Why she says it was selfdefense. Breaking right now, an Emergency Declaration in florida. Tropical storm eta slamming ashore. Where the storm is headed next. Country musics golden night. The big performances. Then god whispered your name and the big winners at the cma awards. From the Delivery Driver who took a wrong turn to the risky art restoration that ended in disaster to the goose in love with a car. All the trending stories for your thursday morning. Good thursday morning, everyone. Im kenneth moton. Im erielle reshef. Mona is off. We begin with the recordbreaking surge in coronavirus cases here in the u. S. States from coast to coast are setting new highs. Hospitals in several states are running low on staff, and experts are now warning about substantial growth in covid cases in the northeast and midatlantic states. And the virus now impacting more of our pop culture. Several acts at the Country Music awards had to cancel because of covid concerns, and in the sports world, at least eight College Football teams this weekend will have their games canceled. All of this coming as president elect joe biden lays out more of his plan for the transition of power in washington. Well get to those details in a moment. But first the dire situation across this country. This morning the coronavirus emergency getting worse by the hour. Lines of cars last night snaking into Dodger Stadium in california, the testing sites hours are now extended after a spike in cases prompted Los Angeles County to strongly recommend residents get tested and comes as the country smashes daily virus records. 144,000 new cases reported yesterday, the biggest increase yet. More than 65,000 americans now hospitalized, an alltime high. According to the covid tracking project, Health Care Systems are on the brink of being overwhelmed in these nine states. Were breaking records from april, which we didnt think we would be in a place like this come seven months later, but im also worried that there is a sense of quarantine fatigue. People think its over, its rounded the corner when its really not. Reporter in new york the governor is imposing a 10 00 curfew for bars, restaurants and gyms, and gatherings in private homes will be limited to ten people. If these numbers keep going crazy, you have some scientists who believe were going to go back to a closedown. Im just praying that doesnt happen. Reporter in illinois seven deaths are blamed on a covid outbreak at this veterans home. More than 140 residents and staff have tested positive. Four chicago suburbs are facing shutdowns to stop the spread. Its round two all over again. No government funding, no ppe money. This is going to be a lot worse than it was last time around. I mean its going to be brutal. Its going to be crushing, especially to people this is the last the holidays are the busiest times for everyone. Reporter in the meantime, a new challenge in the fight against the virus. A lack of freezers needed for pfizers vaccine. A unique very different freezer, almost like unicorns in health care. Theyre far and hard to find. Reporter pfizer is expected to request emergency authorization for its vaccine as soon as next week, but the vaccine must be stored and shipped at 94 degrees below zero. Fedex is adding dry ice freezers to some trucks and u. P. S. Says its building freezer farms to help with distribution. Experts say getting the vaccine to rural areas will be the biggest challenge. Thats going to be a lot more difficult because now were going to have to find a way to maintain that temperature while were driving it out 20 or 50 miles in order to do an inoculation. Some more good news here. A second vaccine may be coming soon. Dr. Anthony fauci expects positive data from modernas vaccine in the next few days. That vaccine must also be shipped extremely low temperatures. More staffers at the white house have tested positive for covid19. That includes political director brian jack. At least 12 people in the president s orbit have now tested positive since news of chief of staff mark meadows case last week. Breaking overnight, a federal emergency has been declared in florida as Tropical Storm eta slams the gulf coast. Winds topping 60 Miles Per Hour have been lashing the tampa area. Many roads are flooding with at least six inches of rain and four feet of storm surge possible. Schools are closed and the airport was shut down. Abcs rob marciano is there following the storms path. Reporter western florida has been getting slammed with heavy rain, wind and obviously some surging waves here. Tampa bay, susceptible to surge, no doubt about it, even from a strong Tropical Storm, which is what were seeing. Well take a closer look at todays forecast so you know what to expect in just a few moments. A Major Development overnight in the transition of power in washington. President elect joe biden has made his first big hire, chief of staff. Meanwhile, as President Trump remains defiant refusing to acknowledge the Election Results, some key republicans including karl rove are now stepping forward with a reality check. Abcs alex presha has the latest. Alex, good morning. Reporter president elect joe biden has been receiving phone calls from foreign leaders all over the world congratulating him, yet abc has learned overnight the state Department Led by mike pompeo still hasnt received guidance in this transition. As of this morning, joe biden leads donald trump by more than 5 million votes nationally. Its the largest popular vote victory since obama in 08. Still President Trump refuses to concede and continues to make baseless claims about election fraud. Now eyes are on georgia. Biden is up there by more than 14,000 votes. A hand recount already authorized so the republican secretary of state telling cnn he thinks the ultimate results wont change. We believe that the ballots were counted accurately with the machine count. Reporter in arizona another state where trumps challenging vote counts the attorney general telling the local paper, if, indeed, there was some great conspiracy, it didnt work. But the president s refusal to concede and his allies backing him has frozen the transition process. Two state Department Sources confirm that the department has given no guidance to all diplomatic posts about how to discuss the Election Results and was not assisting the biden transition with receiving calls and messages from foreign leaders. Bidens also not getting key Intelligence Briefings through the General Service administration. Gop senator James Lankford telling krmg radio hell, quote, step in if that doesnt happen by friday. Still president elect joe biden is moving forward with transition activities filling a key role tapping ron klain to be chief of staff. Klain led the obamas response to the ebola virus. Once they left and continued with the pandemic Preparation Office was a playbook and on page 9 of the pandemic playbook it said, hey, heres something to worry about, a coronavirus. Reporter former george w. Bush chief of staff karl rove penned an oped in the wall street journal saying these Election Results wont be overfurnished and telling President Trump that closing out this election will be a hard but necessary step towards restoring some unity and political equilibrium. Alex presha in washington, thank you. In georgia today a judge is being asked to decide whether to grant bond for the father and son for killing ahmaud arbery. Gregory and Travis Mcmichael have been in jail since may, more than two months after they chased and gunned down arbery. The 25yearold black man had been running in their neighborhood. The mcmichaels say they thought he was a burglar. Their lawyer is asking the judge to dismiss the charge of malice murder. In houston a massive fire ripping through this recycling plant. Take a look here, forcing authorities to put a shelter in place order in to people within a half mile radius. Officials say that this was a trash fire and the shelter in place order was only a precaution. No injuries were reported. A Daring Rescue in green bay, wisconsin. Two deputies rushed to save a man from this suv engulfed in flames after a crash. One pried the door open and pulled out the driver who is now accused of driving drunk. Lets take a closer look now at your thursday weather. On the radar right now eta is slamming central florida. Up to 8 inches of rain are possible for the tampa area. The system is heading north and could unleash flooding in parts of georgia today. Checking todays high temperatures, cooling off in the northeast where more rain is expected today. It will be in the low 60s from washington to boston. 50s for detroit and chicago. 40s in Washington State and oregon and a storm heading toward Northern California could dump two feet of snow. 73 in phoenix. Coming up, the new coronavirus scare on a cruise ship. But first how the mother of Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager charged with fatally shooting two protesters in kenosha, wisconsin, this summer is defending her son. Plus, a famous face on cable news learns his fate after were back with images from london. Police say a man crashed a car into a Police Station then got out, poured gas on the vehicle and the road and lit everything on fire. Officers tackled then arrested the man. Police say the incident does not appear to be terror related. The mother of Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager charged with fatally shooting two protesters in kenosha, wisconsin, this summer is speaking out in her first oneonone interview, and shes defending her sons actions that night. Abcs andrea fujii has more. Reporter this morning, the mother of Kyle Rittenhouse defending her son. They need to watch the video. He is not a monster. Reporter the 17yearold is accused of shooting three people killing two in kenosha, wisconsin, in august when residents protested the Police Shooting of jacob blake. Rittenhouse is seen on several videos with an ar15 style rifle walking down city streets. Abc news confirming that rittenhouse is the person seen in graphic video where hes running from the crowd, then he falls and then begins shooting. He spoke to an independent journalist that night. People are getting injured and our job is to protect this business and part of my job is also to help. Reporter Wendy Rittenhouse says her son was there to protect businesses from looting but instead he was forced to protect himself. If he didnt have that gun, he would have been dead and point blank. It was all selfdefense. I saw it. If i wasnt his mother, i would have said the same thing, it was selfdefense. He was chased by a bunch of mob. Reporter rittenhouses lawyers claim he was attacked with a baseball bat and skateboard during the protest, but medics say they didnt find any bruising on his body. Selfdefense . That is impossible. That is impossible. I dont know what part of the video you watched, but he already killed a guy, shot him in the head and then tried to run. Reporter Wendy Rittenhouse insists videos from the night of the shooting exonerate her son. They need to go step by step on it. He didnt he didnt do nothing wrong. He was attacked by a mob. The first guy to the second guy and to the third guy. Reporter rittenhouse is charged with first degree intentional homicide and could face life in prison if convicted. Kenneth, erielle. Andrea, thank you. The new yorker has fired writer Jeffrey Toobin after he says he accidentally exposed himself during a zoom call with colleagues. Toobin was suspended after the october incident, and the magazine conducted an investigation. Toobin is also a legal analyst for cnn where he is on leave. Coming up, how mcdonalds is hoping to speed up the drivethrough line. But first a new coronavirus scare at sea on the First Caribbean cruise since the pandemic began. Heres to the duers. To all the people who realize they can du more with less asthma thanks to dupixent, the addon treatment for specific types of moderatetosevere asthma. Dupixent isnt for sudden breathing problems. It can improve lung function for better breathing in as little as 2 weeks and help prevent severe asthma attacks. Its not a steroid but can help reduce or eliminate oral steroids. Dupixent can cause serious allergic reactions including anaphylaxis. Get help right away if you have rash, shortness of breath, chest pain, tingling or numbness in your limbs. Tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection and dont change or stop your asthma treatments, including steroids, without talking to your doctor. Are you ready to du more with less asthma . Talk to your asthma specialist about dupixent. If your financial situation has changed, we may be able to help. Try natures bounty hair, skin and nails gummies. The number one brand to support beautiful hair, glowing skin, and healthy nails. And try advanced, now with two times more biotin. You want them to feel like the only kid in the world. And try advanced, but this year, it made it really difficult to have a birthday party. My mom took me to chickfila. Chickfila just goes above and beyond. I knew that they would make it special. There was like a little note for a mobile order that said, can you please sing happy birthday . They sung happy birthday to me and i cried. She was, in fact, happy. [laughs] we got you something, nova. What is that . A cookie . Thank you its time for theraflu hot liquid medicine. Powerful relief so you can restore and recover. Theraflu hot beats cold. [greg] military life can have its challenges, but sometimes veteran life brings more. [announcer] as americas veterans face challenges, dav is there. [greg] im greg gadson, army veteran. [announcer] dav helps veterans and their families get the benefits theyve earned. [greg] today, im an entrepreneur, a photographer, a public speaker, and i never tire of standing tall. [announcer] with the right support, more veterans can reach victories, great and small. [greg] my victory is just being the best that i can be. [announcer] support more victories for veterans. Go to dav. Org. Back now with a real shock. Two people in central california. Their suv, you see there, got hit by lightning as they were pulling into this parking space. You can see it was a direct hit. They say they experienced ringing in their ears. Scary. We turn now to the coronavirus scare on the first cruise ship to resume sailing in the caribbean. It comes as cruise lines look for volunteers to test safety of setting sail again. This morning, a covid scare at sea. A passenger on board the first cruise to set sail in the caribbean since march has reportedly tested positive for the coronavirus. Its a real pleasure to welcome you on board seadream. Reporter the seadream i with 53 passengers and 66 crew members returning to barbados overnight. If it had gone well, it would prove it would have proved that cruising could come back in the caribbean. Reporter according to the points guy reporter, gene sloan, who is on the ship, all patients were tested before boarding on saturday but on tuesday one felt sick and tested positive. Sloan says all guests are now quarantining in their rooms. Right before lunchtime the captain came on the speaker across the whole ship and told us that a passenger had started not feeling well today and had been tested and had tested positive for covid. Reporter earlier this summer seadream touted its new Safety Measures. As being one of the First Companies to operate, we really feel we are at the forefront of the industry. Reporter and while the cdc does not regulate smaller ships like the seadream i they did lift their no sail order on november 1st updating its list of requirements that larger Cruise Companies must complete to resume operations. One requirement includes a test run with Healthy Volunteers who signed waivers acknowledging theyre potentially putting themselves at risk. Overnight Royal Caribbean telling abc news it received more than 5,000 emails from people interested in being one of those volunteers, and abc news reached out to seadream, the cruise line with the reported case. So far no response overnight. The bigger cruise lines say they still have a lot of work to do and they dont plan on setting sail any time soon. Ticketmaster is working on plans to keep concertgoers safe once there is a coronavirus vaccine. According to billboard, fans would need to prove theyve been vaccinated or tested negative 24 hours before an event. Their status would appear on the ticketmaster app. The pandemic is forcing fast food restaurants to streamline Services Like the drivethrough. Mcdonalds say it will be testing express lanes for people who order in advance using its app. The company is testing dedicated pickup spots. Mcdonalds says wait times have dropped by 20 seconds in recent months. Driving through was not an option for this amazon Delivery Driver. He says he was following his Navigation System when he got stuck trying to enter that tunnel on a golf course in oxford, michigan. Yep. They had to get a tow truck to get him out there. Yikes. Ooh. Coming up, an art restoration project. Lets just say it didnt go as planned. But first highlights from Country Musics big night. I aint got nothing left i aint got nothing left first up, youre gonna wanna knead the dough. Yeah yeah, good give it some life, ya know . Then youre gonna wanna