TV News LIES

Mudslides buried cars and homes up to their windows in a California mountain town as a powerful storm system brought the wettest Christmas in decades to the southern part of the state.

As much as 12in of rain fell across the area on Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service, triggering flooding and washing out roads.

Local authorities issued an evacuation warning for Wrightwood, California, a town of just under 5,000 people around 80 miles (130km) north-east of Los Angeles, as images showed mud and debris engulfing homes and vehicles. The San Bernardino county fire department on Thursday night stated that one person was injured in the slide, but that weather conditions were expected to improve and there was no ongoing safety threat.

The town remained under an evacuation warning on Friday morning with some surrounding roads closed, according to the county’s emergency service system.

There was still a risk of more flash flooding and mudslides on Friday around Los Angeles, the National Weather Service warned, even as the rain began to ease up.

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Republicans are attempting to exempt some major polluters from paying for Pfas “forever chemical” cleanup. If successful, it could mark a major setback in US effort to rein in Pfas pollution.

The Republican-led House energy and commerce committee recently held a hearing at which it invited representatives from the water treatment and landfill industries, among others, to make the case about why they should be exempted from rules that hold polluters financially accountable for the cleanup of two types of dangerous Pfas.

Water treatment plants and landfills are major polluters and represent critical points in the effort to curb Pfas water pollution nationwide. Utilities already have to remove hundreds of chemicals, so it is unclear why they are so opposed to removing two types of Pfas, said Scott Faber, vice-president of government affairs for the Environmental Working Group non-profit.

“The only real difference is Pfas are more toxic … so the fact that water utilities and landfills are being such crybabies about Pfas says something about how little regard for public health they have,” Faber said.

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A powerful winter storm swept across California on Wednesday, with heavy rain and gusty winds.

The storm led to evacuation warnings for mudslides in the south, near white-out snow conditions in the mountains and hazardous travel for millions of holiday drivers. In addition, a fallen tree killed a man in San Diego Wednesday morning.

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday also declared a state of emergency in six counties, including San Diego, to allow state assistance in storm response.

Forecasters said Southern California could see its wettest Christmas in years and warned about flash flooding and mudslides. Areas scorched by January’s wildfires were under evacuation warnings, and Los Angeles County officials said Tuesday they were going door to door to about 380 especially vulnerable homes to order residents to evacuate.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department also issued an evacuation warning Wednesday morning for the community of Wrightwood, a mountain resort town in the San Gabriel Mountains about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles, due to potential debris flows from the storm.

Debris and mud were seen rushing down the road leading into Wrightwood in a social media video posted by county fire officials. Crews were working to evacuate some homes, the post said. County officials didn’t immediately return questions about the evacuation.

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Forecasters say the first snow storm of the season to take aim at major Northeast cities will dump several inches of snow over the weekend, followed by a bitter Arctic blast courtesy of the polar vortex.

The cold won't last, as forecasters expect winter reprieve in the form of a coast-to-coast mild spell, which could doom dreams of a White Christmas for millions.

But first, the weekend storm will spread light to moderate amounts of snow across the central and northeastern U.S.

Calling it a 'baby Nor'easter," Weather Trader meteorologist Ryan Maue said in an email to USA TODAY that a huge population will see at least 3 inches of snowfall from the storm.

On Sunday Dec. 14, "Snowfall could be heavy in a burst of 3-6 hours and add up 3 inches to 6 inches – maybe more," he said.

By the time the storm is over later Sunday Dec. 14, 1 to 6 inches of snow will have fallen along a 1,500-mile swath from the northern Plains to the shores of southern New England, according to an online forecast from AccuWeather. The storm will focus along much of Interstate 70 in the Ohio Valley region and then along the heavily populated I-95 corridor from Maryland to Massachusetts.

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A 7.0 magnitude earthquake has rocked Alaska on Saturday, Dec. 6, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

The earthquake occurred in northeast of Yakutat, Alaska, the USGS said.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Yakutat had a total population of about 657 in 2020 and 332 housing units in 2023. Yakutat is over 300 miles from Anchorage, where the earthquake was also felt, the USGS's interactive map shows.

NASA's Earth Observatory said on average, there are 18 major earthquakes measuring between 7.0 and 7.9. And one great earthquake that's 8.0 or larger every year.

What does magnitude mean in an earthquake?

Magnitude is a measurement of the strength of an earthquake. Officially, it's called the moment magnitude scale. It's a logarithmic scale, meaning each number is 10 times as strong as the one before it. So a 5.0 earthquake is 10 times stronger than a 4.0.

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President Trump on Wednesday weakened vehicle mileage rules for the auto industry, loosening pollution restrictions.

The proposal reduces fuel economy requirements set by former President Biden. The administration claimed the reversal would boost access to and the affordability of gasoline vehicles.

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) warned that Republicans will face political “headwinds” ahead of the 2026 elections after the GOP won a closer-than-expected Tennessee special election.

“The opposition party tends to be more motivated, their voters are motivated. So in a special election or off-year elections the turnout models are significantly different than they would be in an even-numbered year. You probably saw that in Tennessee,” Thune told reporters.

And Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth remains under scrutiny as Republican lawmakers wrestle over how to respond to allegations the defense secretary committed a war crime with a deadly boat strike in the Caribbean. The military struck the alleged drug-trafficking boat four times.

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