WEATHER
*Cloudy then mostly sunny this afternoon, high 45
LOCAL
*St. Louis is still searching for a new Police Chief. It is down to 8 finalists they still have more tests and interviews to over come. The finalists will appear at a town hall meeting at SLU on Thursday, December 14.
*A swastika was found at Webster Groves High School. The principal told parents that a student created a digital swastika over another student`s photo. Other Nazi symbols have been found before in the school stairwell and restrooms.
NATIONAL
*Congressman John Conyers of Michigan announced that he will not seek re-election next year following sexual harassment allegations. The 88-year-old Democrat insists he is not resigning, but is retiring. Six former staffers have come forward with claims of sexual harassment, which Conyers has denied. He's also accused of paying $27,000 in hush money to one of his accusers, but he says the money was paid out as severance. Both Republican and Democratic leaders have called for Conyers to resign.
Bail Deal Not Looking Good For Manafort-
A former Trump ally may have ruined his chances for bail with a bad idea.
The Special Counsel in the Russia investigation is no longer supporting a bail deal for former Donald Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort. Prosecutors for Special Counsel Robert Mueller [[ MULL-er ]] say Manafort was secretly working with a colleague to pen an op-ed article that would've painted his work in Ukraine in a positive light.
The colleague is someone known to have ties to Russian intelligence. Prosecutors say this violated a court order not to publicly discuss the case against him. In part, the filing noted “The editorial clearly was undertaken to influence the public’s opinion of defendant Manafort, or else there would be no reason to seek its publication (much less for Manafort and his long-time associate to ghostwrite it in another’s name).
Manafort is under house arrest on several federal charges, including money laundering. He's proposed a deal that would lift the house arrest in exchange for posting nearly 12-million-dollars in bail.
Source: Los Angeles Times
Quick Forming Wildfire Rages In SoCal-
A brush fire that exploded to ten-thousand acres in just a few hours is driving hundreds of people from their homes north of Los Angeles.
The blaze, dubbed the Thomas Fire, started near St. Thomas Aquinas college. One person was killed a the crash on a road shut down by the flames. More than 800 families in Santa Paula are evacuated.
The main concern is much of the vegetation in the blaze’s path hasn’t been burned off in years, making it perfect fuel. Ventura County Fire Chief Mark Lorenzen, when asked about knocking down the fire, wasn’t optimistic. "The prospects for containment are not good. Really mother nature is going to decide.”
Powerful Santa Ana winds with gusts of 50 mph are pushing flames southwest toward Ventura and Santa Paula. The towns are about an hour northwest of Los Angeles.
Source: Los Angeles Times
Tampa Police Try To Explain Fake Interpreter-
Police in Tampa, Florida are at a loss to explain why a phony sign language interpreter was doing the signing when they announced the arrest of the Seminole Heights serial murders suspect.
The mother of one of the victims is deaf and couldn't make any sense of what Derlyn Roberts was signing at the November 28th news conference. Certified sign language interpreters tell reporters Roberts was signing gibberish.
A Tampa Police spokesman says he doesn't know why Roberts posed as an interpreter. And admitted when the woman showed up to volunteer to sign, they didn’t vet her. The city relies on a pre-paid contractor for interpreters, and police assumed she was sent over.
Police say what Roberts did was an ethical violation, but not a crime. She does have a history of fraud arrests.
Source: ABC Tampa
SPORTS
The Blues take on the Montreal Canadians tonight