many of us woke up, this morning, to learn of, yet, another, mass shooting. a 19-year-old gunman who opened fire at a fedex facility in indianapolis, killing eight people before, also, killing himself. this news, mind you, comes on the 14th anniversary of the virginia-tech shooting, when 32 people were gunned down. meaning, we have arrived at a place, where mass shootings occur on the anniversaries of other mass shootings. here s what president joe biden had to say, today, about the epidemic of gun violence in america. this has to end. it s a national embarrassment. it is a national embarrassment, what s going on. and it s not only these mass shootings that are occurring. every single day, every single day, there s a mass shooting in this in the united states, if you count all those who were killed out in the streets of our cities and our rural areas. it s a national embarrassment, and must come to an end. it is an embarrassment. i mean, learning of a mass shooting is a
happened a year ago behind us, we still need to reckon with the events of that day, and hold those responsible accountable. attorney general, merrick garland, has vowed to take, quote, as long as it takes and whatever it takes for justice to be done. he s delivering. the department of justice has charged more than 700 members of the trump mob, so far 75 have been sentenced. 36 receive in jail time. that includes a north carolina woman who brought her 14 year old son into the capital on january 6th. today, virginia spencer was sent tons to 90 days in jail and, 36 months probation. during the sentence hearing, the judge stated, she did not believe that spencer understood the significance of her participation, and what it means for our democracy. the january six select committee is beginning to hold those responsible, accountable. the committee is made clear, it s interested in talking to former vice president, mike pence. it has yet to formally request is voluntary cooperation.
before the months out, thompson said. tonight, one member of the committees explained why pence s information is critical for their inquiry. he said, i would think, very undoubtedly relevant testimony for us about that pressure campaign. we d be in a better position to speak to it than he would. all the efforts they went into to violate his constitutional duty, to count the votes. and instead, reject votes. without basis. as they indicated, we intend to extend that invitation fairly soon. let s hope that he s going to do the right thing. chairman thompson said that they are also focusing more intensely on the role some members of congress played ahead of january 6th. we have information that members hosted people who came to washington on that day in their office. we have information that before the actual certification, people came earlier, or were given tours in the capital. we have pictures of members taking pictures with people who came to the rally. there is a smal
cases. florida set yet another new record level of more than 58,000 new cases on wednesday. and despite all of this, people are still planning travel, parties and event for new years eve. even as experts predict infection rates will continue to grow. the pre omicron record high for average daily cases was 251,000 set back in january 2021. before vaccines were widely available, more than 85,000 people were hospitalized with covid. some hospitals are overwhelmed. northeast, ohio, issued a plea in sunday s addition of the cleveland will plain dealer. we help. we need your help. we now have more covid-19 patients in our hospital than ever before. and the overwhelming majority are unvaccinated. this is preventable. the best way to avoid serious illness is the vaccine. so, get vaccinated and get your booster. we didn t expect to be here nearly two years later with vaccines free and available to all. and we have talked a lot about the political refuse or s. also the trump ally s who
i don t think i can stress enough, like, how much help the island needs. and former president donald trump s lawyers propose delaying his federal election interference trial for almost two years after the 2024 election. we begin this morning with breaking news. hurricane hilary has rapidly intensified from a tropical storm into a category 4 hurricane as it barrels toward the southwestern u.s., bringing winds up to 145 miles an hour. right now, the hurricane is located 400 miles south of cabo san lucas. the mexican government says a weakened hilary could hit sunday night in baja, california, and has issued a hurricane warning. it is expected to hit mexico. 24 million people across parts of california and nevada, utah and arizona are under flood watches. hilary could mark the first tropical storm to hit southern california in 84 years. i want to bring in nbc news meteorologist bill karins. bill, good morning. how severe is this hurricane? we re going to talk about floodin