CBS News
Rescuers continue search for Hurricane Ian survivors in Florida
Rescuers searched for survivors among the ruins of Florida’s flooded homes from Hurricane Ian while authorities in South Carolina began assessing damage from its strike there as the remnants of one of the strongest and costliest hurricanes to ever hit the U.S. continued to push north.
The powerful storm terrorized millions of people for most of the week, battering western Cuba before raking across Florida from the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean, where it mustered enough strength for a final assault on South Carolina.
As of late Saturday afternoon, the official statewide death toll in Florida stood at 24. However, after contacting local sheriffs’ offices, CBS News found that the number of deaths attributed directly or indirectly to the hurricane was at least 72. Of those 72, 35 were in Lee County, and 23 in Charlotte County.
The office of North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper also reported Saturday at least four Ian-related deaths. They included a 25-year-old man, a 24-year-old woman, a 22-year-old man and a 65-year-old man. Three of the deaths involved vehicular accidents, the governor’s office said, while the 65-year-old man died from carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator that was running in a closed garage during a power outage. The man’s wife was also hospitalized.
As of Saturday afternoon, nearly 1.2 million homes and businesses remained without power in Florida, and hundreds of thousands of outages were reported across the Carolinas and Virginia.
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At a Saturday morning press conference, FEMA and U.S. Coast Guard officials said about 4,000 people have been rescued in Florida by local, state and federal authorities, with a vast majority of those coming from the barrier islands. Some 10,000 people are still in shelters, according to the Red Cross, and authorities have not yet determined what kind of temporary housing will be set up for those who lost their homes.
At least 145 hospitals and medical facilities in Florida were impacted by Hurricane Ian. Of those, 10 emergency departments were fully evacuated. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continues to conduct damage assessments.
“There are impacts to the hospital system,” FEMA assistant administrator Anne Bink said, adding that FEMA is engaged in “bulk water delivery” to affected medical facilities, particularly in Lee County.
Meanwhile, crews on Saturday were going door to door in Pine Island, Florida, “to get everyone out,” the Matlacha/Pine Island Fire Control District said on social media. The storm heavily damaged the only bridge to the island, and left it without any power or water service. The Lee County Sheriff’s Office reported Saturday evening that the U.S. Coast Guard was planning a “waterborne” Pine Island evacuation effort Sunday.
In nearby Sanibel Island, the Coast Guard and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will soon send barges as a short-term solution for getting equipment and materials to the decimated island.
“That area is going to be out of out of commission for a long time,” said U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Brandon McPherson. “It does not have water. It does not have basic infrastructure. I think some people might have though they could stay there for some time, but after camping out for a night or two, they’re realizing that’s not a viable option.”
In South Carolina, Ian’s center came ashore near Georgetown, a small community along the Winyah Bay about 60 miles north of historic Charleston. The storm washed away parts of four piers along the coast, including two connected to the popular tourist town of Myrtle Beach.
During a Saturday afternoon press conference, Gov. Henry McMaster said the state has cleaning and rebuilding to do, particularly in the northwest corner of the state, where residents saw a lot of water. However, he said overall it was a “good story” for South Carolina — there were no reported storm deaths, no hospitals were damaged, water systems were working, and most residents who lost power already had it back on Saturday morning.
“We are open for business,” the governor said.
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In some places, though, new problems continued to arise. A 14-mile stretch of Interstate 75 in Florida was closed late Friday in both directions in the Port Charlotte area because of the massive mount of water swelling the Myakka River.
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In the Sarasota suburb of North Point, Florida, residents of the Country Club Ridge subdivision waded through waterlogged streets Friday. John Chihil solemnly towed a canoe and another small boat through the ankle-deep water.
“There’s really not much to feel. It’s an act of God, you know?” he said. “I mean, that’s all you can do is pray and hope for a better day tomorrow.”
Now weakened to a post-tropical cyclone, Ian was expected to move across central North Carolina on Saturday morning then move into Virginia and New York.
CBS News
Texas man fights to reunite with wife and kids, including newborn twins, who were unexpectedly deported to Mexico
A Texas man is fighting to get his wife and four children back after he says they were unexpectedly deported to Mexico.
Federico Arellano is a U.S. citizen, and says three of his four kids are too. He says there has been a misunderstanding and that his family was misled.
Now, a video call is the only way he’s been able to see his family.
Agents deport family
ICE agents deported Arellano’s wife, Christina Salazar, and their four kids to Mexico last week after they say they were told to come to the ICE field office in Houston to discuss Salazar’s immigration case.
“They told me that they were going to take her to Mexico because she had a deportation order,” Arellano said.
A judge signed off on the order in early October after Salazar missed an immigration hearing. The family says Salazar was recovering from giving birth to premature twins and doctors recommended she recover at home during that time.
Arellano said he informed the court about the situation and claims they reassured him by phone the date could be rescheduled.
Nearly two months later, Arellano said agents detained his wife and then their four children.
Immigration attorney Isaias Torres, who represents the family, said he has not seen an instance like this one that involves a family.
“I’ve seen criminals, ardent criminals, people with prior deportation. … I don’t understand why this happened,” Torres said.
Hopes to reunite
A video call is now the only way Arellano can see Salazar and their kids for the foreseeable future.
“I’m alone. I have no one to help me with my kids here and they are really sick,” Salazar said in a video call from Reynosa, Mexico.
Attorneys for the family said they are reaching out to members of Congress for help. ICE and the DOJ have not responded to CBS News for a request for comment.
Meanwhile, Arellano said he just wants his family back.
“To get them back and of course they return to me just as they were taken away. I want them to return to me,” he said.
The Charlotte Hornets have issued an apology for a recent skit involving a gift and a young fan.
During the second quarter of a game against the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday, the Hornets performed a skit where a child was brought down to the court to meet the team’s mascot, who was dressed as Santa Claus, CBS Sports reported. A letter from the boy to Santa asking for a PlayStation 5, was read aloud. Then a cheerleader gave the boy a bag containing the video game console. While the cameras rolled, the boy seemed elated to have received the console.
Once the cameras stopped rolling, though, the video game station was taken away from the boy and he was given a jersey instead. The boy’s uncle was told that he would not be able to keep the console. A clip of the incident went viral on social media.
The Hornets issued an apology on Tuesday, saying that the skit “missed the mark” and “included bad decision making and poor communication.”
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“Simply put, we turned the ball over and we apologize. We have reached out to the family and are committed to not only making it right but to exceeding expectations. We will be providing the fan with the PS5 that he should have taken home last night along with a VIP experience to a future game,” the team said, according to CBS Sports. “Our goal is and will remain to elevate the guest experience for every person that enters Spectrum Center, and to show our fans how much we appreciate their relentless support.”
The Hornets have won seven games this season and lost 19, according to ESPN.
Basketball star Michael Jordan sold his majority ownership in the team to a group of investors last year for a reported $3 billion.
CBS News
Senate passes $895 billion defense bill with controversial gender-affirming care restriction
Washington — The Senate approved the mammoth $895 billion National Defense Authorization Act on Wednesday, despite concern from some Democrats over a controversial policy restricting gender-affirming care for children of servicemembers.
In a 85 to 14 vote, the Senate approved the legislation, which the House passed last week. Eleven Democrats and three Republicans voted against it in the upper chamber. The bill now heads to President Biden’s desk for his signature.
The 1,800 page national security legislation to authorize funding for the Defense Department for fiscal year 2025. But the bill includes a handful of controversial policies, like the gender-affirming care restriction, and lost support from the majority of Democrats in the House.
The Democratic-controlled Senate pushed forward with the measure nonetheless. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer noted that while the NDAA “isn’t perfect,” it still “includes some very good things that Democrats fought for” — citing provisions aimed at standing up against the Chinese Communist Party, boosting the use of artificial intelligence for national defense and expanding domestic tech innovation.
“Congress has passed the NDAA on a bipartisan basis for over six straight decades, and this year will be no different,” Schumer said ahead of the vote on Wednesday. “We’re passing the NDAA and that’s a very good thing.”
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Sen. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, derided the gender-affirming care restriction earlier this week, calling it “the product of a nationwide campaign against trans rights” and arguing that the legislation’s approval would mark “the first anti-LGBTQ law passed by Congress in decades.”
Still, the outcome of the vote was all but guaranteed after the Senate advanced the measure on Monday in a 83-12 procedural vote.
Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, celebrated the NDAA’s “immense accomplishments,” including a 14.5% pay raise for junior service members and investments in recruitment capabilities. But he said Congress “missed an opportunity to strengthen the president-elect’s hand as he takes office in a precarious world situation.”
Wicker outlined that the Armed Services Committee proposed $25 billion for modernization programs, including for missile defense, ship building and counter-drone technology, saying “this should have been part of the bill today.”
Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat who chairs the Armed Services Committee, called the legislation a “strong, forward looking bill that we can all be proud of.” But he said he “strongly” disagrees with the inclusion of the gender-affirming care provision, calling it a “misguided provision.”
“I share many of my colleagues’ frustrations that the bill includes a provision that would prohibit gender-affirming health care for minors under certain circumstances,” Reed noted, adding that he voted against the provision in committee. “We will continue to work to ensure the health care rights of all military personnel and their dependents.”
Texas man fights to reunite with wife and kids, including newborn twins, who were unexpectedly deported to Mexico
Charlotte Hornets apologize after a gift-giving skit with young fan went awry
Senate passes $895 billion defense bill with controversial gender-affirming care restriction
Texas man fights to reunite with wife and kids, including newborn twins, who were unexpectedly deported to Mexico
Charlotte Hornets apologize after a gift-giving skit with young fan went awry
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