for more, download the cbs news app on your cell phone or connected tv. i'm dan lieberman, cbs news, new it's thursday, december 1st, 2022. this is the "cbs morning news." royal visit. prince william and his wife are in the u.s. for the first time in eight years. we're in boston with a report on their trip. avoiding a rail strike. congress takes crucial action to try and keep rail workers from walking off the job. and training more troops. the new report that says the u.s. is weighing stepping up our assistance of ukrainian soldiers. well, good morning, and good to be with you. i'm anne-marie green. we are one step closer to avoiding a potentially economy-crippling rail strike. house members passed legislation

to hold workers and companies to a previously agreed upon settlement. skyler henry has more from capitol hill. the yeas are 290, the nays are 137. the joint resolution has passed. >> reporter: with the clock ticking, house members agreed to pass a bill to stop a potential crippling rail strike. it includes a contract brokered by the biden administration in september that includes a 24% raise over five years despite opposition from negotiating unions. >> it's unthinkable that the four railroad unions are holding the nation economically hostage. >> reporter: lawmakers also passed a second piece of legislation that would add seven days of paid sick leave to the agreement. >> most americans do not get these generous leave policies. this is blatant political pandering. >> reporter: president biden asked congress to step in warning a rail strike could cost the u.s. economy up to $2

billion a day. >> this is a deal that has a lot of benefits. >> reporter: economist jonathan wright says a strike would put a strain on shipments of coal, lumber, grain, and some holiday gifts. >> if one piece of that, if the financing piece, if the transportation piece gets disrupted, that would be a very big threat. >> reporter: the emergency measure now goes to the senate. >> the key issue is the working conditions in the rail industry which are absolutely unacceptable. >> reporter: if a bill doesn't get to the president to sign, a strike could begin next friday. skyler henry, cbs news, capitol hill. royalty in america. the prince and princess of wales are in the u.s. for first time in eight years. william and kate arrived yesterday for a three-day trip to boston. the visit is centered around prince william's signature earth shot prize which aims at finding new ways to fight climate change around the world. michael george has more on the royal visit.

good morning. >> reporter: anne-marie, good morning. parts of boston are lit up in green this week this honor of the royal couple and their environmental message. while most of their trip here involves philanthropy, they did take a moment last night to have some fun. it was a royal welcome for the prince and princess of wales wednesday on their first u.s. visit in eight years. here to present the earth shot prize which honors environmentalists. they kicked off the trip by helping turn boston's city hall green. >> catherine and i are absolutely delighted to be with you today for our first engagement in the great city of boston. >> reporter: the couple also took in an nba game court side watching the boston celtics beat the miami heat. some locals spent much of the day just trying to catch a glimpse. is it exciting to have the royals in boston? >> very exciting. this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. >> i'm hoping they come over and we can say hi to them.

>> reporter: the prince and princess decided to present the earth shot prize here in boston partially because it was home to president john f. kennedy. william has said kennedy's famous moon shot speech was his inspiration for launching the award. >> boston was also the obvious choice because your universities, research centers, and vibrant startup scene make you a global leader in science, innovation, and boundless ambition. >> reporter: this is also the couple's first trip to the u.s. since harry and meghan, the duke and duchess of sussex, gave up their royal duties and relocated to california. >> this is a really important few days for the waleses to get their message out about what the royal family, what working members are for, the good they can do. >> reporter: the white house says president biden plans to meet with the prince and princess in boston tomorrow. though the details are still being worked out. and there are no publicized plans for the royal couple to meet with harry and meghan who live on the west coast. anne-marie? >> michael george in boston. thank you.

well, in texas parents of survivors of a mass shooting, school shooting, rather, in uvalde filed a $27 billion class-action lawsuit. the suit named several defendants including the school district, uvalde police, and the texas department of public safety. 19 students and two teachers were killed at robb elementary school in may. the suit claims surviving children have reported nightmares, severe anxiety, and other mental health problems since the attack. a mistrial has been declared in the rape case against actor danny masterson. the star of "that '70s show" was charged with raping three women including a former girlfriend in his hollywood hills home between 2001 and 2003. the jurors who were leaning toward acquitting masterson said they were deadlocked after a month-long trial. the retrial was scheduled for march. we are hearing from the family of the victims killed by a sheriff's deputy in a catfishing scheme that shocked the nation. carter evans has the details.

nobody could imagine this crime happening to my family. >> reporter: raw emotion from michelle blandin speaking out about the brutal murder of her family by a man her 15-year-old niece met on line. >> catfishing led to the deaths of three most important people in my life -- my dad, my mom, and my sister. >> reporter: police say 28-year-old austin lee edwards who became a virginia law enforcement officer just this year, drove cross country to meet the teen. >> we don't know if this was the had. we also don't know yet if she knew that he was coming to califo. reporter: l cfridled po the teen looked distressed while getting into a car with edwards. soon after, a fire erupted at the family home. inside, investigators found the bodies of mark and sherry winnick along with their daughter, brooke winnick. >> for everyone who was there and responded, it was disturbing to look at.

it's gruesome. >> reporter: police now say edwards died by suicide. they also believe he pretended to be 17 on line, and they've launched an extensive damage -- digital investigation. today blandin warns this tragedy is a cautionary tale. >> when you are talking to your children about the dangers of their online actions, tell our story not out of fear but out of example of something that did happen. >> reporter: carter evans, cbs news. the biden administration is considering a dramatic expansion in the number of ukrainian troops trained by the u.s. military. a u.s. official confirmed to cbs news the pentagon has proposed battlefield training for 2,500 ukrainian soldiers a month at a base in germany. the news was first reported by cnn. since the start of the war, the u.s. has trained a few thousand ukrainian soldiers on specific weapons systems. people across three southern

states are cleaning up after a deadly swarm of tornadoes. a 39-year-old woman and her 8-year-old son were killed yesterday when a tree fell on their mobile home north. -- north of montgomery, alabama. more than 20 reported tornadoes tore through alabama, mississippi, and louisiana, destroying and damaging homes ad buildings. more than 50,000 customers lost power. coming up, trump's tax returns. after years of fighting, the former president's returns have finally been handed over to a house panel. an idaho vigil. family and friends honor the four students killed last month. an idaho vigil. family and friends honor the four students killed last month. does your vitamin c last 24 hours? only nature's bounty does. with immune 24 hour plus you get longer-lasting vitamin c plus herbal and other immune superstars. get more with nature's bounty. i get bladder leaks. i didn't want to feel like i was wearing the pads i wore when i was twelve.

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there have been no arrests, and investigators have not yet identified a suspect. the battle over former president trump's tax returns has ended, and jeffrey epstein's estate settled a lawsuit. those are some of the headlines on the "morning newsstand." "the new york times" reports the estate of the late financier jeffrey epstein agreed to pay more than $105 million to the u.s. virgin islands. the territory filed a lawsuit claiming it was deceived into granting epstein tax benefits while he used it for his decades' long sex trafficking operation of underage girls. the settlement also allows the virgin islands to get about half the proceeds from a planned sale of a secluded private island where epstein lived. "the hill" says the democratic-controlled house ways and means committee was given access to six years of former president donald trump's federal tax returns. the treasury department says that it compile -- it complied with a supreme court order clearing the way for returns to

be turned over. last week the court rejected an emgency appeal from trump. he had refused to release his tax returns during the 2016 presidential campaign and his four years in the white house. and npr says house democrats elected new york representative hakeem jeffries to be their new leader. the 52-year-old will become house minority leader next month when the new congress convenes and republicans take control of the house. jeffries is the first black person to lead a major political party in congress. he replaces nancy pelosi who decided not to run for the leadership post again after nearly two decades as head of the democratic caucus. still to come, a rock and roll treasure. we remember singer/songwriter christine macvie of fleetwood mac. i have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. now, there's skyrizi. ♪things are getting clearer♪ ♪i feel free to bare my skin♪ ♪yeah, that's all me♪ ♪nothing and me go hand in hand♪

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let's kick off the evening by lighting up the star of the show -- the national christmas tree. everybody ready? let's count this down together. five -- >> it's officially the holiday season. l.l. cool j joined president biden and the first lady for the 100th lighting of the national christmas tree outside the white house last night. the tree is a 27-foot white fir. in new york city the rain didn't keep people from gathering to watch the rockefeller center tree lighting. the 82-foot norway spruce is adorned with more than 50,000 l.e.d. lights and a star with three million swarovski crystals. the federal reserve could soon be slowing its interest rate hikes, plus the ceo of crypto exchange ftx is speaking out for the first time since the collapse. dan lieberman has today's cbs "money watch" report. >> reporter: stocks closed higher wednesday seeing broad

gains after federal reserve chair jerome powell confirmed the central bank will slow its aggressive rate hikes next month. the dow was up 737. nasdaq gained 484. s&p 500 added 122 points. federal reserve chair jerome powell said the central bank could slow interest rate increases at its meeting next month indicating inflation has shown signs of slowing but warned against reading too much into one month of data. while interest rate hikes may be slowing, powell emphasized they are not stopping. despite interest rates and inflation the u.s. economy grew the a healthy clip with a rise in gdp last quarter at 2.9%. this follows two quarters of contraction. since then, signs have pointed to a resilient economy with household spending holding strong. the key driver of the economy. a recession, however, if likely a mild one, is still widely expected in 2023.

the founder of the now-collapsed cryptocurrency exchange ftx made his first public appearance since its collapse. 30-year-old sam bankman-fried insisting he did not try to commit fraud and said he didn't know the extent of what was going on within his cryptobusiness blaming huge management failures and sloppy accounting for the $32 billion collapse which has triggered civil and criminal investigations. that's your cbs "money watch" report for this thursday morning. i'm dan lieberman, cbs news, new york. this morning we are mourning the loss of a giant in the music world. ♪ can you hear me calling out your name ♪ ♪ you know that i'm falling and i don't know what to say ♪ >> so that's the voice of singer and songwriter christine macvie of the band fleetwood mac. she was behind classics such as "everywhere" and "don't stop." she died at 79, and there's no word on the cause of death. longtime bandmate stevie nicks

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here's a look at the forecast in some cities around the country. ♪

a new california law is putting a spotlight on weapons police have at their disposal. san francisco officials debated whether police should be able to arm robots capable of deadly force. reed cowan has more. >> reporter: san francisco's board of supervisors approved a measure to allow police to use remote-controlled robots capable of using deadly force in emergency situations. >> we're talking about using a robot that we've had for 11 years. >> reporter: a new california law requires police departments to get the approval for use of military-grade equipment including what it already has. >> you would think sfpd just woke up one day and thought it would be really cool to go out and get some killer robots and go terrorize the community. and that's not at all what's happening here. >> reporter: the department said in a statement it has no plans to arm robots with guns, but it could deploy them with explosive charges if lives are at stake. >> we weigh out do we want to

risk lives in the public by getting ourselves exposed to the suspect, or can we send a robot to deal with it. >> reporter: some against it cited the impact on on people of color. >> this is a big deal. this is opening up a pandora's box that could change our society in a significant way. >> reporter: there are more than 1,000 robots and unmanned vehicles in use by police departments around the country. primarily by bomb squads. one of the first times a robot was used to kill a suspect happened in 2016. dallas police deployed one against a man who had gunned down five officers. >> he was telling us how many more he wanted to kill. this -- this wasn't an ethical dilemma. >> reporter: last month oakland's city council denied its police the ability to use robots for lethal force. reed cowan, cbs news could san francisco. coming up on "cbs mornings," musical artist noah cyrus sits down with to discuss her debut m "the hst par"> i'ne-mie gen.

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thanks for waking up with us this thursday morning, december 1. on kpix5 news, we are declaring a first alert

weather day. a lot of storms starting to push in from offshore. we will highlight that for your local weather. with that comes busy conditions on the freeways. we'll keep you updated on hot spots as slick surfaces might cause trouble on the roadways. today's storm will drop much needed snow on the sierra. we will hear from tahoe shocks on what you need to know if you are planning to hit the slopes. let's go to first alert meteorologist jessica burch to tell us about this first alert weather day and why we are calling it that. obviously a big storm. absolutely. we are dealing with a major cold front as we speak. this morning, this huge frontal system is settling into the bay waking us with pitter patter on the rooftops. you will want to bring that umbrella, rain jacket, any possible way to stay warm. it is going to be a very strong system settling its way through. we are seeing