captioning sponsored by cbs >> quijano: no end in sight. one of the largest wildfires in california history rages on -- threatening thousands of homes -- including celebrity mansions. plus, the emotional farewell today to a fallen firefighter. a power outage shuts down the world's busiest airport - stranding holiday travelers. also tonight, the trump transition team cries foul over emails obtained in robert mueller's russia investigation. the u.s. air force academy says it's rebuilding its sexual-assault prevention and response office. a cbs news investigation looked into the way the academy handles assault cases. on this football sunday -- the nfl game changer donating his

paychecks to charity. >> i just think we've been lucky. this is the "cbs weekend news." >> quijano: good evening, i'm elaine quijano. we begin with an update on senator john mccain. the former presidential candidate and vietnam war hero headed back to arizona sunday to spend the holidays with his family. mccain's daughter said today her father is doing well. ing mccain had been at the walter reed medical center in maryland since wednesday. he was treated for side-effects of his brain cancer treatment. a source tells cbs news the republican senator will not vote this week on a major overhaul of the tax system. more on that in a moment. we turn now to the monster wildfire raging in southern california. the thomas fire northwest of los angeles started two weeks ago and is now one of the largest in the state's history. it has destroyed more than 700 homes. on thursday, it killed a firefighter.

carter evans is there. >> reporter: wind-whipped flames reignited the thomas fire illuminating hillsides and prompting new evacuations in ritzy santa barbara county neighborhoods where firefighters battled through the night to beat back the flames. >> the fire did what was predicted. we had these very strong sundowner winds that just pushed down the canyon right into the homes. we had over 400 fire engines up and around the area, plus 100 more that we brought in and we saved a lot of homes up there. >> reporter: some of those homes belonging to hollywood elite like oprah who tweeted. "still praying for our little town. winds picked up this morning actor rob lowe posted these photos as flames approached his home, picking up a hose saying, "you do what you can. but when it's time, you go." >> it has spread, it's well over santa barbara city up in the hills, and the concern is when we have these strong winds, that

it will blow down towards this area. >> reporter: firefighters are now taking advantage of calm winds to build containment lines. over the last two weeks, the thomas fire has scorched more than 400 square miles and still threatens 18,000 structures. on thursday it claimed the life of 32-year old firefighter cory iverson. he was overrun by smoke and flames. today first responders lined streets and bridges as iverson's body was brought back to his hometown of san diego. a grim reminder of the sacrifices made as thousands of firefighters continue to battle this blaze. this is one of hundreds of homes that burned in the thomas fire. the good news is those really heavy winds have died down. elaine, so far it's cost more than $117 million to fight this fire and it could be weeks before it's out.

>> quijano: carter, thank you. a power outage grounded flights today at the busiest airport in the world, hartsfield-jackson international in atlanta. demarco morgan has the latest. >> reporter: there was major disruption in power to the entire airport impacting all terminals and concourses. at this hour, officials are not sure what caused the outage. elaine, officials cancelled all flights in and out of hartville. here at newark international airport we saw long lines at the international terminal many being delayed as well. >> quijano: demarco, thanks. the trump transition team is crying foul over the way special counsel robert mueller's russia investigation obtained its emails. errol barnett has more on this from the white house.

>> reporter: president trump continues to deny any wrongdoing during last year's election, with his lawyers now claiming special counsel robert mueller is breaking the law. >> there is absolutely no collusion, i didn't make a phone is -- no conclusion whatever. >> reporter: president trump continues to deny any wrongdoing during last year's election, with his lawyers now claiming special counsel robert mueller is breaking the law. mueller's team gained access to e-mails from mister trump's transition team, provided not by the team itself, but by the general services administration. on saturday, the president's transition team lawyer sent this seven-page letter to two congressional oversight committees, describing that action as "unlawful," adding that "the special counsel's office has extensively used the materials in question." the special counsel's spokesperson said, "when we have obtained e-mails in the course of our ongoing criminal investigation, we have secured either the account owner's consent or appropriate criminal process." republican senator john

cornyn said while firing mueller would be a mistake, he is concerned by two investigators that were dismissed from the probe for sharing anti-trump texts. >> i think these conflicts of interest jeopardize the integrity of his investigation." >> reporter: president trump continues to maintain a positive relationship with russian president vladamir putin. today, the two spoke on the phone, with the kremlin sharing details of the call well before is the two spoke regarding a planned terrorist attack in st. petersburg, elaine? elaine? >> quijano: congressional republicans are expected to approve a plan this week to overhaul the tax system. earlier, i spoke with cbs news political analyst jamelle bouie about who benefits most from the plan. >> the biggest winners of the tax bill just plainly are large corporations, wealthy individuals, owners of large and wealthy estates. the vast majority of the tax bills benefits goes towards those groups. it is true that middle class earners and working class earners, low-income earners get some benefits, but they are relatively modest in comparison

to what the highest income earners and large corps will -- corporations will gain under the tax bill. >> quijano: and jamelle, we know it's important, but just how important is it for president trump's agenda to get this legislation passed? >> well politically it is important for him to have some semblance of a win, a victory or whatever you want to call it on his docket. if the tax bill passes, it likely will, and he signs it, it will sort of be the only piece of major legislation that he will achieve in 2017, and that meaningful. it's worth saying though that this bill is brutally unpopular >> quijano: jamelle bouie, thanks so much for being with us. >> glad to do it. >> quijano: congress has until friday to come up with a government funding bill for 2018. some are insisting on long-term funding for the program that provides health insurance for 9 million children. here's omar villafranca. >> reporter: as a single mother of four, dakota flores has plenty to worry about. two of her kids, 13-year-old tyler and 11-year-old harmonie, rely on chip.ù.the nationwide

children's healthcare program in danger of running out of money. >> i'm completely worried. i don't sleep. i'm making all of their appointments before the end of the year to see what i can do until everything runs out. >> reporter: tyler has adhd and every day he takes medication to help him concentrate. harmonie has vision loss and goes to the eye doctor several times a year to change the prescription on her glasses. without chip dakota says her children's medical bills would cost several thousand dollars a year. but under the program, their care costs only $50 a month. how would your kids development be without that program? >> my daughter wouldn't be able to see. she wouldn't get a new prescription every time her vision changes. >> reporter: chips funds in texas will run out at the end of january february.ù unless additional money comes through. >> this is literally a life and death program. >> reporter: jimmy kimmel doesn't use chip, but after his young son underwent surgery for heart issues, the late night talk show host has taken chip up as a cause. >> why hasn't chip been funded?

if these were potato chips they were taking away from us, we would be marching on washington with pitchforks and spears right now. are. >> reporter: chip has bis partisan support. but chuck grassley who co-sponsors he program - says lawmakers can't agree on how to fund it. >> some people feel that the >> reporter: as the deadline looms.ù dakota says she's out of options. this is for our kids, this is for their future. it's the most important thing. >> reporter: the senate is working on a five-year extension of chip and hopes to pass it before the end of the year. omar villafranca, cbs news, san antonio. >> quijano: the u.s. air force academy says it's rebuilding its sexual-assault prevention and response office. a cbs news investigation looked into the way the academy in colorado handles assault cases. tony dokoupil is following this. >> it's a real opportunity for

us to get out and be part of the national conversation. >> reporter: lieutenant general jay silveria, superintendent of the u.s. air force academy in colorado springs, says the academy will restructure and expand its sexual assault prevention and response office with an emphasis on better qualified staff and greater prevention. >> i intend to be relentless in pursing the perpetrators of these horrible crimes and holding them accountable. but i also desperately want to help all the victims in any way i can. >> reporter: his remarks to the colorado springs gazette newspaper came nearly a week after denying to cbs news that the academy had a problem with retaliation against survivors of sexual assault. last month, the academy released a scathing investigation into its sexual assault prevention and response office, accusing former director teresa beasely of a "lack of competency that jeopardized victim care." but beasely says she's been made

a scapegoat for standing up to leadership. >> is the air force academy supportive of those who report sexual assault? >> i would have to say absolutely not. >> reporter: in a two-part report on cbs this morning, co-host norah o'donnell heard from more than a dozen current and former cadets who said they reported their assaults, only to experience retailiation by their peers and their commanders. eleven cadet survivors of sexual assault have left the academy in the last five years.even as some of their alleged attackers remained. lieutenant general silveria is also open to the idea of allowing sexual assault survivors to transfer to other military academies, and start elaine their careers in a different branch of service. >> quijano: thank you. coming up next, another congressman facing sexual misconduct allegations is not running for re-election. and later, james brown talks with an nfl player donating his

salary to charity.

>> quijano: now the cbs weekend news feed: nevada congressman ruben kihuen said yesterday he will not seek re-election next year. at least two women have accused the democrat of sexual misconduct. he denies the allegations. kihuen is now the sixth member of congress to resign or announce he's not seeking re-election over sexual misconduct allegations. a capsule carrying three astronauts from the u.s., russia, and japan blasted off from kazakhstan today bound for the international space station. it's the first space flight for american astronaut scott tingle. on tuesday, he'll join two other americans already aboard the space station. and, what better way to pass the time at the airport this holiday season than getting into a dance-off. a father from moore, oklahoma posted this adorable video of his two daughters dancing through the window with a member of the ground crew at dallas international.

the worker taught the girls how to do the chicken dance -- and they showed him some moves of their own. i think they're all winners. up next: they're on opposite sides of the gun debate. can they find common ground?

>> quijano: this past thursday marked five years since twenty students and six staff members were killed at sandy hook elementary school in newtown, connecticut. five years on, the national debate over gun control is far from settled. our streaming channel cbs-n sent producer christina ruffini to colorado springs to discuss the issue with people on opposing sides. here, she speaks with tony -- who supports gun rights -- and his friend warren, who supports gun regulations. >> with the parameters the way they are do you think lawmakers have done enough, have done anything in the aftermast of

sandy hook and vegas and san bernadino and charleston and the shootings that have happened since then to address this issue? >> absolutely not. >> i don't know that they can. i don't know that there is anything they can do that will stop it. i don't know that there is an answer because all banning guns does is gets it out of the hands of the people who are going to obey that law. >> let's take away guns for a second. let's take away the idea of guns for a second. >> sure. >> does the government have a role in keeping us safe? >> yes, it has a role. i don't believe it's their only role, in fact i believe their protecting their freedoms in a bigger role than keeping us safe. >> right, and so that's where the fundamental thing comes in, of people who feel like our rights are so important, that even if our society deteriorates into this place where mass murders become a common thing, that's okay so long as i get to have my gun. at some point, i seriously don't want to live in a country that

has placed personal liberty so high personal liberty so high, that i don't feel safe walking into a concert anymore. >> where there are plenty of places on earth where they don't put liberty very high on their ideals, and those are places i don't wanna live. i think that the only way that i would give in and say yeah we should ban guns or any type of guns is if we could all at once, world wide, make all guns disappear. i'd be all for that. if guns did not exist and no one had them - >> we agree. >> i don't think that anybody -- >> but that's the problem. it's like we've gone so far down a certain road how do we deal with where we are in a situation? you can't take everybody's guns away. >> quijano: cbs news producer christina rufinni, where both sides of the debate.

there's more of that discussion -- and other gun control conversations -- on our website at cbsnews.com. still ahead: a new warning about those voice-activated digital assistants. do google and amazon intend to spy on you?

>> quijano: a consumer watchdog organization warns: in the future you may want to watch what you say around those voice-activated assistants sold by google and amazon. the group says patent applications reveal the smart devices may one day record your conversations to sell you things. here's jamie yuccas. >> alexa, what's the weather tomorrow? >> reporter: tomorrow in alhambra. >> reporter: elizabeth saldebar has been relying on her amazon echo ever since she got one as a christmas gift last year. >> did you have any concerns when you first got it? >> well, you know, i never actually really thought about it. >> reporter: google and amazon, the leading companies that make these devices, say they only record your voice when you activate them with so-called wake words.

>> alexa turn on the hall lights. >> okay. >> reporter: those recordings are then transmitted back to amazon and google servers where the questions are analyzed and answered. while that's how they work now, some are worried that could change in the near future. >> they're there to track you, to surveil you and to sell you. >> reporter: the advocacy group consumer watchdog studied dozens of patent applications for possible future advances in google and amazon's smart home technology. >> what these patents describe is they're always watching, they're always listening. >> reporter: one amazon patent shows the company could instruct the echo device to listen for designated trigger words, like a discussion of vacation destinations. it could then transcribe that conversation and use it to try to sell the user of the device a related product. >> i just think that it's concerning that they'd have access to my private life. >> reporter: a spokesperson for amazon tells cbs this

morning, we do not use customers' voice recordings for targeted advertising. patents take multiple years to receive and do not necessarily reflect current developments to products and services. a google representative told us, consumer watchdog's claims are unfounded. but the claims do point out how little some consumers know about the digital gadgets in their homes. >> play a christmas station. it almost feels like a little bit big brother-ish. >> quijano: jamie yuccas cfnlg reporting. when we return. the story of an nfl game changer. a player donating his paychecks to charity.

>> quijano: we end tonight on this football sunday with the story of an unassuming player now in the nfl spotlight. chris long of the philadelphia eagles made news earlier this season putting his hand on the shoulder of a teammate during the national anthem. more now from cbs news special correspondent james brown. >> for me, my little gesture -- it had everything to do with i thought that was right.

>> you're standing, but you have your hand on your teammate's shoulder. >> right. >> to signify what? >> i'd like to stand because it's something that would signify what i hope america can be. i certainly empathize with the form of protest to draw attention to and inequities in this country. oand i think it's not about the knee. it's what you do in your community and walkin' the walk. >> chris long does "walk the walk". >> chris long comes in with a great play. >> after his "small" gesture he made a big one - by donating the last 10 game salary checks of his $1 million salary to education charities in st. louis, boston and philadelphia, the three nfl cities where he's played in his decade-long career. chris is the oldest of three sons of hall of famer howie long and his wife diane. the longs raised their boys in charlottesville, virginia. last august, white nationalists held a march that ended in tragedy right here in downtown

charlottesville. for chris long it fueled a desire to do even more in his hometown and beyond. >> it wakes you up. it heightens your-- your sense of anger and your sense of, man, we gotta fix some things about this country. >> with that in mind, long used his first six game salary checks to establish two full scholarships for boys and girls club kids to attend his old prep school. that's right - he is playing for free this season. for chris and megan, it's about leveling the playing field. >> i just think we've been lucky. and i couldn't imagine our son, waylon, not havin', you know, everything he's gonna have. you know, you meet a kid, and now that we're parents, i feel like you're gonna see your kid in that kid. how can you not doing something about it, how can you try to level the playing field a little bit. >> quijano: i'll be cheering for chris long. that's the cbs weekend news for

as gunfire erupts in the halls. tonight, we've learned . now at 6, panic at a high-end san francisco hotel as gunfire erupts in the hauls and tonight we've learned the man accused of pulling the trigger is a veteran bay area police officer. >> we will carry his memory with us for the rest of our lives. >> first, though, tonight, a massive turnout at san francisco city hall as celebrities, politicians, and the public gathered to remember mayor ed lee. thanks for joining us, i'm brian hackney. >> i'm juliette goodrich. when the doors opened at 2:00, the line extended for people all the way around city hall. once they made their way in, they had to make their way around the massive pile of

flowers left by mourners. kenny choi is here with the emotional tributes inside. kenny? >> reporter: the crowd was diverse, just the way the late mayor ed lee would have wanted it. big-name celebrities as well as everyday citizens gathering at city hall to pay their respects. the celebration of life ceremony for ed lee. for family, friends, and colleagues, their last chance to say goodbye. still trying to comprehend their father's sudden death, the late mayor's daughters tanya and briana lee delivered heartfelt tributes. >> for our daddy, he was not only our inspiration, but a constant source of humor, laughter, and lightness. mostly he told jokes he couldn't get through because he was laughing so hard at them