As the final days of the holiday shopping season begin, Amazon workers nationwide are going on strike. And the CDC announces the first severe case of bird flu in a human in the United States. These stories and more highlight your Unbiased Updates for Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024.
Amazon workers strike as last-minute holiday shopping rush gets underway
As shoppers have less than a week now to cross off their holiday lists, Amazon workers across the country are headed to the picket lines. Thousands of Amazon employees are striking after the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said the company ignored its Dec. 15 deadline for contract negotiations.
The Teamsters represent nearly 10,000 workers at 10 Amazon facilities. That accounts for about 1% of the company’s hourly workforce.
A facility in New York’s Staten Island became Amazon’s first-ever unionized warehouse in 2022, but since then, workers there have said the company has refused to recognize the union and negotiate a contract.
In a statement on X, Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said, “If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed. We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it.”
Amazon denied the claims.
“The truth is that the teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, which is illegal,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a statement.
The Seattle-based online retailer seeks to re-do the election that led to the union victory in Staten Island. It filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Board.
Despite the Teamsters calling this strike the largest in Amazon’s history, the company said it does not expect the strike to impact operations.
Israeli airstrikes target Houthi infrastructure in Yemen
The Israeli military carried out a series of airstrikes in Yemen early Thursday, Dec. 19, killing at least nine people. The strikes happened right after Israel said it intercepted a Houthi missile targeted at the central part of the country.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was a coincidence, and Thursday’s strikes targeting the Iran-backed militant group’s infrastructure were in the works for months.
“Over the last 14 months, the Iran-backed Houthi terror regime in Yemen has launched hundreds of missile and UAV attacks against the State of Israel,” Israeli military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a video statement. “In the last two weeks only, the Houthis fired a drone that hit an apartment block in southern Israel, and on Sunday [Dec. 15], they fired a long-range missile towards central Israel. The Houthis have been carrying out attacks against Israel in violation of international law.”
Hagari added, “Israel will not hesitate to act in order to defend itself and its citizens from the Houthi’s attacks.”
The strikes risk escalating the ongoing conflict with the Houthis, whose attacks on the Red Sea corridor have drastically impacted global shipping. The Houthis started launching those attacks after Hamas — another group backed by Iran — attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The October ambush started the ongoing war in Gaza.
Government shutdown looms as Trump, Musk reject stopgap bill
It’s back to the drawing board for congressional leaders as the stopgap spending bill to avert a government shutdown this weekend is reportedly in jeopardy. The 1,500-page measure aimed to extend government funding through mid-March. A government shutdown is possible if Congress doesn’t take action by Friday night’s deadline.
The bill included aid for farmers and disaster victims and a pay raise for members of Congress, among many other items. On Wednesday, Dec. 18, President-elect Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk rejected the bill.
Musk, who will lead Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency come January, posted about the bill to X more than 100 times. He warned congressional members who vote for the bill, saying they “deserve to be voted out in two years!”
Trump echoed the sentiment, saying Republicans who vote in favor of the bill need to be “primaried.” He released a joint statement with Vice President-elect JD Vance, saying Congress should pass a “streamlined spending bill.”
Trump said the bill should be paired with a measure suspending the debt limit.
It’s unclear what steps House Speaker Mike Johnson will take, but he held a late-night meeting with lawmakers in his office Wednesday.
Following the meeting, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise confirmed the original stopgap bill was dead and hoped the House could find a resolution Thursday.
Teacher, student killed in Wisconsin school shooting identified
Authorities identified the teacher and student killed during a shooting inside a Madison, Wisconsin, school earlier this week. The medical examiner released their names late Wednesday evening, a day after a vigil was held for the victims.
Erin M. West, 42, and Rubi P. Vergara, 14, were pronounced dead at the scene.
Police said the suspected shooter, 15-year-old Natalie “Samantha” Rupnow, opened fire in a classroom at Abundant Life Christian School on Monday morning, Dec. 16. She killed two and injured six others before turning the weapon on herself, police said.
Two students remain hospitalized with life-threatening injuries. Four others, identified as three students and a teacher, were released from the hospital.
As the investigation continues, authorities said they recovered two guns at the school, but only one was used during the shooting. They said the motive appears to be a combination of factors.
CDC confirms first severe human case of bird flu in the US
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the first severe human case of bird flu in the U.S. A patient in Louisiana has been hospitalized in critical condition with severe respiratory symptoms, state health officials said.
Officials said the patient is over the age of 65 with underlying medical conditions. The CDC said the person has a version of the virus recently found to be spreading in wild birds and poultry in the U.S. It was also found in some human cases in Canada and Washington state.
This version of the illness is different from the specific version of the virus that’s been spreading in dairy cows across the U.S.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency over bird flu since the state has the highest number of infected cattle in the U.S. Since April, 61 human cases of bird flu have been reported in the U.S.; 33 of them in California.
You can find our full report on the situation in California here.
ABC reaches new deal with George Stephanopoulos days after Trump settlement
George Stephanopoulos signed a new deal with ABC News, securing his position as anchor of “Good Morning America.” The Los Angeles Times was the first to report on the new contract.
While details about his offer are unknown, he’s previously been one of the highest-paid faces on television, earning $18 million a year.
The agreement comes amid speculation about his future with the network after Disney paid $15 million in a legal settlement over comments Stephanoupolos made about Trump during an interview in 2024.
The libel lawsuit revolved around the anchor saying Trump was “found liable for rape” in the case with writer E. Jean Carroll. The jury in that civil case had actually found Trump liable for sexual abuse. Reports suggested Stephanopoulos was blindsided by ABC’s settlement.
His new contract with ABC comes as parent company Disney is said to be looking to trim costs, which follows a trend right now among media giants. Many are scaling back amid a shift in the industry.
