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the latest from that briefing as we get it. right now we re following the urgent battle to defend voting rights. senate democrats eyeing a rule change to pass a voting bill without requiring 60 votes. ahead, the exclusive nbc news reporting about republican dark money and how they are trying to sway one democratic senator in particular. we ll give you one guess who that could be. and then i ll talk to the mayor of tucson, arizona who signed a letter to the senate urging them to pass legislation. also happening right now in capitol hill, the chief of the u.s. capitol police testifying about changes they have made since the attack on the capitol almost one year ago. so far he says that of the more than 100 recommendations made by the inspector general, they have implemented or are addressing 90 of them. more on that in a few moments. we are also following some breaking news in philadelphia. a devastating fire. we just heard officials give us an update. 13 people killed ....
we also talk with a scientific adviser to puerto rico s governor about how the u.s. island territory is dealing with the flood of new infections. also, on this, as a combination of covid and winter weather, it makes for another terrible travel day in the air. and on the ground, as well. on capitol hill, senate democrats are making voting rights their first big priority for the new year. and out west, a one-time silicon valley star now faces jail time after she was convicted of defrauding investors. and new instability in haiti, as the prime minister was forced to flee an independence day event after a deadly shooting at his office. his office says that it was an assassination attempt. and we begin this hour with our top story, evolving coronavirus pandemic. just in the last hour, the head of the cdc, dr. rochelle walensky, approved a third dose of the covid-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 with compromised immune systems. she also approved a smaller window between ....
guidelines. on the hill, capitol police laying out plans for better security for the anniversary of january 6. and new criticism. somebody here today to talk all about it. member of the house select smt, congressman adam schiff joins us one on one later on in the hour. a lot going on. i m hallie jackson along with the rest of our nbc news team. kick can off with peter alexander at thehite house and medical contributor and founder and ceo of and vancing health ceo. president biden is making news on a couple fronts. right? saying schools should stay open and talking about the government doubling order of covid anti-viral pill? reporter: exactly right. the president speaking within the last hour. challenge for schools, you ll discuss later this same hour, staffing shortages there, because many teachers calling out sick and concerns among parents. the president saying schools should remain open. anti-viral pills. pill from pfizer, the president noted today, he ll be d ....
i m alison morris in for craig melvin. we prepare to ring in the new year, and the number of covid cases raging across the country. for the second day in a row the u.s. is shattering its own record with more than 584,000 cases on thursday. plus in colorado fast-moving wildfires have destroyed nearly 600 homes. look at that. and forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate. the governor declaring a state of emergency and president biden warning russian president vladimir putin to deescalate tensions with ukraine during a phone call on thursday, saying if moscow takes military action yrks the u.s. and its allies will respond decisively. we begin this hour with the coronavirus. the number of cases skyrocketing. over 54 million covid cases in the u.s. since the pandemic started. that s according to the latest nbc news tally. the faa is warning of more airline delays today because of the omicron variant and the weather. saying that an increased number of faa employees ha ....
remembers harry reid who died yesterday at the age of 82. we ll start with the latest on the omicron variant. we have steve patterson at lax, toni hilton will join us and steve, we ll start with you. let s talk about air travel. minutes ago at the covid response team meeting, the risk is low enough to continue with new year s plans as long as everyone you re spending time with is vaccinated and boosted, but dozens of flights have been canceled today. you can tonight with your plans if you can get there. the misery intest is there and rising. now there is 1300 flights canceled. we re getting bad weather especially in a place like seattle where there is so many forced delays. the other problem is, of course, omicron with staffing levels at certain airlines and carriers being so thin. it has been tough to get a handle on what is happening. here alone in california, you see a line forming, this is where nay are testing for covid. it is a pretty good solution here as wel ....