Midday Roundup: Officials say Las Vegas crash not an act of terror

Unclear motive. One person has died after a driver intentionally barreled into a crowd on the Las Vegas Strip Sunday night. More than a dozen people were injured when a 20-year-old woman drove her sedan over the curb near the hotel where the Miss Universe pageant was being held. She had a 3-year-old in the car with her, authorities said. Police were testing her for alcohol and drug use and expected to charge her today. The Las Vegas Police Department said the incident was not an act of terrorism.

More school closings. About 11,500 students in Nashua, N.H., are home today after yet another threat of violence at schools. An administrator received a very specific threat against the district’s two high schools over the weekend, but school officials would not disclose what it said. Last week, Los Angeles closed schools for a day after receiving an email threat. In New York, which received a similar email, Police Chief William Bratton criticized the LA closing as an overreaction, and Mayor Bill de Blasio said he kept schools open so as not to “aid and abet” people who want to cause panic.

Confused coronation. Steve Harvey, host of Sunday night’s Miss Universe pageant, made a gaffe that had Donald Trump smirking from afar: He announced the wrong winner on live TV. Harvey misread the results and named Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutierrez Arevalo, as Miss Universe when really she was runner-up to Miss Philippines, Pia Alonzo Wurzbach. Arevalo was already wearing the crown when Harvey came back onstage and said he made a mistake. Trump, who sold the pageant earlier this year in a row with NBCUniversal, gloated on Twitter: “Very sad what happened last night at the Miss Universe Pageant. I sold it 6 months ago for a record price. This never would have happened!”

Unseasonable. Folks dreaming of a white Christmas this year will have to keep dreaming in much of the country. A massive warm-air front out of the southwest is pushing tropical air toward the central and eastern United States. The National Weather Service says it will likely shatter dozens of record high temperatures for Christmas week. The East Coast could see as many as 40 new record highs set on Christmas Eve.

Galactic proportions. Star Wars: The Force Awakens shattered opening day and opening weekend box office records (see Megan Basham’s WORLD Magazine review).The seventh offering in the Star Wars franchise nabbed $120 million in ticket sales on Friday alone and $238 million for the weekend. That easily surpassed the old weekend record of $209 million set by Jurassic World. Coming in at a far distant second place for weekend box office sales was Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip at $14 million.

WORLD Radio’s Jim Henry contributed to this report.