breaking news on "america this morning," an explosion rips through a chemical plant in west virginia. authorities issuing a shelter in place order. multiple people injured. the latest from the scene. the countdown to a covid vaccine. what we're learning just 24 hours before the fda meets to consider emergency use of pfizer's vaccine and the question this morning, can you be legally required to get the vaccine? meanwhile, hospitals growing more desperate, some patients now being forced to wait days for a bed. the new prediction about the days ahead. texas takes on america. the state where everything is bigger now taking four other states to court in a push to overturn results of the presidential election. legal experts now weighing in. plus, surfer attack. the u.s. competition now on hold

after a man is nearly killed by a shark. attacks on deliveries? the new way cities could boost revenues in these tough times targeting online shoppers. and speed infraction. the surprising street signs that have drivers pumping the brakes. good wednesday morning, everyone. we begin with breaking news. an explosion ripping through a chemical plant in west virginia. >> video overnight showed the intense flames in the town of belle south of charleston. it was not immediately clear whether the explosion involved any chemicals at the plant, but as a precaution, authorities ordered a shelter in place for a two-mile radius. >> two people were being treated. first responders are letting the fire burn out before they enter

the plant owned by chem o kemp ours company formerly dupont. captured by a driver's dashboard camera lighting up the sky. schools are closed in that area today. stay with abc news. more details as we get them. now to the coronavirus emergency. hospitals are seeing the most dramatic surge since the pandemic began. more than 2400 people died in the last 24 hours. the u.s. is on track to reach 300,000 by the week's end, but there is encouraging news about the vaccine up for fda approval. this morning, the u.s. potentially one day away from approving a vaccine. pfizer's vaccine poised to win emergency approval tomorrow after an fda analysis showing its effectiveness during trials. >> they go back into the raw data and see if they can reproduce all the findings that the manufacturer has said. they did. >> reporter: in this graphic the blue line represents the low rate of people who got covid after getting the vaccine. the red line represents people on the placebo who got the virus. by the end of the study of those who got the vaccine, only eight were infected.

in the placebo group, 162 were infected. the good news coming as hospitals across the country brace for a wave of post-thanksgiving covid cases. >> we have not yet seen the full blunt and the effect of the traveling and the congregating. >> reporter: washington state now extending restrictions through the new year. in north carolina, the governor announcing a curfew and in california, officials sending out this emergency alert to more than 30 million people warning them to stay at home. cases in the state soaring. "the l.a. times" reporting 34,490 new cases monday. a number, quote, stratospherically higher than any daily case count but police still seeing superspreader events like these. an underground party in l.a. and more than 150 people arrested. >> this was a flagrant violation of the governor's health order. >> reporter: nurses at this hospital near san bernardino say the surge in cases has them scrambling to find new places

for patients. >> we have 60 patients holding in our emergency department that are waiting for beds inside the hospital. some of them have been there as long as seven days waiting, and that is very difficult. >> reporter: health care workers and nursing home residents will be the first in line for the vaccine. the white house is now reportedly negotiating with pfizer to secure a second batch after rejecting a bigger order over the summer. >> i think they're betting that more than one vaccine is going to get authorized and there will be more vaccines on the market. >> reporter: president-elect biden tuesday promising 100 million vaccinations in his first 100 days in office. two pharmacies already revealing their vaccine distribution plans. walgreens saying it will open hundreds of new locations to store the extra cold vaccine while cvs says it will dispatch thousands of pharmacists to administer shots in rural areas. many americans are now asking whether they can be required by their employers to get vaccinated. the answer, yes, but there are exceptions including for religious or medical reasons or if you're in a union

subject to negotiations. and the white house coronavirus task force warns it would likely be spring before we see a significant change in covid hospitalizations. the white house has proposed a new $916 billion covid relief package that includes stimulus checks of $600 but unemployment benefits would be drastically lower than those proposed in a bipartisan bill in congress. top democrats called the new offer unacceptable. a major development in president trump's push to overturn the election. the supreme court has weighed in and now authorities in texas are leading a new case. abc's alex presha is in washington with the latest. alex, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, kenneth. so the state of texas is now suing four other states hoping to block their votes in the electoral college and it comes as the supreme court dealt a crushing blow to the president. this morning, a possible fatal blow to president trump's efforts to overturn the election. the supreme court has denied a request from pennsylvania republicans who argued that millions of votes in the state

have been unconstitutionally cast by mail. the court dismissed the case without hearing it. >> a one-sentence order from the supreme court rejecting that entire case. no reasoning, just no, get out of here. there's no doubt that this is a clear message from the supreme court that they want no part of this campaign in the courts to overturn the election. >> reporter: but another lawsuit is now headed to the court. the attorney general of texas is suing pennsylvania, michigan, georgia and wisconsin claiming the changes those states made to their voting procedures during the pandemic are unlawful. legal experts are dismissing the case. >> we don't like people messing with texas and other states aren't going to like having texas mess with them. the states are responsible for running the ways in which votes happen in each of their jurisdictions. >> reporter: in the meantime, a recent survey by "the washington post" finds about 88% of congress or 220 lawmakers would not say who won the presidential election.

that includes the two republican senators in georgia facing a runoff election next month. overnight senators kelly loeffler and david perdue saying they fully support president trump's legal recourses and the lawsuit filed by the texas attorney general. the republican lieutenant governor of georgia is now warning of profound consequences for republicans who refuse to accept that joe biden won. >> long term i'm concerned it hurts brand. we'll get there and have time to digest and learn from some things that we did really well the last four years and certainly some things that we can do better and i'll start with we can communicate to america better than 280 characters on twitter. >> reporter: one other development. arizona's supreme court is upholding a lower court's decision dismissing an election fraud case in that state. kenneth. >> all right, alex, thank you. president-elect biden is expected to nominate ohio congressman marcia fudge as secretary of housing and urban development. she's biden's third black nominee and former iowa governor tom vilsack is expected to be nominated again for agriculture

secretary. major changes are being made at one of the largest army bases after the murder of a soldier from ft. hood. 14 officers and enlisted personnel are being fired or suspended. a civilian review was sparked by the death of vanessa guillen. it found major deficiencies in how crimes and sexual misconduct claims are handled. >> the tragic death of vanessa guillen and a rash of other challenges at ft. hood forced us to take a critical look at our systems, our policies and ourselves. >> new policies on how missing soldier cases are handled will stake effect in march. police in omaha are investigating a home explosion that left two people dead and two others in critical condition that came one day after a homeowner filed a protection order against her grandson. a surveillance camera captured the explosion. a witness says it was raining fire. today's a big day for nasa's mission to the moon.

it's releasing the names of 18 astronauts who will train for the artemus missions and will launch the first woman to the moon. time now for a look at your wednesday weather. crews have controlled at least two small brush fires near los angeles thanks to diminishing santa ana winds. the calmer winds could go a long way toward ending california's record-breaking wildfire season. checking today's high temperatures across the country, l.a. gets to 73. it'll be unseasonably warm from denver through the plains and into the midwest. readings in florida will rise later, but this morning some areas will be in the 30s. coming up, a new proposal to tax packages delivered by amazon. but first the fbi joins the case of a young black man shot and killed by police. his family says he was holding a

sandwich, not a gun. hear from his mother next. and a shark attack

we are back with this wild scene on this l.a. freeway. police there in los angeles suspect the man behind the wheel of that truck was under the influence while driving into oncoming traffic. once he stopped at an apartment complex, they were able to take him down and arrest him there. a shark attack in maui is putting a woman's surfing competition on hold. a recreational surfer was critically injured. photos show a surfboard with an apparent bite mark. it's 17 inches wide. the victim is reportedly in stable condition. now to that police shooting of a man in ohio. the fbi is now joining the investigation into the death of casey goodson.

at issue, was goodson holding a gun or a sandwich? here's abc's megan tevrizian. >> reporter: this morning the fbi and justice department joining the investigation into the killing of casey goodson. the 23-year-old man shot by law enforcement in columbus, ohio. >> my grandson just got shot in the back when he came in the house. >> reporter: goodson's family says a deputy shot him outside their home in front of two toddlers. >> my 5-year-old called me crying and screaming, mommy, casey just got shot. the police just shot casey, mommy. he's on the floor dead, mommy. hurry up and get here. >> reporter: at the time of the shooting friday deputy jason meade was working as a member of the u.s. marshal's task force searching for violent offenders. goodson was not a suspect in the officer's search. according to the u.s. marshal's office, goodson was seen driving down the street waving a gun. meade then confronted goodson asking him to drop what officers

describe as a gun. when he didn't, meade shot him. >> he was seen driving down the street waving a gun. the gun recovered at the scene. that i can tell you. >> reporter: but attorneys representing the family say the gun he was allegedly holding was actually a subway sandwich. >> deputy jason meade fired shots at casey, and casey fell into the house where he lay in his kitchen in a pool of blood next to his subway sandwich. >> reporter: goodson's mother describes his son and demanding meade be charged with murder. >> my son was murdered in cold blood and he deserves to be in jail and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. >> reporter: meade, a 17-year veteran of the department, is on leave during the investigation. deputies in that department do not wear body cameras.

casey goodson's attorney says even if he was carrying a gun, he had a license to do so, kenneth, mona. >> thank you. new york city residents may soon be hit with a $3 tax on every package they get delivered in an effort to raise money for the city's transit system. the bill under consideration applies to items ordered online except food and medicine. the surcharge could raise more than a billion dollars a year to help keep subways and busing systems running. coming up, what's behind the big spike in women freezing their eggs. but first the new lawsuit over a deadly volcanic eruption during a cruise ship excursion. are you ready to join the duers?

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back now with flooding in venice, italy. officials were caught off guard by heavy rain. water levels increased before they could activate flood barriers. more problems expected before tomorrow. the couple killed in an eruption off the coast of new zealand is suing royal caribbean. the family of paul and mary singh says the cruise company failed to warn passengers the volcano had erupted multiple times in the last decade. the singhs were on a cruise excursion last year when they were killed along with 20 others. since the pandemic more women are turning to alternative family planning. freezing their eggs. working from home is freeing up time for the process. >> i think now is not an optimal time to be dating. it's quite difficult with social distancing and the fears of covid and so i think women have just decided that they're tired. >> one woman says freezing her eggs lifted the weight of having

a family. back to the corocorocoro we're learning more about how the vaccine will be rolled out in the u.s. earlier i spoke to dr. yvonne maldonado. when britain started giving out covid vaccines yesterday, they kept the facilities where the vaccine was distributed secret so crowds wouldn't just show up. how worried are you about our distribution plans in this country and the potential for demand to exceed supplies during the initial rollout? >> well, it's really going to be hard to know exactly how the public will respond to the availability of vaccines. i do think that there's been a lot of press around the vaccines and it'll be important in the coming days to make sure that there's a lot of communication coming from the national level, so that people know where to go and where to get information. >> a new report from the white house task force shows we're in the middle of the worst surge in covid cases so far during the pandemic and we're fast

approaching 300,000 deaths. what can be done, if anything, at this point to try to flatten this curve to prevent more hospitals from being overwhelmed? >> we know what needs to be done to flatten the curve. we've done it before, and it really involves keeping the mitigations in place and being really strict about them. >> and, doctor, as you know, more cities across the country are trying to re-open schools despite the current surge in cases. what do you think needs to be done to either re-open or keep open schools through the holidays and beyond into january? >> we're finding around the country from my colleagues and from our experience here in the bay area is that when schools are well equipped and well supplied and able to keep children distanced and have masks used by staff, teachers and the children and themselves, that we are not seeing transmissions occurring especially in the younger children. >> our thanks to dr. maldonado there.

covid concerns have canceled one of college football's biggest rivalries. saturday's game between michigan and ohio state has been called off for the first time since world war i. in the nfl ravens quarterback lamar jackson dominated the cowboys last night. baltimore won 34-17, and dez bryant tested positive for covid. coming up, the speed limit signs with fractions on them. also ahead, the new elf on the shelf trend this year. ♪ birds flyin' high you know how i feel ♪ ♪ breeze drifting on by you know how i feel ♪ [man: coughing]

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♪ time to check "the pulse," and we begin with the strange speed limit signs near denver that will make you wish you had listened to your math teacher. >> check out this sign near a shopping center telling drivers that the speed limit is 6 7/8 miles per hour. another sign showing 12 1/2 and 17 1/2 miles per hour. >> what?

the property owner says he just did it to be different. he says the next sign might include the math symbol pie. >> hey, it makes you slow down definitely. now to the land of gamecocks and big goldfish. >> oh, i know you're talking about the great state of south carolina. that's where this nine-pound goldfish has been discovered. >> you mean catfish? >> no. >> it was found, not caught, by the crew setting the fish stock and after the pictures were taken, they threw it back. >> you know we would fry that. next celebrating a special birthday. >> beethoven would have turned 250 years old this week, so an artist in italy used his tractor to cut out this massive portrait of beethoven in a field, 8,200 square feet. >> he made it without using any drawings or markings in the field. a new craze involving elf on the shelf. >> you probably heard of the elf on the shelf who watches if kids have been bad or good. now celebrities are creating their own elf memes. >> you got elizabeth banks

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we have the power to harness california's abundant solar and wind energy, but it's not available all day long. use less energy from 4 to 9 pm for a cleaner california. now at 5:00, hospitalizations reaching a

critical point. at least one local medical center reachingy the first time since the pandemic. serious security concerns about the rollout of the first vaccines in the u.s. what we're learning about foreign spies hacking a top silicon valley cyberfirm. and has been booming during the pandemic. today san francisco-based doordash is in the spotlight. >> the company ringing the opening bell as it begins trading on the new york stock exchange. good morning. it's wednesday, december 9th. >> good morning to all of you. and to mike nicco especially who it about to deliver our accuweather forecast. hey, mike. >> hi, everybody. yeah. on this wednesday we have downgraded our high surf warning to a high surf advisory. breakers will not be as big as they were yesterday where some of the surfers i heard tell some of our colleagues the best they've seen in decades. a high surf advisory until 3:00 this afternoon.