A long-awaited rain storm has moved into Southern California, bringing flash-flood warnings and concerns about mudslides. Officials are calling it the biggest storm of the year.
Here is what to expect:
The forecast
One to 3 inches of rain are forecast for the valley and coastal areas of the county while the mountains may see 3 to 6 inches of precipitation. Higher elevations could see 3-4 inches of rain.
Heavy snow expected above 7,000 feet; Grapevine could see light snow.
Intense winds topping 45 mph in some area.
Timing
Heavy rain this morning and continuing into the evening.
Cloudy skies on Wednesday.
Another smaller storm system coming Thursday.
Warnings
Flooding and debris flows are possible in some hillside areas due to periods of intense rain.
Flood watches have been issued for areas hit by recent fires: Alisal, Palisades, Bobcat, Ranch 2, Dam and Lake.
Flood advisories in place for many parts of Southern California.
A gale warning has been issued for local waters, due to high winds and choppy seas.
A stunning series of text messages to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows reveal that Donald Trump Jr., a trio of Fox News hosts and Republican members of Congress pleaded with him to get President Donald Trump to urge rioters at the Capitol on Jan. 6 to leave the complex.
The text messages, disclosed during the House’s ongoing contempt proceedings against Meadows, reveal a disconnect between how the writers of the messages privately feared the violence by Trump’s supporters, and how they later publicly minimized or rationalized the riot.
Fox News and a number of its hosts are among the most loyal media supporters of the Republican Trump, who before the riot had urged supporters to fight against the confirmation of the Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential election victory by a joint session of Congress.
Trump for hours resisted calls to publicly ask the thousands of his backers who invaded the Capitol complex to retreat, even as some of them battled with police, entered the Senate chamber and actively hunted for members of Congress.
“Mark, the president needs to tell the people in the Capitol to go home. This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy,” Fox News host Laura Ingraham texted on Jan. 6, according to Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, a Republican member of the House select committee investigating the insurrection.
Ingraham later on television that night suggested that the rioters were not supporters of the then-president, claiming, “I have never seen Trump rally attendees wearing helmets, black helmets, brown helmets, black backpacks — the uniforms you saw in some of these crowd shots.”
Among the rioters were members of right-wing, pro-Trump militia groups including Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. Some members of the mob carried weapons.
Another Fox personality, Brian Kilmeade of “Fox & Friends,” himself texted Meadows in language that echoed Ingraham’s fear of the effect of the violence on Trump’s purported legacy.
“Please get him on TV. Destroying everything you have accomplished,” Kilmeade texted, according to Cheney.
And Fox host Sean Hannity, a leading Trump booster, asked Meadows that day, “Can he [Trump] make a statement asking people to leave the Capitol,” according to Cheney on Monday night as she revealed evidence Meadows had given the committee before he abruptly stopped cooperating.
Men repair their truck in smoke from a forest fire on a road near Magaras, in the republic of Sakha, Siberia, in July.
Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images
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Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images
Men repair their truck in smoke from a forest fire on a road near Magaras, in the republic of Sakha, Siberia, in July.
Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images
The United Nations’ weather agency has officially recognized a new record high temperature for the Arctic, confirming a reading of 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 Fahrenheit) taken in June 2020.
The World Meteorological Organization issued a statement on Tuesday calling the temperature reading “more befitting the Mediterranean than the Arctic.”
The high reading, taken on June 20, 2020, in the Russian town of Verkhoyansk, came amid a prolonged Siberian heatwave in which the region reached as much as 10 degrees C above normal.
However, the reading in Verkhoyansk inaugurates a new WMO category for high temperatures in the region, so it doesn’t supplant a previous record.The agency says temperatures have been recorded in the Russian town since 1885. The lowest temperature ever recorded above the Arctic Circle was -69.6 C (-93.9 F) in Greenland in December 1991, according to the agency.
“This new Arctic record is one of a series of observations reported to the WMO Archive of Weather and Climate Extremes that sound the alarm bells about our changing climate,” WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said in a statement.
“In 2020, there was also a new temperature record (18.3°C) for the Antarctic continent,” he added.
The WMO said the Arctic “is among the fastest-warming regions in the world” and that the unprecedented temperatures caused it to add a new climate category for “highest recorded temperature at or north of 66.5⁰, the Arctic Circle” to its archives.
The high temperatures were “fueling devastating fires [and] driving massive sea ice loss” that played “a major role in 2020 being one of the three warmest years on record,” it said.
As NPR’s Rebecca Hersher reported in June of last year, 20,000 tons of diesel spilled in northern Siberia when storage tanks collapsed, likely because of melting permafrost.
The WMO said the new Arctic record high was just one of many record high temperatures in 2020 and 2021 that it was working to verify — including a reading of 54.4 C (129.9 F) in Death Valley, Calif., the world’s hottest place, and a record in Europe of 48.8 C (119.8 F) on the island of Sicily.
“The WMO Archive of Weather and Climate Extremes has never had so many ongoing simultaneous investigations,” Taalas said.
Mr. Kilmeade echoed that concern, texting Mr. Meadows: “Please, get him on TV. Destroying everything you have accomplished.”
Sean Hannity texted: “Can he make a statement? Ask people to leave the Capitol.”
Ms. Ingraham’s text came in contrast with what she said on her Fox News program in the hours after the attack, when she promoted the false theory that members of antifa were involved.
“From a chaotic Washington tonight, earlier today the Capitol was under siege by people who can only be described as antithetical to the MAGA movement,” Ms. Ingraham said on the Jan. 6 episode. “Now, they were likely not all Trump supporters, and there are some reports that antifa sympathizers may have been sprinkled throughout the crowd.”
Ms. Ingraham went on to cite “legitimate concerns about how these elections were conducted,” while adding that any dissatisfaction with the vote should not have resulted in violence.
Mr. Hannity, a onetime informal adviser to Mr. Trump, condemned the attack, saying at the top of his Jan. 6 show, “Today’s perpetrators must be arrested and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.” He also said that the nation must do more to protect law enforcement and political representatives.
The death toll from the devastating tornado outbreak that ripped across six states last weekend climbed to 88 on Tuesday, including at least 11 children.
Seventy-four people have been confirmed dead in Kentucky alone after a massive twister roared across the landscape for at least 200 miles. Eight of those deaths came from a candle factory in Mayfield, where workers claimed they were threatened with firing if they left shifts early as the twister approached.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said the death toll will “undoubtedly” rise as massive recovery efforts continue across the central and southern region. Nearly 450 National Guard members have been mobilised in the state, and 95 of them are searching for those presumed dead.
The tornadoes were part of a powerful storm system that tore across Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee late on Friday and the early hours of Saturday.
National Weather Service maps revealed one supercell, which may have been a single tornado or a cluster.
Facebook groups race to reunite people with belongings strewn more than 100 miles away
A Facebook group, Quad State Tornado Found Items, has been flooded with posts detailing items that people have found amid the wreckage, or are missing.
WATCH: Man plays hymn on piano in wreckage of his home
A viral video shows a Kentucky resident playing the piano inside the wreckage of his home after it was struck by a tornado.
As his family sifted through what was left of their house in Bremen, Jordan Baize sat down to play the hymn “There’s Something About That Name” on a grand piano that survived the storm.
Mr Baize’s sister, Whitney Brown, posted a video of the uplifting sight on Facebook, where it racked up thousands of views.
“Music has always been important to me. Specifically church music, Christian music,” Mr Baize told WFIE. “My faith is a huge factor in my life but I am glad to know I guess that if it’s bringing peace and comfort and some sense of calm in an otherwise stormy time, then I am good with that.”
Amazon workers condemn lack of emergency preparedness training
Several Amazon employees have lodged complaints about the company’s lack of emergency training after six people were killed when a tornado struck a distribution centre in Edwardsville, Illinois, on Friday.
The Intercept obtained copies of the complaints posted to Amazon’s internal “Voice of Associates” message board.
The employees lamented an alleged absence of safety drills for emergencies such as tornadoes and fires, saying they had no idea what to do should such an event hit their workplace.
They also claimed that the company discouraged them from taking time off during natural disasters because doing so would slow production.
At least four workers at the Mayfield Consumer Products factory in Mayfield, Kentucky told NBC News that bosses refused them permission to leave the building even as warning sirens began to wail.
At least eight people died in the factory when it was torn apart on Friday night, part of a confirmed death toll in the state that climbed to 74 with 100 still missing as of Monday afternoon. The Independent’s Io Dodds reports:
Winter tornadoes could get stronger as world warms, study suggests
Winter tornadoes may become stronger and stay on the ground for longer with a wider swath of destruction as the world’s temperature increases, a new study shows.
The combination of a longer and wider track with slightly stronger winds means that some rare winter tornadoes may have nine times more the power by the end of the century, should levels of carbon dioxide levels continue to increase.
The study, which was presented at the American Geophysical Union conference on Monday, pre-dates the Mayfield, Kentucky tornado outbreak and has yet to be peer reviewed.
It looks at strength and not frequency of big tornadoes as climate change continues.
“There is a potential for events in the future that are more intense that would not have been as intense in the current climate,” said study author Jeff Trapp, head of atmospheric sciences at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
“Bearing in mind that these high end events are still going to be rare.”
Kentucky Lt. Governor Jacqueline Coleman speaks with NBC following tornadoes
Kentucky Lt. Governor Jacqueline Coleman told NBC: ““The only thing that rivals this level of destruction is the level of community and support that we’ve seen.”
The powerful tornado outbreak that ripped across six states late on Friday and in the early hours of Saturday has killed at least 88 people, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday morning.
The death toll rose as massive recovery efforts were underway in regions of the central and southern US.
Dozens of tornadoes ripped across hundreds of miles from Arkansas, where a nursing home was destroyed, to Illinois, where an Amazon distribution center was heavily damaged.
Man sets up BBQ in the middle of Kentucky town devastated by tornado
Kentucky resident Jim Finch drove to Mayfield, one of the hardest-hit areas after a string of deadly tornadoes struck six states over the weekend, to set up his grill and hand out food to those affected by the extreme weather.
A video of Mr Finch by reporter Victor Ordoñez posted on Twitter had reach more than 3.4m views by afternoon on Wednesday.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said on Monday that at least 64 people have died in the state, but he added that “undoubtedly, there will be more”.
Citing a sharp increase in COVID-19 infection rates since Thanksgiving, the state announced Monday that beginning Wednesday, mask-wearing will become mandatory in all indoor public settings across California regardless of vaccination status.
The mask mandate, mirroring a requirement already in effect in Los Angeles County and select other counties across the state, will remain in place until Jan. 15.
The state will also toughen the restriction for unvaccinated people who attend indoor “mega-events” of 1,000 people or more, requiring them to receive a negative COVID test within one day of the event if it’s a rapid antigen test or within two days for a PCR test. The current rules require a test within 72 hours of the event.
State officials will also recommend, but not require, that people who travel to California or return to the state after traveling be tested for COVID within three to five days.
California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said the rule change is being prompted by what he called a 47% increase in COVID-19 case rates across the state since Thanksgiving. He said over that time, the statewide rate of daily new cases went from 9.6 per 100,000 residents to more than 14 per 100,000.
Ghaly said state officials also acted in hopes of avoiding the dramatic surge in cases experienced statewide last year during the winter holiday months.
“As we look at the evidence that masks do make a difference, even a 10% increase in indoor masking can reduce case transmission significantly,” he said.
Under current state guidelines — which are followed by many counties including Riverside, Orange and San Diego — masks are only required indoors at public transit facilities such as airports, healthcare settings, adult and senior care facilities, schools, correctional facilities, homeless shelters, emergency shelters and cooling centers.
The state already technically requires mask-wearing for unvaccinated people at indoor public facilities, but the new rule will impact everyone regardless of vaccine status.
Los Angeles County has long maintained a mask-wearing mandate at indoor public facilities. Ghaly said roughly half of California’s population lives in counties that already have an indoor mask-wearing requirement in place.
Among the indoor public spaces affected are retail stores, restaurants, theaters, family entertainment centers and government offices that serve the public.
Face coverings are also required for everyone in these settings, whether you’ve been vaccinated or not:
On public transit, such as buses, trains, airplanes, ferries, taxis and ride services, and in the areas that serve those, such as airports, transit stations, etc.
Indoors in K-12 schools, childcare and other youth settings
Adult and senior care facilities
Healthcare settings, including long-term care facilities
Detention facilities
Homeless shelters, emergency shelters and cooling centers
An NBC 7 crew went out to Little Italy on Monday to ask people what they thought about the return of the mandate, and heard from a barbershop owner who wasn’t happy.
“Oh, my God. Not again,” Vince’s Barbershop owner Boris Zavurov said. “That’s frustrating with the mask mandate, especially in our industry. We’re cutting hair. We’re servicing clients and they’re doing their beard trims, shaves and that’s really inconvenient for us.”
Zavurov said he had to close down four times during the pandemic so far, and he sincerely hopes that was the last of it.
Robin Yeman hadn’t heard about the mandate being reinstated until we asked her about it. For her, the larger picture and end game are what is hard to see.
“Yea it’s definitely worth it to keep people safe, but then how many of these shots do you have to have when are you considered safe enough that you don’t have to wear a mask everywhere you go?” Yeman wondered.
Omicron in San Diego County:
San Diego County health officials announced last Thursday that the first case of the omicron variant of COVID-19 has been detected among a San Diegan who was fully vaccinated and boosted against the disease.
The patient, who was not identified, had recently traveled abroad before testing positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 8, according to the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency. (HHSA). After conducting a whole genome sequence, the Omicron variant was confirmed Dec. 9.
The patient is not hospitalized and is under isolation, HHSA said. County contact tracers are working to identify others the patient may have come in contact with.
“We expected that the Omicron variant would make its way to San Diego, and it has,” said Public Health Officer Wilma Wooten, adding that more cases are expected. “We are continuing to monitor for the Omicron variant and will report any other cases to the public when they are identified.”
Multiple cases of people testing positive for the omicron variant have been reported in both Los Angeles and the Bay Area. The New York Times reported on Thursday that the mutation has been detected by testing in 22 states and 62 countries around the globe, including Canada and Mexico, which confirmed its first case last Friday after a 51-year-old person tested positive after returning from a trip to South Africa.
Cases of the coronavirus have been increasing recently in San Diego and elsewhere. On Wednesday, county officials said. The number of new infections reported in the past week — 5,418 — far exceeds the previous week’s 2,955. Authorities have laid the blame for the spike on Thanksgiving gatherings, however, not the omicron variant.
A total of 562 new COVID-19 infections and 12 additional deaths in San Diego were reported on Wednesday.
As of now, the county has not changed any public health measures due to the new variant but HHSA said the county continues to work with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the California Department to determine if changes should be made.
For now, the county recommends the following steps to protect against all variants of COVID-19:
Get vaccinated and get a booster, which are now open to everyone 18 and up.
Wear a mask in public indoor settings, whether you’re vaccinated or not
Get tested if you show any COVID-19 symptoms, regardless of vaccination status.
Wash your hands and stay home if sick
Continue to practice social distancing
What Is Omicron?
On Nov. 26, 2021, the World Health Organization designated variant B.1.1.529 a variant of concern, named omicron. The decision was based on the evidence that it has several mutations that may have an impact on how it behaves. For example, on it’s rate of spread or the severity of illness it causes.
What’s Known and Not Known About the Variant?
Scientists know that omicron is genetically distinct from previous variants, including the delta variant, but, so far, they don’t know if these genetic changes make it any more transmissible or dangerous. At this point, there is no indication the variant causes more severe disease.
It will likely take weeks to sort out if omicron is more infectious and if vaccines are still effective against it.
Peter Openshaw, a professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London, said it was “extremely unlikely” that current vaccines wouldn’t work, noting they are effective against numerous other variants.
Even though some of the genetic changes in omicron appear worrying, it’s still unclear if they will pose a public health threat. Some previous variants, like the beta variant, initially alarmed scientists but didn’t end up spreading very far.
To date, delta is by far the most predominant form of COVID-19, accounting for more than 99% of sequences submitted to the world’s biggest public database.
Do the Vaccines Already Protect Against Omicron?
It’s too soon to tell — which isn’t a reason for panic. It just means scientists are working on finding out.
Given omicron’s plentiful mutations, it could theoretically evade vaccine-induced protection, and some experts anticipate a drop in vaccine effectiveness. Researchers will likely have answers within the next week or so after testing antibodies from people who are vaccinated, and seeing if they are capable of neutralizing the virus.
Even if omicron can evade those antibodies, the vaccines are still likely to protect against severe illness, BioNTech CEO and co-founder Dr. Ugur Sahin told the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. That’s because omicron will “hardly be able to completely evade T-cells,” which are the body’s second line of defense against the virus, Sahin said.
This week, Pfizer announced that people who had been fully vaccinated and received its booster shots should have at least some protection against omicron.
Still, President Joe Biden instructed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to use the “fastest process available without cutting any corners,” to make omicron-specific vaccines available, if necessary.
It’s unclear who would be eligible for those vaccines, if they eventually get approved.
Moderna says it’s already working on one, which could be ready to ship by early 2022, if necessary. On Monday, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that his company is waiting for more data before acting — but could have its version ready in 100 days.
Non-vaccine treatments could also be a mixed bag. Pfizer’s COVID antiviral pill, Paxlovid — which has yet to be approved by the FDA — might work against variants like omicron, because it’s designed to address spike mutations, Bourla said.
But fellow drugmaker Regeneron said Tuesday that its monoclonal antibody cocktail, along with any other similar drugs, could be less effective against omicron than other variants. The company said it’s exploring other alternatives.
How Can I Protect Myself Against Omicron?
The World Health Organization said the most effective steps individuals can take to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus and omicron are the same: Keep a physical distance of at least 6 feet from others; wear a well-fitting mask; open windows to improve ventilation; avoid poorly ventilated or crowded spaces; keep hands clean; cough or sneeze into a bent elbow or tissue, and get vaccinated when it’s their turn.
MOSCOW — A court in Belarus on Tuesday convicted an opposition leader on charges of organizing mass unrest and inciting social hatred over his attempt to challenge the country’s authoritarian leader, Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, in a presidential election last year. It also sentenced him to 18 years in prison.
The activist, Sergei Tikhanovsky, 43, ran a popular YouTube channel in Belarus before announcing his candidacy ahead of the 2020 vote. But he was arrested before the election, an act that prompted his wife, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, to step in and lead the popular movement against Mr. Lukashenko.
After months of closed hearings, a court in the city of Gomel, Mr. Tikhanovsky’s hometown, confirmed that it had rendered its verdict on Tuesday. He was on trial along with five other defendants, including Nikolai Statkevich, 65, who ran against Mr. Lukashenko in the 2010 presidential election. The five other defendants were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 14 to 16 years.
Ever since mass protests set off by Mr. Lukashenko’s re-election for a sixth term as president in August 2020 — a vote widely regarded as rigged — the Belarusian leader has unleashed a campaign of political oppression unseen in Europe for decades. Thousands of people, including opposition leaders, protesters and those who subscribed to independent media outlets, have been detained. Rights groups regard hundreds of them as political prisoners.
The Air Force has discharged 27 service members for refusing to receive a COVID vaccine, marking the first service members to be involuntarily discharged for balking the rule.
A spokesperson for the Air Force said the 27 active duty members discharged received counseling about the vaccines, and when they still refused, commanders made the decision to discharge them for refusing to comply with the Pentagon’s vaccine rule, a lawful order.
All 27 have been in the Air Force for less than six years and may have had additional reasons for their discharge but refusal to get a COVID vaccine was one of the reasons for the discharge.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin mandated in August that troops receive a COVID vaccine but left it up to the services to set the deadlines for their troops. The Air Force’s deadline of November 2nd for active duty airmen to be fully vaccinated was the first deadline among all the services.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speaks during a media briefing at the Pentagon, Nov. 17, 2021, in Washington. The Air Force has discharged 27 people for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine, making them what officials believe are the first service members to be removed for disobeying the mandate to get the shots.
Alex Brandon / AP
The Navy, Air Force, and the Army have outlined their process for discharge if service members continue to not comply with the mandate. Each will include counseling and an education process on the vaccine before moving into more disciplinary actions then onto discharges.
“It remains the Secretary’s expectation that the — the mandatory vaccine will be implemented in a — in a compassionate and thoughtful way,” Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said last week.
Kirby said Pentagon data showed approximately 90% of the active duty force is fully vaccinated and about 74% of the total force, including the Reserve and National Guard, is fully vaccinated.
The Army’s deadline for its active duty force is December 15. The deadline for the active-duty component of the other services has already passed. The next hurdle will be the services’ Reserve and Guard forces. The final deadline is June 30, 2022, for the Army National Guard.
Fox News media analyst Howard Kurtz reports the latest on ‘Special Report’ on the Cuomo controversy as Chris Cuomo resigns from his SiriusXM radio show.
Zucker was forced to fire star anchor Chris Cuomo, after months of protecting him at all costs, welcomed legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin back to CNN after he was terminated from his other job for masturbating on a Zoom call in front of colleagues, and enlisted anchor Alisyn Camerota to grill Toobin on the details upon his return. Former anchor Brooke Baldwin called on CNN to replace Cuomo with a woman after years of Zucker overseeing the only major cable news network without a female primetime host.
CNN host Don Lemon has also been accused of a sexually charged assault but denies all wrongdoing, and a top producer at the network was charged by a grand jury in Vermont Friday “with three counts of using a facility of interstate commerce to attempt to entice minors to engage in unlawful sexual activity.”
CNN boss Jeff Zucker’s liberal network is plagued by scandal, embarrassing headlines and has struggled to attract an audience. (Getty Images) (Getty Images)
CNN senior producer John Griffin was arrested by the FBI after being charged with shocking sex crimes with girls as young as seven years old and an unsealed document provides vulgar details of the alleged crimes. He faces a possible life sentence.
“Given the sheer number of public sexual misconduct allegations – from harassment and child sexual violence to abusing one’s journalistic credentials to try to silence women who have made allegations – it’s fair to ask whether these are indicative of a broader cultural rot at the network that’s being papered over as they focus on other priorities,” journalist Drew Holden told Fox News Digital.
The humiliating headlines continue to pour in as Zucker’s network has struggled to attract an audience during the Biden era, indicating his hosts and anchors have problems on and off the screen. The Spectator’s Washington editor Amber Athey, a former media reporter, feels current CNN brass simply “has no idea” how to run a news organization.
“Zucker has managed to simultaneously protect perverts and pedophiles as well as oversee a massive decline in ratings,” Athey told Fox News Digital.
November was CNN’s lowest-rated month among primetime total viewers since 2015. The struggling network’s most popular show, “Anderson Cooper 360,” finished No. 24 overall among cable news, behind 15 Fox News and eight MSNBC programs during the news-heavy month.
CNN senior producer John Griffin was charged by a grand jury in Vermont Friday “with three counts of using a facility of interstate commerce to attempt to entice minors to engage in unlawful sexual activity.” (Twitter)
DePauw university professor and media critic Jeffrey McCall thinks Zucker needs to own “ethical lapses” at CNN.
“CNN is surely suffering through a string of professional blunders. It would be difficult to necessarily connect all of these mistakes directly to Zucker, but he is still the head of CNN and at some point has to be held accountable for what’s going on there,” McCall told Fox News Digital.
“He is responsible for the culture in which underlings felt these misjudgments were OK. Aside from the string of professional missteps, it would seem Zucker should at least shoulder responsibility for the cratering ratings of this once-proud news organization,” McCall added. “The ratings struggles alone at this channel should cause concern in the upper hierarchy of CNN’s parent company.”
Zucker has also failed to bring relevance to its long-suffering morning show “New Day,” where Griffin – who is due in court Wednesday following accusations he coerced parents to allow their minor daughters to engage in sexual activity in his home – was a longtime producer. “New Day” averaged a dismal 363,000 daily viewers during November, making it cable news’ 42nd most-popular program. Zucker, who rose to prominence overseeing NBC’s “Today” during the Matt Lauer era, launched “New Day” with the hopes of repeating his morning show magic at CNN.
November was CNN’s lowest-rated month among primetime total viewers since 2015. (Photo by J. Countess/Getty Images) (Photo by J. Countess/Getty Images)
When it launched in 2013, “New Day” was supposed to emerge as CNN’s flagship morning program, akin to NBC’s highly successful “Today” but with edginess that could only happen on cable. However, Zucker’s attempt to create a popular morning show at CNN has been a flop.
“New Day” has never averaged 700,000 viewers for a year and undergone multiple lineup changes, all while launching the CNN career of Cuomo who was eventually shifted to primetime before being terminated.
CNN fired Cuomo this month after a brief suspension, following reports that his involvement with his brother Andrew Cuomo’s political defense against sexual harassment allegations was far more extensive than previously known. Last week, Zucker addressed the stunning firing at a town hall with staffers.
“In hindsight he may have taken action sooner but [the] result he’s comfortable with,” an insider told Fox News Digital about Zucker’s words to CNN staff.
Zucker had previously chosen not to formally reprimand Cuomo when news first came to light that he’d helped his brother, the former New York governor, participating in strategy calls with top aides as he faced multiple accusations of sexual misconduct. CNN’s Cuomo had also been allowed to do friendly interviews with his brother at the outset of the pandemic, despite his clear conflict of interest. The on-air family banter, which once famously included prop comedy, was widely mocked by critics, and women who spoke out against the siblings have since said their on-air routine was the last straw.
Former anchor Brooke Baldwin called on CNN to replace Chris Cuomo with a woman after years of Jeff Zucker overseeing the only major cable news network without a female primetime host.
The laundry list of scandals, debacles and public relations nightmares has come at the wrong time for Zucker, as it coincides with uncertainty over his future with the liberal news network. In February, the high-powered Zucker reportedly told CNN staffers he would continue to oversee the struggling network for the remainder of the year but expected to “move on” when his contract expires at the end of 2021.
Many insiders dismissed the news that Zucker would walk away from CNN, where he is known to be hands-on and has personally allowed it to drift from a just-the-facts news operation to a hyperpartisan opinion platform. “He ain’t leaving,” a CNN employee earlier told Fox News Digital.
Months later, WarnerMedia’s looming merger with Discovery was announced and Zucker’s longtime pal and golfing buddy, Discovery CEO David Zaslav, was chosen to run the combined venture. It has since been reported that Zucker would stick around at least through the completion of the merger with Discovery and maybe longer with Zaslav at the helm.
CNN boss Jeff Zucker and Discovery CEO David Zaslav run in the same prestigious social circle and reportedly have “sprawling estates” in the posh Hamptons area of New York that are only 10 minutes apart from each other. (Mike Coppola/Getty Image)
But hard-charging Liberty Media chairman John Malone, who sits on the Discovery Communications Inc. board of directors and is considered powerful in the industry, recently said he wants CNN to return to its pre-Zucker days of nonpartisan journalism.
“I would like to see CNN evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with, and actually have journalists, which would be unique and refreshing,” Malone said on CNBC in November.
Last week, a longtime media executive told Fox News Digital that business imperatives tied to the looming merger, along with Malone’s feedback, may seal Zucker’s fate.
“Malone wants CNN to return to its hard news roots and the Jeff Zucker show may be ending after all,” the longtime media industry executive said.
CNN’s Chris Cuomo performed prop comedy with his brother New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo during a widely panned segment in 2020.
NewsBusters deputy managing editor Nicholas Fondacaro agrees, pointing to Discovery executives reportedly being around CNN headquarters when Cuomo was suspended.
“It’s reasonable to speculate Zucker is on thin ice,” Fondacaro told Fox News Digital, noting that Cuomo’s suspension turned into a firing after Zucker reportedly met with Discovery leadership.
CNN’s in-house media pundit Brian Stelter, known to be a Zucker ally, suggested Cuomo could return to CNN after a weeks-long suspension, but a CNN spokesperson later dismissed the report as pure speculation.
“Stelter seemed to assume everything would be business as usual in Zuckerland and predicted Cuomo would be back in January. And given how the suspension happened, Zaslav might have been following the internal investigation closely and made the call to fire him,” Fondacaro said.
“He may have been flying under the radar to his fellow WarnerMedia executives with all sorts of excuses, ranging from outrage and criticism of the network was coming from the right-wing fringes,” Fondacaro continued. “But given recent comments from Discovery high-ups such as John Malone, they may not be buying it anymore and have Zucker under a microscope.”
Fox News’ David Rutz and Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
The death toll from tornadoes that ripped through six states on Friday night may well surpass 100 in Kentucky alone, the governor warned.
Gov Andy Beshear suggested that the event was the most devastating tornado event in the state’s history, with 74 confirmed dead and 100 still missing as of Monday afternoon.
Dozens more deaths have been confirmed across Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee and Illinois, where workers were trapped in an Amazon warehouse when it collapsed, killing six people.
A map from the National Weather Service shows one supercell, which may have been a single tornado or a family of them, which is believed to have carved a 250-mile path across four states, potentially shattering a 1925 record.
Among the confirmed victims of the tornadoes are 43-year-old Kentucky judge Brian Crick, 84-year-old Missouri grandmother Ollie Borgmann, 46-year-old Amazon worker Larry Virden in Illinois and two children ages three and five in Kentucky.
At an emotional press conference on Monday, Gov Beshear said the victims in his state ranged in age from five months old to 86 years old – with six under the age of 18.
Alex Jones suggests Biden caused lethal Kentucky tornado with ‘weather weapon’ in latest unhinged rant
Alex Jones has suggested that the devastating tornadoes that wreaked havoc across Kentucky and five other US states last week were actually caused by President Joe Biden wielding government “weather weapons”.
Mr Jones, a far right radio shock jock and prolific conspiracy conspiracist, spuriously claimed a five-year-old speech about theoretical ways to stop global warming as proof that the US government had been working on dangerous weather control technology.
“So the question is,” he asked, referring to Mr Biden’s administration, “did they use weather weapons to cause the tornadoes? That’s a legitimate question to ask.”
The far right shock jock spuriously claimed a speech about hypothetical geo-engineering as proof that the US government has the power to control the weather
A work release inmate who went missing after he was saved from a Kentucky candle factory that collapsed during the deadly tornadoes, has turned himself in to the Calloway County Jail.
Francisco Starks, 44, was treated in hospital in Mayfield having been rescued from the Mayfield Consumer Products building.
Kentucky State Police said of Starks on Facebook: “Upon his release, he walked away from the hospital.”
He has, however, now returned to the jail which is about 25 miles away from Mayfield.
Kentucky tornado: Two-month-old girl becomes youngest victim of deadly storm, parents say
A two-month-old girl has become one of the youngest victims of the tornado in Kentucky and five surrounding states after she died from her injuries sustained during the storm.
Oaklynn Koon died on Monday, according to her parents Douglas and Jackie.
“At least I know who will be watching over you up there for me. My dad,” Douglas Koon wrote on Facebook. “God this doesn’t seem real.”
All workers that were inside the Mayfield candle factory when it was hit by a tornado are now accounted for, according to reports.
A factory spokesman confirmed to the Louisville Courier Journal that all 110 workers on shift are now accounted for, with 102 surviving. He said the fact that only eight were killed was a “miracle situation”.
Dawson Springs mayor says homeless residents have nowhere to shelter
The mayor of Dawson Springs, Kentucky, has said there is nowhere for residents to shelter after their homes were destroyed by the tornadoes.
Mayor Chris Smalley told CNN on Monday night: “We’re hoping FEMA [the Federal Emergency Management Agency] comes in here and tries to set up something here.
“We are a small town as well as also a small area as well. So, it’s gonna be hard to find a place to put the temporary housing and stuff.”
Candle factory workers claim they were not allowed to leave shifts early
Workers at a Kentucky candle factory that was destroyed by tornados last week say they were told they would be fired if they tried to leave their shifts early, according to reports. At least four workers at the Mayfield Consumer Products factory in Mayfield, Kentucky told NBC News that bosses refused them permission to leave the building even as warning sirens began to wail. At least eight people died in the factory when it was torn apart on Friday night.
A spokesman for the Company categorically denied that employees had been threatened with firing or told not to leave.
‘This isn’t a natural disaster,’ climate scientist says
A respected climate scientist has raised alarm that this weekend’s tornadoes were the result of global warming, not a random weather event.
Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State University, issued his warning on Democracy Now!’s The War and Peace Report on Monday.
“We tend to call these things natural disasters, but this isn’t a natural disaster,” he said. “This is a disaster that was exacerbated by human-caused climate change.”
Mr Mann continued: “Make no mistake, we have been seeing an increase in these massive tornado outbreaks that can be attributed to the warming of the planet.
“But what’s going to happen here, we’re going to continue to see that climate change is going to combine with natural factors, like the La Niña event that we’re experiencing, to produce ever more extreme examples of these sorts of phenomena.”
Five of the 74 confirmed fatalities in Kentucky have yet to be identified, Gov Beshear said at a press conference on Monday afternoon.
A further 109 people remain missing across the state. The governor has said it could take weeks to finalise the death toll due to the mountain of wreckage faced by search crews.
WASHINGTON, Dec 13 (Reuters) – The U.S. congressional committee probing the deadly Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol voted unanimously on Monday to seek “contempt of Congress” charges against Mark Meadows, who served as White House chief of staff to former President Donald Trump.
The seven Democratic and two Republican members of the House of Representatives Select Committee approved a report recommending the criminal charge against Meadows by a 9-0 vote. The full, Democratic-led House could vote as soon as Tuesday to approve the resolution.
Meadows has been called repeatedly to appear for depositions before the Democratic-led committee and has declined to do so despite being subpoenaed.
While he has turned over some information requested by the panel, he has held back many documents, arguing they are protected because he had worked for the president.
Asked about the committee decision in a Fox News Channel interview, Meadows said: “Obviously it’s disappointing but not surprising.”
“This is about Donald Trump and about actually going after him once again,” Meadows said.
Meadows, who was a member of the House for more than seven years until joining the Trump administration in 2020, has sued the committee and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over the matter.
His attorney, George Terwilliger, also sent a letter on Monday asking the committee to reconsider its plan to vote, arguing that it would be illegal for the panel to refer the matter for a House vote.
Representative Bennie Thompson, the Select Committee’s chairman, discounted that argument, noting that Meadows published and is promoting a book that goes into detail about events being investigated.
“He has no credible excuse for stonewalling the Select Committee’s investigation,” Thompson said.
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White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows speaks to reporters following a television interview, outside the White House in Washington, U.S. October 21, 2020. REUTERS/Al Drago/File Photo
Thompson said about 300 witnesses have testified, and its investigators have received more than 30,000 records.
“A small group of people have gotten a lot of attention because of their defiance. But many others have taken a different path and provided important information about January 6 and the context in which the riot occurred,” Thompson said.
‘PROTECT PRO-TRUMP PEOPLE’
In its report on Sunday recommending the contempt charge, the Select Committee said Meadows stated in an email ahead of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot that the U.S. National Guard would “protect pro-Trump people.”
Republican Representative Liz Cheney, the Jan. 6 committee’s vice chair, said the committee wanted Meadows to testify about “dozens of texts” he was sent during the Capitol attack, including from Donald Trump Jr. saying his father should tell his supporters to go home.
“We cannot surrender to President Trump’s efforts to hide what happened,” she said.
Committee members also said they wanted to ask Meadows about his text messages from members of Congress – who were not named – discussing ways to avoiding certifying the election result.
Meadows could become the third associate of the former Republican president to face a criminal contempt of Congress charge. The Justice Department, at the House’s request, has already brought similar charges against Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon. The House is also considering similar action against former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark.
Trump, at a rally on Jan. 6, repeated his false claim that his loss to Democratic President Joe Biden in the November 2020 election was the result of widespread fraud, and urged his supporters to march on the Capitol.
Four people died on the day of the riot, and one Capitol police officer died the next day of injuries sustained while defending Congress. Hundreds of police were injured during the multi-hour onslaught by Trump supporters hoping to stop formal certification of his election defeat, and four officers have since taken their own lives.
“Even a 10% increase in indoor masking can reduce case transmission significantly,” said Dr. Mark Ghaly, the California health and human services secretary, in explaining the new rules.
The coronavirus is airborne and can also spread silently from infected, asymptomatic people.
How long does the order last?
It is set to expire on Jan. 15.
Who is covered?
The order will affect roughly half the state’s population, including San Diego and Orange counties, the Inland Empire, the Central Valley and rural Northern California. The statewide indoor mask mandate order will last a month and will expire on Jan. 15.
Los Angeles County, Ventura County and most of the San Francisco Bay Area have their own indoor mask mandates that were implemented in the summer. While those jurisdictions have issued criteria by which officials would end the local mask mandates, there is no specific end date to the others in those areas.
Why is this happening?
California has seen the beginning of a winter surge of the Delta variant. And there are worries about the new Omicron variant.
Coronavirus case rates have risen by 50% in the last 2½ weeks, and county health officials across the state say they suspect they may be seeing the start of a winter jump in coronavirus cases. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers California as having a high level of transmission of the coronavirus, the worst tier in the federal agency’s four-tier scale.
California’s announcement came on the same day New York enacted its own statewide mask requirement in indoor public spaces, exempting only settings where everyone inside must be vaccinated.
On Monday, the California Department of Public Health offered these tips:
Celebrate safely: Take commonsense steps this holiday season to protect yourself, your family and your community as you celebrate.
Upgrade your mask: Good fit and filtration continue to be the best way to get the most out of your mask. The best masks for preventing COVID-19 include the N95, KN95 and KF94. If you don’t have access to one of these masks, wear a surgical mask or a surgical mask with a cloth mask on top. If you choose a fabric mask, opt for one with three or more cloth layers. No matter what kind of mask you wear, check the fit by avoiding gaps above the nose or on the sides.
Get vaccinated for COVID-19 and flu:It’s your turn now! It’s recommended that everyone over six months of age be vaccinated for the flu. For COVID-19, Californians age 5+ are eligible to make appointments or go to a walk-in site for vaccination. You can get your flu and COVID-19 vaccines on the same day.
My Vaccine Record is an easy way to show vaccination status at venues or businesses that require proof of vaccination. Visit myvaccinerecord.cdph.ca.gov today to get your vaccine record.
Stay home & get tested if sick: If you are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 (fever, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, muscle or body aches), or believe you have been exposed, get tested, call your healthcare provider, and stay home and away from others. Free, confidential testing is available statewide. Avoid close contact with people who are sick and stay home from work and school if you feel ill.
Wash hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
Travel tips: Delay travel (both domestic and international) until you are fully vaccinated. If you must travel before being fully vaccinated, consider getting tested before and after travel. See the CDC’s full travel guidance.
Avoid crowded venues or areas when cases are high.
Add your phone to the fight: Sign up for COVID-19 exposure notifications from CA Notify.
Answer the call or text if a contact tracer from the CA COVID Team or your local health department tries to connect.
Check with your local health department about local conditions. Local health jurisdictions can implement protocols that are stricter than state guidance.
MAYFIELD, Ky., Dec 13 (Reuters) – The barrage of tornadoes that tore through six states killed at least 74 people in Kentucky, officials said on Monday, as those fortunate enough to survive unscathed opened their doors to victims whose homes were destroyed, and hundreds of the suddenly homeless took refuge in shelters.
The death toll was likely to rise as 109 people remained missing, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said.
But no more dead were expected to come from a destroyed candle factory as a company spokesperson said later that a final accounting showed only eight dead. At one time, dozens were feared buried there beneath the rubble.
Some 28,000 Kentucky homes and businesses still lacked power, and 1,000 homes were damaged or destroyed, officials said, after the tornadoes surprised people by striking unusually late in the year during cold weather on Friday.
The dead, including at least six children, ranged in age from 5 months to 86 years old.
“You go from grief to shock to being resolute for a span of 10 minutes and then you go back,” Beshear said, choking up at times.
Amid the roller coaster of emotions, it has proven difficult for authorities to pin down the exact death toll. Piles of wreckage, interruptions to cell service and the number of people sheltering with friends and relatives have complicated efforts to identify fatalities.
The final death toll from Mayfield’s candle factory will stand at eight, as the remaining 102 workers who were on duty when the tornado struck are alive and have been accounted for, a process that took three days given the chaos brought by the disaster, company spokesperson Bob Ferguson said.
“Tremendous relief,” Ferguson told Reuters. “And now there is a real urgency to help those who lost their loved ones.”
While Kentucky bore the brunt of the tornadoes, including one that tore across tore across 227 miles (365 km) of terrain, six people died in an Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) warehouse in Illinois, four were killed in Tennessee and two in Missouri, while a nursing home was struck in Arkansas, causing one of that state’s two deaths.
The U.S workplace safety watchdog is investigating the circumstances around the collapse of the Amazon facility, and the company said it would cooperate.
Across Kentucky, neighbors and volunteers worked to house, feed and offer any other assistance to those whose homes were damaged, destroyed or stripped of electricity.
In the neighboring town of Wingo, about 90 people, from babies to the elderly, are sleeping on green cots that fill a warehouse-like room with low ceilings and a large standing cross at a community center affiliated with a Presbyterian church.
Stephen Jennittie, 52, was staying there with his wife, Christie Bonds, their Chihuahua puppy, Mr. Jingles, and about 90 other Mayfield residents, since the power and heat were knocked out of their home.
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A refrigerator is stuck in a tree after tornadoes ripped through several U.S. states in downtown Dawson Springs, Kentucky, U.S., December 13, 2021.REUTERS/Jon Cherry
Their survival felt like such a miracle that it renewed his religious faith, Jennittie said, recalling how his house shook amid the rumbling noise.
“I was talking to God and I told my lady, when we get out of here, we’re going to start going to church,” said Jennittie, a seventh-generation resident of Mayfield who said he may leave a devastated hometown that he no longer recognizes.
“It ain’t the Mayfield I grew up in.”
‘KIND OF IN DISBELIEF’
Homes across the town had collapsed walls, missing roofs and uprooted trees scattered across lawns.
With so many homeless, the Wingo shelter was short on mattresses on Saturday. But after one phone call, a local furniture store owner brought in more than two dozen mattresses, said Meagan Ralph, 37, a middle-school teacher who found herself appointed the community outreach director when she showed up to volunteer over the weekend.
“Some of them are really shocked and just kind of in disbelief, almost denial. For some, the emotion is unbearable,” Ralph said.
President Joe Biden will attempt to raise spirits with a planned visit on Wednesday to hard-hit areas including Mayfield, the White House said, after the president declared a major federal disaster in Kentucky on Sunday.
Late on Monday, the president also declared an emergency in Tennessee and Illinois and approved federal assistance for the two states.
More than 300 people in Kentucky, as well as in Arkansas and Tennessee, are being housed in Red Cross shelters, and that number is expected to grow. Hundreds more have been placed temporarily in resorts at area state parks, Kentucky Red Cross Chief Executive Steve Cunanan said.
Still others stayed with friends and relatives whose houses were spared.
David Hargrove, 62, surveyed the rubble that was once his private law office in downtown Mayfield. Amid the debris, a vault that was built into the 23-year-old building stood as the only part to remain upright.
He plans to rebuild.
“You either sit down and cry or you get moving,” Hargrove said. “I’m not much one to cry if I can avoid it.”
The records produced by Meadows leave “no doubt” that the White House knew about the violent riot that was taking place at the Capitol as the chaos unfolded, Cheney said in the meeting.
She and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., read out a series of panicked messages that pro-Trump Fox News hosts, congressional lawmakers and others had sent Meadows during the riot.
“Mark, the president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home. This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy,” Cheney said, quoting a text from Fox host Laura Ingraham.
“Please get him on TV. Destroying everything you have accomplished,” texted Brian Kilmeade of “Fox & Friends,” according to Cheney.
“Can he make a statement? Ask people to leave the Capitol,” urged Sean Hannity, Cheney said.
Donald Trump Jr., the former president’s oldest son, texted Meadows “again and again,” Cheney said.
“We need an Oval Office address,” Trump Jr. wrote in one message, according to Cheney. “He’s got to condemn this s— ASAP. The Capitol Police tweet is not enough,” he wrote in another, Cheney said.
“I’m pushing it hard. I agree,” Meadows responded, according to Cheney.
Trump, noted Cheney, did not take action for 187 minutes after the attack began.
Instead of appearing for his scheduled deposition last week, Meadows sued the committee and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., asking the court to invalidate two of the panel’s subpoenas.
Meadows’ legal complaint leans on Trump’s instruction for him not to comply with the subpoena, putting Meadows in the “untenable position of choosing between conflicting privilege claims” put forward by Trump and incumbent President Joe Biden.
Trump has sued to block the National Archives from sending a slew of White House records to the Jan. 6 committee. He argues that the records are protected by executive privilege. Biden, however, waived privilege over those documents.
The House had already voted to hold former White House senior advisor Steve Bannon in contempt for his own noncompliance with a subpoena issued by the Jan. 6 panel. A federal grand jury subsequently charged Bannon with two counts of contempt of Congress.
Bannon has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of one year in jail and a fine of up to $100,000 for each count. A federal judge set a tentative July 18 start date for Bannon’s trial.
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