omicron subsides or new safety measures are put in place despite their 91% vaccination rate. remote learning is very negative impact on children's mental health. president biden says schools are fully equipped to stay open. >> president biden: i believe schools should remain open. they have what they need. because the american rescue plan the first or second month we were in office that i signed in march we provided the states with $130 billion with a b, billion dollars to specifically keep our students safe and schools open. >> garrett tenney is live for us from chicago. good morning. >> trace, good morning. this vote wasn't even close. the teachers union says last night's 73% voted against showing up for in-person classes today. in a move to essentially try and force the school district to go completely online. this morning the union's president defended that decision saying the city has not done enough to protect teachers and keep them safe. >> what the mayor doesn't understand is through the course of this entire pandemic the city has failed to deliver a full number of basic demands we need to school. failed to provide adequate staffing and cleaning in the schools and provide adequate testing. failed to adopt our concerns as people going to the school. >> that stands in stark contrast to what public health officials have been saying for a year now, that schools are among the safest places for kids to be. last night the public health commissioner said there is no reason to have this debate. the question has already been answered. mayor lori lightfoot blasted the union for jeopardizing public schools trying to score political points. >> what we should not be doing is allowing this leadership to shut down an entire school system for what? when our district was fully remote our children suffered. there is no disputing that reality. we should not be poll itizing the pandemic. that is a mistake. ultimately hurts our children and families. >> the big question now is how long will the stand-off last? how long will students be kept out of school because of it? the teachers union told its members this could go on as long as until january 18th. negotiations are ongoing today and the hope is they will be able to get back into class sooner than that. >> for now it's a stand-off. live in chicago. thank you, dana, here is why it's so frustrating for parents. we have learned two things. science showed us schools are not spreaders, right? not a covid spreader. we've seen studies from sweden, germany, u.k. and united states. not spreaders. but they are dangerous mentally having kids home. i want to put this up. suicide rates in mental health in early 2021 emergency department visits in the united states for suspected suicide attempts 51% higher for adolescent schools. 4% higher for adolescent boys compared to the same time period in early 2019. it is not dangerous to be in school as far as covid goes, but it is dangerous to be home as far as mental health goes. that's significant. >> dana: parents are at the end of their rope. "the new york times" work this yesterday. no way to grow up for the past two years americans have accepted more harm to children in exchange for less harm to adults. i got a message from a parent in the chicago area. she said this. most of us are completely out of emotional bandwidth after two years of covid. they've had to deal with deaths, shutdowns and the fear and uncertainty of possibly losing their job and adding this on top of it after as biden says, the school districts in the country were given $130 billion. chicago specifically was given $5.5 billion. we as american citizens prioritize teachers in order for them to be the first in line to get vaccines. 91% of them are vaccinated. now, in school districts there were times in the winter when a cold or flu bug runs rampant through. we all know that. you don't strike because of that, trace. >> but we've learned in this pandemic that the politicians have very little power when it comes to opening and closing schools. the teachers unions control the narrative here. the chicago teachers union statement reads as follows here. let us be clear. the educators of this city want to be in their classrooms with their students. we believe that our city's classrooms are where our students should be. regrettably the mayor and her cps leadership have put the safety and vibrancy of our students and their educators in jeopardy. lightfoot responded by saying we spent $100 million. this is not a safe tin i have battle but a political one. >> dana: and the weakness of lori lightfoot who doesn't have good relationships with the police and now the teachers union. they fought last year. she fought back against them last year but it didn't work well enough. >> meantime in arizona governor doug doocy is offering families up to $7,000 to help them cover the cost of switching schools if their local school moves to remote learning. the funds will go toward childcare, transportation, tutoring and other needs to make sure kids have access to in-person learning. governor doocy says the approach is driven by science citing new cdc guideens that schools implement stay policies. >> dana: travel nightmare is over. interstate 95 reopened in virginia. icy roads stranded hundreds of drives without food or water up to 24 hours. the travelers are relieved to be out of the freezing cold they wonder how was it allowed to happen in the first place? we're live in virginia. looks like traffic is moving well behind you. >> that's right. things are definitely moving on 95. much different picture than yesterday and the day before when some drivers were stuck in this spot for more than 24 hours. people who were stuck were able to get off the highway by 5:00 last night. no one was hurt. this started with the snow on monday leading to six tractor trailer crashes bringing traffic to a complete stand still and having officials make the decision to close down a 50-mile stretch of the road. some people were trapped overnight turning cars on and off every hour so they didn't run out of gas and stayed warm. temperatures dropped to the 20s. i talked to a man stuck here for eight hours and considers himself lucky he was only here that long. he told me stories about kindness, drivers passing out food and water to each other. the people next to them. his car died after five hours. someone near him gave him a jump and paid it forward by walking all the way to the next exit in front of him where him and a group of people with shovels were digging tractor trailors out themselves. >> you try to stay warm but running out of gas. i have a tractor trailer and i'm running out of gas now. >> it was bad. it was cold. i was there for like a good eight hours almost. >> it turned into a survival thing. a lot of people whose cars slid off the road. who ran out of gas. >> u.s. senator tim cain among those stuck. 27 hours to get from richmond to the capitol. he made it last night. of course, virginia's department of transportation was facing criticism over the roads and if they were pre-treated. they weren't able to retreat them because we had rain before the snow and the rain would have washed the salt away. crews were able to get 95 fully back reopened around 8:30 last night. the travel woes continue. route 1, the main secondary road where a lot of people were diverted yesterday had to fuel up a lot of cars. there are a lot of gas stations there that are running low today. dana. >> dana: domino effect. katie, thank you so much. trace, you might not be surprised to find out the virginia department of transportation is looking for a new communications manager. v dot to handle emergency response and crisis communication duties as needed. >> we talked -- you heard the man say he was in there for eight hours. we talked to somebody yesterday who was in there for 20 plus hours stuck in that traffic. we asked a trucker yesterday during this show have you seen any help? is there any federal, state, local help coming in? the answer was no. by all accounts the answer was no and then vice president kamala harris tweeted this during all of this tweeted this quoting, because of the bipartisan infrastructure law america is moving again. that's what infrastructure is all about. getting people moving and you wonder, you know, if anybody is raising their hand saying that's a bad time for that tweet to go out. >> dana: look out the window and turn on the tv. my husband sent me a note saying what about people with electric cars? it was on the minds of someone like charles lane the columnist. imagine virginia's icy traffic catastrophe but with only electric vehicles. he said if everyone had been driving electric vehicles, this mess could well have been worse. not so unprecedented event provides a reality check on the push by government and business to electricry file cars and trucks especially while so many subsidies going to help that technology come along. >> right. we'll find out if the white house has a look back and maybe a powwow on what will happen. meantime no doubt that political landscape is looking favorable for republicans in the mid-terms later this year. in an op-ed the "wall street journal"'s jerry baker says victory is not enough. quoting to save america the gop first has to save itself. jerry baker the "wall street journal" editor at large and joins us now. great to see you. your op-ed is a cash naer tale for republicans. to convert a mere electoral victory in mid-terms into genuine progress toward national regeneration will require persuasion especially of the large numbers of americans with grave doubts about the modern republican party. what you are saying here is gop has some work to do to really instill confidence in people. >> exactly, trace. that is right. the republican party stands on the threshold of an extraordinary opportunity in 2022. we have had a year of biden and the democratic party and nobody needs to look very far to see what a disaster progressive policies have been. first teachers unions refusing to go back to work in chicago. it shows you how 2022 is getting off with an indictment of progressive policies. republicans have a huge opportunity here. the key, though, i think, trace, is not just to win these mid-term elections and set the republican party up for 2024 in good shape. the problem is we live in a very divided country, a country as we know people don't trust each other, people have the same views of each other that enemies have in different parts of the world. people sometimes whether republicans or democrats think about their fellow americans as hostile to them. so there is much -- a need to get more than an electoral victory. there needs to be trust rebuilt. the republican party as well as taking the opportunity of the failures of the biden administration and the opportunity to win this year, also does need to address the concerns that people have about the republican party. no question with marking the anniversary of january 6 tomorrow there is no question a lot of people remain doubtful about whether the republican party is a party that is actually and going to keep the country safe for democracy. i think the republican party needs to address that in order to seize this opportunity again not just to win a majority but actually to really start to heal the country in the way that the democratic party and joe biden have failed to do. >> dana: i was wondering if you think about the same thing can also be happening with the democrats right now. we'll talk to a progressive in a little bit a lawmaker who is -- they basically are saying that progressive standpoint biden is deeply unpopular, they're thinking of pry marrying him if he runs in 2024 and speaker pelosi hasn't been accommodating enough to the left. i wonder if two things are happening at the same time with both parties. >> i think it's true, dana. by the way, look at what chuck schumer is doing right now. still pressing ahead with an attempt -- with build back better and now with an attempt to eliminate the filibuster in order to pass this legislation they want to pass which would -- by which the federal government would take over the running of elections are states. two democratic senators sinema and manchin have said they oppose getting rid of the filibuster. they won't do it. schumer continues to do it. why continue to press it? he wants to impress the left of his party. he might face a democratic primary challenge from aoc for example. they're being pushed in the same direction. the republican party needs to look forward. we'll hear nothing else for the next 24 hours for much of the next year about january 6th, 2021. the democrats want to push that message, they want to say the republican party is not safe. in order for the republicans to allay concerns of people it needs to not refight the 2020 election but needs the say the 2020 election is over. we didn't like the way it was conducted but it is done. donald trump continuing to say no, the next election will be about righting the flawed election of 2020, that is a terrible mistake for the republican party. it needs to look forward. it doesn't need to play the democratic party's game. >> dana: it will be talked about not only this week but in the months to come. thank you, jerry. >> thank you. >> dana: fox news alert. potential break in the harmony montgomery case. the police announced an arrest. who they busted and what it means. crime is already running rampant is new york city. manhattan's district attorney could make it worse. what he is doing putting public safety on the line right here in the big apple. there is also this. >> covid tests near me, go there, google -- covid test near me on google to find the nearest site where you can get a test. is he serious, google it? let's kick ken's ache and burn into gear! over the counter eye drops typically work by lubricating your eyes and may provide temporary relief. those drops will probably pass right by 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river in cold temperatures just over the holiday weekend. the situation just as bad elsewhere. we're live at the border in la joya, texas for an update. hi, bill. >> good morning. human smuggling remains one of the biggest issues at the southern border. texas d.p.s. telling me they're seeing it every day. sometimes multiple times in one day. look at this video they gave to us out of la salle county, troopers pulling over a truck driver who they later identified as a mexican mafia gang member. he had a trailer he was pulling. troopers start looking around and find a hidden compartment where there were 21 illegal immigrants all crammed in together up there being smuggled by this man. troopers pulled them out one-by-one. apart from being a mexican mafia member the driver had a gun on him and the truck he was driving was stolen. he was arrested. then take a look at this video out of palm view, texas, human smuggling case. they pulling over a female driver. troopers talked to her and realized she has 5 or 6 people in the back seat. she also was transporting illegal immigrants. what happens is these people will get picked up from stash houses, cartel stash houses and cartel's offer easy indication to people to transport the migrants further into the united states. take a look at this video we shot here where we're standing in la joya, texas. a group of runners. we aren't seeing nearly the amount of family units that we typically do turning themselves in. so far this trip this week it has been all runners. to that point look at this video we shot also here of border patrol looking for groups of runners who came across using helicopters. people in the brush, agents all over the place. looking in residential neighborhoods as well. right on americans' door steps. in this case in particular they were not able to find these runners. that sometimes is the case. those people then become gotaways and back out here live significant number of gotaways here just in the rio grande valley sector already just since october 1. a source telling us more than 12,500 confirmed gotaways just in a few months. send it back to you incredible. henry cuellar will be with us. he criticized president biden's response to the crisis. >> trace: president biden is campaigning crushing the virus but today there are record new infections, empty store shelves and long lines for a covid test. admiral brett giroir reacts to all that yet. yale banning students from eating at outdoor restaurants until next month even after requiring them to get the covid booster shot. one of the many restrictions imposed upon college kids. >> vo: my car is my after-work decompression zone. ♪ music ♪ >> vo: so when my windshield broke... i found the experts at safelite autoglass. they have exclusive technology and service i can trust. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ hello, for the last few years, i've been a little obsessed with chasing the big idaho potato truck. but it's not 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a test and you come up positive, you should continue to isolate until day 10. for administration that consistently says it is led by the science, this policy does create a strange sort of gap where folks who are positive and they cannot get access to a test and do not want to test themselves may still be positive after day 10 -- excuse me after day 5 but wouldn't know that because there is no requirement to test themselves. the new policy also notes a negative rapid test doesn't necessarily mean that you are infection-free. just because of the nature of this antigen test they are recommending. the policy change itself was in response to massive public backlash over the cdc shortening its recommended isolation time from business leaders saying the 10 days was strange the economy. isolation could end sooner with appropriate testing. new cdc guidance had no recommendations for testing because tests are scarce. the country was not where it needed to be. >> we know that right now for tests. this was an advance of the holidays for understandable reasons. people wanted to see loved ones and tested before they saw them and we were not where we needed to be. we're still not. >> not only are tests arriving too late but doctors are complaining the purchase of the antiviral pills won't have a impact because of limited supply. the white house doubled its order yesterday and 4 million covid treatments will be on hand by the end of january. the strain on hospitals is already mounting. meantime states are accusing the white house of limiting their ability to purchase monoclonal antibodies and other therapeutics because the white house has purchasing them in bulk and hoarding them from the states. the other side of the argument is that if the white house is not doing this there could have been a bidding war. >> trace: thank you, jackie. >> president biden: i'm directing my team to work with pfizer to double our order from 10 million to 20 million treatment courses on testing. i know this remains frustrating believe me, it is frustrating to me. but we're making improvements. in the last two weeks we've stood up federal testing sites all over the country. >> dana: president biden yesterday trying to ease anxiety over the pandemic as the u.s. shatters a single day record. a million new cases recording monday. the fast spread is creating chaos for air travel and leading for hours of testing. let's bring in admiral giroir and the testing czar with the trump administration. the back and forth of the white house yesterday. jen psaki closes this out. this is what they said they were going to do on testing and where she says we are today. watch. we don't have it. basically she says the first delivery from manufacturers will start later this month and then we'll work to get it out the door as quickly as possible. in regards to the fact they said right before christmas they would get 500 million tests out to americans. by the time they get the tests to americans the omicron surge will likely be behind us at that point. >> you are exactly correct. the problem we have right now there was a lack of federal orders for tests between january and september. so as we saw the industry really cratered the manufacturing lines were taken down, people laid off, and now we're really behind the 8 ball. we are where we are right now. that 500 million tests if you look at the government's rfp it will be over three months. that's a drop in the bucket. so what we really need to do now is use those tests smartly. i see no indication that the administration is doing that. you talked about isolation. everyone who tests positive you could send them one of those tests to test at day five. we should be sending it to the elderly and those with co-morbid conditions to test early and get the pfizer or merck drug. we're seeing no indication of leadership, just more confusing guidelines from the cdc. >> dana: it is shocking. the cdc is the center for disease control. you need the public to trust them. the president said this again yesterday call for two. this is where he said something hundreds of times before. i took exception to it. watch here. >> president biden: there is no excuse. no excuse for anyone being unvaccinated. this continues to be a pandemic of the unvaccinated. we have to make more progress. and for patients who still haven't gotten your kids vaccinated please get them vaccinated. >> dana: does that still hold water? i spent christmas week sicker than i've been in decades and i have had all the shots even the flu shot. i am glad i have the vaccines. i know it kept me out of the possible or possible death. this is not just about the unvaccinated anymore. it is everybody can spread it. >> you are exactly right. i want everybody to know that getting vaccinated with omicron getting a booster is very important to your protection especially if you are elderly or high-risk. you are correct. because omicron circumvents immunity both vaccine and natural immunity, you know, people in the hospital now they won't tell you the figures but i'm sure that a majority of the people in the hospital have at least been vaccinated doubly and we all know people who gotten the booster and still getting omicron. i think it's a disservice to say it is just by the unvaccinated because it is telling the vaccinated that you don't have a problem. you are not subject to omicron. that's false. so it is not only incorrect information, i think it is doing a disservice to public health by blaming it on the unvaccinated people. this is a problem we all have to face. vaccinated, unvaccinated. we need to get our booster, we need to have plans if we do get sick in a high-risk group we can get antibodies or those oral antiviral therapies. >> dana: some of the things the government needs to step up but what you are saying here we see no signs of that. no urgency. old language being recycled. >> we're not. look at the cdc new recommendations. after five days if you can find the tests and if you want one go take an antigen test. that's not a recommendation. how about say if you can find a vaccine and you want to take one. no, make a recommendation. the recommendation should be that after five days if you are going to be in a high-risk situation and a food server or work in hospitals, if you are going to be around a lot of people you should take a test before you leave the home. in the united kingdom it is seven days of isolation followed by two antigen tests. that makes sense. when we have a million cases and remember, that million cases is probably underestimated by three. we're having three million new cases a day we have to be cautious and taking a test to get out of isolation seems incredibly reasonable. the government can fix this. send tests to the people who are positive. state and local health departments know who they are. >> dana: as a former testing czar it must frustrate you to see all these lines. people standing in line for hours to get a test. admiral, we'll stay in touch. thank you. >> trace: will nancy pelosi's expected retirement from leadership push the democratic further to the left? we'll ask a progressive lawmaker about that. president biden's first year was marked by countless scandals. were any of his cabinet members held accountable? voiceover: riders. wanderers on the road of life. the journey is why they ride. when the road is all you need, there is no destination. uh, i-i'm actually just going to get an iced coffee. well, she may have a destination this one time, but usually -- no, i-i usually have a destination. yeah, but most of the time, her destination is freedom. nope, just the coffee shop. announcer: no matter why you ride, progressive has you covered with protection starting at $79 a year. voiceover: 'cause she's a biker... please don't follow me in. subway's eat fresh refresh™ has so many new footlongs. refresh! here's how they line up. we got the new chicken & bacon ranch, new baja steak & jack, and the new baja chicken & bacon, aka “the smokeshow”" save big. order through the app. new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. when you sponsor a job, you immediately get your shortlist of quality candidates, whose resumes on indeed match your job criteria. visit indeed.com/hire and get started today. earn about covid-19, whose resumes on indeed match your job criteria. the more questions we have. the biggest question now, what's next? what will covid bring in six months, a year? if you're feeling anxious about the future, you're not alone. calhope offers free covid-19 emotional support. call 833-317-4673, or live chat at calhope.org today. >> trace: so much for accountability. president biden's first year in office had a lot of crises. afghanistan to the border and that's the short list. despite the blunders no one in the administration has been fired or even demoted. lucas tomlinson with more on this. >> that's right. nobody fired, demoted beginning the hasty withdrawal from afghanistan and the suicide attack that killed 13 american troops. the administration said it evacuated people u.s. officials investigating the withdrawal say thousands of afghan commandos who fought side-by-side with our troops against the taliban have been left behind and now abandoned and hunted down by the taliban. critics say when the u.s. military abandoned the bag gram air base leaving the keys to the taliban it contributed to the decline of the afghan forces leading to the fall of kabul. many critics taking a shot at dr. anthony fauci for making the following prediction about the coronavirus in june. given the country as the whole the fact we have 50% of adults fully vaccinated, 62% of adults having received at least one dose as a nation i feel fairly certain you won't see the kind of surges we've seen in the past. senator rand paul hit back on dr. fauci saying he has been wrong in just about everything including testing. >> if you test everyone all the time for no symptoms it leads to lockdown. so really the shortage of tests is also a bad public policy saying let's test everyone. i think we should test people who are sick and i think we should quarantine the sick but not those who are not sick. >> southern border record number of illegal my grants, the most encounters on record. >> lucas tomlinson live in d.c. thank you. >> dana: speaker nancy pelosi is expected to step down if her leader schupp role after this year's mid-term election. her exit would create an opportunity for progressive democrats eager to steer the party in a new direction. here is ro khanna from california. making tech work for all of us is a book. let's talk about this. "new york post" says unnamed democratic source. i believe if democrats retain the majority in 2023 she will stick around for one more congress. if not i suspect she will defer fora new generation of leadership. why do you think that generation of leadership if there is a change should come from the progressive side when arguably the progressive case has brought down biden's numbers so much? >> dana, there are policies the progressives are for that are popular, making sure seniors from dental, vision and hearing aids. that is off the charts. making sure we're negotiating to bring down the cost of prescription drugs at a time of inflation. those are things the house should push for and get to the president's desk. >> dana: do you think that speaker pelosi has been accommodating enough to the progressive caucus? >> in light of the circumstances on most issues, yes. the two places where i wish she would push more is on the expansion of medicare especially increasing benefits for seniors, and i think we need stronger provisions on actually holding pharmaceutical and drug companies accountable to lower costs. we campaign on this year after year. it is time we had medicare negotiate and lower the costs. >> dana: do you think all the talk from progressives and also from me, from people here, all across the country speculating on her stepping down as speaker after this year's mid-term elections which the democrats are expected to lose, do you think that is hurting her ability to get things done now? >> we're still fighting to make sure we retain the majority. i don't think so. i think people respect her. she has a lot of respect across the caucus as does the president. i don't think anyone is saying we -- whether we know or what she will do next term. >> dana: there are 25 house democrats so far who have announced they aren't going the seek reelection. you can see them there across the board. some in party leadership, right, probably realize they've been there a while and want to move on because they don't want to be in the minority again. but this corresponds with president biden's approval rating. at the real clear politics average you have seen the deklain from the mid 50s of approval to now i would say the low to mid 40s. you had this quote from trent who said this. he used to be a communications director for alexandria ocasio-cortez about biden. he says he is deeply unpopular. old as [bleep] and largely inspective and will get demolished in the mid-terms. does president biden have a problem. turning out the base, if the progressives feel that trent suggests they are will that the basically mean that biden has even a tougher road ahead? >> i know and like trent but he doesn't speak for the progressive movement across this country. the president has delivered as you know on infrastructure, he delivered on the american rescue plan. he is still working on build back better. look, covid has really spiked and inflation is a real concern. so it's understandable why americans are anxious. we're going to have to address both of those in the next three months. if we do that successfully then i think we can still have a successful mid-term. >> dana: do you want president biden to run again in 2024? >> i do. he defeated president trump and i believe he is the best person to do that again if president trump runs. and so he is our incumbent president and leader and president reagan was in the low 40s at one point. these numbers go up and down. i believe president biden still will recover and be strong. >> dana: the white house will be glad to hear it. thank you, congressman, great to see you. >> thank you. >> trace: new york city's district attorney said he will stop seeking prison sentences in a number of criminals cases. why critics are saying those progressive policies are destroying the city. plus white house chief of staff says biden's first year in office is scandal-free. our next guest says that's because the main news outlets aren't covering the scandals at all. coming up next. people everywhere living with type 2 diabetes are waking up to what's possible... with rybelsus®. the majority of people taking rybelsus® lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than 7. rybelsus® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't take rybelsus® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop rybelsus® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. taking rybelsus® with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. wake up to the possibility of lower a1c with rybelsus®. you may pay as little as $10 for up to a 3-month prescription. ask your healthcare provider about rybelsus® today. ♪ ♪ learning is hard work. hard work requires character. learning begins in faith. it must move upwards toward the highest thing, unseen at the beginning - god. and freedom is essential to learning. its principles must be studied and defended. learning, character, faith, and freedom: these are the inseparable purposes of hillsdale college. veteran homeowners, if you've been dreaming about improving your home but think your dream learning, character, faith, and freedom: is out of reach, think again. you can make it happen with your va home loan benefit and the newday100 va loan. by borrowing up to 100% of your home's value, you can take out up to $60,000 or more, and lower your payments by an average of $615 every month. no one knows veterans like newday usa. >> trace: white house chief of staff ron klain saying 2021 was not such a bad year arguing the biden administration is more honest, competent and mostly scandal-free. fox news contributor jonathan turley said this is simply not true. here is what he wrote on foxnews.com quoting media and biden administration cover up the three scandals. scandal-free year. if there is no coverage, there is no scandal. professor turley joins us now and a professor at george washington university. the three scandals on the screen. one you are talking about the hunter biden laptop, biden family influence meddling and the ashley biden diary and write quoting here, ask yourself what the media would have done with a diary from ivanka trump with these allegations and foreign influence peddling by the trump children? i think it would be the headline of the rachel maddow show. >> we don't have to wonder, trace. because all last year the media was pursuing every possible foreign peddling theory, any influence through the children of donald trump. and i actually had no objection to that. it was a legitimate interest into whether a foreign countries or companies were influencinging the president through their family. what i object to is the inverse of what we've seen with the biden administration. starting with the hunter biden laptop of course you had twitter and other companies banning anyone who even talked about the laptop. even though the biden campaign never denied it was hunter biden's laptop. they just wouldn't confirm it. people mentioned in the emails confirmed their authenticity. the media had this blackout on it. then after it was acknowledged that this is his laptop, at least most people conclude it is his laptop, the media still really didn't pursue the influence peddling schemes that came out of these emails. the biden family has a long history of influence peddling. it includes not just hunter biden but his uncle. what is troubling is that those emails implicate the president. they have various code names for the president like celtic or the big guy. but they refer to accounts being nixed in terms of assets between some of these very dubious contracts and payments of the president's bills and yet the media is just uninterested. the concern is that this creates a defacto state media. that there aren't any scandals if nobody covers them. >> the hill op-ed let's be honest, 2021 wasn't all bad. the biden team is more honest also more competent. i don't think we talk about things like the president saying build back better is totally paid for but it is interesting because it goes back to an op-ed you recently wrote about the president having this tendency to indict people to convict people without due process like the border patrol agents who he said whipped the haitian immigrants and, you know, it goes on from there to kyle rittenhouse. >> right. i think there is really troubling aspects to how the biden administration has dealt with the justice department and other agencies on legal matters. again, the media is largely silent on these issues. in terms of those agents, they remain on administrative duty. declared guilty by the president of the united states before an investigation. they said there would be a quick investigation. we haven't heard a thing about it even though we heard it was completed. this is part and parcel to what is not being covered by the media. it is not good, by the way, for the biden administration because they don't have pushback or that pressure to do better. a good example of this is "the new york times." "the new york times" ran the legal memoranda of project veritas, a conservative publication. they ran that even though it was clearly stolen or obtained without their permission. project veritas was put under investigation by the f.b.i. and is continuing under the biden administration as to how they might have gotten access to ashley biden's diary. the entire f.b.i. seems dedicated to pursuing how this diary went missing. "the new york times" could be raided on the same grounds. they raided project veritas's publisher because he had access to this diary. i assume they won't raid the publisher of the "new york times." that's the issue. there is an inconsistent standard that seems to be applied here. >> trace: that is the issue. professor turley, thank you for joining us, we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> dana: new york city's new district attorney announcing he will stop seeking prison sentences for a number of offenses all while crime is surging in the big apple. welcome to a new hour of "america's newsroom," i'm dana perino. bill hemmer is off today. hi, trace. >> trace: good morning. i'm trace gallagher. in a new memo manhattan d.a. downgrading several crimes from felonies to miss dem enors including some robberies, weapons possession charges and drug dealing offenses. >> dana: "new york post" calling it a free pass saying the woke new manhattan d.a. won't lock up bad guys for a slough of crimes. does it contradict the mayor's tough on crime stance. we have to guest to weigh in. let's start with senior correspondent eric shawn if new york city for us to give us an update. hi, eric. >> good morning, dana. well, you can do the crime and now not get the time. that's is the message from the new progressive district attorney of manhattan. a stunning departure from law enforcement practices bragg will stress diverse and alternatives to jail time. he will no longer incarcerate law breakers unless its murder, a felony. his goal is safety and fairness and also wants the defendants' race to be considered. his office will no longer largely enforce some trespass crimes. resisting arrest and sex work and it could mean no jail time for armed robbery, stealing from stores and storage areas of homes and dealing drugs. when bragg ran for district attorney he promised not to charge shoplifters for stealing stuff worth less than $250. critics say it means you can shoplift anything up to that amount and still get away with it. police union and criminal justice advocates are outraged saying bragg is giving criminals a free pass. >> he is paving the way for an even bigger bloodbath than what we have seen in new york city already ruining any chances of the city coming back. this is not the message we want to be sending. we don't want to say to criminals come to new york where you can have your way with us and tell families that they aren't safe here. >> the group victims rights new york says it will file impeachment charges against bragg if his policies result in any deaths of an innocent person. by the way we've asked the district attorney's office with an interview with the new d.a. they are working on that. it is considered the most prestigious local law enforcement in the nation. a number that will likely be cut under mr. bragg. >> dana: good information to know. let's bring in former new york city police commissioner. i was quite dismayed. i really have high hopes for eric adams, the new mayor. we have seen what has happened in other cities across the country who have the policies that bragg released in this memo. for example. armed robbers deadly weapons, would only be prosecuted for petty larceny and the other one i'll mention. convicted criminals caught with weapons other than guns will have charges downgraded to miss demeanors. >> it is one of the dumbest things i've ever seen. i was optimistic as well that mayor adams and the new commissioner will be able to get guns and drugs off the street. what this district attorney has done is given a roadmap to crime and a message to criminals that you can do whatever you want and you aren't going to go to jail. you won't be charged with a felony and the citizens of the city are going to be the victims. new york city used to be the safest city in america. it is not now and it will get much worse under this guy. >> trace: i wonder how this affects police officers. when a d.a. comes out and says he will only prosecute you or put you in jail if you commit a murder and a few other things, that has to affect the way police officers do their job knowing that most people will get a free pass. >> that's what happened during the deblasio administration. the police were not backed. why should you go out and arrest somebody and put yourself in danger, get a gun off the street or seize drugs and knowing that person will be right back out on the street to do that or worse? many, many of these people committed the same crime including murder under deblasio. this is the worst thing that could happen. my advice to the city of new york get a recall election right now. >> dana: if you look at the surge in democratic-run cities of crime from 2021 versus 2020 is up in chicago, l.a., here in new york city, san francisco, minneapolis. that will continue unless as you say there is some sort of a change here. one thing that's interesting is bragg ran for d.a. and trying to do is actually change the law. he doesn't want to enforce the law that's on the books. if he wants to run for office maybe he should have run for state assembly. >> absolutely. he was elected to prosecute crimes, not change the law. what he is doing here is changing the law. and enabling criminals to do outrageous things. this is stupid. >> trace: it is not just new york. we talked about the entire country far left prosecutors in california you have george gascon. and bodine doing this and in california people don't even report property theft or burglary. they don't report it to police and you have the media coming out saying see, property and burglary are way down. it is the constant feeding of the narrative. >> it's welcoming smash and grab crimes to new york. we are going to see the same kind of thing that happened in l.a. and san francisco and by the way, gascon is currently fighting a recall election because the citizens of san francisco have gotten outraged. one of the worst things that could possibly happen. the d.a. is one-third of the criminal justice system. if he doesn't do the right thing, cops will just stop making arrests. they'll go back -- >> dana: we'll see if the mayor says anything else as it unfolds this morning. great to have your expertise. thank you. >> trace: 17 alleged gang members charged for a series of shootings including four murders in a 118-count indictment in new york city. the brooklyn district attorney says the defendants 14 of whom are teenagers are accused of hunting down rival gang members and committing armed assaults killing four people and wounding 10. alleged killers members of the ypf gang, alliance of several street gangs in three brooklyn neighborhoods. and this is kind of part and parcel of what the commissioner was just talking about there. a lot of what these gangs are involved in are no longer going to be prosecuted. >> dana: you wonder what eric adams is saying. i think he tapped the brakes on saying anything outrageous. i don't think he embraced it so much as basically said we'll see what happens. this is happening. i did want to ask you one thing. gascon recall out there in california, how is that going? do you have any sense? >> they have the signatures. there will be a recall in june. that's the whole thing. they couldn't get signatures, couldn't get the signatures for bodine or getting signatures for gascon. they have the signatures for bodine would be recalled in june. now they are working on that and everybody assumes they will get the signatures for both gascon and bodine in san francisco. fascinating in california, largely democratic. >> dana: we'll pay attention to that. fox news alert now. covid hospitallylations are surging 100,000 americans on monday. biden is ordering more pfizer pills. those meds won't be available for months. this continues. jonathan serrie is live in atlanta home of the cdc. >> you know, there is really a trade-off when it comes to these pfizer pills. studies the medication was 89% effective in reducing hospitalizations for the high-risk covid patients when treated within the first few days of symptoms. but it takes a long time to manufacture a matter of months. the biden administration has doubled its order to 20 million treatment courses of it. half of the pills are expected to be delivered by the end of june with the remaining 10 million courses arriving by the end of september. that may be too late to address the current surge in hospitalizations. if omicron in the u.s. follows a similar path to what it did in south africa we could see cases peak and drop within the coming weeks. today the panel of vaccine advisors will weigh the pros and cons of pfizer booster shots. the cdc is standing by its decision to shorten the isolation period for persons with covid-19 to five days provided they no longer show symptoms. the agency still does not require a negative covid test at the end of that period but updated guidance yesterday to say quote if an individual has access to a test and wants to test, the best approach is to use an antigen test towards the end of the five-day isolation period. one former cdc director weighed in on that. >> the goal here was to try to create guidance that was workable, that was signens based. when you put in the option saying but if you have a test kit and you want to test at five days and you are positive you should continue for 10, that makes it pretty confusing. >> the problem with testing is what the antigen tests or rapid tests are in short supply in the u.s. >> critics say the biden's policies are fueling the crisis. congressman henry cuellar joins us live next. vice president kamala harris reportedly losing yet another aide. who else could be leaving her staff? 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our local fox affiliate wtxf. we're being told the fire started early this morning. we do not know the cause of the fire. as you can see on both sides of the screen you have investigators and firefighters still on the scene. it is very cold as you can see from the ground in philadelphia. these are often caused by some space heaters, fireplaces. again, authorities have not given us any indication of the cause. the flames ripped through several floors of the apartment building and it is unclear exactly where the fatalities and injuries took place. we hope to get more on that in an upcoming news conference. we'll bring you those details as we get them. again, 13 people at least reportedly killed in that philadelphia apartment fire. >> dana: fox news alert now. cases of omicron variant skyrocketing. many businesses are making the tough decision to shut down due to the lack of liability coverage for covid. that's something that republicans pushed last year for this very reason. fox business reporter is live with the details. >> yes, it's both the lack of liability protection as well as financial protection that is putting businesses in a tough position. i'm at a restaurant here in new york city. they actually had to close down on the 17th of december because 60% of their staff tested positive for covid-19. they were unwilling to ask the other half to come in and risk getting the virus. all of that is around the financial insecurity and the liability. i talked to the owner saying he is worried about both of those factors when it comes to the future of the restaurant. listen. >> it's been so dead. i haven't seen -- i have barely seen more than one or two tables in any restaurant. i don't know what will happen. it is really scary from -- because there is no -- it doesn't look like there is any government support in sight. >> you know, he is not alone in this. a new report shows that class action settlements reached a high of over 3.6 billion in 2021. that's compared to over 1.5 billion in 2020 and 1.3 billion the year before that partially driven by lawsuits over return to work programs and vaccine mandates. all of it coming at an uncertain time for businesses in new york. reservations at this restaurant are down over 70%. this is typically a quiet time but he has been in the industry for many years and hasn't seen anything like this. without the protection of financial support that we saw at the beginning of the pandemic as well as these questions around liability, lots of restaurants like this one here taking greater precautions around covid-19 protection, sanitydation and all that stuff to avoid lawsuits. >> dana: tough for them to stay in business. important to tell their story. thanks. >> trace: as the crisis at the southern border rages on the white house says they'll crack down on human trafficking. but critics say their policies are fueling it. homan says the biden administration can't take human trafficking seriously because of the open border. the chance of getting arrested and caught are a lot lower when the border patrol is busy with family units at the border. let's bring in texas congressman henry cuellar. thank you for joining us. the administration has said they have pledged to crack down on trafficking. the numbers tell a different story. i want to put this trafficking numbers on the screen showing they've increased from 947 to 1,111, up 17% and the arrests have gone up dramatically up 35%. and the critics say you cannot crack down on something that you are simultaneously incentivizing. what would you say, sir? >> what i say the numbers continue to increase. i was looking at the numbers from the valley in south texas and this year october 1st fiscal year october 1st until now there has been about 140,000 encounters that border patrol has had there. interesting the numbers of unaccompanied kids were about 4%, family units were 23% and about 72 or 73% were single adults. we're seeing an increase of single adults, which is something that in the valley where we see most of the unaccompanied kids and family units. you have to make sure you catch them and again use title 42, title 8 and return people. again, if you don't return people, the message is that the border is open and people will continue coming. so you have to make sure that you deport them. now i'll say this. the biden administration is still using title 42 but they need to publicize that. if you notice there is not too many pictures or images of people being returned even though they are returning thousands of people under that title. >> trace: you said this to the "new york times" about the vice president kamala harris. you tried to contact her quoting here. i say this i moved on. she was tasked with that job. doesn't look like she is very interested in this so we'll move on to other folks that work on this issue. how is it possible that the border czar is ignoring a democratic congressman whose district is along the border, sir? >> you have to ask her that question. what i said was i'm going to work with the people, the career people in homeland security, appointees that are interested in working on securing the border. a lot of us, they don't have to listen to me but they should listen to the people who live on the border. they need to listen to ranchers, mayors, county judges, sheriffs, police. folks on the border who see this every day. if they listen to people on the border, i think they would get a very different perspective. being 1500 miles away is different from living here. we have our families here and live here. people down here are very respectful of immigrants. they want to see them treated with dignity and respect but at the same time they want to enforce the law. the law says that if you get to stay here you stay. if you don't, then you will be deported. >> trace: i'm wondering if the vice president were to call you back, what would you say to her very quickly? >> certainly i would engage her and want to give her my years of experience. i served in homeland oversight for over eight years. i sat on appropriations for so many years. i'm somebody with experience and i certainly want to give her my perspective. i want to be helpful to the vice president. but like any other conversation you need two people to have a conversation. >> trace: someone has to call you back. thank you for coming on. >> thank you so much. >> dana: fox news alert. arrest in the case of a 7-year-old new hampshire girl last seen two years ago but just reported missing last month. who police have to custody and what they are asking the public to do to bring little harmony montgomery home. >> help us find this little girl. somebody knows something, do what is right and call in. i cannot emphasize that enough. somebody out there knows something. >> dana: nancy grace on what investigators may be focusing on. more turmoil inside the office of vice president kamala harris. another aide is reportedly leaving while the 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morning. the vice president's office has had a bit of a revolving door. folks leaving less than a year after starting there. evans, his work as deputy director as public engagement. he says i'm deeply honored to be named the executive director of the congressional black caucus. already gone symone sanders, senior advisor and chief spokesperson for the vice president and ashley, her communication's director and evidence the vice president's team is struggling. harris tweeting yesterday because of the bipartisan infrastructure law america is moving again. that's what infrastructure is all about, getting people moving. the tweet sent as hundred of drivers were stranded in northern virginia on interstate 95. some calling the vice president's tweet tone deaf as people were stuck in the freezing cold. one high profile driver who was stuck, virginia democratic senator tim kaine. >> it was very challenging. there were periods of five or six hours where we were basically just in the middle of the night stopped in the middle of the interstate not moving. traffic is moving a little bit now. sunny, helping melt some ice. i travel i-95 all the time and i will never forget this. i've never seen anything like it. >> it took cain 27 hours the travel from richmond to his office on capitol hill. the latest awkward moment for the vice president and her team. >> trace: very little help along the way. mike emanuel live in d.c. >> dana: fox news alert on harmony montgomery. police say they arrested her father in connection to the case. the 7-year-old vanished two years ago but her disappearance wasn't reported until last week. we're live with details as that happened this morning. >> absolutely. police want to reiterate they're still looking for this missing 7-year-old girl. they have a man in custody. adam montgomery identified as the little girl's father was arrested yesterday. 31 years old. manchester man. the same city harmony was last seen in october of 2019. he is facing one charge of felony second degree assault arising from that 2019 conduct against harmony montgomery age 7 as well as a miss demeanor charge of interference of endangering the welfare of a child. she was just reported missing by the state division or children, youth and families last week. she was last seen more than two years ago when she would have been five years old. estimated to be approximately 4 feet tall. she is blind in her right eye and wears glasses. harmony is known to the child protection agencies in new hampshire and massachusetts. manchester police chief says multiple family members have been interviewed by investigators and a property of manchester has been searched. reward for information leading to harmony is growing thanks to the generosity of local business owners. it stands at $33,000. a dedicated tip line has been created specifically for this case. it is being manned by detectives seeking information. call 603-203-6060 if you know anything. the father will be arraigned later today. >> dana: joining us now is nancy grace. the father has now been arrested. what does that tell you? >> well, that is a common ploy to arrest someone that you are looking at in the disappearance of harmony on another count. however, these counts are directly related to now 7-year-old harmony. a felony assault and a second degree assault and that is more the black eye she had back in 2019 when her uncle called police and they came there, the little girl had a black eye and they left her there and let me tell you something else. we have done a little bit of digging. the father behind bars waiting for an arraignment. the department of family services put this child in the home with him and if boston news 25 is correct he has a rap sheet as long as the interstate. i am talking about in 2014 armed robbery, assault with intent to murder. drug shooting. burglary, assault, stalking. they never did a home visit. they put a 5-year-old little girl in the home with a convicted felon and they didn't think there would be a problem? where is the mom? she hasn't seen the daughter since 2019. we failed this girl horribly. i believe the department of family and children's services needs to be behind bars with daddy right now. >> dana: you make some excellent points. one thing the mother has said she was trying to raise the alarm and trying to get information but you are a little skeptical of that. >> well you know what? according to the adoptive dad of harmony's little brother, i spoke with him and he says the mother saying something is wrong. i can't find harmony. i can't reach him. is that raising the alarm? i don't know. i can tell you one thing i know where my children are right now. they are in school and i have their schedules and i even know what class they're in. it would be a cold day in hell to find my daughter. >> dana: he will be arraigned today and police will try to get information from the tip line. final last thoughts? >> yes. even if you think you saw harmony, it is worth calling the tip line. now local police there have told the public don't be a sleuth. let us handle this. b.s. that's how we found gabby petito's body. this little girl blind in one eye left in that cess pool by police and department of family services? the only thing we can do now is try to find her and put her in a good home. >> dana: nancy grace, wonderful to see you. thank you. >> trace: the i.r.s. rolling out a new rule this week expected to have a major impact on small businesses not to mention the people who support them. we'll explain and chicago mayor lori lightfoot is in a fight with teachers who are demanding a return to remote learning and caught in the middle thousands of children. martha maccallum is here to react to that next. psoriasis really messes with you. try. hope. fail. no one should suffer like that. i started cosentyx®. five years clear. real people with psoriasis look and feel better with cosentyx. don't use if you're allergic to 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increased bank monitoring from the i.r.s. the agency require americans to report transactions of $600 a more made through third party apps like pay pal. i don't know if a lot of people realize this. >> that's right. it sounds like a new tax but technically it is not. what it means is the i.r.s. will have more information and insight into your finances. if you're a small business owner that gets paid through the third party apps like zelly and cash apps, pay pal or venmo. any $600 transactions you will need to file a 1099 form. this will apply to your tax returns that you file next year. your 2022 tax return you will file next year even though it impacts transactions happening starting now. any $600 transaction for a good or service is going to be impacted in this. it does not apply to any payments made person to person from friends and family. so if you are a small business like a hairstylist and you get paid through this app or through this app, that's now going to mean that you are going to tell the i.r.s. about that transaction. things that don't apply, if you get something for your mom through your birthday through venmo that won't apply. you need to keep records of all the transactions through this app because if the i.r.s. audits you and looks into the transactions you'll need to explain why it is not taxable income. >> dana: nickel and dimeing consumers. big news. thank you for sharing it with us. >> there is a sense among money that the country has lost control of the virus. would the white house agree with that? >> we would not and here is why. we were in a different place we were a year ago. 200 million people are vaccinated. >> trace: white house press secretary jen psaki denying the administration has lost control of the pandemic. the u.s. is the first country to record one million cases in a single day. here to talk about the martha maccallum host of the story. president biden, joe biden ran on dealing with covid. he won on dealing with covid and now the white house is questioned about their handling of covid and suddenly it is a sore spot? >> it is a sore spot. the numbers speak for themselves. now president biden said when he was candidate biden that anyone -- any american president who had seen the loss of life that happened in 2020 did not deserve to be president of the united states, could not go on leading. but that was theme of what he was saying and what he ran on. now you have a president who has been president during the death of even more people, 425,000 covid deaths in the course of 2021. so it is a very difficult time for them to argue that things are in control. we also have the fourth of july everything would basically be over by then. the administration claims they were caught offguard. you have afghanistan, the supply chain, you have inflation, and you have covid with omicron in particular the administration arguing they didn't know what was coming. although we had been watching it. i had been looking at the numbers in south africa and u.k. wondering if it could come here next. it wasn't impossible to know they had to get ahead of the testing and. >> dana: we're watching the video of the lines. every day as we drive around and get these reports across the country. call for 1, president biden talking about how to find a test if you want one. >> president biden: on testing, i know this remains frustrating. it is frustrating to me. in the last two weeks we've stood up federal testing sites all over the country, google covid test near me to find the nearest site where you can get a test. >> dana: people know how to do google. >> that is a very, very tough message. i know on the five last night can you imagine if president trump said google, just go out and google where you should get a test? you see the lines, you see the manifestation of what is going on and people who can't test and cdc rule five days, quarantine from 10 to 5 and then the back and forth over whether or not you should get a test at the end of that and raises the obvious question asked in the press briefing is the reason you aren't requiring a test at the end of five days because you can't guarantee people will find them? it is a bad look. >> trace: the whole take on the chicago school district shutting down because of covid and here is mayor lightfoot. >> when our district was fully remote our children suffered. there is no disputing that reality. we can't forget about how disruptive that remote process is to individual parents who have to work, who can't afford the luxury of staying home and being with their kids. >> trace: governors and mayors are helpless. it is all up to the teacher's unions to decide if they are opening or closing. >> there has to be a learning curve to this experience of the virus or else we're nowhere. we have vaccines and treatments which we would all love to see a lot more of and easily accessible. this is not last year. what we've learned is kids need to be in school. a lot of us thought that last year. the thing that really gets me is basically teachers have a social contract with children. the united states of america has a contract to educate through our public school system. if you don't fulfill the duty that you have been prescribed by your job, you have to figure out a way to do that. to catch up. i don't understand why we aren't hearing from the department of education secretary okay, here is the plan. we know from studies that kids are five months behind in english and math, right? what are we doing to catch them up? what's the program we're putting in place? is it a summer school program for 2022 summer? after school program when the kids get back to school? one more thing makes me nervous when i hear two weeks. you hear it if colleges, too. we'll take two weeks. remember two weeks to slow the spread? that's a slippery slope, folks. we've been here before and need to be very wary of the pushback on going back to school. >> dana: we'll see you on the 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advisor at nm.com >> harris: one large school district in the midwest forced 300,000 students in virtual learning. where does the science say this is necessary? gun violence against police hitting historic levels in 2021. we're getting the numbers, 350 officers shot in the line of duty. and president biden cannot seem to make america love him again. those polls are brutal. dr. marty makary, joe concha and joe -- "the faulkner focus" top of the hour. >> trace: the tragic situation if philadelphia now. authorities confirm at least 13 people have been confirmed killed in this fire in a philadelphia apartment house. seven of those 13 are children. there are reports this was a row house that was converted into a two separate apartments and as any firefighter will tell you, the problem is when a fire starts in one of the apartments, there is very little to stop it from going to other apartments especially in these older-type buildings. some of the newer buildings have the equivalent of a semi firewall because of the new construction mandates. these older apartments don't have that. we still, dana, don't know the cause of the fire or how it started. but we do know it is very cold in philadelphia. this apparently is government housing. in a lot of these types of cases you have bad electrical, space heaters in there and potentially sometimes you have fireplaces and things just the end to go awry. we haven't gotten information on that yet. >> dana: one of the things that crossed the wire is that the smoke detectors in the building, trace, were not operating. that could have led to more people being put into this dangerous situation again. at least 13 people killed. at least seven of those were children in this row house fire in the early morning hours of a tough start to the year for many people across the country. this just really is a very tragic situation unfolding in philly. authorities are giving updates as they have them. right now they are trying to get in there to find out how it started. >> trace: you look at the firefighters ladders going up and see how they are getting access to the building. what you don't know is how the people inside the buildings would get out. we haven't seen the totality of the building itself. if you have firefighters using ladders to get inside you wonder if the victims might have been on the upper floors and wonder how they would have gotten out if there was fire escapes or proper -- if you don't have fire alarms or detectors that are working, there is a good chance that the escape system in these buildings also wasn't up to date and that becomes a big question is was there a way out if they were even notified that they needed to get out of this building? very, very tough situation there in philadelphia. >> dana: a good point. if you are somebody who is thinking about making sure your house is safe in these winter months, please contact your local fire officials and they will always be there to help to make sure they can help prevent something like this from happening. we'll keep an update on all of this and all the news throughout the day. trace, great to be with you today. thank you so much. we have much more to come and i'll see you on "the five" tonight. here is harris in "the faulkner focus". >> harris: how did teachers unions get so much power in our lives? one of america's largest school districts has canceled classes right after the union took a vote to kill in-person learning again. i'm harris faulkner and you are in "the faulkner focus". nearly 300,000 chicago public school students won't have class today. here is why. 73% of the chicago teachers union voted last night in favor of switching to remote-only learning. they couldn't even get that going in time. the kids