Page 6 - Color Codes News Today

Of the secretary of homeland security janet napolitano at the podium there, at the microphones outlining what this new system is going to be. carl is here to break this down for us. i had a chance to talk to tom ridge, the former homeland security secretary. even he realized at some point everyone is making fun of this color coded system and making jokes of it. he was like, okay, maybe it wasnt the best idea. what do we have before and what are we looking at now? >> the old one did cause confusi...

Here are some stories to watch today on abc news. a new corruption trial begins for former illinois governor blagojevich. last year a jury was deadlocked on all but one charge. homeland security secretary janet napolitano announces a new system to tell americans about a new terror threat. it will replace the current color codes. and a stubborn wildfire in western texas is just 10% contained today. a huge jet is now dumping fire retardant on the flames. and finally this half hour, we consul...

Here are some stories to watch today on abc news. a new corruption trial begins for former illinois governor blagojevich. homeland security secretary janet napolitano announces a new system to tell americans about a terror threat. it will replace the current color codes. and a stubborn wildfire in western texas is just 10% contained today. a huge jet is now dumping fire retardant on the flames. and finally this half hour, we consulted the oxford english dictionary for this one. mick job is...

That would be me, and i agree that the alert needs to be continued. >> nbc news justice correspondent pete williams is in the newsroom with details. pete, this is a long awaited change. will it make a big difference to all of us who had finally gotten used to, i guess, the code oranges? >> reporter: i think the department of homeland security had decided that we had become so used to the color codes that we werent really paying attention to them anymore, they were backgrounds that few people act...

Class, they have to be terminated, simple as that. and a lot of teachers dont want to work these days. >> avery, you think thats going too far is this. >> yeah, a little extreme. richards answer is based on a lot of assumptions. >> well, you can catch our legal guys here every saturday always juggling some great topics at noon eastern. forget the old color codes. were going to talk about plans for a new terror alert system right after the break.

Active fires in texas. they have now upped the acreage that has been blackened to 1.9 million acres, 2700 square miles, bigger than the state of delaware. more than 400 homes so far have been lost. look at the map, i want to show you the severity level in texas. if you look at the color codes with the yellow, light red and dark red those are the danger areas covering most of the state. 254 counties in texas. 252 counties have seen wildfires this year. one of the worst wildfires is at possum king...

Latest updates on this topic.