CBS News
Days of rain have flooded parts of South Florida prompting closures
MIAMI – Days of rain have left a flood of trouble in South Florida.
On Wednesday, Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for Broward, Collier, Lee, Miami-Dade and Sarasota counties. Earlier in the day, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, and Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis also declared states of emergency, along with the cities of Dania Beach and Sunny Isles Beach. In Dania Beach, there were at least 40 rescues conducted by police and fire crews.
On Thursday, all Broward County public schools are closed for summer sessions. Also closed are county courts, U.S. district courts, and Dania Beach’s city hall. The city’s Clerk’s Office remains open for election-related business.
The city of Miami has announced that all city services at the Miami River Center, City Hall, parks, summer camps, and solid waste collection are suspended on Thursday.
Miami-Dade public schools will be open for the summer session.
Florida International University’s Biscayne Bay campus and the campus at I-75 are closed due to flooding. Nova Southeastern University’s Oceanographic Center is also closed Thursday due to flooding.
Due to flooding conditions on sections of the railroad, Tri-Rail service between Metrorail Transfer and MiamiCentral stations remains suspended Thursday morning. Passengers are advised to use the Metrorail system.
Miami residents in need of sandbags can pick them up starting at 10 a.m. at Douglas Park at 2755 SW 37th Avenue. It’s limited to five bags per resident and they must provide proof of residency. They will be available until the supply runs out.
Sandbags will be available at 11 a.m. at North Miami’s public works facility at 1855 NE 142nd Street. Opa-locka is also distributing sandbags from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. at their public works department at 12950 NW 42nd Avenue.
Several South Florida cities have received more than 15 inches of rain in the last two days.
North Miami has received more than 20 inches, Hallandale Beach and Hollywood have received more than 19 inches, Davie has gotten nearly 18 inches, Dania Beach 10 inches, and Plantation nearly nine inches.
In Northeast Miami-Dade, a man who lives off 223rd Avenue and NE 191st Street said he had to wade through waist-deep water to get to his home.
“It’s right where the entrance to where my apartment is. The water was up to here (motioning to his hips). I’m not kidding you. And there are a couple of cars stranded by the entrance. I’m freaking out because yesterday I was like how do I get around here, this is crazy, I don’t know how long this is going to going on for,” he said.
In Hollywood, more than a dozen cars stalled out in knee-deep flood water on N 14th Ave. A pump on the street was unable to keep up with the rain.
A flood warning is in effect for much of Miami-Dade and Broward through 8 a.m. Thursday. A flood watch is in effect through Friday at 8 p.m.
Some locations that will experience flooding include Miami, Hialeah, Fort Lauderdale, Pembroke Pines, Hollywood, Miramar, Pompano Beach, Davie, Miami Beach, Plantation, Sunrise, Tamarac, Margate, Coral Gables, Key Biscayne, South Miami, Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, Surfside, Miami Gardens and Hallandale Beach, according to the National Weather Service.
The wet, stormy weather pattern will hold in South Florida through the end of the work week, forecasters say, with the tropical moisture dissipating slightly by the weekend. That will leave the region a bit drier, but there will still be a chance for storms, but not nearly as widespread.
CBS News
Rex Heuermann, alleged Long Island serial killer, due in court as prosecutors promise major development
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. – Accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann is due back in court on Long Island Tuesday morning, and prosecutors are promising a major development in the case.
The hearing is set to begin after 9:30 a.m. A press conference is expected at the Suffolk County DA’s office shortly after. We will bring that news conference to you live on CBS News New York.
The judge has previously indicated he wanted to set a trial date at today’s hearing.
Heuermann’s last court appearance was back in October.
Heuermann accused of killing 6 women, so far
Heuermann, 61, has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the deaths of six women between 1993 and 2011. The remains of 11 people were discovered around Gilgo Beach during that period, and investigators believe Heuermann may be linked to other killings. The Suffolk County DA has said there could be future indictments.
Four of the victims had their bodies disposed of near Gilgo Beach. Two others were murdered as far back as 2003 and 1993. Each of them had been involved in sex work.
Prosecutors allege Heuermann is linked to the murders through DNA, burner phone data, a description of his truck, internet searches and what they call a blueprint for how to get away with murder.
Attorneys wrangle over DNA, volume of evidence
A key point of contention in the new DNA evidence is called SNP, which prosecutors say links the hairs of victims to Heuermann. The defense has called an outside lab’s methods of genetic testing unproven and “magic.”
Another hurdle for prosecutors is the sheer volume of evidence. The DA says they’re struggling to keep up with the costs of processing the 120 terabytes of data and 400 electronic devices seized.
Heuermann’s attorney says his client is looking forward to his day in court and will be pursuing a change of venue, claiming the jury pool in Suffolk has been “poisoned.”
Heuermann remains in isolation in jail.
CBS News
Osiel Cárdenas Guillén — notorious drug lord nicknamed “Friend Killer” — returned to Mexico after U.S. prison sentence
Notorious drug lord Osiel Cárdenas Guillén has been returned to Mexico after serving a U.S. sentence and was quickly re-arrested and sent to a maximum security prison to face Mexican charges.
There had been nervousness about the impending return of Cárdenas Guillén, who once led the feared Gulf cartel in northeastern Mexico before he was arrested and extradited to the United States in 2007.
The U.S. Homeland Security Department confirmed in its social media accounts Monday that Cárdenas Guillén had been returned after serving 14 years in U.S. custody, most of his 25-year U.S. prison sentence. He is a Mexican citizen, so presumably he was deported.
“The successful removal of Osiel Cardenas, a notorious international fugitive, underscores our unwavering commitment to public safety and justice,” said Enforcement and Removal Operations Chicago Field Office Director Samuel Olson in a statement.
A Mexican federal official who was not authorized to be quoted by name said Cárdenas Guillén had immediately been taken into custody in Mexico on drug, organized crime and money-laundering charges.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement/Handout via REUTERS
The official said Cárdenas Guillén was being held at the country’s top maximum-security Altiplano prison just west of Mexico City.
Homeland Security Investigations posted photos of a paunchy, balding, bespectacled Cárdenas Guillén being escorted by two officers in helmets and flak vests, and the being walked over a border bridge.
The image contrasts with the drug lord’s fearsome reputation for violence in Mexico.
Nicknamed “El Mata Amigos” (“Friend Killer”), he recruited former Mexican special forces soldiers to form his personal guard. The former head of the Gulf cartel was known for his brutality. He created the most bloodthirsty gang of hitmen Mexico has ever known, the Zetas, which routinely slaughtered migrants and innocent people.
The 57-year-old native of the border city of Matamoros, Mexico, moved tons of cocaine and made millions of dollars through the Gulf cartel, based in the border cities of Reynosa and Matamoros.
After his arrest in the northeast border state of Tamaulipas, he was extradited in 2007 to the United States, where he was sentenced in 2010 to 25 years in prison and ordered to pay $50 million.
At that time, the Justice Department alleged that Cardenas Guillen threatened to kill a Texas sheriff’s deputy who was working as an undercover ICE agent because he refused to deliver almost 1,000 kilograms of marijuana.
CBS News
The Electoral College votes to confirm results for the 2024 presidential election today. Here’s what to know.
At state capitols across the U.S. Tuesday, the presidential electors will be gathering to cast their electoral votes, formalizing President-elect Donald Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.
It’s largely a ceremonial vote, the next step after the presidential election. When Americans cast their ballots on Election Day, they’re technically voting for a slate electors committed to supporting their choice for president and vice president.
How does the Electoral College work?
The rules governing the Electoral College are outlined by the 12th Amendment.
Presidential electors, according to the amendment, “shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify.”
The political parties choose the slate of electors ahead of the general election.
After Election Day, all the votes are counted and then certified by each state. According to the 2022 Electoral Count Reform Act, the deadline to certify the results is set at six days before the electors are scheduled to meet, traditionally on the first Tuesday after the second Wednesday in December.
The Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022 also requires that each state determine a state official — the governor unless specified otherwise — to be responsible for submitting the “certificate of ascertainment” that identifies the state’s electors and includes a security feature.
What were the 2024 Electoral College results?
Trump won 312 Electoral College votes to Harris’ 226. See state-by-state results here and below.
Nationally, Trump also won the popular vote, winning 77.2 million votes to Harris’ 75 million.
How many electoral votes does each state have?
The Electoral College consists of 538 electors, and a majority of 270 is needed to become president.
Each state’s electoral votes are equal to the number of representatives they have in the House, plus two senators.
While the number of Electoral College votes has remained at 538 since 1964, the number of votes per state changes to match congressional apportionment after the decennial census. Between the 2020 election and the 2024 election, Texas gained two Electoral College votes, while five other states — Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina and Oregon — gained one electoral vote each. Six states lost an electoral vote: California, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
The map below shows the changes by state between the 2020 election and the 2024 election.
Does each elector have to vote with the state election results?
Forty-eight states and Washington, D.C., are winner-take-all, so the winner of the popular vote in the state wins all of the state’s electoral votes. Maine and Nebraska allocate their electors based on the winner of the popular vote within each Congressional District and then two “at-large” electors are determined based on winner of the statewide popular vote.
The electors are supposed to vote in accordance with the outcome of the popular vote in their state. The Constitution does not require electors to vote with the winner of the popular vote, but most states have laws that nullify the votes of “faithless electors.” The Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that states can punish these “faithless electors.”
According to FairVote, there have been 90 “deviant” votes cast by electors for president since the founding of the Electoral College, although the majority of these were due to the death of a party’s nominee rather than a true deviation from the voters’ intent.
There have also been 75 faithless electors for vice president, for a total of 165 faithless electors throughout history, according to FairVote.
After the 2020 election, so-called “fake” Republican electors in seven battleground states won by President Biden met anyway and cast phony votes for Trump. State criminal charges have been filed against fake electors in Georgia, Michigan and Nevada. In charging Trump for attempting the overturn the election results, special counsel Jack Smith said these fake electors were part of a plan to overturn the election, orchestrated by pro-Trump attorneys with Trump’s support. Those charges have been dismissed since Trump’s victory in the 2024 election.
What’s next after the Electoral College certification?
After the results are signed and certified, they are sent to Harris, acting as the president of the Senate. The vote certificates must be received by the fourth Wednesday in December, which this year is Dec. 25. The archivist then transmits the sets of certificates to Congress on or before the new Congress meets on Jan. 3, 2025.
On Jan. 6, 2025, Congress meets in a joint session to count the Electoral College votes, overseen by Harris. After the votes are counted, the vice president announces the winner of the election.
Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance will take the oath of office at the inauguration at noon on Jan. 20, 2025.
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