Monday morning news - December 13, 2021

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Death toll from tornado outbreak likely to top 100 » Some residents of Mayfield, Kentucky continued to worship and sing Christmas carols on Sunday amid tragedy and mourning.

That after a monstrous tornado—or perhaps a series of twisters—carved a violent path that could rival the longest on record. It ripped across several states, derailing a train and crushing a candle factory, a nursing home, and an Amazon warehouse.

In Mayfield, rescuers were still digging through piles of twisted steel and shattered lumber on Sunday hoping to find more survivors. But Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said the death toll will likely top 100 with the largest loss of life at that candle factory in Mayfield.

BESHEAR: There’s at least 15 feet of metal with cars on top of it.

One-hundred-and-ten people were working there when the storm hit.

But the twister devastated the entire town. Milton West is Senior Minister at First Christian Church in Mayfield.

WEST: We were up most of the night praying and worrying, and then when it got daylight, I got in my truck and came on into town and was just stunned. What I saw, just heartbreaking.

Deaths have also been reported in Tennessee, Illinois, Arkansas, and Missouri.

U.K. raises coronavirus alert level » The British government raised the country’s official coronavirus threat level on Sunday. Top medical officials said the omicron variant poses a “rapidly increasing” threat. They recommended raising the alert level from 3 to 4 on a 5-point scale.

British officials say omicron is likely to replace delta as the dominant strain in the U.K. within days.

Omicron is not yet widespread in the United States, but it is on the rise. President Biden’s top medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci told ABC’s This Week…

FAUCI: It looks like it has a high degree of transmissibility. And that’s the reason why you’re seeing, literally every day, more and more countries, and in the United States, more and more states.

U.S. health officials are encouraging people to get vaccinated or get a booster shot.

So far, it appears that vaccines offer less protection against the omicron variant than against previous strains.

But CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky says there are two things to keep in mind. First, early data suggests vaccines do provide strong protection against severe illness from omicron. And second...

WALENSKY: Still, over 99 percent of cases in this country right now are caused by the delta variant.

New COVID-19 cases have surged roughly 50 percent over the past two weeks, driven almost entirely by the delta strain.

Democrats face continued uphill push to pass spending bill » Democratic leaders are still working to push the president’s multi-trillion-dollar spending package across the finish line.

But that task won’t be any easier after new inflation numbers last week along with a new report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

The CBO said that if many of the bill's supposedly temporary spending boosts were made permanent, it would nearly triple the advertised price tag. And it would add trillions to the nation’s debt over 10 years.

GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham is Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee. He again voiced his concerns on Sunday...

GRAHAM: This bill, Build Back Better, is $5 trillion dollars. It’s not $1.75. It will add $3 trillion dollars to the deficit. When they tell you this bill is paid for, they’re lying.

Shortly after the CBO report on Friday, Democratic leaders issued a statement, calling the CBO report “fake.” They insist the spending will be paid for.

But party leaders have to win over moderate Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin, who remains unconvinced. He’s concerned about adding to the nation’s debt and about soaring inflation.

A government report last week revealed consumer prices jumped 6.8 percent over the past year. That’s the highest such inflation rate in 39 years.

G7 nations warn Russia against invading Ukraine » The United States and other G7 nations issued another warning to Russia over the weekend. G7 is short for the Group of Seven, some of the world’s top economic powers.

After G7 meetings this past weekend in Liverpool, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss had this to say...

TRUSS: What we have this weekend is a united front from the G7 that there would be massive consequences if there were to be a Russian incursion into Ukraine, which would carry severe costs.

In a joint statement, the U.S., U.K., Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan declared themselves—quote—“united in our condemnation of Russia’s military buildup and aggressive rhetoric towards Ukraine.”

Truss said the G-7 was “considering all options” when it came to economic sanctions. And U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken told NBC’s Meet the Press...

BLINKEN: We are looking at and we are prepared to take the kinds of steps we’ve refrained from taking in the past that would have massive consequences for Russia.

The White House and U.S. allies have played down talk of a military response to defend Ukraine, with efforts focusing on tough sanctions.

I’m Kent Covington. For more news, features, and analysis, visit us at wng.org. 

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