Category: News Daypop

Rescuers resumed search operations on Sunday for victims of a deadly tornado outbreak with dozens confirmed dead, and destroyed entire communities throughout six states on Friday.  Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said the tornado that tore a 200-mile gash across his state and leveled homes and businesses.  Beshear told “Face the Nation” on Sunday that left the tornadoes left “devastation like none of us have ever seen before. This tornado didn’t discriminate against anybody in its path, even if they were trying to be safe.”  Mayfield, Kentucky, one of the hardest hit communities, showed mass destruction in satellite photos. The official number of confirmed deaths from the tornadoes and severe storms stood at 25 on Sunday morning, with Kentucky suffering the most deaths. But Beshear estimated the actual death toll in his state would exceed 80 and could rise to more than 100 as crews continue sifting through the wreckage.

In Arkansas, two people were killed, including one person in a nursing home. Governor Asa Hutchinson said Sunday that it was a “miracle” that more weren’t killed at the care facility, telling “Face the Nation” — “The staff did an incredible job of using their own body to shield some of the residents, and the fact that there was a warning system in place helped them to move them into the hallway that saved lives, and really emphasize the importance of the early warning system, the sirens and taking action whenever you hear that.”. In Illinois, six people were killed when the roof of an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville collapsed during a storm.  Forty-five people have been rescued, though it was unclear how many remain missing.

President Biden signed an emergency declaration for Kentucky, saying: “Whatever is needed, the federal government is going to find a way to supply it.”  The National Weather Service said the historic tornado that was on the ground for well over 100 miles has been classified as an E3, although it could be reassessed as they study the effects on the ground.

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Veteran broadcast journalist Chris Wallace announced his departure from FOX News on the air Sunday morning. CNN later confirmed Wallace will next host a weekday show for its streaming platform CNN+, which is set to debut in 2022.

Wallace, the 74-year-old son of late 60 Minutes icon Mike Wallace, said: “After 18 years — this is my final FOX News Sunday. It is the last time — and I say this with real sadness — we will meet like this. Eighteen years ago, the bosses here at FOX promised me they would never interfere with a guest I booked or a question I asked. And they kept that promise. I have been free to report to the best of my ability, to cover the stories I think are important, to hold our country’s leaders to account. It’s been a great ride.  The fact you’ve chosen to spend this hour with us is something I cherish. But after 18 years, I have decided to leave FOX. I want to try something new, to go beyond politics to all the things I’m interested in. I’m ready for a new adventure. And I hope you’ll check it out.”

FOX News Media said Wallace’s show will continue and will be hosted by rotating news anchors until a permanent anchor is announced, adding in a statement:  “We are extremely proud of our journalism and the stellar team that Chris Wallace was a part of for 18 years. The legacy of FOX News Sunday will continue with our star journalists, many of whom will rotate in the position until a permanent host is named.”

Wallace covered five presidential elections and interviewed every president since George H.W. Bush, as well as world leaders such as France’s Emanuel Macron and Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Wallace previously worked for ABC from 1989-2003 and NBC from 1975-88, including serving as NBC’s White House correspondent in the 1980s and moderator of Meet the Press from 1987-88.

Fox Anchor Chris Wallace Makes His Own News With Move to CNN

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Scott Peterson was resentenced to life in prison on Wednesday, nearly two decades after the California man was convicted of killing his wife Laci and the couple’s unborn child.

Laci Peterson disappeared in 2002 after visiting a salon in Modesto, Calif., near San Francisco. Her remains were found several months later. Peterson was convicted and sentenced to die for the killing, spending more than 15 years on death row in California; however the California Supreme Court overturned the death sentence due to an error made by the original judge. Scott Peterson, now 49 years old, appeared in court in San Mateo County to receive his new sentence.

Scott Peterson’s attorney said he had plans to speak during Wednesday’s hearing, but Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo wouldn’t allow him. Laci Peterson’s mother, Sharon Rocha said in a statement directed at Peterson: “I still feel the grief every day after 19 years. Your evil, self-centered, unforgivable selfish act ended two beautiful souls. And for what reason? There was no reason other than that you just didn’t want them anymore. You didn’t want a baby nor the responsibility of being a father. You’re a coward. And sometimes when I wake up, I cry because they’re so realistic and I know I’ll never see her again.”

Prosecutors argued at his original trial that Scott Peterson killed Laci Peterson and dumped her remains into San Francisco Bay. Laci Peterson was eight months pregnant with the couple’s son, whom they planned to name Conner, when she disappeared. Prosecutors also argued that Scott Peterson, who was having an affair at the time or Laci’s murder, was motivated to kill his wife and child out of concerns for accumulating debts and a desire to be single again.

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New York State Parks Police said a woman who was pulled from a submerged car near the brink of Niagara Falls on Wednesday has died. Earlier in the day, a U.S. Coast Guard rescue diver deployed from a helicopter and climbed into the partially submerged car, pulling the woman out of the frigid water. Onlookers said the car was stuck on rocks about 100 feet from the edge of waterfall.

Police Capt. Chris Rola said the woman, who was in her late 60s, was unresponsive as a swimmer was eventually lowered from a Coast Guard chopper into the water to pull her from the vehicle. She was taken from the scene by an ambulance. A state parks spokeswoman later confirmed the woman had died. Rola did not say whether the woman, a local to Western New York, drove into the water intentionally or by accident, citing a pending investigation.

Rola said police first received a 911 call at 11:50 a.m. ET about a black vehicle in the Niagara River floating towards the Falls, away from a pedestrian bridge upstream. “We’ve never had a vehicle in the water this close to the brink,” Rola said. After determining someone was inside the car, officials contacted the Coast Guard, having concluded that a helicopter was the only safe means to conduct a rescue.

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Hawaii’s governor declared a state of emergency as a major winter storm left hundreds without power and threatened catastrophic flooding across the islands. In a statement, Hawaiian Gov. David Ige said he signed the emergency declaration as heavy rains from a “Kona low,” a type of seasonal cyclone in the Hawaiian Islands, were expected to “continue to cause flooding and damage” across the state.  The decision will allow Hawaii to use funds to provide “quick and efficient relief of suffering, damage, and losses caused by flooding and other effects of heavy rains.” Ige said the emergency relief period would run until at least Friday

The Oahu Department of Emergency Management reported cases of vehicle rescues, water evacuation requests, inundated homes and road closures, and images and videos from Twitter showed indoor flooding and cars and buses driving in and stranded in floodwater. While the threat of significant flooding had diminished in some parts of the islands, the possibility of “catastrophic flooding” was still a concern, with the “threats and impacts” of the storm “focused over the western half of the state.” The weather service said “numerous landslides” could occur in areas with steep terrain, while “many roads could become impassable due to severe runoff and flooding.”

U.S. President Joe Biden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin in a video call Tuesday that the United States and its allies would respond with strong measures if Russia invades Ukraine.

During their 2-hour secure virtual meeting, the White House said that President Biden “voiced the deep concerns” of the United States and its allies about Russia’s escalation of forces around Ukraine and “reiterated his support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” while calling for de-escalation and a return to diplomacy. Biden also asserted that the United States and its allies would respond with “strong economic and other measures in the event of military escalation.”

National security adviser Jake Sullivan said during a press conference: “He told President Putin directly that if Russia further invades Ukraine, the United States and our European allies would respond with strong economic measures. There was a lot of give and take” between Biden and Putin, adding that Biden was “crystal clear about where the United States stands.” Sullivan added the administration was prepared to send supplies and other resources to Ukraine and other North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies if Russia further invades Ukraine.

Tuesday’s meeting came amid a U.S.-Russia relationship that’s been in decline for years. The White House said that Biden and Putin also discussed other issues, such as “the U.S.-Russia dialogue on Strategic Stability, a separate dialogue on ransomware, as well as joint work on regional issues such as Iran.”

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that all NYC employers will have to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for their in-person workers under new rules announced on Monday. The vaccine mandate for private businesses will take effect Dec. 27 and is aimed at preventing a spike in COVID-19 infections during the holiday season and winter months. The new guidance would be the most aggressive in the nation. Vaccinations are already required for city employees including teachers, police officers and firefighters, and a vaccination mandate for employees of private and religious schools was announced last week. Current New York City COVID-19 rules also include at least one vaccine dose for indoor restaurant dining, entertainment venues and fitness centers. Under new mandates for indoor dining, entertainment and gyms, two shots will be required for people over 12. One shot will be required for children aged 5 to 11, who are not covered by the current mandate.

de Blasio said that he expects the new mandate to survive any legal challenges. The mandate will apply to roughly 184,000 businesses in the city, which has a population of 8.8 million.  Said de Blasio: “We are going to be working with businesses all over the city and that’s almost 200,000 businesses that are not already covered by the Key to NYC guidelines right now. We are going to be talking to them in the next days on how to put together the right plan to implement this. The specific guidance, the specific rules will come out Dec. 15.”  He added: “We’ve been living with this now for most of two years. We got to put it behind us and vaccine mandates in my experience are the one thing that really breaks through. And we do know this, vaccines every single time, you know, every single time there’s a fear of the vaccine won’t have an impact on a new variant. Well, guess what? Every single time the vaccines have worked. That’s a good track record. Let’s lean into it even more.”

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Former U.S. senator and Republican presidential and vice presidential candidate Bob Dole died on Sunday at 98 years old. The Elizabeth Dole Foundation, named after his wife, announced that Dole died in his sleep early Sunday morning. A cause of death was not immediately revealed, however, Dole announced in February that he had been diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer and would undergo treatment. The statement from the Elizabeth Dole Foundation read: ““It is with heavy hearts we announce that Senator Robert Joseph Dole died early this morning in his sleep,” adding, “At his death, at age 98, he had served the United States of America faithfully for 79 years.”

Dole served in the U.S. Army during World War II and survived serious injuries in battle in Italy. He earned two Purple Hearts and two Bronze Stars for valor during his service.  He served in the U.S. House as a representative from Kansas between 1961 and 1969. He was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1968 and represented Kansas in the Senate for 27 years, the last 11 as the Republican leader.

In 1976, Dole was the vice presidential nominee on the Republican ticket with incumbent President Gerald Ford; they ultimately lost in the general election to Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale. Dole then resigned from the Senate in 1996 to make a bid for President, ultimately losing to incumbent President Bill Clinton. Following his Presidential run, Dole began serving as special counsel with the law firm Alston and Bird in Washington and was appointed by then-President George W. Bush to co-head a bipartisan commission that delivered suggestions on improving the military’s health care system in 2008. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Clinton in 1997 and received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2018.

Dole is survived by his wife, former Sen. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, and daughter Robin Dole.

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The Louisiana Department of Health confirmed that ten passengers and crew members aboard a Norwegian Cruise Line ship tested positive for coronavirus. The Norwegian Breakaway returned to New Orleans on Sunday after a weeklong cruise.

The Louisiana state health department said its agency as well as Gov. John Bel Edwards, the city of New Orleans and the Port of New Orleans “are aware and working closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to initiate existing COVID-19 agreements and protocols with the cruise line.” The ship had stops in Belize, Honduras and Mexico. More than 3,200 people were onboard, and they all were to be tested before leaving the ship. The ship has a passenger capacity of 3,964.

The cruise line said the patients were all fully vaccinated and they were asymptomatic. Those who test positive for the virus will be required to travel home in a personal vehicle or self-isolate in accommodations provided by the cruise line. Passengers were given a test to use in three days.

The CDC requires everyone to have a negative test before boarding cruise ships, and vaccinations for those eligible with limited exemptions.

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/cruise-ship-covid-19-infections-arrives-orleans-81569285

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The House of Representatives on Thursday approved a short-term spending bill that would keep federal agencies running through Feb. 18, 2022 — just one day before the federal government was scheduled to run out of money. The vote was 221-212, with one Republican joining all Democrats to pass the bill.

The measure now heads to the Senate, where passing the bill remains in doubt.   A small group of conservative Republicans, who oppose vaccine-or-testing requirements for companies with at least 100 employees, have threatened to delay passage of the short-term funding bill, which could in turn lead to a short partial government shutdown. However, top leaders of both parties have stressed that a shutdown will not happen. President Biden needs to sign the legislation before the midnight deadline on Friday to avoid any lapse in funding.