CBS News
Rare white killer whale nicknamed “Frosty” spotted off California coast
A group of seafaring tourists saw something unusual while whale-watching off the coast of Southern California this week. It was a white orca, or killer whale, that has become somewhat famous in environmentalist circles up and down the Pacific Coast over the last few years.
The orca, a calf nicknamed “Frosty” because of its unusually pale appearance, was seen most recently near Newport Beach. Newport Landing Whale Watching, the tour company that led the whale-watching excursion, shared a Facebook reel on Monday that showed the creature swimming with a pod of several other orcas. The company said the pod included six or seven killer whales seen “offshore,” which usually means 10 or so miles from land.
Newport Landing Whale Watching / Facebook
Frosty has gained a certain level of celebrity since first being seen near Monterey Bay, in Northern California, in 2019, according to the Pacific Whale Watch Association. At the time, Frosty was just a newborn. The whale has since been sighted as far north as British Columbia.
Found in all of the world’s oceans, orcas are a top marine predator found near coasts and in open seas, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They often have especially long lifespans, with females living between 50 and 90 years and males living between 30 and 60 years, so they don’t generally reach maturity until their pre-teen or teenage years. Experts say Frosty is part of a transient population of orcas known as Bigg’s killer whales, which depart from the behaviors of other orcas that are traditionally part of either “resident” or offshore populations.
Frosty’s lack of the typical black-and-white coloring of most killer whales is “extremely rare,” NOAA has said of orcas with a similar appearance.
The Oceanic Society, a California-based nonprofit organization focused on marine conservation, wrote in 2022 that the orca was one of five or six known killer whales that have leucism, an uncommon condition that causes a partial loss of pigmentation in some animals. That leads to the animal’s skin or coat fading to look pale, white or patchy. In 2020, researchers on a charter boat in Alaska spotted a killer whale with the same condition. At the time, a graduate student on the boat said that only eight leucistic whales had ever been seen anywhere in the world.
Leucism is not the same as albinism, where a genetic mutation prevents the production of melanin, which would give an animal its color. Creatures with albinism are usually, but not always, completely white and can have pink or red eyes. Although experts have primarily described Frosty as leucistic, some have suggested that the whale could actually have Chediak-Higashi Syndrome, an autoimmune disease that also depletes pigmentation and, like leucism, is very rare. Another famously white killer whale, nicknamed Chimo, suffered from Chediak-Higashi Syndrome and died from complications of the condition in the early 1970s. A postmortem ultimately confirmed the diagnosis.
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CBS News
Kamala Harris will speak with “60 Minutes” tomorrow. Here’s what to know for the interview.
Voters will get the chance to hear from Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday as she presents her case for why she should be president in a “60 Minutes” election special.
For decades, “60 Minutes” has featured both Republican and Democratic nominees for presidents, but this year, former President Donald Trump backed out after previously indicating he would be on the show. Correspondent Scott Pelley, who’d been set to interview Trump, will instead travel to Arizona’s Maricopa County, home to more than 60% of Arizona’s voters and a critical battleground in a key swing state.
One thing is certain about the election; with the U.S. deeply involved in both the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, whoever wins on Nov. 5 will become a wartime president.
What Harris will discuss
Israel’s war started one year ago after Hamas launched a surprise terror attack and correspondent Bill Whitaker will discuss the ongoing war with Harris.
Harris will also discuss the economy, immigration, her record as vice president and the differences between herself and Trump.
Democratic vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz will also appear.
Whitaker joined the Democratic ticket on the campaign trail this week to gain insight into their platform’s priorities and values, and what the candidates believe voters should know.
Why Trump pulled out of the “60 Minutes” interview
Leading up to the candidate hour, Trump, through campaign spokespeople, was the first candidate to accept the “60 Minutes” request to be interviewed for the special, according to CBS News. It had been agreed that both candidates would receive equal time during the broadcast.
Trump last sat down with 60 Minutes in 2020. He walked out during the interview with Lesley Stahl. Trump referenced the incident on Tuesday night at a Milwaukee press conference when asked about his decision not to participate in the Oct. 7 “60 Minutes” election special.
“Well, right now, I went to – they came to me and would like me to do an interview, but first I want to get an apology, because the last time I did an interview with them, if you remember, they challenged me on the computer,” Trump said. “They said the ‘laptop from hell’ was from Russia, and I said it wasn’t from Russia. It was from Hunter, and I never got an apology, so I’m sort of waiting. I’d love to do ’60 Minutes.’ I do everything.”
The Republican nominee for president emphasized that he felt he was owed an apology from “60 Minutes.”
“Let’s see if they do it. I wouldn’t mind doing 60,” Trump continued. “I’ve done ’60 Minutes’ a lot.”
In a statement on Tuesday, Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung said that Trump’s team had not agreed to an interview.
“Fake News,” Cheung said in a post on X. “60 Minutes begged for an interview, even after they were caught lying about Hunter Biden’s laptop back in 2020. There were initial discussions, but nothing was ever scheduled or locked in. They also insisted on doing live fact checking, which is unprecedented.”
Previous Trump, Harris appearances on 60 Minutes
Trump previously sat down with “60 Minutes'” Mike Wallace in 1985, Pelley in 2015 and Lesley Stahl twice in 2016, first in July of that year and then again in November of 2016. He also spoke with Stahl again in 2018 and 2020.
Harris previously sat down with Whitaker last year. She also was interviewed by Norah O’Donnell, “CBS Evening News” anchor and “60 Minutes” contributing correspondent, in 2020.
