CBS Evening News with Norah O'Donnell, 12/27/24
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Audible's best of 2024 picks are here. Discover the year's top audiobooks, podcasts, and originals in all your favorite genres. From memoirs and sci-fi to mysteries and thrillers, Audible's curated list in every category is the best way to hear 2024's best in audio entertainment. Like a stunning new full cast production of George Orwell's 1984.

Heartfelt memoirs like Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson's lovely one, the year's best fiction like The Women by Kristen Hanna, and Percival Everett's brilliantly subversive James. Another worthwhile listen is Amy Tintera's thrilling and twisting whodunit Listen for the Lie. This laugh-out-loud funny tale follows Lucy, a woman who needs to clear her own name after a true crime podcast decides to probe into the worst night of her life, one she conveniently can't remember.

There's more to imagine when you listen. Go to audible.com slash WonderyPod and discover all the year's best waiting for you. Breaking news. Longtime CBS sports commentator Greg Gumbel has died. Tonight we honor his decades-long trailblazing career from Selection Sunday to the Super Bowl.

Millions of Americans are taking to the roads and skies after the holiday, making it one of the busiest travel days of the season. How severe weather may be impacting their journeys. What happens in Dallas, what happens in L.A., will impact what's happening here in Atlanta. It's going to be a hard road for her. And we go on the road with the story of birth, adoption, and chosen family. What is driving you to do all this? Love. The CBS Evening News starts now.

Good evening and thank you for joining us. I'm Jerika Duncan in for Nora. We begin with that breaking news about our CBS colleague Greg Gumbel. The legendary sportscaster has died at the age of 78 after a battle with cancer, according to a statement from his wife and daughter. They said Greg approached his illness like one would expect he would with stoicism, grace and positivity. He leaves behind a legacy of love and

inspiration and dedication to over 50 extraordinary years in the sports broadcast industry. And his iconic voice will never be forgotten. CBS's Dana Jacobson has a look back at his remarkable career and his life.

He was synonymous with CBS Sports. Greg Gumbel's distinctive voice. It is caught. Touchdown, Torrey Smith. Resonated loudly from the football field. And it is ruled a touchdown. To the racetrack. I'm Greg Gumbel. Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours from all of us at CBS Sports. To the basketball court. Well, welcome to our New York studios and the NCAA Basketball Championship Selection Show. And everything in between. Topham comes up close.

Gumbel was beloved as a studio host of the NFL Today and a play-by-play voice for the NFL on CBS, a pioneer as the first African American to announce a major sporting event, and a fixture on CBS's coverage of March Madness. Tonight marks CBS Sports' 23rd year covering March Madness. He also anchored Winter and Summer Olympics.

Gumbel had battled health issues over the past year that kept him out of broadcasting. His voice silenced, his presence missed. CBS Sports in a statement said of Gumbel, there has never been a finer gentleman in all of television. Greg Gumbel was 78. Beloved indeed, that again was Dana Jacobson.

Well, millions of Americans are hitting the roads and passing through airports today as they head back home ahead of New Year's. With just a few days left in 2024, this has been America's busiest year for air travel ever. Records have been smashed around nearly all of

the major getaway holidays. Even with the huge crush of people at airports across the country, most flights are getting where they need to go on time. Meanwhile, drivers in the East are facing some potentially dangerous conditions with freezing rain in the forecast. CBS's Rob Marciano is tracking the storm for us tonight. But first, we'll check in with Skyler Henry from Hartsfield Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, the busiest airport in the world. Skyler.

Hey, Jerica, good evening to you. Well, it has that distinction for a reason. Officials estimate more than 350,000 people are making their way to and through Hartsfield today alone. It's a spike being felt at airports across the country during this busy holiday travel season.

Severe storms hanging a dark cloud over parts of the country as a record-shattering year for air passengers continues. Starting Memorial Day weekend, the TSA says its 10 busiest days ever for screening passengers have all come this year. That means big lines at the checkpoints.

I wasn't anticipating that, that's for sure. But I see the security times and that should be all right. My mom and stepdad made sure we got here early enough. As busy and chaotic as this looks, most flights so far today are taking off on time. A night and day difference from Thursday, which saw nearly 800 flights canceled. Passengers are advised to pay attention not just to where their planes are going,

but where they're coming from. - What happens in Boston, what happens in Dallas, what happens in LA will impact what's happening here in Atlanta. - The travel rush extends to the highways. AAA is anticipating hours-long traffic jams along major corridors and tonight to be among the heaviest travel days. Adding to the headaches, about an hour west of New York City, a mine shaft collapsed left behind this sinkhole along Interstate 80. That heavily traveled route is closed indefinitely.

Overall, weather conditions are good for drivers, and so are prices at the pump, the lowest in more than three years. Americans should snap their selfies with these prices now because this tends to be close to the bottom. Gas prices will likely start going up, especially in mid and late February when demand goes up.

Now, officials are stressing for travelers to have a plan, have some patience and to make sure you get to your destination safely. A priority. All right. Skyler Henry for us tonight. Thank you. Well, there are reports of tonight of a tornado touching down in Mobile, Alabama, and now the area is facing a flash flood threat. This homeowner already dealing with gushing floodwaters. And that's

not the only region facing dangerous weather tonight. CBS's Rob Marciano is in Tarrytown, New York, which is under a winter weather advisory. Rob, good evening.

Hey, Jericho, what's in the south tonight is going to be here in the northeast tomorrow. And it was another stormy day for the south with a couple of tornadoes reported and just a tornado warning about an hour ago southwest of Mobile. But you can see the radar is very active from New Orleans, Slidell, up through Gulfport, in through Birmingham, Alabama, all the way up through Knoxville and beyond. These storms are still pretty potent, but they should begin to wane as they push off towards the east.

But the tables reset again tomorrow. That California storm is now going to reignite some storms tomorrow. We've got an enhanced risk of seeing damaging winds and tornadoes throughout tomorrow afternoon along many of the same spots. Now, what's there tonight? It's going to be reaching into our area.

later on tonight. And we've got air that's cold enough for this precip to start in the way of some freezing rain. So winter weather advisories are up for parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, much of southern New England, because it will start out as frozen precipitation. It'll be glassy across the roadways until at least 11 a.m., noon, or even 1 o'clock for places like Boston before things begin to warm up in earnest tomorrow night and Sunday. But tomorrow morning here in the northeast will be dicey travel. Tomorrow afternoon in the south will be dangerous storms again.

Jerika? Yeah, that ice is nothing to play with. Rob Marciano, thank you. Well, breaking news from the Supreme Court. President-elect Donald Trump is asking the justices to pause a potential ban of TikTok from taking effect. The video app must cut ties with his Chinese parent company by January 19th to continue operating in the United States. That's the day before inauguration. Trump wants a delay to give his administration a chance to reach a, quote, political solution.

Also today, TikTok and the Justice Department filed opposing briefs with the court. Arguments are scheduled for January 10th. New tonight, the federal government reports that there has been a double digit jump in American homelessness compared to last year and an even bigger jump among families. CBS's Lilia Luciano is digging into what's behind the spike.

The shocking increase in the number of people living without housing in American cities is no surprise to Cynthia English, who spent 10 years experiencing homelessness.

is not truly affordable for those of us who make the lease. According to the government's latest data, more than 770,000 people were unhoused in a single night in 2024, up 18% from the year before and the highest number ever recorded. It can happen to anybody. Steve Berg is the chief policy officer for the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

Would you say that the stigma around homelessness takes away from the priority to solve the issue? I believe it does. What we really need is we need the communities to be committed to actually solving the problem and not just...

blaming people who are homeless. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development blames the record-breaking increase on the rising cost of living. It costs more to rent a modest apartment than people making a modest job.

Devastating natural disasters like the Maui wildfire that displaced thousands have added to the shortage of housing. The report also says the number of homeless families more than doubled in some cities like New York and Chicago, where migrant families were bused from border states. It's going to keep getting worse until we all come together. That means city, state, federal, landlords, brokers, all of it.

Cynthia says that part of what's important is to meet people where they are. That means providing housing first and then addressing other needs. But oftentimes, getting a home is just the beginning of the journey, not the end. Jerika? Absolutely. Thank you, Lilia.

Evidence is mounting tonight that Russian air defenses likely shot down a passenger plane over Kazakhstan on Christmas Day. Azerbaijan Airlines says that the plane crashed after external interference. Russia said today that the crash happened during a Ukrainian drone attack. The White House says U.S. intelligence supports the assessment that Russia shot it down.

Moscow initially blamed a bird strike for the crash that killed 38 people. 29 others did survive. Well, Houthi rebels in Yemen today said an airstrike hit the capital Sana'a after the Iran-backed group claimed to have attacked Israel. Now, both sides have increased fighting in recent days. Meanwhile, a new front has opened up in the war in Gaza, a battle against the elements. Let's get more now tonight from CBS's Holly Williams in Tel Aviv.

Israel targeted Yemen's international airport yesterday, as well as power stations and ports, all in a region controlled by the Houthis, a Yemeni militant group backed by Iran. The head of the United Nations World Health Organization was inside the airport during the Israeli attack, and the U.N. condemned the escalation between Israel and Yemen.

The Houthis have apparently ramped up their attacks on Israel in recent days, launching ballistic missiles and drones, though most have been shot down. Throughout the war in Gaza, the Houthis say they've been acting in solidarity with Palestinians. From an underground command center, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to, quote, root out the terrorist arm of Iran's axis of evil.

As Israel takes on its enemies across the Middle East, it's also continuing to pummel the Gaza Strip. With nearly the entire population displaced and many in tents, Gazans are facing a new adversary, the cold. At Nasser Hospital, a CBS News team filmed medics treating babies for hypothermia. They say they admit one or two cases every day.

Makhmud Al Fasa buried his newborn daughter Silla this week. She died of hypothermia. I went to wake her up for breastfeeding and she was frozen and blue, he said. Her heart had stopped from the intensity of the cold.

Israel's military raided another medical facility today, Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip. Israel claims it was used by Hamas militants. Jerika. Holly Williams for us tonight. Thank you. Dozens of members of Congress targeted in so-called swatting attacks is just one month. How Capitol Police are handling the surge. That's next. Ryan Reynolds here from Intmobile. With the price of just about everything going up during inflation, we thought we'd bring our prices down.

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Holiday magic is in the air, and DSW's got all the shoes to make your season extra merry. Believe, you've got parties to attend and lists to check twice, so DSW is taking care of the details, like gifts to make their eyes all aglow, styles that bring joy to your world.

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One week from today, a new Congress will be sworn into office. And for those who hope the end of the election would break the fever of politically violent threats and rhetoric, well, there are new signs the opposite has happened. CBS's Scott McFarland reports on a surge in new bomb threats and so-called swatting attacks on elected officials.

Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene posted this video of a bomb technician responding after she was targeted by a bomb threat. The latest in a series of threats triggering police responses against her and other members of Congress. This is the trend that we're seeing. These people are getting threatened in their homes. Their families are being threatened.

Testimony from the U.S. Capitol Police reveals there have been at least 50 so-called swatting attacks on members of Congress in just the past month, incidents in which someone makes a false claim of a bomb or a mass shooting at the home of a public official. You've got, you know, a bunch of law enforcement officers that are pounding on the door, kicking in a door, and it's a recipe for chaos and it's a recipe for somebody to get innocent, to get hurt or killed. That number you reported, 50 or so,

Is that a striking number to you? In a one month period, yes. Which means we had multiple cases a day. And again, these are occurring all over the country. And so yeah, it certainly got our attention.

After a year marred by political violence, the November election hasn't broken the fever. Several U.S. House members told CBS News they've been menaced in recent weeks. I'm being unfairly targeted right now. I'm receiving death threats. I'm fine, but, you know, I got a family at home that has to deal with all this. Including North Carolina Democrat Wiley Nickel, who told us his recent editorial recommending strategies to push back on President-elect Trump's agenda triggered a wave of death threats. We've had

threats on my life, my family, my staff. It's been, you know, very ugly. To counter the harassment, Capitol Police are deploying more officers into elected officials' home communities and airports during travel. At least one of the recent swatting incidents resulted in a death. A police officer rushing to respond to a bomb threat at Congresswoman Greene's home in Georgia got involved in a crash, and the other driver died. Jerika? Scott McFarland for us with that reporting. Thank you.

Bird flu mutates in a Louisiana man who got severely ill. What it means about the disease. That's next. Even if you think it's a bit overhyped, AI is suddenly everywhere from self-driving cars to molecular medicine to business efficiency. If it's not in your industry yet, it's coming fast. But AI needs a lot of speed and computing power. So how do you compete without costs spiraling out of control? Time to upgrade to the next generation of the cloud.

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While a person in Louisiana has contracted the nation's first severe case of bird flu after the virus mutated inside their body, allowing it to more easily infect their upper respiratory system. Dr. Celine Gounder is with us to explain. Dr. Gounder, when you hear the words bird flu, severe case, should we be worried? You should be concerned about how the U.S. is responding.

However, at this point in time, the threat to the general public remains low. So this severe case of bird flu occurred in a man in Louisiana. He's over 65, has underlying medical conditions, was infected by a backyard flock of birds. The key thing here is also that there has been no human-to-human transmission, including in this case. But what is significant about this case is that the man did develop severe disease. We saw a mutation that appears to predispose to that.

And the more we allow the virus to spread, to mutate, the more you increase the odds that you'll get mutations that can cause human to human transmission, that can cause more severe disease. And that's how you get a pandemic. What is being done specifically right now to combat that human to human transmission that you're talking about? We really should not be banking on luck. What we need to be doing is a

whole lot more testing so that we understand how the virus is spreading, how it's mutating, so we can stay ahead of it. All right, Dr. Celine Gounder, thank you so much. The urge to help those in need usually has its limits. But then again, when love is involved, anything's possible. CBS's Steve Hartman is on the road with the story.

at Community Hospital North in Indianapolis. Newborn intensive care nurse Katrina Mullen has a reputation for going above and beyond. But as we first reported last year, the length she went to for these triplets and their 14-year-old mother is beyond compare. Being that age and having all three babies premature and sick was going to be a hard road for her.

Katrina was once a teenage mother herself, and she knew that this young mom, Shariah Small, didn't have a stable home life.

So, even after the babies were discharged, Katrina continued to visit them and shower them with gifts. - Pacifiers or bottles, three matching outfits for them. - What is driving you to do all this? - Just love. I mean, I loved her, I loved them, and I just wanted to see her be a successful parent. - She was just there. She was there emotionally, she was there physically, she was there mentally.

which was all new for Shariah. - Yeah, she was really the only person there. - But Shariah still didn't have a proper home for the kids. So eventually, the Department of Child Services intervened. They began looking for a foster family, or more like multiple foster families, because finding one place for a teenage mother and her triplets would be nearly impossible. And that's when Shariah got a text message that simply said,

I can't wait for you to come home. Never mind that Katrina already had five kids of her own. What color is that? She took on these other four without giving it a second thought. It's been exhausting. It's been crazy and busy. Oh, but I've never once sat and said, I wish I hadn't done this.

It's been a year and a half since we first told this story. Katrina has officially adopted Shariah, and everyone just celebrated Christmas in a new house, paid for partly by people who saw our original story and wanted to help.

Shariah also graduated from high school and now plans to go to college to study veterinary medicine. All thanks to the nurse who went above and beyond and beyond some more. Steve Hartman on the road in Indianapolis. Well, God bless them. Got our floor director LT crying behind the scenes. Well, that's tonight's CBS Evening News. For Nora O'Donnell, I'm Jerika Duncan. Thank you for watching. I'll see you tomorrow.

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Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondery Show American Scandal. We bring to light some of the biggest controversies in U.S. history. Presidential lies, environmental disasters, corporate fraud. In our latest series, NASA embarks on an ambitious program to reinvent space exploration with the launch of its first reusable vehicle, the Space Shuttle. And in 1985, they announced they're sending teacher Krista McAuliffe into space aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, along with six other astronauts, but less than two minutes after liftoff.

The Challenger explodes. And in the tragedy's aftermath, investigators uncover a series of preventable failures by NASA and its contractors that led to the disaster. Follow American Scandal on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Experience all episodes ad-free and be the first to binge the newest season only on Wondery+. You can join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Start your free trial today.

They say Hollywood is where dreams are made. A seductive city where many flock to get rich, be adored, and capture America's heart. But when the spotlight turns off, fame, fortune, and lives can disappear in an instant.

When TV producer Roy Radin was found dead in a canyon near L.A. in 1983, there were many questions surrounding his death. The last person seen with him was Laney Jacobs, a seductive cocaine dealer who desperately wanted to be part of the Hollywood elite. Together, they were trying to break into the movie industry. But things took a dark turn when a million dollars worth of cocaine and cash went missing.

From Wondery comes a new season of the hit show Hollywood and Crime, The Cotton Club Murder. Follow Hollywood and Crime, The Cotton Club Murder on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of The Cotton Club Murder early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery+.