experts to try to see how this new temporary restraining order would potentially affect that one, the hb 17, but we do know is governor elect roy cooper is still expected to take the oath of office at 12:01, just one minute into the new year. polo, i understand cooper is also cleaning house a bit with his new staff. tell us about that. absolutely. a source within his administration told me they have begun sending out dismissal letters to a few of the political appointees under the outgoing administration. of course we ve seen before, this is typically standard procedure when we have a changing of guard. however, given the significance of what s played out in raleigh, this could be bruising for the outgoing governor. it s certainly putting roy cooper on the map. polo sandoval, thank you. the whole world will be watching so what is being done to keep times square and other places across the country safe for new year s eve? that is next.
he takes office saturday. polo sandoval has more on the story. ta court weighs in. what did it decide? cooper took his fight to court to get full power when he s sworn into office. as part of the lawsuit, he requested a restraining order asking a set of republican-backed laws be blocked from taking effe they s they were passed by lawmakers and signed by the outgoing governor two weeks ago. the laws also happen to limit the powers of soon-to-be goc nor cooper. today a north carolina superior judge granted the request and set the matter for a hearing next week. we understand that at least one of those two controversial laws now on hold. here s a breakdown. the first one, senate bill 4. that would essentially end complete control by the governor over state and county election boards, something that was controversial during its introduction and passage and signage. the second, house bill 17, that one significantly curved the governor s appointment powers. we re speaking to several legal
now the chinese government also issued what is called a yellow alert. that would be the second lowest level on the chinese government s security alert system. now, specific alerts we re referring to are large and medium-sized shopping malls in the city. the government said there would be added security patrols ahead of the christmas shopping days here in beijing. now, we did see armed guards outside of the mall, that would be the mall right in the neighborhood referred to by those foreign embassies in their notifications. and we have also seen an added security presence outside the diplomatic come pounds in the city. our bureau is in a diplomatic compound and we saw the added security measures firsthand. now all of this is relatively unusual for beijing, although it does see it fair share of security incidents. it was back in 2013 that a car ran a security barricade in
diplomats to the new year and christmas children s show at the kremlin, signed yours sincerely, vladimir putin. the u.s. shut down two russian government-owned come pounds, one in new york where law enforcement was seen outside, and another in maryland, a 45-acre property purchase bd i the soviet government in 1972. today vehicles were seen leaving the maryland estate and returning to the russian embassy in washington. the white house says the russians working at the compounds were spying on the u.s. russia, however, refutes that the estates were being used for espionage. i think it s quite scandalous that they chose to go after our kids, you know? they know full well those two facility which is they mentioned in their notes, they are vacation facilities for our kids, and this is christmastime. four of the russians sanctioned by the u.s. are part of the russian military intelligence unit known as the gru. one is the usg. it s assigning blame to russia s military and intelligence