hoping to ease tensions, as china s foreign minister says relations between the superpowers are at their lowest point in years. key issues include taiwan, spying and the dangerous military encounters. will blinken meet with president xi? matt rivers in beijing. a weekend of deadly gun violence. 20 people shot, 1 killed at a juneteenth celebration outside of chicago. two dead when a gunman fires randomly at a music festival in washington state. and a teenager killed in st. louis. new details in the investigation into letters containing suspicious white powder sent to kansas lawmakers. more than 90 letters sent. lawmakers tell abc news, most were sent to republicans. the cryptic message in those letters and the hunt for a suspect. pope francis makes his first public address since undergoing abdominal surgery, thanking the faithful for their prayers. his doctor proclaiming he s better than before. ukraine s counteroffensive. explosions ripping through a dozen russian amm
weather service has expanded that excessive heat warning into cities as far north as dallas. as we head into tonight, we re still tracking that threat for severe weather. a lot of the heat and humidity playing a role in energizing the storms. from greenville, to jackson, to mobile. damaging winds, large hail and a threat for isolated tornados. as we head into tomorrow afternoon, the storms linger. they shift farther east. the florida panhandle could be in for heavy rain and flash flooding. again, some of the storms severe, with a chance of isolated tornadoes as well as damaging winds. linsey. we know you ll be following it for us. thanks so much. overseas, and secretary of state antony blinken s high-stakes diplomatic mission to china. blinken is hoping to ease tensions between the two nations. he s the first secretary of state to visit the country in five years. china s foreign minister says relations between the superpowers are at the lowest point in years. hopes for significant
saturated. unfortunately as those storms linger, so does the flood danger. the rain sweeping across raleigh, washington, d.c., nashville, baltimore, atlantic city all on track to be their wettest december ever. i want to take a look at new year s eve weekend. behind the system that brought all the snow, a bitter blast of really cold air is coming. we re going to be windchills well below zero. it stays pretty mild and comfortable for the northeast. remember new year s eve in times square the temperature was 9 degrees when the ball dropped. this year it s probably going to be in the 30s. that will seem quite comfortable. that will be nice for the thousands out there. still ahead, former producers from the apprentice show how they changed donald trump s issue, essentially paving his way to the presidency. essentially paving his way to the