begin this hour, with the rising death toll from the tornado outbreak that has ripped across much of the south and midwest just minutes ago, officials in illinois confirmed for more storm related deaths, the overall death toll over the last 24 hours now jumps to 21 lives lost more than 50. tornadoes have been reported in seven states. in the south and the midwest. the state of emergency now blankets, much of arkansas and the national guard is rolling into devastated communities. there are reports of at least a dozen tornadoes touching down in the state. these images are of the hard hit town of wynne, arkansas, and that s where we find cnn s derek van dam. jim i was just talking to my crew a moment ago, and the scene behind us reminds us of being on the set of a major blockbuster movie. i mean, just look at what we have with this destruction coming out of wynne, arkansas, that is a church steeple that was blown off by this tornado. look at the incredible damage in front of tha
federal judges split, throwing the future of a key abortion medication into question by the administration should ignore this ruling. how will the fda respond? health and human services secretary javier bezerra and democratic congresswoman alexandria koziol cortez next and political retribution. tennessee republicans expelled two democrats over their gun reform protests during session they think of the issues over we ll see you on monday, another flashpoint in the guns debate, baldy congressman tony gonzalez will join me. plus ultra mega, a defiant former president vows to fight charges against him as other ongoing probes accelerate . how are republican voters responding? do not go to the gutter avoided, it turns off the voters. i m dana bash in washington, where the state of our union is wondering what doesn t become politicized these days, we just closed out and especially bitter and divisive week in american politics. on tuesday, former president donald trump was indicted
that s 184494200. wellcare medicare done well, melanie s nana in washington and this is cnn. hello again, everyone. thank you so much for joining me in new york. i m fredricka whitfield and we begin this hour with the formal expulsion of two black state democrats from tennessee s house of representatives. the expulsions coming a week after they let a gun reform protests from the house floor in response to a school shooting that killed six, including three children in nashville, justin jones and justin pearson. we re also joined in that protest by their colleague, representative gloria johnson. you see them all there. holding hands, raising their fists. vice president harris met privately with the so called tennessee three on friday, she was in nashville to advocate for stricter gun reform. cnn correspondent isabel rizal is joining me now with more on this, isabel. what are we learning about the expulsions and what s next? good afternoon to you, fred? yeah we re hearing from t
legislators. michael smerconish in philadelphia. it s hard not to jump to conclusions about the tennessee state house. the r word it needs to be reserved for clear and convincing cases of prejudice, discrimination or antagonism. against the person or people based on their membership in a racial or ethnic group. after all, there is an appropriate permanence to labeling conduct as racist. but from the outside looking in this short does seem to be such a case. three tennessee state legislators who engaged in roughly the same behavior were meted out disparate treatment. just days after 39 year olds and three adults were murdered in a mass shooting at the covenant school in nashville. these legislators led what was described as a disorderly gun reform chant that interrupted house proceedings. there seems to be no debate as to whether they broke the rules. justin jones of nashville, justin pearson of memphis and gloria johnson of knoxville the only difference between the behavior o
today with a deadly mass shooting in alabama. it happened last night in the small town of david ville. officials say four people were killed, and there were also quote a multitude of injuries. they say the incident was tied to a birthday party that coming from police and it happened downtown cnn s isabelle rose salas is following the latest developments, and she s joining me right now from dade ville. isabelle, what are you learning? hey friday, stolen, active and busy scene out here. you can see the yellow police tape blocking off essentially a block here leading into the venue right behind me. that brick building that is where the shooting occurred. it s a dance studio, and we re told by a witness. this was a sweet 16th birthday party. this is where the shooting occurred. we recently heard in the last couple of hours from the alabama law enforcement agency elia, who say that they have launched a death investigation. the shooting happening just after 10 30 saturday night her