story with the public and i told them what i had experienced, they were all in. and the response, as we said, has been overwhelming, not only from the community support, but one of their main goals was to help with research into cte. and right here at the university of pittsburgh, they started the national sports brain bank where they're trying to learn more about cte. and in just the two months since john's story aired, they have more than doubled the number of people who have registered for the study. so what it entails is doing an annual questionnaire

and then promising to donate your brain upon death, which is what john's gonna be doing. and it's so exciting to see that he's really making such a difference in the research into cte. - that's tremendous, he's in the right city, at least, it turns out, for that. you know, one final thought here, he said that ultimately, he would do it all over again. i mean, a sport where you get hit in the head, he estimates 40 times a game, that's incredible. but he loved the game, he loved the comradery, the contact, the whole thing. he'd do it again. how'd that strike you? - you know, it's tough, 'cause i'm a parent, i have kids and we make these choices every day. you know, are contact sports safe? is it worth the risk? it's a difficult thing, his wife doesn't feel the same way. so, you know, i think there's a lot of different ways to look at this, but i think that's why i'm excited about the research happening, because it's really hard to make a good judgment when you really don't have much information because a lot of people play football and never get cte,

yet, if you do, you can see how difficult it can be at a really, pretty young age, john just turned 70. - yeah, that really capsizes it. kristine sorensen, thank you so much, really nice work. - ah, thank you. - all right, well, "in focus" continues right after the break. - [reporter] a rare look inside the fight against fentanyl. - [officer] we're playing, it's just really a game of cat and mouse. - [reporter] the new unit tackling the deadly drug and the relentless efforts to stop the rise of addiction and tragedy. we're looking for adults 45 and under to be in our hpv vaccination ad. sound like you? nah...not me. in a relationship. if you're sexually active and unvaccinated, it could still be you.

i'm too old if you're under 45, you're not. for most people, hpv clears on its own. but for those who don't clear the virus, it can cause certain cancers. wow... gardasil 9 is a vaccine given to adults through age 45 that can help protect against certain hpv-related cervical, vaginal, vulvar, anal, and certain head and neck cancers, such as throat and back of mouth cancers, and genital warts. gardasil 9 doesn't protect everyone and doesn't treat cancer or hpv infection. these diseases may have many causes. your doctor may recommend screening for certain hpv-related cancers. routine cervical cancer screenings are still needed. you shouldn't get gardasil 9 if you're allergic to the vaccine, its ingredients, or yeast. tell your doctor if you have a weakened immune system, are pregnant, or plan to be. the most common side effects include injection site reactions, headache, fever, nausea, dizziness, tiredness, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and sore throat. fainting can also happen. help protect yourself

against certain hpv-related cancers. talk to a doctor or pharmacist today. (upbeat music) - welcome back, i'm maurice dubois. all across the country states are fighting the fentanyl crisis. it is a synthetic opioid that's up to 50 times stronger than heroin, 100 times stronger than morphine, and a major contributor to fatal and non-fatal overdoses in the united states. according to the cdc in 2023, for the first time,

the overdose death rate topped 112,000 in a 12-month period. fentanyl is now so prevalent and killing so many people, a police department in texas has put together a specialized unit dedicated to wiping it out. our team spent a week with those investigators getting unprecedented access as they built their cases, went undercover, and busted dealers. (dramatic music) - there's a guy slinging, selling fentanyl on a street corner in one of our hotspots in south fort worth. these guys cut a warrant for this guy's arrest for dealing dope. they have their target on view, and he is currently actively selling dope. narcotics, if you think about it, it is the nexus of most of your criminal activity. why does a burglar break into your house and steal your stuff? i mean, can you hear me? to get money to go buy dope. hey, it's sergeant bangs.

- [dispatcher] hey, how's it going, sir? - good, man. i need two or three goons, like right now. i got a target on view at the days inn. (soft dramatic music) (mouse clicks) - hey, you got somebody on the days inn camera right now? yeah, yeah, we'll be on it for like the next hour or so. - [dispatcher] yeah, i think that the marked units are about to do a take down here momentarily. - [sgt. bangs] all right, what's the guy's location? - [dispatcher] it's right there on prince, just at the very south end of the hotel. - [officer] all right, marked units, we're moving in. - [sgt. bangs] that went ideal. - and joining me now is kelsy mittauer, special projects producer, cbs news texas, who put this all together, reported it from start to finish. kelsy, we were talking the other day,

the response has been incredible from the audience. tell me about that. - yeah, i've been here in dallas for nearly 10 years, and i've never heard from viewers like i did after these pieces aired, after our reports aired. after the two police reports, every call on our tip line the next morning when i came in and checked it were people saying, "i want to hear more about this. thank you for showing it." it was from parents whose children had died from fentanyl overdoses. we got a lot of emails. it was really, it was incredible. - it's incredibly gratifying work. do you feel like you're making a difference in the community? - i do. you know, it's hard to do that sometimes to feel like you're being heard or that your stories are making a difference,, but in this case, it was really instantaneous, almost, the reaction. - yeah, you could almost feel it through the tv screen. you spoke with a mom who lost her daughter in the most agonizing way. take us through that story and what she's doing today, a mission to try to prevent this from happening to other families.

- yeah, laura, her daughter cali was 21 and had struggled with drug use, and she found her, unfortunately, in her bathroom. cali had come to stay the night with laura, and she overdosed and died in the middle of the night, and laura got up in the morning to go to work and found her. - what's her main message to other parents at this point, having gone through what she went through? - her main message is if there's any drug use, you need to say something, you need to do something right away. she said that she really regretted not calling police on her daughter for possession. and at the time she thought, "no, i don't want her to get in trouble." but she told me afterwards, she was like, "i'd rather her be in jail and mad at me and still be alive and here." - that's why i'm doing everything that i can to fight against fentanyl, because even though it won't bring her back, it might help save somebody else's kid. - talk to me, if you can, about the task force, because they're undercover,

they're out of sight to the public. they're literally doing hero work behind the scenes and to protect the public, right? - they are and that's one thing i learned being with them, that they're really everywhere that we go, right? i mean, when we were riding around with them, we were going through school zones, active school zones where parents were coming to pick up their kids from elementary schools. we were going to the gas station, and we saw the drug dealer there at the gas station. they're really kind of in everywhere that you wouldn't think they would be. they're there doing their work without us noticing. - i don't know if the rest of our audience is aware of it, but in texas you'll be charged with murder if you supply someone with fentanyl and they die. and it's now just starting to be tested in the courts there, right? - yes, the state law was enacted in october, and the police departments almost immediately started filing these cases. i know of a case that was filed in november and then in december, and now those cases are gonna go to trial this year,

and we're really gonna see kinda how that plays out in court. - we'll be watching, and you'll be following up. kelsy mittauer, thank you so much. - thank you. - all right, we appreciate it, and we'll be right back. - [narrator] from langston hughes to w.e.b. du bois, the next generation is channeling the voices of history. - hey, black child, do you know you are strong? - [narrator] the inspiring journey into the hearts and minds of these young orators carrying on an important legacy.

(gentle music) - dr. martin luther king jr. practiced the art of persuasive speech on his high school debate team, and so did the reverend jesse jackson and many others. well, now we meet some young people in chicago, following in their footsteps, proving there is power in our words. here's cbs chicago's audrina sinclair. - [bradley] hey, black child, be what you can be. - you need to speak with perfect diction. - [student] what did i see to be except myself? - entertain. - [christianna] it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing. - persuade. - i am the dream and the hope of the slave. - [student] you will stand straight, anchored to a spot, to give the audience all that you've got. - [audrina] but these pews are empty. - [olivia] read it again a lot louder. - [audrina] because this. - [olivia] okay, great. - [audrina] this is just practice.

- [olivia] now let's start with the vocal warmups. guys, spread out. (student humming) take a deep breath. - ooh. - e! - all right. - i, o, u! - now that he's warmed up. - i'm bradley holt, and i'm seven years old. - [audrina] so young, but boy is his calling big. - everybody knows that i preach to my congregation of stuffies at home. one day my auntie heard me and told my parents that i need to participate in the oratorical society. - [audrina] the push excel oratorical society. do you feel powerful up there? - yes. it feels like, i can do anything i set my mind to. hey, black child, do you know you are strong? i mean, really strong. - [audrina] for all of them here, standing on this stage is symbolic, as they're standing on the shoulders of great orators like dr. king who have come before them. - [king] i have a dream today.

- he was able to persuade people, because he knew the power of persuasive speech. - [audrina] and that is what olivia porter teaches her students. - [olivia] one more time, deep breath. - [audrina] through repetition. - [olivia] one more time now. - [audrina] through perfecting speeches and poems and sticking every word and syllable while evoking emotion. - not only do i want you to memorize what you're going to say but know why you're saying it. - [audrina] christianna knows why. - i get to speak on history. history sounds like langston, mamie smith, w.e.b. du bois. things are not being talked about in history books. so i constantly tell my history teacher, what about african americans? what role did they play in this? i had to make a petition at my school for us to talk about african american history. - [audrina] so the stage is a teaching ground. - let us never forget that we are history. history sounds like you, the beautiful black, brilliant you.

- [audrina] but behind the curtain. what is it like to be a black girl? - it's tough. i get emotional at the thought, because i know that every time, when i make it home, it's a blessing, because i do not have to be here. the world does not want me to be here. i am not wanted. being a black girl is a blessing, but my skin color stops me from doing certain things. i cannot do everything. i cannot be anywhere because i can get killed at the second. i speak for a race of people. i speak for everyone who has been intimidated, dismissed. i speak for people who are dead. i speak for trayvon martin, sandra bland, george floyd. - to see how children today interpret heavy,

heavy events, historical events, they're interpreting it through the eyes of a 13-year-old. and that's something that, as adults, we probably should listen to. - [audrina] in hyde park, audrina sinclair, cbs2 news. - yes, we should listen to them. all the students in the push excel oratorical society perform speeches and poems in competitions and events throughout chicago and the country. and thank you for watching this episode of "in focus," featuring the work of our colleagues from across the country at cbs news stations. we have more than 5,000 people, many of them behind the scenes, living and working in the cities you care about. around the country and in your community, cbs news puts the stories that matter in focus. until next time, i'm maurice dubois. (serious music) (serious music continues)

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