right now on "america this morning," flash at the capitol, the house votes to increase the value of those economic stimulus checks, but will the senate follow suit today? >> it comes as republicans join democrats in overriding president trump's veto of a major defense spending bill. plus, the pentagon fights back against claims that it's not cooperating with president-elect biden's team. pushed to the brink, hospitals in california now placing patients in conference rooms and gift shops with no space left amid fears of another surge in coronavirus. the desperate measures being taken and now the military deploying medical reinforcement. gas attack, the fbi investigating after vandalism at a natural gas company leaves thousands of homes in the cold. the message found on a pipeline. also this morning, video

showing a white woman falsely accusing a black teen of stealing her phone at this hotel sparked a demand for charges to be filed. alec baldwin defends his wife after critics claim she faked her spanish heritage. and later, how bills fans are getting sweet revenge after decades of being dominated by the patriots. good tuesday morning, everyone. we begin with the push to raise the value of those stimulus checks being sent to most americans to $2,000. >> the house has already approved. now democrats hope the senate will follow. it's a big test for republicans who may be forced to defy president trump not only on direct payments, but also on a major defense depending bill. >> meanwhile, president-elect biden is accusing political leaders in the pentagon of obstructing his position. avri has more.

>> good morning.eri has more. >> good morning. all eyes are on the senate today as it remains unclear if it will take up that house measure to increase stimulus payments to $2,000. after unemployment benefits lapsed for millions of americans and just before the government could have shut down, president trump did what lawmakers on both sides of the aisle had been begging him to do. sign the government spending bill, which included $900 billion in covid relief. >> we're glad that the president finally signed the covid relief bill. >> putting many americans who needed the money at ease. >> incredible relief. it will mean that i will only be dipping into a little bit of my savings. i'll be able to pay most of my bills. i'm grateful for that. >> it's unclear when those eligible for the $600 payments may start seeing the checks, in part because of president trump's delay in signing the bill. but treasury secretary steve

mnuchin suggests it will only take a week or so. the house passing a measure monday to increase stimulus checks to $2,000, an attempt to meet the president's last-minute demand. on monday, the house voted overwhelmingly to override the president's veto of the national authorization act. the senate is expected to take up the issue this week. president trump rejected the bill over a section that protects social media companies from being liable from what is posted on their platforms. the bill also included a provision that would rename military bases after confederates, which the president opposed. meanwhile, the trump administration countering president-elect joe biden's accusations of obstructing the transition of power. >> we have encountered roadblocks on the political leadership at the department of defense and the office of management and budget. it's nothing short in my view of irresponsibility.

>> acting defense secretary christopher miller says the pentagon's transition efforts, quote, already surpass those of recent administrations with over three weeks to go. miller saying that 160 interviews have been conducted and 5,000 pages of documents have been shared with the biden transition. now, overnight, the president tweeting his continued support for increased stimulus payments, saying that the people have, quote, suffered enough. sources tell abc that senate majority leader mitch mcconnell will speak from the senate floor today. that's when we can expect to hear more about how republicans will handle the issue. kenneth. >> averi harper in washington, thank you. now to the growing crisis inside the nation's hospital wes another coronavirus surge expected soon. we learned overnight that california is taking new action and there's new hope for another vaccine. this morning, the u.s. military now deploying medical troops to help california's overburdened hospitals, buckling under the pressure of skyrocketing covid cases. los angeles county, the epicenter, taking new action, requiring all travelers to quarantine for ten days as the region reports a 600% increase in deaths since november.

>> on average, 9 to 10 people in l.a. county test positive for covid-19 every minute. >> 96% of hospitals in l.a. county had no room for emergency patients over the weekend. some hospitals now putting patients in conference rooms and even gift shops because of the lack of space. >> it's absolutely devastating. it's very challenging to know that patients are coming into the hospital even sicker than they normally do because we, frankly, can't take them in all the hospitals that way. >> doctors growing more concerned just as a new possibility more contagious mutation of the virus is confirmed in north america. reaching canada and likely already here in the u.s. >> i'd be shocked if it weren't here already. >> but the world health organization saying so far it's found no evidence that the new mutation has caused any significant increase in hospitalizations. in the meantime, another vaccine candidate is nearing the finish

line. novavax announced it's launching a phase three trial in the u.s. it comes amid growing questions about the distribution of pfizer's vaccine already under way. a walgreens in kentucky reportedly gave doses to nonpriority patients after receiving more doses than it needed that nursing home workers. walgreens calling this, quote, an isolated situation. >> knowing there's only a short shelf life of only a few hours once they come out of the freezer, i can understand why they would want to use it. >> in new york, the governor threatening criminal charges and $1 million in fines for vaccine fraud after a health care provider was accused of falsely obtaining the vaccine and letting people skip the line. >> officials say that one big concern is the vaccine still months away for most americans is causing people to let their guards down. one week after killing an unarmed black man a white police officer in columbus, ohio, has been fired. adam coy was let go in the wake of last week's shooting of andre hill who was holding a cell phone when he was killed during

an non-emergency call. officials say coy did not attempt to de-escalate the situation and did not turn on his body cam until after the shooting. we have new details on the suspected nashville bomber and his past. it comes with new images from the blast site. this morning, new body camera video shows the moment the christmas day bomb exploded in nashville. in the video, police say the bomber's rv can be seen there on the left before the blast. and then chaos and confusion. >> where is your car? >> these new images show federal agents and evidence response teams at the blast site. investigators say they're trying to determine why 63-year-old anthony quinn warner blew himself up inside the rv in front of an at&t building. his father once worked for southern bell, which merged into what is now at&t, but officials say monday they are not sure if that played a role. the "new york times" reports warner told his ex-girlfriend he

had cancer and gave her his car, later signing away his home, but keeping his rv, which closely matches the one seen in this google image outside his home last year. warner reportedly told a neighbor last week that nashville and the world, quote, is never going to forget me. but neighbors say warner largely kept to himself and police confirmed he was off their radar. the suspect reportedly worked as an i.t. specialist but recently retired. an fbi investigation is under way in aspen, colorado, after a gas company was vandalized. crews were forced to shut off gas to 3,500 homes. leaving families with no heat or hot water. they're scrambling to give out space heaters while the system is purged. they have to go door to door to relight the pilots in each home. police called it an intentional attack. they say the name of an environmental activist group was scrawled on a pipe, but no word if it's related to the outage. a milestone today in the airline industry, boeing's 737 max jet is returning to service

over the u.s. american airlines is flying the first paying passengers since the jet was grounded last year following two deadly crashes. time now for a look at your tuesday weather. the storm that dumped heavy snow in southern california to the mountains of colorado and the rockies moves into the northern plains and upper midwest today. some places will see more than a foot. the twin cities will get several inches. it all moves to the north and east before another storm system starts along the gulf coast and brings rain to the eastern u.s. by new year's morning. checking today's high temperatures, colder today in the northeast. 30s from chicago to the rockies. 76 in miami. 43 in albuquerque. coming up, the deadly wall collapse at a construction site and the emotional rescue. also ahead, the viral video showing a woman lunging at a black teenager after wrongly accusing him of stealing her

phone. what could now happen to her. and later, what we've learned about actress lori loughlin's release from prison

thank god that he's okay. >> god save me. god save me. >> back now with that distraught construction worker in brooklyn, new york, who was getting lunch when a retaining wall collapsed on to two of his colleagues, killing one and injuring the other. investigators are trying to determine what went wrong. ghislaine maxwell, a former associate of sex offender jeffrey epstein has been denied bail for a second time. a judge rejected a proposed $28 million package saying maxwell, an accused child sex offender, is too much of a flight risk. she pleaded not guilty to helping epstein during a sex

trafficking scheme. a missing phone could now lead to criminal charges. it all stems from an angry exchange caught on camera at a new york city hotel. here is abc's megan tevrizian. >> reporter: this morning, a grammy winning jazz musician is demanding justice after his 14-year-old son was wrongly accused of stealing a woman's cell phone. at a new york hotel. >> i didn't have the opportunity to be believed and neither did my son. we were guilty and then proven innocent. >> reporter: keyon harold is now asking that the unidentified woman seen in this video face criminal charges. >> this is my phone. >> you don't have to explain anything to her. >> no. that's mine. >> are you kidding me? you feel like there's only one iphone in the world? >> the incident happened in the lobby of manhattan's arlo hotel. where harold and his family were staying. >> i'm trying to settle this situation. >> no. my son has nothing to do with her. >> no. yeah. he has my phone. is hoe me the proof. >> we ask what do you see? >> do you see two -- >> no, time not letting him walk away with my phone.

>> reporter: in a statement, the hotel says it's reached out to the family to apologize and acknowledges more could have been done to de-escalate the dispute. but the family's attorney, civil rights lawyer benjamin crump, is demanding a civil rights investigation and wants the d.a. to charge the woman with assault. >> if the roles were reversed and keyon tackled a teenage white child over a false accusation about a cell phone, there is no question he would be arrested. >> reporter: as for the 14-year-old at the center of all this, harold says his son is in shock. >> my conversations are to let him know that, son, you're just, you know, continue to live the way you live. we have to do things, we have to change the narrative. we have to change laws. we have to do things that will allow you to literally be the american little boy, 14-year-old minor that you are, that you have rights. >> reporter: an uber driver

eventually found the unidentified woman's phone and returned it to the hotel, but harold says the woman has not apologized. kenneth, mona. >> megan, thank you. coming up, how fans of the buffalo bills got sweet, sweet revenge of the patriots. but first, alec baldwin speaks out after his wife is accused of faking her spanish heritage. thousands of women with metastatic breast cancer, which is breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, are living in the moment and taking ibrance. ibrance with an aromatase inhibitor is for postmenopausal women or for men with hr+/her2- metastatic breast cancer, as the first hormonal based therapy. ibrance plus letrozole significantly delayed disease progression versus letrozole, and shrank tumors in over half of patients. patients taking ibrance can develop low white blood cell counts, which may cause serious infections

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getting her first taste of freedom in two months after serving time in the college admissions scandal. she was seen in photos from "the daily mail" leaving prison covering her face with a bag while boarding a private jet. she wants to get back to work possibly acting or directing. now to the wife of alec baldwin at the center of a growing firestorm. hilaria baldwin is accused of cultural appropriation. critics say she's been faking her spanish accent and even her name. now her husband is coming to her defense. abc's will ganss has more. >> reporter: this morning's cover of the new york post echoing the tidal of criticisms aimed at hilaria baldwin, accusing her of faking a spanish heritage and accent. >> she's a white girl who's been pretending to be spanish her whole life so she can be an exotic yoga instructor with a little bit of flare. >> despite being born and raised in boston, something baldwin herself confirmed in 2012, a graduating high school in

massachusetts, too, a couple of clips have gone viral of baldwin in which critics claim she fakes her accent and misrepresents her heritage. in this clip from 2015, she seems to forget the english word for cucumber. >> tomatoes. we have cucumber. >> there's this one from april of this year. >> no, no, no, i moved here when i was 19 to go to nyu. >> from? >> from -- my family lives in spain. >> now baldwin defending herself in a long instagram video. >> i am that person that if i've been speaking a lot of spanish, i tend to mix them. if i'm speaking more english, then i mix that. >> her husband alec also posting a lengthy video vaguely referencing the online outrage directed at his wife. >> i would say the majority of what's been said -- and again, i don't want to get into enumerating what those things are -- is false. some of it's so spectacularly false. when you love somebody, you want to defend them. consider the source. >> abc news reached out to

baldwin's reps and we were told she had no comment beyond those instagram posts. kenneth, mona. >> all right, will, thank you. some encouraging news about the college basketball star who recently chanced during a game. university of florida's keyonte johnson is back on the court coaching his teammates and serving as a referee during practice. he tested positive for covid last summer, but it's unclear why he collapsed on december 12th. he was released from the hospital last week. a big win for the bills in foxborough last night. josh allen threw four touchdowns as buffalo hammered the patriots 38-9. they could clench the second seed in the nfc playoffs next week. patriots fans were upset before the game because of that. bills supporters got this best fans billboard installed near the patriots stadium. patriots fans were quick to remind buffalo that new england has won six super bowls. >> six. coming up, a new year's gift

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only from nature's bounty. time to check "the pulse." we begin with a new step towards delivery by drone. >> the faa has just released new the standards for delivery by drones. among them, drones will have to identify themselves through a government tracking system. they must have lights for nighttime operations and they can't have any exposed rotating parts that could cut human skin. >> amazon and u.p.s. are testing drone deliveries, but it will be two years before the new rules take effect. next, the follow-up on a dog we showed you yesterday. who ran on to a soccer field. >> the pooch has a new home this morning. he was chewing on a cleat when he interrupted this match in bolivia. sadly, after being carried off by a player, the dog was hit by

a vehicle and was taken to a shelter. >> oh, no. but when the player heard about the accident, he went to the shelter and adopted the dog. he is now the team's new goalie, rumor has it. like most of us, beyonce is done with 2020 and she has the perfect gift to say farewell to this year. >> her cousin shared a photo. of this special necklace beyonce gave to all her girls. it spells out 2020 with a long zero, similar to a certain hand gesture. >> of course we can't show it, but you get the point there. and finally, a quick way to get over christmas. >> a local media site in south boston showed this video of someone pushing a christmas tree right out the window. >> no. eventually, eventually it fell to the sidewalk. time to move along and put 2020 behind us. but we do not recommend getting rid of it that way. >> we don't. because it seems pretty easy. just make sure no one is walking on the sidewalk there. >> heads up. tree coming down.

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building a better bay area for a safe and secure future, this is abc7 news. >> it's likely those stay-at-home orders will be

extended. now at 5:00, new details about california's stay-at-home orders expected today. the regions that could see an extension and when restrictions could lift here in the bay area. and the urgent plea to the public. stay home and save lives. the major concern about nonessential holiday travel and the pop-up testing site opening today. the push to increase stimulus payments to $2,000. this morning all eyes on the senate as we wait to see what happens next. and -- >> put itin that shredder, buddy. drop that down in there. there it goes! >> good ridens 2020. the things people are ready to say good-bye to as we head into a new year. i could certainly think of a few things i'm ready to say good-bye to 2020. >> oh, my gosh. there are some things. good morning, everybody. it is tuesday december 29th. the last tuesday of 2020. and we're checking in with mike to see what our