right now on "america this morning" -- recelebrate the lives of two men. giants of their perspective professions. >> i didn't make it because of my good looks. i didn't make it because i'm a genius. i made it because i worked hard. >> this has been the sweetest ride of them all. >> tributes pouring in for former senate leader harry reid and coach john madden. we'll look at their remarkable careers, their rise to the top and their lasting influence. holiday trouble. more flights cancels and the west braces for more snow after 17 feet this month. the k the conditions you can expect. the troubling record

shattered, as the aomicron vari tears across the country. parenting alert. the deadly challenge for alexa smart speaker encouraged her child to attend. a "jeopardy!" champion makes history. why her streak is groundbreaking. and the truth of bad reviews to scented candles, to the basketball fan that failed to dunk in time. to tom brady's behavior that earned him a warning from the nfl. today is wednesday, december 29th. good wednesday morning, everyone. we'll get to the giants of politics and sports, john madden and harry reid. but we begin with the fight against the omicron variant. >> it's spreading so quickly, we're seeing the highest level of cases since the start of the

pandemic. and hospitalizations are surging up 25% in california in one week. >> the virus is one factor about the travel nightmare playing across the country. virus-related staffing shrtages, along with bad weather, forced airlines to cancel more than 1,000 u.s. flights once again on tuesday. >> new data is off on the testing for omicron. em nguyen begins our coverage. >> reporter: we are learning more about the omicron variant, including how early data suggests that the covid antigen test may have reduced sensitivity to the new strain. it still does detect it. this is when new york students go back to schools, as long as they test negative. the cdc is cutting down the estimated covid-19 infections to about 59%. meaning, the new variant only

just now became the dominant strain. it dropped from the previously estimated 73%. >> omicron is definitely going to be completely dominant in the next few weeks, regardless. >> reporter: the u.s. confirms 440,000 new covid-19 cases after a holiday recording backlog, a single-day pandemic record. for children, 200,000 new cases last week, propelling pediatric hospitalizations up by 80%. >> our volumes are through the roof. we're seeing record amounts of patients, to the point where our hospitals are full. we have no beds. >> reporter: and new data on the omicron variant. the cdc now saying the incubation period may be three days. >> less opportunity for asymptomatic spread. ultimately, a shorter duration of the disease in general. but this data is based off of very few patients. >> reporter: this, as the cdc faces pushback for their

announcement to shorten isolation time for asymptomatic covid patients from ten days to five, followed by masking. jerome adams, the former u.s. surgeon general under president trump, tricriticizing the cdc's decision. tweeting, quote, this isn't about the best science. it's a compromise to keep the economy open in the face of inadequate tests. dr. anthony fauci denied that a lack of test play a role in the cdc geuidelines. but he acknowledged that the administration has to do better with testing. covid has forced the cancellation of a fifth college bowl game. ucla pulled out of the holiday bowl against north carolina state, just hours before the kickoff. now, to the death of football legend john madden, known as the soundtrack of the nfl. the hall of fame coach remarked that he never worked a day in his life.

but his influence would span decades, from the broadcast booth, to the football field, to one of the most successful video games of all-time. john madden started his stint with the raiders, taking the job at 32 years old. he never had a losing record and led the team to seven afc title games, winning the super bowl in the 1976 season. >> john madden's grin is from ear-to-ear. >> reporter: it was his work off the field that catapulted him to stardom. after retiring from coaching at 42, he began a new career in television. his larger-than-life personality made him a natural for the camera, a constant in homes for 30 years. appearing in commercials -- >> i could go for a nice, cold light beer from miller. i thought i would pop into my favorite hangout and have one with the guys. >> reporter: even "saturday night live." >> here's a sad, little guy, the place kicker. >> reporter: it was the decades he spent in the nfl broadcast

booth that made him a household name. he was skeptical about becoming a broadcaster and turned out to be a natural, winning 16 emmys with his distinctive, powerful voice. >> boom, you get him. right there, boom. >> reporter: and sense of humor. >> this is a mother bucket. and since the last game, they had a baby bucket. >> reporter: not to mention his talent with the famous telestrator, changing how the game looked on tv. >> reporter: if this guy is pointing to this. and he takes this and dumps it on that, he will be the player of the game. >> reporter: making him a fan favorite. as did his many quirks, madden giving a turducken, a turkey, inside a bucduck, inside a turk to the winning team each year. his fear of flying and logging 80,000 miles in the madden cruiser. and he would go on to become the namesake of a video game empire.

>> i always wanted to be on the cover of madden. i think every player does. >> reporter: this last weekend, fox aired a documentary on madden. some of the biggest stars in the game expressing what the hall of fame coach meant to them. >> john madden made me a better player. simple as that. case closed. >> reporter: madden watching on, as his son, michael, paid tribute to his dad. >> all of your careers have been hall of fame careers. and even in your role as father. you're a hall of fame guy. >> reporter: madden's hall of fame speech in 2006 said it all. >> i have never worked a day in my life. i went from player to coach to a broadcaster. and i am the luckiest guy in the world. this has been the sweetest ride of them all. >> reporter: john madden was 85. no cause was given for madden's death. he is survived by his wife of 62

years and two sons. new surveillance video is helping police investigate monday's shooting spree in the denver area. the suspect was walking into a tattoo store he once owned. the worker inside was one of five victims killed during the night of violence that spread into the denver suburbs. also among the victims was a woman who owned anothersse susc extremist views and knew all of the victims. he was eventually killed by police. no word on the motive for the violence. a business jet that crashed into a neighborhood in san diego, has been linked to a medical transport company. all four people onboard were killed when the plane went down one mile short of a local airport. investigators are looking to see if rain was a factor. a doorbell camera captured the crash and the resulting explosion. the pilot had asked the airport to increase the brightness of the runway lights.

in northern california, 17 feet of snow has fallen in the sierra nevada mountains this month and more is on the way. authorities around the lake tahoe region are urging people to stay off the roads. traffic was backed up for ten hours along one highway. let's take a look at your wednesday forecast. >> good morning. we're concerned about severe weather chances here on wednesday afternoon, into wednesday night. from the tennessee valley to the lower mississippi valley. and if you live in atlanta, you could see late-night thunderstorms and a tornado or two. meantime, out in california, it's about the mountain snow and the heavy rain. and southernruptions snow will come from the plains to the great lakes. i'm accuweather meteorologist kevin coskren. coming up, the shocking spike in home prices.

the area of the country seeing the biggest increase. remembering a giant of the senate. harry reid and what he overcame in his childhood to reach the pinnacle of power inside the u.s. capitol. and later, the truth about

a close call for fans at this sprint car race. a car launched into the air and crashed through a fence as it barreled toward the crowd in australia. everyone scrambled out of the way in time. and the driver was not hurt. we turn to the death of harry reid. flags were lowered to half-staff in washington overnight. president biden called reid one of the all-time great senate majority leaders. reid's career was not without controversy. and his path to washington was anything but clear.

harry reid rose from humble beginnings in rural, nevada, in the 1940s. growing up in a house with no indoor plumbing and an alcohol father. his mother took in laundry from brothels. through hard work and determination, he made a life in state politics and then was elected to the u.s. house of representatives in 1982. >> make sure you're going to work as hard as you can trying to do what you want to do. >> reporter: four years later, he won a seat in the u.s. senate, rising through the ranks, becoming the democratic party leader in 2005. after president obama was elected in 2008, reid helped shepherd in some of obama's most important legislation, including the affordable care act. >> his leadership of the senate helped make the reality many of the visions barack obama brought to the presidency in the first place. >> reporter: overnight, the president sharing the ledder he wrote to reid, saying, quote, i

wouldn't have been president without your encouragement and support and wouldn't have gotten done without your skill and determination. a former boxer, reid's fighting nature extended into his politics. he called president bush a liar and a loser, later apologizing for the loser remark. he baselessly claimed that mitt romney went a decade without paying taxes and later made amends with him. >> shook hands. put stuff behind us. i try to do that with everybody. >> reporter: a politician, fighter to tend. one of his public appearances, reid threw one last jab. >> the main thing we're going to do is thump trump. thank you very much. >> reporter: reid said he didn't make it in life on his good looks because jen use. he made it because of hard work. new evidence this morning that the housing boom is far from over. home prices rose more than 18% in october compared to the same

period last year. phoenix was the hottest market, up more than 32%. all thanks to the pandemic low mortgage rates and a limited supply of homes. yankee candle is seeing an uptick in bad reviews but it may have nothing to do with the company's candles more people are complaining that their candles are not scented enough. but it could be they lost their sense of smell without knowing they're infected. complaints followed previous waves of covid infections. still to come, technology helps unlock a secret of ancient egypt. a warning for parents, what the alexa smart speaker could the alexa smart speaker could urge kids to do, putting them want more from your vitamins? at nature's bounty, we give you more. more immune support. with the only vitamin c that lasts 24 hours. more restful sleep. with the first-ever triple action sleep supplement. we put more of our brains into helping your heart. we give you more wellness solutions

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back, now, with a close call on this highway in oregon. dashcam video capturing a large tree falling on to the road, barely missing that car. fortunately, no one was hurt. we have a warning for parents this morning about what children could be exposed to when using the alexa smartspeaker. megan tevrizian has one family's story. >> reporter: this morning, one mother is sounding the alarm about the potential danger of amazon's digital assistant alexa. kristen claims alexa encouraged her 10-year-old daughter to try a deadly challenge seen on tiktok. >> we had been doing some youtube challenges, where it was a physical education teacher had

me some challenges for the kids to do, things like balancing a broomstick on your hand and your chin. >> she was looking for something like that. >> reporter: the smartspeaker gave an unexpected and frightening answer, suggesting a so-called outlet challenge, also known as the penny challenge. >> what it told her to do was to hold -- plug a phone charger partway in and touch the exposed com with a penny. i was in the room with her and i kind of was so freaked out, i'm like, no, alexa, no. stop. >> reporter: the challenge, known for damaging electrical outlets and starting fires, went viral years ago. amazon telling abc news, alexa is designed to provide accurate, relevant and helpful information. as soon as we became aware of this error, we took swift action to fix it. experts say it's important to monitor your child's

interactions with voice-activated technology. >> before you play with this amazing piece of intelligent tech, whatever it is, research what parental controls exist for that device. figure out how to implement them. >> reporter: amazon says alexa uses a search engine bing to look up answers. and experts say as certain videos get more popular, the ail algorithm used in the search may end up promoting the videos more widely. >> thank you. coming up, tom brady gets a warning about his behavior. also ahead, the new "jeopardy!" champ blazing a new need long-lasting freshness? try febreze unstopables touch fabric spray. it doesn't just eliminate odors... simply shake and spray to unlock the breakthrough power of touch-activated scent technology. that lasts, even hours later! that's because febreze touch stores scent in your fabrics so you get bursts of freshness with every touch. your whole world will come alive.

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record-setting "jeopardy!" champion. >> amy schneider is a trans woman from oakland. her 20th-consecutive victory ties her for the most wins by a woman. >> schneider is working with an lgbtq advocacy group on being trans in public. >> she says she's not tom hanks-level famous. secrets of ancient egypt ha been unlocked. >> scientists unwrapped a mummy of a pharaoh. it had remained untouched. >> experts used x-rays and c.t. scans to map out the remains and study him in detail. the king was about 35 years old with curly hair and healthy teeth. but the cause of his death remains a mystery. >> you know where mummies go for

a swim? >> where? >> the dead sea. the nfl is apparently not thrilled with tom brady's smashup behavior. >> the league has reached out after brady's latest tantrum. >> you may have seen him angrily as thing one of the league's microsoft surface pros during the loss to new orleans. he received a warning that if he throws another one, he will be fined. ooh, i don't know. the bucs lose another game, i could see a couple of those going down. and finally, something else that was thrown. way offtarget in the nba. >> christian wood of the houston rockets lost control of a pass. it went flying into the crowd, and hitting a woman in the face. >> those are the seats you pay for. >> wood felt bad. he has offered her three front row tickets to any game in the future. the questio is, does she want them? the rockets aren't so good, mona. >> what are the chances of getting hit in the face twice? >> yeah. might as well get courtside

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>> building a better bay area. moving forward, finding solutions. this is abc 7 news. >> now

rate of california's covid-19 cases has more than quadrupled. numbers that we have not seen throughout the state in months. >> fireworks show canceled, the new year's eve spectacular taking a backseat to the pandemic for a second year in the row -- in a row. >> remembering the life of football legend john madden,'s impact on the league and the bay area. >> craft season is pint -- is finally here. good morning everybody. you are watching abc seven mornings live on abc seven, hulu live in wherever you stream. >> we will get a start with our forecast with lisa argen. lisa: we are starting off withgh what whether and there is fog. yet another level 1 system on the way and we go in closer to