Paychecks to charity. I just think weve been lucky. This is the cbs weekend news. Quijano good evening, im elaine quijano. We begin with an update on senator john mccain. The former president ial candidate and vietnam war hero headed back to arizona sunday to spend the holidays with his family. Mccains daughter said today her father is doing well. Ing mccain had been at the Walter Reed Medical Center in maryland since wednesday. He was treated for sideeffects of his brain cancer treatment. A source tells cbs news the republican senator will not vote this week on a Major Overhaul of the tax system. More on that in a moment. We turn now to the monster wildfire raging in southern california. The thomas fire northwest of los angeles started two weeks ago and is now one of the largest in the states history. It has destroyed more than 700 homes. On thursday, it killed a firefighter. Carter evans is there. Reporter windwhipped flames reignited the thomas fire illuminating hillsides and prompting new evacuations in ritzy Santa Barbara county neighborhoods where firefighters battled through the night to beat back the flames. The fire did what was predicted. We had these very strong sundowner winds that just pushed down the canyon right into the homes. We had over 400 fire engines up and around the area, plus 100 more that we brought in and we saved a lot of homes up there. Reporter some of those homes belonging to hollywood elite like oprah who tweeted. Still praying for our little town. Winds picked up this morning actor rob lowe posted these photos as flames approached his home, picking up a hose saying, you do what you can. But when its time, you go. It has spread, its well over Santa Barbara city up in the hills, and the concern is when we have these strong winds, that it will blow down towards this area. Reporter firefighters are now taking advantage of calm winds to build containment lines. Over the last two weeks, the thomas fire has scorched more than 400 square miles and still threatens 18,000 structures. On thursday it claimed the life of 32year old firefighter cory iverson. He was overrun by smoke and flames. Today First Responders lined streets and bridges as iversons body was brought back to his hometown of san diego. A grim reminder of the sacrifices made as thousands of firefighters continue to battle this blaze. This is one of hundreds of homes that burned in the thomas fire. The good news is those really heavy winds have died down. Elaine, so far its cost more than 117 million to fight this fire and it could be weeks before its out. Quijano carter, thank you. A power outage grounded flights today at the Busiest Airport in the world, hartsfieldjackson international in atlanta. Demarco morgan has the latest. Reporter there was major disruption in power to the entire airport impacting all terminals and concourses. At this hour, officials are not sure what caused the outage. Elaine, officials cancelled all flights in and out of hartville. Here at Newark International airport we saw long lines at the International Terminal many being delayed as well. Quijano demarco, thanks. The Trump Transition Team is crying foul over the way special counsel Robert Muellers russia investigation obtained its emails. Errol barnett has more on this from the white house. Reporter President Trump continues to deny any wrongdoing during last years election, with his lawyers now claiming special Counsel Robert Mueller is breaking the law. There is absolutely no collusion, i didnt make a phone is no conclusion whatever. Reporter President Trump continues to deny any wrongdoing during last years election, with his lawyers now claiming special Counsel Robert Mueller is breaking the law. Muellers team gained access to emails from mister trumps Transition Team, provided not by the team itself, but by the General Services administration. On saturday, the president s Transition Team lawyer sent this sevenpage letter to two congressional oversight committees, describing that action as unlawful, adding that the special counsels office has extensively used the materials in question. The special counsels spokesperson said, when we have obtained emails in the course of our ongoing criminal investigation, we have secured either the account owners consent or appropriate criminal process. Republican senator john cornyn said while firing mueller would be a mistake, he is concerned by two investigators that were dismissed from the probe for sharing antitrump texts. I think these conflicts of interest jeopardize the integrity of his investigation. Reporter President Trump continues to maintain a positive relationship with russian president vladamir putin. Today, the two spoke on the phone, with the kremlin sharing details of the call well before is the two spoke regarding a planned terrorist attack in st. Petersburg, elaine . Elaine . Quijano Congressional Republicans are expected to approve a plan this week to overhaul the tax system. Earlier, i spoke with cbs news political analyst Jamelle Bouie about who benefits most from the plan. The biggest winners of the tax bill just plainly are large corporations, wealthy individuals, owners of large and wealthy estates. The vast majority of the tax bills benefits goes towards those groups. It is true that middle class earners and working class earners, lowincome earners get some benefits, but they are relatively modest in comparison to what the highest income earners and large corps will corporations will gain under the tax bill. Quijano and jamelle, we know its important, but just how important is it for President Trumps agenda to get this legislation passed . Well politically it is important for him to have some semblance of a win, a victory or whatever you want to call it on his docket. If the tax bill passes, it likely will, and he signs it, it will sort of be the only piece of major legislation that he will achieve in 2017, and that meaningful. Its worth saying though that this bill is brutally unpopular quijano Jamelle Bouie, thanks so much for being with us. Glad to do it. Quijano congress has until friday to come up with a government funding bill for 2018. Some are insisting on longterm funding for the program that provides Health Insurance for 9 million children. Heres omar villafranca. Reporter as a single mother of four, dakota flores has plenty to worry about. Two of her kids, 13yearold tyler and 11yearold harmonie, rely on chip. ù. The nationwide childrens Healthcare Program in danger of running out of money. Im completely worried. I dont sleep. Im making all of their appointments before the end of the year to see what i can do until everything runs out. Reporter tyler has adhd and every day he takes medication to help him concentrate. Harmonie has vision loss and goes to the eye doctor several times a year to change the prescription on her glasses. Without chip dakota says her childrens medical bills would cost several thousand dollars a year. But under the program, their care costs only 50 a month. How would your Kids Development be without that program . My daughter wouldnt be able to see. She wouldnt get a new prescription every time her vision changes. Reporter chips funds in texas will run out at the end of january february. ù unless additional money comes through. This is literally a life and death program. Reporter jimmy kimmel doesnt use chip, but after his young son underwent surgery for heart issues, the late night talk show host has taken chip up as a cause. Why hasnt chip been funded . If these were potato chips they were taking away from us, we would be marching on washington with pitchforks and spears right now. Are. Reporter chip has bis partisan support. But Chuck Grassley who cosponsors he program says lawmakers cant agree on how to fund it. Some people feel that the reporter as the deadline looms. ù dakota says shes out of options. This is for our kids, this is for their future. Its the most important thing. Reporter the senate is working on a fiveyear extension of chip and hopes to pass it before the end of the year. Omar villafranca, cbs news, san antonio. Quijano the u. S. Air force academy says its rebuilding its sexualassault prevention and Response Office. A cbs news investigation looked into the way the academy in colorado handles assault cases. Tony dokoupil is following this. Its a real opportunity for us to get out and be part of the national conversation. Reporter Lieutenant General jay silveria, superintendent of the u. S. Air force academy in Colorado Springs, says the academy will restructure and expand its Sexual Assault prevention and Response Office with an emphasis on Better Qualified staff and greater prevention. I intend to be relentless in pursing the perpetrators of these horrible crimes and holding them accountable. But i also desperately want to help all the victims in any way i can. Reporter his remarks to the Colorado Springs gazette newspaper came nearly a week after denying to cbs news that the academy had a problem with retaliation against survivors of Sexual Assault. Last month, the academy released a scathing investigation into its Sexual Assault prevention and Response Office, accusing former director Teresa Beasely of a lack of competency that jeopardized victim care. But beasely says shes been made a scapegoat for standing up to leadership. Is the air force academy supportive of those who report Sexual Assault . I would have to say absolutely not. Reporter in a twopart report on cbs this morning, cohost Norah Odonnell heard from more than a dozen current and former cadets who said they reported their assaults, only to experience retailiation by their peers and their commanders. Eleven cadet survivors of Sexual Assault have left the academy in the last five years. Even as some of their alleged attackers remained. Lieutenant general silveria is also open to the idea of allowing Sexual Assault survivors to transfer to other military academies, and start elaine their careers in a Different Branch of service. Quijano thank you. Coming up next, another congressman facing Sexual Misconduct allegations is not running for reelection. And later, james brown talks with an nfl player donating his salary to charity. Quijano now the cbs weekend news feed nevada congressman ruben kihuen said yesterday he will not seek reelection next year. At least two women have accused the democrat of Sexual Misconduct. He denies the allegations. Kihuen is now the sixth member of congress to resign or announce hes not seeking reelection over Sexual Misconduct allegations. A capsule carrying three astronauts from the u. S. , russia, and japan blasted off from kazakhstan today bound for the International Space station. Its the first space flight for american astronaut scott tingle. On tuesday, hell join two other americans already aboard the space station. And, what better way to pass the time at the airport this Holiday Season than getting into a danceoff. A father from moore, oklahoma posted this adorable video of his two daughters dancing through the window with a member of the ground crew at dallas international. The worker taught the girls how to do the chicken dance and they showed him some moves of their own. I think theyre all winners. Up next theyre on opposite sides of the gun debate. Can they find Common Ground . Quijano this past thursday marked five years since twenty students and six Staff Members were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in newtown, connecticut. Five years on, the National Debate over gun control is far from settled. Our streaming channel cbsn sent producer Christina Ruffini to Colorado Springs to discuss the issue with people on opposing sides. Here, she speaks with tony who supports gun rights and his friend warren, who supports gun regulations. With the parameters the way they are do you think lawmakers have done enough, have done anything in the aftermast of sandy hook and vegas and San Bernadino and charleston and the shootings that have happened since then to address this issue . Absolutely not. I dont know that they can. I dont know that there is anything they can do that will stop it. I dont know that there is an answer because all banning guns does is gets it out of the hands of the people who are going to obey that law. Lets take away guns for a second. Lets take away the idea of guns for a second. Sure. Does the government have a role in keeping us safe . Yes, it has a role. I dont believe its their only role, in fact i believe their protecting their freedoms in a bigger role than keeping us safe. Right, and so thats where the fundamental thing comes in, of people who feel like our rights are so important, that even if our society deteriorates into this place where mass murders become a common thing, thats okay so long as i get to have my gun. At some point, i seriously dont want to live in a country that has placed personal liberty so high personal liberty so high, that i dont feel safe walking into a concert anymore. Where there are plenty of places on earth where they dont put liberty very high on their ideals, and those are places i dont wanna live. I think that the only way that i would give in and say yeah we should ban guns or any type of guns is if we could all at once, world wide, make all guns disappear. Id be all for that. If guns did not exist and no one had them we agree. I dont think that anybody but thats the problem. Its like weve gone so far down a certain road how do we deal with where we are in a situation . You cant take everybodys guns away. Quijano cbs news producer christina rufinni, where both sides of the debate. Theres more of that discussion and other gun control conversations on our website at cbsnews. Com. Still ahead a new warning about those voiceactivated digital assistants. Do google and amazon intend to spy on you . Quijano a Consumer Watchdog Organization warns in the future you may want to watch what you say around those voiceactivated assistants sold by google and amazon. The group says Patent Applications reveal the Smart Devices may one day record your conversations to sell you things. Heres jamie yuccas. Alexa, whats the weather tomorrow . Reporter tomorrow in alhambra. Reporter Elizabeth Saldebar has been relying on her amazon echo ever since she got one as a Christmas Gift last year. Did you have any concerns when you first got it . Well, you know, i never actually really thought about it. Reporter google and amazon, the leading companies that make these devices, say they only record your voice when you activate them with socalled wake words. Alexa turn on the hall lights. Okay. Reporter those recordings are then transmitted back to amazon and google servers where the questions are analyzed and answered. While thats how they work now, some are worried that could change in the near future. Theyre there to track you, to surveil you and to sell you. Reporter the Advocacy Group consumer watchdog studied dozens of Patent Applications for possible future advances in google and amazons smart home technology. What these patents describe is theyre always watching, theyre always listening. Reporter one amazon patent shows the company could instruct the echo device to listen for designated trigger words, like a discussion of vacation destinations. It could then transcribe that conversation and use it to try to sell the user of the device a related product. I just think that its concerning that theyd have access to my private life. Reporter a spokesperson for amazon tells cbs this morning, we do not use customers voice recordings for targeted advertising. Patents take multiple years to receive and do not necessarily reflect current developments to products and services. A google representative told us, consumer watchdogs claims are unfounded. But the claims do point out how little some consumers know about the Digital Gadgets in their homes. Play a christmas station. It almost feels like a little bit big brotherish. Quijano jamie yuccas cfnlg reporting. When we return. The story of an nfl game changer. A player donating his paychecks to charity. Quijano we end tonight on this football sunday with the story of an unassumi