Becomes law. Lastditch challenge the president calls on supporters tomarch on washington to protest the election, and more than 100 House Republicans may try to block joe bidens certification as president. Only on cbs news a princeton scholar who was held hostage for years by iran has an ominous warning for the incoming president about irans intentions, and what that mean for america. Could mean for america. New year, new severe weather. Cars sliding off roads, and blizzardlike conditions in the plains. Plus, new tornado threats tonight. Caught on Camera Police rescue a mom and daughter from the chilly waters of baltimores inner harbor. And, we go on the road with Steve Hartman how a broken light became a beacon for kindness. This is the cbs evening news with norah odonnell, reporting from the nations capital. Brennan good evening to our viewers in the west. And happy new year. Norah is off. I am margaret brennan. We begin tonight with sobering numbers on the coronavirus pandemic. Confirmed cases in the u. S. Now top 20 million nearly a quarter of the worlds total. Half of americas cases were reported in the past two months. Tonight, the covid death toll has passed 347,000. And that new strain of the virus thats far easier to catch has now been found in a third state florida. That strain accounts for about 60 of new infections in london, england, and researchers fear it could spread quickly in this country. Infections are already racing out of control in california. Los angeles county has reportedly shut down five clinics, shifting those doctors and staff to hospitals that are overwhelmed by covid patients. The slow rollout of the Covid Vaccines isnt helping matters. And now, a pharmacist in wisconsin has been arrested after admitting to tampering with hundreds of vaccine doses. Tonight, dozens of patients are wondering if the shots they received were spoiled. There is a lot of new reporting for you and your family tonight, our team of correspondents is following it all, beginning with Manuel Bojorquez in south florida. Good evening, manny. Reporter good evening, margaret. Officials say that new case of the covid variant was reported in a man in his 20s with no travel history. The announcement came on the same day that florida broke its singleday record for new cases with more than 17,000. The new year also brought a new strain of covid to florida. Finding variants is key to stopping new clusters. But the u. S. Is doing only a fraction of the genetic sequencing needed, says james lu, president of helix, a Company Helping to track the presence of this new strain. Were probably undersampling. Were likely to be having some circulation of that within the community itself. Reporter first identified in the u. K. , its believed to be 50 more contagious, and there is growing worry that these few cases might be the tip of the iceberg, because it spreads faster. Daniella levine cava is mayor of miamidade county. How concerned are you about a more contagious variant out there . I am very concerned. This new variant, more contagious, just tells us once again that this is not childs play. Reporter in philadelphia, groups gathered to protest the cancellation of the historic new years day mummers parade, while in new york, deputy sheriffs shut down several illegal new years eve parties. In california, hundreds attended a religious service, and protested indoor limitations on churches. Theres greater good in being here than there is being afraid of a virus. Reporter 40 of new cases are coming from southern states. In texas, hospitalization ization records haveoken at been least four days straight, up 36 in the last month. California is averaging 250 deaths a day, a 300 increase from a month ago. In the epicenter of los angeles, someone is dying from the virus every ten minutes. Many hospitals are overwhelmed. So are healthcare workers. Scott brickner is a nurse at cedars sinai hospital. Its like treading water from 100 feet below the surface. Youre already drowning, but you just have to keep trying, because thats what you can do. Reporter as for the new covid variant, officials do believe the approved vaccines should protect against it. In the meantime, here in florida, hospitalizations are up 49 in the past month. Margaret. Brennan Manuel Bojorquez, thank you. The vaccine rollout has been moving far slower than the Trump Administration projected. Only a fraction of the promised doses have been administered. And now, there has been an act of sabotage. Cbss Nikki Battiste has those late details. Reporter police have arrested a wisconsin pharmacist who admitted to tampering with more than 500 doses of the moderna vaccine, rendering them potentially ineffective. The individual was suspended, and admitted to intentionally removing the vaccine from refrigeration. Reporter his motive is still unknown, but the f. B. I. Is now involved. Aurora healthcare says dozens were vaccinated from those tampered vials. The 57 recipients of those vaccines have been notified. Vaccines have been notified. At this time, there is no evidence that the vaccinations pose any harm to them. Reporter across the country, there are continued glitches with the vaccine rollout. In west virginia, 42 people were accidentally given regeneron antibodies instead of the vaccine. In oregon, a hospital employee was hospitalized after having a severe allergic reaction to the moderna vaccine, but is recovering. Nationwide, 20 million first doses were supposed to be in peoples arms by now. So far, just 12. 5 million doses have been distributed. Three million havellion have actually been administered. Its been just 12 days, theres two holidays, theres been three major snowstorms, and i believe that uptake will increase significantly. Reporter new jersey is moving forward, converting abandoned bigbox stores into largescale vaccination sites. Americans can have hope . Americans should have hope, and you know, we have to do better, no question about it, but we will do better. Reporter mayor bill de blasio says his new years resolution is to get one million new york City Residents a vaccine by the end of january. So far, the city has received nearly 360,000 vaccines, but only about 98,000 doses have been given. The mayor says vaccine hubs will be launched to help expedite distribution. Margaret. Brennan well be watching that, thank you, nicki. Today, for the first time, congress voted to override a veto from President Trump. At issue is a massive defense bill which the president wanted to use to strip power from technology companies. He also objected to foreign aid and the removing of names of confederate officials from military institutions. Heres cbss weijia jiang. The bill, on reconsideration, is passed. Reporter republicans and democrats united against President Trump, delivering the first veto override of his term. The president attempted to block passage of the defense bill, a critical budget and policy measure that helps fund the military. The override marks a rare public rebuke of mr. Trump by his own party. Weve passed this legislation 59 years in a row, and one way or another, were going to complete the 60th annual n. D. A. A. Reporter President Trump remained out of sight on this new years day, but on twitter, promoted what he called the big protest to stop the steal. The president s supporters plan to pack washington on wednesday, when congress will certify the election results. Late tonight a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by texas congressman Louie Gohmert who claimed Vice President mike pence has the sole power to decide the outcome of the election, which is not true. Gohmert also said more than 140 housemembers have pledged to objection to president elect joe bidens victory. Republican josh hawley is so far the only senator who has said he plans to do the same. Cbs news has learned Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell held a Conference Call on thursday, asking hawley to lay out his plans, but hawley was not on it. Meanwhile, georgia g. O. P. Senator david perdue is fighting to keep his seat in a Runoff Election on tuesday, but hes quarantining after someone on his campaign tested positive for covid 19. We have been testing our team regularly. Reporter the georgia runoffs will determine control of the u. S. Senate. With stakes so high, today, Vice President pence announced he will campaign there on monday in addition to a rally President Trump is holding. President elect biden and Vice President elect harris also plan to hold events in georgia before election day. Margaret. Brennan high stakes. Thank you, weijia jiang. Tonight, u. S. Military officials tell cbs news that iran and its militias may be planning to act against a u. S. Embassy or military base in the region. This as a top iranian commander is vowing revenge for the u. S. Air strike that killed general Qassem Soleimani one year ago. With tension mounting, we spoke with an american recently released from an iranian prison. This is the Birthday Gift my son has drawn. Brennan thats a great picture nice work yeah, and its all by me brennan after 3. 5 years of separation, princeton scholar xiyue wangs best birthday present was time spent with his wife hua and their son shaofan. How old are you . Seven. Brennan seven when i came back, when we had our first meeting, he recognized me instantly, and that was a very touching moment. Brennan his son was just a toddler when xiyue was imprisoned in iran on fabricated charges of espionage. laughter xiyue says hes just a scholar, and targeted because hes american. The ministry of intelligence interrogator told me clearly that they need me as a spy to convict me so that they can do a deal with the united states. Brennan your captor explicitly told you thats what they were doing . Very explicitly, yes. And youre not the First American and you can be assured very explicitly, yes. That youre not the last american to be in iranian jail. Brennan in december 2019, President Trump swapped a jailed iranian scientist for xiyue. Do you think iran got what it wanted . They didnt get everything they had hoped for, i think. They wanted money. They told me they wanted their frozen assets be released to them. Brennan at least three other americans are still being held. Xiyue met one, siamak namazi, in prison. President elect biden wants to try out diplomacy with iran to tackle its nuclear program, but expert Suzanne Maloney says that shouldnt be the only issue. There needs to be negotiations around the nuclear issue, but that doesnt mean subordinating the other sets of concerns, particularly the lives of americans who are held in iranian prisons. Brennan xiyue is urging biden to make returning the americans his first priority. Without their return no deal with iran. Brennan now, xiyue is urging president elect biden not to lift financial pressure off iran. The biden team has offered to rejoin the iran nuclear deal, which would lift sanctions worth billions and lay the groundwork for future talks. The Biden Team Tells cbs news, it will also work to reunite americans. The slow Covid Vaccine rollout here means Many Americans will have to wait months to be vaccinated. But in poorer nations, the wait could be years. A handful of rich countries, including the u. S. And canada, have 14 of the worlds population, but control 53 of the vaccine supply. Heres cbss elizabeth palmer. Reporter every morning, new covid victims arrive at tehrans main cemetery. The bodies are disinfected before grieving families lay them to rest. Across the developing world, the pandemic has hit hard, with over half a million dead, and no access to vaccines rich countries have locked up. How balanced is the distribution of the vaccines globally at the moment . A country like canada has more than 10 doses per capita. Big parts of the poorest countries in the world have not secured a single dose yet. Reporter in tel aviv, overjoyed medical staff welcomed their very first vaccine lelivery. Staff welcomed their very first vaccine delivery. รน israel is israel is aiming to vaccinate its entire population by march, before most african countries can even get started. The oxfordastrazeneca vaccine, just approved here in the u. K. , could be a gamechanger. Cheap, easy to transport and to store it looks like it might be the answer for billions of people in the developing world. People in the developing world. But but the rollout will take time. And until its well under way, were all vulnerable. We know that highincome countries arent safe unless everybody in the world is safe. We have to protect everybody. Reporter global immunization will give us back safe travel, healthy economies and a return to normal, but epidemiologists say probably not before 2023. Elizabeth palmer, cbs news, london. Brennan theres still much more news ahead on tonights cbs evening news. A new years storm leaves an icy mess in the plains and midwest as it heads now to new england. New and, theres some muchneeded good news for workers struggling to make ends meet. Brennan the new year is brennan the new year is bringing freezing rain and snow to the great plains and much of the midwest. In oklahoma, icy roads made for slick driving conditions. There were downed trees, and Power Outages from kansas to ohio. And in georgia, a tornado flipped a mobile home on its side. But, no one was hurt. Many americans got a raise today, when the minimum wage went up in parts of the country. All told, 20 states and 32 cities and counties are raising their pay rates. In 27 of them, the minimum wage is now 15 an hour. Five other states, along with 18 cities and counties, are set to raise wages later this year. Today, police in baltimore released footage of a harrowing water rescue. A woman had jumped into the inner harbor with her sixyear old daughter last month. Officers dove in after them. The little girl was unresponsive when they pulled her out. They drove her to the hospital in their patrol car. The good news is, both mother and child survived. On the road with Steve Hartman is next. An electrician was asked to change a light, and he ended up changing a life. Brennan as pai brennan as painful as 2020 was, cbss Steve Hartman shared stories that gave us hope. Tonight, steves back on the road to revisit a favorite. Reporter any electrician can flip a switch. But only john kinney of woburn, massachusetts can make a customer light up like this. Please dont pinch me because i dont want to wake up. Reporter thats one fine i dont want to wake up. Thats one fine electrician. Oh, a thousand times over. Reporter as we first reported a few months ago, it all starred when 73yearold gloria scott called john to fix a ceiling light. But he soon discovered that broken light was the least of her problems. Too poor to make any house repairs, and too prideful to ask for help, glorias house was in total disrepair. No lights, no running water. Yeah, i think i seen her on a friday and it stuck with me over the weekend, and i said, i got to go back there, you know. Reporter so john returned and started working for free. He also started a Facebook Page titled, nice old lady needs help, where he called on other tradespeople to join him. On the Facebook Page, you said, its not like were trying to rebuild her whole house. Yeah, well, now it looks like we are reporter it sure does. This whole porch is going to get rebuilt. You can see up there, thats where a lot of raccoons and stuff were getting in. Reporter they spent months putting in all new electrical, all new plumbing, new windows and walls and ceilings. Almost everything got repaired or replaced, from the back yard lawn to the front porch steps. Wow its what youre supposed to do. Reporter its what youre supposed to do. Seems the whole town of woburn has bought into that mantra. And as a result, today, the old eyesore is a sight for sore eyes all her blight replaced with pure delight. I cant even comprehend the gratitude that i have. Reporter john is equally speechless. Yep. Its just theres no words for it, you know. Reporter its not going to end with this house though either, is it . I dont want it to. And thats why we put a name to it, the glorias gladiators, and we want to keep going with this. Reporter john is now setting up chapters of glorias gladiators across the country, helping seniors in similar situations. Seniors like gloria scott, who had a broken light, but now shines brightly, thanks to an electrician hardwired for kindness. Steve hartman, on the road, in woburn, massachusetts. Brennan well be right back. Brennan sunday on face the brennan sunday on face the nation, my guests will include dr. Moncef slaoui, the head of operation warp speed, and former f. D. A. Commissioner dr. Scott gottlieb. If you cant watch us live, set your dvr so you can watch us later. And that is tonights cbs evening news. Im margaret brennan. Norah odonnell is back on monday. I will see you sunday. Have a good night. Captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org right now at seven. A terrible start to this new year, when we are hoping for less anger and hatred. Contoso many of the pelosis home targeted by vandals. The message they spraypainted and the disturbing objects left behind. Tip off just minutes away for the warriors home opener. Were live in chase center. A live look at san jose, stayathome orders are supposed to end this weekend but tonight, many are bracing for an extension. We all invested quite a bit of money and the goal post, they were continually being moved. Right now, a disturbing discovery at House Speaker nancy pelosisa