online any time. reporting from the nation's capital, i'm kris van cleave. it's friday, october 16th, 2020. this is the "cbs morning news." duelling town halls. president trump and joe biden square off on different networks. the biggest takeaways and the moderator's crazy old uncle reference. health scare. former new jersey governor chris christie says he spent a week in the icu fighting covid. what he regrets not doing. loose lemur. a stolen animal from a california zoo has been found. the possible motive behind this bizarre break-in. captioning funded by cbs

good morning. good to be with you. i'm anne-marie green. we're going to begin this friday morning with president trump and joe biden's separate town halls. the rivals offered different approaches to key issues including the coronavirus pandemic. the struggle to contain the outbreak comes as more than 63,000 new cases in the u.s. were reported just yesterday. that's according to johns hopkins university. that's the most in one day since late july. and the seven-day average for new cases is spiking in at least 38 states. so laura podesta is in washington. laura, what were some of the bigger takeaways from the town halls? >> reporter: good morning, anne-marie. president trump is facing some criticism this morning for distorting a recent study. and falsely saying that 85% of americans who wear a mask end up catching the coronavirus. biden, for his part, at his town hall, he was asked how he would have handled the pandemic differently he had been president. he said he would have pushed to

have access to the source of the problem in china, and he would never have downplayed the severity of covid-19. former vice president joe biden said president trump has not taken the coronavirus seriously. >> americans don't panic. he panicked. >> reporter: in a town hall moderated by abc news' george stephanopoulos, biden said it is the president's job to lead. >> when the president doesn't wear a mask or makes fun of folks like me when i was wearing a mask for a long time, people say, well, it mustn't be that important. >> reporter: in a separate event on nbc news, president trump told moderator savannah guthrie the pandemic is almost over. >> it is rounding the corner and we have the vaccines coming and we have the therapies coming. >> reporter: here on capitol hill, republicans are hoping to confirm amy coney barrett to the supreme court by the end of the month. biden was pressed if he would try to add more justices to the high court if democrats win the election. >> don't voters have a right to know where you stand. >> they do have a right to know where i stand.

and i have a right to know where i stand before they vote. >> reporter: president trump was asked to denounce white supremacy. >> are you listening? i denounce white supremacy. >> reporter: he was questioned on his twitter activity, specifically his retweet of a fringe conspiracy theory that biden orchestrated the killing of s.e.a.l. team 6 to cover up the fake death of osama bin laden. >> i'll put it out there, people can decide for themselves. >> i don't get that. you're the president. you're not, like, someone's crazy uncle who can just retweet whatever. >> reporter: president trump and biden will face off in the final presidential debate on thursday. president trump also said he did not know if he was tested for the coronavirus the day of the debate. we know he tested positive two days later. biden said last night he really hopes the president is tested before arriviving in nashville next week. back to you. >> i bet. laura podesta in washington, thank you so much, laura. so vice presidential nominee kamala harris is suspending travel through sunday after two staffers involved in the campaign operations tested

positive for the coronavirus. the positive test came back late wednesday night. a spokesperson says harris was not in close contact with either of the individuals, and tested negative on wednesday. harris had been scheduled to campaign in north carolina yesterday. former new jersey governor chris christie said he spent seven days in the intensive care unit before recovering from covid-19. he urged people to take the virus seriously. christie says he was wrong for not wearing a mask at a rose garden ceremony last month for supreme court nominee amy coney barrett. that event is now linked to at least 11 positive cases. christie said he thought that he was safe due to the testing attendees had to undergo. and supreme court nominee amy coney barrett remains on a fast track for confirmation before election day. the senate judiciary committee wrapped up hearings yesterday. it will vote on her nomination next thursday, before the full senate considers barrett's

confirmation. as skyler henry reports, democrats tried to delay the process, but were unsuccessful. >> reporter: new jersey senator cory booker admitted likely defeat for democrats looking to stop the confirmation of judge amy coney barrett. >> and this goose is cooked. >> reporter: but he and other democrats used their time on the last day of barrett's hearing to plead for more republicans to not confirm the u.s. court of appeals judge when the vote goes to the senate floor, or at least delay the process. >> to not be able to answer whether you believe in a peaceful transfer of power, i just found that stunning. >> what was the purpose of this hearing if we reach the point now where we really don't know what she thinks about any issues? >> i move to indefinitely postpone the nomination of amy coney barrett. >> no, we're not. >> reporter: republicans who hold the majority in the senate countered. >> we have got the authority to do this, we have got historical precedent on our side, and we also have got the constitution. and the best nominee i've seen

in a long time. >> reporter: despite the push to stall from democrats, the judiciary committee voted along party lines to move ahead with judge barrett's confirmation. before members heard from all of the witnesses. legal evaluators with the american bar association testified after the vote as well as those both for and against judge barrett's nomination. >> standing committee concluded that judge barrett had demonstrated professional competence to exceptional and sufficiently outstanding to be well qualified. >> judge barrett's views are far outside the mainstream. >> reporter: outside the supreme court, demonstrators are split on barrett's nomination, while republican lawmakers are unified in their effort to have her confirmed before election day. skyler henry, cbs news, capitol hill. an upcoming book will feature some final thoughts from the late supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg.

it will also include some previously unreleased materials gathered by one of her former clerks. the university of california press said the book was in production at the time of ginsburg's death last month. it is slated to hit store shelves in march. and a ring-tailed lemur we first told you about yesterday has been found after being stolen from the san francisco zoo. the 21-year-old male lemur named maki was spotted yesterday evening a few miles south of the zoo at the playground area of a church. investigators say the thief may have targeted maki because he moves more slowly due to his age. >> due to the fact that these are pretty agile wild animals that don't get captured easily, it is possible that the suspect chased after the animal that was easiest to catch. >> maki was found to be in good health and was transported back to the zoo. the detectives are still investigating the break-in though. in baseball, the houston

astros stay alive in the a.l. championship series thanks to a thrilling finish in the bottom of the ninth inning. >> strike. in the air, center field, correa's watching, it's back and it's gone! it's a walk-off home run! >> carlos correa homered with one out in the ninth to beat the tampa bay rays yesterday. he's only had three hits in this series, but two of them have been home runs. the rays still lead the series 3-2. game six is tonight. coming up on the "cbs morning news," encouraging news for airplane passengers and their risk for getting the coronavirus. and putting his best paw forward, a dog shows off some cool moves. this is the "cbs morning news." the other issue. oh...i'm scratching like crazy. you've got some allergic itch with skin inflammation.

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coronavirus on large commercial planes if passengers wear masks. researchers used mannequins to simulate breathing and coughing with and without masks to determine where aerosols might be released. they say on board filtration and ventilation systems eliminate almost all the particles released into the air from an infected person wearing a mask. power is shut off to thousands in california and there's a record-breaking fire in colorado. those are some of the headlines on "the morning newsstand." "the denver post" reports more than 1,000 firefighters are battling what is the largest fire in colorado's history. the cameron peak fire has burned about 256 square miles in northern colorado. strong winds with gusts as high as 76 miles per hour fueled the fire. it is 56% contained. forecasters expect dry air and windy conditions to pose a challenge for firefighters this weekend. "the san francisco

chronicle" says thousands of people in northern california are still without power. it came after pacific gas and electric cut off service to prevent powerful winds from damaging equipment and sparking more wildfires. on wednesday, the utilities started shutting off electricity to more than 45,000 customers. some power was restored yesterday afternoon. the number of customers still without power was down to about 30,000. one floral shop owner says the shutdown would cost his business thousands of dollars. >> we're going to lose all of our flowers, especially on a hot day like this, the flowers get wilted very quickly. >> psps is our last resort. it is not something we take lightly because we understand how difficult this is for our customers, especially during covid. >> all the power is expected to be restored later today. and "florida's sun sentinel" says at least 13 people were hurt when a boat caught fire on the new river in ft. lauderdale. authorities say nearly two dozen

people were on board the boat yesterday. multiple people called 911 to report an explosion on the boat as people fell or jumped into the water to escape the flames. nearby boaters helped rescue people from the water and pulled others off the burning boat. an investigation is under way to determine what caused the fire. so, still ahead, a dream job for ramen noodle fans. a company is offering big money and oodles of noodles. into a smaller life? are your asthma treatments just not enough? then see what could open up for you with fasenra. it is not a steroid or inhaler. it is not a rescue medicine or for other eosinophilic conditions. it's an add-on injection for people 12 and up with asthma driven by eosinophils. nearly 7 out of 10 adults with asthma may have elevated eosinophils. fasenra is designed to target and remove eosinophils,

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here's a look at today's forecast in some cities around the country. youtube is cracking down on videos that promote the far right conspiracy theory qanon. the new policies went in effect yesterday. the company says it has already removed tens of thousands of qanon-related videos and terminated hundreds of channels under its existing policies. supporters of qanon believe, without basis, pedophiles are running a global sex trafficking, child sex trafficking ring and plotting against president trump. on the cbs money watch now, a massive outage on twitter and the search for the ultimate ramen noodle fan. naomi ruchim is in new york with those stories and more. hey, naomi, good morning. >> good morning.

we'll get to the noodle king in a minute. first, let's talk stocks. they dipped after mixed signals from lawmakers over a possible coronavirus relief package. the dow fell 19 points, the nasdaq dipped 54. the s&p 500 fell 5 points. twitter is back up this morning after widespread outage. tens of thousands of users reported they could not access the website or mobile apps yesterday. the social media company said the issue was caused by an inadvertent change it made to an internal system. twitter added it has no evidence of a security breach or hack. amazon's prime day event scored big sales for small and medium-sized businesses. amazon says the two-day event racked up a record profit of $3.5 billion for those companies. that's a 60% increase compared to last year. the company said this year's prime day was designed to help small and medium-sized businesses succeed. amazon says overall prime day

sales hit a record, but did not disclose the total figure. and here's a dream job for all you carb lovers. makers of top ramen are on the hunt for a chief noodle officer. the person who snags the role will get paid $10,000 and help develop and test new ramen noodle soup recipes. if you're interested, you have until the end of the month to post photos and recipes of your own top ramen creations to social media. the winner will also get a 50-year supply of top ramen products, anne-marie. i have to say, we have plenty of ramen at home because when the pandemic hit and everyone went to the grocery stores, that's what we stocked up on. so i will be working on my recipes. i'll find something good. >> i love that idea. when i read that, i thought, i wonder if they deliver the 50 years worth all at one go. with ramen noodles, probably a delivery you get now will still be good in 50 years. that's a durable food product.

>> yes. >> naomi ruchim in new york, naomi, have a great weekend, thanks a lot. >> you too. up next, a dog that is on a roll. we'll meet a pt that's got some gnarly moves on his skateboard. 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. xeljanz can help relieve joint pain and swelling, stiffness, and helps stop further joint damage, even without methotrexate. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections. before and during treatment, your doctor should check for infections, like tb and do blood tests. tell your doctor if you've had hepatitis b or c, have flu-like symptoms, or are prone to infections. serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. taking a higher than recommended dose

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it's rising. the pain is coming. here's a look at today's forecast in some cities around the country. ♪ room without a roof ♪ because i'm happy clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth ♪ what appears to be a very happy french bulldog is impressing people in russia with his skateboarding skills. the 3 1/2-year-old pooch named nord boss rode his skateboard through a moscow park this week.

his owner says she got the idea to get him a skateboard from an online video. she says had her dog saw the skateboard, his eyes lit up and he started drooling. a broadway musical based on a best-selling 1995 alanis morissette album led the way at this year's tony award nominations. ♪ and i'm here to remind you ♪ of the mess you left when you went away ♪ >> the musical "jagged little pill" received 50 nominations yesterday including best musical. the show whose themes include drug addiction and female empowerment opened on broadway in december of last year. but like all theater productions in new york city, it closed in march due to the pandemic. there were fewer nominations this year because of a shortened season. a doll made famous by serena william's 3-year-old daughter olympia is being sold on amazon.

the tennis star helped bring qai qai to life on instagram in 2018. it has since amassed more than 145,000 followers. the $30 version being sold on amazon does not look exactly like olympia's doll, but it does come with her famous onsie and removable tutu. and the panda cub at washington, d.c.'s national zoo turns 8 weeks old today. when the male panda's mom left the den this week to eat a fruitsicle, zookeepers were able to grab him for an examination. they say he weighs 5.4 pounds, is 16 1/2 inches long, and he has both of his eyes fully open. lately he's been practicing crawling. his mom started carrying her baby out the door, and several feet into their enclosure. he's super cute. coming up on "cbs this morning," nascar racer kyle larson gives his first

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our top stories this morning, in a town hall last night, president trump claimed the coronavirus pandemic is rounding the corner, saying a vaccine and therapies are

coming. mr. trump also denounced white supremacy but failed to denounce the far right conspiracy qanon, which he claims to know nothing about. in a separate town hall, joe biden promoted a federal response to the pandemic led by health experts and denounced systemic discrimination. biden also declined to rule out packing the supreme court with more justices, saying it depends on how this turns out. well, you've heard us say it many times during the pandemic, we are all in this together. some teenagers in california though have really taken that to heart. jamie yuccas talked with them. >> i'm gael. >> i'm mark. >> i'm thomas. >> i'm kayla. >> reporter: it is a public sharing of their most private struggles, insecurity, sexuality, friendship. >> i'm okay with that. i've come to terms with it. >> reporter: once a week, four friends from high school sit in thomas pham's bedroom and record their podcast, teenager therapy. >> welcome back to the channel. >> we're kind of just giving them our experience and our

situation, just so you can get some context. >> reporter: the idea came to 17-year-old gael aitor after hearing a relationship therapy podcast for adults. ♪ because we have problems too >> i felt like listening to it like i was intruding on a private friend group. >> that's a good thing. >> that makes us know we're doing it right. >> that's had you know we're hitting real issues and real emotion. >> reporter: the free flowing format and focus on mental health has 100,000 downloads per episode. last week it caught the attention of prince harry and meghan markle. >> every single one of us needs to prioritize our emotional well-being. >> we all know what it feels like to have our feelings hurt. >> reporter: when i was your age, no one talked about this stuff. >> it takes one conversation to step out of your comfort zone with each other. >> reporter: something we may all want to think about. jamie yuccas, cbs news, anaheim, california. >> brilliant idea. so coming up on "cbs this morning," nascar racer kyle

larson gives his first television interview since being suspended for using a racial slur. plus, a new documentary that examines one family's struggle after a loved one goes to prison. and first on "cbs this morning," legendary tv producer norman lear tells us about a reboot of the sitcom "one day at a time" returning to cbs. that's the "cbs morning news" for this friday. thanks for watching. i'm anne-marie green. have a great day. have a great weekend.