CBS Evening News with Norah O'Donnell, 12/16/24
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- Today is a sad, sad day, not only for Madison, but for our entire country. - Tonight, deadly school shooting in Wisconsin, just days before the holiday break. The new details in the investigation just coming in.

Donald Trump holds his first press conference since being elected. What the president-elect had to say about vaccines and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. I think he's going to be much less radical than you would think. Everything that we do has been in balance with, you know, our natural world. And tonight's Eye on America...

how a Native American tribe and the U.S. government are saving redwood forests. There's been the Native history and then the American history. This is a chance to write history together. The CBS Evening News starts now.

Good evening. I'm Nora O'Donnell. And thank you for joining us as we learn new details in yet another school shooting in America. The latest scene of bloodshed and sorrow is Abundant Life Christian School. That's a private K through 12 school in Madison, Wisconsin. A law enforcement source tells CBS News that a 17-year-old female student opened fire today, killing a teacher and another teenage student.

The shooter was later found dead in the school. Right now, two critically wounded students are fighting for their lives in the hospital, while four others are being treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

President Biden called the shooting shocking and unconscionable, but it is part of a uniquely American epidemic. Guns are the leading cause of death of children, teens and young adults in this country. CBS's Charlie DeMar leads us off tonight from a family reunification center in Madison. And Charlie, what's happening there now?

Nora, an incredibly emotional day for so many here in Madison, Wisconsin. Right now, police say the focus remains on reunifying students with their families, and that's what's been going on at this medical center for much of the day as investigators search for a motive. We had a call coming in at a London Place Christian church that's advising someone was shot. Nine days before Christmas. I've got two medics and Engine 5 assigned. Copy. Let's make this an active shooter incident. Oh!

Police say a teenager opened fire at Wisconsin's Abundant Life Christian School, killing at least one teen student and a teacher. Today truly is a sad day for Madison and for our country. Madison Police Chief Sean Barnes. Six other people were injured. Two students are now in critical condition in the hospital.

And these injuries are considered life-threatening injuries. The shooter was dead upon our arrival, police department arrival, and no officers fired their weapons. CBS News has learned the shooter carried a 9mm pistol, the motive unknown. The school has more than 300 students, ranging from kindergarten to 12th grade. Bethany Hyman's daughter attends the school. It was a traumatic experience that I had to get here as soon as possible, as close as I possibly could.

I know that my daughter is safe from what I've heard. Dave Wagner is the former principal. My heart grieves beyond words with them. I know the principal. I know several of the teachers. They're going to be impacted for their life by the tragedy of this day. This was the nation's 39th school shooting this year that has resulted in deaths or injuries.

And Saturday marked 12 years since 20 first graders were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Madison now is the latest city to bear the burden. I'm feeling a little dismayed now. I'm so close to Christmas. Every child, every person in that building is a victim. These types of trauma don't just go away.

And back at the school, the FBI is working with local law enforcement to process the scene, conduct witness interviews, and they are also going to try and obtain a number of search warrants as investigators are in the early stages of this investigation. Nora.

Charlie DeMar, thank you for that information. Now to the Trump transition and President-elect's nearly hour-long news conference covering a wide range of topics from the economy to TikTok to vaccines. CBS's Caitlin Huey Burns was at Mar-a-Lago asking important questions to Donald Trump about his views on the future of immunizations.

In his first press conference since winning the election last month, President-elect Donald Trump defended his choice of vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. I think he's going to be much less radical than you would think. Kennedy, a former Democrat, would oversee the FDA and the CDC. His attorney and advisor had petitioned the FDA in 2022 to revoke the policy.

polio vaccine. In a statement, Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, a polio survivor, issued a warning to Kennedy, calling any effort to undermine confidence in the vaccine dangerous.

- No, I want him to come back with a report as to what he thinks. You're not gonna lose the polio vaccine. That's not gonna happen. - Kennedy echoed Trump as he arrived on Capitol Hill today to meet with senators. - As Kennedy and other cabinet picks curry support on Capitol Hill this week, Trump suggested today he could support primary challenges to Republicans who opposed his selections.

If they're unreasonable, if they're opposing somebody for political reasons or stupid reasons, I would say it has nothing to do with me. I would say they probably would be priming. At his Mar-a-Lago resort today, Trump joined SoftBank CEO Mayayoshi Son to announce the Japanese company will invest $100 billion in American projects.

And he's doing this because he feels very optimistic about our country since the election. Son is the latest tech leader to visit Trump in Florida. The CEOs of Apple and Google met with Trump in recent days. And Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is surprised.

slated to visit later this week. Today, Trump welcomed the CEO of TikTok to Mar-a-Lago as the social media site asked the Supreme Court to block a law that would ban the platform. I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok because I won youth by 34 points. And there are those that say that TikTok has something to do with that.

Now, while Trump made gains among young voters, Vice President Kamala Harris won voters under 30. And on foreign policy, Trump said that Ukrainian President Zelensky should be prepared to make a deal with Russian President Putin in order to end the war. But he wouldn't say whether Ukraine should give up any of its territory. Nora. Caitlin Huey Burns with all those developments. Thank you.

Well, today, Donald Trump, without evidence, accused the Biden administration of covering up what's behind the drone mystery that's concerning and perplexing millions of people in New Jersey and other eastern states. CBS's Tom Hanson has the new developments.

Thank you very much. Today, President-elect Trump accused the Biden administration of keeping Americans in the dark on drones. The government knows what is happening. And for some reason, they want to keep people in suspense. What is that? The sightings fueling fear and frustration. On Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said there is no national security threat. We know of no foreign involvement

with respect to the sightings in the Northeast. But Mayorkas did say the federal government has deployed additional resources to assist New Jersey State Police. That's concerning. Sean Golden is the Monmouth County Sheriff. The majority of these sightings, probably some type of commercial or recreational aircraft, manned aircraft. There have been more than a thousand drone sightings reported in New Jersey in less than a month, according to the sheriff.

He showed us this heat map that tracks them. And so just walk me through what we're seeing. It's just various mapping. I mean, this is the heat map that we have. Pretty much you could see the area of the county covered. This breaks it down by town, if you will. So the more calls, the hotter it gets. Trump called for people to shoot them down on his Truth Social Network, something Sheriff Golden called a bad idea. Some of these are described as, you know, very advanced methods.

large 60 foot in diameter. I mean, you can't you can't go shooting at one of those, taking it down. You don't know where. New Jersey is the most densely populated state. And tonight we're standing in front of Naval Weapons Station Earl, which is known for storing missile parts and explosives. It's also close to where several of these mysterious drones have been spotted hovering around. Now, officials here are growing frustrated. They say they've been dealing with drone encounters for some time without ever figuring out who's behind them. Laura Tom Hanson, thank you.

The U.S. conducted airstrikes against ISIS camps in Syria today, killing at least a dozen suspected terrorists. It is part of an ongoing mission to prevent the terror group from reforming after the fall of the Syrian government. CBS's Holly Williams went on patrol with American-backed forces in the Syrian city of Raqqa, the former ISIS stronghold. The city of Raqqa used to be the so-called ISIS capital.

Now it's patrolled by American-backed forces who've brought stability to this region, around a quarter of Syria's territory. The Raqqa city is the safest city in Syria. Mahmoud Abdallah al-Ashqar works for Raqqa's security service. But he told us he lived here under ISIS rule as a teenager. He took us to the place where he says he was forced to watch public beheadings. It was very violent, you know.

There was blood everywhere. American-backed forces are still raiding ISIS sleeper cells and hideouts. They fear the toppling of the Syrian regime could give ISIS an opportunity to stage a comeback. At this high-security jail, the American-backed forces are holding thousands of ISIS prisoners.

In 2022, ISIS attacked the prison, sparking a jailbreak and a 10-day battle to regain control. We're from CBS News, American television. This prisoner claims to be a doctor from Windsor, Canada, captured six years ago. We all make mistakes, right? To the Canadian government, do you have a message? Why haven't they come? Why haven't they asked about me?

Online posts from nine years ago appear to show the Canadian justifying the sexual enslavement of women by ISIS. We spoke to the Imam of a mosque he attended in Canada. He used to come here regularly to the mosque with his father, with his brothers.

was very normal person, very nice and kind. The prison's warden told us they're not telling the inmates that the Syrian regime in Damascus has collapsed. It would create disobedience, he told us, after the fall of the regime. ISIS has been mobilizing. Holly Williams, CBS News in eastern Syria.

Relief is long overdue for communities battered by summertime hurricanes and floods. They're tired of waiting for Washington to act. That's next. Congress is expected to vote this week on billions of dollars for communities ravaged by this summer's hurricanes and floods. Hurricane Helene wiped out the federal fund used to save small businesses in some homes. And as CBS's Scott McFarland reports, lawmakers waited months before moving to replenish it.

It's taking the whole house. Amy French watched her home wash away. You never think you'll watch your house just float down the road. Historic floods from the mountains pulverized Damascus, Virginia, near the Tennessee state line after Hurricane Helene. I grabbed my granddaughter, and her diaper bag was already on my back. And took off. And I ran. It was underwater. Ralph Wilson's diner was gutted and shuttered. The scary part is our...

the people are going to come back. For so many business and homeowners here, the rebuilding is slow. But because of delays in Washington, it is slower than it's supposed to be. Did it surprise you that they said, we can't give you the money? I'd heard rumors that they were out of money, but I just didn't understand the, I guess, the magnitude of it. CBS News has learned Wilson is one of tens of thousands of people who've applied for U.S. Small Business Administration disaster loans after Helene. But

but who were told there was no money left. The agency warned the historic storms depleted their disaster loan fund in October and pleaded for more money urgently. But Congress, gridlocked for two years on nearly every spending bill, returned home for Election Day without acting.

and still hasn't. This is the epitome of why people get so damn frustrated with the federal government. If you can't do this basic one-on-one, help people in a moment of crisis. A bipartisan group of senators from storm-ravaged states say the inaction from their colleagues could force businesses to close. Folks, right now, North Carolina, Western North Carolina, Western Virginia,

They want to know that we're here doing our work and that help is on the way. For Amy French, Washington's delay sends the worst message. Do you worry this community has been forgotten? I do. Scott McFarland, CBS News, Damascus, Virginia. High on America is next with the story of sacred land in California's redwood forests being returned to its original owners.

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One of the great symbols of the American West, the California redwood, has been decimated over time. But a groundbreaking partnership is bringing these iconic forests back to life. In tonight's Eye on America, CBS's Jonathan Vigliotti takes us to the heart of this effort, where indigenous knowledge and modern conservation are restoring nature and history.

California's towering redwoods serve as the backdrop to a historic real estate deal. When you found out that the land was being returned to the Yurok tribe, what went on in your mind? I think excitement. Rosie Claiborne is a descendant of the Yurok tribe, which had this territory called O'Rau in the Yurok language ripped from them nearly two centuries ago. As the natural world became completely decimated, you know, so did Yurok people.

That decimation started when miners rushed in for gold, killing and displacing tens of thousands of Native Americans statewide and ravaging the redwoods for lumber. What happened to the land as a result? Everything was extracted that, you know, was marketable. We've always had this really intricate relationship with the landscape and we've hunted, we've fished, we've gathered, and those are all management tools.

Now, generations later, 125 acres bordering Redwood National and State Park will be handed back to the Yuroks. Where we're sitting right now, just a few years ago, was covered in asphalt. Yes. They paved paradise. They paved paradise. Paul Ringgold is with the nonprofit Save the Redwoods Lake. It purchased the land in 2013 from an old timber mill with the original goal of giving it

to the National Park Service. We began to realize that perhaps a better alternative would be to transfer the land back to the Yurok tribe. No one knows this land better. They have been stewarding this land since time immemorial.

Ringgold says that stewardship includes controlled burns to clear dead vegetation, a native practice once outlawed but now recognized as essential in preventing catastrophic wildfires. Indigenous populations have been using fire as a management tool. We'd like to see that kind of practice return. These redwoods are some of the most effective carbon stores on the planet.

A single tree can remove up to 250 tons in its lifetime. That's the equivalent of removing nearly 200 cars from the road for an entire year. Another forgotten jewel of the ecosystem here, salmon. The tribe is also rebuilding a creek to restore its population.

You have salmon who provide for humans, but they also provide for other animals. And then when they spawn and die, they put nutrients back in the ground. And so everything just has this balance and this reciprocal way. A balance that will come through the Uruks partnership with both Save the Redwoods League and the National Park Service. We understand some of the mistakes we made as a federal government.

and it's a chance to begin that healing with Native tribes all across the United States. For National Park Service Director Chuck Sams, the first Native American to lead the agency, this partnership is personal. We've been writing our histories separately. There's been the Native history and then the American history. This is a chance to write history together.

Of the 431 parks managed by the National Park Service, 109 of them now have formal co-stewardship agreements with indigenous tribes, with 43 more on the way. I really hope Oral symbolizes like a coming home of Yurok people and really reconnecting with our landscape. Returning home and restoring balance in this land of giants. For Eye on America, Jonathan Vigliotti, Oreck, California.

And history on the Broadway stage. That's next.

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For many, serving on the Supreme Court is a dream role. It was for Justice Katonji Brown Jackson, but she also had another dream, Broadway. I'll be here long day.

This is the feeling I need to walk with. Jackson made history as the first Supreme Court justice in a Broadway production when she took the stage Saturday in the musical Ann Juliet. I spoke with Justice Jackson earlier this year about her theater ambitions, something she wrote about in her Harvard application.

as I believe it might help me quote to fulfill my fantasy of becoming the first black female Supreme Court Justice to appear on a Broadway stage. Yes, because I love theater. I mean I did a lot of theater in college and there was a time when I thought should I go into acting as opposed to law but you know I stuck with law and so I thought this was a good way to combine the two.

Well, the verdict in this landmark case was a standing ovation for Jackson. The play and Juliet explores what if Juliet hadn't ended her life for Romeo and had been given a second chance at love and life on her terms. And that is tonight's CBS Evening News. I'm Nora O'Donnell. We'll see you right back here tomorrow. Good night.

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