without consequences. that is it for us at five. we will see you back here at six tonight. cbs weekend news is next. we have news ♪ ♪ captioning sponsored by cbs >> diaz: tonight, political points or power play? more republicans take sides over the president's efforts to overturn the election. s elections of people that feel like this election was not a fair election. >> these are political arsonists at this point in time. >> diaz: a showdown in congress is next. what does it mean for joe victory.victory? also tonight, vaccin also tonight, vaccine delays. long lines for shots in several states. what's taking so long? the latest surge adding pressure to overwhelmed hospitals. >> we don't know what else to do. we're breaking. >> diaz: plus, tensions with iran heat up this weekend over a deadly anniversary. after saudi arabia sentences a woman to nearly sixyears over the fight for women to drive,

her brother speaks to us. it's as old as this country, so what brought this ferry's historic run to a halt? and later, cardboard fans-- the craze that helped us connect. >> hot dogs! hot dogs here! this is the "cbs weekend news" from chicago. here's adriana diaz. >> diaz: good evening. a group of 11 current and incoming republican senators today announced plans to reject electoral college results in certain states won by president- elect joe biden. this despite no credible evidence of widespread fraud in the election. lawsuits claiming the election was "stolen" have been consistently rejected by the courts, including the u.s. supreme court twice. the last stand is set for wednesday when congress meets to

certify mr. biden's victory. weijia jiang is at the white house and leads us off tonight. >> reporter: senator ted cruz is leading a challenge to president-elect joe biden's victory. cruz is among 11 republican senators who announced today they will object to the certification of the election results, unless a ten-day emergency audit is completed by an electoral commission to look at election returns in disputed states. >> we knew that there needed to be something that was done. >> reporter: earlier this week, missouri senator josh hawley said he plans to contest the outcome, too. four of the lawmakers were just elected on the same ballot as president trump, but they are not questioning the legitimacy of their victories. the biden team said in a statement, "this stunt won't change the fact that president- elect biden will be sworn in on january 20." the move is more symbolic than practical. a majority in both the house and senate would have to vote to overturn the will of the voters.

democrats control the house. >> these are political arsonists, at this point in time. they are undermining the integrity of our democracy. >> reporter: the trump campaign has lost dozens of court challenges to the election, and the justice department said there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud. late last night, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuits filed by texas congressman louie gohmert, who falsely claimed vice president mike pence has the power to decide the winner of the election. today in georgia, cruz did not mention his effort as he campaigned for two g.o.p. colleagues fighting to keep their seats in runoff races on their seats in runoff races on tuesday. >> the forces that are seeking to tear this country down have set their targets on the state of georgia. >> reporter: high-profile members of both parties are crisscrossing the state. the results will determine control of the u.s. senate. last night, president trump

falsely claimed that the special elections are invalid and illegal, but this morning, he urged people to vote in them while promoting a rally he plans to hold in dalton, georgia, on monday. adriana. >> diaz: weijia jiang at the white house, thank you. now to the coronavirus crisis. the latest tally of vaccinations is three million doses administered. that's nowhere near the 20 million vaccination goal set by operation warp speed for the end of 2020. and u.s. infections have soared past a new milestone, now topping 20 million. more than 349,000 have died. cbs' tom hanson has the latest. >> reporter: with 2020 behind us, hopes placed in vaccines are already plagued by confusion and long lines. vaccine distribution has been anything but warp speed in several states. in jacksonville, joan tischer camped in her car overnight to make sure she was one of 600 people to get first shot.

>> it's better than a night in the i.c.u. >> reporter: elsewhere in florida, cars stretched as far as three miles. in cleaveland, tennessee where hae positivity rate is 27%, many were turned away after doses ran out. so far, just 12.5 million doses have been distributed, and less nhan three million have actually been administered, not even close to the 20 million vaccinations pledged by the end of the year. >> to me, it's a crying shame, and it's very upsetting because there are lives that can and should be saved, but we're not doing it. >> reporter: healthcare systems nationwide, already on the brink, brace for another surge as millions of americans ignore warnings to stay home. georgia and north carolina are relying on field hospitals to handle patient overflow, and the more infectious covid-19 variant is confirmed in at least thr is now confirmed in at least three states, including

colorado, florida, and hard-hit california. the state set a grim record on new year's day, surpassing 585 deaths in 24 hours. >> we don't know what else to do. we're breaking. >> reporter: in los angeles, relief can't come soon enough for frontline workers like bad.a senior. we're >> things are pretty bad. things are really bad. we're overwhelmed. we're stressed. we're-- we're stretched so thin. it's really unimaginable. >> reporter: in 49 zip codes across new york city, at least one out of every 10 covid tests positive.back positive. now, the goal h now, the goal here is to vaccinate one million people by the end of january, and health experts say getting those vaccines out quickly is critical. adriana. >> diaz: tom hanson in new york. thank you. tomorrow on "face the nation," margaret brennan speaks to operation warp speed's moncef slaoui about the pace of the vaccine roll-out. also, arkansas governor asa hutchinson and los angeles mayor eric garcetti on the surging virus.

overseas now, tensions are heightened in the middle east this weekend as iran marks one year since the assassination of a top military commander in a u.s. drone strike. that operation last year provoked this angry condemnation, and chants of "death to america," as well as missile strikes at u.s. bases in iraq. adding to the volatility, iran says it now plans to increase its uranium production. cbs' imtiaz tyab is in our london bureau. imtiaz, you've reported extensively in the region. tell us, is there a real threat here? >> reporter: adriana, good evening. well, on the surface of it, iran's plan to move a step closer to producing weapons- grade levels of enriched uranium is a huge concern. but tehran's announcement is part of a much bigger danger brewing in the region. tensions are running high as the iranians mark the one-year anniversary of the killing of general qassem soleimani. now, at the time, iran retaliated with fury at his assassination by carrying out a ballistic missile attack on a u.s. military base in western iraq that left dozens of american troops injured.

just hours later, in what was described as a "horrifying mistake," iranian forces shot down a ukrainian passenger jet killing all 176 on board. since then, the tensions with the trump administration, even now in its final days, have continued to boil, and this nuclear announcement isn't helping. >> diaz: so, what signal is iran trying to send to the world by increasing its uranium enrichment? >> reporter: well, tehran wants the world to know, despite president trump's "maximum pressure" campaign of crippling tanding and still has leverage standing and still has leverage. but when we consider the assassination of the top nuclear scientist, the killing tehran blames on israel, and u.s. warships and bombers skirting past iranian territory, the fear is, it could all lead to an all- out war. adriana. >> diaz: cbs' imtiaz tyab in london. thank you. saudi arabia sentenced one of t prominent's most prominent

women's rights activists to nearly six years in prison this week, drawing international condemnation. among her alleged crimes, fighting for the right to drive. cbs' holly williams speaks to the woman's brother for the "cbs weekend news." >> reporter: loujain al-hathloul took on the saudi arabian government by take the wheel. ll banneeous form of protest when women were still banned from driving by the ultra- conservative islamic kingdom. she was arrested in 2018, ironically, just weeks before saudi arabia's crowned prince, mohammed bin salman, finally gave women permission to drive, the last country in the world to do so. >> the crown prince wanted to make sure that nobody would take credit for the rights for women to drive. his personality is to make sure that he gets all the credit for himself. >> reporter: loujain al- hathloul's brother walid told us his sister has always been courageous.

her family says she was tortured in jail, subjected to electric shocks and threats of rape. >> it was brutal. it was insane. it was inhuman. >> reporter: a saudi court found there was no evidence of torture, but al-hathloul's family claims it was supervised by this man, saud al-qahtani, a former close associate of the crown prince, who also allegedly directed the 2018 murder of jamal khashoggi, a saudi journalist who angeredlet authorities. women fighting for thei we've been reporting on saudi women fighting for their rights since 2014, interviewing other women who took to the roads illegally, and then posted evidence of their crimes online. ♪ no woman, no drive saudi comedians, who poked fun at the hard-liners trying to stop women from driving, and the hard-liners themselves.

>> it is going to affect the harmony, tranquility of the saudi nation. >> reporter: with time served and a partially suspended sentence, loujain al-hathloul could be released in three months. but her brother told us in saudi arabia, she'll be far from free. >> she will be still monitored. she will be censored. she will not be able to speak out. so, that's not freedom. she will be moving from a small prison to a big prison. >> reporter: holly williams, cbs news, london. >> diaz: in other news, you to a get more australian than this. a koala bear found its way to a beach and walked on surf boards near melburn. beach-goers were delighted. the koala ventured onto the sand after emerging from nearby trees. to our winter reality now. snow is forecast this weekend from the ohio valley to the trtheast. the same system hit kansas city new year's day, giving this dad

a chance to take his toddlers on a snowy bike ride. and one man turned the tedium of shoveling into a fun game with his dog. straight ahead on the "cbs weekend news," the loss of this historic ferry, shut down after more than 200 years on the job. also, the threat of microplastics to the oceans and to our food supply. later, the idea seemed flat at first, but these fans proved to be cut out for the job. take 1... hey guys, my windshield just got broken, i feel like i need to blow off some steam. let's go... 1, 2, 3, 4... mr. blanks? there's no need to be stressed. geico makes it easy to file a claim online, on the app, or over the phone. yeah, but what if i never hear back? that's gonna make me want to go jab...jab! nope! your geico claims team is always there for you. that makes me want to celebrate with some fireworks. 5,6,7 go... boom, boom, boom, boom boom boom boom boom boom, yeah! geico. great service without all the drama.

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on a scenic journey across the river. but today, whites ferry is tightly moored to the maryland shore, with debris piling up. it's the victim of a legal dispute between the ferry's owners on the maryland side, and the landowners across the river in virginia, who recently obtained a court ruling that the ferry's landing is on their private property. the ferry's owners say they can't afford what the virginia land owners are asking to use the landing, so they ceased operations earlier this week. >> we are devastated, but it made no business sense to remain open at this point. >> reporter: for commuters like riley jamison, it's a nightmare. >> i have been using the ferry this, on the. i grew up on this, on the herland side, and all of the shopping over here, it's just a necessary thing to have. everybody is upset about it. >> reporter: but convenience isn't the only loss.

there's been a ferry of one sort or another at this point on the potomac river since the late 1700s. that means this ferry crossing is about the same age as the nation. and that's what a lot of people fear will be lost: a piece of american history. the entire history of american transportation has crossed here on all kind of ferry boats, while countless children played nearby. a historical marker notes that the ferry was used during the civil war civil war by union and confederate forces. after the civil war, the ferry was bought by a confederate officer, who named his boat in honor of his former commander, general jubal a. early. but that name eventually became too heavy a burden for the ferry to carry, because early was not only a confederate general, he was a notorious lifelong white supremacist. last summer, the ferry's owners

relented and gave the boat a new name, "historic white's ferry." over the past two centuries, there have been more than 100 ferryboat crossings from one end of the potomac to the other. this was the only one left. so for the sake of convenience and history, people here hope the landowners on opposite banks of the potomac will find a way to keep that history alive. chip reid, cbs news, dickerson, maryland. o diaz: still ahead on the "cbs weekend news," we go on the hunt for a nearly-invisible enemy polluting our oceans. mornings were ma nz... 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.

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this is purina pro plan liveclear. >> diaz: scientists are becoming increasingly alarmed about a tiny but dangerous threat to the environment-- microscopic fibers and plastics are seeping into our oceans and seas worldwide. seas worldwide.oined greenpeace roxana saberi researchers to learn more. >> reporter: the giants of the sea are a sight to celebrate for biologist kirsten thompson. >> well, so far, we've been seeing quite a lot of humpback whales, which is really exciting. it's great. >> reporter: but she's also searching for something much smaller-- tiny intruders, invisible to the naked eye. >> we'll have a look to see if there are any microfibers in this water here. >> reporter: microfibers are microscopic strands shed from crnthetic fabrics that we wear and wash. there are also fragments of plastic products, like bottles and bags.

scientists estimate around three million tons of microfibers now pollute our oceans, even reaching antarctica, where we traveled a year ago. >> they're found in the guts of fish. the microfibers, microplastics can accumulate up to the food chain. >> reporter: all the way up to human beings. >> reporter: possibly. four sites inthompson sent sea the antarctic, to the greenp water samples from four sites in the antarctic, to the greenpeace ntillo andter, england, where scientist david santillo and his team poured over them for months. what they have now discovered is disheartening. >> you can see the fiber there. >> reporter: microfibers in iery sample, similar to what they found at the same sites two years earlier. >> it's a piece of microplastic. it's a piece of polyester floating out there in antarctic waters. >> reporter: people could say these particles are so tiny, how could they possibly be dangerous? >> we don't know what the biological consequences of that that thes moment.

what we do know is that these microplastics are there. that exposure is occurring, and, really, it shouldn't be occurring. this is part of a manmade problem that has now gone global. >> reporter: but environmentalists say there are llutions, like using special filters or bags in washing machines to catch some microfibers. still, they say, what we really need to do is make and use less plastic. >> we can focus on buying clothes that are made of natural fibers. we should be using much more sustainable materials every day. we just need to think about it. >> reporter: our planet, she says, needs healthy oceans, and we have the power to protect them. aberi, cbs news, exeter, exeter, england. >> diaz: next on the "cbs weekend news," we take you out to the ballpark to meet the cardboard fans. uch as i'd like . that's why i take osteo bi-flex.

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for you, for the whole family. trusted soothing vapors, from vicks only nature's bounty does. new immune twenty-four hour plus has longer lasting vitamin c. plus, herbal and other immune superstars. only from nature's bounty. >> diaz: we end tonight, the second day of 2021, with hopes of better days ahead. being apart for so long has been challenging, but we did get creative to connect and commune, creative to connect and it wasn't just on zoom. here's cbs' nancy chen. >> right field! >> reporter: while the support from baseball fans was rather two-dimensional, as games closed to spectators last season, it never fell flat. their replacements: cardboard cutouts. fans bought them to stand in their place nationwide, the mugs

sometimes garnering mixed reactions at rival stadiums, like a less-than-warm greeting from phillies' mascot phanatic. the pinch hitters included plenty of furry faces... >> the all-pet section is here. >> reporter: ...and familiar ones, too. tom hanks returned to the home of the oakland a's where he once worked as a teenager, the actor recording his voice to play over the speakers. >> hot dogs, here! colossal hot dogs! >> reporter: team president dave kaval says fans also recreated favorite memories. >> people had loved ones that had passed away, and they actually had a cutout of them made, and they were sitting there watching the game with them like 20 or 30 years ago. it really shows how baseball and sports can bring people together, especially in times of crisis. >> reporter: fans sometimes got to keep the foul balls that hit their cutouts. a player's pet had a close encounter from the opposing team at citi field, home of the new york mets.

the cutouts did more than just raise spirits. the m.l.b. says teams participating donated money from the programs to local charities, with some raising hundreds of thousands of dollars. in chicago, white sox fan paul garrett sent a forceful message at the season opener with 100 cutouts of himself. >> yelling at the twins, which is something i like to do, because anybody who is a white sox fan knows how we feel about the minnesota twins. >> reporter: the self-described die-hard grew up going to the games with his dad, and hasn't missed a season opener in 15 years. technically speaking, does this mean you still kept your streak going? y iteah, i'll say it kept the streak going. >> reporter: hitting home runs on the field, and off. nancy chen, cbs news, new york. >> diaz: that's the "cbs weekend news" for this saturday. later on cbs, "48 hours," and first thing tomorrow, "sunday morning with jane pauley." i'm adriana diaz, reporting from cbs station wbbm in chicago.

live from the cbsn bay area , this is kpix 5 news. now at 6:00, the bay area's icu capacity has hit a low tonight. how many beds are available where you live? we are barely just finishing now with today's drizzle but it is time to look ahead already. the next rain coming here on monday. coming up. a police officer punching his k-9 partner. we will have that story coming up. one-man's trash is another man's treasure. one man is putting that phrase to use by buying people out of their encampments. >> if everything works out for me, i might be able to get out

of this situation. it gives me hope. good evening. i am brian hackney. >> and i am juliette goodrich . 95% of the bay area icu beds are occupied. we need to get that number back up to 15% to avoid having the stay-at-home order extended a week from now. >> so, what does that capacity percentage break down to an actual numbers? according to the state health department, san francisco had 58 icu beds available as of yesterday. that equates to 6.6 beds for every 100,000 people in san francisco. that is the best ratio in the area right now. napa and santa clara counties have about 2