CBS News
Satellite images show massive atmospheric river that is barreling over the West Coast
Weather advisories were in effect for parts of the West Coast this week as powerful atmospheric rivers barreled in from the Pacific Ocean. Satellite images from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration captured the massive storms as they approached the coast, where they threatened to cause flooding and damage.
Atmospheric rivers are long regions in the atmosphere that transport water. The water vapor they carry is roughly equivalent to the average flow of water at the mouth of the Mississippi River, according to NOAA. So, when they make landfall and release all that water, they can cause extreme flooding.
NOAA
According to The Weather Channel, there are typically three to seven atmospheric rivers present in the world at any given time. They don’t only happen on the West Coast of the U.S., but a well-known atmospheric river, the “Pineapple Express,” does occur in this region.
The Pineapple Express is known to wallop the U.S. and Canada’s West Coasts with heavy rainfall and snow after building in the Pacific Ocean around Hawaii, according to NOAA. California can see up to five inches of rain in one day when the Pineapple Express arrives.
Back-to-back storms that pummeled the West Coast this week flowed along the Pineapple Express.
NOAA
Northern California and parts of the state’s central and southern regions were expected to get three to five inches of rain, with some spots receiving more than six inches, according to the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes. The Sierra Nevada mountain range in California was expected to get two feet of snow, but more than three feet in higher elevations.
On Thursday morning, a storm was bringing strong wind, rain and snow to parts of Northern California, like Sacramento, where some roads were restricted due to dangerous travel conditions, according to CBS Sacramento. The heavy winds even downed a tree in the state’s capital.
Sonoma and Marin counties, which are in the Bay Area, were also under flood advisories, CBS San Francisco reports. Parts of highways in Santa Clara and Sonoma counties were closed due to mudslides caused by the storm.
While atmospheric rivers could bring flooding and damage, they are an important part of the water supply and the rain and snow they bring could help fill reservoirs.
Snow was expected in the mountains this week, NOAA said. When snowpack melts it can fill reservoirs and help with drought relief.
NOAA
Several back-to-back atmospheric rivers hit California last winter, causing $4.6 billion in damage. CBS News recently joined a group of hurricane hunters as the NOAA scientists dropped instruments to measure wind speed and direction, temperature and humidity that will collect data points that will help improve the accuracy of forecasts. The powerful storms are expected to become stronger as the planet warms.
Two people were killed and 10 others were wounded in two separate shootings along a New Orleans parade route and celebration attended by thousands on Sunday, authorities said. There were no immediate arrests.
Officers responding to reports of gunfire shortly after 3:30 p.m. on an avenue in the city’s St. Roch neighborhood found eight victims with gunshot wounds, according to a news release from the New Orleans Police Department. All eight were taken to hospitals in unknown condition. Police later said a ninth wounded person arrived at a hospital via a private car.
CBS New Orleans affiliate WWL-TV reports that, according to investigators, ballistics showed that two shooters were involved.
About 45 minutes later, police received another report of gunfire as revelers were crossing the Almonaster Avenue Bridge, just over half a mile (.8 km) to the north. One person died at the scene and another died at a hospital, police said. A third victim was driven to a hospital in a private vehicle and was in stable condition, police said.
No arrests were announced and no suspect information was released.
The St. Roch neighborhood is several blocks northeast of the city’s French Quarter that is popular with tourists.
The Almonaster Bridge was closed in both directions during the investigation.
Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said detectives didn’t immediately know if the incidents were related.
“They were … different kinds of approaches,” she said of the shootings, which occurred in the area where a “second line,” a celebration following a parade, was taking place.
Thousands had gathered for the annual outing of the Nine Times Social Aid & Pleasure Club in the 9th Ward, organizer Oscar Brown told NOLA.com.
“It is a wonderful event, and we want to keep it a wonderful event,” Kirkpatrick said.
It was the second major shooting in the South since gunfire marred a homecoming weekend at Tuskegee University in Alabama on Nov. 10, leaving one person dead and injuring 16 others, a dozen of them by gunfire, authorities said.
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Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick for defense secretary, paid accuser to save job at Fox News, his lawyer says
Fox News host Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to serve as defense secretary, paid a confidential financial settlement to a woman who accused him of sexual assault out of concern that the allegation would lead to his firing from the cable news giant, his lawyer told CBS News.
Hegseth’s attorney, Timothy Palatore, said the Army veteran reached a confidential settlement agreement to deter his accuser from going forward with a lawsuit, maintaining that he is innocent and the sexual encounter was consensual. Hegseth denies any wrongdoing.
“The reality is that, had they filed [a lawsuit], civil process takes quite a while, and so Fox News likely would have fired him based on the allegation,” said Palatore, adding that the woman and her attorney “knew that simply filing it would cause an immediate horror storm for [Hegseth].”
Fox News did not respond to an inquiry about when the network found out about Hegseth’s settlement agreement.
Trump’s transition team spoke with Palatore after Hegseth was named as Trump’s nominee defense secretary, the attorney said. He said that he “explained this fully” to them but that he did not know what prior conversations Hegseth had with the transition team, or if they had been informed about the sexual assault allegation and settlement agreement before the announcement of his impending nomination for defense secretary.
“This should have nothing to do with the confirmation process,” he said.
John Lamparski / Getty Images
Trump has indicated that these revelations have not deterred him from Hegseth’s selection as defense secretary. After reports surfaced of the sexual assault accusation, Trump’s communications director Steven Cheung said, “President Trump is nominating high-caliber and extremely qualified candidates to serve in his Administration. Mr. Hegseth has vigorously denied any and all accusations, and no charges were filed.”
The alleged sexual assault took place after midnight on Oct. 8, 2017, at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa. The woman, whose identity has been kept confidential, filed a complaint with the Monterey Police Department four days later alleging that she had been sexually assaulted by Hegseth. The city of Monterey confirmed the 2017 investigation into Hegseth and said in a statement that investigators found the woman had “contusions” on her right thigh. No charges were filed, Palatore said.
The Washington Post, which first reported the financial payment, obtained what it referred to as a memo that it said was sent to the Trump transition team by a friend of the accuser alleging Hegseth raped a conservative group staffer in his room after drinking at the hotel bar. According to the Post, the memo states that the day after the incident, the accuser “had a moment of hazy memory of being raped the night before, and had a panic attack.”
CBS News has not seen the memo and cannot verify its contents.
Palatore told CBS News that there is eyewitness testimony and video surveillance footage that allegedly shows the accuser was the “aggressor” in a consensual sexual encounter. “[Hegseth] was intoxicated. She was sober. She was the one grabbing him by the arm and leading him out of the bar to take him upstairs,” he said.
When asked if CBS News could view the footage, Palatore said, “No.” He also declined to share the names of any eyewitnesses.
CNN reported that it spoke with the alleged victim last week, who “became visibly distraught at the mention of Hegseth’s name.” CNN says she declined to be interviewed at the time and then stopped responding.
Palatore would not share the exact timing of the settlement payment to the woman. He said it occurred “a couple years ago,” emphasizing that it was “well before Trump was even nominated [for the presidency], let alone had named Pete to this position.”
He also declined to disclose the amount of the settlement, only saying it was “far, far less than what she wanted.” He characterized it as “essentially an extortion and blackmail.”
Two years after the alleged incident, Palatore said that Hegseth was informed the woman was making what they called “false claims” against him and was threatening to sue him. Palatore said that she had lost her job and claimed she needed money. In February of 2020, he sent her a cease-and-desist letter. She went “quiet for a year” before he learned she had found an attorney for her case.
Trump’s selection of Hegseth has been plagued with controversy. The announcement that the Fox News personality was his choice for secretary of Defense took many in Washington by surprise. “Wow,” responded Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski upon learning he had been picked to lead the Defense Department. “I just said, wow,” she repeated when asked for her thoughts.
Even Hegseth’s tattoos have attracted scrutiny, specifically the “Deux Vult” tattoo on his inner bicep. The symbolism of that tattoo, which has been tied to extremist groups and the Christian Crusaders, alarmed a member of Hegseth’s National Guard unit, who warned superiors that Hegseth was a potential “insider threat” before President Joe Biden’s inauguration. He was removed from guarding the inauguration.
After The Associated Press reported Hegseth had been flagged as a threat, Vice President-elect JD Vance defended him on social media, accusing the outlet of “attacking Pete Hegseth for having a Christian motto tattooed on his arm.” Hegseth then shared Vance’s tweet, commenting, “They can target me — I don’t give a damn — but this type of targeting of Christians, conservatives, patriots and everyday Americans will stop on DAY ONE at DJT’s DoD.”
The news of Hegseth’s financial settlement agreement with a confidentiality clause may ring familiar to Trump. The president-elect’s own troubles related to a nondisclosure agreement with adult film star Stormy Daniels led to the New York trial in which he became a convicted felon, as well as the first former (and now future) president to be criminally prosecuted.
Trump was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to an alleged cover-up of the payment to Daniels. He has argued that the verdict should be overturned and the indictment dismissed on the basis, among other things, of the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling.
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