>> that's what's making news in america this morning. right now on "america this morning," second case confirmed. >> we believe this is not an isolated case. >> the new coronavirus variant now found in california. health officials advising people to avoid gatherings for new year's eve. plus, more frustration over the vaccine rollout as the u.s. falls behind other nations. the last stand. one republican's final effort to overturn the election results. why he's challenging the electoral college as other major politicians accept joe biden's win. caught on camera, the newly released surveillance video showing a white woman attacking a black boy falsely accusing him of stealing her cell phone. what we're learning from the second angle of the incident and what the teen's parents are saying about the hotel where it happened.

plus, bike fight. the terrifying moment cyclists attack a car in new york. what caused the chaotic scene. spur of the moment. the call that gave the nba its first female coach. and shattered dreams. how a locker room celebration went terribly wrong. good thursday morning on this new year's eve, and we do begin with the last day of 2020 and the coronavirus hitting another daily record. >> covid-19 has claimed more than 3,900 american lives in just the last 24 hours. today marks one year since the world health organization was told about an unknown virus in wuhan, china. now health officials are predicting up to 424,000 u.s. deaths before the end of january. >> a new vaccine is on the way but as we close out the year, the country's bracing for yet another surge after a highly infectious variant from

the uk turned up in a second state. california confirmed the more contagious variant with no apparent connection to the other case identified in the u.s. earlier this week. >> because there is no travel history, we believe this is not an isolated case. >> reporter: the discovery adding to the troubles of already worn down hospital workers in the state. >> we absolutely have to get this surge under control and it will take everyone's effort to do so. if we don't then the beginning of 2021 will be worse than the end of 2020. >> reporter: in l.a. the county supervisor calling for the governor to call in the ship "mercy" to help alleviate the crush of patients. as the death toll in the county tops 10,000 now we're learning it was actually a member of the national guard who was the first confirmed case of that variant. officials say the man along with another guardsman were helping a short staffed nursing home still before testing positive and

some doctors say the mutation may be the least of our worries. >> the current virus seems to be contagious enough. >> reporter: the tsa revealed it screened another million passengers before new year's eve while a new covid case created chaos in an air traffic control center. that center shut down for cleaning grounding or diverting flights across parts of texas, oklahoma and louisiana. texas hit a new high in deaths yesterday while the entire department of corrections is in lockdown after nearly 200 employees tested positive, all inmates being transferred and visitations suspended. this field hospital is already nearly full. >> just over the past three days we surpassed the number of patients in the hospital that we saw in the spring. >> reporter: this morning new hope for a single dose vaccine. johnson & johnson announced it will likely apply for emergency use authorization by february. it comes as the current vaccine rollout is plagued by problems. >> somewhere around 40% of staff in nursing homes is taking the vaccine. 60% are not taking it. >> reporter: in wisconsin at

least 500 doses had to be tossed after a hospital employee adm admitted to intentionally leaving them unrefrigerated. no other details were detailed but the hospital saying the person is no longer working there. in maryland less than a fifth of the shots provided have been been administered. the rest still sitting in freezers. the government now making plans to start an educational campaign encourage people to get the vaccine. >> by the time we get to the early fall, we will have enough good herd immunity to get back to some strong semblance of normal. >> reporter: in las vegas officials are moving forward with plans for a massive new year's eve party, 14,000 are expected tonight raising concerns about a possible superspreader event. now to washington where a republican lawmaker is answering president trump's call vowing to object the results of the election when congress convenes next week. abc's avery harper is in washington to tell us what it all means.

good morning, avery. >> reporter: good morning, mona. congress is slated to meet to certify the electoral college vote, but in a last-ditch effort to overturn the results, missouri senator josh hawley says that he'll object to the results during that process. his objection will force the house and senate to vote on whether to accept joe biden's election win without giving specifics or evidence. hawley alleges that some states failed to follow their election laws and that big tech interfered on behalf of biden. >> 74 million americans have concerns about election integrity. we're supposed to just sit down and shut up? i mean, somebody has to stand up here. this process right here, my one opportunity to stand up and say something, and that's exactly what i'm going to do. >> reporter: now there has been no evidence of widespread election fraud, and many of his critics are calling this move purely political and it is important to note there have

been a growing number of republicans including senator mitch mcconnell who acknowledged joe biden's win and that he will be inaugurated on january 20th. mona. the secret service is changing up president-elect joe biden detail when he takes office. "the washington post" says they're concerned about a few current agents who they say are politically aligned. the staff changes typically takes place when a new admission takes over. now to nashville, the police chief is defending his officers who looked into a tip that alleged christmas day bomber was building bombs in his rv more than a year ago. they knocked on his door repeatedly but he did not answer. it was in a fenced off yard and he says without probably cause, the officers couldn't get to it. >> they had no legal basis to go

in his fenced in yard and i believe the officers did everything they could legally. maybe we could have followed up more. hindsight is 2020. >> chief drake also says that except for one marijuana related arrest in 1978, his record was, quote, squeaky clean. turning oversees to a deadly attack in yemen. an explosion rocked an airport after the arrival of a plane carrying the country's newly formed cabinet. 25 killed and more than 100 injured. no one on the government plane was hurt. a second blast near the palace happened where the cabinet members were headed. authorities in yemen say iran backed rebels are to blame. a landslide left people unaccounted for. a number of homes were destroyed as they collapsed into a crater into a residential area near oslo and hundreds need to be evacuated. the debris so delicate only helicopters used to search for survivors. now for a look at your new year's eve weather.

the second major storm of the week has already begun dumping heavy snow in texas and oklahoma. before it's all over parts of southwestern texas could see more than a foot of snow. the storm system brings the threat of tornadoes to the gulf coast and severe storms to the southeast. icy conditions will be a problem up to chicago and heavy rain along the east coast, and today's high temperatures, 50 degrees in washington, d.c. and the pacific northwest. 40s in the northeast and in the rockies miami ends the year at 80 degrees. 44 in albuquerque. coming up, a warning about a dog and cat food after dozens of pets died. also ahead, dramatic video showing a group of bicyclists surrounding a bmw and trashing the vehicle. what the driver is saying this morning. a rally for justice for a teen wrongly accused of stealing

back now with this terrifying scene on new york's fifth avenue. a group of bicyclists surrounding and attacking this bmw with the driver and his elderly mother inside and they punched the windows and hurled a bike at the windshield and at one point they demanded the driver get out of the car. it's unclear what led up to the altercation. police are asking for the public's help to identify the suspects. now to a consumer alert. the fda is recalling some sport mix pet food brands after the death of 28 dogs. the pet mod may containing high levels of a potentially lethal toxin. eight illnesses have been reported. the recall including dog and cat food. they recommend to stop feeding it to them immediately. h ticketmaster will pay a $10 million to settle charges it

hacked into the computer system of a competitor and admits to hiring a former employee of the company and using his knowledge of old passwords to learn the company's inner workings. ticketmaster fired two people in the case in 2017. new york city police released a new video showing what happened between a black teenager and a white woman who falsely accused him of stealing her cell phone. this surveillance video provides a new angle of the incident showing the woman wrestling the boy and tackling him to the ground. abc's andrea fujii has more. ♪ >> reporter: overnight a rally for justice. grammy winning musician. keyon harrold surrounded by supporters calling for criminal charges of the woman who falsely accused his teenage son of stealing her cell phone, accusations, he says, were racially motivated. >> no, i'm not letting him walk away with my phone. >> how many people end up in prison forever? how many end up dead because of mistaken identity,

quote/unquote, because of wrongfully accused by so many people, wrongfully profiled and this needs to stop. >> this is my phone. >> show me. >> you doefrjn't have to explain nothing to her. >> are you kidding me? you feel like there's only one iphone made in the world? >> reporter: it's an encounter caught on keyon sr.'s phone. the woman seen lunging at 14-year-old keyon harrold jr. trying to grab his phone while claiming he took hers, but she had actually misplaced it. in this newly released surveillance video, you can see the woman wrestle him trying to tackling him to ground. all happening in the lobby of a new york city hotel where his mother says they should have done more. >> after they helped the lady retrieve her phone, they did not have security ask her to wait for the police which they said they called. >> reporter: police say the unidentified 22-year-old woman lives in california and are trying to track her down. she spoke with cnn disputing what happened and claims she was assaulted, but she hasn't

provided evidence to support that. investigators considering assault and possibly attempted robbery charges against the woman but at this time aren't calling this a racially biased chime. keyon jr. wasn't at the rally but spoke with "good morning america." >> i think she was scared. so that's why when she saw me, she just jumped on me and attacked me. >> reporter: the hotel has apologized to the family but acknowledges more could have done to de-escalate the situation. mona, kenneth. >> andrea, thank you. coming up, hilaria baldwin speaking out after her heritage caused a social media firestorm. also ahead, a miracle rescue at sea. a sailor saved after spending hours adrift clinging to a water beacon. spent adrift hours onto this beacon. ♪ still warm. ♪ thanks, maggie. oh, alice says hi. for some of us, our daily journey is a short one.

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everylet's skip the rinse. waste up to 20 gallons. finish quantum with activeblu technology, cleans without pre-rinsing. switch to finish and skip the rinse to save water. catch some fish and write messages on their side with waterproof mants and then release them. some fisherman somewhere is bound to catch them and the messages will get back to civilization. >> that's dawn wells, of course, as mary ann in the classic sitcom, "gilligan's island" who died wednesday at a nursing home in los angeles of causes related to covid-19. former co-star tina louise saying in a statement i hope people will remember her the way i do, always with a smile on her face. wells was 82. hilaria baldwin is speaking out again following accusations that she's faking her heritage and a spanish accent. the wife of alec baldwin is being accused of misrepresenting to the world herself as being

spanish. she tells "the new york times" the things i have shared about myself are very clear. i was born in boston. i spent time in boston and in spain. she added that spain was something that was part of my father's childhood. hilaria declined to say how frequently they traveled to spain. turning back to the pandemic and that new variant of the virus. officials in california say the more contagious version was found in the state coinciding with the incredible surge hitting the l.a. area right now. earlier i spoke with dr. yvonne maldonado about what to expect from hospitals in the coming weeks. in your state california is getting hit especially hard right now. a 1,000% increase in hospitalizations in just two months. health hovels said wednesday night most hospitals in the state are now making plans for, quote, crisis care. what does that entail? >> that would mean that we would have to start to decide who can be admitted to hospitals. they might have to divert patients away from hospitals.

in los angeles county, for example, 95% of the hospitals have had to move patients to other hospitals while there is more room, and if it gets worse they could have to start deciding who might get certain treatments, who might get to be on ventilators. >> speaking of treatment, as we know, president trump was given a special cocktail of treatment when he got the coronavirus. what's the protocol for hospitals in california using that same cocktail? >> currently they are not recommended actually for people who are hospitalized with serious disease. they're generally thought not to be proven yet, but if people are aware of the risks and benefits they can be given them in the early stages of infection if they are at risk for serious disease, so people with underlying conditions. the reality is that not many people are really using those cocktails at this time. >> we reported earlier about that vaccine by johnson & johnson. it's a single shot, and it could be ready for use in february. tell us more about what's being called a game changer here.

>> the vaccine does not need to be refrigerated so that's a really big deal enabling us to get it out to many people who currently can't get the pfizer or moderna vaccine because of storage issues. it's also a vaccine that only needs to be given in one dose so that's very helpful, a a finally we need more vaccines as quickly as possible, and if we get a third manufacturer to vaccines out in the u.s. and elsewhere, we can really start to build herd immunity by vaccination of more and more people by the spring and summer. >> our thanks to dr. maldonado. coming up, history being made in the nba overnight. a woman leading a team as head coach for the first time. also ahead, a football team gets a little too rowdy during their celebration shattering the trophy. mornings were made for better things than rheumatoid arthritis. when considering another treatment, ask about xeljanz... a pill for adults with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis when methotrexate has not helped enough.

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♪ time to check the final "pulse" of 2020, and we begin with a dramatic rescue at sea. >> a man was pulled to safety after he was found clinging to a beacon off the australia coast. david simpson says a big wave knocked him off his boat. emergency crews spotted it on a sandbar with the engine running and his dog on board. >> it took three hours to find him after he made his way onto the beacon. >> i swam for about maybe half a mile or three-quarters of a mile. they had a ladder about a meter up, and i waited for a wave and managed to put my hands up. >> simpson drew attention to himself by covering the light with his hands to communicate an sos to passing ships. thankfully it worked. a member of the san antonio spurs has made history. >> it wasn't for a full court shot or a high jumping dunk. it's because she, assistant coach becky hammond, became the first woman in nba

history to serve as head coach during a game. >> hammond stepped in after head coach gregg popovich was ejected, thrown right out and afterwards got rave reviews. one player said, quote, when she speaks, we are all ears. next the big drop, and we don't mean the one later tonight in times square. >> wisconsin quarterback graham mertz made a big fumble while celebrating the team's win. the crystal trophy slipping right out of his hand shattering into pieces. >> but they made a quick fix by replacing it with a bottle of duke's mayonnaise to the trophy's base. >> nice. finally an appropriate way to say good-bye to 2020. >> buh-bye. it took place at a children's museum in new jersey. liquid nitrogen was used for the explosion. the number of shaped balloons u uses paperwork by guests who wrote what they wanted to leave behind. >> unsurprisingly covid-19 was the most popular submission. >> just blow it up. >> yeah. >> buh-bye.

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evidence that it does bread considerably faster and it is much more contagious. a new covid variant has arrived in california. we hear from an expert about why this new strain may spread faster. >> and a new vaccine rollout timeline, what we're seeing compared to what was promised. and don't expect to see anything like this in san francisco tonight. the bay area is getting ready to ring in the new year, but real low key. >> real real low key, like hopefully in the dark. >> in the dark, by yourself, just staying in your space. >> no one around. >> no one around. good morning. it's thursday, december 31st. in other words, the last day of 2020. can we get a hallelujah? >> hallelujah. >> yeah. >> get off us. get the stank of this year away, mike. >> we're going to do