Transcript of LIVE: ABC News Live - Thursday, December 5 | ABC News

But he clears the barrel and fires again before running through an alley, jumping on a bike, and fleeing into Central Park.

From watching the video, it does seem that he's proficient in the use of firearms as he was able to clear the malfunctions pretty quickly.

Every indication is that this was a premeditated, preplanned, targeted attack.

Sources now say bullet casings recovered at the scene have writing on them, including the words deny, defend, and depose. But police overnight not identifying a motive for the attack. Thompson's widow telling NBC he had received threats, but saying she doesn't know the details. UnitedHealth is the largest private health insurer in the US and made headlines recently after a massive cyberattack and for its controversial plan to buy a rival home health provider. Among companies in the health insurance market, UnitedHealth ranks highest when it comes to the percentage of claims denied, nearly twice the industry average.

The brazen attack raising questions as to why Thompson, the leader of such a large corporation, did not have a security team. In addition to the bullet casings, police say they've recovered a water bottle and candy wrapper near the scene and a cell phone. The question now, was it the suspect's phone or a burner phone?

Takes a while to develop forensics into a profile for DNA or fingerprint analysis. They already collected these things that are looking. The telephone is probably the easiest way to do it, and they're looking at that now, breaking it down. We they believe all these things belong to the shooter. So he wasn't the professional that everybody thought he was.

Detectives are working to figure out if the suspect prepositioned a bike somewhere near the crime scene for his getaway.

2 small boys are in extremely critical condition this morning after a gunman opened fire at their elementary school in Northern California. Investigators say gunfire broke out in the small town of Palermo, which is north of Sacramento. The victims are just 56 years old. Police say the shooter died by suicide, and he may have targeted the Christian school after speaking with school officials about possibly enrolling a family member.

We have received some information that he may have targeted this school because of its affiliation with the 7th day Adventist Church.

Police say the suspect's meeting with the school administrator before the shooting raised no alarms. The sheriff is now asking for help finding a gray car that was possibly seen dropping off the shooter.

Well, the weather is making news across parts of the Midwest and the Northeast right now. A fast moving Clipper system could drop 20 inches of snow in some areas that have already had feet of snow on the ground, while rain and heavy wind are expected along the I 95 corridor today. Visibility was down to 0 here in Minnesota yesterday. 1 man was killed in a crash. Wind chills are below 0 in parts of the Midwest, and the National Guard has been clearing snow in Erie, Pennsylvania where they're bracing for even more.

We'll check your full forecast in just a few moments.

In Washington, Pete Hegseth is vowing to fight and to be confirmed as secretary of defense. He is addressing claims of sexual misconduct and alcohol abuse while insisting that president-elect Trump still supports his nomination. ABC's Christiane Cordero has the latest. Christiane, good morning.

Rhiannon, good morning. Pete Hegseth is defiant, saying he will not drink if he gets the job. Even his mother is going on TV to defend him. Pete Hegseth says he's not going anywhere, insisting he has president-elect Trump's support in his fight to be confirmed as secretary of defense.

He said keep going. Keep fighting. Find your way. Here in this hallway. Way.

Why would I back down if I wasn't in a fight?

Hegseth facing a barrage of new questions about allegations of sexual misconduct, alcohol abuse, and financial mismanagement in his prior jobs.

What you're seeing right now with me is the art of the smear.

Hegseth says he welcomes an FBI background check.

What the media is doing right now is a is a witch hunt. It's it's trial by false accusation and lies. The FBI is gonna look through what and if they do their job properly, which I fully expect they will, they'll talk to everybody and get the full story and a full understanding. That's a report I welcome.

The former Fox News anchor making new appeals to senators to gain support, saying while he does not have an alcohol problem, he promises to give up drinking if he gets the job.

He offered up to me, and I know he has with other senators too that he's not drinking, and that's not something he's gonna do, when confirmed here.

Hegseth also leaning on his mother to make the case. Penelope Hegseth wrote an email to her son in 2018 calling him an abuser of women, later apologizing, saying it was an emotional time. She says her son is a changed man.

I would just say that some of those some of those, attachments or descriptions are just not true, especially anymore.

Sources have said Trump is considering possibly replacing Hegseth with Florida governor Ron DeSantis, Tennessee senator Bill Hagerty, or Iowa senator Joni Ernst. Ernst met with Hegseth yesterday saying they had a thorough conversation. Now Hegseth can only afford to lose the support of 3 senators. He'll be back on Capitol Hill today and is expected to meet next week with senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, 2 key votes. Andrew?

Christian, thank you. The Russian woman accused of boarding a Delta plane and flying from New York to Paris without a ticket is now under arrest. She was flown back to the US last night and taken into FBI custody. She's due in court today. Delta is blaming a deviation from standard procedures for allowing her to get on that flight last week, but the airline is not elaborating.

The TSA says the woman accessed the line reserved for the flight crew and then mixed in with other passengers. It's still unclear how she avoided ID checks.

Now to an issue that's front and center in the culture wars. The Supreme Court hearing arguments about transgender care for teenagers, care that includes treatments like puberty blockers. Can a state ban them?

100 gathered at the supreme court as the justices heard arguments in a case that could determine access to health care for transgender teens. At issue, a Tennessee law banning gender affirming care, such as hormone therapy and puberty blockers for transgender minors. Opponents say the law discriminates on the basis of sex, who can receive certain medical treatments.

This is a law on a space that does not subject boys and girls to equal treatment.

Opponents saying an adolescent assigned female at birth cannot receive puberty blockers or testosterone to live as a male, but an adolescent assigned male at birth can. But the court's conservative majority seemed inclined to leave the decision up to the states.

The constitution leaves that question, to the people's representatives rather than to 9, people, none of whom is a doctor.

Medical treatments for trans children have been endorsed by major medical associations as being beneficial, but justice Samuel Alito and others raised doubts about the evidence and cited European countries who reversed course and are now restricting the treatments. The liberal justices expressed concern that limiting this kind of care could cause harm.

Some children suffer incredibly with gender dysphoria, don't they? Yes.

It's a very serious

medical condition. Some attempt suicide?

Yes.

A ruling from the court is expected next June.

Alright. Time now for your Thursday weather.

Good morning. We have a burst of rain and snow along I 95 briefly in the morning as an arctic front tears through. Snow squalls will accompany the arctic front a little farther north with a brief burst of snow that will drop visibility and cover the ground. So be careful out there. The roads are gonna be dangerous.

We will have a widespread lake effect snow down with the Lake Erie, Lake Ontario. Some areas again with another foot, foot and a half of snow. It'll be cold behind the front, a high of only 19 in Minneapolis, 28 in Chicago. Frac u weather. I'm Jeff Cornish for ABC News.

Coming up, airline executives grilled on Capitol Hill about the fees they're charging.

Also ahead, Amazon responds to a lawsuit over how long its deliveries are taking in some areas.

And later, the surge in popularity of sumo wrestling.

Whenever news breaks. We are here in Israel, a nation at war after that brutal surprise attack by Hamas.

On the ground in Ukraine, reporting from Lewiston,

Maine.

The scene of a horrific mass shooting.

ABC News Live is right there everywhere.

From the scene of that deadly missile strike in Dnieper, Ukraine,

reporting for the earthquake in Turkey.

In Rolling Fork, this tornado tore through this little town.

From the most devastating disaster in Hawaii.

From Charleston, South Carolina on the 2024 campaign trail.

In Iceland. Let's go.

Traveling with the president

in Mexico City. Wherever the story.

From the

front lines. From southern Israel. Outside the Gaza Strip.

In Beirut.

From the FBI.

Reporting when the nurses on the picket line.

Here at 10 Downing Street in London. Streaming live to you. Wherever the story is.

Wherever the story is.

Wherever the story is. We're gonna take you there.

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ABC News Live. You're

streaming. ABC News Live.

ABC News Live. Streaming free everywhere. America's number 1 streaming news.

I tell you, Karen, you better get out of there.

That place Where'd

she go?

That place is gonna turn into a hell hole.

She was a brave whistleblower. And then

What happens to a spy when the people you're spying on find out you're a spy?

That young lady was murdered as far as I'm concerned.

A story so compelling it was made into a movie starring Meryl Streep. Now, newly discovered tapes.

It's all here. Oh my god. We just walked into a Indiana Jones movie.

What happened to Karen Silkwood? The Lost Tapes now streaming on Hulu.

All I want is to find our way home.

I'll get you home. But a crew of murderous bounty hunters is coming after us. We have to move fast.

We have no idea who he is.

You can't trust me.

You're a Jedi. Right?

Of course.

What just happened? Watch this.

Skeleton Crew. New episodes, Tuesdays. Only on Disney plus. ABC's David Muir, the most watched newscast in America. More Americans watch World News tonight with David Muir than any other newscast.

Amazon has been hit with a lawsuit accused of providing slower service to 2 low income neighborhoods in Washington DC. The suit filed by a local district attorney claims Amazon is violating the consumer protection law by misleading customers, charging the same prime membership fee for delayed deliveries. Amazon calls the allegations categorically false. A spokesperson says the company had to adjust routes and delivery times due to concerns about driver safety.

Now to Washington, the battle over airline fees. Critics call them junk fees. A turbulent hearing on Capitol Hill over the fees that make your airline ticket more expensive.

Nobody enjoys flying into airlines. It's a it's a disaster. You charge people fees that they know nothing about. You harass them to death.

A senate subcommittee grilling airline executives over the fees charged for early boarding, better seats, and other conveniences, voicing many travelers' frustrations.

They feel with more than understandable justification that they are piggy banks to be shaken down by these skyrocketing fees that seem to have no connection to any cost that the airlines incur.

Senators claim there's a lack of transparency, saying the vague pricing makes it hard for customers to budget.

We're all

captives on your airplanes at a certain point. And you just say, you wanna pick a seat. We're just gonna charge you some random amount more.

But executives rebuting those claims.

Optional services by definition are not so called junk fees as optional services are not required to travel.

It has never been more affordable to fly. Over time, overall air la airfares have gone down.

Senators also claim some budget airlines have run a kind of bounty program, paying employees extra to stop passengers if their bags fail to meet certain requirements.

Your airlines are paying 1,000,000 of dollars to your employees to harass people who've already paid. They're there in line because they've already paid. It's unbelievable.

Government data shows when adjusted for inflation, airfare has fallen by about 30% in recent decades, but that does not include fees. Whether this hearing leads to any changes remains to be seen.

A lot of eyes will be watching that 1. Coming up, the video as a snowboarder triggers an avalanche.

Also ahead, not making the grade, just how far American students are falling behind, and what's being blamed.

321. It's a 247 life together.

It's not about the fear or the risk. It's about the love of flying. 321.

Whenever, wherever news breaks, it's so important to always remember that lives are changed. Here in London, in Buffalo, Uvalde, Texas, Edinburgh, Scotland, reporting from Rolling Fork, Mississippi, Ukrainian refugees here in Warsaw. We're heading to a small community outside of Mexico City. Getting you behind the stories as they happen. ABC News Live Prime.

We'll take you there.

Stream ABC News Live weeknights wherever you stream your news. Only on ABC News live.

This is a world that is changing very quickly. This was just filled with forests.

I tell you, Karen, you better get out of there. That place

kick off.

That place is gonna turn into a hellhole.

She was a brave whistleblower. And then

What happens to a spy when the people you're spying on find out you're a spy?

That young lady was murdered as far as I'm concerned.

A story so compelling, it was made into a movie starring Meryl Streep. Now newly discovered tapes.

It's all here. Oh my god. We just walked into a Indiana Jones movie.

What happened to Karen Silkwood? The lost tapes now streaming on Hulu.

All I want is to find our way home.

I'll get you home. But the crew of murderous bounty hunters is coming after us. We have to move fast.

We have no idea who he is.

You can trust me.

You're a Jedi. Right?

Of course.

What is Apple? Watch this.

Skeleton Crew. New episodes, Tuesdays, only on Disney plus.

Back now with a close call for these men in Hawaii, the huge waves slamming the rocks where they were standing. All 3 men survived, but suffered serious cuts from the rocks and the coral.

In New Hampshire, a snowboarder triggered this avalanche and then managed to outpace the rushing snow on Mount Washington. Experts say it was really lucky because this avalanche hit at a low angle and was moving relatively slowly.

Well, efforts to rescue a grandmother apparently swallowed by a sinkhole in Western Pennsylvania are now being described as a recovery mission. Officials say it's unlikely the 64 year old is still alive. She was reported missing early Tuesday, hours after leaving home with her granddaughter to look for her cat. The granddaughter was found unharmed in their car. Officials believe the hole opened up where the woman had been standing above an abandoned coal mine.

Well, it turns out America has a math problem. That's according to education experts reviewing the latest test scores showing 4th and 8th graders falling behind. Here's ABC's Andrea Fujii.

New evidence this morning that American children are falling behind in math. In some cases, way behind.

The results are sobering.

Scores from the test called trends in international mathematics and science study found from between 2019 and 2023, American 4th graders dropped 18 points in math. 8th graders dropped 27 points.

We started this assessment in 1995, so we have essentially we have erased, the gains that, we were seeing for for decades.

Globally, the US scoring only mid pack, easily surpassed by countries in Asia and Europe. Experts point to many reasons, including COVID when education was disrupted in the US for longer than many other countries.

This decline that we're we're seeing was was there in 2015. So all of this cannot be blamed on COVID. We have, been struggling with this declining scores, particularly in math, for a while.

Experts say too many kids are missing class. About 17% are described as often absent.

We need to focus on the students that have been, struggling for a while now, and that is where I I I wanna leave it for, as a country to sort of ponder.

Another possible concern, boys perform better than girls in both math and science, reopening a gender gap that had previously closed. Rhiannon, Andrew.

Andrea, thank you. In sports, a major upset in college basketball already. Unranked Creighton beating number 1 Kansas last night, 76 to 63. Fans rushing onto the court to celebrate. Creighton beat top ranked Yukon last season.

Rock chalk Jayhawk. Coming up, the mission to airlift a group of sheep who were in danger.

Plus, pulling the plug, the big announcement about the end of the landline phone.

Tonight, the snow squall warnings in the northeast and great lakes as temps plunge in the south, tracking the dangerous cold. Plus, transition watch, where things stand. World news tonight with David Muir is the most watched newscast in America. Hey.

Good morning, America. Ranger.

Good morning, America.

Good morning, America.

You don't just see it. You feel it.

I'm in. I'm in.

I'm in. I'm in too. I am I'm in.

I'm in

too. I'll be here.

Is that my GTO? I built that 15 years ago, and somebody stole it.

Hi, dad.

There's the thief. Take your step, grandpa. Papa.

I'm crawling home because I'm broke. I need a place to

stay until I figure out what the rest of my life looks like.

So a couple of days.

The last time you walked out that door, you

looked back at me and gave me a double bird.

I was 18. The double bird was how I ended all our conversation.

America's number 1 most watched daytime talk show is ABC's The View.

You all

heard it here first.

I love it. I'm there for it.

Hot topics, political views That's what we're about. Voices that matter. It all goes down right here.

That's why it's called the what?

The View.

I love it. I'm all in. In. I second that. This is gonna be must see TV, and so much could happen.

This is a world that is changing very quickly. This was just filled with forests.

I'm Ideya Vangel in the battleground state of Nevada covering the election. Wherever the story is, we'll take you there.

You're streaming ABC News Live.

Time to check the pulse, and we begin with Taylor Swift putting her Midas touch on the publishing world.

Yes. She is gold. Her eras tour book is the biggest book launch of the year, selling more than 800,000 copies in its first 2 days. And even more impressive, this book was only sold through Target.

The photo filled book commemorating her tour is 3999. The only bigger nonfiction book launch was when former president Obama wrote his memoir. Alright. Next, home phones may be going the way of ice boxes and sundials.

Yeah. AT and T is now confirming it will phase out most

of its traditional landline service by 2029. It says the copper infrastructure is outdated, and it's expensive to maintain. AT and T landline serves 21 states, and only 1, California, will

get to keep the service.

Consumer advocates condemned the plan, saying access to basic landlines is critical for the poor and for seniors.

Next, a new solar paint could keep electric cars charged up for longer.

Mercedes is developing a paint that can cover the entire body of the car. It's only a few micrometers thick, making it more flexible than solar panels. A solar paint could charge an EV battery at all times. Wow. Next, sumo wrestling is having a moment.

The ancient Japanese sport is growing in popularity in part because of a TV series, so they're bringing the sport to London. It's only the second time an elite sumo tournament will be held outside of Japan.

And finally, wildlife officials in Texas have taken a rather drastic step to save a herd of endangered sheep.

They are okay, but here's what they did. The sheep were sedated, and then look at this. They were airlifted by helicopter, which is safe from an area where they had been exposed to disease from a different species of sheep. So the bighorns, that's what they're called, they are now in a spot where they can roam free without any risk.

They are again okay.

Top headlines, Dennis.

I tell you, Karen, you better get out of there.

That place

I think I'm

that place is gonna turn into a hellhole.

She was a brave whistleblower. And then

What happens to a spy when the people you're spying on find out you're a spy?

That young lady was murdered as far as I'm concerned.

A story so compelling it was made into a movie starring Meryl Streep. Now newly discovered tapes.

It's all here. Oh my god. We just walked into a Indiana Jones movie.

What happened to Karen Silkwood? The Lost tapes

now streaming on Hulu. Why do so many people start their day here? From ABC News, this is start here. To be in the know

and get a different take on the day's top stories. Lot of news today, so let's get into it. Listen now to the daily news podcast honored with 4 Edward r Murrow Awards, and see why The New York Times calls it a news podcast worth listening to. Start here. ABC News.

Make it your daily first listen.

Now that's a part of the story I bet you didn't see coming.

Wherever you get your podcasts,

start here. A crew of murderous bounty hunters is coming after us. We have to move fast.

You're a jediq. Right?

Of course.

Skeleton crew. The episode's Tuesdays on Disney plus.

With so much at stake, so much on the line, more Americans turn here than any other newscast. ABC News, World News Tonight with David Muir, America's number 1 most watched newscast across all of television.

The ancestors called on us for a reason to reconnect our people across the entire ocean.

Could've told me we're doing new outfits. Been rocking leaves on my cheeks for

a 1000 years. He's 1 at 2. Pretty PG. Now playing Oline Peters.

Checking more top stories now. Sources say police investigating the fatal shooting of a health insurance CEO in New York found writings on the shell casings with the words deny, defend, and depose, possible clues to a motive.

The shooter was still on the run overnight.

The justice department has found that Memphis police routinely use excessive force and discriminate against black people. The investigation began after the beating death of Tire Nichols by 5 officers.

Officials now say at least 8 US telecom firms have been compromised by a Chinese hacking operation. Hackers gained access to phone calls and text messages. They are recommending people use encrypted messaging apps.

A new record for Bitcoin. The digital currency has topped a $100,000 after president-elect Trump chose a cryptocurrency supporter to lead the SEC.

Today's weather, snow and strong winds push into the northeast, and frigid air follows with wind chills below 0 in the Midwest, rain on the Gulf Coast.

And finally, the end of an era at the dodo, the home of animal videos.

Danny Niu explains. Danny, you wanna get a camel.

Growing up, Joanna Zelman's love of animals was always encouraged by her father Jared. Just listen to how many pets they had.

At 1 point, we counted 26. Yeah.

Something like that.

Kinda think she's a dog, and I do too.

Well, good call nurturing that passion because it led to an accomplished career for Joanna. About 10 years ago, she became 1 of the earliest employees and eventually the executive producer of a social media brand you probably know called the dodo. Over the past decade, the dodo has become 1 of the most famous providers of animal videos that make you go, ow.

It looks too good.

However, Joanna's time with the dodo is soon coming to a close. And as she looks back, there's 1 costar from her videos that she's especially proud to have featured. It started in 2016 when her father, a semi retired doctor and volunteer ambulance driver, led Facebook live workshops on how to make DIY dog toys.

It was just running inside of this, like, fluff in a pipe.

But perhaps their most famous clip together was about 3 years ago when Joanne was at her childhood home in Connecticut and found a skunk's tail sticking out of a pipe.

This is gonna be interesting.

With the help of her father and the encouragement of animal control, Joanna had to gently pull the skunk out of the pipe. Clearly, he was grateful because she did not receive a stinky shower afterwards.

He really, like, looked right in my eyes, and I don't know. It it did feel like he kind of understood.

They also recently transported calves from a farm to an animal sanctuary together for a video that could perhaps be their final post for the dodo. Of course, though, it does not sound like they'll ever stop loving and helping animals as a team. We've

just gotten to have so many fun adventures together, and I feel really lucky for that.

Jared said he realized how much his daughter loved animals when Joanna was in 1st grade. She came home 1 day and said, dad, you didn't tell me chicken came from chickens. I can't eat that anymore. And, guys, she has not eaten meat since.

Great story. Thanks.

Yeah. We leave you with last

night's tree lighting in New York. Have a great day, everyone.

America's number 1 news. ABC News now streaming 247 on Disney plus.

Right now on Good Morning America First Look, new details about the suspect on the run overnight accused of gunning down the CEO of a major health insurance company on a New York sidewalk. Sources say writing has been found on the bullet casing, what they reveal, the potential clues about a motive for the brazen attack, and questions as to why the CEO and father of 2 had no security.

Also overnight, new clues after 2 young boys, ages 56, are shot at this California elementary school. What police are now saying about the adult shooter.

A weather

alert for the morning commute. An arctic blast

bringing even more snow and heavy winds for the Midwest and Northeast. Wind chills plunging. What to expect this morning?

Amazon under fire. The company responds to a new lawsuit claiming it secretly slowed down deliveries to certain neighborhoods.

America's math problem. The new test scores showing kids falling behind. In some cases, way behind. What's being blamed?

End of the line? The new announcement pulling the plug on the landline phone.

Caught on camera, a snow border triggering an avalanche and then forced to outrun it.

And the new smash hit from Taylor Swift, but it's not a song.

From ABC News, this is Good Morning America First Look.

Good Thursday morning, everyone. I'm Andrew Dimber.

And I'm Rhiannon Allie. Good morning

to you. We begin with breaking news overnight into the investigation into the brazen killing of a CEO in New York City.

Sources tell ABC News police have found messages on the bullet casings that were recovered at the scene. We're also seeing new images of the suspect, but overnight, the manhunt and the search for a motive continue. Overnight, new video of what appears to be the man who shot and killed a top health insurance CEO in New York City before the attack carrying what appears to be an ebike battery possibly used in the getaway. Around 20 minutes later, police say the gunman was seen on surveillance video approaching UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, shooting the 50 year old father of 2 multiple times before an investors conference. The gun jamming, but he clears the barrel and fires again before running through an alley, jumping on a bike, and fleeing into Central Park.

From watching the video, it does seem that he's proficient in the use of firearms as he was able to clear the malfunctions pretty quickly.

Every indication is that this was a premeditated, preplanned, targeted attack.

Sources now say bullet casings recovered at the scene have writing on them, including the words deny, defend, and depose. But police overnight not identifying a motive for the attack. Thompson's widow telling NBC he had received threats, but saying she doesn't know the details. UnitedHealth is the largest private health insurer in the US and made headlines recently after a massive cyberattack and for its controversial plan to buy a rival home health provider. Among companies in the health insurance market, UnitedHealth ranks highest when it comes to the percentage of claims denied, nearly twice the industry average.

The brazen attack raising questions as to why Thompson, the leader of such a large corporation, did not have a security team. In addition to the bullet casings, police say they've recovered a water bottle and candy wrapper near the scene and a cell phone. The question now, was it the suspect's phone or a burner phone?

It takes a while to develop forensics into a profile for DNA or fingerprint analysis. They already collected these things that are looking. The telephone is probably the easiest way to do it, and they're looking at that now, breaking it down. We they believe all these things belong to the shooter. So he wasn't the professional area that everybody thought he was.

Detectives are working to figure out if the suspect prepositioned a bike somewhere near the crime scene for his getaway.

2 small boys are in extremely critical condition this morning after a gunman opened fire at their elementary school in Northern California. Investigators say gunfire broke out in the small town of Palermo, which is north of Sacramento. The victims are just 56 years old. Police say the shooter died by suicide, and he may have targeted the Christian school after speaking with school officials about possibly enrolling a family member.

We have received some information that he may have targeted this school because of its affiliation with the 7th day Adventist Church.

Police say the suspect's meeting with the school administrator before the shooting raised no alarms. The sheriff is now asking for help finding a gray car that was possibly seen dropping off the shooter.

Well, the weather is making news across parts of the Midwest and the Northeast right now. A fast moving Clipper system could drop 20 inches of snow in some areas that have already had feet of snow on the ground, while rain and heavy wind are expected along the I 95 corridor today. Visibility was down to 0 here in Minnesota yesterday. 1 man was killed in a crash. Wind chills are below 0 in parts of the Midwest, and the National Guard has been clearing snow in Erie, Pennsylvania where they're bracing for even more.

We'll check your full forecast in just a few moments.

In Washington, Pete Hegseth is vowing to fight and to be confirmed as secretary of defense. He is addressing claims of sexual misconduct and alcohol abuse while insisting that president-elect Trump still supports his nomination. ABC's Christiane Cordero has the latest. Christiane, good morning.

Rhiannon, good morning. Pete Hegseth is defiant, saying he will not drink if he gets the job. Even his mother is going on TV to defend him. Pete Hegseth says he's not going anywhere, insisting he has president-elect Trump's support in his fight to be confirmed as secretary of defense.

He said keep going too frightened. Find your way. Here in this hallway. Hegseth facing a barrage of new

questions about allegations of sexual misconduct,

alcohol abuse, and financial mismanagement in his prior jobs. What you're seeing

right now

with me

is the art of the smear.

Hegseth says he welcomes an FBI background check.

What the media is doing right now is a is a witch hunt. It's it's trial by false accusation and lies. The FBI is gonna look through what and if they do their job properly, which I fully expect they will, they'll talk to everybody and get the full story and a full understanding. That's a report I welcome.

The former Fox News anchor making new appeals to senators to gain support, saying while he does not have an alcohol problem, he promises to give up drinking if he gets the job.

He offered up to me, and I know he has with other senators too that he's not drinking. And that's not something he's gonna do, when confirmed here.

Hegseth also leaning on his mother to make the case. Penelope Hegseth wrote an email to her son in 2018 calling him an abuser of women, later apologizing, saying it was an emotional time. She says her son is a changed man.

I would just say that some of those some of those, attachments or descriptions are just not true, especially anymore.

Sources have said Trump is considering possibly replacing Hegseth with Florida governor Ron DeSantis, Tennessee senator Bill Hagerty, or Iowa senator Joni Ernst. Ernst met with Hegseth yesterday saying they had a thorough conversation. Now Hegseth can only afford to lose the support of 3 senators. He'll be back on Capitol Hill today and is expected to meet next week with senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, 2 key votes. Andrew?

Christian, thank you. The Russian woman accused of boarding a Delta plane and flying from New York to Paris without a ticket is now under arrest. She was flown back to the US last night and taken into FBI custody. She's due in court today. Delta is blaming a deviation from standard procedures for allowing her to get on that flight last week, but the airline is not elaborating.

The TSA says the woman accessed the line reserved for the flight crew and then mixed in with other passengers. It's still unclear how she avoided ID checks.

Now to an issue that's front and center in the culture wars. The Supreme Court hearing arguments about transgender care for teenagers. Care that includes treatments like puberty blockers. Can a state ban them?

100 gathered at the Supreme Court as the justices heard arguments in a case that could determine access to health care for transgender teens. At issue, a Tennessee law banning gender affirming care, such as hormone therapy and puberty blockers for transgender minors. Opponents say the law discriminates on the basis of sex, who can receive certain medical treatments.

This is a law on its face that does not subject boys and girls to equal treatment.

Opponents saying an adolescent assigned female at birth cannot receive puberty blockers or testosterone to live as a male, but an adolescent assigned male at birth can. But the court's conservative majority seemed inclined to leave the decision up to the states.

The constitution leaves that question, to the people's representatives rather than to 9, people, none of whom is a doctor.

Medical treatments for trans children have been endorsed by major medical associations as being beneficial, but justice Samuel Alito and others raised doubts about the evidence and cited European countries who reversed course and are now restricting the treatments. The liberal justices expressed concern that limiting this kind of care could cause harm.

Some children suffer incredibly with gender dysphoria, don't they?

Yes. It's a very serious

medical condition. Some attempt suicide?

Yes.

A ruling from the court is expected next June.

Alright. Time now for your Thursday weather.

Good morning. We have a burst of rain and snow along I 95 briefly in the morning as an arctic front tears through. Snow squalls will accompany the arctic front a little farther north with a brief burst of snow that will drop visibility and cover the ground. So be careful out there. The roads are gonna be dangerous.

We will have a widespread lake effect snow down with the Lake Erie, Lake Ontario. Some areas again with another foot foot and a half of snow. It'll be cold behind the front, a high of only 19 in Minneapolis, 28 in Chicago. For acuweather, I'm Jeff Cornish for ABC News.

Coming up, airline executives grilled on Capitol Hill about the fees they're charging.

Also ahead, Amazon responds to a lawsuit over how long its deliveries are taking in some areas.

And later, the surge in popularity of sumo wrestling.

The ancestors called on us for a reason. To reconnect our people across the entire ocean.

Could've told me we're doing new outfits. Been rocking leaves on my cheeks for

a 1000 years. Disney's 1 and 2, pretty PG. Now playing only in theaters.

You know, just see it. You

feel it.

I'm in. I'm in.

I'm in.

I'm in too.

I'm in too.

I am here

and so happy. I'm in. I'm in too.

Pay up your life. Michael, George. Claire. James. Way up your life.

Whenever, wherever news breaks, it's so important to always remember that lives are changed. Here in London, in Buffalo, Uvalde, Texas, Edinburgh, Scotland, reporting from Rolling Fork, Mississippi, Ukrainian refugees here in Warsaw. We're heading to a small community outside of Mexico City. Getting you behind the stories as they happen. ABC News Live Prime will take you there.

Stream ABC News Live weeknights wherever you stream your news. Only on ABC News live.

A crew of murderous bounty hunters is coming after us. We have to move fast.

You're a Jedi. Right?

Of course.

Skeleton Crew. New episodes Tuesdays on Disney plus.

Tonight, the snow squall warnings in the northeast and Great Lakes as temps plunge in the south, tracking the dangerous cold. Plus, transition watch, where things stand. World News Tonight with David Muir is the most watched newscast in America.

Reporting from the path of hurricane Helene in Tallahassee, Florida. I'm Micah Jocci. Whoever the story is, we'll take you there. You're streaming ABC News Live.

Amazon has been hit with a lawsuit accused of providing slower service to 2 low income neighborhoods in Washington DC. The suit filed by a local district attorney claims Amazon is violating the consumer protection law by misleading customers, charging the same prime membership fee for delayed deliveries. Amazon calls the allegations categorically false. A spokesperson says the company had to adjust routes and delivery times due to concerns about driver safety.

Now to Washington in the battle over airline fees, critics call them junk fees. A turbulent hearing on Capitol Hill over the fees that make your airline ticket more expensive.

Nobody enjoys flying in your airlines. It's a it's a disaster. You charge people fees that they know nothing about. You harass them to death. A

senate subcommittee grilling airline executives over the fees charged for early boarding, better seats, and other conveniences, voicing many travelers' frustrations.

They feel with more than understandable justification that they are piggy banks to be shaken down by these skyrocketing fees that seem to have no connection to any cost that the airlines incur.

Senators claim there's a lack of transparency, saying the vague pricing makes it hard for customers to budget.

We're all captives on your airplanes at a certain point. And you just say, you wanna pick a seat. We're just gonna charge you some random amount more.

But executives rebuting those claims.

Optional services by definition are not so called junk fees as optional services are not required to travel.

It has never been more affordable to fly. Over time, overall air airfares have gone down.

Senators also claim some budget airlines have run a kind of bounty program, paying employees extra to stop passengers if their bags fail to meet certain requirements.

Your airlines are paying 1,000,000 of dollars to your employees to harass people who've already paid. They're there in line because they've already paid. It's unbelievable.

Government data shows when adjusted for inflation, airfare has fallen by about 30% in recent decades, but that does not include fees. Whether this hearing leads to any changes remains to be seen.

A lot of eyes will be watching that 1. Coming up, the video as a snowboarder triggers an avalanche.

Also ahead, not making the grade, just how far American students are falling behind, and what's being blamed.

Wait a second. Wait a minute. Looks like there's 3

people coming down the river.

These are the last lands.

What is this?

This is 12 ships.

These are these dynamite blasts down here.

We have to go.

What's with the gas? The national parks around the world

This area is all right

now cartel run gold mine.

That have to be saved.

Why do so many people start their day here? From ABC News, this is start here. To be in the know

and get a different take on the day's top stories. Lot of news today, so let's get into it. Listen now to the daily news podcast honored with 4 Edward r Murrow Awards and see why The New York Times calls it a news podcast worth listening to. Start here. ABC News.

Make it your daily first listen.

Now that's a part of the story I bet you didn't see coming.

Wherever you get your podcasts, start here.

You know some shit is about to happen.

I have an idea.

You guys have eyes on your target.

Shouldn't we strategize? Come on.

We're gonna improvise. Freestyle.

No.

The ancestors called on us for a reason. To reconnect our people across the entire ocean.

Could've told me we're doing new outfits. Been rocking leaves on my cheeks

for a 1000 years. Season 1 and 2 for EPG. Now playing Olin Peters.

Whenever, wherever news breaks, it's so important to always remember that lives are changed. Here in London, in Buffalo, Uvalde, Texas, Edinburgh, Scotland, reporting from Rolling Fork, Mississippi. Ukrainian refugees here in Warsaw. Refugees here in Warsaw. We're heading to a small community outside of Mexico City.

Getting you behind the stories as they happen. ABC News live prime. We'll take you there.

Stream ABC News live weeknights wherever you stream your news. Only on ABC News live.

Back now with a close call for these men in Hawaii. The huge waves slamming the rocks where they were standing. All 3 men survived, but suffered serious cuts from the rocks and the coral.

In New Hampshire, a snowboarder triggered this avalanche and then managed to outpace the rushing snow on Mount Washington. Experts say it was really lucky because this avalanche hit at a low angle and was moving relatively slowly.

Well, efforts to rescue a grandmother apparently swallowed by a sinkhole in Western Pennsylvania are now being described as a recovery mission. Officials say it's unlikely the 64 year old is still alive. She was reported missing early Tuesday, hours after leaving home with her granddaughter to look for her cat. The granddaughter was found unharmed in their car. Officials believe the hole opened up where the woman had been standing above an abandoned coal mine.

Well, it turns out America has a math problem. That's according to education experts reviewing the latest test scores showing 4th and 8th graders falling behind. Here's ABC's Andrea Fujii.

New evidence this morning that American children are falling behind in math. In some cases, way behind.

The results are sobering.

Scores from the test called trends in international mathematics and science study found from between 2019 and 2023, American 4th graders dropped 18 points in math. 8th graders dropped 27 points.

We started this assessment in 1995, so we have essentially we have erased, the gains that, we were seeing for for decades.

Globally, the US scoring only mid pack, easily surpassed by countries in Asia and Europe. Experts point to many reasons, including COVID when education was disrupted in the US for longer than many other countries.

This decline that we're we're seeing was was there in 2015. So all of this cannot be blamed on COVID. We have, been struggling with this declining scores, particularly in math, for a while.

Experts say too many kids are missing class. About 17% are described as often absent.

We need to focus on these students that have been, struggling for a while now, and that is where I I I wanna leave it for, as a country to sort of ponder.

Another possible concern, boys perform better than girls in both math and science, reopening a gender gap that had previously closed. Rhiannon, Andrew.

Andrea, thank you. In sports, a major upset in college basketball already. Unranked Creighton beating number 1 Kansas last night, 76 to 63. Fans rushing onto the court to celebrate. Creighton beat top ranked Yukon last season.

Rock chalk Jayhawk. Coming up, the mission to airlift a group of sheep who were in danger.

Plus, pulling the plug, the big announcement about the end of the landline phone.

I tell you, Karen, you better get out of there.

That place go. That place could turn into a hellhole.

She was a brave whistleblower. And then

what happens to a spy when the people you're spying on find out you're a spy?

That young lady was murdered as far as I'm concerned.

A story so compelling it was made into a movie starring Meryl Streep. Now, newly discovered tapes.

It's all here. Oh my god. We just walked into a Indiana Jones movie.

What happened to Karen Silkwood? The Lost Tapes now streaming on Hulu.

Why do so many people start their day here? From ABC News, this is start here. To be in the know and

get a different take on the day's top stories. Lot of news today, so let's get into it. Listen now to the daily news podcast honored with 4 Edward r Murrow Awards, and see why The New York Times calls it a news podcast worth listening to. Start here. ABC News.

Make it your daily first listen.

Now that's a part of the story I bet you didn't see coming.

Wherever you get your podcasts,

start here. Tonight, the snow squall warnings in the northeast and Great Lakes as temps plunge in the south, tracking the dangerous cold. Plus, transition watch, where things stand. World News Tonight with David Muir is the most watched newscast in America.

What's good to watch, read?

Where can I get a great deal, and what

I'm just dying to buy?

Oh, it's all right here. GMA Life. Get the latest celebrity buzz, deals and steals, and the coolest lifestyle tips from GMA.

I love that so much.

Streaming weekends on ABC News Live.

The ancestors called on us for a reason, to reconnect our people across the entire ocean.

Could've told me we're doing new outfits. Been rocking leaves on my cheeks for

a 1000 here. Disney's 1 at 2 for EPG. Now playing only in theaters.

Reporting from Atlanta on election day, I'm Steve Otsensami. Wherever the story is, we'll take you there. You're streaming ABC News Live.

Time to check the pulse, and we begin with Taylor Swift putting her Midas touch on the publishing world.

Yes. She is gold. Her era's tour book is the biggest book launch of the year, selling more than 800,000 copies in its first 2 days. And even more impressive, this book was only sold through Target.

The photo filled book commemorating her tour is 3999. The only bigger nonfiction book launch was when former president Obama wrote his memoir. Alright. Next, home phones may be going the way of ice boxes and sundials.

Yeah. AT and T is now confirming it will phase out most

of its traditional landline service by 2029. It says the copper infrastructure is outdated, and it's expensive to maintain. AT and T landline serves 21 states, and only 1, California, will get to keep the service.

Consumer advocates condemned the plan, saying access to basic landlines is critical for the poor and for seniors.

Next, a new solar paint could keep electric cars charged up for longer.

Mercedes is developing a paint that can cover the entire body of the car. It's only a few micrometers thick, making it more flexible than solar panels. A solar paint could charge an EV battery at all times. Wow. Next, sumo wrestling is having a moment.

The ancient Japanese sport is growing in popularity in part because of a TV series, so they're bringing the sport to London. It's only the second time an elite sumo tournament will be held outside of Japan.

And finally, wildlife officials in Texas have taken a rather drastic step to save a herd of endangered sheep.

They are okay, but here's what they did. The sheep were sedated, and then look at this. They were airlifted by helicopter, which is

safe,

from an area where they had been exposed to disease from a different species of sheep. So the bighorns, that's what they're called, they are now in a spot where they can roam free without any risk.

They are again okay.

Top headlines next.

America's number 1 most watched daytime talk show is ABC's The View.

You all heard it

here first.

I love it. I'm there for it.

Hot topics, political views. That's what we're about. Voices that matter. It all goes down right here.

That's why it's called the what? The View. I love it. I'm all in. I'm second that.

Hey, baby. Beautiful. This is gonna be must see TV. And so much could happen.

With so much at stake, so much on the line, more Americans turn here than any other newscast. ABC News World News Tonight with David Muir, America's number 1 most watched newscast across all of television.

Why do so many people start their day here From ABC News, this is start here. To be in the know

and get a different take on the day's top stories. Lot of news today, so let's get into it. Listen now to the daily news podcast honored with 4 Edward r Murrow Awards, and see why The New York Times calls it a news podcast worth listening to. Start here at ABC News. Make it your daily first listen.

Now that's a part of the story I bet you didn't see coming.

Wherever you get your podcasts, start here. A crew

of murderous bounty hunters is coming after us. We have to move fast.

You're a jedi. Right?

Of course.

Skeleton crew. New episodes Tuesdays on Disney plus.

The ancestors called on us for a reason. To reconnect our people across the entire ocean.

Could've told me we're doing new outfits. Been rocking leaves on my cheeks for a 1000 years.

T's Nismo 1 and 2 for EPG. Now playing only in theaters.

Checking more top stories now. Sources say police investigating the fatal shooting of a health insurance CEO in New York found writings on the shell casings with the words deny, defend, and depose, possible clues to

a motive. The shooter was still on the run overnight.

The justice department has found that Memphis police routinely use excessive force and discriminate against black people. The investigation began after the beating death of Tire Nichols by 5 officers.

Officials now say at least 8 US telecom firms have been compromised by a Chinese hacking operation. Hackers gained access to phone calls and text messages. They are recommending people use encrypted messaging apps.

A new record for Bitcoin. The digital currency has topped a $100,000 after president-elect Trump chose a cryptocurrency supporter to lead the SEC.

Today's weather, snow and strong winds push into the northeast, and frigid air follows with wind chills below 0 in the Midwest, rain on the Gulf Coast.

And Dodo, the home of animal videos.

Danny New explains. Danny, you wanna get a little.

Growing up, Joanna Zelman's love of animals was always encouraged by her father Jared. Just listen to how many pets they had.

At 1 point, we he counted 26. Yeah.

Something like that.

Kara thinks she's a dog, and I do too.

Well, good call nurturing that passion because it led to an accomplished career for Joanna. About 10 years ago, she became 1 of the earliest employees and eventually the executive producer of a social media brand you probably know called the dodo. Over the past decade, the dodo has become 1 of the most famous providers of animal videos that make you go, ow.

She loves to go.

However, Joanna's time with the dodo is soon coming to a close. And As she looks back, there's 1 costar from her videos that she's especially proud to have featured. It started in 2016 when her father, a semi retired doctor and volunteer ambulance driver, led Facebook live workshops on how to make DIY dog toys.

It was just running into this, like, fluff in a pipe.

But perhaps their most famous clip together was about 3 years ago when Joanna was at her childhood home in Connecticut and found a skunk's tail sticking out of a pipe.

This is gonna be interesting.

With the

help of her father and the encouragement of animal control, Joanna had to gently pull the skunk out of the pipe. Clearly, he was grateful because she did not receive a stinky shower afterwards.

He really, like, looked right in my eyes, and I don't know. It it did feel like he kind of understood.

They also recently transported calves from a farm to an animal sanctuary together for a video that could perhaps be their final post for the dodo. Of course, though, it does not sound like they'll ever stop loving and helping animals as a team.

We've just gotten to have so many fun adventures together, and I feel really lucky for that.

Jared said he realized how much his daughter loved animals when Joanna was in 1st grade. She came home 1 day and said, dad, you didn't tell me chicken came from chickens. I can't eat that anymore. And, guys, she has not eaten meat since.

Great story. Thanks.

Yeah. We leave you with last

night's tree lighting in New York. Have a great day, everyone.

America's number 1 news. ABC News now streaming 247 on Disney plus.

Right now on Good Morning America First Look, new details about the suspect on the run overnight accused of gunning down the CEO of a major health insurance company on a New York sidewalk. Sources say writing has been found on the bullet casing, what they reveal, the potential clues about a motive for the brazen attack, and questions as to why the CEO and father of 2 had no security.

Also overnight, new clues after 2 young boys, ages 56, are shot at this California elementary school. What police are now saying about the adult shooter.

A weather alert for the morning commute. An arctic blast bringing even more snow and heavy winds for the Midwest and Northeast. Wind chills plunging. What to expect this morning?

Amazon under fire. The company responds to a new lawsuit claiming it secretly slowed down deliveries to certain neighborhoods.

America's math problem. The new test scores showing kids falling behind. In some cases, way behind. What's being blamed?

End of the line? The new announcement pulling the plug on the landline phone.

Caught on camera, a snow border triggering an avalanche and then forced to outrun it.

And the new smash hit from Taylor Swift, but it's not a song.

From ABC News, this is Good Morning America First Look.

Good Thursday morning, everyone. I'm Andrew Dimber.

And I'm Rhiannon Allie. Good morning to you.

We begin with breaking news overnight into the investigation into the brazen killing of a CEO in New York City.

Sources tell ABC News police have found messages on the bullet casings that were recovered at the scene. We're also seeing new images of the suspect, but overnight, the manhunt and the search for a motive continue. Overnight, new video of what appears to be the man who shot and killed a top health insurance CEO in New York City before the attack carrying what appears to be an ebike battery possibly used in the getaway. Around 20 minutes later, police say the gunman was seen on surveillance video approaching UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, shooting the 50 year old father of 2 multiple times before an investors conference. The gun jamming, but he clears the barrel and fires again before running through an alley, jumping on a bike, and fleeing into Central Park.

From watching the video, it does seem that he's proficient in the use of firearms as he was able to clear the malfunctions pretty quickly.

Every indication is that this was a premeditated, preplanned, targeted attack.

Sources now say bullet casings recovered at the scene have writing on them, including the words deny, defend, and depose. But police overnight not identifying a motive for the attack. Thompson's widow telling NBC he had received threats, but saying she doesn't know the details. UnitedHealth is the largest private health insurer in the US and made headlines recently after a massive cyberattack and for its controversial plan to buy a rival home health provider. Among companies in the health insurance market, UnitedHealth ranks highest when it comes to the percentage of claims denied, nearly twice the industry average.

The brazen attack raising questions as to why Thompson, the leader of such a large corporation, did not have a security team. In addition to the bullet casings, police say they've recovered a water bottle and candy wrapper near the scene and a cell phone. The question now, was it the suspect's phone or a burner phone?

It takes a while to develop forensics into a profile for DNA or fingerprint analysis. They already collected these things that are looking. The telephone is probably the easiest way to do it, and they're looking at that now, breaking it down. We they believe all these things belong to the shooter. So he wasn't the professional area that everybody thought he was.

Detectives are working to figure out if the suspect pre positioned a bike somewhere near the crime scene for his getaway.

2 small boys are in extremely critical condition this morning after a gunman opened fire at their elementary school in Northern California. Investigators say gunfire broke out in the small town of Palermo, which is north of Sacramento. The victims are just 56 years old. Police say the shooter died by suicide, and he may have targeted the Christian school after speaking with school officials about possibly enrolling a family member.

We have received some information that he may have targeted this school because of its affiliation with the 7th day Adventist Church.

Police say the suspect's meeting with the school administrator before the shooting raised no alarms. The sheriff is now asking for help finding a gray car that was possibly seen dropping off the shooter.

Well, the weather is making news across parts of the Midwest and the Northeast right now. A fast moving Clipper system could drop 20 inches of snow in some areas that have already have feet of snow on the ground, while rain and heavy wind are expected along the I 95 corridor today. Visibility was down to 0 here in Minnesota yesterday. 1 man was killed in a crash. Wind chills are below 0 in parts of the Midwest, and the National Guard has been clearing snow in Erie, Pennsylvania where they're bracing for even more.

We'll check your full forecast in just a few moments.

In Washington, Pete Hegseth is vowing to fight and to be confirmed as secretary of defense. He is addressing claims of sexual misconduct and alcohol abuse while insisting that president-elect Trump still supports his nomination. ABC's Christiane Cordero has the latest. Christiane, good morning.

Rhiannon, good morning. Pete Hegseth is defiant, saying he will not drink if he gets the job. Even his mother is going on TV to defend him. Pete Hegseth says he's not going anywhere, insisting he has president-elect Trump's support in his fight to be confirmed as secretary of defense.

He said keep going. Keep fighting. Find your way. Here in this all the way.

Why would I back down if all the senior fighters?

Hegseth facing a barrage of new questions about allegations of sexual misconduct, alcohol abuse, and financial mismanagement in his prior jobs.

What you're seeing right now with me is the art of the smear.

Hegseth says he welcomes an FBI background check.

What the media is doing right now is a is witch hunt. It's it's trial by false accusation and lies. The FBI is gonna look through what and if they do their job properly, which I fully expect they will, they'll talk to everybody and get the full story and a full understanding. That's a report I welcome.

The former Fox News anchor making new appeals to senators to gain support, saying while he does not have an alcohol problem, he promises to give up drinking if he gets the job.

He offered up to me, and I know he has with other senators too that he's not drinking, and that's not something he's gonna do,

when confirmed here. Hegseth also leaning on his mother to make the case. Penelope Hegseth wrote an email to her son in 2018, calling him an abuser of women, later apologizing, saying it was an emotional time. She says her son is a changed man.

I would just say that some of those some of those, attachments or descriptions are just not true, especially anymore.

Sources have said Trump is considering possibly replacing Hegseth with Florida governor Ron DeSantis, Tennessee senator Bill Hagerty, or Iowa senator Joni Ernst. Ernst met with Hegseth yesterday, saying they had a thorough conversation. Now Hegseth can only afford to lose the support of 3 senators. He'll be back on Capitol Hill today and is expected to meet next week with senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, 2 key votes. Andrew?

Christian, thank you. The Russian woman accused of boarding a Delta plane and flying from New York to Paris without a ticket is now under arrest. She was flown back to the US last night and taken into FBI custody. She's due in court today. Delta is blaming a deviation from standard procedures for allowing her to get on that flight last week, but the airline is not elaborating.

The TSA says the woman accessed the line reserved for the flight crew and then mixed in with other passengers. It's still unclear how she avoided ID checks.

Now to an issue that's front and center in the culture wars. The Supreme Court hearing arguments about transgender care for teenagers, care that includes treatments like puberty blockers. Can a state ban them?

100 gathered at the supreme court as the justices heard arguments in a case that could determine access to health care for transgender teens. At issue, a Tennessee law banning gender affirming care, such as hormone therapy and puberty blockers for transgender minors. Opponents say the law discriminates on the basis of sex, who can receive certain medical treatments.

This is a law on its face that does not subject boys and girls to equal treatment.

Opponents saying an adolescent assigned female at birth cannot receive puberty blockers or testosterone to live as a male, but an adolescent assigned male at birth can. But the court's conservative majority seemed inclined to leave the decision up to the states.

The constitution leaves that question, to the people's representatives rather than to 9, people, none of whom is a doctor.

Medical treatments for trans children have been endorsed by major medical associations as being beneficial, but justice Samuel Alito and others raised doubts about the evidence and cited European countries who reversed course and are now restricting the treatments. The liberal justices expressed concern that limiting this kind of care could cause harm.

Some children suffer incredibly with gender dysphoria, don't they?

Yes. It's a very serious medical

condition. Some attempt suicide?

Yes.

A ruling from the court is expected next June.

Alright. Time now for your Thursday weather.

Good morning. We have a burst of rain and snow along I 95 briefly in the morning as an arctic front tears through. Snow squalls will accompany the arctic front a little farther north with a brief burst of snow that will drop visibility and cover the ground. So be careful out there. The roads are gonna be dangerous.

We will have a widespread lake effect snow down with the Lake Erie, Lake Ontario. Some areas again with another foot foot and a half of snow. It'll be cold behind the front, a high of only 19 in Minneapolis, 28 in Chicago. For acuweather, I'm Jeff Cornish for ABC News.

Coming up, airline executives grilled on Capitol Hill about the fees they're charging.

Also ahead, Amazon responds to a lawsuit over how long its deliveries are taking in some areas.

And later, the surge in popularity of sumo wrestling.

What does it take to be the most watched newscast in America?

An operation to capture ISIS fighters.

This is our combat operations center. We're approaching the gate now. Militants came in from 4 or 5 different directions. Operational nuclear reactor. So you have a couple loaded and ready to go.

The house is destroyed, but the flag, there's not a tear in it. Not a tear in it.

How important is this label right here made to USA? Look at your smile. You're proud of this.

I love it. Great work.

Hi. I'm good. Where are you? Where are you? Appreciate you.

Thank you, David.

Thanks for making

Ismael? David. David.

Yes. Yes. I'm David Muir.

I know who you are. I watch you every night.

ABC's World News Tonight with David Muir is America's most watched newscast.

I tell you, Karen, you better get out of there.

That place think of.

That place is gonna turn into a hellhole.

She was a brave whistleblower. And then

What happens to a spy when the people you're spying on find out you're a spy?

That young lady was murdered as far as I'm concerned.

A story so compelling it was made into a movie starring Meryl Streep. Now newly discovered tapes.

It's all here. Oh my god. We just walked into a Indiana Jones movie.

What happened to Karen Silkwood? The Lost Tapes now streaming on Hulu.

Stop.

The ancestors called on us for a reason, to reconnect our people across the entire ocean.

Could've told me we're doing new outfits. Been rocking leaves on my cheeks for

a 1000 years. These easement 1 and 2, pretty PG. Now playing Olin Peters. Friday nights at 9 on ABC.

You mean true crime. True murder mystery.

Shocking. Sex betrayal. Lies. Bombshell.

The greatest true crime story is 2020. Friday nights at 9.

Amazon has been hit with a lawsuit accused of providing slower service to 2 low income neighborhoods in Washington DC. The suit filed by a local district attorney claims Amazon is violating the consumer protection law by misleading customers, charging the same prime membership fee for delayed deliveries. Amazon calls the allegations categorically false. A spokesperson says the company had to adjust routes and delivery times due to concerns about driver safety.

Now to Washington in the battle over airline fees, critics call them junk fees. A turbulent hearing on Capitol Hill over the fees that make your airline ticket more expensive.

Nobody enjoys flying in your airlines. It's a it's a disaster. You charge people fees that they know nothing about. You harass them to death.

A senate subcommittee grilling airline executives over the fees charged for early boarding, better seats, and other conveniences, voicing many travelers' frustrations.

They feel with more than understandable justification that they are piggy banks to be shaken down by these skyrocketing fees that seem to have no connection to any cost that the airlines incur.

Senators claim there's a lack of transparency, saying the vague pricing makes it hard for customers to budget.

We're all captives on your airplanes at a certain point, and you just say, you wanna pick a seat. We're just gonna charge you some random amount more.

But executives rebuting those claims.

Optional services by definition are not so called junk fees as optional services are not required to travel.

It has never been more affordable to fly. Over time, overall air airfares have gone down.

Senators also claim some budget airlines have run a kind of bounty program, paying employees extra to stop passengers if their bags fail to meet certain requirements.

Your airlines are paying 1,000,000 of dollars to your employees to harass people who've already paid. They're there in line because they've already paid. It's unbelievable.

Government data shows when adjusted for inflation, airfare has fallen by about 30% in recent decades, but that does not include fees. Whether this hearing leads to any changes remains to be seen.

A lot of eyes will be watching that 1. Coming up, the video as a snowboarder triggers an avalanche.

Also ahead, not making the grade, just how far American students are falling behind, and what's being blamed.

The news never stops. We are here in Israel, a nation at war.

We are

what appeared to be gunfire. The former president rushed off

the stage. Hurricane Helene ravaging the coastline of Florida. It's moving really fast. Screaming across the state.

And that's why ABC News Live never stops.

Taking you to the center of the story as news breaks live.

We hear the small arms fire around us.

We're right on the border between Ukraine and Russia.

ABC News Live is there for you at the start of your day all morning live. ABC News Live right there as all morning live. ABC News live right there

as events unfold across the day. ABC News

live breaking down the day's top stories.

Lyle and Eric Menendez. There is new evidence in this case.

ABC News live prime going there wherever the story is. Are you

gonna build it back up?

And ABC News live lighting up the weekend.

With breaking news and all the latest pop headlines.

Happy Oscar Sunday.

A lot to watch for tonight. ABC News Live.

Because the news never stops.

You know some shit is about to happen. I have

an idea.

You guys

have eyes on your targets.

Shouldn't we strategize? Come on.

We're gonna improvise. Freestyle.

No.

I'm Clea, and I'm Joanna. We're about to host extreme makeover.

My girls don't

have a dad. We have 96 hours to build a house.

We're a deserving family. It can't be real.

This was more than just extreme home makeover. This was extreme life makeover.

Friday nights at 9 on ABC. True murder mystery.

Shocking. Sex betrayal. Bombshell.

The greatest true crime story is 2020. Friday nights at 9. Next week, Elton John, exclusive from his incredible career to his battles with addiction to how he's doing now.

I'm still standing after all this time.

I'm still standing, and I am better than I ever did. Only

on Good morning, America. Wow.

America's number 1 news, ABC News, now streaming 247 on Disney

plus. Back now with a close call for these men in Hawaii. The huge waves slamming the rocks where they were standing. All 3 men survived, but suffered serious cuts from the rocks and the coral.

In New Hampshire, a snowboarder triggered this avalanche and then managed to outpace the rushing snow on Mount Washington. Experts say it was really lucky because this avalanche hit at a low angle and was moving relatively slowly.

Well, efforts to rescue a grandmother apparently swallowed by a sinkhole in Western Pennsylvania are

now being described as

a recovery mission. Officials say it's unlikely the 64

year old is still recovery mission. Officials say it's unlikely the 64 year old is still alive. She was reported missing early Tuesday, hours after leaving home with her granddaughter to look for her cat. The granddaughter was found unharmed in their car. Officials believe the hole opened up where the woman had been standing above an abandoned coal mine.

Well, it turns out America has a math problem. That's according to education experts reviewing the latest test scores showing 4th and 8th graders falling behind. Here's ABC's Andrea Fujii.

New evidence this morning that American children are falling behind in math. In some cases, way behind.

The results are sobering.

Scores from the test called trends in international mathematics and science study found from between 2019 and 2023, American 4th graders dropped 18 points in math. 8th graders dropped 27 points.

We started this assessment in 1995, so we have essentially we have erased, the gains that, we were seeing for for decades.

Globally, Globally, the US scoring only mid pack, easily surpassed by countries in Asia and Europe. Experts point to many reasons, including COVID when education was disrupted in the US for longer than many other countries.

This decline that we're we're seeing was was there in 2015. So all of this cannot be blamed on COVID. We have, been struggling with this declining scores, particularly in math, for a while.

Experts say too many kids are missing class. About 17% are described as often absent.

We need to focus on the students that have been, struggling for a while now, and that is where I I I wanna leave it for, as a country to sort of ponder.

Another possible concern, boys perform better than girls in both math and science, reopening a gender gap that had previously closed. Rhiannon, Andrew.

Andrea, thank you. In sports, a major upset in college basketball already. Unranked Creighton beating number 1 Kansas last night, 76 to 63. Fans rushing onto the court to celebrate. Creighton beat top ranked Yukon last season.

Rock Chalk Jayhawk. Coming up, the mission to airlift a group of sheep who were in danger.

Plus, pulling the plug, the big announcement about the end of the landline phone.

Why do so many people start their day here? From ABC News, this is start here. To be in the know

and get a different take on the day's top stories. Lot of news today, so let's get into it. Listen now to the daily news podcast honored with 4 Edward r Murrow Awards and see why the New York Times calls it a news podcast worth listening to. Start here. ABC News.

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America's number 1 most watched daytime talk show is ABC's The View.

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Voices that matter. It all goes down right here.

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All I want is to find our way home.

I'll get you hung. But a crew of murderous bounty hunters is coming after us. We have to move fast.

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Reporting from the fires in Ventura County, California, I'm Mola Lecke. Wherever the story is, we'll take you there. You're streaming ABC News Live.

Time to check the pulse, and we begin with Taylor Swift putting her Midas touch on the publishing world.

Yes. She is gold. Her era's tour book is the biggest book launch of the year, selling more than 800,000 copies in its first 2 days. And even more impressive, this book was only sold through Target.

The photo filled book commemorating her tour is 39.99. The only bigger nonfiction book launch was when former president Obama wrote his memoir. Alright. Next, home phones may be going the way of ice boxes and sundials.

Yeah. AT and T is now confirming it will phase out most

of its traditional landline service by 2029. It says the copper infrastructure is outdated, and it's expensive to maintain. AT and T landline serves 21 states, and only 1, California, will get to keep the service.

Consumer advocates condemned the plan, saying access to basic landlines is critical for the poor and for seniors.

Next, a new solar paint could keep electric cars charged up for longer.

Mercedes is developing a paint that can cover the entire body of the car. It's only a few micrometers thick, making it more flexible than solar panels. A solar paint could charge an EV battery at all times. Wow. Next, sumo wrestling is having a moment.

The ancient Japanese sport is growing in popularity in part because of a TV series, so they're bringing the sport to London. It's only the 2nd time an elite sumo tournament will be held outside of Japan.

And finally, wildlife officials in Texas have taken a rather drastic step to save a herd of endangered sheep.

They are okay, but here's what they did. The sheep were sedated, and then look at this. They were airlifted by helicopter, which is safe, from an area where they had been exposed to disease from a different species of sheep. So the bighorns, that's what they're called, they are now in a spot where they can roam free without any risk. Morning,

America. Good morning, America.

Good morning, America.

Good morning, America. Good

morning, America. Money. Are you ready? We are ready.

Covering the biggest events in the country right now.

There's a lot going on there.

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Doing it hot. Doing it hot. Hot. Coming in

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in hot.

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a great deal on what I'm just dying to buy?

Oh, it's all right here. GMA Life. Get the latest celebrity buzz, deals and steals, and the coolest lifestyle tips from GMA.

I love that so much.

Streaming weekends on ABC News Live.

This is bigger than anything we faced before.

The biggest movie event arrives in theaters, and you can experience it in IMAX. Disney's Moana 2 with the PG. Experience it in IMAX. Now playing.

I'm Clea, and I'm Joy and I. We're about to host Extreme Makeover.

My girls don't have a dad.

We have 96 hours to build a house.

We're much deserving of family. It can't be real.

This was more than just extreme home makeover. This was extreme life makeover.

Checking more top stories now. Sources say police investigating the fatal shooting of a health insurance CEO in New York found writings on the shell casings with the words deny, defend, and depose, possible clues to

a motive. The shooter was still on the run overnight.

The justice department has found that Memphis police routinely use excessive force and discriminate against black people. The investigation began after the beating death of Tire Nichols by 5 officers.

Officials now say at least 8 US telecom firms have been compromised by a Chinese hacking operation. Hackers gained access to phone calls and text messages. They are recommending people use encrypted messaging apps.

A new record for Bitcoin. The digital currency has topped a $100,000 after president-elect Trump chose a cryptocurrency supporter to lead the SEC.

Today's weather, snow and strong winds push into the northeast, and frigid air follows with wind chills below 0 in the Midwest, rain on the Gulf Coast.

And finally, the end of an era at the Dodo, the home of animal videos.

Danny New explains. Danny, you're gonna get a camel.

Growing up, Joanna Zelman's love of animals was always encouraged by her father, Jared. Just listen to how many pets they had.

At 1 point, we he counted 26. Yeah. Something like this. Cow thinks she's a dog, and I do too.

Well, good call nurturing that passion because it led to an accomplished career for Joanna. About 10 years ago, she became 1 of the earliest employees and eventually the executive producer of a social media brand you probably know called the dodo. Over the past decade, the dodo has become 1 of the most famous providers of animal videos that make you go, aw.

She loves too bad.

However, Joanna's time with the dodo is soon coming to a close. And as she looks back, there's 1 costar from her videos that she's especially proud to have featured. It started in 2016 when her father, a semi retired doctor and volunteer ambulance driver, led Facebook live workshops on how to make DIY dog toys.

I was just running inside this, like, fluff in a pipe.

But perhaps their most famous clip together was about 3 years ago when Joanne was at her childhood home in Connecticut and found a skunk's tail sticking out of a pipe.

This is gonna be interesting.

With the

help of her father and the encouragement of animal control, Joanna had to gently pull the skunk out of the pipe. Philly was grateful because she did not receive a stinky shower afterwards.

He really, like, looked right in my eyes, and I don't know. It it did feel like he kind of understood.

They also recently transported calves from a farm to an animal sanctuary together for a video that could perhaps be their final post for the dodo. Of course, though, it does not sound like they'll ever stop loving and helping animals as a team. We've

just gotten to have so many fun adventures together, and I feel really lucky for that.

Jared said he realized how much his daughter loved animals when Joanna was in 1st grade. She came home 1 day and said, dad, you didn't tell me chicken came from chickens. I can't eat that anymore. And, guys, she has not eaten meat since.

Great story.

Thanks. Yeah. We leave you with last

night's tree lighting in New York. Have a great day, everyone.

ABC's David Muir, the most watched newscast in America.

It's Thursday, December 5th. Could the law be in for a transition of its own? We start here. In a landmark case, transgender teenagers head to the Supreme Court.

She was like, I I don't think you see me, and and it and it broke my heart.

What the science, the law, and the justices are all saying about a family's right to care. The CEO of a major health insurance company is shot dead in New York.

And now there is this frantic manhunt.

For all the concerns about random violence, this looks more like an assassination. And the math isn't mathing.

The results for the United States are not great.

A new global report shows American scores plummeting. From ABC News, this is Start Here. I'm Brad Milke. When we talk about this year's election, we often talk about how it was decided by economics, by kitchen table issues. But let's not forget that Donald Trump was continuously hammering home another theme.

Kamala's for they, them. President Trump is for you.

I'm Donald j Trump, and I approve this message.

Early on in the campaign, he staked out his position on transgender rights, namely that it's damaging to children to even consider the concept.

I'll ask congress to send a bill to my desk prohibiting child sexual mutilation in all 50 states. We're gonna get that.

That is a position that's becoming more and more mainstream in the Republican Party as more and more conservatives routinely use phrases like genital mutilation when describing what the American Medical Association would call gender affirming care. In fact, while many transgender folks say this type of care is life changing, even lifesaving, more and more conservative governors and legislators have passed laws banning these types of procedures for young people. And so yesterday, in what was seen as a defining moment for this country as it grapples with gender, a trans teenager took the state of Tennessee to the Supreme Court. ABC senior Washington reporter Devin Dwyer was in the courtroom for what could be 1 of the biggest cases of this term. Devin, before we even get into the arguments, can you just explain what this whole case is about?

Yeah. Brett, this case is about medical treatments for young adults in this country, more than 300,000 who identify as transgender. That means their gender assigned at birth differs from their sense of identity. 1 of the things that a lot of those kids struggle with in, accepting themselves as transgender is known as gender dysphoria. It's the distress, the feeling of that disconnect inside between your physical appearance and how you feel.

And for years, in this country, the medical establishment has supported interventions to treat that distress, comes in a number of forms, mental health treatment therapy, but also in some cases, the use of medications. 1st to delay puberty, to slow down changes to the body that can make that distress worse, and then hormone therapy to facilitate, a body's development to, you know, the identity that a person is feeling. For more than a decade, major medical associations from the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, the Endocrine Society, and on and on have said that these treatments should be on the table as part of individually tailored interventions to help kids. After consultation with their doctors, their parents, and, of course, informed consent that, on a case by case basis, these treatments can be used. So what do you like to do for fun?

Well, I produce music as a hobby with my friends a little bit.

I was in Tennessee recently, which is where this case is from, to meet the family of Brian and Samantha Williams, parents of 2 teenagers. 1 of them, 16 year old LW. She goes by her initials.

I remember having a little bit of a feeling about it in maybe 4th grade, and I was definitely like, oh, man. I really do not wanna have facial hair.

She came out to her parents, as struggling with her gender identity when she was in 7th grade. It's

not very, comfortable being trapped in, because it just doesn't feel like you.

And she told them that, it was a horrible feeling inside of her body. She struggled with anxiety, with depression.

She would get so frustrated with us, like, all of us

asking questions, and let's take some time,

and let's talk through this. And

I was probably the 1 that was asking the most questions and had the most pushback on it. And, she said to me at a certain point, she was like, I I don't think you see me, and and it and it broke my heart. You know?

And after consultation, with her medical providers, her parents made the decision to take puberty blockers.

She's not suicidal, but she shouldn't have to be suicidal

Right.

To get the care that she needs. Yeah. And that when I when that really hit me, I was like, okay. Let's do blockers. Let's get moving.

Yeah. To let her pause for puberty, in their words, to spend some time grappling with what she was feeling and going through. And then eventually, with her consent, a year later, began taking estrogen, a a hormone therapy, to begin helping her body develop as a woman.

Yeah. I feel a lot better. I feel very I feel amazing after that. And I'm pretty you know, maybe it's just because the, gender dysphoria is so bad.

Mister Clerk, take the vote.

It's 26. 6 days.

But all of a sudden, Brad,

in 2023, the Tennessee legislature as their first priority, came out of the gate and banned those treatments categorically.

Let's press the brakes on these dangerous practices. Let's do our job, and let's protect those most vulnerable young Tennesseans. Thank you, mister speaker.

Even though they've been used for years, endorsed by American medical groups, said that they were, harmful and dangerous to children, that the science is uncertain, and they shut those treatments down.

Our state legislature had made such a big deal out of parental rights during COVID about masks and vaccines that parents should be able to decide these medical decisions for their children. And then Yeah. This is a medical decision for our child.

And the Williams family and other families, have had to had to scramble to continue the care that they say has made their lives significantly better.

Right. Although, you know, the argument from conservatives here is that, listen, we're talking about brain issues. Right? Like, this is dysphoria where you feel like you cannot match your body with your brain. Right?

Like, 2 different realities are being presented to you. You can't match them up. And but then you're using treatment that could have a permanent effect on your body because of what is going on in your brain. Maybe it's permanent, but maybe it's temporary. What where does the science land on that?

Alright. Critics of this care say that some of these parents are guilty of child abuse, of of child body mutilation by supporting this and putting their kids through this.

It's clear to me that the science of so called gender affirming care in children is unsettled at best, medical malpractice at worst.

And 1 of the critics in Tennessee, Brad, that was leading the charge on all of this was, senate Republican leader Jack Johnson.

We have a compelling interest as a state to put protections in place. We do that. You can't get a tattoo in the state of Tennessee if you're under the age of 18. We don't let you smoke cigarettes. We don't let you purchase or consume alcohol.

He is a father of family man. He's not a doctor, he concedes, but was very concerned about the damage, potential harm, he says, that these treatments were having on kids. What's your message to kids who are struggling with their gender identity and their parents and their doctors who are trying to find a way to address it. What do you tell them?

Well, first of all, we love you. We we we love these kids. We wanna make sure that they get treatment that they need and get them to adulthood. And and in Tennessee, that's the age of 18. That's the age of majority.

The science at the end of the day is still evolving in this space. There's no question about it, and groups on both sides say simply more study needs to be done, and that is what has complicated cases like this 1. So what does the science say? Well, you know, we look to the guidelines of the Endocrine Society, Brad, which, is a global, organization of medical specialists that deal with hormones. That is their primary specialty focused on regulating hormones in children and adults, and their guidelines based on 260 research studies recommend the use of medications, puberty blocking, and then hormone therapies, in tailored cases when a child is suffering from gender dysphoria.

At the same time, they encourage waiting until 18 to consider a gender affirming surgery, say, a general surgery or a facial surgery to help a child or a young adult rather become more like the person that they think. So this is really about these medications, which we should say have been used for decades in this country by cisgender kids, to treat all different sorts of treatment. So the drug safety is not really a question here. It's how the drugs are being used that's up for debate. And 1 more thing to point out, Brad, is that the European experience with these medications, has really colored how a lot of these states, more than 25 states in the United States, have now banned these treatments, and a lot of them have pointed to Europe.

The United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, once at the forefront of these treatments, have in the recent years pulled back on the treatments. They have now deemphasized the use of puberty blockers and hormone therapies in their health systems in those countries, citing a lack of evidence. And so while they have not banned those treatments, they've pumped the brakes, and that is, given some license to conservatives to say we need to do that here.

Interesting. Okay. And so then what the the case that this teenager in Tennessee is bringing up, what she just wants to get rid of this law entirely, like strike it down?

Yeah. These 3 families, 1 of whom is the Williams family of Tennessee, backed by the Biden administration, asked the Supreme Court yesterday, to block this law, to say that it violates the constitution's equal protection clause because in their view, it discriminates on the basis of sex. According to the government, if you're a cisgender boy in Tennessee and the doctor says, you know, you're running a little behind on your puberty, here Here is some testosterone, that's okay in Tennessee.

But if

you're a transgender boy in Tennessee and a doctor says you're suffering from gender dysphoria, hey, here is some estrogen. That's not okay. Oh. And so what what the government alleges and the families alleged is that this is, textbook sex discrimination.

This statute on its face says you can't have medications inconsistent with sex. And no matter what you think about transgender discrimination generally, that's a sex based line.

Certainly, many of the court's conservatives were very wary of the sex discrimination argument, sympathetic to Tennessee.

Doesn't that make a stronger case for us to leave those determinations to, the legislative bodies rather than, try to determine them for ourselves?

You did hear, a number of justices, including Brett Kavanaugh, say this is given the the the murky science in his view. This is a flashing yellow light, if not a red light.

It strikes me as, you know, pretty heavy yellow light, if not red light, for this court to come in, the 9 of us, and to constitutionalize the whole area.

It was really justice Samuel Alito who was the harshest, about the science, really questioning here whether the benefits of these treatments have been borne out.

In almost all instances, the judgment at the present time of the health authorities in the United Kingdom and Sweden, is that the risks and dangers greatly outweigh the benefits.

The 3 liberal justices delivered a forceful rebuke of Tennessee's law. Justice Sonia Sotomayor calling out the horrific suffering that some of these children have.

It is a serious condition. 1 of the

petitioners in this case described throwing up every day, going almost mute because of his, because of their inability to speak in a voice that they could live with.

Justice Elena Kagan said that this whole law is imbued with sex, turns on sex, and is sex discrimination. But at the end of the day, Brad, we're gonna have to wait and see until June likely how the court will come out, in this really historic case. The first time the Supreme Court, took up a a law targeting transgender people, the first time the court heard from an openly transgender person, Chase Strangeo, argued on behalf of the Williams family, before the court. And, it was just an extraordinary moment in, in the courtroom.

Wow. The the the first transgender lawyer in the Supreme Court's history argues this case. And by the way, it comes at a moment where transgender teenagers, who are a still small minority in this country, feel ever more talked about by people who don't know them with this very intense rhetoric. A lot of them describe feeling like they don't have a country around them who supports them in any stage of their journey. So they could talk about feeling trapped.

Talk about dysphoria. That in itself has been so distressing for people in this community. Devin Dwyer, big case, big decision coming up in the spring. Thank you so much.

Thanks a lot, Brad.

Next, I'm on start here. Everyone knew he had come to Manhattan for a meeting, including his killer. We're back in a bit.

I tell you, Karen, you better get out of there.

That place think of? That place is gonna turn into a hellhole.

She was a brave whistleblower. And then

What happens to a spy when the people you're spying on find out you're a spy?

That young lady was murdered as far as I'm concerned.

A story so compelling, it was made into a movie starring Meryl Streep. Now newly discovered tapes.

It's all here. Oh my god. We just walked into a Indiana Jones movie.

What happened to Karen Silkwood? The Lost Tapes now streaming on Hulu.

321.

It's a 247 life together.

It's not about the fear or the risk. It's about the love of flying.

3, 2, 1.

All I want is to find our way home.

I'll get you home. But a crew of murderous bounty hunters is coming after us. We have to move fast.

We have no idea who he is.

You can trust me.

You're a Jedi. Right?

Of course.

What is that? Watch this.

Skeleton Crew. New episodes, Tuesdays, only on Disney plus.

Nightline. The stories that shape your world, that shape your life. Dramatic, stunning, empowering, jaw dropping. The most powerful stories of our time, Nightline on right after kennel and streaming on Hulu. David Muir, ABC's World News Tonight, the most watched newscast in America and honored with the Emmy Award winner for outstanding live news program.

More Americans watch World News tonight with David Muir than any other newscast.

When you

think of assassinations, you think of political figures. Right? That's why top government officials get security details. But really, an assassination is any targeted killing of a person who's got an outsized impact on the world around them. So that can include activists, military leaders, celebrities, even the heads of private businesses.

Well, yesterday, when the CEO of America's largest health insurer was shot down in the streets of Manhattan, the immediate question was whether this was a random killing or a targeted assassination. Let's talk to ABC senior investigative correspondent, Aaron Kuchterski, who's been talking to New York law enforcement. Aaron, what do we know about this shooting?

This was a brazen assassination style killing for sure, Brad, and police say it unfolded in the heart of Midtown Manhattan just before the morning rush hour. It was about quarter to 7 in the morning when police said Brian Thompson walked across the street to the Hilton Hotel on Sixth Avenue, and a gunman had been lying in wait for several minutes.

The shooter steps onto the sidewalk from behind the car. He ignores numerous other pedestrians, approaches the victim from behind, and shoots him in the back. The shooter then walks toward the victim and continues to shoot.

He was rushed to the hospital. Didn't make it. He was pronounced dead at the hospital, and now there is this frantic manhunt all throughout New York and likely beyond to try and find the shooter.

Do we know who that would be and why he was there? I mean, it sounds like this guy knew what he was doing to an extent and was aiming for this executive. Right?

There's no question that police believe this was a targeted attack. They said there is no indication this was a random act of violence, but they don't know why. Did he have any known enemies or or anyone that you've been able to find so far?

Like I said, we're we're reaching out to law enforcement in Minnesota, and we're also interviewing his his coworkers and family members to see if there have been any specific threats against him in the past.

1 possible theory, Brad, is this resulted from some kind of a grudge either against UnitedHealthcare, the company, or against Thompson himself. His wife is just heartbroken and had not confirmed reports that the family had been threatened in any way. And we checked with a number of law enforcement agencies in Minnesota where Thompson lives, where UnitedHealthcare is based, and they say there are no reports of anyone threatening Thompson or his family, but police are still working to determine what exactly went on here.

When this guy clearly went to pains to conceal himself and and his route, how do you find him?

It's a good question because as soon as he escaped through an alleyway on foot, at some point, he grabs a bike and pedals into Central Park, and they have him on camera, police do, in certain locations. But then, of course, in the park, the trail may have gone cold. So they're still canvassing for video. They'd like to see this guy without a mask on. He was wearing what you might now call a COVID style face mask, and they're also looking for items from which they could extract DNA.

And there, Brad, they may have some clues. They picked up a water bottle and a couple of, you know, granola bar type wrappers that he appears to have purchased at a Starbucks before the shooting. They're hoping that will give them some clues as to who this guy is.

Are there any further threats either around New York or to, like I'm I'm wondering if health care workers should be on alert or other leaders of business. Like, some of these guys have bodyguards, but 1 of the things about New York is you really do see very important people just wandering around on the street.

None that we know of. Thompson travels without any executive protection. He was seen on video strolling across into the Hilton alone, at about quarter to 7 in the morning. He was there for an investor conference that was due to start about an hour later. The authorities went out of their way to to say that this was not random because it happened, you know, just 12 hours before 100 of thousands of people gathered just blocks away from where the shooting occurred to light the the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center.

Wow.

And police wanted to make sure that that people felt safe coming to that event.

Alright. Aaron Katierski, bizarre moment here. Thank you so much.

Really stunning. Thanks,

Brad. Okay. 1 more quick break. When we come back, these numbers add up, not that we'd be able to tell. 1 last thing is next.

The news never stops.

From Tampa, we are here tonight as hurricane Milton has just made landfall.

The surge just keeps coming up.

Right on the border between Ukraine and Russia.

We're an artillery position about 2 miles away from Gaza.

And ABC News Live is right there everywhere.

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not far from where the Bissou rally took place, so just stick with us here. Traveling with the president to the US Mexico border. Here in London today. Off the coast of Gaza.

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From the most devastating disaster in Hawaii. Some areas are still smoldering.

Wherever the story.

From the front lines. The ruins of Rafa. From the FBI. Reporting from Capitol Hill.

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Is that my GTO? I built that 15 years ago, and somebody stole it.

Hi, dad.

There's the thief.

Take your dad and grandpa. Papa.

I'm crawling home because I'm broke.

I need a place to stay until I figure out what the rest of my life looks like.

So a couple of days.

The last time you walked out that door,

you looked back at me and gave me a double bird.

I was 18. The double bird was how I ended all our conversation.

Skeleton Crew, now streaming. New episodes Tuesdays only on Disney plus.

Here at this massive sinkhole after hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida, I'm Jacqueline Lake. Wherever the story is, we'll take you there. You're streaming ABC News Live.

And 1 last thing. For years now, American students have not had the best rep when it comes to math, which a lot of journalists are sympathetic to. Many of us are notoriously bad at math. We probably brought down the nation's scores when we were kids. But yesterday, America got its report card back from an international math test, and it's worse than we thought.

The results for the United States are not great.

That's Liz Cohen. She's the policy director for FutureEd, an education research group at Georgetown University. She's breaking down the results of the study called TIMSS, Trends in International Mathematics and Science. It's given to 4th graders and 8th graders. In fact, Cohen has an 8th grader of her own.

In 8th grade, we have some algebraic concepts, geometry, data probability.

Global authorities put this out every 4 years or so. They did it in 2015, 2019, and now we're seeing results from 2023. And when these results were published yesterday, just about every expert called America's scores disturbing. The head of our National Center For Education Statistics, who works for the Department of Education, called the numbers alarming. Scores have plummeted.

Cohen says the top performers globally are Singapore, South Korea, and China. Then you've got countries like Japan and Great Britain and Turkey. The US is right in the middle, barely above average.

We're hanging out with Portugal and Cyprus and the Slovak Republic, which might not be the neighbors that we're used to or that we would aspire to be with.

But she adds the ranking is not even the most troubling thing here. Many of these countries in our part of the chart are at least improving. Our kids' scores are actively getting worse.

Now we are, in 8th grade in particular, really back where we started, below where we were in 1995 despite, you know, almost 30 years of intense education reform, 1,000,000,000 of dollars, both federal, state, philanthropic, all of that.

So why is this happening? Well, you might think this is all pandemic related. Certainly, virtual schooling and disjointed classes were not helping a couple years ago. But if you look at the data, this decline really started back in 2015.

It's really important to understand that, in both 4th and 8th grade, we've actually been declining since before the pandemic.

In fact, even in the last couple years, the number of students who are chronically absent still hasn't returned to pre pandemic levels. Lockdowns are long gone, and the kids still aren't back in school as often. And that could be contributing to another troubling trend.

The students who are doing pretty well in school in America are still doing pretty well. The students in the 75th percentile and above in America are doing about the same on these tests in both 4th 8th grade as they were 4 or 8 years ago. Where this decline is happening is the students at the bottom end of the achievement spectrum are doing even worse.

So how do you fix this? Well, she says there's no clean answer, but there are interesting data points. 1 theory is that a focus on reading has come at the expense of math skills. Another is that George w Bush's signature education law, No Child Left Behind, ended in 2015, right, when this decline started. Could school accountability be the answer to it all?

Cohen says there are lots of theories, but 1 thing is for certain, these scores are setting off alarm bells.

My big takeaway when I saw these numbers was that in 2021, as schools were reopening, we had this unifying sense of urgency that we had to pay attention to kids and students in learning in this country. That came hand in hand with a $122,000,000,000 investment from the federal government in COVID relief funds for public schools, and it really felt like this all hands on deck moment.

She says that urgency should not have ended the moment we put children back in classrooms. Once we told parents we have the tools to declare victory over COVID, if we are gonna turn these numbers around, she says, we're gonna have to change our formula.

Now I gotta go do some geometry, and it's really hard.

And you think your job is hard, then you go home and you work on your kid's math homework. Jeez. If you got thoughts about the education crisis here, hit us up on social. Let us know what you think. We're at start here a b c.

I'm Brad Milke. See you tomorrow.

This is ABC News Live.

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True natural beauty. 1 of the last of its kind. But this comes at a cost. 5 countries, 5 incredible real stories of adventure, danger

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We got this ongoing search for the animal we've been trying to find.

These are the last lands. The national parks around the world that have to be safe.

Yeah. You know something sure is about to happen?

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You guys have eyes on your targets.

Shouldn't we strategize?

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We're gonna improvise. Freestyle.

No.

I've had the most incredible life. I don't really look back that much. I'm a person who looks forward.

Good Morning America next week, right before the release of his highly anticipated documentary Never Too Late. Elton John, exclusive. From his incredible career, to his battles with addiction, to how he's doing now, and what about his friendship with John Lennon?

How does that still impact you today? Elton, Robin I'm still standing after all this time.

I'm still standing, and I am better than I ever did. On Leon.

Good morning, America. Wow.

Reporting from hurricane Milton right here in Fort Myers, Florida. I'm Ginger Zee. Wherever the story is, we'll take you there. We're streaming ABC News Live. Right

Right now on Good Morning America First

Look, new details about the suspect on the run overnight accused of gunning down the CEO of a major health insurance company on a New York sidewalk. Sources say writing has been found on the bullet casings, what they reveal, the potential clues about a motive for the brazen attack, and questions as to why the CEO and father of 2 had no security.

Also overnight, new clues after 2 young boys, ages 56, are shot at this California elementary school. What police are now saying about the adult shooter.

A weather alert for the morning commute. An arctic blast bringing even more snow and heavy winds for the Midwest and Northeast. Wind chills plunging. What to expect this morning?

Amazon under fire. The company responds to a new lawsuit claiming it secretly slowed down deliveries to certain neighborhoods.

America's math problem. The new test scores showing kids falling behind. In some cases, way behind. What's being blamed?

End of the line. The new announcement pulling the plug on the landline phone.

Caught on camera, a snowboarder triggering an avalanche and then forced to outrun it.

And the new smash hit from Taylor Swift, but it's not a song.

From ABC News, this is Good Morning America First Look.

Good Thursday morning, everyone. I'm Andrew Dimber.

And I'm Rhiannon Allie. Good morning to you.

We begin with breaking news overnight into the investigation into the brazen killing of a CEO in New York City.

Sources tell ABC News police have found messages on the bullet casings that were recovered at the scene. We're also seeing new images of the suspect, but overnight, the manhunt and the search for a motive continue. Overnight, new video of what appears to be the man who shot and killed a top health insurance CEO in New York City before the attack carrying what appears to be an ebike battery possibly used in the getaway. Around 20 minutes later, police say the gunman was seen on surveillance video approaching UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, shooting the 50 year old father of 2 multiple times before an investors conference. The gun jamming, but he clears the barrel and fires again before running through an alley, jumping on a bike, and fleeing into Central Park.

From watching the video, it does seem that he's proficient in the use of firearms as he was able to clear the malfunctions malfunctions pretty quickly.

Every indication is that this was a premeditated, preplanned, targeted attack.

Sources now say bullet casings recovered at the scene have writing on them, including the words deny, defend, and depose. But police overnight not identifying a motive for the attack. Thompson's widow telling NBC he had received threats, but saying she doesn't know the details. UnitedHealth is the largest private health insurer in the US and made headlines recently after a massive cyberattack and for its controversial plan to buy a rival home health provider. Among companies in the health insurance market, UnitedHealth ranks highest when it comes to the percentage of claims denied, nearly twice the industry average.

The brazen attack raising questions as to why Thompson, the leader of such a large corporation, did not have a security team. In addition to the bullet casings, police say they've recovered a water bottle and candy wrapper near the scene and a cell phone. The question now, was it the suspect's phone or a burner phone?

It takes a while to develop forensics into a profile for DNA or fingerprint analysis. They already collected these things that are looking. The telephone is probably the easiest way to do it, and they're looking at that now, breaking it down. We they believe all these things belong to the shooter. So he wasn't the professional area that everybody thought he was.

Detectives are working to figure out if the suspect prepositioned a bike somewhere near the crime scene for his getaway.

2 small boys are in extremely critical condition this morning after a gunman opened fire at their elementary school in Northern California. Investigators say gunfire broke out in the small town of Palermo, which is north of Sacramento. The victims are just 56 years old. Police say the shooter died by suicide, and he may have targeted the Christian school after speaking with school officials about possibly enrolling a family member.

We have received some information that he may have targeted this school because of its affiliation with the 7th day Adventist Church.

Police say the suspect's meeting with the school administrator before the shooting raised no alarms. The sheriff is now asking for help finding a gray car that was possibly seen dropping off the shooter.

Well, the weather is making news across parts of the Midwest and the Northeast right now. A fast moving Clipper system could drop 20 inches of snow in some areas that have already have feet of snow on the ground, while rain and heavy wind are expected along the I 95 corridor today. Visibility was down to 0 here in Minnesota yesterday. 1 man was killed in a crash. Wind chills are below 0 in parts of the Midwest, and the National Guard has been clearing snow in Erie, Pennsylvania where they're bracing for even more.

We'll check your full forecast in just a few moments.

In Washington, Pete Hegseth is vowing to fight and to be confirmed as secretary of defense. He is addressing claims of sexual misconduct and alcohol abuse while insisting that president-elect Trump still supports his nomination. ABC's Christiane Cordero has the latest. Christiane, good morning.

Rhiannon, good morning. Pete Hegseth is defiant, saying he will not drink if he gets the job. Even his mother is going on TV to defend him. Pete Hegseth says he's not going anywhere, insisting he has president-elect Trump's support in his fight to be confirmed as secretary of defense.

He said keep going. Keep fighting. Find your own way. Here in this hallway.

Why would I back down? I've always been a fighter.

Hegseth facing a barrage of new questions about allegations of sexual misconduct, alcohol abuse, and financial mismanagement in his prior jobs.

What you're seeing right now with me is the art of the smear.

Hegseth says he welcomes an FBI background check.

What the media is doing right now is a is a witch hunt. It's it's trial by false accusation and lies. The FBI is gonna look through what and if they do their job properly, which I fully expect they will, they'll talk to everybody and get the full story and a full understanding. That's a report I welcome.

The former Fox News anchor making new appeals to senators to gain support, saying while he does not have an alcohol problem, he promises to give up drinking if he gets the job.

He offered up to me, and I know what he has with other senators too that he's not drinking, and that's not something he's gonna do, when confirmed here.

Hegseth also leaning on his mother to make the case. Penelope Hegseth wrote an email to her son in 2018, calling him an abuser of women, later apologizing, saying it was an emotional time. She says her son is a changed man.

I would just say that some of those some of those, attachments or descriptions are just not true, especially anymore.

Sources have said Trump is considering possibly replacing Hegseth with Florida governor Ron DeSantis, Tennessee senator Bill Hagerty, or Iowa senator Joni Ernst. Ernst met with Hegseth yesterday, saying they had a thorough conversation. Now Hegseth can only afford to lose the support of 3 senators. He'll be back on Capitol Hill today and is expected to meet next week with senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, 2 key votes. Andrew?

Christian, thank you. The Russian woman accused of boarding a Delta plane and flying from New York to Paris without a ticket is now under arrest. She was flown back to the US last night and taken into FBI custody. She's due in court today. Delta is blaming a deviation from standard procedures for allowing her to get on that flight last week, but the airline is not elaborating.

The TSA says the woman accessed the line reserved for the flight crew and then mixed in with other passengers. It's still unclear how she avoided ID checks.

Now to an issue that's front and center in the culture wars. The Supreme Court hearing arguments about transgender care for teenagers, care that includes treatments like puberty blockers. Can a state ban them?

100 gathered at the Supreme Court as the justices heard arguments in a case that could determine access to health care for transgender teens. At issue, a Tennessee law banning gender affirming care, such as hormone therapy and puberty blockers for transgender minors. Opponents say the law discriminates on the basis of sex, who can receive certain medical treatments.

This is a law on its face that does not subject boys and girls to equal treatment.

Opponents saying an adolescent assigned female at birth cannot receive puberty blockers or testosterone to live as a male, but an adolescent assigned male at birth can. But the court's conservative majority seemed inclined to leave the decision up to the states.

The constitution leaves that question, to the people's representatives rather than to 9, people, none of whom is a doctor.

Medical treatments for trans children have been endorsed by major medical associations as being beneficial, but justice Samuel Alito and others raised doubts about the evidence and cited European countries who reversed course and are now restricting the treatments. The liberal justices expressed concern that limiting this kind of care could cause harm.

Some children suffer incredibly with gender dysphoria, don't they?

Yes. It's a very serious

medical condition. Some attempt suicide?

Yes.

A ruling from the court is expected next June.

Alright. Time now for your Thursday weather.

Good morning. We have a burst of rain and snow along I 95 briefly in the morning as an arctic front tears through. Snow squalls will accompany the arctic front a little farther north with a brief burst of snow that will drop visibility and cover the ground. So be careful out there. The roads are gonna be dangerous.

We will have a widespread lake effect snow down with the Lake Erie, Lake Ontario. Some areas again with another foot, foot and a half of snow. It'll be cold behind the front, a high of only 19 in Minneapolis, 28 in Chicago. For acuity weather, I'm Jeff Cornish for ABC News.

Coming up, airline executives grilled on Capitol Hill about the fees they're charging.

Also ahead, Amazon responds to a lawsuit over how long its deliveries are taking in some areas.

And later, the surge in popularity of sumo wrestling.

What does it take to be the most watched newscast in America?

An operation to capture ISIS fighters.

Is this our combat operation center? We're approaching the gate now. Militants came in from 4 or 5 different directions. Operational nuclear reactors. So you have a couple loaded and ready to go.

The house is destroyed, but the flag, there's not a tear in it. Not a tear in it.

How important is this label right here, Made to USA? Look at your smile. You're proud of this.

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I know who you are. I watch you every night.

ABC's World News Tonight with David Muir is America's most watched newscast.

Why do so many people start their day here? For ABC News, this is Start Here. To be in the know

and get a different take on the day's top stories, Start Here. Now that's a part

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Make it your daily first listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Is that my GTO? Somebody stole it. 15 years ago.

Hi, dad.

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Amazon has been hit with a lawsuit accused of providing slower service to 2 low income neighborhoods in Washington D The suit filed by a local district attorney claims Amazon is violating the consumer protection law by misleading customers, charging the same prime membership fee for delayed deliveries. Amazon calls the allegations categorically false. A spokesperson says the company had to adjust routes and delivery times due to concerns about driver safety.

Now to Washington, the battle over airline fees. Critics call them junk fees. A turbulent hearing on Capitol Hill over the fees that make your airline ticket more expensive.

Nobody enjoys flying in your airlines. It's a it's a disaster. You charge people fees that they know nothing about. You harass them to death.

A senate subcommittee grilling airline executives over the fees charged for early boarding, better seats, and other conveniences, voicing many travelers' frustrations.

They feel with more than understandable justification that they are piggy banks to be shaken down by these skyrocketing fees that seem to have no connection to any cost that the airlines incur.

Senators claim there's a lack of transparency, saying the vague pricing makes it hard for customers to budget.

We're all

captives on your airplanes at a certain point. And you just say, you wanna pick a seat. We're just gonna charge you some random amount more.

But executives rebuting those claims.

Optional services by definition are not so called junk fees as optional services are not required to travel.

It has never been more affordable to fly. Over time, overall air airfares have gone down.

Senators also claim some budget airlines have run a kind of bounty program, paying employees extra to stop passengers if their bags fail to meet certain requirements.

Your airlines are paying 1,000,000 of dollars to your employees to harass people who've already paid. They're there

in line because they've already paid. It's unbelievable. Government data shows when adjusted for inflation, airfare has fallen by about 30% in recent decades, but that does not include fees. Whether this hearing leads to any changes remains to be seen.

A lot of eyes will be watching that 1. Coming up, the video as a snowboarder triggers an avalanche.

Also ahead, not making the grade. Just how far American students are falling behind, and what's being blamed.

The news never stops. We are here in Israel, a nation at war.

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what appeared to be gunfire. The former president rushed

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No.

Friday nights at 9 on ABC. We mean true crime. True murder mystery.

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Whenever, wherever news breaks, it's so important to always remember that lives are changed. Here in London, in Buffalo, Uvalde, Texas, Edinburgh, Scotland. Reporting from Rolling Fork, Mississippi. Ukrainian refugees here in Warsaw. We're heading to a small community outside of Mexico City.

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Stream ABC News Live weeknights wherever you stream your news. Only on ABC News Live. Next week, Elton John, exclusive From his incredible career to his battles with addiction, to how he's doing now.

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America's number 1 news, ABC News, now streaming 247 on Disney plus.

Back now with a close call for these men in Hawaii. The huge waves slamming the rocks where they were standing. All 3 men survived, but suffered serious cuts from the rocks and the coral.

In New Hampshire, a snowboarder triggered this avalanche and then managed to outpace the rushing snow on Mount Washington. Was really lucky because this avalanche hit at a low angle and was moving relatively slowly.

Well, efforts to rescue a grandmother apparently swallowed by a sinkhole in Western Pennsylvania are now being described as a recovery mission. Officials say it's unlikely the 64 year old is still alive. She was reported missing early Tuesday, hours after leaving home with her granddaughter to look for her cat. The granddaughter was found unharmed in their car. Officials believe the hole opened up where the woman had been standing above an abandoned coal mine.

Well, it turns out America has a math problem. That's according to education experts reviewing the latest test scores showing 4th and 8th graders falling behind. Here's ABC's Andrea Fujii.

New evidence this morning that American children are falling behind in math. In some cases, way behind.

The results are sobering.

Scores from the test called trends in international mathematics and science study found from between 2019 and 2023, American 4th graders dropped 18 points in math. 8th graders dropped 27 points.

We started this assessment in 1995, so we have essentially we have erased, the gains that, we were seeing for for decades.

Globally, the US scoring only mid pack, easily surpassed by countries in Asia and Europe. Experts point to many reasons, including COVID when education was disrupted in the US for longer than many other countries.

This decline that we're we're seeing was was there in 2015. So all of this cannot be blamed on COVID. We have, been struggling with this declining scores, particularly in math, for a while.

Experts say too many kids are missing class. About 17% are described as often absent.

We need to focus on the students that have been, struggling for a while now, and that is where I I I wanna leave it for, as a country to sort of ponder.

Another possible concern, boys perform better than girls in both math and science, reopening a gender gap that had previously closed. Rhiannon, Andrew.

Andrea, thank you. In sports, a major upset in college basketball already. Unranked Creighton beating number 1 Kansas last night, 76 to 63. Fans rushing onto the court to celebrate. Creighton beat top ranked Yukon last season.

Rock Chalk Jayhawk. Coming up, the mission to airlift a group of sheep who were in danger.

Plus pulling the plug, the big announcement about the end of the landline phone.

Why do so many people start their day here? From ABC News, this is start here. To be in the know

and get a different take on the day's top stories. Lot of news today, so let's get into it. Listen now to the daily news podcast honored with 4 Edward r Murrow Awards, and see see why The New York Times calls it a news podcast worth listening to. Start here. ABC News.

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America's number 1 most watched daytime talk show is ABC's The View.

You all heard

it here first.

I love it. I'm there for it.

Hot topics, political views That's what we're about. Voices that matter. It all goes down right here.

That's why it's called the what? The view. I love it. I'm all in. I second that.

This is gonna be must see TV, and so much could happen.

Who is this guy?

He was kinda creepy. Pure evil.

We were shocked.

This is every woman's nightmare.

This is not just any killer.

There was 11 skulls Drawn using a finger

in blood. All of these victims' souls belong to him. They're mine.

I'm more sane than most Americans.

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ever existed. He compared himself to Ted Bundy. Wild crime,

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the crew

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What just happened? Watch this.

Skeleton Crew, new episodes Tuesday, Sony on Disney plus.

Reporting from Asheville, North Carolina, I'm Morgan Norwood.

Wherever the story is, we'll take you there.

You're streaming ABC News Live.

Time to check the pulse, and we begin with Taylor Swift putting her Midas touch on the publishing world.

Yes. She is gold. Her eras tour book is the biggest book launch of the year, selling more than 800,000 copies in its first 2 days. And even more impressive, this book was only sold through Target.

The photo filled book commemorating her tour is 3999. The only bigger nonfiction book launch was when former president Obama wrote his memoir. Alright. Next, home phones may be going the way of ice boxes and sundials.

Yeah. AT and T is now confirming it will phase out most

of its traditional landline service by 2029. It says the copper infrastructure is outdated, and it's expensive to maintain. AT and T landline serves 21 states, and only 1, California, will

get to keep the service.

Consumer advocates condemned the plan, saying access to basic landlines is critical for the poor and for seniors.

Next, a new solar paint could keep electric cars charged up for longer.

Mercedes is developing a paint that can cover the entire body of the car. It's only a few micrometers thick, making it more flexible than solar panels. A solar paint could charge an EV battery at all times. Wow. Next, sumo wrestling is having a moment.

The ancient Japanese sport is growing in popularity in part because of a TV series, so they're bringing the sport to London. It's only the second time an elite sumo tournament will be held outside of Japan.

And finally, wildlife officials in Texas have taken a rather drastic step to save a herd of endangered sheep.

They are okay, but here's what they did. The sheep were sedated, and then look at this. They were airlifted by helicopter, which is safe from an area where they had been exposed to disease from a different species of sheep. So the bighorns, that's what they're called, they are now in a spot where they can roam free without any risk.

They are again okay.

Top headlines, thanks.

Hey. Good morning, America.

Good morning, America. Good morning, America.

Good morning, America.

Good morning, America. Good morning. Are you ready? We are ready.

Covering the biggest events in the country right now.

There's a lot going on here.

It's always a good time. That's what the show's about.

That's good. Pretty good.

Very good. Coming in hot.

Coming in hot. Coming in hot. From elementary. Oh. Good morning, America.

I'm not gonna try to strut like Michael or anything.

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Streaming weekends on ABC News Live.

This is bigger than anything we faced before.

The biggest movie event arrives in theaters, and you can experience it in IMAX. Disney's Moana 2 with the PG. Experience it in IMAX. Now playing. Who's that fights?

Who's that shot? Lena Lee.

I'm Clea, and I'm Joanna. We're about to host Extreme Makeover.

My girls don't pop a dad.

We have 96 hours to build a house

for a deserving family. It can't be real.

This was more than just Extreme Home Makeover. This was extreme life makeover.

Checking more top stories now. Sources say police investigating the fatal shooting of a health insurance CEO in New York found writings on the shell casings with the words deny, defend, and depose, possible clues to a motive.

The shooter was still on the run overnight.

The justice department has found that Memphis police routinely use excessive force and discriminate against black people. The investigation began after the beating death of Tire Nichols by 5 officers.

Officials now say at least 8 US telecom firms have been compromised by a Chinese hacking operation. Hackers gained access to phone calls and text messages. They are recommending people use encrypted messaging apps.

A new record for Bitcoin. The digital currency has topped a $100,000 after president-elect Trump chose a cryptocurrency supporter to lead the SEC.

Today's weather, snow and strong winds push into the northeast, and frigid air follows with wind chills below 0 in the Midwest, rain on the Gulf Coast.

And finally, the end of an era at the dodo, the home of animal videos.

Danny New explains. Danny, you want

a cat and a kitten?

Growing up, Joanna Zelman's love of animals was always encouraged by her father Jared. Just listen to how many pets they had.

At 1 point, we counted 26. Yeah.

Something like that.

Kinda thinks she's a dog, and I do too.

Well, good call nurturing that passion because it led to an accomplished career for Joanna. About 10 years ago, she became 1 of the earliest employees and eventually the executive producer of a social media brand you probably know called the dodo. Over the past decade, the dodo has become 1 of the most famous providers of animal videos that make you go, ow.

It looks too bad.

However, Joanna's time with the dodo is soon coming to a close. And as she looks back, there's 1 costar from her videos that she's especially proud to have featured. It started in 2016 when her father, a semi retired doctor and volunteer ambulance driver, led Facebook live workshops on how to make DIY dog toys.

It was just running inside this, like, fluff in a pipe.

But perhaps their most famous clip together was about 3 years ago when Joanna was at her childhood home in Connecticut and found a skunk's tail sticking out of a pipe.

This is gonna be interesting.

With the

help of her father and the encouragement of animal control,

Joanna had to gently pull the skunk out of the pipe. Oh my god. Clearly, he was grateful because

she did not Clearly, he was grateful because she did not receive a stinky shower afterwards.

He really, like, looked right in my eyes, and I don't know. It it did feel like he kind of understood. They also

recently transported calves from a farm to an animal sanctuary together for

a video that could perhaps from a farm to an animal sanctuary together for a video that could perhaps be their

final post

for the dodo. Of course, though, it does not sound like they'll ever stop loving and helping animals as a team. We've just gotten to have so many fun adventures together, and I feel really lucky for that. Jared said he realized how much his daughter loved animals when Joanna was in 1st grade. She came home 1 day and said, dad, you didn't tell me chicken came from chickens.

I can't eat that anymore. And, guys, she has not eaten meat since.

Great. Thanks.

Yeah. We leave you with last

night's tree lighting in New York. Have a great day, everyone.

ABC's David Muir, the most watched newscast in America.

It's Thursday, December 5th. Could the law be in for a transition of its own? We start here. In a landmark case, transgender teenagers head to the Supreme Court.

She was like, I I don't think you see me, and and and it broke my heart.

What the science, the law, and the justices are all saying about a family's right to care. The CEO of a major health insurance company is shot dead in New York.

And now there is this frantic manhunt.

For all the concerns about random violence, this looks more like an assassination, and the math isn't mathing.

The results for the United States are not great.

A new global report shows American scores plummeting. From ABC News, this is Start Here. I'm Brad Milke. When we talk about this year's election, we often talk about how it was decided by economics, by kitchen table issues. But let's not forget that Donald Trump was continuously hammering home another theme.

Kamala's for they, them. President Trump is for you.

I'm Donald j Trump, and I approve this message.

Early on in the campaign, he staked out his position on transgender rights, namely that it's damaging to children to even consider the concept.

I'll ask congress to send a bill to my desk prohibiting child sexual mutilation in all 50 states. We're gonna get that.

That is a position that's becoming more and more mainstream in the Republican Party as more and more conservatives routinely use phrases like genital mutilation when describing what the American Medical Association would call gender affirming care. In fact, while many transgender folks say this type of care is life changing, even lifesaving, more and more conservative governors and legislators have passed laws banning these types of procedures for young people. And so yesterday, in what was seen as a defining moment for this country as it grapples with gender, a trans teenager took the state of Tennessee to the Supreme Court. ABC senior Washington reporter Devin Dwyer was in the courtroom for what could be 1 of the biggest cases of this term. Devin, before we even get into the arguments, can you just explain what this whole case is about?

Yeah. Brett, this case is about medical treatments for young adults in this country, more than 300,000 who identify as transgender. That means their gender assigned at birth differs from their sense of identity. 1 of the things that a lot of those kids struggle with in, accepting themselves as transgender is known as gender dysphoria. It's the distress, the feeling, of that disconnect inside between your physical appearance and how you feel.

And for years, in this country, the medical establishment has supported interventions to treat that distress, comes in a number of forms. Mental health treatment therapy, but also in some cases, the use of medications. 1st to delay puberty, to slow down changes to the body that can make that distress worse, and then hormone therapy to facilitate, a body's development to, you know, the identity that a person is feeling. For more than a decade, major medical associations from the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, the Endocrine Society, and on and on have said that these treatments should be on the table as part of individually tailored interventions to help kids. After consultation with their doctors, their parents, and, of course, informed consent that, on a case by case basis, these treatments can be used.

So what do you like to do for fun?

Well, I produce music as a hobby with my friends a little bit.

I was in Tennessee recently, which is where this case is from, to meet the family of Brian and Samantha Williams, the parents of 2 teenagers. 1 of them, 16 year old LW. She goes by her initials.

I remember having a little bit of a feeling about it in maybe 4th grade, and I was definitely like, oh, man. I really do not wanna have facial hair.

She came out to her parents, as struggling with her gender identity when she was in 7th grade. It's

not very, comfortable being trapped in, because it just doesn't feel like you.

And she told them that, it was a horrible feeling inside of her body. She struggled with anxiety, with depression.

She would get so frustrated with us, like, all of us

asking questions, and let's take some time,

and let's talk through this.

And I was probably the 1 that was asking the most questions

and had the most pushback on it. And, she said to me at a certain point, she was

like, I I don't think you see me, and and it and it broke my heart. You know?

And after consultation, with her medical providers, her parents made the decision to take puberty blockers.

She's not suicidal, but she shouldn't have to be suicidal

Right.

To get the care that she needs. Yeah. And that when I when that really hit me, I was like, okay. Let's do blockers. Let's get moving.

Yeah.

To let her pause her puberty, in their words, to spend some time grappling with what she was feeling and going through. And then eventually, with her consent, a year later, began taking estrogen, a a hormone therapy, to begin helping her body develop as a woman.

Yeah. I feel a lot better. I feel very I feel amazing after that. And I'm pretty you know, maybe it's just because the, gender dysphoria is so bad.

Mister Clark, take the vote.

It's 26. 6 days.

But all

of a sudden, Brad,

in 2023, the Tennessee legislature as their first priority, came out of the gate and banned those treatments categorically.

Let's press the brakes on these dangerous practices. Let's do our job, and let's protect those most vulnerable young Tennesseans. Thank you, mister speaker.

Even though they've been used for years endorsed by American medical groups, said that they were, harmful and dangerous to children, that the science is uncertain, and they shut those treatments down.

Our state legislature had made such a big deal out of parental rights during COVID about masks and vaccines that per parents should be able to decide these medical decisions for their children. And then Yeah. This is a medical decision for our child.

And the Williams family and other families, have had to had to scramble to continue the care that they say has made their lives significantly better.

Right. Although, you know, the argument from conservatives here is that listen. We're talking about brain issues. Right? Like, this is dysphoria where you feel like you cannot match your body with your brain.

Right? Like, 2 different realities are being presented to you. You can't match them up. And but then you're using treatment that could have a permanent effect on your body because of what is going on in your brain. Maybe it's permanent, but maybe it's temporary.

What where does the science land on that?

Alright. Critics of this care say that some of these parents are guilty of child abuse, of of child body mutilation by supporting this and putting their kids through this.

It's clear to me that the science of so called gender affirming care in children is unsettled at best, medical malpractice at worst.

And 1 of the critics in Tennessee, Brad, that was leading the charge on all of this was, senate Republican leader Jack Johnson.

We have a compelling interest as a state to put protections in place. We do that. You can't get a tattoo in the state of Tennessee if you're under the age of 18. We don't let you smoke cigarettes. We don't let you purchase or consume alcohol.

He is a father of family man. He's not a doctor, he concedes, but was very concerned, about the damage, potential harm, he says, that these treatments were having on kids. What's your message to kids who are struggling with their gender identity and their parents and their doctors who are trying to find a way to address it? What do you tell them?

Well, first of all, we love you. We we we love these kids. We wanna make sure that they get treatment that they need and get them to adulthood. And and in Tennessee, that's the age of 18. That's the age of majority.

The science at the end of the day is still evolving in this space. There's no question about it. And groups on both sides say simply more study needs to be done, and that is what has complicated cases like this 1. So what does the science say? Well, you know, we look to the guidelines of the Endocrine Society, Brad, which, is a global, organization of medical specialists that deal with hormones.

That is their primary specialty focused on regulating hormones in children and adults. And their guidelines based on 260 research studies recommend the use of medications, puberty blocking, and then hormone therapies, in tailored cases when a child is suffering from gender dysphoria.

At the

same time, they encourage waiting until 18 to consider a gender affirming surgery, say a general surgery or a facial surgery to help a child or a young adult rather become more like the person that they think. So this is really about these medications, which we should say have been used for decades in this country by cisgender kids, to treat all different sorts of treatments. So the drug safety is not really a question here. It's how the drugs are being used that's up for debate. And 1 more thing to point out, Brad, is that the European experience with these medications, has really colored how a lot of these states, more than 25 states in the United States have now banned these treatments, and a lot of them have pointed to Europe.

The United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, once at the forefront of these treatments, have in the recent years pulled back on the treatments. They have now deemphasized the use of puberty blockers and hormone therapies in their health systems in those countries, citing a lack of evidence. And so while they have not banned those treatments, they've pumped the brakes, and that is, given some license to conservatives to say we need to do that here.

Interesting. Okay. And so then what the the case that this teenager in Tennessee is bringing up, what she just wants to get rid of this law entirely, like, strike it down?

Yeah. These 3 families, 1 of whom is the Williams family of Tennessee, backed by the Biden administration, asked the Supreme Court yesterday, to block this law, to say that it violates the constitution's equal protection clause because in their view, it discriminates on the basis of sex. According to the government, if you're a cisgender boy in Tennessee and the doctor says, you know, you're running a little behind on your puberty, here here is some testosterone, that's okay in Tennessee. But if you're a transgender boy in Tennessee and a doctor says you're suffering from gender dysphoria, Hey. Here is some estrogen.

That's not okay.

Oh.

And so what what the government alleges and the families alleged is that this is, textbook sex discrimination.

This statute on its face says you can't have medications inconsistent with sex. And no matter what you think about transgender discrimination generally, that's a sex based line.

Certainly, many of the court's conservatives were very wary of the sex discrimination argument, sympathetic to Tennessee.

Doesn't that make a stronger case for us to leave those determinations to, the legislative bodies rather than, try to determine them for ourselves?

You did hear, a number of justices, including Brett Kavanaugh, say this is given the the the murky science in his view. This is a flashing yellow light, if not a red light.

It strikes me as, you know, pretty heavy yellow light, if not red light, for this court to come in, the 9 of us, and just constitutionalize the whole area.

It was really justice Samuel Alito who was the harshest, about the science, really questioning here whether the benefits of these treatments had been borne out.

In almost all instances, the judgment at the present time of the health authorities in the United Kingdom and Sweden, is that the risks and dangers greatly outweigh the benefits.

The 3 liberal justices delivered a forceful rebuke of Tennessee's law. Justice Sonia Sotomayor calling out the horrific suffering that some of these children have.

It is a serious condition.

The petitioners in this case described throwing up every day, going almost mute because of his, because of their inability to speak in a voice that they could live with.

Justice Elena Kagan said that this whole law is imbued with sex, turns on sex, and is sex discrimination. But at the end of the day, Brad, we're gonna have to wait and see until June likely how the court will come out, in this really historic case. The first time the supreme court, took up a a law targeting transgender people, the first time the court heard from an openly transgender person, Chase Strangio, argued on behalf of the Williams family, before the court. And, it was just an extraordinary moment in, in the courtroom.

Wow. The the the first transgender lawyer in the Supreme Court's history argues this case. And by the way, it comes at a moment where transgender teenagers who are a still small minority in this country, feel ever more talked about by people who don't know them with this very intense rhetoric. A lot of them describe feeling like they don't have a country around them who supports them in any stage of their journey. So they could talk about feeling trapped.

Talk about dysphoria. That in itself has been so distressing for people in this community. Devin Dwyer, big case, big decision coming up in the spring. Thank you so much.

Thanks a lot, Brad.

Next, I'm on start here. Everyone knew he had come to Manhattan for a meeting, including his killer. We're back in a bit.

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When you think of assassinations, you think of political figures. Right? That's why top government officials get security details. But really, an assassination is any targeted killing of a person who's got an outsized impact on the world around them. So that can include activists, military leaders, celebrities, even the heads of private businesses.

Well, yesterday, when the CEO of America's

largest health insurer was shot down

in the streets of Manhattan, the largest health insurer was shot down in the streets of Manhattan, the immediate question was whether this was a random killing or a targeted assassination. Let's start with the ABC senior investigative correspondent, Erin Kattersky, who's been talking to New York law enforcement. Aaron, what do we know about this shooting?

This was a brazen assassination style killing for sure, Brad, and police say it unfolded in the heart of Midtown Manhattan just before the morning rush hour. It was about quarter to 7 in the morning when police said Brian Thompson walked across the street to the Hilton Hotel on Sixth Avenue, and a gunman had been lying in wait for several minutes.

The shooter steps onto the sidewalk from behind the car. He ignores numerous other pedestrians, approaches the victim from behind, and shoots him in the back. The shooter then walks toward the victim and continues to shoot.

He was rushed to the hospital. It didn't make it. He was pronounced dead at the hospital, and now there is this frantic manhunt all throughout New York and likely beyond to try and find the shooter.

Do we know who that would be and why he was there? I mean, it sounds like this guy knew what he was doing to an extent and was aiming for this executive. Right?

There's no question that police believe this was a targeted attack. They said there is no indication this was a random act of violence, but they don't know why. Did he have any known enemies or or anyone that you've been able to find so far?

Like I said, we're we're reaching out to law enforcement in Minnesota, and we're also interviewing his his coworkers and family members to see if there have been any specific threats against him in the past.

1 possible theory, Brad, is this resulted from some kind of a grudge either against UnitedHealthcare, the company, or against Thompson himself. His wife is just heartbroken and had not confirmed reports that the family had been threatened in any way. And we checked with a number of law enforcement agencies in Minnesota where Thompson lives, where UnitedHealthcare is based, and they say there are no reports of anyone threatening Thompson or his family, but police are still working to determine what exactly went on here.

When this guy clearly went to pains to conceal himself and and his route, how do you find him?

It's a good question because as soon as he escaped through an alleyway on foot, at some point, he grabs a bike and pedals into Central Park, and they have him on camera, police do, in certain locations. But then, of course, in the park, the trail may have gone cold. So they're still canvassing for video. They'd like to see this guy without a mask on. He was wearing what you might now call a COVID style face mask, and they're also looking for items from which they could extract DNA.

And there, Brad, they may have some clues. They picked up a water bottle and a couple of, you know, granola bar type wrappers that he appears to have purchased at a Starbucks before the shooting. They're hoping that will give them some clues as to who this guy is.

Are there any further threats either around New York or to, like I'm I'm wondering if health care workers should be on alert or other leaders of business. Like, some of these guys have bodyguards, but 1 of the things about New York is you really do see very important people just wandering around on the street. None that

we know of. Thompson travels without any executive protection. He was seen on video strolling across into the Hilton alone, at about quarter to 7 in the morning. He was there for an investor conference that was due to start about an hour later. The authorities went out of their way to to say that this was not random because it happened, you know, just 12 hours before 100 of thousands of people gathered just blocks away from where the shooting occurred to light the the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center.

Wow. And police wanted to make sure that that people felt safe coming to that event. Alright.

Aaron Katierski, bizarre moment here. Thank you so much.

Really stunning. Thanks,

Brett. Okay. 1 more quick break. When we come back, these numbers add up, not that we'd be able to tell. 1 last thing is next.

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And 1 last thing. For years now, American students have not had the best rep when it comes to math, which a lot of journalists are sympathetic to. Many of us are notoriously bad at math. We probably brought down the nation's scores when we were kids. But yesterday, America got its report card back from an international math test, and it's worse than we thought.

The results for the United States are not great.

That's Liz Cohen. She's the policy director for future ed, an education research group at Georgetown University. She's breaking down the results of the study called TIMSS, trends in international mathematics and science. It's given to 4th graders and 8th graders. In fact, Cohen has an 8th grader of her own.

In 8th grade, we have some algebraic concepts, geometry, data probability.

Global authorities put this out every 4 years or so. They did it in 20 15, 2019, and now we're seeing results from 2023. And when these results were published yesterday, just about every expert called America's scores disturbing. The head of our National Center For Education Statistics who works for the department of education called the numbers alarming. Scores have plummeted.

Cohen says the top performers globally are Singapore, South Korea, and China. Then you've got countries like Japan and Great Britain and Turkey. The US is right in the middle, barely above average.

We're hanging out with Portugal and Cyprus and the Slovak Republic, which might not be the neighbors that we're used to or that we would aspire to be with.

But she adds the ranking is not even the most troubling thing here. Many of these countries in our part of the chart are at least improving. Our kids' scores are actively getting worse.

Now we are, in 8th grade in particular, really back where we started, below where we were in 1995 despite, you know, almost 30 years of intense education reform, 1,000,000,000 of dollars, both federal, state, philanthropic, all of that.

So why is this happening? Well, you might think this is all pandemic related. Certainly, virtual schooling and disjointed classes were not helping a couple years ago. But if you look at the data, this decline really started back in 2015.

It's really important to understand that, in both 4th and 8th grade, we've actually been declining since before the pandemic.

In fact, even in the last couple years, the number of students who are chronically absent still hasn't returned to pre pandemic levels. Lockdowns are long gone, and the kids still aren't back in school as often. And that could be contributing to another troubling trend.

The students who are doing pretty well in school in America are still doing pretty well. The students in the 75th percentile and above in America are doing about the same on these tests in both 4th 8th grade as they were 4 or 8 years ago. Where this decline is happening is the students at the bottom end of the achievement spectrum are doing even worse.

So how do you fix this? Well, she says there's no clean answer, but there are interesting data points. 1 theory is that a focus on reading has come at the expense of math skills. Another is that George W. Bush's signature education law, No Child Left Behind, ended in 2015, right when this decline started.

Could school accountability be the answer to it all? Cohen says there are lots of theories, but 1 thing is for certain, these scores are setting off alarm bells.

My big takeaway when I saw these numbers was that in 2021, as schools were reopening, we had this unifying sense of urgency that we had to pay attention to kids and students and learning in this country. That came hand in hand with $122,000,000,000 investment from the federal government in COVID relief funds for public schools, and it really felt like this all hands on deck moment.

She says that urgency should not have ended the moment we put children back in classrooms. Once we told parents we have the tools to declare victory over COVID, if we are gonna turn these numbers around, she says, we're gonna have to change our formula.

Now I gotta go do some geometry, and it's really hard.

And you think your job is hard, then you go home and you work on your kid's math homework. Jeez. If you got thoughts about the education crisis here, hit us up on social. Let us know what you think. We're at start here ABC.

I'm Brad Milken. See you tomorrow.

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Hi. I'm Diane Macedo. Today on ABC News Live 1st, the urgent manhunt for a killer. New York City police are looking for the man who gunned down the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, calling it a targeted attack. The new video showing the suspect minutes before the shooting and the possible message police found on shell casings near the scene.

The blizzard warning triggering whiteout conditions as fast moving storm has a 100,000,000 people on alert from the Great Lakes to the northeast. The dangerous conditions on the roads as more bitter cold temperatures move in. In a deadly school shooting in California, 2 kindergarteners are in critical condition after a gunman opened fire at an elementary school near Sacramento. The latest on the investigation and what police are saying about the shooter. And the growing firestorm over the defense secretary nominee, Pete Hegseth, is vowing to fight for the job amid GOP concerns over allegations of financial and sexual misconduct.

How Hegseth is responding as president-elect Trump reportedly considers other options. But first, police are closing in on the identity of a suspect who gunned down United Healthcare CEO outside New York City Hotel. Investigators released new video of the suspect riding a bike out of Central Park moments after the shooting. Police say Brian Thompson was in town for an investors conference when the gunman approached from behind and fired several rounds. Now authorities say the shooter left clues at the scene that suggest he may have been angry with the insurance industry.

ABC News senior investigative correspondent Erin Koterski has latest on that. Erin, what's happening with the search for this suspect?

They still have dozens of NYPD detectives combing the city for evidence, Diane. They did find a lot at the scene, including some wrappers and a water bottle. They hope to extract some DNA. They also hope to find video of the suspect without his mask, but they are closing in, it seems, having a good idea of who this guy is, and they're hoping that some of those clues will lead right to him. A frantic manhunt for the man authority spotted on this surveillance video shooting and killing Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare.

Police said it was no accident.

Every indication is that this was a premeditated, preplanned, targeted attack.

The gun appears to have a silencer and jammed when the shooter cleared it. Police say he fired again.

From watching the video, it does seem that he's proficient in the use of firearms as he was able to clear the malfunctions pretty quickly.

All units be advised in regards to a confirmed male shot in the confluence of Midtown North.

Police say it was around 6:40 5 AM Wednesday when the suspect pictured at a Starbucks before the shooting gunned down Thompson as he was walking alone into the Hilton for an investors conference. In a new video overnight, the shooter seen here about 20 minutes before the shooting.

They're looking for a male about 5 feet 10 inches in height, cream colored jacket, black mask, black gloves.

It does seem This eyewitness snapping a picture of the suspect as he fled.

I was shocked, you know, and I I

feared that he could shoot me too.

By the time police arrived, the suspect had run off and hopped a bicycle to get away. Detectives now working to determine whether he had prepositioned that bike close by. New video overnight showing the suspect pedaling his bike on the Upper West Side. Officers found the 50 year old insurance executive and father of 2 collapsed on the sidewalk. Did he have any known enemies or or anyone that you've been able to find so far?

We're reaching out to law enforcement in Minnesota, and we're also interviewing his his coworkers and family members to see if there have been any specific threats against him in the past.

To have a pillar of the community, in New York, admittedly, for a a stockholder meeting to be gunned down on the street. It's just so foreign.

Even as the leader of a large corporation, Thompson did not have a security team with him. Investigators say they found shell casings with writing on them, including the words deny, defend, and depose. They also say they found a cell phone, granola bar wrappers, and a water bottle they believe are linked to the shooter. This brazen assassination style killing coming at the height of the holiday season while New York is packed with tourists for the nearby lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. The NYPD increased patrols and security in the subways.

You know, day to day in New York is really scary, and I think that everyone here is doing their part to make sure that we have a safe event here.

A family is now grieving this loss. Thompson's wife, Paulette, telling ABC News, we are shattered to hear about the senseless killing of our beloved Brian. Brian was an incredibly loving, generous, talented man who truly lived life to the fullest and touched so many lives. The writings on those shell casings, Diane, give investigators some indication that perhaps this shooting resulted from a grudge either against Thompson himself, UnitedHealthcare in particular, or the insurance industry writ large. Think about those words, deny, defend, depose.

Those are words associated with the insurance industry and an indication, that not only was this perhaps, as the police have said, premeditated because it's so painstaking to write on the bullets, but also a killing that appears to have been deeply personal. Diane.

Alright. Erin Kotersky, thank you.

And investigators are trying to determine a motive after a deadly shooting at a religious elementary school in California. A gunman opened fire at the Feather River Adventist School in Oroville, critically injuring 2 young students before killing himself. ABC's Melissa Dunn joins us there. Melissa, what's the latest on the investigation?

Absolutely, Diane. So so far,

the FBI is now working with local police, of course, to investigate what is going on with the motive for why the shooter basically opened fire inside the school, kill, basically killing them himself and then in hurting a 56 year old boy. Now those kindergartners are hospitalized, and they are there while we're following up on their recovery. Diane? A Northern California community searching for answers after a gunman opened fire at an elementary school in Butte County.

Shots fired.

Officials say 2 male students ages 56 were shot and wounded.

Those 2 children, were transported, to, local hospitals. They are currently in extremely critical condition.

The suspect dead from a self inflicted gunshot. Investigators working into the night collecting evidence. Authorities say earlier that day, the shooter had met with the principal at Feather River 7th Day Adventist School to discuss enrolling a student. Several minutes later, screams and shots were heard. The small Christian school about an hour north of Sacramento put on lockdown.

The children taken to a nearby church to reunite with their families.

Tears. It was pandemonium. It's collective, collective trauma.

Absolutely collective trauma. So as far as those boys go for ages 56, they are in the hospital again, extremely critical condition. But as for the investigation, now as for that shooter, they're trying to figure out what is the motive. At this point, the sheriff's deputy was sharing that the possible link or belief there is that the shooter targeted this school because of its religious affiliation to the 7th Adventist Church. Diane?

Melissa Adan, thank you.

And a fast moving winter storm is bringing whiteout conditions and more snow from the Great Lakes to the northeast. Millions of people are under snow alert to several feet of snow is piling up on the roads. ABC's Trevor Alt is in Watertown, New York near the Canadian border. Trevor, what's the latest on the conditions there?

Yeah. Well, we still have all the snow piled up, Diane, and we are once again under a winter storm warning as this region really the entire Great Lakes region, but Western and Northern New York as we get further into the day, could potentially get 1 to 2 more feet of snow in some spots, and that's on top of all the snow that was left behind by the earlier system. And what makes this especially dangerous is that we do expect some pretty significant wind gust. We've already been seeing that play out as the second weather system has been sweeping across the great plains, into the Midwest as well. It can really create whiteout conditions, the combination of heavy snow, lake effect snow bands, and the winds whipping things up.

We've been watching that on, the highways, and all week, really, we have sadly seen several deadly traffic incidents related to this deteriorating weather. It is likely for, more eastern portions into the northeast. They're gonna have to battle through those conditions through the day. But this is not, the only risk of this weather. We do wanna remind people, Diane, even if you're not out driving, a lot of people will smartly stay home.

It's very cold. It takes a lot of physical exertion to, shovel and snow blow this much snow, and we've heard from officials in Buffalo this week that 2 people died from suffering heart attacks while they were shoveling and snow blowing. So this is a great reminder for your older family members if they are in this area. Make sure they're staying warm. Don't take it lightly, and don't overexert themselves because that is a risk too as you have all this heavy lake effect snow coming in, Diane.

Alright. Trevor Ault, thank you.

And a new snowstorm has a 100,000,000 people on alert across several states. ABC News chief meteorologist Ginger Z is tracking the forecast for us. Hi, Ginger.

Diane, for millions of people, it is a hold on to your hat day and hold on to a lot of things because we've got a lot going on. The snow came through with it, and so you've got blizzard warnings around Erie, Pennsylvania into the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia and Maryland. That means that you've got sustained winds at 35 miles per hour or greater, less than quarter mile visibility for 3 hours or more. It's gonna be really hard to travel in that. So watch for those warnings, but also wind advisories from Asheville up to Worcester, Massachusetts.

That's for, like, a 30 to 50 mile per hour gust. And in the Lee of the Lakes, when you put all that wind and cold over there, look at those wind gust up to near 50 at noon in New York City, That cold air makes more lake effect snow. And so you're going to have an additional 1 to 2 feet some places. South of Watertown looks like 1 of the bull's eyes there. That cold blast, though, doesn't stop in the northeast.

It goes all the way deep south. So by Friday morning, there are cold weather advisories from Gulfport, Mississippi to Pensacola, Florida and into North Florida and South Georgia. So you'll feel cold all the way down there. But don't worry. We are getting more mild.

That mild weather that's been setting records out on the West Coast will be moving in. Atlanta goes into the sixties by Monday. New York City into the fifties. So we're gonna be above average again. Speaking of above average, warmest fall on record for plenty of sites from Caribou to Minneapolis, Houston, back to San Jose, California, and top 5 warmest for all of the dots you see on the map there.

Diane?

A lot of dots there. Ginger Zieg, thank you.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswami are expected on Capitol Hill today to discuss their agenda for reducing regulations and the size of the federal government. President-elect Trump has charged Musk and Ramaswami with leading a department of government efficiency. Meanwhile, defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth is also expected to be back on the hill. The former Fox News host is vowing not to back down amid concerns about his alleged misconduct. ABC News chief White House correspondent Mary Bruce has the latest.

Donald Trump's embattled pick for secretary of defense, former Fox News host Pete Hegseth says he's not going anywhere.

Here in this all the way.

Why would I back down? I'm always gonna fight it.

While sources tell us Trump is considering other options, Hegseth is doing a full court press in media interviews and on Capitol Hill defending himself against allegations of sexual misconduct, alcohol abuse, and financial mismanagement. Allegations he now calls the art of the smear.

Am I a perfect man? No. Was I a perfect man? Absolutely not.

Hegseth adamantly denies a rape accusation, claiming he paid a settlement to a woman who accused him of sexual assault to protect his job and marriage. And he insists he doesn't have a problem with alcohol, even promising not to drink a drop if he gets the position.

He offered up to me, and I know he has with other senators too that he's not drinking, and that's not something he's gonna do, when confirmed here.

But first, he needs to convince a growing number of skeptical Republicans, like senator Joni Ernst, who could be up for the job if Trump moves on. Hegseth, who has said women should not serve in combat, meeting with the Iowa Republican, Wednesday, the first female combat veteran to serve in the senate and a survivor of sexual assault.

We are engaging the young adults.

It was a very thorough conversation.

And while sources tell us she's on Trump's list of possible replacements, Ernst wouldn't engage when asked if she's interested.

Is there any chance you're up for consideration as defense

secretary, senator? Yes. Sir, I've said yes.

Did he agree to hear concerns on them?

Also on that list, we're told, Tennessee senator Bill Hagerty and Trump's 1 time primary rival, Florida governor Ron DeSantis. Sources saying he's made it clear to Trump he's interested in the role. Trump's most fervent supporters saying they'll follow his lead even if it's not clear who he will ultimately choose. Now Higgs, at the course, had only lose the support of 3 Republican senators and still get the job. He is expected back on the hill today to continue making his case, hoping he can sway enough of them to get across the finish line.

Diane?

Alright. We'll be watching ABC News chief White House correspondent Mary Bruce. Thank you. And authorities in the country of Georgia are cracking down on a growing protest movement. Protesters are calling for an end to the government after it suspended negotiations to join the European Union.

They say the governing party's turning Georgia back toward Russia and authoritarianism. Now police have raided the opposition party offices and detained its leader as the capital of Tbilisi is bracing for an 8th day of protests. ABC's Patrick Rievel is monitoring all from London for us. Patrick, how significant are these protests, and where do they go from here after these arrests?

Hi, Dania. We saw another night of dramatic protests in Georgia for the 7th consecutive night for a week now. Thousands of people have been gathering in the center of the capital Tbilisi and clashing with riot police who've been trying to violently disperse those crowds. Police have been using water cannons while protesters have unleashed barrages of fireworks. And then last night appeared to be 1 of the largest protests so far.

This crisis was sparked when the ruling Georgian dream party said it was suspending efforts for Georgia to join the European Union, but the protests are broader. They oppose what they see as the government's attempts to turn Georgia away from Europe and down an authoritarian path, moving it back towards Russia. The government has stepped up efforts to quash the protests, arresting a key opposition leader and raiding opposition groups' offices. And to be honest, the situation strongly resembles what happened in Ukraine during its revolution back in 2014. People on the streets see this as a struggle to stop their country following a model of Vladimir Putin's Russia.

That's why Ukraine's president Zelensky overnight imposed sanctions on figures from Georgia's ruling party, and now the US also overnight warning its preparing potential sanctions. Georgia's prime minister, though, today, defiant, promising to eradicate the opposition. Diane.

Alright. Patrick Krieville in London. Thank you.

Embassy International is accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Genocide in Gaza. The group says Israel made deliberate efforts to destroy Palestinians through deadly attacks, destruction of infrastructure, and blocking aid. Israeli's foreign minister says, the report is fabricated and entirely false. Meanwhile, 1 week into the Lebanon ceasefire, the IDF is again warning residents not to return to their homes.

ABC News chief national correspondent Matt Gutman is on the border of Israel and Lebanon with the latest.

Hey, Diane. We are in the kibbutz of Manara, just to the north of Israel. And about a 125 yards to my left is the Lebanese border. Nobody lives here anymore, since October 8th when Hezbollah opened fire on these communities in the north, and it's basically become a military garrison since then. You can see the ammo crates the Israeli military left behind.

Community leaders here tell us about 75% of the buildings here were either damaged or destroyed. And on the outside, I mean, this building looks pretty much intact, but I wanna show you something, what it looks like on the inside. Hezbollah militants just down the hill fired, anti tank missiles at most of these houses. Basically, everything on this row and on the other side as well. The inside, the damage is obviously extensive.

This is what's left of a light fixture over there is a television, obviously, with windows blown out. You can see the glass melted over on this side. There's something I wanna show you, and that is the view here to the valley of a lot. You have our cameraman, Omer, turn you can see that column of smoke over there. That's the Israeli military, blowing something up.

We've seen a number of those columns of smoke. And virtually every building that we have been able to see on the other side of the border here inside Lebanon has been destroyed. At this point, we understand the negotiations over this 60 day ceasefire are ongoing. There have been some complaints and allegations on both sides of violation of the ceasefire. The US continues to be deeply, involved in these talks, which are actually ongoing in Lebanon today as our ceasefire and hostage release negotiations for Gaza.

There are still about 90 some Israeli hostages remaining in Gaza, and Israeli officials and Hamas officials seem to be indicating, much more optimism than probably at any time over the past year that a deal over the Gaza issue can also be hammered out. So it looks like we are on the road to some quiet in both of the theaters of war here in Lebanon, just where we are, and in the south in Gaza. Diane?

Matt Gutman, thank you. Coming up, the latest on

the death of Liam Payne, what a friend who was with the 1 Direction singer shortly before his deadly fall is now saying about the investigation.

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Welcome back to ABC News Live First. A friend facing potential charges in Liam Payne's death is now blaming the hotel where Payne was staying. Roger Norris could face charges in Argentina for allegedly abandoning the former 1 Direction star in his final moments. Now Norris says it was the hotel staff's failure to act that contributed to Payne's death. ABC's Ariel Reshev has more.

The last friend to see former 1 Direction star Liam Payne alive blaming the hotel in Argentina for his tragic death. In a new legal filing, Roger Norris, who was with Payne in the hours before his fatal fall from a 3rd floor balcony, accusing the hotel of failing to provide adequate medical care, claiming they knew Payne was in crisis and heavily intoxicated for 3 days and should have acted, arguing they did not even make an effort there to make up for their legal omission of having a 24 hour doctor.

He's also alleging that the hotel manager was the last persons who were actually with him before he passed. So if they were aware he was not in a condition to be left alone, there may be some liability on the side of the hotel.

The move comes as authorities in Argentina weigh possible charges against Norris himself for abandonment. Before Payne died in October, hotel staff seen in images from a surveillance camera obtained by TMZ, carrying Payne whose face is blurred through the lobby of his hotel, bringing him into his hotel room. According to TMZ, the images also show Payne surrounded by workers in the hallway near his room before he went inside for the last time. Photos of the singer's hotel room taken after his death show a smashed TV and drugs scattered throughout. An autopsy revealing the star had a mixture of the party drug, pink cocaine, alcohol, and prescription antidepressants in his system.

Such as with Matthew Perry, when individuals are enabling or are aware that someone is heavily intoxicated or under the influence of drugs and they are aware of it and didn't do anything to stop it, they are being held responsible.

3 people now facing charges related to the death of the former 1 Direction singer. The beloved 31 year old singer's sudden passing sending shock waves all over the world. His bandmates reeling. Reports suggesting 1 Direction was in talks to do a final reunion show before he passed. And Nora's claims it was not him, but the hotel manager who left Payne alone in his hotel room.

A judge will evaluate these claims. We reached out to the hotel and Payne's family for comment. So far, we have not heard back. Diane?

Alright. ABC's Ariel Reshav, thank you.

And prince Harry's opening up about his marriage, getting his security revoked, and what his mother, princess Diana, would think of his new life. Harry was at a conference to speak about his charitable work, but the conversation quickly turned personal. ABC's Will Reeve has the details.

Prince Harry stepping out for an interview at an event in New York City where he was asked about the public interest in his marriage.

Is that normal for you that there's are second, there's an article that says she's in California. You're in New York. They said, what is happening with these 2? Right? Is if and so is that a good thing for you in a way that there's so much interest in you?

No. It's definitely not a good thing, because apparently, we bought or moved house maybe 10, 12 times. We've apparently divorced maybe 10, 12 times as well. So it's it's so it was just like, what? So, yeah, it's it's hard to it's hard to keep up with, but that's why you just sort of ignore it.

Harry maintaining the scrutiny over his private life is fodder for trolls.

The people I feel most sorry about are the trolls who their their hopes are just built and built and built. And it's like, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. And then it doesn't happen.

Right.

So I feel sorry for them. Generally, generally, I do. I mean that.

While Harry was sitting down for this summit, Meghan was across the country in Los Angeles with friend Tyler Perry. Harry wed Meghan Markle in a fairy tale romance in 2018 only to depart England 2 years later, eventually settling in Santa Barbara, California. The couple hasn't been photographed together in public since their trip to Columbia this past August. On stage, Harry went on to say his mother, princess Diana, would have been pleased with his life today.

I very much enjoy, living here and and and bringing my kids up here. It's it's a part of, part of my life that I never thought I was that I was gonna live. And I feel as though it's the life that my mom wanted for me, and to be able to do, the things that I am able to do with my kids that I undoubtedly wouldn't be able to do in the UK.

Will Reeve, thank you. Coming up, the Russian stowaway that boarded a flight from New York to Paris is back in the US. What Delta's now saying about how she got on that flight?

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Here are some of the top headlines we're following right now. The justice department says Memphis police routinely use excessive force and discriminate against black people. The findings are from a comprehensive investigation after the beating death of Tire Nichols by 5 officers in January 2023. It's just 1 of 12 investigations into law enforcement agencies across the US since April 2021. Efforts to rescue a grandmother apparently swallowed by a sinkhole in Western Pennsylvania are now being described as a recovery mission.

Officials say it's unlikely Elizabeth Pollard is still alive. Police say the 64 year old was reported missing early Tuesday after leaving home with her granddaughter to look for her cat. The granddaughter was found unharmed in their car. Officials believe the hole opened up where Pollard was standing above an abandoned coal mine. And a Russian woman accused of boarding a flight from New York to Paris without a ticket is now under arrest.

Svetlana Dali is now back in the US and in FBI custody. Delta's blaming a deviation from standard procedures for allowing her to get on that flight last week. TSA says she accessed a line reserved for the flight crew then mixed in with other passengers. Still unclear how Dali avoided ID checks. Dolly's due in federal court today.

And Taylor Swift is celebrating the biggest book launch of the year. The Grammy winner sold more than 800,000 copies of her era's tour book in its first 2 days. The photo filled book commemorating her tour is 39.99 and only available at at Target. The only bigger nonfiction book launch was when former president Obama wrote his memoir. Coming up, a fractured government in France, the historic vote that ousted the country's prime minister, and why the US is watching this so closely.

Also ahead, the political turmoil in South Korea, why protesters are calling for the resignation of the country's president, plus the return of ABC Studios' true crime docuseries, Wild Crime, the murder investigation that led the FBI and police from the wilderness of Alaska to rural

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Welcome back to ABC News Live. 1st, you are looking at Paris on this Thursday, December 5th, and we have a lot of news to get to. French president Emmanuel Macron will address the nation today after the ousting of the country's prime minister. Yesterday's historic no confidence vote of Michel Barnier has left France without a functioning government. Macron now faces the critical task of naming a replacement capable of leading a minority government in a parliament where no party holds a majority.

ABC News foreign correspondent Tom Sufi Birridge joins us from just outside Paris. Tom, what's the latest here?

So we've seen a flurry of meetings throughout the day, political meetings, key figures going to the Elysee Paris, Elysee Palace in Paris. I I mean, effectively, that's the presidential palace. I mean, effectively, there's a deep sense of political crisis here, Diane. And what's different this time around after that historic no confidence vote last night, which brought down the government, is that French politics is deeply fragmented and polarized. So you've got parties on the far right, the the National Rally Party of Marine Le Pen doing very well, but you've also got parties on the far left also that did well, in the parliamentary election in the summer.

And, effectively, that no confidence vote was put forward by the far left and their left wing allies, but, effectively, they needed the support of the national rally, the hard right party, to get it through. And president Macron is still in power for the next 2 and a half years as president of the country, but it forced him effectively to try and nominate a new prime minister to try and get a functioning government in place. All the while, French debt is incredibly high, about a 120% of GDP. That's very, very high. So, look, there's a sense of political crisis.

Macron is trying, with his allies to try and get a prime minister in place, but it won't be easy. And and, really, there's no obvious way out of this political crisis right now.

So, Tom, what does this mean for the US and other countries around the world?

Well, look, France is a major player in the European Union. It is a major player in Europe in terms of helping Ukraine. President Macron has been a very firm voice in terms of ramping up weaponry and and arms from a European perspective, but, of course, the US plays the biggest role in terms of weaponry and arms to Ukraine and support for Ukraine overall. So, look, it is a very important ally, France. Of course, France is also, like all other nations around the world, are looking towards, president-elect Trump and what he might do and what he might say on the global stage.

But, look, it doesn't help. Europe, itself needs a stable strong France. It's a key player at the heart of Europe. Right now, France is in a sense of paralysis politically speaking. And, again, you know, because this political system here is so fragmented at the moment, there is no obvious, solution to this.

And that is why president Macron, the president of France, is is gonna take to the airwaves at 8 PM local time tonight to address the nation. We'll be waiting and watching, what he says.

We sure will. Tom Sufi Burridge, thank you. And protesters in South Korea are calling for the resignation of president Yoon Suk yeol. Opposition parties submitted a joint motion to impeach the president after his short lived martial law. Now a vote to impeach could come as early as tomorrow as president Yoon accepts the resignation of his defense minister.

ABC's chief foreign correspondent, Ian Panels, in Seoul for more. Ian, this defense minister was also in danger of impeachment. So what do you make of him resigning?

Yeah. In fact, he's still facing impeachment. He offered his resignation quite early on to the president, and today, the president's accepted that. In the impeachment process, the opposition parties are essentially accusing the defense minister of having persuaded the president to go for this martial law. Interestingly, there was a a series of political hearings today.

In 1 of them, the deputy defense minister essentially said that the order to deploy the military to the parliament building was given by the defense minister. Now there is a military proclamation that's supposed to follow the all the issuing of this, martial state of martial law, and he questioned the defense minister about whether or not the proper processes had been gone through. And the defense minister assured him that they had, And this document was signed, but he says he doesn't know by whom. So, there's also an order out, by the way, that he shouldn't leave the country. So a lot of eyes on exactly what happened.

What was the TikTok, that led up to the declaration of martial law in the country, and who decided to deploy troops to parliament?

So, Ian, what's the latest on this vote, on whether or not to impeach the president?

Yeah. So, that's the political process. It began began on Wednesday, and it's been going on today. We're expecting a vote could possibly be held, early on Saturday. It comes down to a numbers game to in order to impeach the president or the former defense minister, you have to have 2 thirds of the vote.

The indications from the president's own party that they will not support the opposition, and that prob probably will leave them short.

And what happens next, Ian, depending on how this vote goes?

I mean, all you know, if you strip all of this away, what is going on in South Korea at the moment? And you talk to people. It really has been in a state of almost political paralysis since the president was elected. He's very frustrated because he feels that his agenda has been stymied by the opposition, which controls parliament. And in many senses, he's right about that.

They oppose much of his agenda. Most of the things he's trying to get achieved have been stopped. And so we're kind of in this, this area where there's no great movement. If the impeachment fails, which appears likely, it also seems unlikely that the president, agrees to resign. And if he doesn't, well, how is he going to be able to govern when the opposition parties are still rallied against him?

Which is why I talk about this political paralysis, situation that you've got in South Korea. If he does stand down, then potentially, it's the leader of the opposition who also ran for president who will then become, the next president of Korea. So, politically, the chaos continues here in South Korea.

Alright. Chief foreign correspondent Ian Pannell, thank you.

And Venezuela is about a month away from its inauguration, David. On January 10th, the candidate the world sees as the president-elect may not be taking office. Current president Nicolas Maduro is clinging to power claiming he won the election. Now a top UN human rights group is ordering Venezuelan officials to preserve election materials as it investigates claims that Maduro stole the election in July. The UN estimates 7,700,000 Venezuelans have left since 2014 as they face violence and lack of food, and more than 545,000 have come to the United States.

Now the outcome on inauguration day could send more fleeing to the US just as the Trump administration is promising to tighten immigration. Venezuela's opposition leader Maria Cornida Machado joins me now with more on all that. Maria, thank you for joining us again, you know, just a month shy now of inauguration day. Do you think Edmundo Gonzalez, widely recognized as Venezuela's president-elect, will actually take office on January 10th?

Thank you very much, Diana. We're facing really tough times at this moment in Venezuela. As you said, the whole world knows that Maduro lost. We won by a landslide. But Maduro's decision since then has been to unleash the most brutal repression wave in our in our history.

Actually, it's been increasing in the last days. I have to tell you that as we speak, the siege around the, Argentinian embassy under the protection of Brazil has been getting stronger and stronger. Houses of neighboring, houses have been taken by force by the regime. My colleagues there have almost 2 weeks without electricity. They have cut the service of water, limiting food and medicine.

No visits whatsoever. I mean, this is a huge event that should have the attention of the whole world right now. It is a sign of desperation, Diana. It's a sign of weakness. And I have to say that Maduro is in his weakest position ever with real fractures between the system, the criminal system that forms, the regime.

Regarding the date, as you mentioned, it's just a week and a a month in front of us. Well, it will depend. It will depend. And and, basically, what also the world does at this point, Maduro needs to feel the pressure of the democratic western democracies in terms that he must accept that that the their their regime, their days are over, and that his best option is a negotiated transition. So it will depend on what we all do from here until January 10th.

Now if Venezuela's current leader, Nicolas Maduro, refuses to step down, what does that mean for your movement?

Well, I would say what what that would mean first and for the whole world. I mean, we are facing a regime that has turned into the main ally of the enemies of western democracies and the US. I mean, Maduro has opened Venezuela territory, for Iranian, agents or Hezbollah agents that have received, identities and passports, with with which they have entered the US. Maduro is a most important ally of Vladimir Putin in Latin America. Maduro has been forcing millions of Venezuelans, as you mentioned before, to flee our country.

And he's if he prolongs this agony, we will see 2, 3, 4, even more million Venezuelans leaving our country in the next month. That is a tragedy that we need to stop. If we want to solve the migration issue that, you know, hurts us so bad, we need to go to the root of the problem, to the cause of the problem. And people need to feel they have a future in their own country. If we manage to have a negotiated transition as it was voted by a landslide on July 28th, that we will not only see migration flows stopping.

We will see 100 of thousands of Venezuelans coming back and having also a democratic, government that will establish rule of law, that will secure property rights, we will turn Venezuela from what it is today, the criminal hub of the Americas into the energy hub of the Americas, a true trustable ally of the US and the rest of the countries of of this hemisphere in energy supply, not only in oil and gas.

Now president-elect Trump's inauguration day is January 20th, just 10 days after Venezuela's, which means this could become an issue for him. Have you spoken to him about it?

Not not yet, but after the election. We we do have great, relations as you know, But I would say with both parties I mean, Venezuela is such a huge issue in terms of national security for the US that has remained of a partisan issue. And you've seen lately in the last hours, senators from both parties been speaking out really strong in support of our colleagues who hold hostages at the, Argentinian embassy and speaking strongly in terms of what this current administration should do, the the the Biden administration before it goes, and, certainly, the very important signals that the new administration, the Trump administration is already, sending. I mean, naming Marco Rubio as a foreign secretary of state, secretary secretary of state. I mean, it's a huge message for for Latin America.

I mean, he's the first Hispanic, that it's been named in such an important position. And, also, Mike Walsh, that's been, named as as the National Security Council, has sent strong messages in support of democracy in the whole region. I mean, this goes beyond Venezuela. It has to do with Cuba, Nicaragua. Believe me, these these 2 regimes stand today because they are supported by Maduro.

So this is a moment to move forward, to give clear messages in terms that the world is not going to turn the page, that there have been committed crimes against humanity as the United Nations have stated. As we speak, Deliana, the ICC, the International Criminal Court, is holding their annual states, assembly member states assembly, and, the investigation regarding the crimes that have been committed by Maduro and his court are are, you know, moving ahead. So it's important, very important that the world understand that this is a huge opportunity. We've never had 1 such as this in 25 years to turn Venezuela into a true democracy, a great ally of the United States in promoting freedom, in opening markets, in addressing the energy issue, and certainly in getting rid of those agents that are enemies of our democracies that are, acting in in the in in the Americas because of Maduro's relations with these tyrannies.

Do you think the Maduro government is concerned about the incoming Trump administration?

Oh, certainly. I think so.

So senator Marco Rubio is nominated for secretary of state. He comes from Florida. Many Venezuelan immigrants there in that state. How do you see that impacting these negotiations? And in general, what are you looking for the world to do to help Venezuela right now?

Well, to do what it takes and what's correct and and what it's also the duty and responsibility of democracies around the world. I mean, we Venezuelans went into elections. They are not in conditions that you would never had accepted in any other democratic country. And and we organized, citizens. We teared down the barriers the regime had built to divide our country, and we won by a landslide by 70 percent of the votes even though, as I said, there were absolutely unfair conditions.

So now we have a united country. You know, more than 90% of Venezuelans here and abroad want a change in to democracy. We want to have a country that where we can bring our kids back home and turn Venezuela into a vibrant democracy to attract huge investments in the oil and energy sector in general, but many other areas. Venezuela will turn, as I said, in the energy hub of the Americas, but we need you, the international community, acting now, letting those that have been committed crimes and repressing our population know that they will be held accountable. Then then you increase the cost of repression.

You increase the cost of staying in power by force, and then you reach a point in which that cost of staying by force, by violence is higher, outweighs the cost of a negotiated transition. That's the moment where Maduro will sit down and negotiate his exit from power, and that's where we need to go get before January 10th. And and this is a unique opportunity we've never faced before, and everybody's interests are aligned with a democratic transition, even those, let's say, left wing, governments that used to be Maduro's allies in the past, but understand that in order to have political stability in the region, we need to solve the Venezuelan crisis, which is the most important 1 in the Western Hemisphere today.

Right. Venezuela's opposition leader Maria Corinna Machado, we appreciate your time today. Thank you. Coming up, the return of ABC News Studios' true crime docuseries, Wild Crime, the murder investigation that led the FBI and police from the wilderness of Alaska to rural Vermont.

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My girls don't have a dad. Dad.

We have 96 hours to build a house.

We're a deserving family. It can't be real.

This was more than just extreme home makeover. This was extreme life makeover.

All they want is to find our way home.

I'll get you home. But a crew of murderous bounty hunters is coming after us. We have to move fast.

We have no idea who he is.

You can't trust me.

You're a Jedi. Right?

Of course.

What just happened? Watch this.

Skeleton Crew. New episodes Tuesdays only on Disney plus.

Welcome back to ABC News Live First. ABC News Studio's popular true crime series, Wild Crime, is back. The new season looks at the 2012 murder of an Alaska woman who exposed a serial killer. 18 year old Samantha Koenig was last seen leaving her job as a barista with an unknown man in February 2012. Police say searching police who were searching for her say they didn't have much of a lead until they got text messages from her phone.

This entire time, ever since the night of Samantha's abduction, we were monitoring activity on her phone at the FBI.

We had gone 3 weeks without anything.

And suddenly, we get this big break.

Samantha's boyfriend got a text message from Samantha's phone.

The direction that this text message gave was to go to Connor Park.

Connor Park is a dog park in Anchorage, and it said Connor Park, sign underpick of Albert. Ain't she pretty?

The search led FBI agents and police from Alaska's wilderness all the way to rural Vermont, exposing a killer and a terrifying trail of crimes. Retired FBI special agent Jolene Godin, who worked on this case, is joining me now for more on that. Jolene, thanks for coming on. Talk me through this. When did your team get involved in this case?

The FBI in Anchorage was contacted pretty early on by the Anchorage police department in order to provide assistance and and do everything that we could to to help them. And so we were involved in the case very early on in February of 2012 after Samantha

disappeared. How challenging was it to have to search for Samantha in the Alaska wilderness?

It was difficult. Alaska is vast. It is just it's a huge state, with incredible amounts of of wilderness, and Samantha disappeared, for for several weeks. We had no idea where she was. She literally just vanished and disappeared.

So it was an a massive search effort in Alaska.

So how did

that end up leading you to Israel Keyes, the killer here, and then the rest of this case?

Sure. Keyes took Samantha's debit card, and he began using it. And he used it several times, and, ultimately, he started using it outside of Alaska. And the Texas Rangers, who were wonderful, joined forces with us, with the FBI down in the lower 48. And, Keyes was ultimately identified in a traffic stop by the Texas Rangers in Texas.

Now 1 of the biggest moments in this investigation was the discovery of 11 skulls that Keyes had painted in blood and then hid under the bed in his jail cell. So what was your reaction when that happened, and where did the investigation go from there?

Yes. Department of Corrections found the pieces of paper that had these hand drawn skulls and blood, and it it had really been kind of a cat and mouse, chess game with keys up until that point to identify the number of victims that he had. We'd suspected 11, but this really confirmed it because there were 11 skulls, drawn in blood. And this just continued to fuel the investigation. We knew that, we weren't just looking for Samantha, that there were many other victims out there.

And this really was just, it it fueled our motivation to continue to to do everything we could to find the victims, the people that Kees had hurt and bring them home to their families.

Alright. Jolene Godin, thank you. Wild crime 11 skulls begins streaming today only on Hulu. Jolene, thanks again. Coming up, after a brat summer, Charli XEX is talking about why people might be brats.

Will Ganz has that and more next to the tee.

Who is this guy?

He was kinda creepy. Pure evil.

We were shocked.

This is every woman's nightmare.

This is not just any killer.

There was 11 skulls

Drawn using a finger in

blood. All of

these victims' souls belong to him. They're mine.

I'm more sane than most Americans.

This guy is an evil genius. He's the best serial killer that ever existed. He compared himself to Ted Bundy. Wild crime, 11 skulls, only on Hulu.

Hey. Good morning, America. Good morning, America. Good

morning, America.

Good morning, America.

Good morning, America.

Good morning, America. Good morning, America. Good morning. Are you ready?

Covering the biggest events in the country right now.

There's a

lot going on there.

It's always a good time. That's what the show's about.

That's good. Really good.

Really good. Coming in hot.

Coming in hot. From elementary.

Oh. Good morning, America. I'm not gonna try to strut like Michael or anything.

I have known George a long, long time. Have you ever

got him

to dance?

George is.

Look at that thing.

You don't just see it. You feel it.

I'm in.

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I'm in too.

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That tells you something with Snoop Dogg in. Michael, George, Ware, James.

This is bigger than anything we faced before.

The biggest movie event arrives in theaters, and you can experience it in IMAX. Disney's Moana 2 with PG. Experience it in IMAX. Now playing.

ABC's David Muir, the most watched newscast in America.

I'm Ariel Resheff in Norwalk, Connecticut. Wherever the story is, we'll take you there. You're streaming ABC News Live.

Welcome back. It is time now for the tea where we break down some of the buzzy stories people are talking about. Our friend Will Ganz is here to help us out. We'll spill that tea, my friend.

Alright. 'Tis the season for year end lists, and right on the heels of Spotify Wrapped, People has unveiled its list of the most intriguing people of 2024. The top 25 includes princess Kate and Caitlin Clark at 2423, respectively. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande holding space for the 12th spot on the list. But the top 5 begins with their costar, Bowen Yang, at number 5.

Beyonce, Pedro Pascal, and Chapel Rhone at numbers 4, 3, and 2 respectively. And people's most intriguing person of 2024, it's Demi Moore, the publication writing in the horror film, The Substance, Moore's character injects herself with a potion to stay youthful, but in real life, the age defying actress, 62, doesn't fear getting older. Whatever her secret is, she needs to bottle it. I mean, she has been in the zeitgeist for decades at this point, and she looks so good.

So there is some interest there.

What she's having.

Exactly. As long as it's not the substance because if you've seen the movie Oh, no. No.

I won't I won't have what she's having. Yeah.

Yeah. Exactly. Alright. Next to the long awaited not so surprising reveal of Billboard's greatest pop stars of the 21st century. The list has been a slow rollout over the last several months, and this week, Billboard ranked Beyonce as its number 1 spot.

Taylor Swift is number 2, and Billboard wrote of their ranking, quote, while Taylor Swift is the century's biggest pop star by the numbers, from album sales to streams to touring dominance. Our editorial staff chose Beyonce as our greatest pop star of the century based on her full 25 years of influence, evolution, and impact. They rounded out their top 5 with Rihanna, Drake, and Gaga as numbers 3, 4, and 5 respectively. Britney was 6, Adele was 10, and Katy Perry rounded out the top 25. I mean, it's an impossible task deciding who the greatest pop stars of the last 25 years are, but I do agree with the fact that Beyonce has been around since the year 2000, if that's where we're starting this list.

And it's just like you consider the surprise drop album of 2013. Single Ladies has a moment in history. Like, she's just changed the game with evidence right here. I mean, when you know the choreography behind an anchor desk, what

can you argue?

No. I would probably do choreography from every single person in that top 10.

Fair as well. Yeah.

That speaks more

to me than, but, I mean, the whole list is just full of icons. You really can't go wrong.

Exactly. And it's interesting too that Drake is in the top I I he in my mind, he's not a pop star, but I'm constantly thinking in terms of, like

Choreography, dancing, that kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah.

Alright. Next, after Bratz Summer and Bratz being named Collins Dictionary's word of the year, the head brat in charge is weighing in on her seismic 2024, Charli XEX speaking to Variety about why people might be brats. Charlie says, quote, I think it's because sometimes you're overcompensating for insecurity or feeling uncomfortable, and that's where the 2 fit together. She also revealed that she had the title and concept for the album before the music came, saying, it put boundaries on the songwriting when you consider brat because immediately, if I was writing a song, it would just be like, that's not brat, and we would move on and do something that was brat. So she had the words, she had the color, and then the sound came after that.

That's interesting that she kinda gave herself that container to work in.

And apparently, it worked. I mean, she's been, like, at the top top of every, like, albums of the year and Grammy nominations, things like that.

So what happened to all the ideas on the cutting room floor?

Maybe next album? Yeah. The next album is unbrat, notbrat, kind? Yes. I don't know.

Just kidding.

Yeah. Alright. Finally, here are the words that my colleagues and I struggled with the most this year. Yesterday, language learning company, Babble, and the captioning group released a list of words that news anchors, politicians, and other public figures in the US struggled with the most in 2024, and this year's trickiest words included Kamala Harris, Barry Keoghan, Chapel Roan, and Zendaya. There were also some scientific slip ups like semaglutide, the drug in weight loss medications, and speculose 3 b, which is a newly discovered exoplanet, and even 1 breed of dog, the Quaker hunche, which dug its way into the zeitgeist because of Shohei Ohtani.

That's the pitcher who has that dog. Look at that last word. I mean yeah.

Cuckoo cuckoo what? Yeah.

Kookaburra. I know. I know.

I'll just I'll leave that 1 to you. Well, again, thank you, friend.

Thanks, Diane.

And thanks, Kate, for making us rap early. I'm Diane Maseno. The news never

stops, and neither do we. We have a

lot more news right after the break. Stay with us.

I tell you, Karen, you better get out of there. That place you come.

That place is gonna turn into a hellhole.

She was a brave whistleblower. And then

What happens to a spy when the people you're spying on find out you're a spy?

That young lady was murdered as far as I'm concerned.

A story so compelling it was made into a movie starring Meryl Streep. Now newly discovered tapes.

It's all here. Oh my god. We just walked into a Indiana Jones movie.

What happened to Karen Silkwood? The Lost Tapes now streaming on Hulu.

What's good to watch, read? Where can I get

a great deal on what

I'm just dying to buy?

Oh, it's all right here. GMA Life. Get the latest celebrity buzz, deals and steals, and the coolest lifestyle tips from GMA.

I love that so much.

Streaming weekends on ABC News Live.

It's special agent, Will Trent.

How do I look? Thanks, girl. First case back. We're gonna solve this.

Tonight, the snow squall warnings in the northeast and Great Lakes as temps plunge in the south, tracking the dangerous cold. Plus, transition watch, where things stand. World News Tonight with David Muir is the most watched newscast in America.

Traveling with the president to the US Mexico border, I'm Mary Ruth. Wherever the story is, we'll take you there. You're streaming ABC News Live.

Hi. I'm Diana Macedo today on ABC News Live 1st, the growing firestorm over the defense secretary nominee. Pete Hegseth is vowing to fight for the job amid GOP concerns over allegations of financial and sexual misconduct. How Hegseth is responding as president-elect Trump reportedly considers other options. The blizzard warning triggering whiteout conditions.

A fast moving storm has 100,000,000 people on alert from the Great Lakes to the northeast. The dangerous conditions on the roads as more bitter cold temperatures move in. And the urgent manhunt for a killer. New York City police are looking for the man who gunned down the CEO of UnitedHealthcare calling it a targeted attack. The new video showing the suspect minutes before the shooting and the possible message police found on shell casings near the scene.

And a deadly school shooting in California. 2 kindergartners are in critical condition after a gunman opened fire at an elementary school near Sacramento. The latest on the investigation and what police are saying about the shooter. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswami are expected on Capitol Hill today to discuss their agenda for reducing regulations and the size of the federal government. President-elect Trump has charged Musk and Ramaswami with leading a department of government efficiency.

Meanwhile, defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth is also expected to be back on the hill. The former Fox News host is vowing not to back down amid concerns about his alleged misconduct. Hegseth also says he'll quit drinking while serving in Trump's cabinet. And ABC's J. O'Brien joins me from Capitol Hill along with ABC News senior reporter, Kathryn Faulders, for more on all of that.

Kathryn, Hegseth can only lose the support of 3 Republican senators and still get the job. He says Trump has his back, but sources tell ABC News Trump's also considering other options. So what are you watching for today, and what are you hearing from the Trump transition team?

Yeah. And I think it's notable that Trump himself hasn't come out and said anything, in support of Hegseth here. And our reporting this morning is that unlike with Matt Gaetz, for example, where Trump was working the phones and calling senators, he's not doing that with Pete Hegseth here. There's a realization inside the Trump transition that his potential nomination might not make it through. Now I will say that I was just on the phone, with a source close to the Trump transition team that said, they really are digging their heels in on Hegseth's nomination, that they're feeling more confident today than they were yesterday, for example.

But the reality is, and they acknowledge this internally, that it's going to come down to whether or not he has the votes, and they're focused specifically on those women Republican senators. They don't have a good gage on how all of the women Republicans would vote. So that is a focus of the Trump transition team today. Can they get a good sense of that? And once they do get a good sense of that, does that mean that his nomination won't go through?

I think we'll have a better sense by the end of the day. Of course, he's up there on Capitol Hill, where Jay is, for meetings again today.

So, Jay, what does he Seth need to do to win enough support from Republican senators?

Well, as Catherine just mentioned, he really needs to focus on those women Republican senators, in particular, Joni Ernst. She is seen as kind of a bellwether here. There are different senators who have different concerns about Hegseth, and the concerns vary. But Joni Ernst is a sexual assault survivor. She's a combat veteran, and she met with Pete Hegseth yesterday.

And to give you a sense of the challenges that Pete Hegseth faces here because, a, he's got those allegations of sexual assault and misconduct, and, b, he has said that, he doesn't believe women should serve in combat roles, 2 things that are key to Joni Ernst's bio here. When I asked Joni Ernst if Pete Hegseth said anything to alleviate some of the concerns she might have as him at the top of the department of defense, she didn't answer that question. All she told reporters is that she and Hegseth, a, share a history of service to this country because Hegseth is a veteran as well, and b, that she had a, quote, frank and thorough conversation with Pete Hegseth. So that's not a ringing endorsement. That's not her wrapping her arms around Pete Hegseth and saying, Pete Hegseth has my vote.

So he's gotta go senator by senator here and try to address some of their concerns. He's doing that by saying he's a changed man, and he's also doing that by something you alluded to yesterday, which we learned from senator Eric Schmidt, which is that Hegseth is going around the senators and saying that he will not drink if he becomes the secretary of defense. And there are some senators like Schmidt, a Republican, who say that that argument is working on them and that they view that as a good faith argument. There are others who say they still have concerns, Diane.

Jay, what

can you tell

us about the agenda Musk and Ramaswami are bringing to congressional Republicans today, and how do you expect it'll go over?

Well, this is the Department of Government Efficiency Caucus meeting today, the DOGE, quote, unquote, caucus. And Ramaswami and Musk have a list of high flying priority items. Some of them are cutting things like 1 to $2,000,000,000,000 out of the federal budget. It's unclear if that would really be successful up here on Capitol Hill. That is a tall order.

And then they have some other things that we've already heard lawmakers, even 1 democrat so far, say that they can get behind, like cutting certain federal agencies and what they view as excess in those agencies today, lack of, quote, unquote, efficiency, and also even little things like bringing federal employees who might be working remote back to federal office buildings in Washington DC, which some of them are large part empty, I can tell you from my experience here. So there are some things that lawmakers can get behind. You can imagine Musk and Ramaswamy are gonna pitch Republicans on everything today. It's just been clear how much of their agenda ultimately is gonna be able to get through this building.

Alright. Jay O'Brien, Katherine Faulders, thank you both.

And a

fast moving winter storm is bringing white out conditions and more snow from the Great Lakes to the northeast. Millions of people are under snow alert as several feet of snow is piling up on the roads. ABC's Trevor Alt is in Watertown, New York near the Canadian border. Hi, Trevor.

Hey there, Diane. So millions of people

are still under wind and snow alerts. And where we are in Watertown, we are once again under a winter storm warning. We've got all this snow that was left behind from the first system earlier this week. Now we've got a second system moving through. Could easily, in some areas, drop another foot or 2 of snow.

And what makes it especially dangerous is strong wind gust up to 50 miles an hour. We have been watching whiteout conditions sweeping across the plains into the Midwest. We've sadly seen a number of incidents that have been deadly crashes out there on the roads. Even today, we've been seeing another incident involving a semi on I90 south of Buffalo backing up traffic westbound, and there's a fear that it could get even worse as we head into the day, particularly Western New York, Northern New York where we are could be really dicey out there on the roads. But we also wanna remind everyone that there are risks to this weather even if you are not driving.

Officials in Buffalo say this week, 2 people died after suffering heart attacks while shoveling and snow blowing. It's a good thing to be aware of for your older family members. Diane?

Good thing to know. Trevor Alt, thank you.

And a new snowstorm has 100,000,000 people on alert across several states. Meteorologist Britney Bell of our ABC station here in New York is tracking the forecast for us. Britney, what do you got for us?

Anne, the snow is not letting up. We'll have to deal with this around throughout this afternoon and this evening, potentially into early tomorrow morning. So we have snow that continues to fall around the Great Lakes, New England, and the mid then the mid Atlantic, even looking at showers too as far south as Washington DC. We have winter weather alerts stretching from Michigan towards Maine down towards Western New York, and check out West Virginia and extreme Western Maryland. There's a blizzard warning in effect for whiteout conditions that could lead to dangerous travel, even a wind advisory.

More about the winds in just a second. But the snow forecast over the next 48 hours on the lower end, 3 to 6 inches. I wanna point out the lake effect snow too. So for Lake Erie, 6 to 12 inches of snow is possible, but 1 to 2 feet of extra snow on top of the lake effect snow that already fell earlier this week, that could fall on your spots like Watertown. Now back over to the winds, could gust as high as 45 to 55 miles per hour, prompting those wind advisories, for Washington DC close to 50 mile per hour gust and similar conditions for New York City.

Now once you factor in cold temperatures, we're in for frigid real fill numbers dipping below 0 in some areas. It could feel like 5 below in Asheville, even Birmingham, a real fill temperature of 8 degrees early tomorrow morning. Diane?

Alright. Meteorologist Britney Bell, thank you. Mhmm.

And police are closing in on the identity of the suspect who gunned down United Healthcare CEO outside a New York City hotel. Investigators released new video of the suspect riding a bike outside Central Park moments after the shooting. Police say Brian Thompson was in town for an investors conference when the gunman approached from behind and fired several rounds. Now authorities say the shooter left clues at the scene that suggest he may have been angry with the insurance industry. ABC's Morgan Norwood joins us now for more on that.

Morgan, what's the latest on the search for this man?

Diane, as you just laid out, police now appear to be closing in on identifying, the shooter, which is, of course, key to tracking him down. They're trying to get a search warrant on a place that they believe he might have been staying at in the city. We're unsure if that's a hotel, if that's an apartment. That's unclear at this point, but it comes as we just saw that Nuke doorbell camera video. It shows the suspect riding that ebike on the upper west Side.

He's wearing that all black hoodie, that black face mask. We also see him carrying an ebike battery, and that's key because authorities think that he may have made his getaway through Central Park. They were trying to figure out if he had that bike ready before this attack. An eyewitness also snapping a photo of him as he took off. These sightings and the reason why I point that out is that they're so critical to police when it comes to piecing together a timeline, placing him in different areas, trying to narrow down that search zone, and ultimately find out where he's holed up.

It seems like so much planning went into this. And, Morgan, we've got to talk about the writing police say they found on the bullet casings. What does that tell you in terms of motive?

Yeah. You know, he left behind a treasure trove of evidence, at the scene. And while he does remain on the run, this is the secondary, investigation that police are trying to figure out what the motive is in this particular situation. Investigators finding the words deny, defend, and depose written on those 3 shell casings found at the scene, which could indicate Diane some level of dissatisfaction with the UnitedHealthcare or just the healthcare industry and insurance industry as a whole. Police are now working with Thompson's family and colleagues to determine if he had received any specific threats in the days leading up to this attack, Diane.

Alright. Morgan Norwood, thank you.

And investigators are trying to determine a motive for a deadly shooting at a religious elementary school in California as well. A gunman opened fire at the Feather River Adventist School in Oroville, critically injuring 2 young students before killing himself. ABC's Melissa Adan is there. Melissa, what's the latest on this investigation?

Yes, Diane. So the FBI is now teaming up with the local authorities here in Butte County, California. We've been told that the suspect has been ID'd. They are not releasing the suspect's ID, but here's what they know so far, that this suspect was dropped off here at the school in a ride share, then had a meeting with the principal. They seemed to discuss about the possibility of enrolling a student.

The principal then telling authorities that he didn't see any red flags with that meeting, but shortly after that is when that suspect came out here to the campus outside these classrooms and then opened fire shooting and those shots hitting 2 children. Diane?

So, Melissa, what more do we know about the condition of these 2 kindergartners who were shot?

Absolutely. So as far as those kindergartners, they were hospitalized. They are, males, boys, ages 56. We are told they're in extremely critical condition. We've been following up to see, they have been going, having medical procedures, So we're waiting on updates there.

The local pastor nearby saying how the community here is praying for them. There's church nearby had opened up their doors as kinda like the family reunification area following, of course, the shooting, sharing with us how traumatic it has all been. And 1 possible theory, Diane, I do wanna mention that police are sharing is that possibly the suspect may have targeted the school in particular because of its religious affiliation. Diane?

Alright. Melissa Adan, thank you.

And the US is threatening sanctions as authorities in the country of Georgia crackdown on a growing protest movement. Protesters are calling for an end to the government after it suspended negotiations to join the European Union. They say the governing party is turning Georgia back toward Russia and authoritarianism. Now police have raided opposition party offices, detaining its leader as the capital of Tbilisi's bracing for an 8th day of protests. ABC's Patrick Rievel is monitoring all of that from London.

Patrick, what's the latest here, and how significant is it to see over a week now of demonstrations?

Hi, Danielle. I mean, this crisis in Georgia does appear to still be escalating. We saw, again, a dramatic night of protests in Georgia last night for the 7th consecutive night. And as you say, they are preparing for another night of protests this evening. And so for a week now, tens of thousands of people have been gathering in the center of the capital Tbilisi and clashing with riot police who've been trying to violently disperse them.

Police have been using water cannons, while protesters have been unleashing these big barrages of fireworks. And last night did appear to be 1 of the largest protests so far. And as you say, this crisis was sparked when the ruling Georgian dream party said it was suspending efforts for Georgia to join the European Union. The protesters oppose what they see as the government's attempts to turn Georgia away from Europe and down an authoritarian path, moving it back towards Russia. The government, though, has so far stepped up efforts to quash the protests, arresting a key opposition leader and raiding opposition group's offices.

The situation really does strongly resemble what happened in Ukraine back in 2014 during its revolution. People on the streets in Georgia see this as a struggle to stop their country following a model of Vladimir Putin's Russia. Ukraine's president Zelensky overnight imposed sanctions on figures from Georgia's ruling party saying that they are surrendering the country to Putin. And now the US, as you say, is overnight also warning that it is preparing potential sanctions. But Georgia's prime minister today is defiant saying that he will eradicate the opposition, Diane.

Alright. Patrick Rievel in London. Thank you.

Amnesty International is accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. The group says Israel made deliberate efforts to destroy Palestinians through deadly attacks, destruction of infrastructure, and blocking aid. Israel's foreign minister says, the report is fabricated and entirely false. Meanwhile, 1 week into the Lebanon ceasefire, the IDF is again warning residents not to return to their homes. ABC's chief national correspondent, Matt Gutman, is on the border of Israel and Lebanon with the latest there.

Hey, Diane. We are in the kibbutz of Manara, just to the north of Israel. About a 125 yards to my left is the Lebanese border. Nobody lives here anymore, since October 8th when Hezbollah opened fire on these communities in the north, and it's basically become a military garrison since then. You can see the ammo crates the Israeli military left behind.

Community leaders here tell us about 75% of the buildings here were either damaged or destroyed. And on the outside, I mean, this building looks pretty much intact, but I wanna show you something, what it looks like on the inside. Hezbollah militants just down the hill fired, anti tank missiles at most of these houses. Basically, everything on this row and on the other side as well. The inside, the damage is obviously extensive.

This is what's left of a light fixture over there. It's a television, obviously. The window is blown out. I can see the glass melted over on this side. There's something I wanna show you, and that is the view here to the valley pulled up.

You have our cameraman, Omer, turn. You can see that column of smoke over there. That's the Israeli military, blowing something up. We've seen a number of those columns of smoke. And virtually every building that we have been able to see on the other side of the border here inside Lebanon has been destroyed.

At this point, we understand the negotiations over this 60 day ceasefire are ongoing. There have been some complaints and allegations on both sides of violation of the ceasefire. The US continues to be deeply, involved in these talks, which are actually ongoing in Lebanon today as are ceasefire and hostage release negotiations for Gaza. There are still about 90 some Israeli hostages remaining in Gaza, and Israeli officials and Hamas officials seem to be indicating, much more optimism than probably at any time over the past year that a deal over the Gaza issue can also be hammered out. So it looks like we are on the road to some quiet in both of the theaters of war here in Lebanon, just where we are, and in the south in Gaza.

Diane?

Matt Gutman, thank you. Coming up, turbulent Capitol Hill hearing how airline executives responded after getting grilled over skyrocketing fees that make flights more expensive.

I tell you, Karen, you better get out of there. That place

think of.

That place is gonna turn into a hellhole.

She was a brave whistleblower. And then

What happens to a spy when the people you're spying on find out you're a spy?

That young lady was murdered as far as I'm concerned.

A story so compelling it was made into a movie starring Meryl Streep. Now newly discovered tapes.

It's all here. Oh my god. We just walked into a Indiana Jones movie.

What happened to Karen Silkwood? The Lost Tapes now streaming on Hulu.

321.

It's a 20 4/7 life together.

It's not about the fear or the risk. It's about the love of flying. 321.

This is

not just any killer. You're evil.

He's the best serial killer that ever existed.

I'm more sane than most Americans.

This guy is evil genius. Wild crime, 11 skulls only on Hulu.

A crew

of murderous bounty hunters is coming after us. We have to move fast.

You're a jedi. Right?

Of course.

Skeleton crew episodes Tuesdays on Disney plus.

Nightline, the stories that shape your world, that shape your life. Dramatic, stunning, empowering jaw dropping. The most powerful stories of our time, Nightline, on right after Kendall and streaming on Hulu. David Muir, ABC's World News Tonight, the most watched newscast in America, and honored with the Emmy Award winner for outstanding live news program. More Americans watch World News Tonight with David Muir than any other newscast.

Welcome back to ABC News Live First. The Department of Transportation is proposing a new rule to help airline passengers. It will require airlines to compensate passengers impacted by significant delays and cancelations. The airlines would also have to rebook those passengers for free and cover meals, lodging, and other transportation related expenses. It comes after airline executives were grilled by senators over skyrocketing fees that make plane tickets more expensive.

ABC's Elizabeth Chelsea has more on the heated Capitol Hill hearing.

In fact

Airline executives are under pressure after a turbulent hearing on Capitol Hill over the fees that make your airfare more expensive.

Nobody enjoys flying in your airlines. It's a it's a disaster. You charge people fees that they know nothing about. You harass them to death.

A senate subcommittee grilling executives over fees charged for early boarding, better seats, and other conveniences, voicing many travelers' frustrations.

They feel with more than understandable justification that they are piggy banks to be shaken down by these skyrocketing fees

that seem

to have no connection to any cost that the airlines incur.

Senators claim there's a lack of transparency, saying vague pricing makes it hard for customers to budget.

We're all captives on your airplanes at a certain point, And you just say, oh, you wanna pick a seat. We're just gonna charge you some random amount more.

But executives rebutting those claims.

Optional services by definition are not so called junk fees as optional services are not required to travel.

It has never been more affordable to fly. Over time, overall air airfares have gone down.

Senators also say some budget airlines have run a kind of bounty program, paying employees extra to stop passengers if their bags fail to meet certain requirements.

Your airlines are paying 1,000,000 of dollars to your employees to harass people who've already paid. They're there in line because they've already paid. It's unbelievable.

Now there are already some changes that passengers should know about. A new government regulation took effect in October that requires airlines to automatically refund you within 7 business days if your domestic flight is delayed more than 3 hours and you choose not to fly. The transportation department is also proposing a new rule today that would require airlines pay at least $200 in cash refunds if your trip is severely disrupted and it's the airline's fault. Most airlines do already provide refunds, and they say this rule could drive up ticket prices. Diane.

Alright. ABC's Elizabeth Schulzey, thank you.

Coming up, the Russian stowaway that boarded a flight from New York to Paris is back in the US. What Delta's now saying about how she got on that flight.

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Welcome back to ABC News Live First. Here's some of

the top headlines we're following right now. The justice department says Memphis police routinely used excessive force and discriminate against black people. The findings are from a comprehensive investigation after the beating death of Tire Nichols by 5 officers in January 2023. It's just 1 of 12 investigations into law enforcement agencies across the US since April 2021. Efforts to rescue a Pennsylvania grandmother are apparently apparently swallowed by a sinkhole are now being described as a recovery mission.

Officials say it's unlikely Elizabeth Pollard is still alive. Police say the 64 year old was reportedly missing early Tuesday after leaving home with her granddaughter to look for her cat. The granddaughter was found unharmed in their car. Officials believe the hole opened up where Pollard was standing above an abandoned coal mine. And a Russian woman accused of boarding a flight from New York to Paris without a ticket is now under arrest.

Svetlana Dali is now back in the US and in FBI custody. She's blaming Delta, rather, is blaming a deviation from standard for allowing her to get on that flight last week. The TSA says the woman accessed a line reserved for the flight crew then mixed in with other passengers. Still not clear how Dolly avoided ID checks. She's due in federal court today.

And Taylor Swift is celebrating the biggest book launch of the year. The Grammy winner sold more than 800,000 copies of her Eris tour book in just the first 2 days. The photo filled book commemorating her tour is 39.99 and only available at Target. The only bigger nonfiction book launch was when former president Obama wrote his memoir. And the executive producer of the dodo is stepping away.

The move marks an end of an era for the popular social media brand known for its cute and informative animal videos. ABC's Danny New has the latest. Danny, you want a cat and a tail.

Growing up, Joanna Zelman's love of animals was always encouraged by her father, Jared. Just listen to how many pets they had.

At 1 point, we counted 26. Yeah.

Something like this.

Kala thinks she's a dog, and I do too.

Well, good call nurturing that passion because it led to an accomplished career for Joanna. About 10 years ago, she became 1 of the earliest employees and eventually the executive producer of a social media brand you probably know called the dodo. Over the past decade, the dodo has become 1 of the most famous providers of animal videos that make you go, aw.

This looks too good.

However, Joanna's time with the dodo is soon coming to a close. And as she looks back, there's 1 costar from her videos that she's especially proud to have featured. It started in 2016 when her father, a semi retired doctor and volunteer ambulance driver, led Facebook live workshops on how to make DIY dog toys.

It's just running inside this, like, fluff in a pipe.

But perhaps their most famous clip together was about 3 years ago when Joanna was at her childhood home in Connecticut and found a skunk's tail sticking out of a pipe.

This is gonna be interesting.

With the help of her father and the encouragement of animal control, Joanna had to gently pull the skunk out of the pipe. Clearly, he was grateful because she did not receive a stinky shower afterwards.

He really, like, looked right in my eyes, and I don't know. It it did feel like he kind of understood.

They also recently transported calves from a farm to an animal sanctuary together for a video that could perhaps be their final post for the dodo. Of course, though, it does not sound like they'll ever stop loving and helping animals as a team.

We've just gotten to have so many fun adventures together, and I feel really lucky for that.

Lucky indeed. Danny Neu, thank you.

And thank you for watching. I'm Diane Macedo. The news never stops, and neither do we. We have a lot more news right after

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You are looking at Paris on this Thursday, December 5th, and we have a lot of news to get to. French president Emmanuel Macron will address the nation today after the ousting of the country's prime minister. Yesterday's historic no confidence vote of Michel Barnier has left France without a functioning government. Macron now faces the critical task of naming a replacement capable of leading a minority government in a parliament where no party holds a majority. ABC's foreign correspondent Tom Sufi Birridge joins us from just outside Paris.

Tom, what's the latest here?

So we've seen a flurry of meetings throughout the day, political meetings, key figures going to the Elysee Paris, Elysee Palace in Paris. I mean, effectively, that's the presidential palace. I mean, effectively, there's a deep sense of political crisis here, Diane. And what's different this time around after that historic no confidence vote last night, which brought down the government, is that French politics is deeply fragmented and polarized. So you've got parties on the far right, the the National Rally Party of Marine Le Pen doing very well, but you've also got parties on the far left also that did well, in the parliamentary election in the summer.

And, effectively, that no confidence vote was put forward by the far left and their left wing allies, but, effectively, they needed the support of the national rally, the hard right party, to get it through. And president Macron is still in power for the next 2 and a half years as president of the country, but it forced him effectively to try and nominate a new prime minister to try and get a functioning government in place. All the while, French debt is incredibly high, about a 120% of GDP. That's very, very high. So, look, there's a sense of political crisis.

Macron is trying, with his allies to try and get a prime minister in place, but it won't be easy. And and, really, there's no obvious way out of this political crisis right now.

So, Tom, what does this mean for the US and other countries around the world?

Well, look, France is a major player in the European Union. It is a major player in Europe in terms of helping Ukraine. President Macron has been a very firm voice in terms of ramping up weaponry and and arms from a European perspective, but, of course, the US plays the biggest role in terms of weaponry and arms to Ukraine and support for Ukraine overall. So, look, it is a very important ally, France. Of course, France is also, like all other nations around the world, are looking towards, president-elect Trump and what he might do and what he might say on the global stage.

But, look, it doesn't help. Europe, itself needs a stable strong France. It's a key player at the heart of Europe. Right now, France is in a sense of paralysis politically speaking. And, again, you know, because this political system here is so fragmented at the moment, there is no obvious, solution to this.

And that is why president Macron, the president of France, is is gonna take to the airwaves at 8 PM local time tonight to address the nation. We'll be waiting and watching, what he says.

We sure will. Tom Sufi Burridge, thank you. And protesters in South Korea are calling for the resignation of president Yoon Suk yeol. Opposition parties submitted a joint motion to impeach the president after his short lived martial law. Now a vote to impeach could come as early as tomorrow as president Yoon accepts the resignation of his defense minister.

ABC News chief foreign correspondent, Ian Panels, in Seoul for more. Ian, this defense minister was also in danger of impeachment. So what do you make of him resigning?

Yeah. In fact, he's still facing impeachment. He offered his resignation quite early on to the president, and today, the president accepted that. In the impeachment process, the opposition parties are essentially accusing the defense minister of having persuaded the president to go for this martial law. Interestingly, there was a a series of political hearings today.

In 1 of them, the deputy defense minister essentially said that the order to deploy the military to the parliament building was given by the defense minister. Now there is a military proclamation that's supposed to follow the all the issuing of this, as a martial state of martial law, and he questioned the defense minister about whether or not the proper processes had been gone through. And the defense minister assured him that they had, And this document was signed, but he says he doesn't know by whom. So, there's also an order out, by the way, that he shouldn't leave the country. So a lot of eyes on exactly what happened.

What was the TikTok, that led up to the declaration, of martial law in the country, and who decided to deploy troops to parliament.

So, Ian, what's the latest on this vote, on whether or not to impeach the president?

Yeah. So, that's the political process. It began began on Wednesday, and it's been going on today. We're expecting a vote could possibly be held, early on Saturday. It comes down to a numbers game to in order to impeach the president or the former defense minister, you have to have 2 thirds of the vote.

The indications from the president's own party that they will not support the opposition, and that prob probably will leave them short.

And what happens next, Ian, depending on how this vote goes?

I mean, all you know, if you strip all of this away, what is going on in South Korea at the moment? And you talk to people. It really has been in a state of almost political paralysis since the president was elected. He's very frustrated because he feels that his agenda has been stymied by the opposition, which controls parliament. And in many senses, he's right about that.

They oppose much of his agenda. Most of the things he's trying to get achieved have been stopped. And so we're kind of in this, this area where there's no great movement. If the impeachment fails, which appears likely, it also seems unlikely that the president, agrees to resign. And if he doesn't, well, how is he going to be able to govern when the opposition parties are still rallied against him?

Which is why I talk about this political paralysis, situation that you've got in South Korea. If he does stand down, then potentially, it's the leader of the opposition who also ran for president who will then become, the next president of Korea. So, politically, the chaos continues here in South Korea.

Alright. Chief foreign correspondent Ian Pannell, thank you.

And Venezuela is about a month away from its inauguration, David. On January 10th, the candidate the world sees as the president-elect may not be taking office. Current president Nicolas Maduro is clinging to power claiming he won the election. Now a top UN human rights group is ordering Venezuelan officials to preserve election materials as it investigates claims that Maduro stole the election in July. The UN estimates 7,700,000 Venezuelans have left since 2014 as they face violence and lack of food, and more than 545,000 have come to the United States.

Now the outcome on inauguration day could send more fleeing to the US just as the Trump administration is promising to tighten immigration. Venezuela's opposition leader, Maria Cornida Machado, joins me now with more on all that. Maria, thank you for joining us again, you know, just a month shy now of inauguration day. Do you think Edmundo Gonzalez, widely recognized as Venezuela's president-elect, will actually take office on January 10th?

Thank you very much, Diana. We're facing really tough times at this moment in Venezuela. As you said, the whole world knows that Maduro lost. We won by a landslide. But Maduro's decision since then has been to unleash the most brutal repression wave in our in our history.

Actually, it's been increasing in the last days. I have to tell you that as we speak, the siege around the, Argentinian embassy under the protection of Brazil has been getting stronger and stronger. Houses of neighboring, houses have been taken by force by the regime. My colleagues there have almost 2 weeks without electricity. They have cut the service of water, limiting food and medicine.

No visits whatsoever. I mean, this is a huge event that should have the attention of the whole world right now. It is a sign of desperation, Diana. It's a sign of weakness, And I have to say that Maduro is in his weakest position ever with real fractures between the system, the criminal system that forms, the regime. Regarding the date, as you mentioned, it's just a week and a a month in front of us.

Well, it will depend. It will depend. And and, basically, what also the world does at this point, Maduro needs to feel the pressure of the democratic western democracies in terms that he must accept that that the their their regime, their days are over, and that his best option is a negotiated transition. So it will depend on what we all do from here until January 10th.

Now if Venezuela's current leader, Nicolas Maduro, refuses to step down, what does that mean for your movement?

Well, I would say what what that would mean first and for the whole world. I mean, we are facing a regime that has turned into the main ally of the enemies of Western democracies and the US. I mean, Maduro has opened Venezuela territory, for Iranian, agents or Hezbollah agents that have received, identities and passports, with with which they have entered the US. Maduro is a most born ally of Vladimir Putin in Latin America. Maduro has been forcing millions of Venezuelans, as you mentioned before, to flee our country.

And he's if he prolongs this agony, we will see 2, 3, 4, even more million Venezuelans leaving our country in the next month. That is a tragedy that we need to stop. If we want to solve the migration issue that, you know, hurts us so bad, we need to go to the root of the problem, to the cause of the problem. And people need to feel they have a future in their own country. If we manage to have a negotiated transition as it was voted by a landslide on July 28, not we will not only see migration flows stopping.

We will see 100 of 1000 of Venezuelans coming back and having also a democratic, government that will establish rule of law, that will secure property rights. We will turn Venezuela from what it is today, the criminal hub of the Americas into the energy hub of the Americas, a true trustable ally of the US and the rest of the countries of of this hemisphere in energy supply, not only in oil and gas.

Now president-elect Trump's inauguration day is January 20th, just 10 days after Venezuela's, which means this could become an issue for him. Have you spoken to him about it?

Not not yet, but after the election. We we do have great, relations as you know. But I would say with both parties. I mean, Venezuela is such a huge issue in terms of national security for the US that has remained of a partisan issue. And you've seen lately in the last hours, senators from both parties been speaking out really strong in support of our colleagues who hold hostages at the Argentinean embassy and speaking strongly in terms of what this current administration should do, the the the Biden administration before it goes.

And, certainly, the very important signals that the new administration, the Trump administration is already, sending. I mean, naming Marco Rubio as a foreign secretary of state, secretary secretary of state. I mean, it's a huge message for for Latin America. I mean, he's the first Hispanic, that it's been named in such an important position. And, also, Mike Walsh, that's been, named as as the National Security Council, has sent strong messages in support of democracy in the whole region.

I mean, this goes beyond Venezuela. It has to do with Cuba and Nicaragua. Believe me, these these 2 regimes stand today because they are supported by Maduro. So this is a moment to move forward, to give clear messages in terms that the world is not going to turn the page, that there have been committed crimes against humanity as the United Nations have stated. As we speak, Juliana, the ICC, the International Criminal Court, is holding their annual states, assembly member states assembly, and, the investigation regarding the crimes that have been committed by Maduro and his in court are are, you know, moving ahead.

So it's important, very important, that the world understand that this is a huge opportunity. We've never had 1 such as this in 25 years to turn Venezuela into a true democracy, a great ally of the United States, in promoting freedom, in opening markets, in addressing the energy issue, and certainly in getting rid of those agents that are enemies of our democracies that are, acting in in the in in the Americas because of Maduro's relations with these tyrannies.

Do you think the Maduro government is concerned about the incoming Trump administration?

Oh, certainly. I think so.

So senator Marco Rubio is nominated for secretary of state. He comes from Florida, many Venezuelan immigrants there in that state. How do you see that impacting these negotiations? And in general, what are you looking for the world to do to help Venezuela right now? Well, to do what it takes and what's correct and and what

it's also the duty and responsibility of democracies around the world. I I mean, we even swans went into elections, Diana, in conditions that you would never had accepted in any other democratic country. And and we organized, citizens. We tear down the barriers the regime had built to divide our country, and we won by an onslaught by 70% of the votes, even though, as I said, they were absolutely unfair conditions. So now we have a united country.

You know, more than 90% of Venezuelans here and abroad want a change in to democracy. We want to have a country that where we can bring our kids back home and turn Venezuela into a vibrant democracy to attract huge investments in the oil and energy sector in general, but many other areas. Venezuela will turn, as I said, in the energy hub of the Americas, but we need you, the international community, acting now, letting those that have been committed crimes and repressing our population know that they will be held accountable. Then then you increase the cost of repression. You increase the cost of staying in power by force, and then you reach a point in which that cost of staying by force, by violence is higher, outweighs the cost of a negotiated transition.

That's the moment where Maduro will sit down and negotiate his exit from power. And that's where we need to go get before January 10th. And and this is a unique opportunity we've never faced before, and everybody's interests are aligned with a democratic transition, even those, let's say, left wing, governments that used to be Maduro's allies in the past, but that understand that in order to have political stability in the region, we need to solve the Venezuelan crisis, which is the most important 1 in the Western Hemisphere today.

Right. Venezuela's opposition leader Maria Corinna Machado, we appreciate your time today. Thank you. Coming up, the return of ABC News Studio's true crime docuseries, Wild Crime, the murder investigation that led the FBI and police from the wilderness of Alaska to rural Vermont.

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Welcome back to ABC News Live. 1st. ABC News Studio's popular true crime series, Wild Crime, is back. The new season looks at the 2012 murder of an Alaska woman who exposed a serial killer. 18 year old Samantha Koenig was last seen leaving her job as a barista with an unknown man in February 2012.

Police say searching police who were searching for her say they didn't have much of a lead until they got text messages from her phone.

This entire time, ever since the night of Samantha's abduction, we were monitoring activity on her phone at the FBI.

We had gone 3 weeks without anything.

And suddenly, we get this big break.

Samantha's boyfriend got a text message from Samantha's phone.

The direction that this text message gave was to go to Connor Park.

Connor Park is a dog park in Anchorage, and it said, Connor Park, sign underpick of Albert, ain't she pretty.

The search led FBI agents and police from Alaska's wilderness all the way to rural Vermont, exposing a killer and a terrifying trail of crimes. Retired FBI special agent Jolene Godin who worked on this case is joining me now for more on that. Jolene, thanks for coming on. Talk me through this. When did your team get involved

in this case?

The FBI in Anchorage was contacted pretty early on by the Anchorage police department and in order to provide assistance and and do everything that we could to to help them. And so we were involved in the case very early on in February of 2012 after Samantha disappeared.

How challenging was it to have to search for Samantha in the Alaska wilderness?

It was difficult. Alaska is vast. It is just it's a huge state, with incredible amounts of of wilderness, and Samantha disappeared, for for several weeks. We had no idea where she was. She literally just vanished and disappeared.

So it was an a massive search effort in Alaska.

So how did that end up leading you to Israel Keyes, the killer here, and then the rest of this case?

Sure. Keyes took Samantha's debit card, and he began using it. And he used it several times, and, ultimately, he started using it outside of Alaska. And the Texas Rangers, who were wonderful, joined forces with us, with the FBI down in the lower 48. And, Keyes was ultimately identified in a traffic stop by the Texas Rangers in Texas.

Now 1 of the biggest moments in this investigation was the discovery of 11 skulls that Keyes had painted in blood and then hid under the bed in his jail cell. So what was your reaction when that happened, and where did the investigation go from there?

Yes. Department of Corrections found the pieces of paper that had these hand drawn skulls and blood, and it it had really been kind of a cat and mouse, chess game with keys up until that point to identify the number of victims that he had. We'd suspected 11, but this really confirmed it because there were 11 skulls, drawn in blood. And this just continued to fuel the investigation. We knew that, we weren't just looking for Samantha, that there were many other victims out there.

And this really was just, it it fueled our motivation to continue to to do everything we could to find the victims, the people that Kees had hurt and bring them home to their families.

Alright. Jolene Godin, thank you. Wild Crime 11 Skulls begins streaming today only on Hulu. Jolene, thanks again. Coming up, after a brat summer, Charlie xcx is talking about why people might be brats.

Will Ganz has that and more next to the tee.

Who is this guy?

He was kinda creepy. Pure evil.

We were shocked.

This is every woman's nightmare.

This is not just any killer.

There was 11 skulls

drawn using a finger in blood.

All of these victims' souls belong to him.

They're mine. I'm more sane than most Americans.

This guy is an evil genius. He's the best serial killer that ever existed. He compared himself to Ted Bundy. Wild crime, 11 skulls only on Hulu.

All I want is to find a whale.

I'll get you hung. But a crew of murderous bounty hunters is coming after us. We have to move fast.

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Of course.

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Alright. 'Tis the season for year end lists. And right on the heels of Spotify Wrapped, People has unveiled its list of the most intriguing people of 2024. The top 25 includes princess Kate and Caitlin Clark at 24 23 respectively, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande holding space for the 12th spot on the list. But the top 5 begins with their costar, Bowen Yang, at number 5, Beyonce, Pedro Pascal, and Chaplin Roan at numbers 4, 3, and 2, respectively, and people's most intriguing person of 2024, it's Demi Moore, the publication writing in the horror film, The Substance, Moore's character injects herself with a potion to stay youthful, but in real life, the age defying actress, 62, doesn't fear getting older.

Whatever her secret is, she needs to bottle it. I mean, she has been in the zeitgeist for decades at this point, and she looks so good.

So there is some info there.

I'll have

what she's having. Exactly. As long as it's not the substance because if you've seen the movie

Oh, no. No. I won't I won't have what she's having.

Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Alright. Next to the long awaited not so surprising reveal of Billboard's greatest pop stars of the 21st century.

The list has been a slow rollout over the last several months, and this week, Billboard ranked Beyonce as its number 1 spot. Taylor Swift is number 2, and Billboard wrote of their ranking, quote, while Taylor Swift is the century's biggest pop star by the numbers, from album sales to streams to touring dominance. Our editorial staff chose Beyonce as our greatest pop star of the century based on her full 25 years of influence, evolution, and impact. They rounded out their top 5 with Rihanna, Drake, and Gaga as numbers 3, 4, and 5, respectively. Britney was 6, Adele was 10, and Katy Perry rounded out the top 25.

I mean, it's an impossible task deciding who the greatest pop stars of the last 25 years are, but I do agree with the fact that Beyonce has been around since the year 2000, if that's where we're starting this list. And it's just like you consider the surprise drop album of 2013. Single Ladies has a moment in history. Like, she's just changed the game with evidence right here. I mean, when you know the choreography behind an anchor desk, what can you argue?

No.

I would probably do choreography from every single person in that topic. That's very fair

as well. Yeah.

That speaks more to me than them. But, I mean, the whole list is just full of icons. You really can't

go wrong. Exactly. And it's interesting too that Drake is in the I I he in my mind, he's not a pop star, but I'm constantly thinking in terms of, like Choreography, dancing, that kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah.

Alright. Next, after Brat Summer and Brat being named Collins Dictionary's word of the year, the head brat in charge is weighing in on her seismic 2024, Charli XCX speaking to Variety about why people might be brats. Charli says, quote, I think it's because sometimes you're overcompensating for insecurity or feeling uncomfortable, and that's where the 2 fit together. She also revealed that she had the title and concept for the album before the music came, saying, it put boundaries on the songwriting when you consider brat because immediately, if I was writing a song, it would just be like, that's not brat, and we would move on and do something that was brat. So she had the words, she had the color, and then the sound came after that.

That's interesting that she kinda gave herself that container to

work in. And apparently, it worked. I mean, she's been, like, at the top of every, like, albums of the year and Grammy nominations, things like that.

So what happened to all the ideas on the cutting room floor?

Maybe next album? Yeah. The next album is unbrat, not brat, kind. This I don't know.

Just kidding.

Yeah. Alright. Finally, here are the words that my colleagues and I struggled with the most this year. Yesterday, language learning company, Babble, and the captioning group released a list of words that news anchors, politicians, and other public figures in the US struggled with the most in 2024. And this year's trickiest words included Kamala Harris, Barry Keoghan, Chapel Roan, and Zendaya.

There were also some scientific slip ups like semaglutide, the drug in weight loss medications, and speculos 3 b, which is a newly discovered exoplanet, and even 1 breed of dog, the coiker hunche, which dug its way into the zeitgeist because of Shohei Ohtani, that's the pitcher who has that dog. Look at that last word. I mean yeah. Cuckoo cuckoo what? Yeah.

Kookaburra. I know. I know.

I'll just I'll leave that 1 to you. Well, again, thank you, friend.

Thanks, Diane.

And thanks, Kate, for making us rap early. I'm Diane Maseno. The news never stops, and neither do we. We have a lot more news right after the break. Stay with us.

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Is that my GTO? I built that 15 years ago, and somebody stole it.

Hi, dad.

There's the thief.

Take your step and grandpa. Papa.

I'm crawling home because I'm broke.

I need a place to stay until I figure out what the rest of my life looks like.

So a couple of days.

The last time you walked out that door,

you looked back at me and gave me a double bird.

I was 18. The double bird was how I ended all our

conversation.

I'm Clea, and I'm Joanna. We're about to host extreme makeover.

My girls don't have a dad.

We

have 96 hours to build a house.

We're a deserving family. It can't be real.

This was more than just extreme home makeover. This was extreme life makeover.

Reporting from West Palm Beach, Florida covering Donald Trump's planning for a second term, I'm Jay O'Brien. Wherever the story is, we'll take you there. You're streaming ABC News Live.

Hi. I'm Diana Macedo. Today on ABC News Live, first, the growing firestorm over the defense secretary nominee. Pete Hegseth is vowing to fight for the job amid GOP concerns over allegations of financial and sexual misconduct. How Hegseth is responding as president-elect Trump reportedly considers other options.

The blizzard warning triggering whiteout conditions. A fast moving storm has 100,000,000 people on alert from the Great Lakes to the northeast. The dangerous conditions on the roads as bitter cold temperatures move in. And the urgent manhunt for a killer. New York City police are looking for the man who gunned down the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, calling it a targeted attack.

The new video showing the suspect minutes before the shooting and the possible message police found on shell casings near the scene. In a deadly school shooting in California, 2 kindergarteners are in critical condition after a gunman opened fire at an elementary school near Sacramento. The latest on the investigation and what police are saying about the shooter. But first, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswami are expected on Capitol Hill today to discuss their agenda for reducing regulations and the size of the federal government. President-elect Trump has charged Musk and Ramaswami with leading a department of government efficiency.

Meanwhile, defense secretary nominee Pete Hegsetz is also back on the hill. The former Fox News host is vowing not to back down amid concerns about his alleged misconduct. He spoke on Capitol Hill today saying he has Trump's support.

What did president-elect Trump tell you, mister Hegseth?

He's behind us all the way. Spoke to him this morning.

Hegseth also says he'll quit drinking while serving in Trump's cabinet. ABC News senior reporter Katherine Faulders joins me from West Palm Beach, Florida with the latest on that. Katherine, Hegseth can only lose the support of 3 Republican senators and still get the job. And you say Trump's team is now focusing on where female Republicans stand. What are you hearing about that?

Yeah. We're told by sources that the focus of Trump's political team today behind the scenes is trying to figure out where all of the Republican women senators stand. There's been some telegraphing back to top Trump advisers that, many of these women, Republican senators would vote no on HEGCEF, but the reality is that hasn't been conveyed, at least in part by a lot of those offices back to the Trump team. So, they're trying to figure that out at least today where everybody stands on this. And it's interesting because Joni Ernst, of course, who Hegsef has been meeting with on Capitol Hill, who is rumored to potentially be 1 of the if hegseth drops out, said on Fox News just moments ago that, she wasn't at a yes yet, essentially, that that she's, noncommittal on whether or not she will vote for Hegseth.

So, obviously, we know that to be the the case as he continues up on Capitol Hill with all of these meetings trying to win over senators, convince them that he's the right person for the job. So I think we will have a better sense at least by the end of today where a lot of these offices, where a lot of these senators, particularly the women, stand on this, maybe not publicly, but at least privately back to the Trump team. I think it's notable, Diane. You mentioned what Hegseth was saying about his conversations with Donald Trump. Trump hasn't come out and publicly supported him.

He hasn't said that publicly. We're just hearing what he said through HEGSED. So that's also notable, and we're also reporting that Trump, unlike what he did with Matt Gaetz, he's not working the phones trying to get senators to vote for HEGSED. He's letting this all play out, and and the ball is really in HEGSED's court to convince

them. Now, Catherine, a source close to the president says that he's talking about possible preemptive pardons for people who might be targeted by the incoming Trump administration. So who's on that list, and how significant is it that president Biden's even considering this given the backlash against the pardon of his own son?

Right. So the reporting, about these discussions comes, of course, after president Biden pardoned Hunter Biden, but that pardon was very broad. It covered a 10 year period, not just the, recent alleged crimes that we've been discussing as it relates to Hunter Biden. So the conversations that have been happening behind the scenes related to other pardons have focused on some people like doctor Fauci, for example, who Trump has attacked constantly over, COVID policies. Liz, Cheney has been in those conversations, people who Trump has been critical of and, essentially, of course, as Trump has vowed to prosecute and have his department of justice prosecute his political enemies.

So there are discussions about that occurring. What that looks like, we don't know yet. Of course, that is still all going on behind the scenes, but something that you probably will see, of course, before Biden leaves office. And

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswami are expected to discuss their agenda for reducing regulations on Capitol Hill today. What can we expect to hear there?

Yeah. So they're having a number of meetings up on Capitol Hill, and I'll read you Diana's reporting that's just coming in from our Ben Siegel who caught up with Elon Musk in between his meetings on Capitol Hill. He said, Musk said that I think we should, make sure we spend the public's money well. So, essentially, not many details on how they're going to do this within this department of government efficiency, that they're creating, which will be outside of the government, but that's basically their mission here that they're talking to senators about. I think that many people on Capitol Hill have a lot of questions about how this will work, how they will slash funding given they're not inside the government.

Those are all questions, that senators will want answered.

Alright. Catherine Faulders in West Palm Beach. Thank you.

And I wanna bring in Democratic congresswoman Susan Del Bene of Washington now for more. Congresswoman, thank you for coming on. In a few hours, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswami will be there on Capitol Hill to pitch lawmakers on their ideas for this new department of government efficiency. Now Musk has vowed to dismantle thousands of federal regulations. He's proposed to leading agencies outright, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Would you support any of the ideas you've heard them discuss so far?

Well, let's be clear. Congress makes decisions about, what we should do going forward in terms of where we need to invest, how we invest in programs. So there can be advice that comes in, from other organizations, and they can provide information. But we have an oversight role of what's happening, in the administration, and I think it's important that we use that role, that we in each of our committees have oversight role, but we are making decisions on how to make sure that government resources are used efficiently and effectively.

Now the US faces more than $36,000,000,000 in debt from spending involving presidents from both parties, a trillion, I should say. So is it a time to take a serious look at spending?

I think it's incredibly important. And in fact, here we are standing today with a government shutdown potentially on December 20th unless the government's funded. And I think that we should be funding the government for a whole year at a time and not doing these short term continuing resolutions, which unfortunately Republicans wanna do again. This is import it's important that congress plays its does its job and plays the role of making sure we're deciding where we are going to invest, that we do that every year. We do it on time.

That's 1 of the most fiscally responsible things we can do.

Now you proposed legislation to prevent president-elect Trump from enacting tariffs by using the justification of a national emergency.

It's a

lame duck session. Democrats soon will have no majorities. Is there any chance of bipartisan support for this bill?

Well, there has been bipartisan support for the legislation. And I think because congress has an important role to play in having a voice on what happens with tariffs, we have an important role to play on trade. And instead of allowing, the president to take unilateral action on tariffs, this is a place where congress needs to be consulted. And I just this legislation is about making sure that the administration doesn't try to go around congress in a way that was not intended. So I wanna make sure that we make that clear, and move legislation to make that clear so they aren't trying to go around congress using legislation that wasn't intended for this purpose.

Now then president Trump put tariffs on China in 2018. President Biden has had 4 years to rescind those, and he hasn't. So do you support those tariffs, and how are what Trump's proposing now any different?

Well, let's be clear. These unilateral tariffs that, Trump is talking about are gonna be taxes on American consumers. They're gonna affect our small businesses and a lot of our exporters, which are small businesses. There's gonna be retaliation from other countries that will not only continue to drive up costs for, folks right here at home, but will make it harder and harder for, American businesses to do businesses overseas. So there are big consequences to putting in place these policies, and congress, again, has an important role to play and needs to be consulted and be part of this.

But he's looking at raising prices on consumers and in a time when, we know that affordability and costs are 1 of the most important issues to Americans across the country. Just kind of starting tariff wars, raising costs on consumers moves us in the wrong direction.

So do you think it was a mistake for president Biden not to reverse those tariffs on China, or do you support those tariffs?

I think that, again, congress needs to be consulted when we look at these policies going forward, and that we need to do policies that make sense in terms of supporting American workers and American business, and making sure that we support, trade rules that are fair.

Alright. Democratic congresswoman Susan Del Bene, we appreciate your time today. Thank you.

Thank you.

And a fast moving winter storm is bringing whiteout conditions and more snow from the Great Lakes to the northeast. Millions of people are under snow alert to several feet of snow piling up on the roads. Taylor Anthony of our ABC News affiliate in Buffalo has the latest on that. Hi, Taylor.

Good morning, Diane. Western New York is really getting that snowfall today. We have snow blowing in some areas causing whiteout conditions, so really low visibility. And we also have localized lake effect snow about southeast of the lakes, so the roads are slick. It is advised to travel with caution if you have to be out on the roads.

The snow will be continuing off and on throughout the day, so really just stay prepared for those changing conditions. Back to you, Diane.

Taylor Anthony, thank you. And a new snowstorm has 100,000,000 people on alert across several states. Meteorologist Britney Bell of our ABC station here in New York is tracking the forecast for us. Britney, what do you got for us?

Diane, the snow is not letting up. We'll have to deal with this around throughout this afternoon and this evening, potentially into early tomorrow morning. So we have snow that continues to fall around the Great Lakes, New England, and the mid then the mid Atlantic, even looking at showers too as far south as Washington DC. We have winter weather alerts stretching from Michigan towards Maine down towards Western New York, and check out West Virginia and extreme Western Maryland. There's a blizzard warning in effect for whiteout conditions that could lead to dangerous travel, even a wind advisory.

More about the winds in just a second. But the snow forecast over the next 48 hours on the lower end, 3 to 6 inches. I wanna point out the lake effect snow too. So for Lake Erie, 6 to 12 inches of snow is possible, but 1 to 2 feet of extra snow on top of the lake effect snow that already fell earlier this week, that could fall near spots like Watertown. Now back over to the winds, could gust as high as 45 to 55 miles per hour, prompting those wind advisories, for Washington DC, close to 50 mile per hour gust and similar conditions for New York City.

Now once you factor in cold temperatures, we're in for frigid real fill numbers dipping below 0 in some areas. It could feel like 5 below in Asheville, even Birmingham, a Realfield temperature up 8 degrees early tomorrow morning. Diane?

Alright. Meteorologist Britney Bell, thank you. Mhmm.

And police are closing in on the identity of the suspect who gunned down UnitedHealth Care CEO outside a New York City hotel. Investigators released new video of the suspect riding a bike out of Central Park just moments after the shooting. Police say Brian Thompson was in town for an investors conference when that gunman approached from behind and fired several rounds. Now authorities say the shooter left clues at the scene that suggest he may have been angry with the insurance industry. ABC's Morgan Norwood joins us now.

Morgan, I know you were there at the scene yesterday. What's the latest on this search?

Yeah. Of course, police are still looking for this particular suspect. We know that they've thrown a number of different resources out there to try to pinpoint him. In the past, literally, 30 seconds, we can't get these images up for you just yet, but we just got new images that police released of the suspect. In it, you see the gunman's face a little bit more clearly.

We're working to turn those around for you, but we're also learning at this hour, Diane, that authorities are searching a hostel on the upper west side right here in New York City where they believe the suspect had been staying. Again, we talked about, just an hour ago how authorities were working to get a search warrant. They are searching that place as we speak. It does come as we get new doorbell camera video showing the suspect riding on that ebike around the upper west side. So it appears that they have that search zone where they know, that he might have been staying.

The upper west side seems to be consistent. Authorities trying to figure out if he had that ebike ready, before his escape, that eyewitness also snapping a photo of him as he was taking off. So these sightings, again, are really critical to police as they're trying to figure out where he was and where he is at this hour. Yeah.

And, Morgan, police are also saying they found writing on bullet casings around the scene. How's that contributing to the investigation?

Yeah. A treasure trove of evidence left behind at the scene. Some of it helping authorities piece together a motive. Investigators finding the words deny, defend, and depose. It's written on 3 shell casings that were found at the scene, which it could indicate some sort of dissatisfaction with the UnitedHealthcare or the healthcare industry, insurance industry as a whole.

Police are now working with Thompson's family and his colleagues to determine if he had received any specific death threats, leading up to that shooting. Diane.

Alright. Morgan Norwood, thank you.

And investigators are trying to determine a motive after a deadly shooting at a religious elementary school in California. A gunman opened fire at the Feather River Adventist School in Oroville critically injuring 2 young students before killing himself. ABC's Melissa Adan is in Oroville with the latest on that case. Melissa?

Diane, the FBI now teaming up with local authorities here in Butte County, California. They are sharing some more of a sort of timeline, what they know so far about that suspect. They have ID'd the suspect, but are not yet sharing their identity. Sharing with us, however, that the suspect was dropped off here at the school with a ride share, then walked in to have a meeting with the school's principal. The principal then telling authorities that he did not suspect any red flags, nothing alarming during their meeting.

They discussed possibly enrolling a child here at the school. Well, moments after that, that's when witnesses say that the shooter walked outside into the class room area and shot at 2 students shortly after that, turning the gun onto themselves. Well, those 2 students, ages 56, kindergarten boys, they were rushed to the hospital. They are in extremely critical condition, and we're awaiting updates, of course, for their recovery. Diane?

Melissa, Adan, thank you.

Coming up, the humanitarian crisis in Sudan. What an aid worker saying about millions of children displaced from their homes facing risk of malnutrition.

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Welcome back to ABC News Live First. Aid groups are raising concerns about the dire situation in Sudan. UNICEF reports an estimated 5,000,000 children have been displaced in the ongoing civil war, making it the largest child displacement crisis on Earth. Tens of 1,000 have been killed and 1,000,000 forced from their homes since the fighting between Sudan's military and paramilitary leaders broke out last April. Now aid groups say the country's overcrowded displacement camps lack adequate shelter, sanitation, and health care services, putting children at greater risk of malnutrition and disease.

UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram joins me now from Gedareff to Dan for more on this. Tess, thank you for joining us.

Talk to me

about what you're seeing there. What are the biggest issues affecting Sudanese children right now?

As you said, this is really at its heart a displacement and protection crisis. We're seeing the world's largest child displacement crisis in Sudan. There's more children on the run here from conflict than anywhere else in the world. 5,000,000 children fleeing their homes right across the country. And where I am here in the east of Sudan, it's a place where children are coming to seeking safety and living in displacement camps.

I spent time at some of those camps in the last few days and sat down with children to hear their experiences. And, really, Diana, it is harrowing. Every child had a different version of the same terror of having to flee their homes as the fighting descended, of their homes being looted, of threats of violence, including sexual violence, and, of course, of of loved ones being killed. So this really is, a protection crisis, a displacement crisis. And then on top of that, we're, of course, we're seeing issues with with humanitarian agencies like UNICEF being able to deliver aid, and and that's resulting in a humanitarian crisis on the ground as well.

What are the people at these displacement sites telling you about the conditions there and and how they're coping with all of this?

I think the first thing to note is that the children of Sudan are brilliant. They're intelligent and resourceful and hopeful for their future. I'm really inspired by the conversations that I've had with them this week after the hardship that they've experienced over nearly 20 months of war. Yesterday, I was in a group of 11 girls, all about 15, 16 years old, and they were telling me of of their journeys to here to Casa Leroy and Gadara, the area that I'm in. And there was this 1 girl, Montana, who's 15 years old, who told me about hiding in a cupboard while soldiers raided her house because she was terrified that they were going to take her because they said, we're looking for girls.

And next door, they threatened to take her friend and and neighbor. So she had been through a very scary, scary event, but she was now in this displacement site supported by UNICEF, receiving mental health and psychosocial support and back learning in school. And I asked her, what do you want now? And all she said was stop the war.

So what kind of aid is UNICEF providing, and why has it been so hard to get that aid to those who need it?

Yeah. That's a great question, and it really has been difficult. Sudan's an enormous country, and the needs are great. We need to bring people water, nutrition supplies, clothes, all sorts of things. And getting across the country requires us to get permission, and we are not able to get that government permission to access all areas.

So the families that are within areas where the fighting is particularly intense or where UNICEF hasn't been able to get permission to reach. They're really struggling the hardest because they haven't been able to get that life saving aid that they need. And 1 example is a place called Zamzam, which is a displacement camp in the west of the country, and their famine has been declared. We already know that children there are starving, that they desperately need these nutrition supplies. And, of course, famine looms in other parts of the country, so it's really critical that we get those government permissions to move across Sudan to bring children this life saving aid wherever they need it.

And UNICEF says the national vaccination coverage dropped from 85% before the war to approximately 50%, some areas even as low as 30%. How worried you about that?

The outbreak of diseases is also a real threat for children here in Sudan, cholera, malaria. It's scary because of that decline in vaccination coverage because of the war, and also because of the destruction of health services. We've seen, you know, more than a 150 schools and hospitals attacked, as of the beginning of October this year. And, you know, health services, water points, marketplaces, they've also fallen victims to the fighting. And without these essential services, like health care, like hospitals, children really are vulnerable to the outbreak of diseases, particularly if they aren't vaccinated.

So UNICEF has been bringing in vaccines, and we are trying to get those across the country. But, again, we need the safety, the security, and the permissions to be able to do that.

Alright. UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram, thank you. Coming up, new details of the death of a whistleblower. What new audio tapes could reveal about the decades old mystery?

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Welcome back to ABC News Live First. We're learning new details about the mysterious death of whistleblower Karen Silkwood. The young mother was killed in a car crash in 1974 while she was driving to meet a New York Times reporter. Aaron Koterski is here with more on the case and the new audio tapes that could help in the investigation. Hi, Aaron.

Diane, these tapes, really do shed some new light on a case that has been a mystery for 50 years. There has been an official narrative for those 5 decades, but it's 1 that Karen Silkwood's family and even a number of investigators were never comfortable with. It was a story that gripped the nation.

A mile from the plant, she was killed. The mystery, what caused the crack?

28 year old single mother of 3, Karen Silkwood, was on her way to a secret meeting with a New York Times reporter hoping to expose alleged wrongdoings at the nuclear power plant where she worked. Highway patrol determining she fell asleep while driving. She was blowing the whistle on the company. We believe, you know, led to her death. Her family and other investigators never accepted the official findings.

Another vehicle may have hit the car

in the rear. It was an accident. Who would fall asleep if you're going to meet a New York Times reporter?

Hollywood even taking their own version of Karen Silkwood to the silver screen starring Meryl Streep.

They're killing me. They're trying to kill me.

But 50 years later, questions still linger about what happened on this deserted Oklahoma highway. Now this morning, new developments.

It's all here.

2 reporters unearthing new clues from never before heard audio tapes

This could become very dangerous.

To the high-tech examination of the last remaining piece of physical evidence from that fateful accident.

There's not evidence here that would say miss Silkwood was asleep. Quite the opposite.

Is there a smoking gun in this case that exists somewhere?

There's always a smoking gun somewhere. We just haven't found it yet.

So, Aaron, what do we know about these new audio recordings?

Pretty cool. Right? They they had never been heard before until we were able to unearth them, and they suggest that there may have been off duty Oklahoma law enforcement officers who were surveilling Karen Silkwood, perhaps even the night that she died. And so it really does raise questions as to whether others may be involved, certainly as to whether, that that official narrative that she just fell asleep at the wheel, at 7 o'clock in the evening, whether that is actually true.

Her family's clearly not buying it. So I know you're doing a deep dive on this in this impact by Nightline. What can we expect to see there?

Well, you're going to you're gonna hear more of the tapes, which is very exciting. And then we were able to take a lot of this evidence to a, crash reconstruction expert who analyzed it all and and actually determined that the the scene where the authorities said the crash happened actually doesn't appear to be the scene where the crash happened.

Oh, wow.

And so we're gonna take you to that scene. We're there with the investigators, and then we're there with Karen Silkwood's son to reveal those findings. And and it's fascinating, Diane, because he was so young when his mother died. I mean, she was only 28. But when he thinks of his mother, he told us he doesn't see her face.

He sees the face of Meryl Streep because that's who played her

in the movie.

Oh, wow. Incredible to be able to relook at this case so many decades later and expose potentially new findings and groundbreaking findings here. Erin, thank you. And for more on this ABC News investigation, watch the latest episode of Impact by Night Nightline. What happened to Karen Silkwood?

The Lost Tapes, now streaming on Hulu, and you can follow the podcast, Radioactive, the Karen Silkwood mystery, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Diane Macedo. The news never stops, and neither do we. We have a lot more news after the break. Stay with

us.

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Hi. I'm Diana Macedo today on ABC News Live. First, the growing firestorm over the defense secretary nominee. Pete Hegseth is vowing to fight for the job amid GOP concerns over allegations of financial and sexual misconduct. How Hegseth is responding as president-elect Trump reportedly considers other options.

The blizzard warning triggering whiteout conditions. A fast moving storm has 100,000,000 people on alert from the Great Lakes to the northeast. The dangerous conditions on the roads as more bitter cold temperatures move in. And the urgent manhunt for a killer. New York City police are looking for the man who gunned down the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, calling it a targeted attack.

A new video showing the suspect minutes before the shooting and the possible message police found on shell casings near the scene. And a deadly school shooting in California. 2 kindergarteners are in critical condition after a gunman opened fire at an elementary school near Sacramento. The latest on the investigation and what police are saying about the shooter. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswami are expected on Capitol Hill today to discuss their agenda for reducing regulations and the size of the federal government.

President-elect Trump has charged Musk and Ramaswami with leading a department of government efficiency. Meanwhile, defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth is also expected to be back on the hill. The former Fox News host is vowing not to back down amid concerns about his alleged misconduct. Hegseth also says he'll quit drinking while serving in Trump's cabinet. And ABC's Jay O'Brien joins me from Capitol Hill along with ABC News senior reporter Katherine Faulders for more on all of that.

Katherine, Hegseth can only lose the support of 3 Republican senators and still get the job. He says Trump has his back, but sources tell ABC News Trump's also considering other options. So what are you watching for today, and what are you hearing from the Trump transition team?

Yeah. And I think it's notable that Trump himself hasn't come out and said anything, in support of Hegseth here. And our reporting this morning is that unlike with Matt Gaetz, for example, where Trump was working the phones and calling senators, he's not doing that with Pete Hegseth here. There's a realization inside the Trump transition that his potential nomination might not make it through. Now I will say that I was just on the phone, with a source close to the Trump transition team that said, they really are digging their heels in on Hegsa's nomination, that they're feeling more confident today than they were yesterday, for example.

But the reality is, and they acknowledge this internally, that it's going to come down to, whether or not he has the votes, and they're focused specifically on those women Republican senators. They don't have a good gage on how all of the women Republicans would vote. So that is a focus of the Trump transition team today. Can they get a good sense of that? And once they do get a good sense of that, does that mean that his nomination won't go through?

I think we'll have a better sense by the end of the day. Of course, he's up there on Capitol Hill, where Jay is, for meetings again today.

So, Jay, what does Hegseth need to do to win enough support from Republican senators?

Well, as Kathryn just mentioned, he really needs to focus on those women Republican senators, in particular, Joni Ernst. She is seen as kind of a bellwether here. There are different senators who have different concerns about HEGSETH, and the concerns vary. But Joni Ernst is a sexual assault survivor. She's a combat veteran, and she met with Pete Hegseth yesterday.

And to give you a sense of the challenges that Pete Hegseth faces here because, a, he's got those allegations of sexual assault and misconduct, and, b, he has said that, he doesn't believe women should serve in combat roles. 2 things that are key to Joni Ernst's bio here. When I asked Joni Ernst if Pete Hegseth said anything to alleviate some of the concerns she might have as him at the top of the Department of Defense. She didn't answer that question. All she told reporters is that she and Hegseth, a, share a history of service to this country because Hegseth is a veteran as well, and b, that she had a, quote, frank and thorough conversation with Pete Hegseth.

So that's not a ringing endorsement. That's not her wrapping her arms around Pete Hegseth and saying, Pete Hegseth has my vote. So he's gotta go senator by senator here and try to address some of their concerns. He's doing that by saying he's a changed man, and he's also doing that by something you alluded to yesterday, which we learned from senator Eric Schmidt, which is that Hegseth is going around to senators and saying that he will not drink if he becomes the secretary of defense. And there are some senators like Schmidt, a Republican, who say that that argument is working on them and that they view that as a good faith argument.

There are others who say they still have concerns, Diana.

Jay, what can

you tell us about the agenda Musk and are bringing to congressional republicans today? And how do you expect it'll go over?

Well, this is the Department of Government Efficiency Caucus meeting today, the Doge, quote, unquote, caucus. And Ramos and Musk have a list of high flying priority items. Some of them are cutting things like 1 to $2,000,000,000,000 out of the federal budget. It's unclear if that would really be successful up here on Capitol Hill. That is a tall order.

And then they have some other things that we've already heard lawmakers, even 1 democrat so far, say that they can get behind, like cutting certain federal agencies and what they view as excess in those agencies today, lack of, quote, unquote, efficiency, and also even little things like bringing federal employees who might be working remote back to federal office buildings in Washington DC, which some of them are large part empty, I can tell you from my experience here. So there are some things that lawmakers can get behind. You can imagine Musk and Ramaswami are gonna pitch Republicans on everything today. It's just unclear how much of their agenda ultimately is gonna be able to get through this building.

Alright. Jay O'Brien, Katherine Faulders, thank you both.

And a fast moving winter storm is bringing whiteout conditions and more snow from the Great Lakes to the northeast. Millions of people are under snow alert to several feet of snow is piling up on the roads. ABC's Trevor Alt is in Watertown, New York near the Canadian border. Hi, Trevor.

Hey, Darnell. And so millions of

people are still under wind and snow alerts. And where we are in Watertown, we are once again under a winter storm warning. We've got all this snow that was left behind from the first system earlier this week. Now we've got a second system moving through. Could easily, in some areas, drop another foot or 2 of snow.

And what makes it especially dangerous is strong wind gust up to 50 miles an hour. We have been watching whiteout conditions sweeping across the plains into the Midwest. We've sadly seen a number of incidents that have been deadly crashes out there on the roads. Even today, we've been seeing another incident involving a semi on I90 south of Buffalo backing up traffic westbound, and there's a fear that it could get even worse as we head into the day, particularly Western New York. Northern New York where we are could be really dicey out there on the roads.

But we also wanna remind everyone that there are risks to this weather even if you are not driving. Officials in Buffalo say this week, 2 people died after suffering heart attacks while shoveling and snow blowing. It's a good thing to be aware of for your older family members. Diane?

Good thing to know. Trevor Alt, thank you.

And a new snowstorm has 100,000,000 people on alert across several states. Meteorologist Britney Bell of our ABC station here in New York is tracking the forecast for us. Britney, what do you got for us?

Diane, the snow is not letting up. We'll have to deal with this around throughout this afternoon and this evening, potentially into early tomorrow morning. So we have snow that continues to fall around the Great Lakes, New England, and the mid then the mid Atlantic, even looking at showers too as far south as Washington DC. We have winter weather alerts stretching from Michigan towards Maine down towards Western New York, and check out West Virginia and extreme Western Maryland. There's a blizzard warning in effect for whiteout conditions that could lead to dangerous travel, even a wind advisory.

More about the winds in just a second. With the snow forecast over the next 48 hours on the lower end, 3 to 6 inches, I wanna point out the lake effect snow too. So for Lake Erie, 6 to 12 inches of snow is possible, but 1 to 2 feet of extra snow on top of the lake effect snow that already fell earlier this week, that could fall near spots like Watertown. Now back over to the winds, could gust as high as 45 to 55 miles per hour, prompting those wind advisories, for Washington DC, close to 50 mile per hour gust and similar conditions for New York City. Now once you factor in cold temperatures, we're in for frigid real fill numbers dipping below 0 in some areas.

It could feel like 5 below in Asheville, even Birmingham, a real fill temperature of 8 degrees early tomorrow morning. Diane?

Alright. Meteorologist Britney Bell, thank you. Mhmm.

And police are closing in on the identity of the suspect who gunned down UnitedHealthcare CEO outside a New York City hotel. Investigators released new video of the suspect riding a bike outside Central Park moments after the shooting. Police say Brian Thompson was in town for an investors conference when the gunman approached from behind and fired several rounds. Now authorities say the shooter left clues at the scene that suggest he may have been angry with the insurance industry. ABC's Morgan Norwood joins us now for more on that.

Morgan, what's the latest on the search for this man?

Diane, as you just laid out, police now appear to be closing in on identifying, the shooter, which is, of course, key to tracking him down. They're trying to get a search warrant on a place that they believe he might have been staying at in the city. We're unsure if that's a hotel, if that's an apartment. That's unclear at this point, but it comes as we just saw that Nuke doorbell camera video. It shows the suspect riding that ebike on the upper west side.

He's wearing that all black hoodie, that black face mask. We also see him carrying an ebike battery, and that's key because authorities think that he may have made his getaway through Central Park. They're trying to figure out if he had that bike ready before this attack. An eyewitness also snapping a photo of him as he took off. The these sightings and the reason why I point that out is that they're so critical to police when it comes to piecing together a timeline, placing him in different areas, trying to narrow down that search zone, and ultimately find out where he's holed up.

It seems like so much planning went into this. And, Morgan, we've got to talk about the writing police say they found on the bullet casings. What does that tell you in terms of motive?

Yeah. You know, he left behind a treasure trove of evidence, at the scene. And while he does remain on the run, this is the secondary, investigation that police are trying to figure out what the motive is in this particular situation. Investigators finding the words deny, defend, and depose written on those 3 shell casings found at the scene, which could indicate Diane some level of dissatisfaction with the UnitedHealthcare or just the health care industry and insurance industry as a whole. Police are now working with Thompson's family and colleagues to determine if he had received any specific threats in the days leading up to this attack, Diane.

Alright. Morgan Norwood, thank you.

And investigators are trying to determine a motive for a deadly shooting at a religious elementary school in California as well. A gunman opened fire at the Feather River Adventist School in Oroville, critically injuring 2 young students before killing himself. ABC's Melissa Adan is there. Melissa, what's the latest on this investigation?

Yes, Diane. So the FBI is now teaming up with the local authorities here in Butte County, California. We've been told that the suspect has been ID'd. They are not releasing the suspect's ID, but here's what they know so far, that this suspect was dropped off here at the school in a rideshare, then had a meeting with the principal. They seemed to discuss about the possibility of enrolling a student.

The principal then telling authorities that he didn't see any red flags with that meeting, but shortly after that is when that suspect came out here to the campus outside these classrooms and then opened fire shooting and those shots hitting 2 children. Diane?

So, Melissa, what more do we know about the condition of these 2 kindergarteners who were shot?

Absolutely. So as far as those kindergarteners, they were hospitalized. They are, males, boys, ages 56. We are told they're in extremely critical condition. We've been following up to see, they've been going, having medical procedures, So we're waiting on updates there.

The local pastor nearby saying how the community here is praying for them. The church nearby had opened up their doors as kinda like the family reunification area following, of course, the shooting, sharing with us how traumatic it has all been. And 1 possible theory, Diane, I do wanna mention that police are sharing is that possibly the suspect may have targeted the school in particular because of its religious affiliation. Diane?

Alright. Melissa, Adan, thank you.

And the US is threatening sanctions as authorities in the country of Georgia crackdown on a growing protest movement. Protesters are calling for an end to the government after it suspended negotiations to join the European Union. They say the governing party is turning Georgia back toward Russia and authoritarianism. Now police have raided opposition party offices, detaining its leader as the capital of Tbilisi's bracing for an 8th day of protests. ABC's Patrick Rievel is monitoring all of that from London.

Patrick, what's the latest here, and how significant is it to see over a week now of demonstrations?

Hi, Danielle. I mean, this crisis in Georgia does appear to still be escalating. We saw, again, a dramatic night of protests in Georgia last night for the 7th consecutive night. And as you say, they are preparing for another night of protests this evening. And so for a week now, tens of thousands of people have been gathering in the center of the capital Tbilisi and clashing with riot police who've been trying to violently disperse them.

Police have been using water cannons, or protesters have been unleashing these big barrages of fireworks. And last night did appear to be 1 of the largest protests so far. And as you say, this crisis was sparked when the ruling Georgian dream party said it was suspending efforts for Georgia to join the European Union. The protesters oppose what they see as the government's attempts to turn Georgia away from Europe and down an authoritarian path, moving it back towards Russia. The government, though, has so far stepped up efforts to quash the protests, arresting a key opposition leader and raiding opposition group's offices.

The situation really does strongly resemble what happened in Ukraine back in 2014 during its revolution. People on the streets in Georgia see this as a struggle to stop their country following a model of Vladimir Putin's Russia. Ukraine's president Zelensky overnight imposed sanctions on figures from Georgia's ruling party saying that they are surrendering the country to Putin. And now the US, as you say, is overnight also warning that it is preparing potential sanctions. But Georgia's prime minister today is defiant saying that he will eradicate the opposition, Diane.

Alright. Patrick Rievel in London. Thank you.

Amnesty International is accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. The group says Israel made deliberate efforts to destroy Palestinians through deadly attacks, destruction of infrastructure, and blocking aid. Israel's foreign minister says, the report is fabricated and entirely false. Meanwhile, 1 week into the Lebanon ceasefire, the IDF is again warning residents not to return to their homes. ABC's chief national correspondent, Matt Gutman, is on the border of Israel and Lebanon with the latest there.

Hey, Diane. We are in the kibbutz of Manara, just in the north of Israel. About a 125 yards to my left is the Lebanese border. Nobody lives here anymore, since October 8th when Hezbollah opened fire on these communities in the north, and it's basically become a military garrison since then. You can see the ammo crates the Israeli military left behind.

Community leaders here tell us that about 75% of the buildings here were either damaged or destroyed. And on the outside, I mean, this building looks pretty much intact, but I wanna show you something, what it looks like on the inside. Hezbollah militants just down the hill fired, anti tank missiles at most of these houses. Basically, everything on this row and on the other side as well. The inside, the damage is obviously extensive.

This is what's left of a light fixture over there as a television, obviously, with windows blown out. I can see the glass melted over on this side. There's something I wanna show you, and that is the view here to the valley below. You have our cameraman, Omer, turn. You can see that column of smoke over there.

That's the Israeli military, blowing something up. We've seen a number of those columns of smoke. And virtually every building that we have been able to see on the other side of the border here inside Lebanon has been destroyed. At this point, we understand the negotiations over this 60 day ceasefire are ongoing. There have been some complaints and allegations on both sides of violation of the ceasefire.

The US continues to be deeply, involved in these talks, which are actually ongoing in Lebanon today as our ceasefire and hostage release negotiations for Gaza. There are still about 90 some Israeli hostages remaining in Gaza, and Israeli officials and Hamas officials seem to be indicating, much more optimism than probably at any time over the past year that a deal over the Gaza issue can also be hammered out. So it looks like we are on the road to some quiet in both of the theaters of war here in Lebanon, just where we are, and in the south in Gaza. Diane?

Matt Gutman, thank you.

Coming up, turbulent Capitol Hill hearing how airline executives responded after getting grilled over skyrocketing fees that make flights more expensive.

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Welcome back to ABC News Live. 1st, the Department of Transportation is proposing a new rule to airline passengers. It will require airlines to compensate passengers impacted by significant delays and cancelations. The airlines would also have to rebook those passengers for free and cover meals, lodging, and other transportation related expenses. It comes after airline executives were grilled by senators over skyrocketing fees that make plane tickets more expensive.

ABC's Elizabeth Schulze has more on the heated Capitol Hill hearing.

In In fact

Airline executives are under pressure after a turbulent hearing on Capitol Hill over the fees that make your airfare more expensive.

Nobody enjoys flying in your airlines. It's a it's a disaster. You charge people fees that they know nothing about. You harass them to death.

A senate subcommittee grilling executives over fees charged for early boarding, better seats, and other conveniences, voicing many travelers' frustrations.

They feel with more than understandable justification that they are piggy banks to be shaken down by these skyrocketing fees that seem to have no connection to any cost that the airlines incur.

Senators claim there's a lack of transparency, saying vague pricing makes it hard for customers to budget.

We're all captives on your airplanes at a certain point, And you just say, you wanna pick a seat. We're just gonna charge you some random amount more.

But executives rebutting those claims.

Optional services by definition are not so called junk fees as optional services are not required to travel.

It has never been more affordable to fly. Over time, overall air airfares have gone down.

Senators also say some budget airlines have run a kind of bounty program, paying employees extra to stop passengers if their bags fail to meet certain requirements.

Your airlines are paying 1,000,000 of dollars to your employees to harass people who've already paid. They're there in line because they've already paid. It's unbelievable.

Now there are already some changes that passengers should know about. A new government regulation took effect in October that requires airlines to automatically refund you within 7 business days if your domestic flight is delayed more than 3 hours and you choose not to fly. The transportation department is also proposing a new rule today that would require airlines pay at least $200 in cash refunds if your trip is severely disrupted and it's the airline's fault. Most airlines do already provide refunds, and they say this rule could drive up ticket prices. Diane.

Alright. ABC's Elizabeth Schulzey, thank you.

Coming up, the Russian stowaway that boarded a flight from New York to Paris is back in the US. What Delta's now saying about how she got on that flight?

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Here at this massive sinkhole after hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida, I'm Jaclyn Lake. Wherever the story is, we'll take you there. You're streaming ABC News Live.

Welcome back to ABC News Live first. Here's some of

the top headlines we're following right now. The justice department says Memphis police routinely used excessive force and discriminate against black people. The findings are from a comprehensive investigation after the beating death of Tire Nichols by 5 officers in January 2023. It's just 1 of 12 investigations into law enforcement agencies across the US since April 2021. Efforts to rescue a Pennsylvania grandmother are apparently apparently swallowed by a sinkhole are now being described as a recovery mission.

Officials say it's unlikely Elizabeth Pollard is still alive. Police say the 64 year old was reportedly missing early Tuesday after leaving home with her granddaughter to look for her cat. The granddaughter was found unharmed in their car. Officials believe the hole opened up where Pollard was standing above an abandoned coal mine. And a Russian woman accused of boarding a flight from New York to Paris without a ticket is now under arrest.

Svetlana Dali is now back in the US and in FBI custody. She's blaming Delta, rather, is blaming a deviation from standard procedures for allowing her to get on that flight last week. The TSA says the woman accessed a line reserved for the flight crew then mixed in with other passengers. Still not clear how Dolly avoided ID checks. She's due in federal court today.

And Taylor Swift is celebrating the biggest book launch of the year. The Grammy winner sold more than 800,000 copies of her ARIS tour book in just the first 2 days. The photo filled book commemorating her tour is 39.99 and only available at Target. The only bigger nonfiction book launch was when former president Obama wrote his memoir. And the executive producer of the dodo is stepping away.

The move marks an end of an era for the popular social media brand known for its cute and informative animal videos. ABC's Danny New has the latest. Danny, you wanna get a petal?

Growing up, Joanna Zelman's love of animals was always encouraged by her father Jared. Just listen to how many pets they had.

At 1 point, we counted 26. Yeah.

Something like that.

Cow thinks she's a dog, and I do too.

Well, good call nurturing that passion because it led to an accomplished career for Joanna. About 10 years ago, she became 1 of the earliest employees and eventually the executive producer of a social media brand you probably know called the dodo. Over the past decade, the dodo has become 1 of the most famous providers of animal videos and make you go, aw.

It looks too good.

However, Joanna's time with the dodo is soon coming to a close. And as she looks back, there's 1 costar from her videos that she's especially proud to have featured. It started in 2016 when her father, a semi retired doctor and volunteer ambulance driver, led Facebook live workshops on how to make DIY dog toys.

It was just running inside of, like, fluff in a pipe.

But perhaps their most famous clip together was about 3 years ago when Joanne was at her childhood home in Connecticut and found a skunk's tail sticking out of a pipe.

This is gonna be interesting.

With the

help of her father and the encouragement of animal control, Joanna had to gently pull the skunk out of the pipe. Clearly, he was grateful because she did not receive a stinky shower afterwards.

He really, like, looked right in my eyes, and I don't know. It it did feel like he kind of understood.

They also recently transported calves from a farm to an animal sanctuary together for a video that could perhaps be their final post for the dodo. Of course, though, it does not sound like they'll ever stop loving and helping animals as a team. We've

just gotten to have so many fun adventures together, and I feel really lucky for that.

Lucky indeed. Danny New, thank you.

And thank you for watching. I'm Diane Macedo. The news never stops, and neither do we. We have a lot more news right after the break. Stick around.

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Right now on ABC News Live, nominee Firestorm Pete Hegseth vowing to fight to be defense secretary despite GOP concerns over allegations of sexual misconduct. How he's responding now. Blizzard warning. A fast moving storm has 100,000,000 people on alert to dangerous conditions as bitter cold temperatures move in. At an urgent manhunt, New York City police stepping up their search for the man who gunned down the CEO of UnitedHealthcare.

The new video showing the suspect just minutes before the shooting. And critical condition, 2 kindergartners fighting for their after a shooting at a California elementary school. What police are now saying about the gunman. And good afternoon, everyone. I'm Keira Phillips.

They are rich. They know business, and now the president-elect wants them to help streamline our government. So Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswami are expected on Capitol Hill today to tell us exactly how they plan to do that. Trump has charged the 2 successful entrepreneurs with leading a department of government efficiency. Then there's the embattled defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth.

He's back on the hill doubling down amid concerns about his alleged misconduct and drinking, something he vows to give up if he becomes the secretary of defense.

What did president-elect Trump tell you, mister Hayside?

He's behind us all the way. Spoke to him this morning.

RJ O'Brien joins us now from Capitol Hill along with our White House correspondent, Mary Alice Parks. Mary Alice, a source, close to president Biden, says he's talking about possible preemptive pardons for people who might be targeted by the incoming Trump administration. Who's on the list?

Yeah, Kira. Another major headline this morning. This would be an extraordinary step from the Biden White House. Look, it would be in response, though, Democrats say, to extraordinary threats that president-elect Trump has made about potentially using the power of the FBI or the Department of Justice to go after political opponents. And so what we know now is that Biden White House senior aids are really considering the idea of preemptive pardons for people like general Mark Milley, the former chair of the joint chiefs of staff who Republicans have blasted for his role during the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

People like Adam Schiff and Liz Cheney who sat there on the January 6th select committee. We know that president-elect Trump, while he was campaigning, said explicitly in social media posts and on the campaign trail, he thought people on that committee should go to jail. So the question now, would the White House or the current White House be willing to grant sweeping preemptive pardons even to people who are not actually accused right now of any real crimes, but who the White House is worried could be facing retaliation from an incoming Trump administration, Kira.

Alright. Let's go now to Musk and Rameshwarmi. They'll be up on the hill talking about this new department, that Trump wants them to lead. Musk saying, I think we should make sure we spend the public's money well. Sounds good.

How are they gonna do it?

Yeah. This is a really big question, and it's something that, of course, they are getting a lot of, sort of pressure from to give real answers, especially because, essentially, they're setting up a new government agency or a sort of a quasi agency to work on cutting government spending. So a lot of questions there. Big questions about what they would do in terms of government contracts and government subsidies because Elon Musk, of course, and his companies right now enjoy 1,000,000,000 of dollars in government contracts. So he needs to make sure that he's not, sort of pursuing cuts to federal spending that look, hypocritical to sort of government contract work that his companies enjoy.

And, of course, here in Washington and around the country, though, Kira, a lot of questions about what the 2 would propose in terms of the federal workforce. Both have made big sweeping threats about wanting to downsize the federal workforce, but what could that mean in terms of, civilian employees who have union protections, many of whom, tens of thousands of whom work all around the country outside of DC and who are worried about whether their jobs could be on the line.

Alright, Jay. Let's talk about Hegseth now. He says Trump has his back, but sources say there are still some concerns on his behalf and also other Republican senators, that still need to be convinced. What do you know?

Yeah. He said that to me just moments ago, Kira, as he was meeting with senator Mike Rounds in Rounds' office. I asked Hegseth what Trump told him earlier today because he said he and president-elect Trump spoke at the beginning of the day, and he said that Trump, as you played in that sound, is behind him. But there are Republican senators at this hour who are deeply concerned about Hegseth's nomination. They are concerned about accusations of sexual assault and sexual misconduct with hedge which Hegseth denies.

They're concerned about allegations of mismanagement of veterans charities, of drinking issues. Hegseth has said he doesn't have a drinking problem and won't drink if he becomes the secretary of defense. Hegseth met yesterday with senator Joni Ernst, considered although she hasn't really said publicly 1 way or the other, but considered to be 1 of the key votes that Hegseth really needs to work on here. Here is what senator Ernst told Fox News earlier today about if she's behind president-elect Trump's pick to lead the Department of Defense.

Okay. It doesn't sound on your answer that you've gotten to a yes. If I'm wrong about that, correct me. And if that is the case, it sounds to me as if the hearing will be critical, for his nomination. Am I right about that?

I think I think you are right.

And Ernst told our Kelsey Walsh and other reporters just moments ago as she stepped out of the gaggle of the Doge caucus where she was meeting with Vivek Ramaswami about what you were just talking with Mary Alice about, that she had a, quote, frank and thorough conversation with Pete Hegseth, but doesn't go beyond that to say that the conversation was positive or ended with her as a yes vote. So, clearly, Pete Hegseth, if he wants to shore up support amongst Republican senators, still has a distance to go, Kira.

Yeah. He sure does. Well, Jay, the secret service director, is being grilled by a house panel investigating, the July assassination attempt on president-elect Trump, and, apparently, the back and forth got pretty, intense. What do we know?

Yeah. Fiery exchange. This was a hearing that the secret service plan to come forward and say that they had made substantive changes to their protocol to prevent what happened in Butler, Pennsylvania from ever happening again. Something that lawmakers and the secret service itself has had had serious security failures that led to that assassination attempt on then candidate Trump, now president-elect Trump. But then there was this exchange, not really about that, but about the secret service protective posture for president Biden and then former president Trump on the anniversary of 911, and it got incredibly heated.

Here is that exchange.

I actually responded to ground 0. I was there going through the ashes of the World Trade Center. Mhmm. I was there at Freshkills. I'm not asking

you that.

I'm asking you congressmen. The sick we're just there. Sergeant. To show respect We're not. For our secret service members that died on 911.

That you're trying to be Do not invoke 911 for political purposes. I'm not. I'm invoking this You are, sir. And I'm not you are out

of here. I would like to ask him a quest Please.

You are out of time. Order me.

Don't cancel me. Order. Elected member of congress, and I'm asking you a serious question, and

you are a Republican. Servant who has served this nation, and you have time on our day on our country's darkest decision. Made it. We'll tell you the word. Decisive.

So that's as fiery as it gets in a congressional hearing, Kiara, as you'd, of course, imagine. That is Pat Fallon, congressman of Texas. He had accused the Secret Service director of potentially diverting Secret Service protective resources away from president Biden and then former president Trump, now president-elect Trump, to get himself in the photograph frame, lens on the anniversary of 911. That is, of course, something that the acting secret service director, Ron Ro, vehemently pushed back against as you saw in that exchange, but fiery and certainly not to the subject of the hearing at all.

Alright. Jay O'Brien, Mary Alice Parks, thank you both so much. Well, developing right now, police in New York City are closing in on the identity of a suspected killer that gunned down a prominent CEO. New photos released just a short time ago showing the gunman right here that authorities say shot Brian Thompson. Thompson was staying at a hotel in Manhattan for an investors conference.

Our Morgan Norwood has been on the story since it happened. So, Morgan, police releasing these photos just a short time ago. What do we know about the search?

Hi, Kira. Yeah. Police releasing those photos just minutes ago. They're blasting them out all over the city. There are wanted purse posters everywhere, that you look $10,000 reward being offered.

You can see that suspect there. His face a little bit more clearly this time. Looks like he's, possibly smiling in that photo, and then there's this other photo as well. In addition to the new images, Kira, we're we're also learning that at this hour, authorities are searching a hostel on the Upper West Side here in New York City. That's where they believe the suspect had been staying.

Again, authorities are there as we speak. They also believe that he shared a room with 2 other men. All of this comes as we get new doorbell camera video. It shows the moment that the suspect rides away on the ebike on the upper west side. So, you know, there's a common thread here, the upper west side, and that seems to be where that search zone appears to be contained.

Eyewitnesses also snapping a photo of the suspect as he took off from the shooting. So, again, these sightings, Kira, are really critical to police when it comes to piecing piecing together this timeline, placing him in these different areas, and trying to narrow that search zone, and ultimately find out where he's holed up and where he's hiding at this hour.

So from the sightings, to the writings, police apparently found, some writing on bullet casings near the scene? Yeah. And this could say something about a possible motive here. Investigators finding the words, quote, deny, defend, and depose written on shell casings found

at the scene. We know that there were 3 of them, Kira, which again could indicate some level of dissatisfaction with the UnitedHealthcare or just the insurance agency or in industry as a whole. Police are working with Thompson's family and colleagues to determine if he had received any specific threats leading up to that attack, Kira.

Alright. Morgan Norwood. We'll continue

to follow the search for the suspect. Thank you. So 2 kindergarten students are in critical condition after a shooting at an elementary school in California. Police say the gunman opened fire at the Feather River Adventist in Oroville. 2 students were shot.

The shooter then turned the gun on himself. Our Melissa Dawn is there with more. Melissa.

The FBI now teaming up with local authorities here in Butte County, California. They are sharing some more of a sort of timeline, what they know so far about that suspect. They have ID'd the suspect, but are not yet sharing their identity. Sharing with us, however, that the suspect was dropped off here at the school with a ride share, then walked in to have a meeting with the school's principal. The principal then telling authorities that he did not suspect any red flags, flags, nothing alarming during their meeting.

They discussed possibly enrolling a child here at the school. Well, moments after that, that's when witnesses say that the shooter walked outside into the classroom area and shot at 2 of students shortly after that, turning the gun onto themselves. Well, those 2 students, ages 56, kindergarten boys, they were rushed to the hospital. They are in extremely critical condition, and we're waiting updates, of course, for their recovery.

Alright. Melissa, Dawn, thank you. And a fast moving winter storm is triggering whiteout conditions across the Great Lakes and the Northeast. Millions of people now under snow alerts. Snow piling up on the roads, making for treacherous travel conditions.

Our Trevor Alt is actually in Watertown, New York near the Canadian border. Hey, Trevor. What do you know?

Hey there, Kira. So millions of people

are still under snow and wind alerts. And where we are here in Watertown, we are once again under a winter storm warning. We've got all this snow left behind from the first system that moved through. We could easily see in some areas around here another foot or 2 of snow. And what makes this system especially dangerous is that we're also seeing some strong wind gust up to 50 miles an hour.

We've been watching whiteout conditions sweeping across the plains into the upper Midwest. We sadly have seen a few more deadly incidents out there on the roads. Even today, saw another incident, bet traffic backup at the very least on I 90. This is south of Buffalo. Westbound traffic backed up because of these incidents, and it could continue to get worse through the afternoon into the evening in western New York.

In northern New York where we are could get very dicey. We also wanna remind people that there are risks to this weather beyond just driving. Officials in Buffalo say this week, 2 people died after suffering heart attacks when they were shoveling and snow blowing. It is a good reminder for your older family members. Gotta be cautious.

Take your time even with all this snow coming down. Kira.

Alright. Trevor Alt, thank you. Well, that winter storm has millions of people under threat for life threatening cold. Meteorologist Brittany Bell of our ABC station here in New York or in New York rather is tracking it for us. Brittany, tell us more.

Kira, this round of rain, snow, and gusty winds will continue through tomorrow. Right now, we have most of that snow falling around the Great Lakes and the northeast. Here's a look at all of the winter alerts stretching from Michigan all the way towards New York state. And look at West Virginia, the Appalachians, a blizzard warning. Whiteout conditions could lead to dangerous travel.

Over the next day or so, snowfall totals could range on the lower end between 3 to 6 inches from Pennsylvania all the way towards Maine. And lake effect snow, another round, 6 to 12 inches off of Lake Erie, but for Lake Ontario, 1 to 2 feet near Watertown. Winds will gust as high as 45 to 55 miles per hour. That could lead to small tree damage, even, some power outages, and it could be an issue for some of those Christmas decorations, so make sure those are secure. When it comes to the chill, this deep freeze is on the way.

We could have real field temperatures early tomorrow morning dropping below 0 in some areas, 5 below in Asheville. It could feel like 12 degrees in New York City tomorrow morning. And look at Tallahassee, 28 degrees. There's even a cold weather advisory for the Gulf Coast. Looking ahead to this weekend and next week, warmer weather is on the way with temperatures climbing into the fifties Monday in New York City, near 60 in Atlanta on Sunday, and Memphis, a high of 55 on Sunday.

Back to you.

Alright. Britney, thanks so much. Coming up, the DOJ deep dive into a racist police department. Justice for Tire Nichols

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Glad you're streaming with us. Excessive force and racist routines. That's how the justice department says Memphis police officers carried out their beat discriminating against black people. The investigation began after the beating death of Tire Nichols at the hands of 5 police officers. Our justice reporter, Jack Dote, joins us now with more.

So let's talk about the press conference that was held today. What did we learn?

Well, we learned the findings of their investigation, which began, after, as you mentioned, the death of Tire Nichols some 17 months ago, and the findings were in a word, troubling. They found that the department, Memphis Police Department routinely uses excessive force, that they make unlawful stops, searches, and arrests, that they discriminated against the black population in Memphis, and they actively discriminated as well against people with mental health disabilities. And they also found that they they use force against children, some as young as 8. They they found 1 case where a child was handcuffed and and, was physically restrained and actually pushed by police. So they they found this, rather quickly too.

This investigation moved rapidly and, you know, they cited training and supervision as being really lacking in the department. And this is a department that some that that that pioneered a lot of things like, crisis intervention training and things that are supposed to be, ways of handling people with, mental health issues in a crisis, but they found repeatedly that this department failed. Assistant attorney general, Kristen Clark, said that they need to reform now.

The police department must stop policies that have a disproportionate effect on black people in this community. We uncovered racial disparities that cannot be explained by differences in driving behavior.

So, at at this point, typically, in these cases, there's a consent decree, or an agreement between the police department and the justice department that is overseen by a federal judge that basically makes sure that they follow through on some of these reforms. However, in this case, the city of Memphis has declined to participate in any sort of consent decree with the Department of Justice, perhaps sensing that, there might be a change in the Trump justice department. In Trump's first term, then attorney general Jeff Sessions, ended the practice of consent decrees. And, under that justice department, they only issued 1 consent decree, to a part department in Massachusetts. And so, they say they will try to do the reforms on their own, without further federal intervention.

Got it, Jack. Appreciate it. We'll follow it. Thanks so much. Well, growing concerns with our schools and students struggling with mass score math scores.

Now educators are speaking out. Andrea Fuji is taking a closer look at what may behind this recent decline.

New evidence that American children are falling behind in math. In some cases, way behind.

The results are sobering.

Scores from the test called trends in international mathematics and science study found from between 2019 and 2023, American 4th graders dropped 18 points in math. 8th graders dropped 27 points.

We started this assessment in 1995, so we have essentially we have erased, the gains that, we were seeing for for decades.

Globally, the US scoring only mid pack, easily surpassed by countries in Asia and Europe. Experts point to many reasons, including COVID when education was disrupted in the US for longer than many other countries.

This decline that we're we're seeing was was there in 2015. So

all of

this cannot be blamed on COVID. We have, been struggling with this declining scores, particularly in math, for a while.

Experts say too many kids are missing class. About 17% are described as often absent.

We need to focus on the students that have been, struggling for a while now, and that is where I I I wanna leave it for, as a country to sort of ponder.

And our thanks to Andrea Fujii for that. Well, coming up, what's brewing? Big changes are coming to Starbucks. We'll hear from the coffee giant's new CEO next.

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Glad you're streaming with us. Bitcoin hit the $100,000 mark, and prices are going up at Chipotle. Our business correspondent, Alexis Christophores, has more on that and all the other business headlines you need to know about. Hey, Alexis.

Hi there, Kira. Good to see you. Wanna start with the stock market because taking a little bit of a breather here today, 1 day after the Dow closed above 40 5,000 for the first time ever, so you see there a live picture of the big board shows us the Dow now down a 150 points. Taking a look at Bitcoin, it continues its record rally moving further into record territory after blasting through the 1 $100,000 mark for the first time ever. For reference here, Bitcoin was trading at $17,000 just 2 years ago.

President-elect Trump living up to his self appointed title of crypto president, nominating Paul Adkins, a big crypto supporter to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. Bitcoin also got a lift yesterday after Fed chief Jerome Powell compared the digital asset to investing in gold. And an early Christmas present for drivers, gas is now below $3 a gallon in more than half the country. That's the lowest we've seen in about 3 years. Experts say lower demand and high supply are helping to keep prices in check.

And you'll have to dig a little deeper into your pocket the next time you go to Chipotle. The restaurant chain's raising prices by 2% at its stores nationwide. Chipotle says the price hike is needed to offset higher costs for ingredients like avocados, queso, and sour cream. And I guess you could just call it a sign of the times. AT and T says it plans to shut down its copper wire landline network by 2029.

The company says the 70 year old network is unreliable and wastes energy, but don't fear landlines are not going away. Holdouts can still use their old phones on an updated system. Kira.

Alright. Alexis, thank you so much. Alright. Well, mounting complaints brewing at Starbucks, but the new CEO says he's ordering up better wait times and prices. Brian Niccol is known for turning things around at Chipotle, and he's hoping to do the same thing for the coffee giant.

Our Rebecca Jarvis sat down with him to find out what he plans to change.

We've got this whole mission around getting back to Starbucks.

Brian Niccol is the new CEO working to return Starbucks to its former glory and reinvigorate the iconic 53 year old brand following a year of slumping sales and customer complaints like these on social media about everything from the cost of a drink Starbucks and their pricing, baffling, mind blowing, ridonculous. To wait times. Nickel took over in September, turning over every detail and quickly addressing a big customer pet peeve, up charges for alternative milks like almond and oat. What are the other major changes customers can expect?

You'll see us do simple things, bringing back the Sharpies, bringing back the coffee condiment bar. You'll see us continue to push towards how do we make it easier for you to get your coffee and then also simplify the execution for our baristas.

But it's not just bringing back the basics. The former Chipotle CEO says he's working to improve in store ordering with a goal of getting your espresso drink made in less than 4 minutes. He's also working on the app and mobile ordering. The thing I hear a lot is that customers love the options of Starbucks. They like being able to order through the app or come in, but it takes a while.

How do you make that go faster?

So we're we're right now investing in how do we build the technology so that when a mobile order comes in, we basically give you a time that your drink will be ready. So today, you know, we just kinda give you an estimate. Hey. It'll be ready in 3 to 5 minutes. In the future, what'll happen is we'll be like, Rebecca, your drink will be ready at 9 instead of it just being made sitting on the counter waiting for people to come.

And eyeing a smaller menu, eliminating less popular items to get you your coffee faster. What kinds of things are gonna have to go?

We've got a lot of offerings that there's just 1 or 2 of these ordered a day. So the the way I talk about it is we're gonna do fewer things, but we're gonna do fewer things better.

And he says, for now, these changes won't come at a higher cost. You have Chipotle, your former, company, hiking prices 2% higher. Is Starbucks going to hike prices, or is inflation, as far as Starbucks is concerned, done?

We're gonna hit the pause button on any pricing, for this fiscal year. I still think there's an opportunity for us to simplify the pricing architecture. I don't love the fact that in our app right now, while you're doing this customization, it doesn't inform you what has happened to the price. So I wanna get more transparent with the pricing.

And he promises none of the innovation will come with a decline in quality. 5 years from now, if I walk into a Starbucks Yeah. How different is it going to look from today?

I think what you're gonna see is a very orderly mobile order business with its own dedicated pickup area. When you walk in and you interact with the barista, my hope is we can get you a brewed cup of coffee in less than 30 seconds.

And our thanks to Rebecca Jarvis for that. Let's see if the changes go through. I'm Kiara Phillips. News never stops and neither do we. You can find ABC News Live anywhere you stream live news on the ABC News app and or on ABC News dot com.

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Right now on ABC News live, nominee firestorm, Pete Hegseth vowing to fight to be defense secretary despite GOP concerns over allegations of sexual misconduct. How he's responding now. Blizzard warning, a fast moving storm has 100,000,000 people on alert, the dangerous conditions as bitter cold temperatures move in. At an urgent manhunt, New York City police stepping up their search for the man who gunned down the CEO of UnitedHealthcare. The new video showing the suspect just minutes before the shooting.

And critical condition, 2 kindergartners fighting for their lives after a shooting at a California elementary school. What police are now saying about the gunman. And good afternoon, everyone. I'm Keira Phillips. They are rich.

They know business, and now the president-elect wants them to help streamline our government. So Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswami are expected on Capitol Hill today to tell us exactly how they plan to do that. Trump has charged the 2 successful entrepreneurs with leading a department of government efficiency. Then there's the embattled defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth. He's back on the hill doubling down amid concerns about his alleged misconduct and drinking, something he vows to give up if he becomes the secretary of defense.

What did president-elect Trump tell you, mister Hegseth?

He's behind us all the way. Spoke to him this morning.

RJ O'Brien joins us now from Capitol Hill along with our White House correspondent, Mary Alice Parks. Mary Alice, a source close to president Biden, says he's talking about possible preemptive pardons for people who might be targeted by the incoming Trump administration. Who's on the list?

Yeah, Kira. Another major headline this morning. This would be an extraordinary step from the Biden White House. Look, it would be in response, though, Democrats say, to extraordinary threats that president-elect Trump has made about potentially using the power of the FBI or the Department of Justice to go after political opponents. And so what we know now is that Biden White House senior aids are really considering the idea of preemptive pardons for people like general Mark Milley, the former chair of the joint chiefs of staff who Republicans have blasted for his role during the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

People like Adam Schiff and Liz Cheney who sat there on the January 6th select committee. We know that president-elect Trump, while he was campaigning, said explicitly in social media posts and on the campaign trail, he thought people on that committee should go to jail. So the question now, would the White House or the current White House be willing to grant sweeping preemptive pardons even to people who are not actually accused right now of any real crimes, but who the White House is worried could be facing retaliation from an incoming Trump administration, Kira.

Alright. Let's go now to Musk and Ravaswami. They'll be up on the hill talking about this new department, that Trump wants them to lead. Musk saying, I think we should make sure we spend the public's money well. Sounds good.

How are they gonna do it?

Yeah. This is a really big question, and it's something that, of course, they are getting a lot of, sort of pressure from to give real answers, especially because, essentially, they're setting up a new government agency or a sort of a quasi agency to work on cutting government spending. So a lot of questions there. Big questions about what they would do in terms of government contracts and government subsidies because Elon Musk, of course, and his companies right now enjoy 1,000,000,000 of dollars in government contracts. So he needs to make sure that he's not, sort of pursuing cuts to federal spending that look, hypocritical to sort of government contract work that his companies enjoy.

And, of course, here in Washington and around the country, though, Kira, a lot of questions about what the 2 would propose in terms of the federal workforce. Both have made big sweeping threats about wanting to downsize the federal workforce, but what could that mean in terms of, civilian employees who have union protections, many of whom, tens of thousands of whom, work all around the country outside of DC and who are worried about whether their jobs could be on the line.

Alright, Jay. Let's talk about Hegseth now. He says Trump has his back, but sources say there are still some concerns on his behalf and also other Republican senators, that still need to be convinced. What do you know?

Yeah. He said that to me just moments ago, Kira, as he was meeting with senator Mike Rounds in Rounds' office. I asked Hegseth what Trump told him earlier today because he said he and president-elect Trump spoke at the beginning of the day, and he said that Trump, as you played in that sound, is behind him. But there are Republican senators at this hour who are deeply concerned about Hegseth's nomination. They are concerned about accusations of sexual assault and sexual misconduct, which hedge which Hegseth denies.

They're concerned about allegations of mismanagement of veterans charities, of drinking issues. Hegseth has said he doesn't have a drinking problem and won't drink if he becomes the secretary of defense. Hegseth met yesterday with senator Joni Ernst, considered although she hasn't really said publicly 1 way or the other, but considered to be 1 of the key votes that Hegseth really needs to work on here. Here is what senator Ernst told Fox News earlier today about if she's behind president-elect Trump's pick to lead the Department of Defense.

Okay. It doesn't sound on your answer that you've gotten to a yes. If I'm wrong about that, correct me. And if that is the case, it sounds to me as if the hearing will be critical, for his nomination. Am I right about that?

I think I think you are right.

And Ernst told our Kelsey Walsh and other reporters just moments ago as she stepped out of the gaggle of the Doge caucus where she was meeting with Vivek Ramaswami about what you were just talking with Mary Alice about, that she had a, quote, frank and thorough conversation with Pete Hegseth, but doesn't go beyond that to say that the conversation was positive or ended with her as a yes vote. So, clearly, Pete Hegseth, if he wants to shore up support amongst Republican senators, still has a distance to go, Kira.

Yeah. He sure does. Well, Jay, the secret service director, is being grilled by a house panel investigating, the July assassination attempt on president-elect Trump. And, apparently, the back and forth got pretty, intense. What do we know?

Yeah. Fiery exchange. This was a hearing that the Secret Service plan to come forward and say that they had made substantive changes to their protocol to prevent what happened in Butler, Pennsylvania from ever happening again. Something that lawmakers and the secret service itself has said had serious security failures that led to that assassination attempt on then candidate Trump, now president-elect Trump. But then there was this exchange, not really about that, but about the secret service protective posture for president Biden and then former president Trump on the anniversary of 911, and it got incredibly heated.

Here is that exchange.

I actually responded to ground 0. I was there going through the ashes of the World Trade Center. Mhmm. I was there at Freshkills. I'm not asking

you that.

I'm asking you congressmen the sick we were there. Sergeant. To show respect We're not. For a secret service member that died on 911. That.

You're trying to be Do not invoke 911 for political purposes. Oh, I'm not. I'm invoking this You are, sir. And I'm not You are out

of work. I don't have to ask him a question.

You are not trying to order me. Don't do

it only me. I'm an elected member of congress, and I'm asking you a serious question, and you are I

am a

public servant who has served this nation, and you have time on our day on our country's darkest day. Made a claim to work.

Criticize it. So that's as fiery as it gets in a congressional hearing, Kiara, as you'd, of course, imagine. That is Pat Fallon, congressman of Texas. He had accused the Secret Service director of potentially diverting Secret Service protective resources away from president Biden and then former president Trump, now president-elect Trump, to get himself in the photograph frame, lens on the anniversary of 911. That is, of course, something that the acting secret service director, Ron Ro, vehemently pushed back against as you saw in that exchange, but fiery and certainly not to the subject of the hearing at all.

Alright. Jay O'Brien, Mary Alice Parks, thank you both so much. Well, developing right now, police in New York City are closing in on the identity of a suspected killer that gunned down a prominent CEO. New photos released just a short time ago showing the gunman right here that authorities say shot Brian Thompson. Thompson was staying at a hotel in Manhattan for an investors conference.

Our Morgan Norwood has been on the story since it happened. So, Morgan, police releasing these photos just a short time ago. What do we know about the search?

Hi, Kira. Yeah. Police releasing those photos just minutes ago. They're blasting them out all over the city. There are wanted purse posters everywhere, that you look $10,000 reward being offered.

You can see that suspect there. His face a little bit more clearly this time. Looks like he's, possibly smiling in that photo, and then there's this other photo as well. In addition to the new images, Kira, we're we're also learning that at this hour, authorities are searching a hostel on the Upper West Side here in New York City. That's where they believe the suspect had been staying.

Again, authorities are there as we speak. They also believe that he shared a room with 2 other men. All of this comes as we get new doorbell camera video. It shows the moment that the suspect rides away on the ebike on the upper west side. So, you know, there's a common thread here, the upper west side, and that seems to be where that search zone, appears to be contained.

Eyewitnesses also snapping a photo of the suspect as he took off from the shooting. So, again, these sightings, Kira, are really critical to police when it comes to piecing piecing together this timeline, placing him in these different areas, and trying to narrow that search zone, and ultimately find out where he's holed up and where he's hiding at this hour.

So from the sightings, to the writings, police apparently found, some writing on bullet casings near the scene?

Yeah. And this could say something about a possible motive here. Investigators finding the words, quote, deny, defend, and depose written on shell casings found at the scene. We know that there were 3 of them, Kira, which again could indicate some level of dissatisfaction with the UnitedHealthcare or just the insurance agency or in industry as a whole. Police are working with Thompson's family and colleagues to determine if he had received any specific threats leading up to that attack, Kira.

Alright. Morgan Norwood. We'll continue to follow the search

for the suspect. Thank you. So 2 kindergarten students are in critical condition after a shooting at an elementary school in California. Police say the gunman opened fire at the Feather River Adventist in Oroville. 2 students were shot.

The shooter then turned the gun on himself. Our Melissa Dawn is there with more. Melissa.

The FBI now teaming up with local authorities here in Butte County, California. They are sharing some more of a sort of timeline, what they know so far about that suspect. They have ID'd the suspect, but are not yet sharing their identity. Sharing with us, however, that the suspect was dropped off here at the school with a ride share, then walked in to have a meeting with the school's principal. The principal then telling authorities that he did not suspect any red flags, nothing alarming during their meeting.

They discussed possibly enrolling a child here at the school. Well, moments after that, that's when witnesses say that the shooter walked outside into the classroom area and shot at 2 students shortly after that, turning the gun onto themselves. Well, those 2 students, ages 56, kindergarten boys, they were rushed to the hospital. They are in extremely critical condition, and we're waiting updates, of course, for their recovery.

Alright. Melissa, Dawn, thank you. And a fast moving winter storm is triggering whiteout conditions across the great lakes and the northeast. Millions of people now under snow alerts. Snow piling up on the roads, making for treacherous travel conditions.

Our Trevor Alt is actually in Watertown, New York near the Canadian border. Hey, Trevor. What do you know?

Hey there, Kira. So millions of people are still under snow and wind alerts. And where we are here in Watertown, we are once again under a winter storm warning. We've got all this snow left behind from the first system that moved through. We could easily see in some areas around here another foot or 2 of snow.

And what makes this system especially dangerous is that we're also seeing some strong wind gust up to 50 miles an hour. We've been watching whiteout conditions sweeping across the plains into the upper Midwest. We sadly have seen a few more deadly incidents out there on the roads. Even today, saw another incident, bet traffic backup at the very least on I 90. This is south of Buffalo.

Westbound traffic backed up because of these incidents, and it could continue to get worse through the afternoon into the evening in western New York. In northern New York where we are could get very dicey. We also wanna remind people that there are risks to this weather beyond just driving. Officials in Buffalo say this week, 2 people died after suffering heart attacks when they were shoveling and snow blowing. It is a good reminder for your older family members.

Gotta be cautious. Take your time even with all this snow coming down. Kira.

Alright. Trevor Alt, thank you. Well, that winter storm has millions of people under threat for life threatening cold. Meteorologist Brittany Bell of our ABC station here in New York or in New York rather is tracking it for us. Brittany, tell us more.

Kira, this round of rain, snow, and gusty winds will continue through tomorrow. Right now, we have most of that snow falling around the Great Lakes and the northeast. Here's a look at all of the winter alerts stretching from Michigan all the way towards New York state. And look at West Virginia, the Appalachians, a blizzard warning. Whiteout conditions could lead to dangerous travel.

Over the next day or so, snowfall totals could range on the lower end between 3 to 6 inches from Pennsylvania all the way towards Maine. And lake effect snow, another round, 6 to 12 inches off of Lake Erie, but for Lake Ontario, 1 to 2 feet near Watertown. Winds of gust as high as 45 to 55 miles per hour. That could lead to small tree damage, even, some power outages, and it could be an issue for some of those Christmas decorations, so make sure those are secure. When it comes to the chill, this deep freeze is on the way.

We could have real field temperatures early tomorrow morning dropping below 0 in some areas. 5 below in Asheville. It could feel like 12 degrees in New York City tomorrow morning. And look at Tallahassee, 28 degrees. There's even a cold weather advisory for the Gulf Coast.

Looking ahead to this weekend and next week, warmer weather is on the way with temperatures climbing into the fifties Monday in New York City, near 60 in Atlanta on Sunday, and Memphis, a high of 55 on Sunday. Back to you.

Alright. Britney, thanks so much. Coming up, the DOJ deep dive into a racist police department. Justice, retiree Nichols, next.

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Glad you're streaming with us. Excessive force and racist routines. That's how the justice department Memphis police officers carried out their beat, discriminating against black people. The investigation began after the beating death of Tire Nichols at the hands of 5 police officers. Our justice reporter, Jack Dote, joins us now with more.

So let's talk about the press conference that was held today. What did we learn?

Well, we learned the findings of their investigation, which began after, as you mentioned, the death of Tyree Nichols some 17 months ago, and the findings were in a word, troubling. They found that the department, Memphis Police Department routinely uses excessive force, that they make unlawful stops, searches, and arrests, that they discriminated against the black population in Memphis, and they actively discriminated as well against people with mental health disabilities. And they also found that they they use force against children, some as young as 8. They they found 1 case where a child was handcuffed and and, was physically restrained and actually pushed by police. So they they found this, rather quickly too.

This investigation moved rapidly, and, you know, they cited training and supervision as being really lacking in the department. And this is a department that some that that that pioneered a lot of things like, crisis intervention training and things that are supposed to be, ways of handling people with, mental health issues in a crisis, but they found repeatedly that this department failed. Assistant attorney general Kristen Clark said that they need to reform now.

The police department must stop policies that have a disproportionate effect on black people in this community. We uncovered racial disparities that cannot be explained by differences in driving behavior.

So, at at this point, typically in these cases, there's a consent decree, or an agreement between the police department and the justice department that is overseen by a federal judge that basically makes sure that they follow through on some of these reforms. However, in this case, the city of Memphis has declined to participate in any sort of consent decree with the Department of Justice, perhaps sensing that, there might be a change in the Trump justice department. In Trump's first term, then attorney general Jeff Sessions, ended the practice of consent decrees. And, under that justice department, they only issued 1 consent decree, to a part department in Massachusetts. And so, they say they will try to do the reforms on their own, without further federal intervention.

Got it, Jack. Appreciate it. We'll follow it. Thanks so much. Well, growing concerns with our schools and students struggling with mass score math scores.

Now educators are speaking out. Andrea Fuji is taking a closer look at what may behind this recent decline.

New evidence that American children are falling behind in math. In some cases, way behind.

The results are sobering.

Scores from the test called trends in international mathematics and science study found from between 2019 and 2023, American 4th graders dropped 18 points in math. 8th graders dropped 27 points.

We started this assessment in 1995, so we have essentially we have erased, the gains that, we were seeing for for decades.

Globally, the US scoring only mid pack, easily surpassed by countries in Asia and Europe. Experts point to many reasons, including COVID when education was disrupted in the US for longer than many other countries.

This decline that we're we're seeing was was there in 2015. So

all of

this cannot be blamed on COVID. We have, been struggling with this declining scores, particularly in math, for a while.

Experts say too many kids are missing class. About 17% are described as often absent.

We need to focus on the students that have been, struggling for a while now, and that is where I I I wanna leave it for, as a country to sort of ponder.

And our thanks to Andrea Fuji for that. Well, coming up, what's brewing? Big changes are coming to Starbucks. We'll hear from the coffee giant's new CEO next.

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